Elatec TCPConv 2 User manual

TCPConv 2
Technical Manual
DocRev31, December 7, 2018
Elatec GmbH

Contents
Contents
1. Introduction .............................................. 5
1.1. Typical Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2. Important Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. Network Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1. IP Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2. Static IP Host Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3. DHCP Host Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3. Hardware Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.1. Network cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.2. Card Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3. Connect the Network Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.4. Power up the TCPConv 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4. Discovering TCPConv 2 Devices on the network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.1. Prerequirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2. Start TC2Config . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.3. Cross Subnet Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.4. TCPConv 2 Display List Sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5. Configuration via TC2Config . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.1. TC2Config Home Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.2. Network Configuration Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.2.1. Network Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.2.1.1. Name Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.2.1.2. IP Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.3. USB Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.3.1. Representation of Keyboard Newline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.3.2. TCP/IP Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.3.3. TCP Client Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.3.3.1. Connect automatically and stay connected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.3.3.2. Connect on any character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.3.3.3. Connect on character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.3.3.4. Disconnect character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.3.3.5. Disconnect timeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.4. RS232 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.4.1. Communication Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.5. Logging Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.5.0.1. Send Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.6. Password Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5.6.1. Custom Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5.7. Sending the Configuration to converters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5.8. Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5.8.1. Additional Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5.8.2. Log Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5.9. Saving Configuration to a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5.10. Read Configuration from a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
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Contents
6. Configuration via Web Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6.1. Open the Homepage of a selected TCPConv 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6.2. TCPConv 2 Homepage Setup Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.2.1. Network Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.2.1.1. Name Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.2.1.2. IP Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.2.2. USB Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.2.2.1. Representation of Keyboard Newline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.2.2.2. TCP/IP Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.2.2.3. TCP Client Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.2.2.4. Connect automatically and stay connected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.2.2.5. Connect on any character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.2.2.6. Connect on character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2.2.7. Disconnect character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2.2.8. Disconnect timeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2.3. RS232 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2.3.1. Communication Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2.4. Logging Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.2.4.1. Send Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
6.3. Change Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
6.4. Check Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
7. Refresh the Firmware on TCPConv 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
7.1. Update steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
8. Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8.1. Basic Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8.2. TCPConv 2 Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8.3. Network Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8.4. Printer.............................................. 43
8.5. Can the TCPConv 2 be discovered by the TC2Config Tool? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
8.5.1. Different Subnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
8.5.2. TCPConv 2 is on Static IP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
8.5.3. Can you open the homepage of the connected printer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
8.5.3.1. DHCP Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
8.5.3.2. Incorrect Static Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
8.6. Is the card swipe not being recognized by the authentication server? . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
8.7. DHCP Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
9. History of Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1. TCPConv 2 Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1.1. Firmware SB1.00/STD1.00.02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1.2. Firmware STD1.1.0.4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1.3. Firmware STD1.1.0.6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1.4. Firmware STD1.2.0.8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1.5. Firmware STD1.2.0.9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1.6. Firmware STD1.2.0.10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1.7. Firmware STD1.2.0.11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.1.8. Firmware STD1.2.0.16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.1.9. Firmware STD1.2.0.18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.1.10. Firmware STD1.3.0.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.1.11. Firmware STD1.3.0.9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.1.12. Firmware STD1.3.0.10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.1.13. Firmware STD1.3.0.11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
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Contents
9.1.14. Firmware STD1.3.0.12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.1.15. Firmware STD1.3.0.12-FCT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.1.16. Firmware STD1.3.0.13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.2. TC2Config Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
9.2.1. TC2Config V1.03 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
9.2.2. TC2Config V1.07 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
9.2.3. TC2Config V1.08 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
9.2.4. TC2Config V1.12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
9.2.5. TC2Config V1.14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
9.2.6. TC2Config V1.15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
A.FCCNotice .............................................. 51
B.ICNotice................................................ 52
C.Disclaimer............................................... 53
Page 4of 53

1. Introduction
1. Introduction
The Primary use of TCPConv 2 is to provide an on-ramp for USB or RS232 data to reach a network
Server which implements Authentication and optionally a Pull Printing feature. The TCPConv 2 is a 2 port
network router which is designed to be connected between a network printer and a print server. TCPConv 2
is equipped with one standard USB and one mini USB connector and a powered RS232-interface. A card
reader or keypad can be connected to either or both of these two ports and can be used to send data to
the authentication server. This is typically used to enable card based authentication and to release print
jobs from the print server to the attached network printer.
1.1. Typical Scenario
A typical application is to extend the feature set of a network device (i.e. a network printer), by enabling
connection of a local peripheral device such as a card reader or keypad.
Figure 1.1.: Typical Connection with TCPConv 2, reader and printer
1.2. Important Features
• TCPConv 2’s IP address may be obtained by DHCP or may be assigned statically.
• TCPConv 2 consumes only one IP address from the building’s DHCP server. This is important to
customers whose IT department charges based on the number of addresses in use.
• A card reader or keypad can be connected to the USB port. A second device can be connected to
the RS232 port. Both can be active at the same time.
• Supplies power to the RS232 port eliminating the need for a second power supply for that peripheral.
• Supports both Client and Server modes of communication. In client mode the converter will send
data whenever a card is swiped, in Server mode the converter must be polled to receive the data.
• Can be configured over the network via its web browser interface
• Can be configured directly from the TC2Config tool
Page 5of 53

1. Introduction
• Supports Syslog which enables remote monitoring of its health and status
• Each Ethernet port is default configured to auto-negotiate 10/100 Mbps full-duplex.
• The supplied TC2Config.exe tool provides a means for finding all TCPConv 2 devices on a network.
• With the inclusion of an external specification file, TC2Config.exe can discover devices on other
subnets.
The main feature of TCPConv 2 is that it can enable any printer to participate in card based authentication
along with the Pull Printing function. Single function printers or older MFPs which do not support the direct
connection of a USB card reader can now be enabled by connecting those devices to TCPConv 2.
TCPConv 2 presents only one MAC address to the building’s network infrastructure and requests only one
IP address from the DHCP server. TCPConv 2 behaves similar to a router where the printer connected to
TCPConv 2 has its own IP address but to the outside world it appears to use the IP address of TCPConv 2.
This means the TCPConv 2 can be easily integrated into existing network environments, without managing
extra IP addresses or paying for extra IT support costs associated with additional IP addresses.
Other than the few ports necessary to configure and operate the TCPConv 2, communication is transparent
between the printer and the local network. This makes it convenient to configure the connected printer as
if a TCPConv 2 were not connected in between.
Page 6of 53

2. Network Addressing
2. Network Addressing
2.1. IP Addressing
The TCPConv 2 has two network connections. The host connection can be configured to use either
DHCP or Static IP addresses to the building’s network. The Printer connection is always configured for
DHCP.
2.2. Static IP Host Addressing
In this discussion we will assume that a network printer which was already operating on the network with
a static IP address of 192.168.1.10 as shown in Figure 2.1. That printer will now be connected to the
TCPConv 2.
Figure 2.1.: Network configuration before introduction of TCPConv 2
A TCPConv 2 will be installed between the switch and the printer. When installing TCPConv 2 we often
need to maintain the network relationship between the existing printer and the print driver installed on the
user’s workstation. As a result the TCPConv 2 should be configured to use the printer’s original IP address
192.168.1.10.
The printer must now be configured with a different static IP address. TCPConv 2 is configured to pro-
vide the printer its address using DHCP. It is further configured to always issue the printer with an IP of
192.168.50.100. If the printer is configured for DHCP it will receive this address at each power up and at
each DHCP renewal. If the printer is not capable of DHCP it must be configured with a static IP address
of 192.168.50.100.
Note if the converter is placed on a 192.168.50.xx host network, the converter will automatically change
the printer address provided via DHCP to 192.168.60.100.
2.3. DHCP Host Addressing
In this example the printer is configured for DHCP and uses a hostname of Printer5EZ. When the printer
reaches out to the building router, its DHCP controller issues the printer an IP address 192.168.1.28.
Page 7of 53

2. Network Addressing
Figure 2.2.: Network Settings for TCPConv and Printer. Note the TCPConv takes the IP address that the
Printer had.
Figure 2.3.: Original Printer Connection
As with the preceding static IP address discussion, when installing TCPConv 2 we often need to maintain
the network relationship between the existing printer and the print driver installed on the user’s worksta-
tion. When the TCP Conv2 is inserted between the printer and building router, the TCP Conv2 should be
configured to use the printer’s original hostname “Printer5EZ”. The TCP Conv2 will then communicate with
the DHCP server and will receive its new IP address. Because it is reusing the printer’s hostname it will be
assigned the same IP address formerly used by the printer.
Because the printer will now receive its IP address from the DHCP server inside TCPConv 2, the printer
can retain its original domain name.
Because the building DHCP server updates the Domain Name Server (DNS) any print driver previously
configured for the printer will now communicate with the TCPConv 2. As a result the printer will appear on
the network as it did before the TCPConv 2 was installed.
Page 8of 53

2. Network Addressing
Figure 2.4.: Configuration with TCPConv 2 in between printer and building router
Page 9of 53

3. Hardware Setup
3. Hardware Setup
Figure 3.1.: Connection Diagram
3.1. Network cables
Refer to Figure 3.1 Connection Diagram which shows all of the possible peripherals and their connection
points. There are two Ethernet ports on the TCPConv 2, Host port is used to connect TCPConv 2 to the
local network and Printer port is used to connect printer to TCPConv 2.
3.2. Card Reader
The user can plug in USB reader directly to the TCPConv 2. Currently USB Human Interface Device and
CDC devices are supported.
TCPConv 2 can also provide 750mA current from Pin 9 of its RS232 interface. We do not recommend that
the additional power port supplied by a RS232 connector be utilized, because it may potentially damage
the TCPConv 2, as well as the external power supply.
3.3. Connect the Network Printer
Connect the network printer as shown in Figure 3.2. Leave the printer powered off until the TCPConv 2
has been configured.
Page 10 of 53