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Configuring access to serial ports

To give users access to client serial port devices from Windows applications running through Secure Global Desktop:

  1. Configure the Windows application for COM port mapping.
  2. Give users access to serial ports.
  3. Configure the serial ports to be mapped.

Configuring the Windows application for COM port mapping

Users can only access serial ports from a Windows application if:

Giving users access to serial ports

On the Array Properties panel of Array Manager, access to serial ports for the array as a whole can be enabled or disabled. By default, access to serial ports is enabled.

In Object Manager, you enable or disable access to serial ports for individual users using the Serial Port Mapping attribute for organization, organizational unit or person objects. Access to serial ports can be inherited (the Use parent setting) from parent objects in the organizational hierarchy. This allows you to enable or disable access to serial ports for many users without having to edit each person object.

When a user starts a Windows application, Secure Global Desktop checks the person object for the user and then any parent object further up the organizational hierarchy to see whether access to serial ports is enabled or disabled. If all the objects checked are configured to use the parent's setting, then the array-wide default setting is used.

Configuring the serial ports to be mapped

If a users has permission to access serial ports, Secure Global Desktop then has to determine which serial ports to map in the Windows application session.

On UNIX and Linux client platforms, users must have read and write access to any serial device that will be mapped. The first match of the following is used:

  1. The serial ports listed in the SUN_MAP_SERIALPORTS environment variable.

    Each serial port in the list is separated with a semi-colon and has the format serial device=com_port_name.

    Skip past command syntax or program code/dev/ttyS0=COM1;/dev/ttyS4=COM8

    The =com_port_name is optional, but if it is omitted the serial port will be mapped to COMx in the Windows application session where x is the position of the serial port in the list.

  2. The serial ports listed in the user's client configuration file.

    For the Native Client, the SerialPorts= entry in the $HOME/.tarantella/native-preferences file lists the serial ports to be mapped. The SerialPorts= entry has to be added manually.

    For the Secure Global Desktop Client, the <serialports> entry in the <localsettings> section of the user's client profile cache lists the serial ports to be mapped. The <serialports> entry has to be added manually.

    For both these clients, the serial ports are listed in the same format as above.

  3. The serial port listed in the SUN_DEV_SERIAL environment variable.

    This is a single serial device, for example /dev/ttyS2. This is always mapped to COM1 in the Windows application session.

On Windows client platforms, the first match of the following is used:

  1. The serial ports configured for the user's client.

    For the Native Client, the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tarantella\Tarantella Native Client\Settings\SerialPorts registry key lists the serial ports to be mapped. This key has to be added manually. The data type for the key is String.

    For the Secure Global Desktop Client, the <serialports> entry in the <localsettings> section of the user's client profile cache lists the serial ports to be mapped. The <serialports> entry has to be added manually.

    For both these clients, each serial port in the list is separated with a semi-colon and has the format serial device=com_port_name.

    Skip past command syntax or program codeCOM1=COM5;COM2=COM8

    The =com_port_name is optional, but if it is omitted the serial port will be mapped to COMx in the Windows application session where x is the position of the serial port in the list.

  2. Any available COM1 to COM9 ports.

    The Secure Global Desktop clients attempt to open ports COM1 to COM9. If a COM port is found, it is mapped to the same COM port number in the Windows application session

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