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In OS/2 Warp server, using port to access client terminal using biometric device

Started by rajases6, 2010.01.25, 12:15:04

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rajases6

Hi,

An external biometric device is connected to a terminal.
Another terminal which is not connected to this external bio device

tries to read this device using commom port.

Case:
The Application is triggered using the below 2 Arguments and

application's logic is to read the bio device.

1. Terminal id
2. Teller id



Relationship between Master and Slave terminal ids with port and device
type is captured in a INI file.<br>

Master will be connected to bio device and the application reads the
information. This case is working fine. <br>
Slave will also try to access the bio device connected in corresponding
Master terminal id. This is not working. <br>


In what ways, we can make the slave to access the device.
Please give the correct steps we need to change or how to make this
scenario work modifying any files in OS2 Warp server?

Thanks
Rajasekaran

warpcafe

Hi Rajasekaran,

if I understand correctly, the remote machine cannot "connect" to the device attached on the other machine, right? I suppose 3 things are required:
- a program (or process) on the machine with the device attached that "serves" the information from the device to other clients/terminals
- a network (?) connection between the machines
- a program (like client) on the remote machine to "use" the information sent over the network

Ideally, this would just be the same application software, but in 2 different "connection" styles. The machine with the device uses serial (com) port access, the other one uses a tailored network connection.

Now question:
Have you any idea how the remote machine connects to the other one? TCP/IP? TCP or UDP? I just wonder whether the firewall of OS/2 is blocking the required ports in this case. In case you know the (TCP/IP) port and protocol, have a look at the "SERVICES" file in <bootdrive>:\MPTN\ETC and check if the port is contained. Otherwise, OS/2 will not allow traffic of that type (TCP or UDP) to go through that port.

Please let us know any network requirements or specifications.

Cheers,
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

Fahrvenugen

I admit I'm a little confused by the setup here too, but it occurs to me, if the whole system is OS/2 based and the master is connected to the Biometrics device via com port, it is possible that the slave is also using a Com port type of access too.  Networking in OS/2 (specifically the lan server in Warp Server and / or peer stuff in Warp Connect and Warp 4) includes Com port sharing across the network, something we often forget about but it is there (I used to use it to provide common FAX access).   If this is the case, it could just be a matter of making sure the COM port sharing is set up properly on your network.

On the other hand it sounds like the Slave might just be accessing the INI file that the master creates?  I'm just unclear on how your setup works, we'll need some more details.

rajases6

Hi All,
Thanks for the inputs. No TCP/IP or UDP protocols. I understand it is PEER to PEER.
The network setup in OS2 Warp currently is - " the batch system will generate a INI file in
Server which will have the Master terminal id, corresponding slave terminal id, Port number,
Device number
.

Using this INI file, we can now get the common port number which is used by both Master and
Slave.

But as i said earlier, only MASTER will have the biometric device connected directly via the port.

Our main application will reside in the SERVER, which has to read the details from device.

But if SLAVE terminal requests to access the biometric device connected in MASTER via common
port, we couldn't get the response. We are struck here.


Is there any command by which From Slave terminal we can trigger directly the port number of
Master terminal?


or What are the questions which we need to understand from networking perspective and post to
the client SME's?


Appreciate your help on the above.

Thanks
Rajasekaran



warpcafe

Hi,

well, that begins to smell like a vendor-specific software-based approach barely considerable to be of some "standard". I still don't get the picture. If you say "the network setup is: The batch system will generate a INI file"... woohoo, that's not a network setup ;)

From what you wrote so far, I seem to understand that the vendor has created a software system where the server (master) connects to the device and creates INI files for usage on (or config of) the clients (slaves). Okay. But how is the actual client/server communication done? If you say "PEER to PEER", this will mean NETBEUI. Or perhaps Netbios over TCP/IP, although you said there is no TCP/IP or UDP...

I could also imagine that "they" use a simply named-pipe alike communication.
Here's what you can ask the SMEs:

1) is it possible to have more than 1 simultaneous access to the device?
For instance: 2 clients accessing the common port on the server.
2) how do client and server (master + slave) communicate? Named pipes? Shares?
For instance: Is that software using something like \\MASTER\COM-PORT-ID or what?

Also, you could perhaps send us a snapshot of what the INI files look like.
Perhaps that reveals the "technology" used for the client/server communication.
I still fail to understand what you refer to when you say "port number". A network "port", a com "port" or what...?

I begin to think that the whole stuff is not an OS/2 issue but rather application software related.
So if you ask "is there any command by which..." I must admit that I haven't got the faintest idea! That is a question you should ask the vendor of the software, driver or device, not OS/2 people. :)
Sure there are trunkloads of commands that can be used to see if OS/2's basic network subsystem works or not... but I can't tell if that has any relevance to the software you are having over there...

Who wrote that software? Who's the vendor? Do they have support (if they still exist)?
I mean - if the thing breaks, where does your customer turn to?

You could perhaps also provide us with the IBMLAN.INI file of both the master and slave machine and attach them here (see below). Perhaps that gives an indication as well... so please, attach the following for further analysis:
- the software-created INI files and perhaps batch files of both master and slave
- the <bootdrive>:\IBMLAN\IBMLAN.INI files of both master and slave
- the <bootdrive>:\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL.INI files of both master and slave

Cheers,
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

Fahrvenugen

Hi,

I have to agree with Thomas that it does sound like a vendor-specific setup.  However there are a few things you can try.

Since you've said that the system is not using UDP, but standard Peer, I am guessing it may very well be using NetBEUI / Netbios.  If that is the case, it is entirely possible that the 2 systems are using standard network / device sharing between the master and the slave.

On your slave open up a command prompt and see what network resources you can view.  You can try:

net view \\MASTER_NAME

where MASTER_NAME is the machine name of the "master" computer.  See what it'll list for available resources.

If you see something like \\MASTER_NAME\COMPORT, then it is possible that somehow the share just ended up not connecting / mapping on the slave computer.  If you know which com port the Slave is looking to use and there is a COM port share on your master, you can try to to remap the com port with a command like:

net use comX \\MASTER_NAME\Com_share_name

Where of course the X is the port number that the slave software is looking to use.

I don't know if that will help or not.