PROLiNK PPS2104N User Manual - Manual (Page 14)

EN 11
4. Using the ShareHub Device Servers
4.1. Introduction
The goal of this produce is to provide the ShareHub Device Servers in a single product. We developed a new
technology called “NetUSB” to achieve this goal. Basically, the “NetUSB” is a “USB over IP” technology that
transparently redirects all USB packets to TCP/IP network channel. “NetUSB” allows you to use USB devices as
if they were connected directly to your PC although they are actually remotely connected to the PROLiNK®
ShareHub Device Servers (PPS2101/PPS2101N/PPS2104N).
4.2. Connect & Disconnect
“NetUSB” allows you to use USB devices as if they were connected directly to your PC although they are
actually remotely connected to the PROLiNK® ShareHub Device Servers. The “connect” operation is a
software operation that simulates an actual USB device plug-in. That is to say, when you do a “connect”
operation in the ShareHub Device Servers Control Center, PC can then detect a USB device’s plug-in, although
actually you do not plug in any USB device. Similarly, the “disconnect” operation is a software operation that
simulates the disconnection of the USB device. Once the connect operation is successful, the operations to use
that USB device are just the same as if the USB device is directly connected to the PC.
If a USB device is “connected” by a PC, we say that PC has the ownership of the USB device. Only one PC can
get the ownership of a USB device at the same time. Therefore, if a USB device is connected by one PC, no
other PC can connect this USB device until this USB device is disconnected.
4.3. Subnet Issue
Before using the NetUSB technology, you must first make sure that your PC can access the PROLiNK®
ShareHub Device Servers via TCP/IP. The simplest way to do this is using “ShareHub Device Servers Control
Center” to search for the PROLiNK® ShareHub Device Servers on the network and change its IP address to
be the same subnet as your PC. If the server and your PC are not in the same TCP/IP subnet, ShareHub Device
Servers Control Center will show the server in red, as the following figure. You must change the IP address (or
using DHCP) of the server so that the server and your PC are in the same subnet. ShareHub Device Servers
Control Center will show these servers in blue, meaning you can access these servers by the NetUSB
technology.