Hybrid SaaS?
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@Pete-S said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@scottalanmiller said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@scottalanmiller said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
With things like Vultr and DO and the like, I'd think there would be little reason to put fresh hardware on a customer's site provided they have decent internet.
How do you deal with things like talking to serial devices like a scale?
Serial over IP. I was doing that at my last job BEFORE we were virtual.
How do you do Serial over IP without hardware?
There's nothing physical to plug into the server piece. The serial device connects to the network, and you install software on the Server that uses it.
Something similar to: https://www.startech.com/ca/Networking-IO/Serial-over-IP/4-Port-Serial-Ethernet-Device-Server-with-PoE~NETRS42348PD
Edit: You said a scale, and that led my brain directly to Scale Computing. But this type of adapter will work for pretty much anything that works on a serial line.
That device is an industrial linux server, but with just one application.
I'm confused. Do you mean the StarTech device I linked to?
It's better to just put the processing of the serial data inside of a generic industrial server.
That I can agree with, as long as you mean getting the data from the serial device to the server that ultimately needs to process it.
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@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@Pete-S said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@scottalanmiller said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@scottalanmiller said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
With things like Vultr and DO and the like, I'd think there would be little reason to put fresh hardware on a customer's site provided they have decent internet.
How do you deal with things like talking to serial devices like a scale?
Serial over IP. I was doing that at my last job BEFORE we were virtual.
How do you do Serial over IP without hardware?
There's nothing physical to plug into the server piece. The serial device connects to the network, and you install software on the Server that uses it.
Something similar to: https://www.startech.com/ca/Networking-IO/Serial-over-IP/4-Port-Serial-Ethernet-Device-Server-with-PoE~NETRS42348PD
Edit: You said a scale, and that led my brain directly to Scale Computing. But this type of adapter will work for pretty much anything that works on a serial line.
That device is an industrial linux server, but with just one application.
I'm confused. Do you mean the StarTech device I linked to?
It's better to just put the processing of the serial data inside of a generic industrial server.
That I can agree with, as long as you mean getting the data from the serial device to the server that ultimately needs to process it.
Yes, the Startech device is an industrial embedded server. You can buy a similar server and run whatever linux you want on it. For instance https://www.bsicomputer.com/products/ico300-83b-16686
When you do that you can process the serial data right at the spot instead of having to immediately send it somewhere else. That is especially advantageous when we are talking about a real-time application where for instance the weight from a scale will determine if the product is OK or if it goes into the bin for being under weight.
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And if you would need a user interface as well as @scottalanmiller mentioned, you could use something called a panel pc, which is an embedded computer with a touch screen in one unit.
For instance like this:
https://www.advantech.com/products/b4b1d255-3d7c-4edb-ae84-5f9f2ab56107/ppc-3211sw/mod_515d879f-8f40-48ad-b9a4-90d87db30743 -
@Pete-S said in Hybrid SaaS?:
Yes, the Startech device is an industrial embedded server.
I am checking to make sure of the model of the ones that are in use now. But basically the devices that I am thinking of, all they do is take whatever comes in over the serial port and send it to the server ip and port you set it for.
If your program is a special program that requires using a COM port, it can be set up for that too. (for instance, if your scale has to communicate over COM3 in Windows).
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@Pete-S said in Hybrid SaaS?:
And if you would need a user interface as well as @scottalanmiller mentioned, you could use something called a panel pc, which is an embedded computer with a touch screen in one unit.
For instance like this:
https://www.advantech.com/products/b4b1d255-3d7c-4edb-ae84-5f9f2ab56107/ppc-3211sw/mod_515d879f-8f40-48ad-b9a4-90d87db30743That goes far, far, far beyond the devices I am thinking of, lol.
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@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@Pete-S said in Hybrid SaaS?:
Yes, the Startech device is an industrial embedded server.
I am checking to make sure of the model of the ones that are in use now. But basically the devices that I am thinking of, all they do is take whatever comes in over the serial port and send it to the server ip and port you set it for.
If your program is a special program that requires using a COM port, it can be set up for that too. (for instance, if your scale has to communicate over COM3 in Windows).
I understand what you are saying. It's a fact though that every device that does this is a linux/bsd computer of some kind. It doesn't take much processing power but you need a complete tcp/ip stack inside. There are a bunch of manufacturers for these devices.
Also if we talk about scales that you would normally use in some kind of production or quality control, nowadays they commonly have an ethernet port either as standard or as an option. Still any real-time processing will be on-prem. Results might be sent to the cloud though for presentation and final storage.
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@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
There's nothing physical to plug into the server piece. The serial device connects to the network, and you install software on the Server that uses it.
How is that different than what we already had?
And how does it usefully talk to the server, just sending random numbers isn't very useful on its own.
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@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
Edit: You said a scale, and that led my brain directly to Scale Computing. But this type of adapter will work for pretty much anything that works on a serial line.
But not "work", they will send data but without the useful context. And still requires the hardware, so in no way stops us from having to supply hardware. It just changes from one hardware to another.
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@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@Pete-S said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@scottalanmiller said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@scottalanmiller said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
With things like Vultr and DO and the like, I'd think there would be little reason to put fresh hardware on a customer's site provided they have decent internet.
How do you deal with things like talking to serial devices like a scale?
Serial over IP. I was doing that at my last job BEFORE we were virtual.
How do you do Serial over IP without hardware?
There's nothing physical to plug into the server piece. The serial device connects to the network, and you install software on the Server that uses it.
Something similar to: https://www.startech.com/ca/Networking-IO/Serial-over-IP/4-Port-Serial-Ethernet-Device-Server-with-PoE~NETRS42348PD
Edit: You said a scale, and that led my brain directly to Scale Computing. But this type of adapter will work for pretty much anything that works on a serial line.That device is an industrial linux server, but with just one application.
I'm confused. Do you mean the StarTech device I linked to?
Yes you just replaced one device with another.
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@Pete-S said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@Pete-S said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@scottalanmiller said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@scottalanmiller said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
With things like Vultr and DO and the like, I'd think there would be little reason to put fresh hardware on a customer's site provided they have decent internet.
How do you deal with things like talking to serial devices like a scale?
Serial over IP. I was doing that at my last job BEFORE we were virtual.
How do you do Serial over IP without hardware?
There's nothing physical to plug into the server piece. The serial device connects to the network, and you install software on the Server that uses it.
Something similar to: https://www.startech.com/ca/Networking-IO/Serial-over-IP/4-Port-Serial-Ethernet-Device-Server-with-PoE~NETRS42348PD
Edit: You said a scale, and that led my brain directly to Scale Computing. But this type of adapter will work for pretty much anything that works on a serial line.
That device is an industrial linux server, but with just one application.
I'm confused. Do you mean the StarTech device I linked to?
It's better to just put the processing of the serial data inside of a generic industrial server.
That I can agree with, as long as you mean getting the data from the serial device to the server that ultimately needs to process it.
Yes, the Startech device is an industrial embedded server. You can buy a similar server and run whatever linux you want on it. For instance https://www.bsicomputer.com/products/ico300-83b-16686
When you do that you can process the serial data right at the spot instead of having to immediately send it somewhere else. That is especially advantageous when we are talking about a real-time application where for instance the weight from a scale will determine if the product is OK or if it goes into the bin for being under weight.
In my case, I could do it with a Taspberry Pi and get both the manipulation that is needed, but also the end user deivce for them to use. The scale only works, in my example, when a human can coordinate it with other data.
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@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@Pete-S said in Hybrid SaaS?:
Yes, the Startech device is an industrial embedded server.
I am checking to make sure of the model of the ones that are in use now. But basically the devices that I am thinking of, all they do is take whatever comes in over the serial port and send it to the server ip and port you set it for.
If your program is a special program that requires using a COM port, it can be set up for that too. (for instance, if your scale has to communicate over COM3 in Windows).
Right, which is perfectly cool as a device goes, but I can't think of when that would be useful because that's not a type of serial data we would use. That's useful for remote consoles like conecting to the console port on a router, not useful for a scale.
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@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@Pete-S said in Hybrid SaaS?:
And if you would need a user interface as well as @scottalanmiller mentioned, you could use something called a panel pc, which is an embedded computer with a touch screen in one unit.
For instance like this:
https://www.advantech.com/products/b4b1d255-3d7c-4edb-ae84-5f9f2ab56107/ppc-3211sw/mod_515d879f-8f40-48ad-b9a4-90d87db30743That goes far, far, far beyond the devices I am thinking of, lol.
But is needed to be useful 99% of the time.
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@Pete-S said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@dafyre said in Hybrid SaaS?:
@Pete-S said in Hybrid SaaS?:
Yes, the Startech device is an industrial embedded server.
I am checking to make sure of the model of the ones that are in use now. But basically the devices that I am thinking of, all they do is take whatever comes in over the serial port and send it to the server ip and port you set it for.
If your program is a special program that requires using a COM port, it can be set up for that too. (for instance, if your scale has to communicate over COM3 in Windows).
I understand what you are saying. It's a fact though that every device that does this is a linux/bsd computer of some kind. It doesn't take much processing power but you need a complete tcp/ip stack inside. There are a bunch of manufacturers for these devices.
Also if we talk about scales that you would normally use in some kind of production or quality control, nowadays they commonly have an ethernet port either as standard or as an option. Still any real-time processing will be on-prem. Results might be sent to the cloud though for presentation and final storage.
That's what I'm seeing... can't imagine when we'd want a server "somewhere" storing a bunch of random scale data.
