JP2000261481A - Method for maintenance of terminal adaptor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for maintenance of a terminal adaptor by which a data terminal or a host can make maintenance of the terminal adaptor without using a data form exclusively used for the maintenance. SOLUTION: The terminal adaptor 101 is provided with a serial port 202 connected to an inter-LAN connector 102, a LAN port 201 connected to a LAN 301 and a WAN port 203 connected to a WAN. The maintenance of the terminal adaptor 101 is conducted by a host 105 that transmits a command via the WAN port 203, the serial port 202, the inter-LAN connector 102, the LAN 301 and the LAN port 201 through the use of a TCP/IP packet communication protocol.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for maintaining a terminal adapter connected to a LAN via a LAN connection device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Local area networks (LANs)
Some terminal adapters (TAs) are connected to a LAN via a LAN connection device and the other is connected to a wide area network (WAN). Here, the terminal adapter has a serial data communication port and a WAN port, and the LAN connection device has a LAN port and a serial data communication port. The WAN port of the terminal adapter is connected to the WAN, and the LAN port of the LAN connection device is connected to the LAN. A serial transmission path is connected between the serial data communication port of the terminal adapter and the serial data communication port of the LAN connection device.

[0003] Each port of the terminal adapter is compatible with a different protocol. That is, the serial data communication port (serial port) has a protocol for communicating in bit units of data, the WAN port has a point-to-point protocol, and the LAN port has a protocol for communicating in TCP / IP packets.

[0004] Maintenance of this type of terminal adapter involves:
Conventionally, a data format dedicated to maintenance, which is different from a data format for data communication, has been used. For this reason, the data terminal or host that maintains the terminal adapter must
The data format dedicated to maintenance and the data format for data communication can be distinguished, and the data format dedicated to maintenance can be understood. The data terminal or the host configured as described above monitors the contents of the protocol conversion data relating to the data relay between the serial port and the WAN port of the terminal adapter,
Maintenance is performed as necessary.

[0005]

Conventionally, as described above, in a data communication system including a terminal adapter having a serial port and a WAN port, it is necessary to prepare a data format exclusively for maintenance for the terminal adapter. . For this reason, it is necessary to provide a function for interpreting the data format dedicated to maintenance in the data terminal or host for maintenance, and there is a problem that the data terminal or host for maintenance is limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a terminal adapter maintenance method capable of maintaining a terminal adapter from a data terminal or a host without using a data format exclusively for maintenance. It is in.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present inventor has intensively studied a method for easily maintaining a terminal adapter from a remote place. As a result, TCP / I
Focusing on the fact that a LAN port provided when a function as a router having a P-packet communication protocol is added is not normally used, and that maintenance can be performed via this LAN port even when the terminal adapter is operating. It has been found that the present invention has been made.

In the maintenance method for a terminal adapter according to the present invention, the terminal adapter includes a serial data communication port connected to the LAN-to-LAN connecting device, a LAN port connected to the LAN, and a WAN port connected to the WAN. The WAN port, the serial data communication port, the LAN-to-LAN connection device, the LAN, and the LAN, using a TCP / IP packet communication protocol from an information processing device that is provided and connected via the WAN.
The terminal adapter is maintained via a port. Here, the information processing apparatus is, for example, a host or a data terminal connected to a remote place.

In another maintenance method for a terminal adapter according to the present invention, the terminal adapter comprises: a serial data communication port connected to the LAN connection device;
LAN port connected to the LAN and WA connected to the WAN
An information processing apparatus connected to the terminal adapter via the LAN, and performing maintenance of the terminal adapter via the LAN and the LAN port using a TCP / IP packet communication protocol. It is. Here, the information processing apparatus is a host or a data terminal connected to the local LAN.

[0010] The terminal adapter according to the present invention has a TC
A LAN port having a protocol for communicating with P / IP packets, a serial data communication port having a protocol for communicating data in bit units, and a WAN port communicating with a point-to-point protocol, wherein the serial data communication port is a LAN The LAN port is connected to the same LAN as the LAN connected via the interconnection device.

[0011] A LAN system according to the present invention comprises: an inter-LAN connecting device having a LAN port and a serial data communication port; a terminal adapter having a LAN port, a serial data communication port and a WAN port;
A transmission path connected between the serial data communication port of the inter-AN connecting device and the serial data communication port of the terminal adapter; and a LAN connected to the LAN port of the inter-LAN connecting device and the LAN port of the terminal adapter, respectively. And is provided. With this configuration, the terminal adapter in operation can be easily maintained by the data terminal or the host using a general TCP / IP command without using a data format dedicated to maintenance.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a method for maintaining a terminal adapter according to the present invention. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG.
It includes a LAN port 201 having a protocol based on CP / IP packets, a serial port 202 having a protocol for communicating data in bit units, and a WAN port 203 having a point-to-point protocol. And L
The AN port 201 is connected to the LAN 301, the serial port 202 is connected to the LAN 301 via the serial transmission path 302 and the inter-LAN connecting device 102, and the WAN port 203 is connected to the WAN 303 and the inter-LAN connecting device 103.
Is connected to the LAN 304. LAN 30
1 is the data terminal 104, and the LAN 304 is the host 1
05 is connected.

In the network system configured as described above, the terminal adapter 101 transmits, for example, the packet data of the point-to-point protocol transmitted from the host 105 to the LAN 304 and the LAN connection device 1.
03 and received at the WAN port 203 via the WAN 303, and transferred to the serial port 202 via the solid arrow 401. The serial port 202 transmits the data to the LAN connection device 102 via the serial transmission path 302. As a result, the data terminal 104
This data can be received from the LAN-to-LAN connection device 102 via the.

In the present system, data can be transmitted along the reverse route. In this case, the terminal adapter 101 receives, for example, the point-to-point protocol packet data transmitted from the data terminal 104 at the serial port 202 via the LAN 301 and the LAN-to-LAN connecting apparatus 102, and receives the WAN port 203 via the solid arrow 401. Transfer to WAN port 20
3 transmits the data to the LAN-to-LAN connecting device 103 via the WAN 303. As a result, the host 105
This data can be received from the LAN connection device 103 via the AN 304. In this manner, the LAN 301 and the LAN 304 are connected via the LAN connecting device 102, the terminal adapter 101, and the LAN connecting device 103, and the data terminal 104 and the host 105 can communicate with each other. Note that a dotted arrow 402 in the terminal adapter 101 indicates a data flow when the terminal adapter 101 is used as a router.

Next, maintenance of the terminal adapter 101 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal adapter 101 includes a LAN port 201 for performing communication using the TCP / IP protocol.
01 is connected. In such a system configuration, when the maintenance of the terminal adapter 101 is performed by the host 105, the data transmitted from the host 105 is transmitted to the terminal adapter 101 in the same manner as received by the data terminal 104 as described above. Received by the LAN port 201. That is, the data of the TCP / IP packet communication protocol transmitted from the host 105 is transmitted to the LAN 304, the LAN-to-LAN connection device 103, and the WA.
N303, WAN port 203, serial data communication port 202, LAN connection device 102, and LAN 301
The data is input to the LAN port 201 via the terminal adapter 101, whereby the maintenance of the terminal adapter 101 is performed. With such a configuration, Telnet (Telnet) or Pi
ng (Packet InterNet Group)
r) and other general TCP / IP commands. Even if a data terminal is not connected to the LAN 301 when the system is installed, the LAN 301 and the L
It is possible to confirm communication of data communication between the ANs 304.

FIG. 2 (a) shows a graph of T which is obtained by using the present invention.
It is a flowchart which shows an example of an elnet service. Te
lnet is a TCP-based protocol that sets a communication path for character information called a remote Telnet connection between two devices. The host 105 interactively remotely controls the terminal adapter 101 via the network as follows. That is, the host 105
When a predetermined command is input from the keyboard of the terminal adapter 101 and transmitted to the terminal adapter 101 (FIG. 2).
(A), step 21), the terminal adapter 101 receives and processes a command from the host 105 via the LAN port 201 as described in FIG. 1 (step 2).
2). This process is performed using software stored in the terminal adapter 101. When the processing is completed, the terminal adapter 101 transmits the processing result to the host 10
5 (step 23). The host 105 receives this processing result and displays it on the screen (step 24).
The host 105 uses the TCP / IP command such as Telnet in this way to send the terminal adapter 1
01 remote control.

FIG. 2 (b) shows a graph of P used in the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of terminal adapter maintenance by ing. Ping is a command for knowing the state of the partner node on TCP / IP. The host 105 performs maintenance of the terminal adapter 101 via the network as follows. That is,
The host 105 first uses ICMP (Internet C)
An echo request is transmitted to the terminal adapter 101 using the control message protocol (step 25 in FIG. 2B). The terminal adapter 101 receiving this transmits an echo response to the host 105 according to this protocol (step 26). The host 105 checks whether this echo response has been received (step 27). As a result, when the echo response can be received, the terminal adapter 101 is functioning normally. Conversely, when an echo response cannot be received, it indicates that the terminal adapter 101 is in an abnormal state. In this case, a necessary measure is separately taken. The host 105 can maintain the terminal adapter 101 using a TCP / IP command such as Ping in this manner. Further, the host 105 is connected to the LAN port 201 of the terminal adapter 101.
By issuing the Ping command to, it is possible to confirm communication of data communication.

As described above, the terminal adapter according to the present invention has a built-in LAN port having a TCP / IP function, so that a TCP / IP packet can be used as a data format for maintenance. For this reason, the present invention uses a general TCP / IP command such as Telnet or Ping to execute a remote or local end TC.
The maintenance of the terminal adapter can be easily performed from the terminal having the P / IP function.

[0019]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a method of maintaining a terminal adapter, which enables a terminal adapter to be maintained by a data terminal or a host without using a data format dedicated to maintenance.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a terminal adapter maintenance method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 (a) is a flowchart showing an example of a Telnet service using the present invention, and (b) is a Pin using the present invention.
FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of terminal adapter maintenance by g.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Terminal adapter 102, 103 LAN connection device 104 Data terminal 105 Host 201 LAN port 202 Serial port 203 WAN port 301, 304 LAN 302 Serial transmission path 303 WAN

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5K033 AA05 CC01 DA01 DA06 DB19 DB20 EA03 EA04 EA07 5K034 AA16 CC06 FF11 HH04 HH06 HH14 LL01 MM39 NN04 TT02

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method for maintaining a terminal adapter connected to a LAN via a LAN connection device, the terminal adapter comprising: a serial data communication port connected to the LAN connection device; A LAN port connected to the WAN, and a WAN port connected to the WAN. The information processing apparatus connected via the WAN uses a TCP / IP packet communication protocol to communicate with the WAN port and the serial data communication. Port, the LAN connection device, the LAN, and the LAN
A maintenance method for the terminal adapter, wherein the maintenance of the terminal adapter is performed via a port. 2. A maintenance method for a terminal adapter connected to a LAN via a LAN connection device, wherein the terminal adapter is connected to a serial data communication port connected to the LAN connection device and connected to the LAN. And a WAN port connected to a WAN. The information processing apparatus connected via the LAN uses a TCP / IP packet communication protocol to transmit data via the LAN and the LAN port. A method for maintaining a terminal adapter, the method comprising maintaining the terminal adapter. 3. A serial port comprising a LAN port having a protocol for communicating with TCP / IP packets, a serial data communication port having a protocol for communicating with data in bit units, and a WAN port communicating with a point-to-point protocol. The LA is connected to the same LAN whose data communication port is connected via the LAN connection device.
A terminal adapter configured to be connected to an N port. 4. An inter-LAN connection device having a LAN port and a serial data communication port, a terminal adapter having a LAN port, a serial data communication port and a WAN port, and a serial data communication port of the inter-LAN connection device. A transmission path connected to a serial data communication port of a terminal adapter;
A LAN system comprising a LAN port of the interconnection device and a LAN connected to the LAN port of the terminal adapter.