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Getting Started

The NetAcquire client APIs present functionality supporting:

  • Status
  • Configuration
  • Commanding
  • Diagnostics

Throughout this series we’ll look at the APIs and how to use them, including patterns and real-world use cases. While the client toolkits come in various languages, the design is similar across all.

NAServer server = NAServer.getServer("192.168.20.27");
server.setAuthentication(new PasswordAuthentication(user, password));
server.login();

NA_Commanding dataFlow0 = server.getCommanding(".device/dfe/0");
dataFlow0.CommandEntity("Start");

Major API Subsystems​

There are a few categories of functionality.

Registry​

The registry holds the configuration of the server. You may think of the registry as a database that various subsystems use to configure themselves. These subsystems don’t actively monitor the registry for changes, only reading registry when someone requests that they reload.

Warning: Incorrect changes to the registry can render a NetAcquire server inoperable, requiring the unit to be repaired by the manufacturer. Use care when editing the registry.

In addition to configuration, other data appears in the registry,

  • Saved snapshots
  • Telemetry maps
  • And more…

All of these elements can be pulled or pushed using toolkits.

Commanding​

Developers can command various entities. For instance,

  • Command a serial channel to Reload
  • Start/stop a recording
  • Start/stop a bit error rate tester (BERT), or inject errors or bit slips
  • Start/stop data flows
  • Restart the server

Status​

Many entities support reporting a set of status items. The status system follows a pull design with the client polling at reasonable intervals.

Configuration​

Saving and loading snapshots happens through the configuration piece of the API. Developers can capture and apply snapshots, or work with live snapshots non-persistently. Snapshots are a highly effective way to use predetermined configurations to move quickly between setups.

Diagnostics​

System self-test can be controlled via the toolkit APIs, including kicking off tests and retrieving previous test.

Publish/Subscribe​

Parameters from data flows can be subscribed in order to receive push updates from the server.

Stream### ing Data

Also known as NetAcquire I/O (NAIO), developers can connect to devices such as data flows, serial channels, etc., streaming data into and out of the server.

Next: NAServer