Multi-Tech Systems 7500 - Manual (Page 338)

EtherGate ION 7500 / ION 7600 User’s Guide
Page 338 The ION Meter as an Ethernet Gateway Technical Note
EtherGate
A gateway is a network point that acts as an entrance (or gate) to another network.
Gateways enable communication between networks, for example Ethernet and
RS-485. This technical note describes how to use your ION meter’s Ethernet
connection as an EtherGate to transfer data between Ethernet and serial networks.
EtherGate is a powerful communications tool that lets you communicate to a meter
and through a meter simultaneously. When a meter installed on the Ethernet
network has EtherGate enabled, a master device (such as a workstation running
ION Enterprise software) can communicate to the meter, and through the meter to
a serial network of devices wired to the meter’s COM port.
Ethernet uses ‘virtual’ ports to create many-port capability for devices on the
Ethernet network. Each virtual TCP/IP port specifies which COM port on the
gateway meter data is sent, as illustrated below.
To set up EtherGate, take the following steps:
1. Connect the gateway meter to the Ethernet, and wire the serial network of
devices to the meter’s COM port. Perform basic setup on each meter.
Then, using ION Enterprise software:
2. Add an Ethernet device that defines the meter that you have installed on the
Ethernet network.
3. Add an Ethernet gateway site to enable Ethergate on the Ethernet device you
added in step 2.
4. Add each device on the serial loop to the Ethernet gateway site you added in
step 3.
These steps are described in more detail below.
ETHG
COM2
COM1
Ethernet
Serial
lo
op
to
s
er
ia
l d
ev
ice
(s)
Specifying the TCP/IP Port
instructs the ION gateway
meter to:
7801—talk through COM1
7802—talk through COM2
7803—talk through COM3
7800—talk through COM2
and COM3