Vision systems Modgate plus User manual

www.vscom.de

User Manual

ModGate Plus

Edition: August 2015

Tel: +49 40 528 401 0

Fax: +49 40 528 401 99

Web: www.visionsystems.de

Support: [email protected]

The software described in this manual is furnished under a license agreement and may be used

only in accordance with the terms of that agreement.

prohibited.

Trademarks

VScom is a registered trademark of Vision Systems GmbH. All other trademarks and brands are

property of their rightful owners.

Disclaimer

Vision Systems reserves the right to make changes and improvements to its product without pro-

viding notice.

Vision Systems provides this document “as is”, without warranty of any kind, either expressed or

implied, including, but not limited to, its particular purpose. Vision Systems reserves the right

to make improvements and/or changes to this manual, or to the products and/or the programs

described in this manual, at any time.

Information provided in this manual is intended to be accurate and reliable. However, Vision

Systems assumes no responsibility for its use, or for any infringements on the rights of third parties

that may result from its use.

This product might include unintentional technical or typographical errors. Changes are period-

ically made to the information herein to correct such errors, and these changes are incorporated

into new editions of the publication.

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 2

Contents

1 Overview 5

2 Introduction 5

2.1 Features ........................................... 5

2.2 Product Speciﬁcations ................................... 6

2.2.1 Common Characteristics .............................. 6

2.2.2 Device speciﬁc Characteristics .......................... 7

ModGate Plus 113 ................................. 7

ModGate Plus 213 ................................. 8

ModGate Plus 413 ................................. 9

ModGate Plus 813 ................................. 10

2.3 Packing List ......................................... 11

2.4 About this Manual ..................................... 11

3 Hardware Description 12

3.1 Conﬁguration by DIP Switch ............................... 12

3.2 Signal Assignment ..................................... 12

3.3 RS485 Electrical Conﬁguration .............................. 13

3.3.1 Termination Resistors ............................... 13

3.3.2 BIAS Function ................................... 13

3.4 Network ........................................... 13

3.4.1 WLAN Conﬁguration ............................... 13

3.4.2 WLAN Antenna .................................. 14

3.4.3 Ethernet ....................................... 14

3.5 Power Supply ........................................ 14

4 Conﬁguration 15

4.1 Home ............................................ 15

4.1.1 Status ........................................ 16

4.1.2 Actions ....................................... 16

4.2 General Settings ...................................... 17

4.2.1 Access Control ................................... 17

4.2.2 Ethernet (IP) Settings ............................... 17

4.2.3 WLAN Settings ................................... 18

WLAN Radio Cell Parameters .......................... 18

WLAN IP Settings ................................. 19

4.3 Modbus Gateway Conﬁguration .............................. 19

4.3.1 Modbus Gateway Settings ............................. 20

4.3.2 Conﬁguration of Serial Ports ........................... 21

4.3.3 Conﬁguration of TCP Connections ........................ 22

4.4 Mapping Table ....................................... 22

4.4.1 Devices to Serial or TCP (Direct Mapping) ................... 23

4.4.2 Serial to TCP (Promiscuous) ........................... 23

4.5 Manual Edit (Advanced) .................................. 23

4.5.1 General Options (general options for this program) ............... 24

4.5.2 Serial Ports (conﬁguration of serial ports) .................... 24

4.5.3 TCP Connections (conﬁguration of allowed TCP connections) ......... 24

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 3

List of Tables

4.5.4 Mappings - DirectMappingMode ......................... 25

4.5.5 Mappings - PromiscuousMode .......................... 25

4.6 Update Firmware ...................................... 25

5 Special Implementation Features 26

5.1 Modbus/TCP Request Queueing ............................. 26

5.2 Conversion of Serial Line Parameters ........................... 26

6 History 26

List of Figures

1 ModGate Plus 113 on DIN Rail .............................. 7

2 ModGate Plus 213 Top, Front, Left and Back Side ................... 8

3 ModGate Plus 413 ..................................... 9

4 ModGate Plus 813 ..................................... 10

5 Connector DB9 male .................................... 12

6 UPnP Device Display ................................... 15

7 Navigation Bar ....................................... 15

8 Status information ..................................... 16

9 Possible Actions ...................................... 16

10 Access Control ....................................... 17

11 Ethernet Settings ...................................... 17

12 WLAN Radio Cell Settings ................................ 18

13 WLAN IP Settings ..................................... 19

14 Gateway Settings ...................................... 20

15 Serial Settings ........................................ 21

16 Edit Serial Parameters ................................... 21

17 TCP Settings ........................................ 22

18 Edit TCP Connections ................................... 22

19 Mapping Table ....................................... 22

20 Edit Direct Mappings ................................... 23

21 Edit Promiscuous Mappings ................................ 23

22 Update Firmware ...................................... 25

List of Tables

1 Speciﬁcations, common .................................. 6

2 Characteristics of ModGate Plus 113 ........................... 7

3 Characteristics of ModGate Plus 213 ........................... 8

4 Characteristics of ModGate Plus 413 ........................... 9

5 Characteristics of ModGate Plus 813 ........................... 10

6 Switch Conﬁgurations ................................... 12

7 Signal Assignment DB9 male ............................... 12

8 Ethernet LED Function .................................. 14

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 4

2 Introduction

1 Overview

The ModGate Plus devices are designed to connect serial connection lines running Modbus protocol

to networks running Modbus/TCP. The network interface of ModGate Plus is implemented as

Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000 Mbit/s. The ModGate Plus Gateways are also available with a

second network interface as WLAN (802.11b/g/n), this will be used in parallel with the standard

Ethernet.

The network transport is implemented via TCP/IP protocol. Therefore control is available via

WLAN, Ethernet, Intranet and Internet. The serial data transmission uses Modbus/RTU and

Modbus/ASCII, physical on RS232 and RS485 connection lines. As an extension to the standard

RS422 is also available.

2 Introduction

This manual covers several models of ModGate Plus devices, in particular the ModGate Plus 113.

In general the operation is the same on all models, except where explicitly noted otherwise.

The devices come with a steel case well suited for industrial environments. The models provide

one, two, four and eight serial ports. Power-over-Ethernet may be ordered on the four and eight

port models.

The ModGate Plus Gateways support serial speed up to 115200 bps, which is a restriction of

Modbus. In RS232 mode the technical limit is 1000 kbps, used as RS485 the serial port can operate

up to 3 Mbps. In RS485 mode the serial ports use the Automatic Receive Transmit (ART) control

logic to follow the RS485 speciﬁcations for transmitting data.

2.1 Features

•Single power supply

DC 9-54V, 300-500 mA@12V

•Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n (optional with integrated module or USB expansion)

•Ethernet 10/100/1000BaseT/Auto-MDI(X) for auto-conﬁguration

•Serial port interfaces: RS232, RS422 and RS485

•Max. 115.200 bps, half- and full-duplex

•TCP/IP conﬁguration ﬁxed or by DHCP

•Easy remote conﬁguration via HTTP (browser)

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 5

2 Introduction

2.2 Product Speciﬁcations

Most of the hardware characteristics are common for all ModGate Plus models. However some

must diﬀer from model to model, they are shown in dedicated sections.

2.2.1 Common Characteristics

Processor ARM Cortex-A8

Memory 256MB SDRAM, 256MB Flash

WLAN antenna SMA-reverse

Ethernet connector RJ45 10BaseT/100BaseTx/1000BaseT

Serial connector DB9 male (similar to PC)

Serial Speed 180 bps up to 3 Mbps

Parity None, Even, Odd

Data bits 7, 8

Stop bits 1, 2

Serial signals

RS232 TxD, RxD, RTS, CTS, DTR, DSR,

DCD, GND

RS485 Data+/Data−, GND

RS422 Tx+/Tx−, Rx+/Rx−, GND

RS485 4 wire Tx+/Tx−, Rx+/Rx−, GND

Protocols TCP/IP, UDP, DHCP, ICMP, ARP, HTTP, SSDP/UPnP

Serial operation RS232 to RS485, conﬁgured by software

Management Web browser

Operating temp. -20°to 65°C

LED

Power Red Blinks once when ready

WLAN Blue Only when WLAN installed

Ready Green Lights when Firmware is operating

Serial Tx Green One for each serial port

Serial Rx Yellow One for each serial port

Approval CE, FCC

Table 1: Speciﬁcations, common

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 6

2 Introduction

2.2.2 Device speciﬁc Characteristics

The characteristics of certain ModGate Plus models are shown as a short overview for comparison.

ModGate Plus 113

Power requirement DC 9V to 54V, 300 mA@12V

Dimensions 115×73×25 mm3(W×D×H)

Weight 400 g

Mounting DIN Rail, Wall mount

Table 2: Characteristics of ModGate Plus 113

(a) Front, Top and Left Side (b) Rear Side

Figure 1: ModGate Plus 113 on DIN Rail

This is the ModGate Plus 113 with the serial connector, Ethernet port and USB for optional WLAN

expansion. The conﬁguration switches, power connector and Reset hole are on the rear side. Also

visible are two positions for a WLAN antenna, when the internal module is installed.

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 7

2 Introduction

ModGate Plus 213

Power requirement DC 9V to 54V, 300 mA@12V

Dimensions 115×73×25 mm3(W×D×H)

Weight 400 g

Mounting DIN Rail, Wall mount

Table 3: Characteristics of ModGate Plus 213

(a) Top, Front and Left Side

(b) Back Side

Figure 2: ModGate Plus 213 Top, Front, Left and Back Side

This is the ModGate Plus 213 with the serial connectors, Ethernet port and USB for optional

WLAN expansion. The conﬁguration switches, power connector and Reset hole are on the back

side (same as ModGate Plus 113). Visible on the left is the position for a WLAN antenna if the

integrated module is installed. There is another positon for this antenna on the back side.

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 8

2 Introduction

ModGate Plus 413

Power requirement DC 9V to 54V, 500 mA@12V

Dimensions 196×147×44 mm3(W×D×H)

Weight 900 g

Mounting 19 inch Rack, Wall mount

POE Optional supply by Power over

Ethernet 802.3af

Table 4: Characteristics of ModGate Plus 413

(a) Front Side

(b) Rear Side

Figure 3: ModGate Plus 413

This is the ModGate Plus 413. The front side presents the four serial ports, Ethernet connector

and the position for WLAN antenna with the integrated module. The rear side shows the Reset

hole, the USB port for WLAN extension, conﬁguration switches and the power supply.

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 9

2 Introduction

ModGate Plus 813

Power requirement DC 9V to 54V, 500 mA@12V

Dimensions 196×147×44 mm3(W×D×H)

Weight 900 g

Mounting 19 inch Rack, Wall mount

POE Optional supply by Power over

Ethernet 802.3af

Table 5: Characteristics of ModGate Plus 813

(a) Front Side

(b) Rear Side

Figure 4: ModGate Plus 813

This is the ModGate Plus 813. The front side presents the eight serial ports, Ethernet connector

and the position for WLAN antenna with the integrated module. The rear side is the same as on

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 10

2 Introduction

ModGate Plus 413 and shows the Reset hole, the USB port for WLAN extension, conﬁguration

switches and the power supply.

2.3 Packing List

•ModGate Plus Modbus Gateway

•WLAN Antenna for Models with integrated module

•CD-ROM with documentation

2.4 About this Manual

This manual covers many conﬁguration options of the ModGate Plus Modbus Gateways. The vast

majority of these are set by software, sometimes in alternative methods. To emphasize these in the

text, special character styles are used.

Bold Face is used for the names of conﬁguration options or buttons, as they are displayed in

menus or dialogs.

Slanted denotes text as displayed by the software. These are the names of parameter options,

as well as special values for multiple-choice parameters. Such values may appear in

drop-down lists, as radio buttons or just as clickable words.

Typewriter is used for sample User Input.

The version of the ﬁrmware described in this manual is 2.0.0.

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 11

3 Hardware Description

This section focuses on the options provided by the hardware of ModGate Plus Modbus Gateways.

3.1 Conﬁguration by DIP Switch

The ModGate Plus are conﬁgured using a webbrowser with JavaScript enabled. The DIP switches

on the ModGate Plus Gateways control special conﬁguration options.

Function S1 S2 S3 S4 Switch Positions

Conﬁguration IP 192.168.254.254 Oﬀ Oﬀ Oﬀ Oﬀ

Factory settings Oﬀ Oﬀ Oﬀ On

Standard Operation Oﬀ Oﬀ On On

Table 6: Switch Conﬁgurations

By default the ModGate Plus Gateway uses DHCP to get a valid IP Address. When the Gate-

way is conﬁgured for a static but unknown address, Conﬁguration IP temporarily sets it to

192.168.254.254.

For Factory Settings the DIP switch is ﬁrst set to the deﬁned conﬁguration. The parameters are

restored on Power-Up/Reset of the ModGate Plus Gateway. Wait until the Power LED blinks

once. Then change the DIP switch to Standard Operation and reboot the Gateway.

Standard Operation is the conﬁguration to use for operating in Gateway mode.

3.2 Signal Assignment

It is very important to know the exact location of the serial signals in the conﬁgured mode. Here

is the table for the DB9 male connector.

Pin RS232 RS422/RS485 4-wire RS485 2-wire

1 DCD Tx−(A) Data−(A)

2 RxD Tx+(B) Data+(B)

3 TxD Rx+(B)

4 DTR Rx−(A)

5 GND GND GND

6 DSR

7 RTS

8 CTS

Table 7: Signal Assignment DB9 male

Figure 5: Connector DB9 male

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 12

3 Hardware Description

For RS232 the assignment is the same as on any PC (Com1/2). This is required by RS232.

Please note the GND signal in RS485 modes (and RS422). This signal must also be connected

between the serial devices. So in reality there is not a 2-wire connection. With the exception of

very special conﬁgurations, a serial cable without GND violates the speciﬁcations for RS485.

3.3 RS485 Electrical Conﬁguration

In typical RS485 installations certain electric conditions have to be conﬁgured. Simply connecting

cables is not enough to fulﬁll the speciﬁcations of RS485. For ease of installations the ModGate

Plus Gateways provide these functions for often used parameters. They are activated by software.

3.3.1 Termination Resistors

The use of long communication lines in RS485 mode requires the installation of termination resis-

tors. These must match the impedance of the cable. Typical cables in Twisted-Pair conﬁguration

have an impedance of about 120Ω. In RS485 the typical conﬁguration requires one resistor at each

end of the cable. This resistor is activated via the webbrowser.

3.3.2 BIAS Function

RS485 requires a BIAS option for the communication lines. This will guarantee stable electrical

levels on the cables, even at times when no station is transmitting data. Without BIAS there will

be noise on the cable, and sometimes receivers can not detect the ﬁrst characters of a beginning

communication.

The serial ports of the ModGate Plus Gateways do not require adding BIAS. This function can be

added to the cable for other hardware on the RS485 bus.

3.4 Network

The ModGate Plus connects to Ethernet, and with WLAN option it may use Wireless LAN or

Ethernet at customers choice. Both interfaces are enabled and conﬁgured, a ModGate Plus with

WLAN accepts connections in parallel.

3.4.1 WLAN Conﬁguration

The pre-deﬁned operation mode is as Access Point, providing an open wireless network. Any

computer with WLAN equipment may contact the ModGate Plus with WLAN. This operation

mode is implemented to assist modern Windows and other operating systems, where the Ad-hoc

Mode is removed.

However the AP-Mode is not encrypted by default. As one result any station can read the data

transferred to the ModGate Plus with WLAN. This also includes the passwords. Therefore the

recommended method is to use the Ethernet connector for the ﬁrst conﬁguration.

The conﬁguration of the WLAN parameters should follow in a later step. This is especially the

case, if encryption or certain other parameters require special conﬁguration.

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 13

3 Hardware Description

3.4.2 WLAN Antenna

The connector used for the WLAN Antenna is known as SMA-Reverse. This is a standard type

to allow for simple connection of diﬀerent equipment. Just ﬁt the supplied antenna by carefully

screwing it to the connector. You are free to connect a cable and a diﬀerent antenna of your choice,

as long as it is designed for WLAN. When a ModGate Plus with WLAN detects an operational

WLAN it can connect to, the Blue LED lights.

3.4.3 Ethernet

The connector for Ethernet is the usual RJ45. Simply connect it to your (switching) Hub. Because

the Ethernet has Auto-MDI(X) function, a direct cable or a cross-over cable may both be used.

When the connect is done the Link LED on ModGate Plus (yellow) will light. When data traﬃc

occurs on the network, this LED will blink. It depends on your network whether a 1000 Mbit,

a 100 Mbit or a 10 Mbit connect will be established. A 1000 Mbit net causes the Speed LED on

ModGate Plus (green) to light, otherwise it will remain dark.

Red LED Yellow LED Green LED Status

Oﬀ – – Device oﬀ, no power

On Oﬀ Oﬀ No connection

On On Oﬀ 10/100 Mbit connection established

On Blink Oﬀ 10/100 Mbit data transfer (traﬃc)

On On On 1000 Mbit connection established

On Blink On 1000 Mbit data transfer (traﬃc)

Table 8: Ethernet LED Function

3.5 Power Supply

The ModGate Plus device is powered by a single 9-54V power supply. It requires 300 mA up to

600 mA of current, depending on the device type and voltage supplied. A suitable power supply

adapter is available as optional accessory. Connect the cable to the power jack (Terminal Block)

at the rear side of ModGate Plus, and put the adapter into the socket.

You may connect a power supply of your choice, providing the technical requirements are met.

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 14

4 Conﬁguration

The ModGate Plus provide a webinterface for conﬁguration. The IP Address of ModGate Plus is

used as the location to open by the web browser. Typically the IP Address is known to the user,

so this is an easy step. But this is not always the situation.

The ModGate Plus may use DHCP, which is also the default conﬁguration. If a DHCP server is

available, it will assign an IP Address from a conﬁgured pool. At ﬁrst this address is not known to

the user, since he can not access the DHCP servers log ﬁle. To solve this problem the ModGate

Plus uses UPnP. This mechanism announces the existence of ModGate Plus, so it will appear in

the Network Places of Windows.

Figure 6: UPnP Device Display

Next to the icon the detected model is shown. The Ethernet MAC address (without colons) is shown

as well, so users can identify the device they wish to conﬁgure. The text displays the IP Address

in parentheses, to make access possible. More easy, a double-click will open the browser with the

conﬁguration.

If no DHCP server is available, ModGate Plus uses the conﬁgured ﬁxed IP Address. If this address

matches the conﬁguration of the PC, UPnP is functional in the same way for getting access. If

the ﬁxed address does not match the PC conﬁguration, the user can either reset the ModGate

Plus to factory settings, or switch the ModGate Plus to the temporary conﬁguration address

192.168.254.254 (see section 6 on page 12).

Accessing the conﬁguration requires username and password, by default they are admin and vscom.

Figure 7: Navigation Bar

The navigation is done in the line on top of the parameters. Select the Home page, the General

Settings or the ModbusGateway Conﬁguration. The option of Manual Edit is reserved for

special purposes, and not a supported user conﬁguration so far. It is documented below (4.5).

Finally Update Firmware is the access to update the Firmware on the ModGate Plus.

4.1 Home

The Home page provides some Status information about the ModGate Plus to conﬁgure, as well

as some Actions the user can perform.

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 15

4 Conﬁguration

4.1.1 Status

Figure 8: Status information

The type of ModGate Plus is shown as the Model Name. For identiﬁcation the MAC-Address

is also given. Since such an address must be unique for all devices on the world, this is suitable

to check if the conﬁguration starts on the correct device. And last the Firmware Version is

presented.

4.1.2 Actions

Figure 9: Possible Actions

These Actions are required later, so they will be referenced in below sections. Here is only basic

information.

•Reboot Device

This will restart the complete ModGate Plus, thus cancelling all current operations and

connections.

•Restart application

The application is the Gateway part of the software.

•Download conﬁguration ﬁle

The ﬁle is shown in a separate browser window. The download is performed by just saving

the ’page’. For service requests it is useful to send this saved conﬁguration.

•View logﬁle

The log displays the operations performed recently. It is also shown in a separate window,

and can be saved in the same way as the conﬁguration. Also useful for service requests.

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 16

4 Conﬁguration

4.2 General Settings

4.2.1 Access Control

Figure 10: Access Control

It is recommended to change the password to the webinterface for security reasons. The username

is ﬁxed as admin. The factory password is vscom. Note: You have to reboot the device for the

changes to take eﬀect.

4.2.2 Ethernet (IP) Settings

Figure 11: Ethernet Settings

Ethernet is considered the most often used network connection of ModGate Plus. Therefore the

default conﬁguration is created for automatic acquire of suitable parameters.

Conﬁg Mode provides the choice between Auto (DHCP) and Manual. DHCP acquires the con-

ﬁguration from a certain server in the network, no need to deﬁne the other parameters.

Selecting Manual requires to conﬁgure all following parameters, except of Gateway

and DNS Server, if they are not known. Ask your Network Administrator for proper

parameters.

IP Address is the ﬁxed IP Address as given.

Netmask is the required Netmask.

Broadcast is the target address to use for sending out IP Broadcasts packages. Ask your Admin-

istrator.

Gateway This is the address of a Router, giving access to other networks (e.g. the Internet).

DNS Server This server translates Domain names like vscom.de to IP Addresses.

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 17

4 Conﬁguration

Note: You have to reboot (see 4.1.2) the device for the changes to take eﬀect.

4.2.3 WLAN Settings

Models ModGate Plus with WLAN provide Wireless LAN as of IEEE 802.11b/g/n. This network

can operate in parallel to the Ethernet.

Figure 12: WLAN Radio Cell Settings

WLAN Radio Cell Parameters These are the parameters to conﬁgure the radio operation, so

ModGate Plus will operate on WLAN.

SSID is the name selected for the Radio Cell. The SSID has to be the same for devices to

communicate with each other. It is initialized with a unique string, generated from the

last characters of the Ethernet MAC Address.

Operation Mode provides the choice between Access Point and Infrastructure. The Ad-hoc

mode used in the past is no longer available in modern versions of Windows and other

operating systems. Therefore it is replaced here by the mode of Access Point, which also

allows a PC to establish a direct connection to the ModGate Plus. In Infrastructure

Mode all communication is sent via an Access Point on-site, which operates as the

central hub of the Radio Cell. In general this also enhances signal quality, security and

bandwidth.

Wireless Mode may be selected as 11b for 11 Mbit/s or 11b+g+n for up to 150 Mbit/s.

CountryRegion WLAN is a Radio technique, so local regulations apply. These are selected

by country. FCC(1-11) is valid in North America, and ETSI(1-13) generally in Eu-

rope. SPAIN(10-11) and FRANCE(10-13) are special European conﬁgurations, ﬁnally

MKK(14) is required for Japan. Please check local restrictions on allowed radio chan-

nels.

Channel selects the frequency the cell shall operate on. The previous parameter of CountryRe-

gion may restrict the possible conﬁgurations.

Encryption Type is used to restrict access to the radio cell. The possible selections Oﬀ,WEP,

WPA-PSK TKIP and WPA2-PSK AES, where WPA2 is the most secure variant.

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 18

4 Conﬁguration

Encryption Key This is the secret key which provides access to the radio cell. Without this key

no station can join the Wireless network. The length of the string deﬁnes the strength

of the key.

•WEP with 5 characters: WEP-40/64 with 40 bit text key

•WEP with 10 characters: WEP-40/64 with 40 bit binary key (hexadecimal)

•WEP with 13 characters: WEP-114/128 with 114 bit text key

•WEP with 26 characters: WEP-114/128 with 114 bit binary key (hexadecimal)

•WPA/WPA2 with 8 to 63 characters: The 256 bit key is generated from this text and the

SSID

•WPA/WPA2 with 64 characters: The 256 bit binary key (hexadecimal) is directly given

Figure 13: WLAN IP Settings

WLAN IP Settings When ModGate Plus has access to the WLAN radio cell, this network inter-

face operates similar to Ethernet. Meaning all IP traﬃc operates exactly the same on Ethernet or

WLAN. This results in a conﬁguration parallel to Ethernet. Please ask your Network Administra-

tor for a correct conﬁguration, and compare the parameter meanings with Ethernet (see 4.2.2 on

page 17).

Note: You have to reboot (see 4.1.2) the device for the changes to take eﬀect.

4.3 Modbus Gateway Conﬁguration

The ModGate Plus use a versatile but powerful concept of mapping target interfaces for incoming

Modbus frames. The decision where an incoming frame has to be transferred to is chosen on few

information, so the conﬁguration stays quite simple.

Modbus uses a Master/Slave concept of communication. Each slave device has an address, which

is unique on the line where it is connected to. The Master sends commands and requests, which

contain this address in the frame header. ModGate Plus knows which communication line (serial

port, TCP connection) the address is connected to. So it is easy to send the received frame to that

interface. Of course responses are identiﬁed and sent to the Master which requested them. This is

the DirectMappingMode.

However in many installations there is a ModGate Plus with a single serial port only. This Gateway

is contacted by only one Master via TCP. Naturally all data coming from TCP must be sent to

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 19

4 Conﬁguration

the serial port, and vice versa. It is not necessary to deﬁne all the Modbus addresses for just this

simple task. The conﬁguration is easy in the PromiscuousMode.

Note: Changes in this section do not need a complete reboot of the device, its suﬃcient to restart

the ModbusGateway application (see section 4.1.2 on page 16) once the conﬁguration is ﬁnished.

4.3.1 Modbus Gateway Settings

Figure 14: Gateway Settings

ListenAddress Speciﬁes the IP Address the modbus gateway application listens on. The default

value is 0.0.0.0, which means ModGate Plus accepts connections on all interfaces (Ethernet

and WLAN) in parallel. Enter the IP Address of either Ethernet or WLAN to restrict the

Gateway function to this interface.

ListenPort Speciﬁes the TCP port number the Modbus gateway application listens on. The default

value is 502, which is the reserved port for Modbus/TCP protocol.

GatewayMode Lets you specify the mode which the gateway operates in. DirectMappingMode

(Mapping of Modbus devices to serial ports or TCP connections) or PromiscuousMode (Map-

ping of serial ports to TCP connections).

Allow unknown clients Enables all stations to connect to ModGate Plus, without prior conﬁgura-

tion as an allowed target for data.

Verbose When enabled the Modbus gateway application writes more debug output in the logﬁle

(/var/log/modbusgw.log). Don’t enable this, unless you want to resolve problems!

The combination of PromiscousMode with Allow unknown clients is useful only for single port

models. All requests from any master on TCP is directed to the single serial port.

PromiscousMode on multi-port models requires the deﬁnition of TCP connections. This allows

the assignment of certain clients (Modbus Master) on TCP to a distinct serial port.

The DirectMappingMode routes Modbus requests to the targets based on the Modbus ID. The

requests may originate from any source, including unknown clients.

August 2015 ModGate Plus User Manual 20

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