7.1.2. Administration

Note

The 8SMC4-USB-Eth adapter has been renamed 8Eth1 [1]. All available instructions in our manual are relevant and applicable to both devices.

7.1.2.1. Connecting the device

7.1.2.1.1. Connecting the adapter to a PC

The adapter is connected directly to the computer.

• Connect the power source USB-5V cable to the 8Eth1 adapter and wait for 1 minute for the device to boot up.
• Open Revealer and click “Search”.
• Connect the 8Eth1 adapter to your computer using an Ethernet cable directly or use an additional USB to Ethernet adapter (if all network connectors of the PC are already taken).
• Check that the LEDs on the network connector of 8Eth1 device are blinking.
• Wait for around 1 minute. Usually, both the PC and the 8Eth1 device are expected to be configured as DHCP (automatic), so after 1 minute both devices should automatically get IPs in the range of 169.254.xxx.xxx. Those IPs are chosen since no DHCP server was provided in this 2 nodes network.
• Click the “Search” button again. A new device in the list should appear. Click on its URL to open it in the web browser.
• If a new device didn’t appear, the situation needs additional troubleshooting - refer to FAQ. Most probably, either the PC or the 8Eth1 adapter were configured for a static IP address, that needs to be matched on the other side.

Warning

If you managed to connect from a DHCP (automatic) configured PC to the 8Eth1 device, the 8Eth1 will have an IP in the range of 169.254.xxx.xxx. Such IP address is not permanent and is bound to change with each 8Eth1 reboot! If you plan to establish a long term connection, consider setting up static addresses for both devices. To learn how to do it, you can refer to FAQ.

7.1.2.1.2. Connecting the adapter to a network

The adapter is connected to a router or a network switch.
The computer has Internet connection.

• Connect the power source USB-5V cable to the 8Eth1 adapter and wait for 1 minute for the device to boot up.
• Open Revealer and click “Search”.
• Connect the 8Eth1 adapter using an Ethernet cable to the network connector of a router or a network switch that also connects the PC to the common network.
• Check that the LEDs on the network connector of 8Eth1 device are blinking.
• Wait for around 1 minute. Usually, the network has a DHCP server which will automatically provide a correct IP address for the 8Eth1.
• Click the “Search” button again. A new device in the list should appear. Click on its URL to open it in the web browser.
• If a new device didn’t appear, the situation needs additional troubleshooting - refer to FAQ. Some networks might be configured for static IPs, so the 8Eth1 device needs to be configured with a valid static address.

Important

The 8Eth1 adapter and Revealer use multicast UDP and SSDP broadcasts. In some rare cases, the network or PC firewalls are configured to block those protocols for sequrity reasons, which denies the connection to the device. Having an empty list of devices in the “Revealer” after a search attempt may be a sign of such problem (usually, at least a couple of network devices, like printers or servers, should be visible). Consult your network manager and make sure that Port 49150 and the aforementioned UDP and SSDP protocols are not blocked! If the situation can’t be changed, you can look up 8Eth1’s network settings directly on the device as stated in FAQ and try to connect to the device directly selecting the xi-tcp type connection in XILab.

7.1.2.2. Automatic device detection

“Revealer” is a convenient cross-platform utility for searching devices on a local network. You can download the utility from the software page.

“Revealer” utility interface

The Graphical User Interface of the “Revealer” is a simple one. In order to start search click Search button - the scan takes approximately 3 seconds. After that all Standa 8Eth1 devices found in your local network will be listed on Legacy Protocol Devices panel as clickable links. When clicked, the link opens your defaul system browser and redirects it to Administartion interface web page.

Warning

“Revealer” uses UDP and SSDP broadcasts. When you click on the Search button, both broadcasts are used. For example:
To search Standa 8Eth1 adapter in your LAN UDP broadcasts are used. To search other devices, such as printers, MFU, network drives, video cameras, etc. uses SSDP broadcasts. You can read more about SSDP here.
It is important to note that “Revealer” might be unusable in the environments where UDP/SSDP broadcasts are forbidden or unwanted.

7.1.2.3. Overview

Standa 8Eth1 and Multi-Axis Motion Controller 8SMC4-ETHERNET/RS232-B19 devices is equipped with web-based Administration interface which enables the end user to control devices services and monitor system state.

Administration interface login page

In order to get access to the Administration panel, navigate your browser to http://[address] URL (where [address] should be replaced with IP address of the device in your local network and can be obtained with the help of “Revealer” utility). If you are doing this for the first time (or you’ve disabled cookies/password storage in your browser) you’ll need to authenticate yourself.

Hint

Use “admin” as login and password

Administration interface is split into three functional sections.

7.1.2.3.1. “Common” section

Common section page

This section contains generic system information and decimal serial numbers of all controllers connected to the device.

7.1.2.3.2. “Motion control” section

Motion control section page

This section is dedicated to motion control services supported by the device. “Motion Control services” panel contains a list of all currently available motion control services. Clicking on services’ title opens an appropriate settings panel (or none if service has no alterable settings). Clicking “Apply” button in settings panel will persist settings in database and restart corresponding service.

Note

Motion control services are mutually exclusive - only one can be active at any given moment. Starting one of the services will automatically stop previous active if any.

7.1.2.3.3. “Cameras” section

Cameras section page

In this section there is a list of all connected cameras. Each camera is associated with streaming server instance, which exposes settings, status indicators and controls.

7.1.2.4. Service control

The Administration panel enables you to control all available device services. There is a common management metaphor for all services independent of its’ actual functionality and aim. Each service has an associated Indicator button on the left of its title which shows current services’s status and enables changing it:

• Red color with “Stopped” label indicates that service is completely stopped; pressing the button will run service startup.
• Orange color with “Starting” label indicates that service is in interruptible start sequence; pressing the button will revert service to stopped state.
• Green color with “Stop” label shows that the service is up and running; pressing the button will trigger service stop sequence.
• Orange color with “Stopping” label indicates uninterruptible stop sequence.

Note

Many services have settings which can be altered. After changing any of such settings the corresponding process will be automatically restarted shortly - the Indicator button will show it dynamically.

7.1.2.5. Getting started with XILab

XILab is capable of interacting with remote controllers via Ethernet. However you need an 8SMC5 controller with Ethernet support, or a special XIMC server, which can be either obtained as a standalone program and installed on any appropriate device, or as one of the services of 8Eth1 adapter.

• If working with 8Eth1, connect controllers to the device with XIMC server. At the same time, it is assumed that the motor can be connected to the controllers and power supply is supplied (see Overview and getting started for more details).
• Connect the device with XIMC server to the same subnet that contains the control computer, DHCP server. In case of 8Eth1 adapter supply it with power adapter (via 5 V, 2 A connector) and wait for a minute to finish Linux boot on the onboard computer.
• Launch XILab and make the following.

At first start, XILab opens controller detection window with two virtual devices.

Click Settings, check Enumerate network devices in the right tab and click Rescan button in the left tap, XILab will find all axes connected to the system. XILab will use broadcast request to find available XIMC servers in your LAN.
You can also edit address list manually if desired.

In controller detection window choose an axis you need. You can control it in single-axis mode or in multi-axis mode if more than one axis was chosen. For additional information please refer to Getting started with XILab software and XILab application User’s guide.

Note

Once the device IP address has been found, it should be understood that moving the device to another location may lead to a change in its IP.

Working with multiple adapters may cause a problem when the same board responds in a broadcast requests. You can find a new device by two different ways:

• Disconnect other 8Eth1 adapters, find the device on the network, connect all again.
• Press Rescan button until you find sought-for device.

7.1.2.6. Firmware upgrade

To update the firmware of the 8Eth1 adapter, you will need a microSD of 4 GB (or more). You can use the microSD card already installed in the device.

Note

It is expected that for the microSD taken from the device Windows may generate a warning that it couldn’t detect the filesystem and that the drive needs a format operation. No further actions are needed.

• Preparing a microSD card

  • Remove the microSD card from the 8Eth1 adapter

  • Connect the card to your computer via a card reader

  • Use the program to record the image:

    Windows family OS
    

    • Download Win32 Disk Imager (official site) and start it
    • Specify autoinstaller image path in “Image File” field
    • Select your MicroSD drive in “Device” list
    • Press “Write” button and wait till progressbar completes

    Unix family OS
    

    • You can do it via dd utility but remember to substitute the device names with yours)

      dd if=autoinstall_image_2015-12-17.bin of=/dev/sdX bs=4M; sync
      

Insert the microSD card with the image into your 8Eth1 and turn it on. Now you should have your 8Eth1 device updated and fully operational.

[1]	The vendor code was changed in 2020, earlier this product had the vendor code 8SMC4-USB-Eth.