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Introduction 
 
Quatech SDS User’s Manual 
Understanding how virtual communication ports work 
Single port Device Servers allow you to network individual serial 
devices such as printers, simple terminals, or medical monitoring 
equipment that were previously accessible only via a direct link.  
Note: Quatech Device Server 
technology now allows access 
to individual serial devices by 
anyone with access to the 
network on which they are 
installed. 
 
According to Dataquest, a Device Server is a “specialized network-
based hardware device designed to perform a single or specialized set 
of functions with client access independent of any operating system or 
proprietary protocol.” In terms of your new SDS, this means that you 
can connect any serial device to your network by connecting the serial 
device to a serial port on your SDS and connecting the Ethernet port 
on your SDS to your network.  
Note: Anyone in your organization 
with a PC can connect to the 
serial device over the network 
just as though the two devices 
were directly connected. 
 
The SDS, once it has been correctly configured, makes accessing a 
single serial device such as a time clock from your network a 
transparent operation. This means that a PC can perform all the 
operations in the same way it would if the serial device were plugged 
directly into its serial port.  
A network connection allows operation of serial devices at much 
greater distances than can be accomplished with a direct serial 
connection. Your SDS uses the TCP/IP protocol suite for network 
communications. This means that communication through an SDS 
can actually be more reliable than communication over long serial 
lines, which lacks the advanced error checking built into TCP/IP. 
Note: A protocol is a set of rules 
that notifies a transmitting 
device and a receiving device 
that the other is present and 
ready to exchange information, 
when the exchange is complete, 
and whether it was successful. 
 
Another benefit of accessing a serial device through an SDS is that 
you can monitor and manage the device remotely, even from across 
the world, if you have authorization and the network connection is to 
the Internet. 
Understanding MAC and IP addresses and port numbers 
Identifying the Ethernet (MAC) address 
Ethernet address, hardware address, and MAC address are all 
equivalent names for a device’s unique network address. In the case 
of an SDS, the first three bytes identify the unit as a Quatech 
product. The last three bytes are unique to each unit and are 
assigned when the unit is released from production. Colons separate 
the bytes. The following is an example of an SDS Ethernet (MAC) 
address: 
Note: You can find the unit’s 
Ethernet (MAC) address on the 
product information label 
located on the bottom of the 
unit. 
 
0 0 : 0 B : 2 8 : 1 2 : 3 4 : 5 6  
Quatech’s            Unique product 
unique identifier   identifier 
Assigning an IP address 
Every device that communicates over the Internet must have a 
unique IP address. You can assign an IP address to your SDS by 
either of two methods: 
¾ 
Through the Installation Wizard for initial configuration 
¾ 
Through the Web interface for reconfiguration and maintenance 
Page 2 
 
940-0183-151 
March 2005