When should I use the RFC 2217 mode of my SeaLINK Ethernet serial server?

RFC 2217 is a popular protocol for accessing serial ports over a network. A server that uses RFC 2217 allows its serial port to be controlled through the network by another device called an RFC 2217 client, which is often a computer. This RFC 2217 client can often use an application designed for an attached serial port with the remote serial port it controls on the RFC 2217 server.

Use the RFC 2217 mode of your SeaLINK Ethernet serial server whenever your client is RFC 2217 capable, and the client must be able to directly change any of the following settings of a port attached to the serial server: baud rate, number of data bits, number of stop bits, type of parity and type of flow control. In RFC 2217 mode, the serial server will update these port settings in response to a network command that comes to it from the RFC 2217 client whenever the client needs the settings changed. These new port settings will override the port settings entered at the web page of the serial server.

For instance, if you have a software application that gives the user the option to change the COM port’s baud rate, use RFC 2217 mode on the serial server and configure the COM port as a RFC 2217 client using the SeaLINK Configuration Utility. Each time the application user changes the baud rate of the COM port from inside the application, the serial server will take this baud rate in response to the command it receives over the network from the computer.

Also use RFC 2217 mode if a port of your serial server has control signal pins present such as Request-to-Send (RTS) and Clear-to-Send (CTS), and your project has an RFC 2217 client which needs to manage those pins.