VSPD and VSP Manager

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Virtual Serial Port Driver (VSPD) and Virtual Serial Port Manager (VSP Manager) are parts of the Device Server Toolkit (DST).

 

The VSPD powers Virtual Serial Ports (VSPs) that emulate "real" COM ports under Windows OS. The VSP Manager is used to add, delete, and setup VSPs.

The VSPD is an "engine" that powers Virtual Serial Ports (VSPs ). To any Windows application the VSP "looks and feels" just like a "normal" COM port. In reality, the VSP transparently reroutes all data sent by the application to the Tibbo Device Server ("DS") and the serial device behind it ("attached serial device"). Likewise, all the data sent by the serial device is received by the DS and routed to the VSP , which, in turn, passes this data to the application. Both the software application on the PC and the serial device communicate with each other just as if they were interconnected by a "normal" serial cable, without knowing that there is a network in between. This allows you to network-enable your existing serial system without changing the serial device itself or its PC software.

VSP_how_this_works (JPG)

The VSPD is a driver and is running in the very "guts" of the Windows OS . Its presence is only manifested by the VSPs available to Windows applications.

The VSP Manager is an application that allows you to add, remove, and setup VSPs .  The VSPD and the VSP Manager are different entities (one is a driver , another one- a setup utility ). This Manual offers combined description of the two and all VSPD features are explained "through" the VSP Manager .

Closely related to the work of the VSPD is the Port Monitor , another member of the DST , that is used to log the activity of the VSPs .