Serial tunnel overview

As shown in Figure 142, tunneling in NiagaraAX uses a client-server architecture.

Figure 142. Serial tunnel architecture

Serial tunneling uses the following components:

Client (PC application) side

The NiagaraAX Serial Tunnel client installs on most Windows-based PCs (independent of Niagara Workbench). It provides a “Niagara AX Serial Tunneling” client via a “virtual” COMn port. For details, see Client side (PC application).
Server (station) side

The host JACE must have the “tunnel” module installed to support serial tunneling. In addition, its station must be configured with a TunnelService and a child SerialTunnel component. For details, see Station side (TunnelService).

A LonTunnel (“lontunnel” module) is also available, and uses the same basic architecture—as a child under a station’s TunnelService. The LonTunnel allows a Lonworks application tunneling to connected LON devices on a JACE’s FTT-10 network. For details, see “Lon tunneling” in the Lonworks Guide. Note client tunnel connections (serial or Lon) to a station’s TunnelService use basic authentication (credentials not encrypted), so security considerations apply. See Best security practices for tunneling.