Product selection considerations

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The proper asynchronous product often depends on a particular situation.

The following questions will help you choose which product you need to install.

Expandability
  • How many asynchronous ports are needed?
  • How may ports will be needed in the future?
Topology
  • Will devices be in other buildings or remote locations?
  • Where will system/network administration be done?
  • Is there an HACMP cluster?
  • What type of cabling is required or already there?
Performance
  • Is your application CPU-intensive?
  • What types of devices will be attached?
  • What is the relative asynchronous bandwidth demand for the aggregate sum of the devices?
Table 1. Relative Device Bandwidth Demand
Low Demand Moderate Demand High Demand
ASCII terminals, Point-of-sale terminals, Asynchronous modems Printers, Low-speed FAX/modems, Bar code scanners Serial X-terminals, High-speed FAX/modems, High-speed printers, File transfer applications
Device Interface Requirement
  • What asynchronous interface is required, for example, EIA 232, EIA 422A, EIA 423?
  • Do the devices or applications require the full EIA 232 interface?
Security
  • Is system assurance kernel (SAK) required? (planar-attached ports only)

The following table shows the detailed product characteristics.

Table 2. Asynchronous attachment product characteristics
Characteristic Native Serial Ports 2-port PCI 8-port PCI 128-port PCI with RAN
Number of asynchronous ports per adapter n/a 2 8 128
Maximum number of adapters n/a no limit 20 20
Maximum number of asynchronous ports 2 or 3 2 160 2560
Number of asynchronous ports per RAN n/a n/a n/a 16
Maximum number of RANs n/a n/a n/a 160
Maximum speed (KBits/sec) Selectable based on baud rate generator clock speed of UART. 230 230 230
Attachment method planar direct direct node
Asynchronous electrical interfaces supported EIA 232 EIA 232 EIA 232 EIA 422A EIA 232 EIA 422
Standard connector DB9 DB9 DB25M RJ-45 (10-pin or 8-pin)
DB25 cable options n/a n/a n/a RJ-45-DB25
Rack mount option n/a n/a n/a yes
Power supply n/a n/a n/a external
Signals supported (EIA 232) TxD RxD RTS CTS DTR DSR DCD RI TxD RxD RTS CTS DTR DSR DCD RI TxD RxD RTS CTS DTR DSR DCD RI TxD RxD RTS CTS DTR DSR DCD RI