Issue 1.26 edited: 18/07/06 Remote Control Protocol-T01 Page 5 of 22
Copyright Quartz Electronics Ltd 2006
All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be adapted or reproduced in any form without the prior written consent of Quartz Electronics Ltd
3. Ethernet Physical Interface
More recent Quartz products such as the SC-1000, Q256, Xenon and Topaz are equipped with an
Ethernet port. These support 10base2 Ethernet using CAT5 cable. The network should ideally be closed
(or at least isolated with a suitable switch) for use with devices on the Quartz routing system.
Both the physical interfaces (Serial and Ethernet) use the same protocol command and reply structure,
which is detailed below. The following few paragraphs just describe the Ethernet configuration and
connection needed in order to communicate with these devices.
Each device on the network must be assigned a unique IP address. Changing and interrogating the IP
addresses are usually sent via serial port commands as documented in 4.14. If two controllers are
installed in the controller or routing frame two stream socket connections will be required to the main and
backup controllers, as either of the two might be in control of the routing system at any point in time.
Normally Quartz controllers will allow a TCP/IP connection via the telnet port number (23).
On the SC-1000 additional TCP/IP ports can be added to the configuration file currently selected by the
SC-1000. This is configured from WinSetup under the “System”->”SC-1000 Configuration”->”Options”
dialog. A TCP/IP port should be added using the Quartz protocol and at this point the user can specify a
port number for the conversation (please note this port number should be greater than 1024). Please
make sure the server check box is also ticked.
Quartz controllers use standard TCP/IP stream sockets (sometimes referred to as Berkeley sockets) to
communicate with other network devices needing to control the routing system. Stream sockets are
connection oriented, and so a connection must be opened and maintained for the duration of
communications. Stream sockets are supported for many different host environments and operating
systems.
In order to start communication with a controller the computer or other host device must originate the
communications. In other words the router controller will be the server and the computer will be the client.
The client should :
1. Create a stream socket.
2. Connect the socket to the IP address of the desired main/reserve controller on the port specified
in the configuration. (Note If there are redundant controllers, each controller will have its own
unique IP address and need a separate stream socket. However, only the active controller will be
able to accept a connection).
3. Once the connection has been successful, commands can then be sent to the routing controller
and the controller will reply according to the command sent as detailed below in section 4.
4. Once the connection is finished with, it should be closed as normal.
5. The routing controller will terminate all connections on a download of a new configuration so the
clients program should cope with losing and re-establishing this connection to the controller.
The SC-1000 controller allows the user to see a list of the currently active TCP/IP connections via both
the configuration port and the LCD window on the front of the unit.