Best Serial Port Redirector Solutions

A COM port redirector is a specialized software application that enables remote access to peripheral devices by redirecting COM data over a network. Serial port redirector interfaces with your network software to provide extended capabilities regarding locally attached COM devices.

Here are the five best software solutions that allow you to redirect COM ports over a network:

COM Port Redirector lets you share a single COM port and its attached device with multiple network-connected computers no matter where they are located. This versatile virtual serial port redirector app enables up to 500 serial port devices to be shared over a network. You can use a company LAN or the Internet to remotely work with any type of serial device that can communicate with your machine. Both the remote physical ports and virtual interfaces created by the software appear as actual ports with a direct connection to your computer.

There are multiple benefits that can be achieved through the use of the COM port redirector utility. Peripheral devices attached to a network-connected computer can be used by any other computer that is on the same network. COM port redirector software can also solve the problem of connecting to serial devices from computers that are not equipped with COM ports.

With RS232 port redirection, remote devices are presented to users as if they had a direct connection to the peripheral and enables them to access their full functionality.

COM Port Redirector features:

• The tool’s server capabilities easily redirect serial ports over a TCP/IP network.
• Client connections enable remote computers to access and use network-attached serial devices.
• The TCP serial port redirector supports both Windows and Linux systems.
• The UDP/IP transport protocol is fully supported for port redirection.
• Virtual environments such as Hyper-V and VMWare can take advantage of COM port redirection.

Electronic Team's COM Port Redirector can be run on Windows and Linux systems.

Uses of COM port redirection technology

Here are some usage scenarios that demonstrate the benefits of using Electronic Team’s COM Port Redirector with Linux and Windows systems.

1. Sharing a serial port device from your computer can easily be done by installing COM Port Redirector. Once you have the solution set up, all client computers on your network can use the devices as if they were directly connected to the machines. Your PC becomes a server with multiple clients which can be very helpful for sending data back and forth to a serial device.
2. Another way to use this versatile software solution is to connect a serial application running on one machine to a device attached to a second computer. Both computers need to have COM Port Redirector installed for this to work. The application can use the virtual port created on the target PC to access and interact with the remote peripheral. With the Telnet protocol selected, an app can manage all the remote port settings as if it was physically attached to the device.
3. COM Port Redirector can also be used to establish communication between apps on two machines where employing a null-modem cable is not possible. The key is that both computers need to be connected to the same local network or the Internet. Then, port redirector technology can be used to create virtual COM ports on both machines and the applications can use them to communicate with each other. The functionality will be the same as if they had a physical null-modem cable connection.
4. If there is a device located remotely that supports the Telnet (RFC 2217) protocol, you can work with it as if it is a local device with COM Port Redirector. Install the software on your computer and connect to the remote device over the network to achieve full functionality over the peripheral equipment.
5. Finally, let’s look at a situation where you have a device connected to a local computer which is acting as the server. You also have an application that needs to communicate with the device but is not compatible with the server’s operating system. You also have a virtual environment on the second computer which can run the required operating system.

You can share the locally attached device with the virtual machine by installing COM Port Redirector on the VM and creating a virtual serial port. All you need to do now is to specify the server’s IP address and TCP port to establish connectivity. From that point on, all data sent from the locally attached serial device will be redirected to the virtual environment. Your application can then use the data for further processing or analysis.