XW-210 WiFi™ Users Manual
6.3 External Server and Remote Services
Note: The following methods are supported by the XW-210; however, Xytronix Research & Design, Inc.
does not provide or support custom third party applications, or external web servers.
6.3.1 Accessing the XW-210 with custom software or third party applications
Custom applications can send commands to XW-210 for monitoring and control functions using XML.
(See
Section 6.1: XML Operation
for more information.) The application interface can be used to provide
a custom user interface, access to multiple units in a single screen, and allow for automation, logging,
and other application-specific features.
6.3.2 Using an External Web Server
Rather than accessing XW-210 directly from a computer, an external web server can be used. The term
“external” web server is used here to mean a separate web server (such as Apache or IIS) that is not the
web server built into XW-210. In this scenario, users access custom web pages that reside on the
external web server and the external web server communicates with XW-210.
An external web server can integrate multiple ControlByWeb products into a single control page. In other
words, the user may not be aware that he/she is using multiple ControlByWeb™ devices, but rather the
user sees an integrated control page for the entire system. In addition, the use of an external web server
allows programmers to create custom user interfaces that take advantage of the additional resources
typically available on larger web servers, including more memory and various web programming
languages.
There are two approaches that an external server can use to communicate with XW-210 and other
ControlByWeb™ devices,
Direct Server Control
and
Remote Services
.
6.3.3 Direct Server Control
The first approach is for the external server to create a TCP connection whenever it needs to access the
XW-210. In this case, the external server opens the connection, sends commands and/or reads the
device, and closes the connection.
This method is ideal when the web server and all of the XW-210 devices are on the same network
(without routers between them). In this case, the server can communicate with the XW-210 devices
directly and securely since data never has to leave the local network.
When the server and the XW-210 are on different networks, routers must be configured to allow
appropriate access. If a public network is used, such as the Internet, security precautions should be
considered.
6.3.4 Remote Services
The second approach is for the XW-210 to initiate a connection using the
Remote Services
. The settings
under the WiFi
Network
tab in the setup pages will enable the XW-210 to open a TCP connection with an
external server. Once the connection is open, the external server can send commands and/or read the
device. The external server can leave the connection open (so that it never closes) or close the
connection.
Remote Services
is ideal for installations where the server and the XW-210 are installed on different
networks. This is especially useful when each XW-210 is installed on a separate private network. For
example, if the user doesn't control the network connections where the XW-210 is installed,
Remote
Services
would initiate a TCP connection over the Internet with the control computer. Since the XW-210
initiates the connection, the control computer doesn't have to know the IP address of the XW-210. This
Xytronix Research & Design, Inc.
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