Function to find instrument​s on a LAN

[Wolfgang]

Hi,

it's an old question, see here, but so far I have not heard about a practical solution. The quest is to find all instruments on a local LAN that are switched ON (and connected to the LAN, of course). Unfortunately, viFindRsrc does not work. Pinging all possible addresses seems not a viable solution due to the required time, either. So it's possible to detect all serial instruments, all instruments connected via GPIB, but until now there is no standalone solution (i.e.without involving NI-MAX) to detect instruments on a local LAN...

Thanks,

Wolfgang

[LuisG]

Hi Wolfgang,

Have you looked into the NI System Configuration library? It should get installed to your CVI library menu when you install NI-MAX (so, yes, you can't completely avoid NI-MAX).

There is a function in that API (NISysCfgFindSystems) which you can use to discover devices in a subnet.

There are some caveats, though. From what I understand, this library uses other NI drivers internally (e.g. NI-VISA and NI-488.2) to do its work so, depending on the device, you might still have to configure them in MAX ahead of time. For example, if a device is not a LXI device, I think VISA only recognizes it if you have explicitly added it to MAX.

[Wolfgang]

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@luis wrote:

... 

For example, if a device is not a LXI device, I think VISA only recognizes it if you have explicitly added it to MAX

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Yes, that is exactly my problem / wish... I do not have LXI instruments, but newer instrumentation usually comes with LAN capabilities (instead of serial or GPIB). While ten years ago I could use viFindRsrc to detect this instrument (then with serial), now I miss a possibility to detect this instrument which is connected to my local LAN.

I have modern hardware but need to configure it manually...this is odd.

There is some software available to detect instruments on a LAN, but I did not want to use an extra program but a simple function call within C...

[LuisG]

Okay, I see.

My only advice, at this time, is that you resubmit this suggestion in this board instead, which is the one that NI system configuration folks monitor, otherwise it would lead a lonely, ignored existence in the CVI forum 

Luis

[Wolfgang]

I have re-posted the suggestion as requested. What should I do to help my other lonely, ignored suggestions?