How to Setup and Configure a TAP Carrier (RS232 Serial)

Video Transcript

Welcome to the video tutorial on how to configure PageGate to use serial based TAP. In this tutorial, we'll be going over how to configure PageGate to use an RS232/serial line to deliver messages to a serial connected TAP terminal. Before we begin, virtual machines can't typically interact with physical hardware, like serial lines. There are, however, serial and COM port virtualizers that can provide virtual machines access to physical hardware.

To communicate with a directly connected TAP terminal, there are two pieces of information you'll need:

• The COM port that the serial/RS232 is plugged in to
• The communication parameters (baud rate, parity, data bits, and stop bits) required by the TAP terminal

First, open the PageGate Admin. Next, expand the Connectors section. Expand the connector you want to tie the serial port to and go to the Settings sub-section. Set the "Serial Port" field to match the port the cable is plugged in to and check 'Direct Connect' to indicate that this is a serial, not a modem, connection. Click Apply.

Now that we've told PageGate where to find the serial line, we can add the carrier. Right click on Carriers and select 'Add'. Give the carrier a name. Set the Protocol to: TAP. Leave the phone number field blank. Set the Baud Rate, Data Bits, Parity and Stop bits to match the receiving TAP terminal's requirements. The industry standard for TAP is 1200 baud, even parity, 7 data bits and 1 stop bit. In the 'Init String' field, enter the word direct in all lower case letters. The 'Max Chars' field: when communicating to an on-site TAP terminal, you'll typically set this to 240. When finished, click Apply.

Now all that remains is adding a recipient. Right click on the Recipients section and select 'Add'. Give the recipient a name. Set the carrier to your serial based TAP carrier. In the ID/PIN field, enter the pager number. When finished, click Apply. This concludes the video tutorial on how to configure PageGate to deliver messages to a directly connected TAP terminal.