3. Network Discovery
ROS® v3.11User Guide
86
RMC30
3. Network Discovery
ROS® supports the RCDP (the RuggedCom Discovery Protocol™) Layer 2 protocol for
automated network discovery.
RCDP™ (the RuggedCom Discovery Protocol™) is designed primarily for the initial
deployment of RuggedCom networking devices that have not been configured. In response to
RCDP commands and queries from an application such as RuggedExplorer™, which supports
RCDP, ROS® has the ability to:
• Enable or disable RCDP functionality
• Report its basic network configuration and other identifying information
• Respond to a basic set of control commands
• Perform basic device configuration
3.1. RCDP Operation
The purpose of the RuggedCom Discovery Protocol™ is to support the deployment of ROS®-
based devices that have not been configured since leaving the factory. ROS® devices that
have not been configured all have the default IP (Layer 3) address. Connecting more than one
of them on a Layer 2 network means that one cannot use standard IP-based configuration
tools to configure them. The behavior of IP-based mechanisms such as the web interface,
SSH, telnet, or SNMP will all be undefined.
Since RCDP operates at Layer 2, it can be used to reliably and unambiguously address
multiple devices even though they may share the same IP configuration.
RuggedCom's RuggedExplorer™ is a lightweight, standalone Windows application that
supports RCDP. It is capable of discovering, identifying and performing basic configuration of
ROS®-based devices via RCDP. The features supported by RCDP include:
• Discovery of ROS®-based devices over a Layer 2 network.
• Retrieval of basic network configuration, ROS® version, order code, and serial number.
• Control of device LEDs for easy physical identification.
• Configuration of basic identification, networking, and authentication parameters.
For security reasons, RuggedExplorer™ will attempt to disable RCDP on all devices when
RuggedExplorer is shut down. If RuggedExplorer™ is unable to disable RCDP on a device,
ROS® will automatically disable RCDP after approximately one hour of inactivity.
RCDP is not compatible with VLAN-based network configurations. For correct
operation of RuggedExplorer, no VLANs (tagged or untagged) must be configured.
All VLAN configuration items must be at their default settings.
ROS® responds to RCDP requests only. It does not under any circumstances
initiate any RCDP-based communication.
3.2. Network Discovery Menu
The main Network Discovery menu links to configuration menus for both LLDP and RCDP.
