VISA: E2050A not accessible from remote PC

[askit]

I have an E2050A LAN/HP-IB gateway (192.168.178.1) up and running on my testbench PC (BK8040). The LAN/HP-IB gateway is connected to a 2nd network card of this PC (net 192.168.178.0), its 1st network card is connected to the house-LAN. The 2 network cards are in different subnets, no routing is configured between them.

What's ok

The testbench PC can talk to the GPIB voltmeter 23 by using the follwing VISA instrument descriptor in Labview:
TCPIP::192.168.178.1::hpib0,23::INSTR

Thanks to rapid 

What's not ok

My workbench PC - connected with the testbench PC per house LAN - can't talk to this GPIB voltmeter [1].

The corresponding workbench VISA Instrumentdescriptor
visa://BK8040/GPIB0::23::INSTR
doesn't work from the workbenchPC (no error message)!?

First steps to track down the problem

Workbench PC's MAX > NI-VISA > VISA Interactive Control:
A double klick on item "visa://BK8040/GPIB0::INTFC" (item shows yellow question mark) leads to the following message:
.----
| VISAIC
| Unable to open session to "visa://BK8040/GPIB0::INTFC"
| Return status code: 0xBFFF0011
| Status name: VI_ERROR_RSRC_NFOUND
| :
`----------------
However a double click on item "visa://BK8040/ASLR1::INSTR" opens a dialog box with the setup of the testbench PC's COM1 interface, so the VISA connectivity between workbench PC and the testbench PC's COM1 interface works fine.

At testbench PC's MAX > NI-VISA > VISA Interactive Control:
A double click on the suspicious VISA Resource "GPIB0::INTFC" (here also a yellow question mark) shows
.-----
| Device Status
| VISA returned this device when finding resources, and MAX
| could use VISA to parse the resource name. MAX could not
| successfully open a VISA session to the device.
| :
`-----------------

Indeed the testbench PC can use his VISA Instrument descriptor
TCPIP::192.168.178.1::hpib0,23::INSTR
even without a MAX-Configuration of the gateway, but the gateway is not accessible from the workbench PC.

Any hints how to solve this?

Thanks in advance.

Martin

[1] I followed the steps in Remote Instrument Control with NI-VISA to configure and start the VISA server on the testbench PC, I can reach this PC from my workbench PC: MAX > Tools > NI-VISA > VISA Interactive Control > Reource to Find: visa://testbenchPC/?*

[markus kossmann]

Either setup routing between your house-LAN and your 192.168.178.x test-LAN. Or connect the LAN/HP-IB gateway directly to your house-LAN.  The LAN/HP-IB gateway is just a network device and you must handle it like any other network device ( i.e like a networked printer) if you want to access it over the network.

[askit]

Unfortunately it's not allowed to connect the E2050A to the companies house LAN, because it only supports BOOTP, not DHCP. Therefore it's not allowed to connect the test subnet and the house subnet. I try to solve this by using the posted configuration with the 2nd network card and using VISA to "connect" the workbench PC by the house LAN to the testbench PC in Labview.
The NI VISA server is made to offer the testbench PC's measurement hardware to a remote PC (my workbench PC), but there is a further step required to achieve this also for a E2050A.
The testbench PCs MAX says "MAX could not successfully open a VISA session to the device.", but the testbench PC's Labview definitely can talk through the E2050A to the voltmeter by VISA (first posting). Perhaps it's only a small step to achieve this also by remote VISA ...

By the way: I noticed a GPIB-ENET/100 LAN HPIB gateway in the list of possible MAX items, the E2050A is not. Is it possible to make available a GPIB-ENET/100 LAN HPIB gateway (connected to a 2nd NIC of the testbench PC) on a remote PC by remote VISA?

[AndreasStark]

Hi Martin,

are you sure, you started VISA Server?

1. open MAX and go to Tools > NI-VISA > VISA Options
2. Start VISA Server
   
3. Config Access options
   

Now you should be able to use your VISA device from your remote workbench PC

(Try it in VISA Interactive Control in MAX:    visa://testbenc pc ip/?*)

Regards,

[askit]

Hi Andreas,

thank you for your interest and the precise description of the slightly hidden startup of the server, but:
Yes I did start the VISA server successfully (I wrote in my first post "Workbench PC's MAX: ... However a double click on item "visa://BK8040/ASLR1::INSTR" opens a dialog box with the setup of the testbench PC's COM1 interface, so the VISA connectivity between workbench PC and the testbench PC's COM1 interface works fine.")

The problem is, that the testbench PC's VISA server can't offer the testbench PC's measurement interface "E2050A on 2nd NIC" for some reason...

Martin

[AndreasStark]

Hi Martin,

could you post some screenshots?

It is quite hard for me to reproduce the issue since I dont have the E2050A.

Regards,

[askit]

I have an E2050A LAN/HP-IB gateway (192.168.178.1) up and running on my testbench PC (BK8040). The LAN/HP-IB gateway is connected to a 2nd network card of this PC (net 192.168.178.0), its 1st network card is connected to the house-LAN. The 2 network cards are in different subnets, no routing is configured between them.

What's ok

The testbench PC can talk to the GPIB voltmeter 23 by using the follwing VISA instrument descriptor in Labview:
TCPIP::192.168.178.1::hpib0,23::INSTR

Thanks to rapid 

What's not ok

My workbench PC - connected with the testbench PC per house LAN - can't talk to this GPIB voltmeter [1].

The corresponding workbench VISA Instrumentdescriptor
visa://BK8040/GPIB0::23::INSTR
doesn't work from the workbenchPC (no error message)!?

First steps to track down the problem

Workbench PC's MAX > NI-VISA > VISA Interactive Control:
A double klick on item "visa://BK8040/GPIB0::INTFC" (item shows yellow question mark) leads to the following message:
 

 

However a double click on item "visa://BK8040/ASLR1::INSTR" opens a dialog box with the setup of the testbench PC's COM1 interface, so the VISA connectivity between workbench PC and the testbench PC's COM1 interface works fine:

 

At testbench PC's MAX > NI-VISA > VISA Interactive Control:
A double click on the suspicious VISA Resource "GPIB0::INTFC" (here also a yellow question mark) shows

  

Indeed the testbench PC can use his VISA Instrument descriptor
TCPIP::192.168.178.1::hpib0,23::INSTR
even without a MAX-Configuration of the gateway, but the gateway is not accessible from the workbench PC.

Any hints how to solve this?

Thanks in advance.

Martin

[1] I followed the steps in Remote Instrument Control with NI-VISA to configure and start the VISA server on the testbench PC, I can reach this PC from my workbench PC: MAX > Tools > NI-VISA > VISA Interactive Control > Reource to Find: visa://testbenchPC/?*

[AndreasStark]

Hi Martin,

it is not possible to use the Agilent Gateway through remote VISA. Reason for that is that the Agilent gateway is not recognized as a GPIB device on the testbench's MAX. Hence it is not possible to use it via remote VISA.

You have three options to use your Voltmeter from the workbench PC:

1.  You can purchase an NI GPIB product that he can use to connect to the Voltmeter. This will be recognized properly by MAX, and thus able to be remotely accessed on the second machine.

2.  You said this is not possible, but you would need to put the cards on the same subnet, or have some kind of routing between then.  Then you would be able to access the resource on the workbench machine by using a TCP/IP resource name

3.  Lastly, you can try using Agilent VISA (ensure he has this installed on both machines).  You should be able to recognize the E2050A as a GPIB resource, and then access this remotely.

 

(Thanks to Kelly for the help!)

Let me know if that helps.

Best Regards,

Message Edited by AndreasS on 03-09-2010 10:18 AM