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Able to See ENET-Serial Device in MAX but Cannot Communicate with the Ports

Hardware: Serial>>RS-232>>ENET-232/2, Instrument Connectivity Other>>Ethernet>>ENET-232/4, Instrument Connectivity Other>>Ethernet>>ENET-485/2, Serial>>RS-485>>ENET-485/4

Problem:
When I connect to my ENET device (ENET-232 and ENET-485) with NI-Serial, I can see an ENET device in MAX and also see the ports under Serial and Parallel but when I attempt to communicate with it with either Communicate with Instrument, a VISA Test Panel, Hyper Terminal, or the Troubleshoot, I get an error.

Communication Through Error
MAX- Communicate with Instrument COM X could not be opened; the application will now close.
MAX- VISA Test Panel

Unable to open "ASRL8::INSTR"

Return status code: 0xBFFF000
Status name: VI_ERROR_SYSTEM_ERROR

Unknown system error (miscellaneous error).

MAX- Troubleshoot Test: Failed
Hyper Terminal Unable to open COMX. Please check your port settings.


Solution:
ENET devices use TCP port 44516 and UDP Port 44515 for discovery and installation and use port 5225 to do the actual communication. First be sure that theses ports are open on the firewall. 

If all ports are open, this issue may occur if the router is doing network address translation (NAT) from a routable address to the actual address of the ENET device. NI-Serial successfully communicates with the routable address on port 44516 to negotiate the connection on port 5225. NI-Serial then tries to open port 5225 on the non-routable address and fails.

One solution to this issue is to put the ENET-Serial device on a router that has routable address.

If it is required to keep the device behind a firewall, it would also be possible to place the device on a router that is on the network. The router will do NAT between the two addresses.  Then when NI Serial driver requests the address from the server, it will return the correct address.

Related Links:
KnowledgeBase 2GD9CL6Q: What Ports Do I Need to Open on My Firewall for National Instruments Software Products?

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Report Date: 05/22/2009
Last Updated: 05/26/2009
Document ID: 4XLCT245

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