Elatec TCP3 3.0.3.1 Technical Manual Download Page 1

TCP3 3.0.3.1

Technical Manual

DocRev4, September 2, 2021

Elatec GmbH

Summary of Contents for TCP3 3.0.3.1

Page 1: ...TCP3 3 0 3 1 Technical Manual DocRev4 September 2 2021 Elatec GmbH ...

Page 2: ... Config 18 5 1 TCP3 Config Home Screen 18 5 2 Backwards Compatibility 18 5 3 Network Configuration Window 18 5 3 1 Network Configuration 19 5 3 1 1 Name Resolution 19 5 3 1 2 IP Configuration 21 5 4 USB Configuration 22 5 4 1 Representation of Keyboard Newline 22 5 4 2 TCP IP Configuration 22 5 4 3 TCP Client Configuration 22 5 4 3 1 Web Service Configuration 23 5 4 3 2 Connect on any character 24...

Page 3: ...ion Features 40 6 5 Change Password 42 6 6 System Configuration 42 6 6 1 Logging Configuration 42 6 6 1 1 Setup 44 6 6 1 2 Send Events 44 6 6 2 System Time 44 6 6 3 Upgrade Firmware 45 6 6 3 1 Upgrade TCP3 Firmware 45 6 6 3 2 Upgrade TWN4 Card Reader Configuration 45 6 7 Status 46 7 Refresh the Firmware on TCP3 49 7 1 Local Firmware Update steps 49 8 Troubleshooting 51 8 1 Basic Checks 51 8 2 TCP3...

Page 4: ...6 10 1 4 Firmware STD3 0 3 0 57 10 1 5 Firmware STD3 0 3 1 57 10 2 TCP3 Configuration Tool 57 10 2 1 TCP3 Config V3 0 0 57 10 2 2 TCP3 Config V3 1 0 58 10 2 3 TCP3 Config V3 2 0 58 10 2 4 TCP3 Config V3 3 0 58 A FCC Notice 59 B IC Notice 60 C Disclaimer 61 Page 4 of 61 ...

Page 5: ... enable power to equipment or to indicate operational status 1 1 Typical Scenario A typical application is to extend the feature set of a network device i e a network printer by enabling connection of a local peripheral device such as a card reader or keypad Figure 1 1 Typical Connection with TCP3 Converter reader and printer 1 2 Important Features TCP3 s IP address may be obtained by DHCP or may ...

Page 6: ...ion of an attached TWN4 card reader can be updated over the network via the TC3Config tool Power over Ethernet is an available option for powering TCP3 Compliant with California password law SB327 The main feature of TCP3 is that it can enable any printer to participate in card based authentication along with the Pull Printing function Single function printers or older MFPs which do not support th...

Page 7: ...ginal IP address 192 168 1 10 The printer must now be configured with a different IP address TCP3 is configured to provide the printer its address using DHCP It is further configured to always issue the printer an IP of 192 168 50 100 If the printer is configured for DHCP it will receive this address at each power up and at each DHCP renewal If the printer is not capable of DHCP and is configured ...

Page 8: ...installed The customer benefit is that this was accomplished using one network port with only one IP address from the customer environment To reach the printer s home web page simply enter the IP address of the TCP3 device into your favorite web browser TCP3 will pass that request directly to the printer and the printer s web page will open To reach the TCP3 home web page simply enter the IP addre...

Page 9: ...re are two Ethernet ports on TCP3 the Host port is used to connect TCP3 to the local network and the Printer port is used to connect a printer to TCP3 3 3 USB Cables Users can connect a USB card reader to either of the 2 USB ports on TCP3 Up to two readers can be connected simultaneously Currently USB Human Interface Device also known as keyboard mode is supported TCP3 can provide up to 1 5A curre...

Page 10: ...r 0x0403 0x6001 Manhattan 28 port USB hub 0x2109 0x2811 NT Ware TWN4 for NT Ware 0x171B 0x2001 Lenovo KU 9880 USB numeric Pin Pad 0x04F2 0x3009 Targus AKP10 A USB numeric Pin Pad 0x05A4 0x9840 Targus AKP10 A USB numeric Pin Pad 0x05A4 0x9846 3 4 Connect the Network Printer Connect the network printer as shown in Figure 3 1 Leave the printer powered off until TCP3 has been configured 3 5 Power up T...

Page 11: ... 8 pin ribbon cable connector on J7 as shown in Figure 3 2 The mating connector is a CviLux CI018SDOL1 Prototyping cable are available from Elatec The article number is CAB J7 Figure 3 2 External I O Connector Pinout The outputs are polarity insensitive and capable of sinking up to 75ma and provide 1 500V isolation The input is polarity sensitive and requires a minimum of 1 6ma for recognition of ...

Page 12: ... is held the Busy LED will blink at a rate of once per second Hold the button and release it after a particular number of blinks to activate the associated function 3 blinks will print a TCP3 configuration page to the attached printer 8 blinks will reset the TCP3 configuration to factory defaults and will force a reboot Note this will not reset the password That can only be done by reloading firmw...

Page 13: ...ads Figure 4 1 Admin Pack Contents 2 Unzip the AdminPack then run the TCP3 Config installer by double clicking on Setup exe This will install the TCP3 Config tool on a PC 3 Devices must be on the same subnet as the PC operating the TCP3 Config discovery tool Devices on a different subnet can be discovered with additional steps addressed in section 4 3 which follows 4 2 Start TCP3 Config TCP3 Confi...

Page 14: ...e order they respond to the discovery message sent from the TCP3 Config tool This can take up to 60 seconds If the host PC on which TCP3Config is running is connected to multiple networks for example a wired and a wireless connection TCP3Config will search both networks for converters This will extend the search time if each connection is on a different subnet Figure 4 3 Repeat Search For Converte...

Page 15: ... will begin using the criteria specified in the configuration file TCP3 Config will send a packet to each host address specified in the Subnet Search file and will populate the discovered device window with each TCP3 which responds to that query Note that the search file could describe the same subnet as the searching PC Each time Start Discovery is selected the converter will execute just one pas...

Page 16: ...255 0 and will search IP addresses in the range 192 168 8 0 192 168 8 255 for a total of 256 addresses Note CIDR search is restricted to 24 Any number smaller than 24 could cause a very large search which could take a long time and could take the customer s network down It might be interpreted as a denial of service attack As a result any number other than 24 will be ignored For an efficient searc...

Page 17: ...e discovered one at a time they can be selected and configured If the printer attached to the selected TCP3 has a web front end on port 80 it can be accessed by clicking the button Open the Homepage of the Printer as shown in Figure 4 8 The web page view of the converter can be reached by selecting the converter followed by selecting Open the Homepage of the Converter This will open the homepage o...

Page 18: ...he Host MAC address which is printed on the back of TCP3 For example if the Host MAC address is 20 1D 03 01 7E 1C simply enter 03017E1C as the password Note that the password is case sensitive and must be entered as upper case Once the password has been entered a user may change the factory password to something easier to remember There are currently no constraints on minimum password length or pa...

Page 19: ...ill save all settings to internal memory used by the TCP3 Config program The window will close and no changes will be made to the converter which is selected Because these changes have been saved to the TCP3 Config program they can now be applied to other converters or saved to a file See section 5 9 and 5 10 for details on this feature Cancel Button When Cancel is selected TCP3 Config will close ...

Page 20: ...ached to a Brother printer on the 3rd floor near column G7 might be named Brother3 G7 Hostnames are composed of series of labels concatenated with dots as are all domain names For example tcp3 local is a hostname Each label must be between 1 and 63 characters long and the entire hostname including the delimiting dots has a maximum of 255 characters The Internet standards RFC Request for Comments f...

Page 21: ...cted the user is responsible to manually enter the IP addresses for the primary and secondary WINS server If DHCP is selected this field will be greyed out and the converter will use the WINS information provided by the DHCP server Configure NTP Manually Normally the converter will reach out to the DHCP server for Network Time NTP If the DHCP server does not support NTP or if the converter is conf...

Page 22: ...verter will quietly wait for USB data to arrive When data arrives it will inform the Solution Client which will then poll the converter to retrieve the data The server will typically continue to poll the converter for remaining data and to keep the network port open In Server mode users have the option of sending card reader data either as plain text or more securely via SSL card reader data is en...

Page 23: ...tion Screen 5 4 3 1 Web Service Configuration If the remote Solution Server is configured for Web Services with no authentication the Web Service Address will need to be configured and optionally a TCP Unique Device ID and TCP Device Auth Code Page 23 of 61 ...

Page 24: ...ld instruct TCP3 to enable or disable one or both of the external IO outputs or to download and send a file to a connected printer Contact Elatec for more information on these capabilities The remaining parameters control the behavior of the port during data transfer There are two connection options Connect on any character and Connect on a specific character The factory default is Connect on any ...

Page 25: ...ys enabled once the port is opened That way if for example a disconnect character is never received the port will be closed by the Disconnect Timer The Apply button must be selected to save any changes before the user navigates away from this page The Load Default Configuration button will return all values on this page to factory default These changes will not be retained unless the Apply button ...

Page 26: ... or removed Configuration Changes will send an event whenever the Apply button is selected in any of the config uration fields It will not send details on which changes were made 5 5 0 2 System Time The status log will capture events expressed in the default time zone which is Berlin Germany Use this setting to change time to your local time zone Just select the nearest city in your time zone 5 6 ...

Page 27: ...is closed and reopened or unless Use Default Password is selected 5 7 Sending the Configuration to converters Returning to the home screen once all configuration settings have been set and saved the configuration can be loaded onto other converters Individual converters can be selected or deselected using the normal Windows commands All of the converters or None of the converters can also be selec...

Page 28: ...esented in the Log window This window can be cleared at any time by selecting the Clear button 5 9 Saving Configuration to a File TCP3 Config offers the ability to save a particular configuration to a file on the computer This enables the configuration to be archived and later retrieved for installation as new equipment is rolled out It also enables the configuration to be consistent across multip...

Page 29: ...he file appropriately then select Save 5 10 Read Configuration from a File Figure 5 11 Read Configuration from a File TCP3 Config offers the ability to load a configuration previously saved in a file on the computer This enables the configuration to be sent to one or many converters which have been discovered by TCP3 Config To retrieve a previously saved file refer to the following figure then sel...

Page 30: ... The TC3 upgrade file is supplied in a zipped format which can be extracted from the TCP3 AdminPack available on Elatec com From the TCP3 Config main window select all of the converters to have their firmware upgraded Next select the Firmware Upgrade Button from the TCP3 Config tool bar then navi gate to the zipped TCP3 firmware file Select Open and the file will be sent to the selected converter ...

Page 31: ... firmware or configuration file Note that the default file type is zip so we need to select the drop down as shown in Figure 5 13 and select bix Select Open and the TWN4 file will be sent to the selected converter s Progress will be reported in the status window It takes roughly 15 seconds per TCP3 for the converter to accept the bix file and for the card reader to be upgraded Status is also captu...

Page 32: ...rs in the Host MAC address which is printed on the back of TCP3 For example if the Host MAC address is 20 1D 03 01 7E 1C you would enter 03017E1C as the password Note that the password is case sensitive and must be entered as upper case Once the password has been entered a user may change the factory password to something easier to remember There are currently no constraints on minimum password le...

Page 33: ...the Host address is 192 168 86 45 the printer must not be on the 192 168 86 xxx network It can be anything but 192 168 86 for example 192 168 87 would work 6 2 3 IP Configuration Use DHCP Static IP The factory default setting is for DHCP to be enabled That way the converter will receive its IP assignment dynamically from the DHCP server If the device fails to get an IP address from DHCP server for...

Page 34: ... or if the converter is configured for a static IP address NTP will need to be configured manually In this case the user is responsible to select the check box then manually enter the IP addresses for the primary and secondary NTP servers If this box is not checked the converter will use the DHCP server for NTP If the IP address is entered incorrectly or if that address does not actually support N...

Page 35: ...watchdog will be automatically disabled since it would not know what IP address it could use for ping communication In order to use the Host Watchdog in this situation a manual IP address for the watchdog must be entered in the space provided Also note that a manual IP address can only be used if DHCP is not selected The Printer port will ping the attached printer If the printer watchdog is not en...

Page 36: ...tificates will be deleted Upon the reboot which occurs after upgrade a new self signed cert will be regenerated but an externally signed cert will need to be recreated The status log will show this 6 3 1 Server Certificate Management Use this section to configure TCP3 to utilize secure encrypted connections with client applications ex web browser TCP3 Config making connections to TCP3 To support a...

Page 37: ...eps to navigate to web sites Some web browsers will completely block access to web sites using Self Signed Certificates End users accessing TCP3 configuration web pages may encounter these issues Install Signed Certificate If a signed cert is available for upload to TCP3 select Install Signed Certifi cate then either click in the box labeled Select Signed Cert File then drag and drop the previousl...

Page 38: ...ata to a network client In this mode the Local Port for USB is default configured to 7777 This is the port the converter will use to communicate with the Client 6 4 2 1 TCP Server Configuration In Server mode the converter will quietly wait for USB data to arrive When data arrives it will inform the Solution Client which will then poll the converter to retrieve the data The server will typically c...

Page 39: ...er and to close the connection Figure 6 6 USB Client Setup Screen 6 4 2 2 TCP Client Configuration TCP Client Configuration When the converter is configured for Client mode users have the option of sending data either as plain text or more securely via SSL where the data will be encrypted on the converter Page 39 of 61 ...

Page 40: ...meters control the behavior of the port during data transfer There are two connection options Connect on any character and Connect on a specific character The factory default is Connect on any character which will open a connection to the server and leave it open until it receives a terminating character If no terminator is received it will close the port at the default 10 second timeout Connect o...

Page 41: ...s after a character is received The timer would reset on each character in the data stream and only 10 seconds after the last character would it actually close the connection The converter is default configured to Disconnect 10 sec onds after the last character but the user can increase or decrease this time to fit their environment The Apply button must be selected to save any changes before the ...

Page 42: ...h individual company installing TCP3 Confirm Password Re enter the new password in this field Please save this password in a secure location If the password is lost there is no way to recover it The TCP3 firmware will need to be reinstalled which will reset the converter to the default Username and Password If you suspect you mistyped the password simply select Show Password to make the password v...

Page 43: ...6 Configuration via Web Page Figure 6 9 System Setup for TCP3 Page 43 of 61 ...

Page 44: ...ill send events during the boot process after power has been applied Send DHCP Event will notify the Syslog server that the converter received an address from DHCP It will include the IP address received If DHCP is not successful the converter will assume an address of 192 168 1 1 In this case the converter will not be able to provide any Syslog DHCP status Card reader is connected disconnected wi...

Page 45: ...Windows file selection window will initiate the programming activity When performing a remote firmware upgrade the TCP3 LEDs will blink in the same manner as they do with a USB upgrade where they blink a pattern to indicate the various states in the upgrade process Remote upgrade will first send the upgrade file to the converter and will then present a pop up Upgrading The pop up will remain until...

Page 46: ...ost Ethernet port Printer This field will display the IP address currently assigned to the connected printer It will also display the status of the printer whether it is connected and whether it was able to successfully receive an IP address If a printer is successfully connected it will display its MAC address and serial number If no printer is connected it will display a MAC with all FFs an the ...

Page 47: ...6 Configuration via Web Page Figure 6 12 Status for TCP3 Page 47 of 61 ...

Page 48: ...ections to the host printer and USB The log can easily be copied and sent to Elatec Support to aid in troubleshooting any issues encountered The log displays the date and time of each event It receives this time using the Network Time Protocol NTP The converter expects to find an NTP server at the address of the DHCP server If the converter is configured for Static IP or if there is no NTP server ...

Page 49: ...y via a USB flash drive as covered in this section Figure 7 1 USB Upgrade Files 7 1 Local Firmware Update steps 1 Unpack the AdminPack file which contains the new firmware zip and other files 2 Refer to Figure 7 1 then copy the content of zipped firmware folder STD zip onto an empty USB flash drive The USB drive may not have more than one partition USB drives are typically formatted as FAT32 We ha...

Page 50: ...nds later the Ready LED will stop blinking and stay on green 8 After about a minute and 34 seconds from the start of the upgrade the Status LED will turn on Red followed by the Busy LED on green followed by the Ready LED on Orange 9 At this point the update is complete This entire process takes about one and one half minutes 10 The LEDs will continue to turn on in sequence over and over again unti...

Page 51: ...ptional Power over Ethernet PoE option is the converter host port connected to a PoE enabled Ethernet port 8 3 Network Cables It is easy to confuse the two network cables since they often look identical Unfortunately if the two cables are reversed things will not work at all Try to use the red internet cable supplied with the converter to connect the printer to the Printer port That should make it...

Page 52: ...rocedure described as follows will use a back door through the Printer port to reprogram the converter Please first complete the basic checks as described in section 8 1 before following this process The Printer port of the TCP3 is default configured with a static IP address of 192 168 50 100 however this may also be different from default TCP3 uses this address to communicate with the connected p...

Page 53: ... 50 100 confirm that the printer is configured for DHCP Some printers are sensitive to the timing of events If the printer is unable to reach the DHCP server immediately after it powers up the printer may stop trying to get an address after as few as 3 attempts Follow these steps to determine if that is the issue Remove power from both the printer and TCP3 devices Apply power to the TCP3 first and...

Page 54: ...ch is normally displayed in the Status web page In the event of an issue where the connected printer is not able to obtain the 192 168 50 100 IP address please follow the steps below to obtain this log file which can be used for debug 1 Remove the USB card reader from the TCP3 2 Connect a blank USB flash drive to the TCP3 Note this drive must have at least 750K bytes of free storage 3 Insure the p...

Page 55: ...ch have been tested in our lab The list of devices is specified in 3 3 of the TCP3 Technical Manual Additional devices may be added upon request 2 USB is also used to upload new firmware to TCP3 If a USB flash drive is detected at power up TCP3 looks for the presence of an Elatec TCP3 software file It then reads that file to memory and calculates a hash on the software file It then reads one of th...

Page 56: ...atus page now shows description of connected USB device Status page shows configuration details of connected TWN4 reader Status page shows memory usage based on 8 gig memory device Qualified additional USB devices to the white list 10 1 3 Firmware STD3 0 2 0 Added support for CDC Added OAuth for USB client mode with web services and AWS Tested and added Lenovo KU 9880 numeric Pin Pad to the USB wh...

Page 57: ...re occasionally truncated Tested and added Targus AKP10 A numeric Pin Pad to the USB white list Tested and added Perixx Peripad 202 numeric Pin Pad to the USB white list Tested and added HCT numeric Pin Pad to the USB white list Tested and added a second version of Magtek mag stripe reader to the USB white list Resolve connection issues when hot swapping CDC readers Added printer MAC and serial nu...

Page 58: ...l time setting 10 2 3 TCP3 Config V3 2 0 Added the ability to configure OAuth for USB client mode with web services Added prompt if user wants to save sensitive password information in the JSON file 10 2 4 TCP3 Config V3 3 0 Requires NET Framework 4 8 Install zip now has two files Running setup exe will auto install any prerequisites Config tool now only works with the current release and one olde...

Page 59: ...f CISPR 32 In a residential environment this equip ment may cause radio interference This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause harm...

Page 60: ...nditions 1 this device may not cause harmful interference 2 this device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation NOTE This Class A digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES 003 Cet appareil numérique de la classe A est conforme à la norme NMB 003 du Canada Page 60 of 61 ...

Page 61: ...uct with any other specifications but the ones mentioned above Any additional requirement for a specific custom application has to be validated by the customer himself at his own responsibility Where application information is given it is only advisory and does not form part of the specification All referenced brands product names service names and trademarks mentioned in this document are the pro...

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