This page is designed to provide you with information about your viewLinc product (after installation).

How do you add IP addresses for data loggers?

How does viewLinc know which Digi devices (with attached loggers) are assigned to it?

What's Installed When I Install viewLinc 3.0 and vLog 4.10/4.21?

I want to run an External Digital Relay I/O device as part of my alarm system. How do I do this?

I'm using Digis to connect my loggers to the network. I want to move my Digi from one location to another within the same subnet. What do I need to do?

I'm using Digis to connect my loggers to the network. I want to move my Digi from one subnet to another. What do I need to do?

I'm getting communication alarms in viewLinc. I think my Digi or logger has stopped responding. What do I do?

I'm in viewLinc and trying to transfer logger files to a network location but it isn't working. What do I do?

I've made some changes in viewLinc, such as new thresholds and logger descriptions, but they're not showing up. What's wrong?

Rescanning com ports isn't working.

My Internet Explorer browser is running slowly, or has crashed. What do I do?

How do you add IP addresses for data loggers?

You don't. But, you do assign IP addresses to Digi devices. Because viewLinc communicates using COM ports, attaching data loggers to the network using Ethernet/IP addresses requires the use of a Digi networking device. Digi devices create virtual COM ports that allow data loggers to communicate with viewLinc using Ethernet. Digi devices should be configured with static IP addresses, which should be obtained from your IT department prior to installing the Digis and viewLinc. IP addresses are assigned to Digi devices during Digi driver installation. Refer to the Veriteq viewLinc 3.0 Quick Start Guide for Digi devices for installation instructions. For more about Digis, see www.digi.com.

How does viewLinc know which Digi devices (with attached loggers) are assigned to it?

It doesn't. Digi devices aren't 'assigned' to viewLinc 3.0; rather, viewLinc monitors the network for loggers attached to COM ports. As mentioned, viewLinc software communicates via COM ports. Installing a Digi device using the Quick Start Guide creates virtual COM ports which are monitored by viewLinc 3.0.

To see which COM ports are assigned to specific Digi devices, use Device Manager:

1. Open Device Manager (From Start, choose Settings, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management. Device Manager is on the left hand side).

2. Once Device Manager is open, click on Ports (COM & LPT) to see which COM ports are connected to which devices. (The Digi Devices should be named Digi xxxxx (where X is the model of the Digi).

3. For more detail, in Device Manager, under Multiport serial adapters, right-click the device in question. Choose Properties, select the Advanced tab, and click on the properties button. On the left will be a list of the COM ports used for this device.

To see which loggers are being controlled by viewLinc, see the System Settings > Hosts & Loggers tab in viewLinc.

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What's Installed When I Install viewLinc 3.0 and vLog 4.10/4.21?

viewLinc 3.0

Installing viewLinc (build 269) requires 312 MB of disk space.

Most of the files installed as part of viewLinc 3.0 are installed into one directory - by default, "viewLinc 3.0". During installation, administrators can change default file location and name.

The path to the files installed as part of viewLinc 3.0 is C:\Program Files\Veriteq Instruments\viewLinc 3.0.

The viewLinc 3.0 installer also creates a program group, Veriteq Instruments, in the Start menu: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Veriteq Instruments. During installation, the viewLinc 3.0 installer puts shortcuts to both the viewLinc login page and default viewLinc Help home page in the Veriteq Instruments program group.

During installation, the viewLinc 3.0 installer also puts shortcuts to both the viewLinc login page and default viewLinc Help home page on the desktop for the administrator who installed viewLinc: C:\Documents and Settings\<administrator_profile>\Start Menu\Programs\Veriteq Instruments

PostgresSQL (the database controlling much of viewLinc operation) is installed under C:\Program Files\Veriteq Instruments\viewLinc 3.0\pg.

While running viewLinc, you can automatically transfer logger data (.spl files) from the logger to a user-specified location. These .spl files are saved to wherever specified by the user. A typical .spl file for a two-channel logger is about 85KB.

viewLinc creates Event Logs which can be viewed from within the application. This data is stored within the PostgresSQL database files as well as C:\Program Files\Veriteq Instruments\viewLinc 3.0\log.

vLog 4.10/4.21

vLog V4.10 and vLog 4.21 require about 3MB of disk space.

The vLog installer installs most of its files in the folder specified by the user during installation. The default is C:\Program Files\Veriteq Instruments\vLog.

The vLog installation program installs the start menu items in the user-specified folder. The default is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Veriteq vLog.

The C:\Windows\vLog.ini file is created when the user first runs vLog.

While running vLog, you can transfer logger data (.spl files) from the logger to a user-specified location. vLog can also be used to create graphs (.spg files). Both .spl and .spg files are saved to wherever specified by the user.

vLog does not create any log files.

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I want to run an External Digital Relay I/O device as part of my alarm system. How do I do this?

In addition to email alarms and pop up windows, you can also run commands on the viewLinc Server machine (which in turn can trigger external devices) when an alarm threshold is exceeded.

To configure these:

In the Advanced area of the Edit Thresholds Settings screen, enter a DOS command in the appropriate box. There are different boxes to accept different commands for when an alarm is triggered, notification is repeated, alarm acknowledged, or alarm condition is no longer true.

You may be using a B+B Electronics External Digital Relay I/O Device. This device allows you to turn on two different devices (or both at the same time) if these devices are correctly wired to both power and the Digital Relay Device itself.

You must also attach the Digital Relay I/O Device to a COM port on the viewLinc Server.

The specific DOS command to enter in the viewLinc Edit Threshold Settings screen in viewLinc 3.0 when using the B+B External Digital Relay I/O device and the python SwitchBbRelay script (installed automatically as part of viewLinc 3.0) is:

python SwitchBbRelay.pyc <COM port to which the relay device is attached> <Option> where Option is one of:

1 – turn on Device 1

2 – turn on Device 2

3 – turn on both Device 1 and 2

0 – turn off both Devices.

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I'm using Digis to connect my loggers to the network. I want to move my Digi from one location to another within the same subnet. What do I need to do?

If you've used a static IP address for your Digi (as recommended) and are moving your Digi to from one location to another within the same subnet, here are the steps to follow:

1. Shut down all Veriteq software, if desired. (You may experience communication alarms while performing these steps if you don’t shut down viewLinc).

2. Unplug the Digi from the network (with loggers still attached).

NOTE: You do NOT need to uninstall the Digi software from the viewLinc Server or viewLinc Host machine. In fact, doing so will potentially cause problems when you reattach the Digi to the network.

3. Move the Digi to another location.

4. Plug the Digi into the network again.

5. Restart Veriteq software. viewLinc should be connecting to the Digi and see the loggers.

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I'm using Digis to connect my loggers to the network. I want to move my Digi from one subnet to another. What do I need to do?

If you've used a static IP address for your Digi (as recommended) and you're moving your Digi from one location to another in a different subnet, there are several configuration steps:

1. Shut down all Veriteq software, if desired. (You may experience communication alarms while performing these steps if you don't shut down viewLinc).

2. You do NOT need to uninstall the Digi software from the viewLinc Server or viewLinc Host machine; but, you just need to make some configuration changes. With the Digi still connected at its original location, log into the Digi web interface. In the address bar of a web browser, type the IP address of the device. (The IP of your device can be found using Digi's Device Discovery software.)

3. At the login screen, login as ‘root’ user and supply the password. The default password is ‘dbps’. If you have not changed the password, use the default.Unplug the Digi from the network (with loggers still attached).

4. From the navigation bar, choose Network. From the Network screen, enter the new IP address, subnet mask and gateway for the Digi device’s new IP address in the new subnet.

5. Reboot the Digi.

6. Move the Digi to its new location.

7. Configure the viewLinc Host to look for the Digi in this new subnet. On the viewLinc Host machine, from Device Manager, right click on the row for your Digi device.

8. From the Properties screen, choose Advanced>Properties>Network.

9. From the Network screen, enter the network settings to reflect the Digi's new IP address. Click OK.

10. Restart Veriteq software. viewLinc should be connecting to the Digi and see the loggers.

If viewLinc can't connect to these loggers or this Digi device after performing the above steps, there may be a port blocked on the router connecting the subnets. Try the following:

1. Determine if the Digi device in the new subnet is accessible from the viewLinc Host computer. From a command prompt on the viewLinc Host computer, type ping <IP address>. If there are successful responses to the ping, this test will prove that routing exists between the subnets. Go to the next test.

2. In the command prompt, type telnet <IP address>. If you get a login prompt, this test will prove that the Digi device is able to respond to requests. Hit "Ctrl+C" to abort the login. Go to the next test.

3. In the command prompt, type telnet <IP address> 771. If you get an error message (and the previous tests were successful) then Port 771 is being blocked between the local computer and the Digi. This port must be opened before the Digi can be used with Veriteq software. This port may be blocked by network devices (such as routers, firewalls or layer 3 switches) or PC software (such as the Microsoft Windows Firewall, 3rd party firewalls, or security software suites). Unblock this port.

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I'm getting communication alarms in viewLinc. I think my Digi or logger has stopped responding. What do I do?

1. Ensure your loggers are plugged in.

2. Ensure your Digi is connected to a power supply and the power supply is plugged in. The light on the front of the Digi should be solid red.

3. Ensure the Digi is connected to and communicating with the network. Try to ping the Digi by typing the following at a command prompt: ping <IP address of the Digi>.

4. If there is communication between the Digi and the network, check that the Verieq-supplied cable connecting the logger to the Digi is functioning properly. When the cable is functioning properly, the light should be mostly off with an occasional flicker. If the light on the cable is solid red, there is a problem with the logger cable or logger. See step 6.

5. If the light on the cable is working correctly but you are still getting communication alarms, go into Device Manager on the viewLinc Host computer and ensure the Digi is still installed. Under the Ports category in Device Manager, you should see an entry for Digi SP One. If you don’t see this, reinstall the Digi by following steps 2 B and C from the Quick Start Guide for viewLinc with Digi Devices.

6. If the light on the cable is not working properly, open a graphing application (vLog or Spectrum) and determine if the logger can communicate with the graphing application. If there is a problem with the logger communicating with the graphing application, it is likely the logger or logger cable is not functioning properly. Try connecting a new logger – or a logger that is known to be working – and see if you can connect to it in vLog or Spectrum.

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I'm in viewLinc and trying to transfer logger files to a network location but it isn't working. What do I do?

You need to ensure that the account that's running viewLinc has write permissions to the folder where you're attempting to transfer the logger files. The account that’s running viewLinc was set during installation. See information on installing viewLinc in the Administrator guide or online help.

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I've made some changes in viewLinc, such as new thresholds and logger descriptions, but they're not showing up. What's wrong?

Channel information is updated and refreshed depending on the refresh rate set in viewLinc. Determine the refresh rate viewLinc is using and wait the allotted time.

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Rescanning com ports isn't working.

Rescanning COM ports takes several minutes. Be patient.

My Internet Explorer browser is running slowly, or has crashed. What do I do?

If the browser connecting to viewLinc is on all of the time, we recommend you restart your browser as follows for optimal performance. This is caused by inherent memory problems in Internet Explorer. Failure to do this may cause your machine to crash.

Browser Restart Frequency Recommendations are:

Internet Explorer 7: Restart your browser weekly

Internet Explorer 6 : Restart your browser daily

Firefox : Only restart if needed.

For info on installing viewLinc with Digi devices, see Digi Installation guide.

For info on installing viewLinc (using COM, Serial ports), see viewLinc Installation FAQ.

For more help with any of these issues, contact Veriteq Instruments at 1-800-683-8374 or techsupport@veriteq.com.

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