Simulator in different subnet than Designer

[Andrew S]

Hi. I'm developing a solution for a customer. They have a PC with a serial-port that connects to the device I need to use so I have the Simulator installed on that PC. I'd like to use my own PC which is on a different subnet for the design work. I can find the simulator on the design-pc in NetEdit but I can't seem to link to it. I have the firewall set up to allow all inbound ports from the design-pc so I don't think that's getting in the way. Is there something I'm missing?

Andrew.

[Andrew S]

I'm still having this issue. Advice, anyone?

[BobO]

You are trying to link to the Sim from a different PC?

[Andrew S]

Yes. The sim is at my customer's site hooked to one of their transducers.

[BobO]

Yes. The sim is at my customer's site hooked to one of their transducers.

Normal method of resolving a connection (a al NetEdit) is broadcast. Different subnet suggests routing, and routing generally isn't broadcast tolerant. You can connect to a specific IP address in either NetEdit or DmD (rather than scanning via broadcast to "find"). If the network provides the required routing, it should work fine. From DmD you'll need to go into the old link editor, select IP as the address mode, and manually enter the IP address of the target. In the case of the Sim, that should be the primary IP address of the PC it is running on.

[ADC Product Engineer]

Gateway addresses would also need to be set correctly on each end.

[Andrew S]

Thanks for the responses. As I mentioned, I can see the sim in NetEdit (I add the sim using "Connect Single" and it shows the MAC address and various stats about the sim) but I can't link to it. It's not a networking/routing issue. I can save the link but when I attempt to connect to it I get "ERROR! The defined link failed to communicate!".

Andrew.

[BobO]

Thanks for the responses. As I mentioned, I can see the sim in NetEdit (I add the sim using "Connect Single" and it shows the MAC address and various stats about the sim) but I can't link to it. It's not a networking/routing issue. I can save the link but when I attempt to connect to it I get "ERROR! The defined link failed to communicate!".

Andrew.

So you manually created a link, set IP Address as the address mode, entered the Sim's IP address, and that doesn't talk?

[franji1]

Double the timeout value on that link.  Make sure it's high enough.  Default is 100ms, so try 200ms (or more).  Not sure what routing/vpn/internet delays there might be.

[Andrew S]

So you manually created a link, set IP Address as the address mode, entered the Sim's IP address, and that doesn't talk?

Yes, that's correct. NetEdit doesn't appear to have a problem seeing it since it retrieves the settings from the sim, but if I click "Accept" I get the message mentioned previously.

Andrew.

[Andrew S]

Double the timeout value on that link.  Make sure it's high enough.  Default is 100ms, so try 200ms (or more).  Not sure what routing/vpn/internet delays there might be.

I've tried it on a different VLAN at the same site with the same result. I don't think it's a timeout issue. Thanks for the suggestion.

Andrew.

[BobO]

So you manually created a link, set IP Address as the address mode, entered the Sim's IP address, and that doesn't talk?

Yes, that's correct. NetEdit doesn't appear to have a problem seeing it since it retrieves the settings from the sim, but if I click "Accept" I get the message mentioned previously.

Andrew.

I have nor further guidance. Next step would be to get some network traces.

[Andrew S]

I'll get on that.

Can you confirm that there are no restrictions in either the Designer or the Sim that would require them to be in the same subnet?

Andrew.

[BobO]

I'll get on that.

Can you confirm that there are no restrictions in either the Designer or the Sim that would require them to be in the same subnet?

Andrew.

No. People routinely connect across the Internet.

The key point is routing. When an IP host attempts to connect to another host outside its subnet, the packet gets forwarded to the gateway, who generally also contains a routing function. The fact that NetEdit can see the Sim suggests that routing is fine, but DmD isn't doing anything different. Although DmD does more comms, the interface code is essentially the same.

[Controls Guy]

Double the timeout value on that link.  Make sure it's high enough.  Default is 100ms, so try 200ms (or more).  Not sure what routing/vpn/internet delays there might be.

This.  Remote access, even if everything is configured correctly, needs more timeout tolerance.