Serial Port Monitor

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The serial port monitor allows you to monitor devices attached to local communication ports. Actually, this is not limited to serial (RS232) devices - devices connected via e.g. LPT ports can also be monitored as long as the device provides a proper interface to the port device.

 

For Example - uses for the serial port monitor may be interfacing to data loggers, "strange" log sources (e.g. PBX call logs) or out-of-band log retrieval (e.g. setting a router to log to the serial port instead to the network and then picking the data from that serial line). Out-of-band log retrieval can also be used to hide the fact that logging is actually taking place.

 

The serial port monitor works as follows: it listens to the configured port. With each received character, it checks if a configured "message end sequence" is received. If it isn't it continues listening until either another character is received or a timeout occurs.

 

If either the "message end sequence" is received or the timeout occured, the message is considered to be complete. In this case, an event is generated and that event is scheduled for processing.

 

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Filter Conditions - Serial Port Monitor

 

 

Timeout Limit

 

This is the maximum amount of time the service waits to receive the "message end characters" from the attached device.

 

 

How the message is ended

 

This is the sequence that, when received, denotes the end of the message. Most often, this is either "\r\n" or "\n" ("\r" represents a CR characters, "\n" represents a LF character).

 

 

Which Port do you want to monitor

 

This is the port that the device is attached to. Most often, this is either COM1: or COM2:. All locally-existing ports can be used. When working locally, the configuration program enumerates the locally available ports. This can be one of the following values:

 

1.        MSFAX
2.        COM1
3.        COM2
4.        COM3
5.        COM4
6.        FILE
7.        LPT1
8.        LPT2
9.        LPT3
10.        AVMISDN1
11.        AVMISDN2
12.        AVMISDN3
13.        AVMISDN4
14.        AVMISDN5
15.        AVMISDN6
16.        AVMISDN7
17.        AVMISDN8
18.        AVMISDN9

 

 

Port Settings

 

These settings must be set as expected by your device. If in doubt, consult your device manual.

 

 

Bits per Seconds

 

Bits per second can be 110 and go up to 256000, by default 57600 is selected.

 

 

Databits

 

Databits define the number of bits in the bytes transmitted and received.

 

 

Parity

 

With Parity you can configure the Parity scheme to be used. This can be one of the following values:

 

 

1.        Even
2.        Mark
3.        No parity
4.        Odd
5.        Space    

 

 

Stop bits

 

You can configure the Number of stop bits to be used. This member can be one of the following values:

 

1.        1 stop bit
2.        1.5 stop bits
3.        2 stop bits

 

 

DTR Control Flow

 

DTR (data-terminal-ready) flow control. This member can be one of the following values:

 

1.        DTR_CONTROL_DISABLE - Disables the DTR line when the device is opened and leaves it disabled.
2.        DTR_CONTROL_ENABLE - Enables the DTR line when the device is opened and leaves it on.
3.        DTR_CONTROL_HANDSHAKE - Enables DTR handshaking.

 

 

RTS Control Flow

 

RTS (request-to-send) flow control. This member can be one of the following values:

 

1.        RTS_CONTROL_DISABLE - Disables the RTS line when the device is opened and leaves it disabled.
2.        RTS_CONTROL_ENABLE - Enables the RTS line when the device is opened and leaves it on.
3.        RTS_CONTROL_HANDSHAKE - Enables RTS handshaking. The driver raises the RTS line when the "type-ahead" (input) buffer is less than one-half full and lowers the RTS line when the buffer is more than three-quarters full.
4.        RTS_CONTROL_TOGGLE - Specifies that the RTS line will be high if bytes are available for transmission. After all buffered bytes have been sent, the RTS line will be low.

 

 

Syslog Facility

 

The Syslog facility to be assigned to events created by the service. Most useful if the message shall be forwarded to a syslog daemon.

 

 

Syslog Priority

 

The Syslog priority to be assigned to events created by the service. Most useful if the message shall be forwarded to a syslog daemon.

 

 

Resource ID

 

The Resource ID to be assigned to events created by the service. Most useful if the message shall be forwarded to a Syslog daemon.

 

 

Syslog Tag Value

 

The syslog tag value to be assigned to events created by the service. Most useful if the message shall be forwarded to a syslog daemon.

 

 

Default Ruleset Name

 

Name of the rule set to be used for this service. The Rule Set name must be a valid Rule Set.