Serial Ports

This section describes how to set up access to serial ports for Windows applications displayed through SGD.

This section includes the following topics:

• Setting Up Access to Serial Ports

• Configuring the Microsoft Windows Application Server

• Enabling Serial Port Access in SGD

• Configuring the Client Device

Setting Up Access to Serial Ports

Setting up access to serial ports involves the following configuration steps:

1. Enable COM port mapping on the application server.

   See Configuring the Microsoft Windows Application Server.

2. Enable access to serial ports for SGD users.

   See Enabling Serial Port Access in SGD.

3. Configure the client device for serial port access.

   See Configuring the Client Device.

Configuring the Microsoft Windows Application Server

You can only access serial ports if COM port mapping is enabled on the Windows Terminal Server. See Configuring Microsoft Windows Terminal Services for Use With SGD for details of the Windows platforms that support COM port mapping.

Enabling Serial Port Access in SGD

Access to serial ports is enabled for all users by default. If serial port access is disabled, you can enable access to serial ports for all users, or for specific users.

When a user starts a Windows application, SGD checks the user profile for the user and then any parent object further up the organizational hierarchy to see whether access to serial ports is enabled or disabled. If all the objects checked are configured to use the parent’s setting, then the global setting is used.

Firewalls between SGD servers can interfere with the connections required for serial ports, seeFirewalls Between SGD Servers.

How to Enable Access to Serial Ports

1. In the Administration Console, go to the Global Settings -> Client Device tab and select the Serial Port Mapping check box.

   The Serial Port mapping check box is enabled by default.

2. (Optional)

   In the Administration Console, go to the Client Device tab for an organization, an organizational unit, or a user profile object.

   1. Select the Override Parent’s Settings or Override Global Settings check box.

   2. Set the Serial Port Mapping attribute.

      To enable access to serial ports, select the Enabled check box. To disable access to serial ports, deselect the Enabled check box.

   If you configure an organization or organizational unit object, this affects all the users in that organization or organizational unit.

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   Note - The changes made only take effect for new user sessions.

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Configuring the Client Device

To determine the serial ports that are mapped in the Windows Terminal Services session, you might have to configure the client device.

On UNIX and Linux client platforms, users must have read and write access to any serial device that is mapped. SGD uses the first match of the following:

1. The serial ports listed in the SUN_MAP_SERIALPORTS environment variable.

   Each serial port in the list is separated with a semi-colon and has the format serial device=com-port-name. For example:

   /dev/ttyS0=COM1;/dev/ttyS4=COM8

   The =com-port-name part is optional, but if it is omitted the serial port is mapped to COMx in the Windows application session, where x is the position of the serial port in the list.

2. The serial ports listed in the user’s client profile.

   The <serialports> entry in the <localsettings> section of the user’s client profile lists the serial ports to be mapped. See Client Profile Settings.

   The <serialports> entry has to be added manually.

   The serial ports are listed in the same format as above.

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   Caution - If a user has not edited their client profile, any manual changes made to the profile.xml file are lost when the user next logs in.

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3. The serial port listed in the SUN_DEV_SERIAL environment variable.

   This is a single serial device, for example /dev/ttyS2. This is always mapped to COM1 in the Windows application session.

On Microsoft Windows client platforms, SGD uses the first match of the following:

1. The serial ports listed in the user’s client profile.

   The <serialports> entry in the <localsettings> section of the user’s client profile lists the serial ports to be mapped. See Client Profile Settings.

   The <serialports> entry has to be added manually.

   Each serial port in the list is separated with a semi-colon and has the format serial device=com-port-name.

   COM1=COM5;COM2=COM8

   The =com-port-name part is optional, but if it is omitted the serial port is mapped to COMx in the Windows application session where x is the position of the serial port in the list.

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   Caution - If a user has not edited their client profile, any manual changes made to the profile.xml file are lost when the user next logs in.

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2. Any available COM1 to COM9 ports.

   The SGD Client attempts to open ports COM1 to COM9. If a COM port is found, it is mapped to the same COM port number in the Windows application session.