Multiple IP access

[juwi_uk]

So is the \"serial\" port hardware (chipset) on the main UCM board or on the daughtercard itself?

Can you not say decide to add another few Serial ports on the daughtercard, each mapped to an ethernet session;  the new Eth02 daughtercard has shrunk significantly enough to be able to grow again slighly in size for a few more UARTS or whatever the chipset is that you need.  Even if you have one on the mainboard then perhaps add an additional 3 on the \"Eth02+\" daughterboard.   If Serial and USB only support 1 connection but Ethernet supports say 4 then that\'s a good unique selling point (USP) for that module surely. Then the security concerns go away?

Is it that the UCM/Eth has lower market share than UCM/USB then and adding the above could be judged to be adding cost and \"flying in the face\" of reducing costs (as you\'ve done with Eth02) to make the Ethernet module more competitive.

Assuming technical issues are not a showstopper, perhaps could I recommend you post a vote to see what the feeling is in the community.   From what I can see then there seems a recurring interest in this subject (as similarly with iPhone apps for example) so gauging the level of interest may be useful market research? 

IMHO, as you\'ve probably guessed, I\'d like a UCM that can support up to 4 active Ethernet sessions ,whether through physical connection OR via wireless access or mix and match thereof.

Julian

[slychiu]

So if we continue to use a UCM\'s with single access can we please hae some way of notification that tht UCM is in use.

DS manager does this ........

That is being studied
Ds manager uses a different protocol to access the modules which only work on the local network so it is not applicable

[slychiu]

[user=876]juwi_uk[/user] wrote:

So is the \"serial\" port hardware (chipset) on the main UCM board or on the daughtercard itself?

Can you not say decide to add another few Serial ports on the daughtercard, each mapped to an ethernet session;  the new Eth02 daughtercard has shrunk significantly enough to be able to grow again slighly in size for a few more UARTS or whatever the chipset is that you need.  Even if you have one on the mainboard then perhaps add an additional 3 on the \"Eth02+\" daughterboard.   If Serial and USB only support 1 connection but Ethernet supports say 4 then that\'s a good unique selling point (USP) for that module surely. Then the security concerns go away?

Is it that the UCM/Eth has lower market share than UCM/USB then and adding the above could be judged to be adding cost and \"flying in the face\" of reducing costs (as you\'ve done with Eth02) to make the Ethernet module more competitive.

Assuming technical issues are not a showstopper, perhaps could I recommend you post a vote to see what the feeling is in the community.   From what I can see then there seems a recurring interest in this subject (as similarly with iPhone apps for example) so gauging the level of interest may be useful market research? 

IMHO, as you\'ve probably guessed, I\'d like a UCM that can support up to 4 active Ethernet sessions ,whether through physical connection OR via wireless access or mix and match thereof.

Julian

The UCM has only one serial port which is on the base board. That serial port is connected to either an Ethernet Port, RS232 port, or USB port depending on which submodule is connected to it

Hence we cannot put extra serial ports on the ETH02 submodule
Adding 2 to 4  serial ports on the Baseboard is not commercially feasible as it involves a massive redesign of hardware and firmware on the UCM for very little benefit

I dont see a real  need for multiple simultaneous connections, as the iPhone app, Comfigurator and Wizcomfort disconnect automatically when they are done, and these only need to be connected for a short period

Hence the problem can be solved by managing a single connectiion to the ETH02 viia the programmable ETH02 module, by notifiying a new connection that the connection is busy, doing a time out when the connection is idle for a few minutes, and loggiing out the UCM when a connection is ended.

If an application needs exclusive access at all times or needs to be always conected, then the most practical and cost effective way is to use a separate dedicated UCM/Eth02.

[Home]

This is OK.

I think tht dedicated UCM\'s or A UCM that has multiple access by different devices at different times is OK.

BUT

You still need to introduce into EACH item of sotware some method of letting the user know that the ehternet module is in use - even if this is just a simple screen that says somethihg along the lines of \"connection the Ethernet UCM was not possible load DS manager to carry out a check \"

 

[Ingo]

Ok, what do they do in the movies??? They leak classified information to the press so here is my little bit of leaked information on ComfortClient.

See the attached, here we detected that something else is already conected to Comfort and it now gives you the choice of disconnecting or connecting irrespective. The nice thing about the Tibbo module is that it will always drop the oldest connection in favour of a new request. This is done so that you never get \'locked out\' of the Ethernet module if there is a stale or frozen connection.

Watch out for the next release, it might just be in there.

Ingo

PS. If you like ComfortClient and you appreciate Julian\'s work, why not have a look at his website and support his efforts as he does all this in his spare time for us to enjoy the fruits of his labour.

[Home]

Excellent -

Chiu - can this message (preferbly i the same style and format) (see other posts) be added to -

• comfigurator
  
• wiz comfort
  
• web interface
  
• iphone

Ill take a good look at the web site......

 

[juwi_uk]

Yep I\'ve tidied up the checks a bit more and also now include the IP address of device that has the connection open. Pressing OK causes ComfortClient to \"steal\" the connection or \"OK\" to abort gracefully.

Ie

[Home]

Excellent

Can cytech confirm that they will try and implement this across the software suite....

I think that this would avoid many hours of head scratching when things are not working.

 

[xAPPO]

Just looking at this from a different angle...   I could program (and make available) a small low cost embedded device that you would then connect to over Ethernet and act as an intermediary / proxy between your application(s) and an Ethernet UCM(s).  The device would allow multiple simultaneous connections and could possibly even pool available UCM\'s that were using different login in access levels.

When you initially connect to this device it would internally remember the password that was used,  so it knows what access level the client is using.   If another client attached using the same password (I would simulate asking for it) then I could share the two connections to the Comfort UCM without a security risk.  However if a different password was used then I could either enlist another UCM if available or offer the same options as detailed above.

Would that be useful do you think ,  I\'m guessing this device would be well under half the price of an Ethernet UCM  ?

  Kevin

PS At a fancier level .... I suppose if I know the actual access level that the password matched (does Comfort advise this ?) and the commands available at each level are documented then I could police the commands that are passed to Comfort removing any above the level of the login. This is more complex but more flexible as only one Ethernet UCM would be needed to serve all users concurrently.  During a Comfigurator download I would need to block all other users I suspect.  

This approach is how I expected a Cytech based next generation Ethernet UCM supporting the multiple connect Tibbo modules might be implemented - but maybe the Tibbo module doesn\'t pass sufficient origination information to the UCM to differentiate socket sessions and implement it this way.

[ident]

Thats interesting

Would the device be able to detect if a connection which is signed in, ldisconnects and another connection came in later and tried to send commands without logging in?

I can see where it would be useful if someone signed in with the same code but if another login code is used and requires another UCM/Ethernet then having 2 UCMs would allow 2 users to access simulaltaneuosly anyway?

However this approach (same code) may also be possible with application software in the EM500 which is programmable