In the event that the instrument does not respond to SCPI commands (due to circumstances like a long sweep used in conjunction with *OPC?) and needs to be reset remotely, the system override feature can be used. System override can be accessed through TCP port 8001 of the instrument. All commands except a password reset will require the instrument’s password to be sent. The default password for an instrument is the MAC address interleaved with the word “system” between MAC address pairs. As an example, an instrument with the MAC address “1a:2b:3c:4d:5e:6f” will have a default password of “1as2by3cs4dt5ee6fm”. Currently, system override supports the commands as described below:
1. Reboot the instrument:
To reboot the instrument, send the following string to the instrument through port 8001:
“force_reboot,<instrument_password>”
Replace <instrument_password> with the password of the instrument. After the command has been sent, the instrument will respond with “ok” if the command has been successfully processed. If the password is incorrect, “password_match_fail” will be returned.
2. Set a new password:
To set a new password for the instrument, the following string should be sent through port 8001:
Note that the max length of a password is 50 characters. If the new password has been successfully set, “ok” will be returned. If the password is too long, a “password_over_50_characters_fail” will be returned. If the old password does not match, a “password_set_fail” message will be returned.
3. Reset the password:
In the case where the system override password needs to be reset to default, the following command can be sent through port 8001:
“reset_password”
Note that this command DOES NOT require the instrument password. If the password has been successfully reset, “ok” will be returned.
4. Disconnect SCPI connections:
This command causes all currently established SCPI connections (on TCP port 9001) to be disconnected.
reset_scpi_connection
It can be used to immediately clean up connections that were left open due to network interruption (e.g. close handshake packets were dropped, client thinks it is disconnected but the instrument thinks the connection is still there) or to establish sole control of an instrument by forcing all other clients to reconnect. This command is automatically executed when secure mode is turned on.
If an improperly formatted command is sent to the instrument, a “command_match_fail” will be sent back.
To use dbutil:
1. Open a command window in Windows.
2. Enter the command:
dbutil /f ip_address where ip_address is the address of Field Master. Then the DNS name can be used instead of the ip_address.