Preface

Introduction 1

User Interface 2
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER
v1.5 Theory Of Operation 3
[Link]
Configuration File A

User Guide

10/2015
RC1071-EN-03
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User Guide

Copyright © 2015 Siemens Canada Ltd.

All rights reserved. Dissemination or reproduction of this document, or evaluation and communication of its contents, is not authorized
except where expressly permitted. Violations are liable for damages. All rights reserved, particularly for the purposes of patent application or
trademark registration.
This document contains proprietary information, which is protected by copyright. All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be
photocopied, reproduced or translated to another language without the prior written consent of Siemens Canada Ltd..

Disclaimer Of Liability
Siemens has verified the contents of this manual against the hardware and/or software described. However, deviations between the product
and the documentation may exist.
Siemens shall not be liable for any errors or omissions contained herein or for consequential damages in connection with the furnishing,
performance, or use of this material.
The information given in this document is reviewed regularly and any necessary corrections will be included in subsequent editions. We
appreciate any suggested improvements. We reserve the right to make technical improvements without notice.

Registered Trademarks
ROX™, Rugged Operating System On Linux™, CrossBow™ and ELAN™ are trademarks of Siemens Canada Ltd. ROS® is a registered
trademark of Siemens Canada Ltd.
Other designations in this manual might be trademarks whose use by third parties for their own purposes would infringe the rights of the
owner.

Open Source
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER contains Open Source Software. For license conditions, refer to the associated License Conditions document.

Security Information
Siemens provides products and solutions with industrial security functions that support the secure operation of plants, machines, equipment
and/or networks. They are important components in a holistic industrial security concept. With this in mind, Siemens ' products and solutions
undergo continuous development. Siemens recommends strongly that you regularly check for product updates.
For the secure operation of Siemens products and solutions, it is necessary to take suitable preventive action (e.g. cell protection concept)
and integrate each component into a holistic, state-of-the-art industrial security concept. Third-party products that may be in use should also
be considered. For more information about industrial security, visit [Link]
To stay informed about product updates as they occur, sign up for a product-specific newsletter. For more information, visit http://
[Link].

Warranty
Refer to the License Agreement for the applicable warranty terms and conditions, if any.
For warranty details, visit [Link]/ruggedcom or contact a Siemens customer service representative.

Contacting Siemens
Address Telephone E-mail
Siemens Canada Ltd. Toll-free: 1 888 264 0006 [Link].i-ia@[Link]
Industry Sector Tel: +1 905 856 5288 Web
300 Applewood Crescent Fax: +1 905 856 1995
Concord, Ontario [Link]/ruggedcom
Canada, L4K 5C7

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Table of Contents
Preface ................................................................................................................ v
Alerts .................................................................................................................................................. v
Accessing Documentation .................................................................................................................... v
Training .............................................................................................................................................. vi
Customer Support .............................................................................................................................. vi

Chapter 1
Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Features ...................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Use Cases .................................................................................................................................. 1
1.3 System Requirements .................................................................................................................. 2
1.4 Installation Notes ......................................................................................................................... 2
1.5 Compatibility/Operating Requirements ........................................................................................... 3

Chapter 2
User Interface ...................................................................................................... 5
2.1 Initialization .................................................................................................................................. 5
2.2 Main Window ............................................................................................................................... 5
2.2.1 Main Window Display ........................................................................................................ 6
[Link] Device Display Table .............................................................................................. 6
[Link] Color-Coded Indicators ........................................................................................... 7
[Link] Operations on Table Entries .................................................................................... 7
[Link] Main Window Display Columns ............................................................................... 8
2.2.2 Main Window Buttons ........................................................................................................ 9
2.2.3 Main Window Menu Bar ................................................................................................... 10
2.3 Device Discovery ....................................................................................................................... 13
2.3.1 Auto Discovery ................................................................................................................ 14
[Link] Auto Discovery Access Configuration ..................................................................... 14
2.3.2 Manual Discovery ............................................................................................................ 15
[Link] IP Address Range Discovery/Validation .................................................................. 16
2.3.3 Rescanning Discovered Devices ...................................................................................... 17
2.4 Device Configuration .................................................................................................................. 17
2.4.1 Single Device Configuration ............................................................................................. 17
2.4.2 Group Device Configuration ............................................................................................. 18
2.5 Device Control ........................................................................................................................... 20

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2.5.1 Download ........................................................................................................................ 20

2.5.2 Upload ............................................................................................................................ 21
[Link] Upload Process Sequence .................................................................................... 23
2.5.3 Maintenance .................................................................................................................... 24
2.5.4 Progress Indication .......................................................................................................... 25
2.6 Device Export ............................................................................................................................ 27
2.7 Device Import ............................................................................................................................ 27
2.7.1 Importing Devices ............................................................................................................ 28
2.7.2 Adding Devices Individually .............................................................................................. 29
2.7.3 Adding Multiple Devices ................................................................................................... 29

Chapter 3
Theory Of Operation .......................................................................................... 31
3.1 Device Discovery Methods .......................................................................................................... 31
3.1.1 Automatic (RCDP-based) Device Discovery ...................................................................... 31
3.1.2 Manual (TCP/IP-based) Device Discovery ......................................................................... 31
3.1.3 RCDP Versus TCP/IP Discovery Comparison .................................................................... 32
3.2 Security Considerations .............................................................................................................. 32
3.3 Duplicate Instance Detection ....................................................................................................... 33

Appendix A
[Link] Configuration File ................................................................ 35
A.1 Auto Configuration Parameters ................................................................................................... 35
A.2 Logging Parameters ................................................................................................................... 35
A.3 General Parameters ................................................................................................................... 35

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Preface
This guide describes the RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER software utility for the discovery, initial configuration and
general maintenance of ROS and RUGGEDCOM server networking products.
It is intended for use by network technical support personnel who are familiar with the operation of networks. It is
also recommended for use by network and system planners, system programmers, and line technicians.

Alerts
The following types of alerts are used when necessary to highlight important information.

DANGER!
DANGER alerts describe imminently hazardous situations that, if not avoided, will result in death or
serious injury.

WARNING!
WARNING alerts describe hazardous situations that, if not avoided, may result in serious injury and/or
equipment damage.

CAUTION!
CAUTION alerts describe hazardous situations that, if not avoided, may result in equipment damage.

IMPORTANT!
IMPORTANT alerts provide important information that should be known before performing a procedure
or step, or using a feature.

NOTE
NOTE alerts provide additional information, such as facts, tips and details.

Accessing Documentation
The latest Hardware Installation Guides and Software User Guides for most RUGGEDCOM products are
available online at [Link]/ruggedcom.
For any questions about the documentation or for assistance finding a specific document, contact a Siemens
sales representative.

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Training
Siemens offers a wide range of educational services ranging from in-house training of standard courses on
networking, Ethernet switches and routers, to on-site customized courses tailored to the customer's needs,
experience and application.
Siemens' Educational Services team thrives on providing our customers with the essential practical skills to make
sure users have the right knowledge and expertise to understand the various technologies associated with critical
communications network infrastructure technologies.
Siemens' unique mix of IT/Telecommunications expertise combined with domain knowledge in the utility,
transportation and industrial markets, allows Siemens to provide training specific to the customer's application.
For more information about training services and course availability, visit [Link]/ruggedcom or
contact a Siemens sales representative.

Customer Support
Customer support is available 24 hours, 7 days a week for all Siemens customers. For technical support or
general information, contact Siemens Customer Support through any of the following methods:

Online
Visit [Link] to submit a Support Request (SR) or
check on the status of an existing SR.

Telephone
Call a local hotline center to submit a Support Request (SR). To locate a local hotline center, visit
[Link]

Mobile App
Install the Industry Online Support app by Siemens AG on any Android, Apple iOS or Windows
mobile device and be able to:
• Access Siemens' extensive library of support documentation, including FAQs and manuals
• Submit SRs or check on the status of an existing SR
• Contact a local Siemens representative from Sales, Technical Support, Training, etc.
• Ask questions or share knowledge with fellow Siemens customers and the support community

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Introduction
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER is a lightweight, standalone tool providing limited management capabilities of ROS
devices. It allows a technician to discover, identify and configure all ROS-based devices. The tool will only allow
for the configuration of a small number of parameters to be discussed in detail later in this document.
Using the RUGGEDCOM proprietary Layer 2 RUGGEDCOM Discovery Protocol (RCDP), RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER is able to discover and configure ROS-based devices irrespective of their IP network configuration,
including devices having no IP configuration at all.
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER's Automatic Discovery mode requires RCDP support to be present in devices to be
discovered. This requires that devices be running ROS version 3.7 or newer. RCDP is enabled on ROS-based
devices by default when they are shipped from the factory.

Section 1.1

Features
• Automatic discovery of new, unconfigured RUGGEDCOM devices running ROS version 3.7.0 or greater using
RCDP over Ethernet.
• Manual discovery of RUGGEDCOM devices running ROS versions prior to 3.7.0 using TCP/IP.
• Basic configuration of IP addressing and system identification parameters.
• Bulk firmware updating of multiple ROS-based devices.
• Summary display of discovered devices, their status and some basic parameters.
• Easy identification of devices via control of panel LEDs.
• Easy manual importation of devices from a device list.

Section 1.2

Use Cases
Some common uses of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER are:
• Commissioning of new devices: Using RCDP, RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER allows a network of ROS devices to
be commissioned in place in the network with no prior configuration necessary. It is capable of discovering and
configuring ROS devices that have been taken directly from the factory and connected to the network.
• Bulk configuration or reconfiguration: RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER can be used to modify the network and
identification configuration parameters of one or multiple ROS devices, either one at a time, or using a
template-based auto-incrementing tool.
• Asset reporting: RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER can generate a report of ROS-based network device assets on
a network segment. If RCDP is supported on all devices, RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER need not have any prior
knowledge of IP addressing used by ROS devices.

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• Network debugging: RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER can be used to report the occurrence of duplicate IP
addresses, or of inconsistencies in IP address allocation among ROS devices. Note that RCDP support is
required in order to detect certain IP addressing misconfigurations.
• Bulk firmware upgrade: RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER can be used to upgrade the firmware of one or multiple
devices at once.
• System backup: The configuration, firmware, log, and other ancillary files of one or multiple devices can be
retrieved and archived in a single step.
• Diagnostic data retrieval: Diagnostic data (system logs and alarms) from one or multiple devices can be
retrieved and archived in a single step.

Section 1.3

System Requirements
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER is a Java-based application with a graphical user interface that that must be installed
and run with administrative privileges on a computer running Microsoft Windows. It has been tested against and
verified to operate correctly under Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows 7, Windows 8 (32 and 64 bit)
and Windows 10 (64 bit).
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER must be installed and run on a computer with an Ethernet network card. The network
card must be configured to use TCP/IP and have a valid IPv4 address.
An Internet connection is not required to install and run RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER but a Web browser is
required to make use of the integrated online Help (accessed via Help links within the software).

IMPORTANT!
Use RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER in a secured environment with controlled and monitored network
access and local machine access. This is because RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER is prone to Denial of
service attacks when flooded with maliciously crafted RCDP packets for the duration of the attack. In
such a case, you would not be able to configure new ROS devices.

Section 1.4

Installation Notes
The installation program contains the RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER application, integrated online Help, PDF
documentation, and all supporting software libraries required by the application. The RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER
installation program unpacks all files into a user-selectable directory.

NOTE
The online Help is displayed in a Web browser running with full administrator privileges. During
installation, you have the option to disable the online Help. Select No when asked if you want to install
the user guide, and this will disable the online Help.

NOTE
As part of the RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER software installation, WinPcap (the Windows Packet
Capture Library), is also installed. If WinPcap is already installed, its installation routine will ask
whether to continue or to cancel the WinPcap installation. Selecting "Cancel" at this point cancels the
reinstallation of WinPcap, and not the installation of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

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Section 1.5

Compatibility/Operating Requirements
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER is available in two different versions:
• The Non-Controlled version of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER contains support for the RSH and TFTP protocols
for remote command and file transfer. The main window banner of the Non-Controlled version is marked "NC".
• The Controlled version additionally contains support for the SSH and SFTP protocols.

NOTE
ROS has a three-digit version numbering system of the form X.Y.Z, where:
• X represents the major revision number.
• Y represents the minor revision number.
• Z represents the patch level.

RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER, and the different discovery methods it supports, have different ROS version
requirements from devices that it is to discover and manage:
• The Controlled and Non-controlled versions require ROS v3.5.3 or newer.
• The Automatic Discovery mode requires RCDP support, which is present in ROS v3.7.0 and newer.
In addition, it is assumed that no VLANs (tagged or untagged) have been configured in the devices to be
discovered and managed by RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER. In other words, ROS devices must have default VLAN
settings.

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User Interface
Section 2.1

Initialization
When RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER is run for the first time on a computer system that has more than one network
interface, it will prompt the user to select a network interface to use:

Figure 1: Network Interface List Dialog Box

If the computer system has only one network interface, this dialog box will not be displayed.

Section 2.2

Main Window
The RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER main window is displayed upon program initialization. RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER configuration and control, device discovery, upload, download and configuration, are all accessed
via buttons and menu items located in the main window. Devices discovered by RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER are
displayed in real time in the table that occupies most of the main window.

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Figure 2: Main Window

Section 2.2.1

Main Window Display

The main RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER window consists chiefly of a list of discovered RUGGEDCOM devices that
is updated in real time. As devices are discovered, they are displayed in the list and sorted by IP address. Each
row in the table contains information about the corresponding device.

Section [Link]
Device Display Table
The display is separated into two panes:
• The Status Pane, on the left, includes only a column for IP Address and a the section called “Status Lamp
Icon”. The size of this column is static and does not allow resizing.
• The Information Pane, to the right, includes all the remaining information columns (see the list below).
The Information Pane is customizable in several ways:
• Each column may be moved in relation to the others by clicking on the column title and dragging it left or right
across the pane.
• The entire display may be sorted on the basis of any one of the columns (including the IP Address column).
Clicking on a column title will sort the whole list in increasing order of the items in that column. Clicking again
will sort in decreasing order.
• Each column may be resized by clicking and dragging the rightmost edge of a column title.
• Selected columns may be hidden altogether by disabling them in the the section called “View Menu”. Note that
the "MAC Address" column cannot be hidden since it is the only piece of data that is guaranteed to be unique
among devices.

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Section [Link]
Color-Coded Indicators
Row Color
The row containing the data for a given device is displayed in a different background color depending on its
status:
• An IP address field displayed in a flashing yellow background indicates that the device has
accepted the "Flash LEDs" command. This state persists until a "Stop flashing LEDs" command is issued or
until it reaches its internal timeout (by default 5 minutes). This state is displayed at the same time as one of the
others described below.
•
Entries displayed in a red background have duplicate IP addresses. When the device's IP address has been
reconfigured, its background will revert to plain white.
•
Entries displayed in a blue background have been selected for further manipulation. Device selection is made
by clicking on an entry, holding down the Shift key and selecting a range of entries, holding down the Ctrl key
and clicking on additional entries, in the standard Windows interface style. Details of what can be done with
selected devices will be discussed in detail throughout this guide.

Status Lamp Icon

The Status Pane contains a lamp icon to the right of the IP address of the device, indicating the status of the
device. Moving the mouse to pause over this icon will cause a "tool-tip" window to be displayed with additional
status information. The status icon is displayed in one of three colors depending on the status of the device:
• An IP address field displayed with a green lamp icon indicates that RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER
has successfully established communication with the device.
• An IP address field displayed with a red lamp icon indicates that RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER has
not been able to establish communication with the device.
• An IP address field displayed with a yellow lamp icon indicates that RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER
has detected some error condition on the device, for example, that a file transfer has failed.

Section [Link]
Operations on Table Entries
Device entries in the Device Display Table support several operations and shortcuts:
• Clicking on a device entry selects it for further operations using the Section 2.2.3, “Main Window Menu Bar” or
the Section 2.2.2, “Main Window Buttons”.
• Double-clicking on a device entry brings up the Section 2.4.1, “Single Device Configuration” dialog box.
• Right-clicking on a device entry brings up a pop-up menu:

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This pop-up menu contains the following: a link to the Section 2.4.1, “Single Device Configuration” dialog box;
the ability to start or stop flashing LEDs on the device; a single "ping" test to verify that the device is reachable
via IP; and the ability to to disable RCDP.
• Hovering over an IP address field displays a tool-tip message containing a brief summary of the corresponding
device's status, for example:

Section [Link]
Main Window Display Columns

Figure 3: Main Window Display Columns

RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER's main window displays columns of information captured from a device when the
device is first discovered.

Parameter Description

IP Address The IP address of the discovered device. RUGGEDCOM

EXPLORER can discover devices with duplicate IP addresses when
they are discovered using the Auto Discovery method. Devices
with duplicate IP addresses will be highlighted in red to visually
differentiate them from unique IP addresses. This is the only fixed
column on the main window, meaning that it cannot be moved
from its location. The information in this column can be modified by
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Mask The IP address mask of the discovered device. The information in

this column can be modified by RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Default Gateway The default IP gateway of the discovered device. The information
in this column can be modified by RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER and
may be blank.

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Parameter Description

MAC Address The MAC address of the discovered device. This is a fixed value
and therefore this column is not modifiable by RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER.

System Name The configured system name of the discovered device. This column
could contain the default value of the device ("System Name") or
any string that has been configured. The information in this column
can be modified by RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

OS Version This column will display the current running version of ROS on
the discovered device. The information in this column cannot be
modified by RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Serial Number The unique serial number assigned to this device by Siemens at
the factory. The information in this column cannot be modified by
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Order Code The order code of this device as set by Siemens at the factory. The
information in this column cannot be modified by RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER.

Location The configured location string of the discovered device. This column
could contain the default value of the device ("Location") or any
string that has been configured. The information in this column can
be modified by RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Contact The configured contact information of the discovered device. This

column could contain the default value of the device ("Contact") or
any string that has been configured. The information in this column
can be modified by RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Section 2.2.2

Main Window Buttons

Figure 4: Main Window Buttons

Several buttons and controls are located in a row above the main display window. These provide rapid and
convenient access to the most commonly required functions of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Parameter Description

Discovery Clicking Discovery on the main window launches the Automatic and
Manual device discovery processes. Please refer to Section 2.3,
“Device Discovery” for more detail.

Configure Device / Group This button is sensitive to context:

•
is displayed when no discovered devices
are selected.
•
is displayed when a single discovered
device is selected. Clicking this button displays the Section 2.4.1,
“Single Device Configuration” dialog box

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Parameter Description
•
is displayed when multiple discovered
devices are selected. Clicking this button displays the
Section 2.4.2, “Group Device Configuration” dialog box.

Action The Action section on the main window gives options for the file
transfer and maintenance features of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.
The pull-down menu has three options:
• Upload - Upload files from RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER to one or
more ROS devices.
• Download - Download files from one or more ROS devices to
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.
• Maintenance - Gives the following three options:
▪ Clear logs
▪ Reset device
▪ Load factory defaults

Interface The Interface list on the main window is used to select the network
interface to be used by RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER for network
discovery and all device access except SSH. The interface
selection may be changed at any time without the need to restart
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Section 2.2.3

Main Window Menu Bar

File Menu

Figure 5: File Menu

Parameter Description

View Log Open RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER's log file in a text editor.

Manually Add Devices Import devices into RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER. (For more
information, see Section 2.7, “Device Import”.)

View Download Directory Open the download directory, into which RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER writes files downloaded from discovered devices.

Export IP Addresses Export a device list from RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER. (For more
information, see Section 2.6, “Device Export”.)

Exit Terminate RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

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Commands Menu

Figure 6: Commands Menu

As with the buttons on the main window, some items in the Commands menu are relevant only when a device
is selected in the list. When more than one device is selected in the list, some menu items change name and
function. These special cases are noted below.

Parameter Description

Rescan Rescan all discovered devices and update the parameters displayed
in the main window.

Configure Device/Group This menu item is displayed as Configure Device if only one device
is highlighted in the main window, and opens the Section 2.4.1,
“Single Device Configuration” dialog box. If more than one device
is highlighted in the main window, the menu item is displayed as
Configure Group, and opens the Section 2.4.2, “Group Device
Configuration” dialog box.

Flash LEDs The Flash LEDs menu selection will start and stop a visual identifier
on the selected devices. This visual identification is in the form of
LEDs flashing on the selected devices. This option is not available
for devices discovered using the manual discovery mechanism.

Ping Ping a single device to see if it is reachable. This menu item is

only displayed if only one device is highlighted in the main window.
Note that ping is unreliable in certain IP addressing situations, but
if Automatic Discovery was used to discover the device, it is still
accessible using RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Disable RCDP Disable RCDP on the switch.

Table Menu

Figure 7: Table Menu

Parameter Description

Select All Select (highlight) all devices displayed in the main window.

Unselect All Unselect (remove the highlights) from all selected devices.

Invert Selection Invert selection will select all currently unselected devices and
unselect all currently selected devices as seen on the main window.

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Filter Menu

Figure 8: Filter Menu

The Filter menu controls the display of discovered devices in the main window. Only one of the three following
filters is selected at once.

Parameter Description

Show All Display all discovered devices.

by Duplicated IP addresses Display only devices with duplicate IP address settings.

by Default IP addresses Display only devices with the default IP address set. Note that ROS
devices ship with a default IP address of [Link].

View Menu

Figure 9: View Menu

The settings in the View menu select the fields that are displayed for each discovered device in the main window.
Clicking on an item in the view menu toggles its state. A check mark beside the item indicates that a column for
the corresponding field will be displayed in the main window.
• Mask
• Default Gateway
• System Name
• OS Version
• Serial Number
• Order Code
• Location
• Contact

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Auto Discovery Menu

Figure 10: Auto Discovery Menu

RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER is capable of automatically discovering devices using the RUGGEDCOM Discovery
Protocol (RCDP), an Ethernet-based protocol that allows RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER to discover and manage
devices irrespective of their IP network configuration. At the time of writing, only ROS-based devices running
ROS version 3.7.0 or greater have support for RCDP.

Parameter Description

Start Auto Discovery Starts the automatic discovery.

Enter Auto Discovery Credentials Allows a user to enter user name and password credentials to
validate RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER on the target devices. As
many credentials can be entered as required. The user names and
passwords entered are kept secure in RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER
and not retained by the application after RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER
is shut down. Credentials can be entered at any time, even after
discovery is run, to display devices found by RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER.

Clear Auto Discovery Credentials Clicking on this menu entry will clear all the credentials known by
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Help Menu

Figure 11: Help Menu

Parameter Description

Help Contents Display the HTML format of this User Guide.

About Display brief information about RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

NOTE
Selecting No for the option to install the user guide during installation disables the online Help. If the
online Help is disabled, nothing will happen when you select Help Contents.

Section 2.3

Device Discovery
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER supports two device discovery mechanisms:

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• Automatic Discovery uses the RUGGEDCOM Discovery Protocol (RCDP) to discover devices running version
3.7.0 of ROS or newer.
• Manual Discovery uses TCP/IP to find devices running ROS versions older than 3.7.0. The manual discovery
process is optional and is enabled by specifying an IP address range to scan for devices.

Section 2.3.1

Auto Discovery
The Auto Discovery mechanism is started directly from the the section called “Auto Discovery Menu” or in
parallel with a Section 2.3.2, “Manual Discovery”. It relies only on having an Ethernet connection to the ROS-
based devices to be discovered. Devices may have nothing more than factory settings, and require no TCP/IP
configuration.

Section [Link]
Auto Discovery Access Configuration
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER attempts to authenticate itself with every device that it discovers in order to access
device parameters. It uses default authentication parameters to access ROS-based devices whose authentication
parameters have not been changed from factory defaults.
In order to be able to access devices whose authentication parameters have been configured away from factory
defaults, RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER must be provided with authentication credentials for those devices. Multiple
sets of user name / password credentials may be configured in RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER for use during the
Auto Discovery process. Several sets of authentication credentials may be added to RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER
using the Auto Discovery Access dialog box, accessible by selecting Enter Auto Discovery Credentials from the
the section called “Auto Discovery Menu”.

Figure 12: Auto Discovery Access Dialog Box

Parameter Description

Username A user name to add to RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER's database to be

used during Auto Discovery.

Password A password to add to RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER's database to be

used during Auto Discovery.

Next Clicking Next adds the user name and password currently in the
dialog and clears the dialog box's contents to be ready to accept
another set of credentials.

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Parameter Description

Finish Clicking Finish adds the user name and password currently in the
dialog and exits the dialog box.

All authentication credentials added to RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER using this dialog box may be deleted at once
by selecting Clear Auto Discovery Credentials from the the section called “Auto Discovery Menu”.

Section 2.3.2

Manual Discovery
Both the Automatic and Manual device discovery processes are initiated using the Manual Device Discovery
dialog box, which is accessible from the Section 2.2.2, “Main Window Buttons”. The Automatic Discovery
mechanism is run as a part of every discovery process, and has no configurable parameters. The Manual
Discovery process must be configured (via the specification of an IP range using this dialog box) in order to
enable it to run.

Figure 13: Device Discovery Dialog Box

Parameter Description

Specify IP Range Checking the box will enable Manual Discovery. If this box is not
checked, then only the Auto Discovery will run.

Starting IP Address Starting IP address for the ping sweep.

Ending IP Address Ending IP address for the ping sweep. If this field is left empty, then
only one device will be pinged (the Starting IP Address).

Username The user name that RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER will use when
validating itself on discovered devices.

Password The password that RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER will use when

validating itself on discovered devices.

Timeout The ping timeout value used by Manual Discovery.

Retry The number of ping retries before RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER

determines that no device exists at a given IP address.

OK Clicking OK will start the discovery process. Devices discovered

via RCDP will be entered directly into the Section [Link], “Device

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Parameter Description
Display Table”. Note that if a given device is discovered via TCP/
IP and also via RCDP, then RCDP will take precedence and will be
used for subsequent access to the device.

Cancel Exit the dialog box and do not perform a discovery process.

NOTE
Since ROS allows ten failed password attempts before disallowing logins, please do not perform
multiple manual device discovery runs on the same IP range in order to accommodate different sets of
authentication credentials.
If possible, try to group the IP ranges to discover by common authentication credentials. In the
extreme, in which every device had different credentials, it would be necessary to perform a manual
discovery for each device, in an IP range restricted to each device.

NOTE
Discovering devices in IP address ranges that are not on the locally connected network requires that a
default gateway be correctly configured on the PC running RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Section [Link]
IP Address Range Discovery/Validation
If a manual device discovery is configured to run (by specifying IP Range Parameters in the Figure 13), the IP
Address Range Discovery/Validation dialog box will report its progress.

Figure 14: IP Address Range Discovery/Validation

The manual discovery process is carried out in two phases:

• During Phase 1, RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER determines which devices in the selected IP address range
respond to IP "ping" requests.
• During Phase 2, RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER probes those devices it discovered during phase 1 to verify that it
can access them.

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Section 2.3.3

Rescanning Discovered Devices

RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER can be made to update its information about the devices it has already discovered
by selecting Rescan from the the section called “Commands Menu”. If a device was discovered using RCDP
(Auto Discovery), it will be rescanned using RCDP. If it was discovered using TCP/IP (Manual Discovery), it will
be rescanned using TCP/IP.

Figure 15: Rescan Validation

Section 2.4

Device Configuration
Depending on whether one or multiple discovered devices are selected in the main window Section [Link],
“Device Display Table”, either the Configure Device or the Configure Group button will be displayed, respectively.
A different dialog box is presented in each case, as detailed in the next two sections.

Section 2.4.1

Single Device Configuration

RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER allows a user to modify certain configuration parameters on a device. The single
device dialog box below shows the parameters available for configuration.

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Figure 16: Device Configuration Dialog Box

Parameter Description

IP Address The IP address to be configured.

Auto Increment If this box is checked, the IP address will be automatically

incremented next time this dialog box is opened.

Network Mask The network mask to be configured.

Default Gateway The default gateway to be configured.

System Name The system name to be configured

Location The location to be configured.

Contact The contact information to be configured.

Update Clicking Update will commit the requested configuration changes to

the selected device.

Cancel Clicking Cancel will exit this dialog, discarding any specified
configuration changes.

NOTE
Attempting to configure an IP address that is already in use elsewhere in the network will cause
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER to report an error.

Section 2.4.2

Group Device Configuration

RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER allows a user to select multiple devices in the user interface for group configuration.
When multiple devices are selected and Group Configuration is chosen, the dialog box seen below is displayed.
Group configuration enables the automated configuration of the selected devices.

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Figure 17: Group Configuration Dialog Box

Parameter Description

Number of Devices This field displays the number of devices that were selected in the
main window for configuration.

Starting IP address The selected devices will be assigned consecutive addresses

starting with this IP address. IP addresses in the sequence that are
detected to already be in use are simply skipped over and not used.

Network Mask The specified mask will be applied to all selected devices.

Default Gateway The specified default gateway will be applied to all selected devices.

Location The specified location will be applied to all selected devices.

Contact The specified contact information will be applied to all selected

devices.

System Name This field is used as a template to assign a different system name
to each discovered device. The first field is a static prefix to every
device name and the second field is selected from a pull-down
for the variable, template-based portion of the system name. Two
templates are available:
• $ip - the IP address of the device.
• $sequence - a sequence number, automatically incremented for
each device.
A sample system name based on the specified prefix and template
is displayed below the System Name field.

Auto Configure All Devices Clicking on this button will start the auto-configuration process.

Cancel Clicking Cancel will exit this dialog, discarding any specified
configuration changes.

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Section 2.5

Device Control
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER is capable of performing a selected set of operations on devices it has discovered.
One or more devices may be selected by highlighting them in the Main Window Section [Link], “Device Display
Table”. The following operations, described in subsequent sections, are performed on all highlighted devices:
• file downloads
• file uploads
• system management commands

Section 2.5.1

Download
The File Download dialog box presents a choice of files that may be downloaded from selected ROS-based
devices, along with the option to create an archive file of all downloaded files.
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER downloads files from multiple selected devices concurrently.

Figure 18: File Download Dialog Box

Files To Download
The files that may be downloaded from a ROS device are:
• [Link] - the main ROS firmware image file
• [Link] - the ROS bootloader firmware (very infrequently updated)
• [Link] - the ROS system configuration file
• [Link] - log of system events
• [Link] - log of debilitating system events
• alarms - list of active alarms
• [Link] - the optional ROS login banner text file
• [Link] - the optional ROS login banner text file
• [Link] - FPGA programming image file

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• [Link] - Second FPGA programming image file specific to the RS416

The following files may optionally be erased from the device after having been downloaded. Note that selecting
"Clear logs after download" forces the download of both "[Link]" and "[Link]" since these may not be
deleted individually.
• [Link]
• [Link]
• alarms

Downloaded Files
Downloaded files are placed in subdirectories of the download directory (by default, this is the "downloads"
subdirectory of the RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER installation directory).
Text files (configuration, logs, etc.) downloaded from a particular device are placed in subdirectories whose name
contains the device's IP address. Every downloaded text file will be saved with an extended file name including
a date stamp and a numeric identifier to guarantee that each downloaded file is unique. For example, the system
log ([Link]) from a device might be saved with the following file name:
[Link]
Binary files are saved in the root of the download directory. Duplicate files are not downloaded; that is, if multiple
devices have the same firmware version, the firmware file will only be downloaded once. Binary files will be saved
with extended file names including the firmware image name and version. For example, the ROS main firmware
image ([Link]) from a device running ROS version 3.6.1 would be saved with the following file name:
ROS-CF52_Main_v3-[Link]
When the "Create Archive" option is selected, a unique archive file name is automatically generated and
presented in the "File Name" field, for example:
downloads\[Link]
This file name can be overridden by editing the field. The complete set of downloaded files is archived to this file
name.

Section 2.5.2

Upload
The File Upload dialog box presents a choice of files on ROS devices that may be uploaded for replacement.

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Figure 19: File Upload Dialog Box

The files that may be replaced via a file upload on a ROS device are:
• [Link] - the main ROS firmware image file
• [Link] - the ROS bootloader firmware (very infrequently updated)
• [Link] - the ROS system configuration file
• [Link] - the optional ROS login banner text file
• [Link] - FPGA programming image file
• [Link] - Second FPGA programming image file specific to the RS416
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER takes a conservative approach to uploading firmware and configuration files to many
ROS-based devices at a time.
When a file upload operation is initiated on multiple devices with the reset option enabled, RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER begins by selecting a "pilot device" on which to test the complete operation before committing
to performing the same operations on the whole list of selected devices. The pilot device is defined to be the
selected device with the lowest numeric IP address.
If more than one file is chosen for upload at a time, they are be uploaded in the following sequence:
1. [Link]
2. [Link]
3. [Link]
4. other files
Note that for some of these files, it will be necessary to reset the device prior to uploading the next file.
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER will automatically select the corresponding Reset after upload check box accordingly.
The pilot / remainder sequence described above is used for [Link] and [Link]. The [Link] file is
uploaded sequentially, and never concurrently.

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If an error occurs while uploading files to multiple ROS devices, RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER will exclude the
affected device from the processing list but will continue to process the other devices in the list.
Two more options are available for the file upload process:
• Selecting Clear logs before reset erases the contents of [Link] and [Link] on the ROS
devices to which files are being uploaded before they are reset.
• Selecting Load factory defaults after reset causes factory default settings to be restored to the ROS devices to
which files are being uploaded after they are reset.

NOTE
ROS devices running version 3.6 or 3.7 automatically reset upon receiving an upload of a new system
configuration file, [Link].

NOTE
When using the controlled version of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER to upload a configuration file
([Link]) from a ROS device running ROS v4.0 or older, the IP interface record should be
removed from the configuration file. This is not required for newer versions of ROS.

Section [Link]
Upload Process Sequence
Prior to updating system files on network infrastructure devices, it is important to note the sequence of firmware
updates and device resets that will be performed. The sequence of updates and resets for the different files that
can be uploaded to ROS devices is outlined in detail below:
• Upload [Link] with "Reset after upload" disabled:
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER uploads [Link] concurrently to all selected devices in one phase.
• Upload [Link] and/or [Link] with "Reset after upload" enabled:
In the case of multiple uploads (i.e. [Link] and [Link]) to multiple devices, the sequence will be as
follows:
1. Upload [Link] to the "pilot" device and reset it. RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER will abort the process if
either the upload or the reset fails.
2. Concurrently upload [Link] to the other selected devices. Any device that fails to receive the upload is
removed from the process list, but RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER will not abort the whole process.
3. Sequentially reset and verify all remaining selected devices. RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER will abort the
process if it encounters any errors in this part of the process.
4. Repeat the steps above for [Link].
• Upload [Link]:
Sequentially upload [Link] to all selected devices, reset and verify each one in turn if "Reset after
upload" is enabled. Note that devices running ROS 3.6 and 3.7 reboot unconditionally after receiving an upload
of [Link].
• Upload files other than [Link], [Link], or [Link]:
Concurrently upload the file to all selected devices.
Three examples of typical updates are summarized below:
• Uploading [Link], [Link], [Link] and [Link] with Reset after upload" enabled takes
place in eight phases:

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1. Upload [Link] to pilot device, reset.

2. Upload [Link] to remaining devices.
3. Reset all remaining devices in sequence.
4. Upload [Link] to pilot device, reset.
5. Upload [Link] to remaining devices.
6. Reset all remaining devices in sequence.
7. Upload [Link] sequentially to all devices, resetting each in turn.
8. Concurrently upload [Link] to all devices.
• Uploading [Link] and [Link] with "Reset after upload" enabled takes place in four phases:
1. Upload [Link] to pilot device, reset.
2. Upload [Link] to remaining devices.
3. Reset all remaining devices in sequence.
4. Upload [Link] sequentially to all devices, resetting each in turn.
• Uploading [Link] and [Link] with "Reset after upload" enabled takes place in two phases:
1. Upload [Link] sequentially to all devices, resetting each in turn.
2. Concurrently upload [Link] to all devices.

NOTE
If a boot upgrade is required from Boot v2.15.0 or older, it is recommended to run the flashfiles defrag
command from the CLI shell prior to the bootloader upgrade.

Section 2.5.3

Maintenance
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER performs maintenance operations on multiple selected devices sequentially.

Figure 20: Device Maintenance Dialog Box

Parameter Description

Clear logs Delete all log files on the device.

Reset device Perform a device reset.

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Parameter Description

Load factory defaults Set all configurable device parameters to their factory default
settings

Section 2.5.4

Progress Indication
After initiating a download, upload, or maintenance command for selected devices, a dialog box will be displayed
indicating the progress relative to each device. Note that entries in green indicate devices that RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER is accessing the corresponding device using encrypted (SSH) communications and entries in blue
indicate devices that it is accessing using unencrypted (RSH) communications.

Figure 21: Progress Dialog Box (Processing in Progress)

Note the Completed Devices Progress bar, which indicates the proportion of devices for which RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER has completed processing. Moving the mouse over any given entry causes a tool-tip window to be
displayed, indicating whether the device is being accessed using encryption.
Clicking the Cancel button aborts the multi-device process.

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Figure 22: Progress Dialog Box (Processing Complete)

Clicking Save Result saves RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER log files for each processed device.
Open Folder opens a file browser in the file download directory.

NOTE
Uploading a Non-Controlled version of ROS prior to 3.8.0 to a device that is running the Controlled
version will result in a lapse in (Controlled) RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER's communication with the
device.
Attempting to upload a Controlled version of ROS 3.8.0 or newer to a Non-Controlled device will not
succeed, and will be reported in the Process Dialog box as the error condition: "No pending version".
Attempting to upload a version of ROS firmware that is identical to that running on a device will not
result in a firmware update, and will also be reported in the Process Dialog box as the error condition:
"No pending version".
It is generally recommended to avoid mixing ROS versions in any of the foregoing ways.

Double-clicking on an entry in the Processing Progress dialog box brings up a window displaying the log for
the corresponding device. The same information displayed here is also reflected in the [Link] file,
although there it is interleaved with log data for all other devices.

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Figure 23: Device Log

Section 2.6

Device Export
A user can export a list of devices from RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER to a text file. This text file contains a list of
IP addresses (one per line) which can then be edited by a user for later importation back into RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER (for more information on importing devices, see Section 2.7, “Device Import”). This eliminates the
need to run a ping sweep. Users can use this function by selecting Export IP Addresses from the File menu and
then saving the file to a local workstation.

Section 2.7

Device Import
Devices can be imported directly into RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER . A user can manually add device information
or import a file with the device administrators’ user names and passwords, and a list of IP addresses.
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER will scan the file and add the listed devices. Device validation can be enabled if
needed.
The validation process will:
• Ping the device to verify its existence
• Attempt to log on to the device to verify the user name and password
• Verify that the device is a member of the RUGGEDCOM family of devices
• Acquire information required to populate the user interface
After devices are added to RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER , you can use them in RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER as if
they were discovered by any other mechanism.

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NOTE
For security reasons, do not leave files with the list of IP addresses and administrator passwords where
they can be discovered and used maliciously.

Section 2.7.1

Importing Devices
To import devices, do the following:

Procedure: Importing Devices

1. From the main window in RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER, click File on the toolbar. The File menu appears.

Figure 24: File Menu

2. Click Manually Add Devices. The Manually Add Devices dialog box appears.

Figure 25: Manually Add Devices Dialog Box

3. If required, click the Validate connectivity check box.

4. To add individual devices, go to Procedure 2.2, “Adding Devices Individually”
OR
To add devices in bulk, go to Procedure 2.3, “Adding Multiple Devices”.

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Section 2.7.2

Adding Devices Individually

To add devices individually, do the following:

Procedure: Adding Devices Individually

1. Enter the required information in the IP address, user name and password fields.
2. If required, click Next to add another device. Repeat the previous step.
3. Click Finish to add the device(s) to RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Section 2.7.3

Adding Multiple Devices

To add multiple devices, do the following:

Procedure: Adding Multiple Devices

1. Click Load. The Select IP List File dialog box appears.

Figure 26: Select IP List File Dialog Box

2. Navigate to the location of your load file and select the file.
3. Click Open.
The file can have only one of two formats as seen below:

NOTE
Only one format must be used for the entire file.

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Table: File Formats

Format Description

Initially, you will need to enter a valid

user name and password for the
devices listed above. The second
entry (which starts where it says
Password ruggedcom) in this example
Username admin does not require you to give a user
Password admin name if the same user name can be
[Link] used from the previous configuration.
[Link] In this format, the first line of a group
Format 1 [Link] must start with the admin user name
[Link] and password for the devices which
Password ruggedcom immediately follow. The next several
[Link] lines contain the list of IP addresses
[Link] for this group. If you need to add
additional credentials for a different
group of IP addresses, follow the
same procedure described above
or only enter a password if the
previous user name is the same.

In this format, each line must

contain an IP address, user name
and administrator password for
each device. This process can
be repeated for each device
that you want to manage in
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER begins
adding (and if selected, validating) the
[Link], admin, admin devices in the list. The list of devices
[Link], admin, admin added to RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER
[Link], admin, admin will not appear until all devices in the
Format 2
[Link], admin, admin list have been processed (including
[Link], admin, ruggedcom validation). This process can take
[Link], admin, ruggedcom a while, particularly if there are a
large number of devices in the list.
Each device can take about one
minute to add if encrypted protocols
are used and validation is selected.
Validation can take longer if errors are
encountered and retries are required.
Any errors that are encountered
are reported in the RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER user interface.

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Theory Of Operation
This chapter provides information on how RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER operates from a network perspective.

Section 3.1

Device Discovery Methods

RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER uses two different methods to discover ROS devices for management:
• Automatic (RCDP-based)
• Manual (TCP/IP-based)

Section 3.1.1

Automatic (RCDP-based) Device Discovery

The Automated Discovery method is based on a proprietary Layer 2 Ethernet protocol called the RUGGEDCOM
Discovery Protocol (RCDP). ROS version 3.7.0 devices running RCDP actively listen for RCDP discovery
messages, sent as Ethernet multicasts, from RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER . A ROS device must acknowledge
the reception of a discovery message from RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER to register itself with the management
application and establish a session.
Upon completion of the session registration between RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER and ROS, RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER can begin management of the device. Since RCDP messages are based on Ethernet and its
addressing mechanism, and do not make any use of IP, RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER can communicate with ROS
devices that have not been assigned an IP address. As a result, RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER can be used to
configure the IP address on ROS devices irrespective of their network configuration. Moreover, since RCDP is
not dependent on IP, it can be used to discover and display devices that have conflicting IP addresses and allow
a user to reconfigure these devices.
To discover new devices added to the network or devices that were not initially discovered, RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER periodically sends rediscovery messages. Only ROS devices that did not previously complete
the registration process with RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER will respond to the rediscovery messages to control
network traffic. The rediscovery process runs periodically after RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER sends the initial
discovery message.

Section 3.1.2

Manual (TCP/IP-based) Device Discovery

The Manual Discovery method uses a ping sweep to discover ROS devices that have a valid IP address and do
not support RCDP. The manual discovery process has 2 phases:
• Phase 1 requires a user to select the discovery dialog and enter a starting and ending IP address. Clicking the
OK button causes RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER to start the pinging process which will sequentially go through
the list of IP addresses and records IP addresses that respond.

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• Phase 2 attempts to log on to the devices that responded to a ping with the provided user name and
password to assess whether it is a ROS device or not. At the end of phase 2, a list of devices is available for
management by RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Section 3.1.3

RCDP Versus TCP/IP Discovery Comparison

The following table provides a brief comparison of the two discovery mechanisms used by RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER:

RCDP Ping Sweep

Discovery method Ethernet messages ICMP Ping messages

Rediscovery Send periodically Not supported

Display configuration parameters Supported Supported

Visual identification Supported (based on device capabilities) Not supported

Change configuration parameters Supported Supported

Determine support for encryption when No Yes (for version that supports encryption
discovered only)

Section 3.2

Security Considerations
In order for RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER to authenticate itself to the devices it connects to, it must be given the
user names and passwords for these devices.

NOTE
For security reasons, user name and password device credentials are not stored permanently by
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.

Automatic Discovery requires a user to enter the credential pairs through the user interface using the
Section [Link], “Auto Discovery Access Configuration” menu. Manual Discovery asks for device credentials
when the ping sweep is being configured. The device credentials for each discovery type are only used by that
type meaning that the information is not shared. To manually discover devices with different credentials, the
ping sweep must be re-run with a different user name and password. Doing this does not discard any previously
discovered devices unless a user chooses to remove them. All user names and passwords entered via the user
interface are discarded when RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER is shut down.
RCDP does not send user names and passwords in its messages so this information remains secure. The Non-
Controlled version of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER does send user names and passwords in clear text and would
be readable by someone snooping on the line. The Controlled version of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER does not
expose any sensitive information.
RCDP will be disabled on all devices when a user closes RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER . If RUGGEDCOM
EXPLORER is unable to disable RCDP on the device, ROS will automatically disable RCDP after approximately
one hour of inactivity. Users need to re-enable RCDP in ROS if they would like devices to be auto-discovered by
RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER again after RCDP is disabled.

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A user can disable RCDP on specific devices by right-clicking on the device(s) on the screen and selecting
Disable RCDP from the pop-up menu. A user can also disable RCDP by selecting Disable RCDP from the
Commands menu. However, this can be done only to the devices discovered by RCDP. Since RCDP is a layer 2
protocol, disabling RCDP on a device in a remote subnet is not applicable.

NOTE
RCDP is enabled by default on ROS devices running version 3.7.0 or newer.

Section 3.3

Duplicate Instance Detection

While RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER runs, it monitors the network for other nodes that may be attempting to
perform RCDP-based discovery, since the presence of more than one active RCDP master on the network is
disruptive to the correct operation of the Automatic Discovery mechanism and of subsequent command and
control of RCDP-compliant devices.
If RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER detects another instance running on the network, it issues a warning similar to the
following:

Figure 27: Detecting Another Instance Of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER On The LAN

NOTE
In order to be able to detect other instances on the network, RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER places the
network interface in promiscuous mode.

If RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER detects another instance running on the same computer, it issues a different
warning:

Figure 28: Detecting Another Instance Of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER On The Same Computer

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Duplicate Instance Detection 34

RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER Appendix A
User Guide [Link] Configuration File

[Link] Configuration
File
The [Link] file, located in the RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER installation directory, stores program
defaults, parameters specified and discovered at run-time. It is also possible to edit the file using a regular ASCII
text editor in order to explicitly configure certain aspects of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.
The file has a simple structure:
• [section name] - denotes the start of one of the configuration file sections.
• ; - A line beginning with a semicolon is a comment.
• variable = value - A line of this form assigns a value to one of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER's configurable
variables.
In the following sections, the different sections of [Link] are presented as they appear in the file. The
configurable variables for each section are listed, preceded by comment fields describing the function of each
one.

Auto Configuration Parameters

[auto_config]
; Last network mask used for Auto-Configuration process
net_mask =

; Last default gateway used for Auto-Configuration process

default_gw =

; Last starting IP address used for Auto-Configuration process

start_ip =

Logging Parameters
[log]
; Maximum size of the log file
file_max_size = 5000

; Destination directory for log file. If unspecified, this defaults

; to the directory in which the RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER executable resides
directory_name =

General Parameters
[general]
; Preferred communication protocol. Valid values are "ssh" (encrypted)
; or "rsh" (unencrypted)

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pref_comm = ssh

; Default administrator password used by the Layer 2

; auto discovery protocol
admin_pwd = admin

; Last interface used by RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER . If this is empty,

; RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER will present a drop-down list with all interfaces.
; upon start-up
management_ip =

; Show a disclaimer when running the Controlled version.

secure_ver_warning = true

; Destination directory for device file downloads.

; If unspecified, this defaults to the directory in which the
; RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER executable resides.
downloads = downloads

; Whether to make use of SSH for encrypted communication with

; discovered devices. Note that this has no impact on the
; Non-Controlled version of RUGGEDCOM EXPLORER.
secure_mode = false

; Default administrator user name used by the Layer 2

; auto discovery protocol
admin_username = admin

; Upload configuration file continue or stop on error

upload_continue_on_error = true

36 General Parameters