Moxa Technologies NPort, User Manual

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NPort Server User’s Manual 2-2
Knowing Your Application
NPort Server is an advanced solution for multiport serial application to fit into today's
networking world. It extends the usage of traditional multiport serial add-on boards -
an isolated machine with restricted ports, to TCP/IP network - easy to expand, and
easy to connect. Through the nature of networking, we can elongate our application to
more ports, distributed, wide area or even Internet.
Since NPort Server is connected through TCP/IP network, you need some network
knowledge in mind before you start up. In this section, we divide the main serial
applications to three types, and provide each application with easy instructions
guiding you through the whole installation and configuration procedures. Thus, read
carefully and define which application you are going to use.
Single-Host Type
Traditional Multiport communication uses the multiport serial boards adding onto
inside slots of the computer. The serial ports on the boards belong only to the host
computer who installs the boards. Communication is made under simple environment
- one host with one to four serial cards and multiple serial devices (shown as in Figure
2-1).
Figure 2-1. Traditional Multiport Serial Communication