I want to be able to connect to a D0-06DR PLC at a remote site with DS5.3. I have a Sierra Wireless LS300 cellular modem at the site that I use to connect to a data logger via Ethernet. Unfortunately, I don't have an open expansion slot that I can use to add an ECOM100 to the D0-06. In addition to the Ethernet port, LS300 has a DB9 serial port that can be used to connect to serial devices. I can set up the serial port to route incoming packets on a specific port (ie 28784) to the serial port.
In the past I've used serial port servers (Moxa NPort) to do something very similar however the NPort had a virtual serial port driver that created a virtual COM1 port. I could then set up a link to that virtual COM1 in DS5.3. I don't have a similar option for the LS300.
My question is can I use an Ethernet link setup in DS5.3 to connect to the PLC through the cell modem's serial port to the D0-06's port 1. Does K Sequence or DirectNET over an Ethernet link look like K Sequence or DirectNET over a COM link or are they very different?
I've tried establishing a connection this way but so far haven't had any success. If there's any experience out there with something similar I would appreciate any suggestions. Or tell me I'm barking up the wrong tree.
Thanks.