DLM Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Hi, I have one question which can make a driver I'm developing, to an alarm, much simpler than it is.And that question is if it's possible to identify a device by it's MAC address instead of IP address.What I the driver actually requires is to the alarm Ethernet module to be identify in "IP Network Connections" from "Connections" in Composer (image attached for better understanding).The thing is I had to assign a static IP address to the module but it would be much easier to simply enter the MAC address and bum, done. Is something I can do in driver configurations using DriverWorks or in the actual code?Thank you all for your time, best regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 No, it's not possible. TCP (and IP in general) cannot use a MAC address to identify a device, because that assumes the device is on the same physical network. MAC addresses are not passed across routers from one network to another. Control4 handles this situation (dynamic IP addresses) by using SDDP addressing, where the device firmware has the ability to send out an SDDP broadcast, both for identification as well as for when it's IP address changes, so the Control4 system can automatically always be able to connect to the device. RyanE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLM Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 Oh well I didn't knew that and the SDDP concept is new to me. Always learning...So if the alarm IP address is assigned as dynamic, and I use it to identify the alarm in Composer, if that IP changes control4 will automatically identify the device?Or it should be something done in the actual programming of the alarm driver?I'm a bit confused know...lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 No, Control4 has no way to know that the device's IP address has changed if it's dynamic. Unless the device's firmware supports SDDP, that won't work for you, unfortunately. If an IP device is going to be used with Control4 without SDDP, the proper solution is to either: 1) Assign the device a static IP address during the device setup, or:2) Assign the device a statically-assigned DHCP address on the router the device receives the IP address from. RyanE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLM Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 Ok... so my device probably doesn't support SDDP because one time I changed it's IP address and it lost contact with control4. But, and this one is just pure curiosity, if I upgrade to a device that supports SDDP I can use a dynamic IP address that it will be always connected to control4 or is necessary something special like configurations or a specific coding, etc...And for those who may read this latter I assigned a static IP address to the alarm device and it's working perfectly with control4.Thank you RyanE for your very quick and really helpful replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 If the device firmware supports SDDP, it's also likely the manufacturer has already created a driver for the device. That driver will have SDDP-specific information that allows it to correctly connect to the device, regardless of the device's IP address. It doesn't make the driver always be connected, but it does allow the driver to always connect to the proper address. For that to happen, the device also has to be identified via SDDP, not via an IP address entered in the address dialog. For most SDDP-enabled devices, this is a button press, or selecting a menu item on the device, etc. RyanE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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