Using a USB to Ethernet Adapter

[Gregory]

I originally had my equipment plugged into an ethernet switch, and it showed up as a network device in MAX. Eventually, we will move this device between 10 different stations, so I thought it would be nicer to get 1 USB-Ethernet dongle rather than 10 ethernet switches.

I'm using Windows 7, and got this model of adapter from Anker. I've installed the drivers, and I see the connection in "My Network Connections", but I don't see anything in MAX yet. I've tried disabling the firewall, but that did not change anything. Does anyone have tips for getting this connection to show up in MAX?

[RTSLVU]

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@Gregory wrote:

I originally had my equipment plugged into an ethernet switch, and it showed up as a network device in MAX. Eventually, we will move this device between 10 different stations, so I thought it would be nicer to get 1 USB-Ethernet dongle rather than 10 ethernet switches.

I'm using Windows 7, and got this model of adapter from Anker. I've installed the drivers, and I see the connection in "My Network Connections", but I don't see anything in MAX yet. I've tried disabling the firewall, but that did not change anything. Does anyone have tips for getting this connection to show up in MAX?

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To begin with when you said "I originally had my equipment plugged into an ethernet switch" I take it that means you had teh computer connected to the switch and the device you were testing also attached to the switch, right?

So that means the computer must already have a network card.

Why then do you think you need teh USB-Ethernet adaptor?

[Gregory]

I would like to connect to the office's network through the built in network card (which is the setup at the customer site), and connect an instrument to a USB port using the USB to ethernet adapter. Previously, I was connecting both the network and the instrument to a switch, which was connected to my computer.

[RTSLVU · Accepted solution]

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@Gregory wrote:

I would like to connect to the office's network through the built in network card (which is the setup at the customer site), and connect an instrument to a USB port using the USB to ethernet adapter. Previously, I was connecting both the network and the instrument to a switch, which was connected to my computer.

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Ah.. Got it, but in general the USB NIC should look just like ant otehr network connection. What you are missing is things like a DHCP server that hand out the IP adresses to devices tha are plugged into the network.

Set a static IP on the USB adaptor in Windows use something like 192.168.100.1 and set the instrument to use a static IP address like 192.168.100.2 both use subnet mask 225.225.225.0.

Chances are these days the instrument and even teh USB NIC are "Auto MDX" so you can use a straight throug cable, but if that does not work then try a crossover  cable

[mikeporter]

Yes, this is an excellent point. I have gotten to where I always use a USB NIC to connect with instrumentation. The are really pretty inexpensive, and save a ton of time configuring and reconfiguring ports -- not to mention preventing errors!

Mike...

[Sam_Sharp]

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@RTSLVU wrote:

Chances are these days the instrument and even teh USB NIC are "Auto MDX" so you can use a straight throug cable, but if that does not work then try a crossover  cable

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Assuming you've already checked the network configuration settings so both devices are on the same subnet - the cable is probably the problem. I have had problems in the past with USB Ethernet adapters not auto-detecting that it was a crossover cable and it's quite likely that it's not supported by instruments. Either pick up a crossover cable, or get a little plug-in crossover adapter.

[Gregory]

All of your posts were helpful, thank you! 

After I verified that the adapter worked fine when plugged into the network, I tried RTSLVU's suggestion of setting the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0. The device was set to 192.168.45.180, so I set the USB NIC to 192.168.45.179, and everything is working as expected now. 

[froitest]

I can't detect the oscilloscope to the NI MAX (version 20.0.0f0). Hope you can help.

The connection is here below. 

Windows 7 Tektronix oscilloscope>LAN cable>USB 3.0 Ethernet adapter (RJ45 to USB adapter)> Windows 10 PC

Should the NI MAX automatically detect the oscilloscope?

[crossrulz]

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@froitest wrote:

Should the NI MAX automatically detect the oscilloscope?

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Autodetect VISA instruments over Ethernet does not work.  You would need to add the VISA device using the IP address.