Choose the best COM port Redirector

Feb 9, 2024

COM Port Redirector, also known as Serial to Ethernet Connector, is a software utility that supports COM port forwarding over a network for up to 500 serial port devices. The application works over the Internet or a LAN.

The software has many satisfied users and 10+ years of history. So push the button below to try it or read the article with the video guide, software use cases, and alternative solutions.

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Contents:

Best COM Port Redirector App
1.1. Video guide
1.2. How to redirect COM port
Alternative COM port Redirector solutions
Use-cases of serial port redirection technology

The Best COM port Redirector app

COM Port Redirector by Electronic Team enables multiple computers to connect to the same COM port over a network. This serial port redirector increases the value of your serial-attached devices by making them available to any network-connected computer.

There are no distance limitations and the virtual COM ports created by the app provide the same functionality as a direct connection to the peripheral equipment. COM port Redirector supports Linux and Windows operating systems.

Learn how to forward a serial port with our video guide

Click on the link for our video guide below which provides all the information you need to use this software tool to forward serial ports and make them available to remotely located machines.

Serial Port Redirector customer experience

We had many clients through our 10+ years history. Almost every client leaves a good reply and a review about their usage scenario. Let’s see some of them:

It is just what we need! COM Port Redirector is bounding our hardware together. Now, we don’t have to pay the extra cost for maintenance and upgrading of our virtual COM drivers. It is the perfect solution for us!

Xuehui Li, Product manager

I settled on Serial Port Redirector because it did everything I wanted it to do. It saves me a lot of time and headache.

Steven Bradshaw, Vice President of CVARS (Canada)

We choose COM Port Redirector product because of greater integration of virtualization of the serial ports, like physical devices.

Claudio Corniani, Electronic Engineering Manager (Italy)

Serial Port Redirector main features

Redirect serial ports over TCP/IP network (Server)

A server listens for incoming connections from clients and redirects local COM ports – either real or virtual – over Ethernet. Any application that can initialize outgoing connection to a TCP/IP server can be a client. A single COM port can be redirected to multiple clients at the same time, and each of them can transmit data to their local serial port, while Serial Port Redirector will gather all the data on the server.

Connect to serial ports remotely (Client)

Once a client connection is created, data transmitted by a local serial port is redirected to the remote server over TCP/IP protocol. You need to specify the IP address (or the network name) of a remote server and TCP port to connect to, it is not required to install COM Port Redirector on the remote server. Once your machine and a remote server are connected, your local serial port will receive all the data sent from the remote end.

Utilize UDP for data transfer

Serial port data can be redirected over UDP/IP transport protocol and broadcast over a local network. COM Port Redirector installation is not required at the remote end. You can choose either RAW data transmission algorithm or Telnet (RFC 2217) as a protocol for transmitting the data.

Serial Port Redirector for Linux OS

COM Port Redirector (Serial to Ethernet Connector) is a cross-platform solution, it now has a command-line version for Linux OS. You can designate a Linux machine as a server and Windows machine as a client, or the other way around. Serial Port Redirector for Linux supports data transmission over UDP.

Alternative serial port redirector solutions

If Serial to Ethernet Connector doesn’t work for you or fit your needs, here are some other solutions you might want to try.

Fabulatech serial port redirector

The serial port redirector solution from Fabulatech enables serial communication software to operate over a network. The software creates virtual serial ports that are used to transmit data between COM devices and serial applications. Connections with serial port servers use the RFC2217 protocol and support the transmission of raw format data.

Lantronix COM port redirector

Lantronix Com Port Redirector (CPR) is an application that supports creating virtual COM ports on computers running a variety of Microsoft Windows operating systems. The software uses TCP/IP to transmit data rather than using the machine’s local serial port. A network-attached device server then transfers the data to a connected peripheral device.

Information sent from the peripheral equipment to the device server’s serial ports travels over the Ethernet to the application software running on a PC. The app sees the data as if it were directly connected to the serial device.

Free Com Port Redirector

Network Serial Ports is a freeware serial-to-IP redirection solution that supports machines running the Windows operating system. The utility makes it easy to bridge serial ports via TCP/IP without any additional hardware or software. This free serial port redirector offers several operating modes to connect devices attached to RS232/RS485/RS422 ports over the network using TCP/IP.

Compatibility with your existing serial to IP solutions is provided through support for the RFC2217 protocol. Serial port virtualization is employed to enable plug-and-play functionality with devices connected to RS-232, RS-422, RS-485 ports, legacy serial ports, USB-to-serial adapters, and other software-created virtual ports. The software lets you use any serial application or device over the network with a minimum of effort.

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.

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.
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.
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.

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.
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.

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FAQ about COM Port Redirector

1. What is a Virtual Serial Port Redirector?

A virtual COM port is a type of serial port redirector that can operate independently of specialized network software. You can create multiple virtual interfaces on a single computer allowing serial software applications to talk to each other directly without the need for named pipes or other methods of communication.

2. How does Virtual COM Port Redirector work?

The creation of a virtual port is not very complex and can be carried out by software tools similar to those that implement physical serial port drivers. The functionality that is added by an Ethernet COM port redirector is the ability to fully emulate physical interfaces to enable communication with peripheral devices that are locally attached to a computer.

3. Are there limitations when I redirect COM data?

With Serial to IP Port Redirector, you can simultaneously have up to 256 virtual COM ports active on a machine. In practice, the number of interfaces your system can support is influenced by its physical capabilities. Factors like the network bandwidth that is available or the amount of free memory on the machine may reduce the number of connections that can be active at one time.

4. How do I use the COM port redirector on Linux systems?

On computers running Linux, network serial port redirection is handled by an operating system daemon. The role of the daemon is to scan for attempted connections from other instances of Serial Port Redirector, transfer data between the network and serial interfaces, and to create outgoing connections when they are required.

#1 at Serial Port Software

Serial to Ethernet Connector

Access remote serial port over IP Network

4.7 rank based on 372 + users

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Information

Requirements

Requirements: Windows (32-bit and 64-bit): 2008 R2 SP1/7 SP1/8/10/11; Server 2012/2016/2019/2022; Windows 10/11 on ARM.

Latest version

Latest version: v9.0.1253, Released 12 Apr, 2023 Release notes