There are pretty detailed instructions that come with every NI GPIB controller. Basically, you first install the drivers that come with the device. IMake sure to install both NI-GPIB and NI-VISA. After the driver is installed, you can install the GPIB. Usually, a wizard will start up automatically that will verify the software and the board is correctly installed. If it doesn't, one of the software tools installed is Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX). Start MAX and expand the devices and interfaces listing. Find your GPIB device, right click on it and you can select the 'Getting Started Wizard'. Follow the instructions. Assuming you have a newer GPIB device from NI, there is no configuration required. It's all plug and play. You are just verifying the device and software are installed correctly.
One of the other things you do is right click on the device and select 'Scan for Instruments'. This will find every GPIB instrument on the bus. There is also an option to then start communicating with your instrument.
When you use LabVIEW, the recomended api for GPIB instruments is VISA. These functions can be found on the Instrument I/O VISA palette. The Instrument I/O Assistant is on the Instrument I/O palette. You tell VISA which instrument you want to talk to by using a VISA Resource Name control. If you put one of these on the front panel, you would wire it to a VISA Write or VISA Read. On the front panel, you can click on the little arrow on the right side of the control to get a list of all VISA resources. VISA resources include GPIB instruments and serial ports. Select the GPIB resource that matches your instrument. You do something similar with the Instrument I/O Assistant.
