DHX Driver Suite

Communication Drivers for Allen-Bradley Networks and Devices

Built-in Communication Drivers	✔	✔	✔	✔
Cyberlogic OPC Server, Certified by the OPC Foundation		✔	✔	✔
Math & Logic Triggers and Switches		✔	✔	✔
Math & Logic Custom Programs			✔	✔
Communicate with Other OPC DA Servers				✔
Crosslink - Transfer Values Between OPC Data Items				✔
Data Logger - Log Data Items to Relational Databases				✔

The DHX Driver Suite includes the following software components:

• DHX Driver
• Ethernet DHX Driver
• Serial DHX Driver
• DHX Gateway Driver
• DHX Gateway Server
• Virtual DHX Driver

DHX Driver

The DHX Driver provides device driver support under Windows for all DH, DH+, DH-485 and ControlNet interface adapters from both Allen-Bradley and SST. The kernel mode device driver of the DHX Driver is the highest performance driver for Allen-Bradley networks in the industry, and supports 64-bit and 32-bit Windows along with 16-bit legacy DOS/Windows applications.

The driver operates in either interrupt or polled mode and supports all current Allen-Bradley and SST interface adapters for PCI, ISA, EISA, MCA and PCMCIA buses. Multiple interface cards can be installed at the same time, limited only by the number of available slots. Full implementation of all network features provides support for solicited and unsolicited communications.

Ethernet DHX Driver

The Ethernet DHX Driver emulates Data Highway Plus (DH+™) over TCP/IP. It allows virtually all DH+ compatible software products to gain access to TCP/IP-based communications with no code modifications. This includes 64-bit and 32-bit Windows along with 16-bit legacy DOS/Windows applications.

Serial DHX Driver

The Serial DHX Driver provides full-duplex connectivity through standard serial COM ports to DF1-compatible devices. These include Data Highway (DH), Data Highway Plus (DH+), DH-485 and ControlNet™ interface modules such as the 1784-U2DHP, 1770-KF2, 1785-KE, 1770-KF3 and 1770-KFC15. Direct connection to devices with full-duplex, DF1-compatible ports is also supported.

DHX Gateway Driver

The DHX Gateway Driver lets applications use DHX devices on remote DHX Gateway Server systems as though they were on the local system. The client system running the DHX Gateway Driver must be a Windows node connected over a TCP/IP network to another system running the DHX Gateway Server. It can then access the Allen-Bradley networks that are connected to the server node.

The DHX Gateway Driver provides complete DHX Driver functionality to the client node applications, including support for solicited and unsolicited communications. An interface adapter, such as an Allen-Bradley 1784-KTX card, is not required on the client node. DHX Gateway Driver nodes can communicate with multiple remote servers and all Windows-compatible TCP/IP networks are supported.

DHX Gateway Server

The DHX Driver Suite includes the DHX Gateway Server. When enabled, the DHX Gateway Server allows other computers on your network access to the DHX devices on your system. The remote system, which can be any Windows node running the DHX Gateway Driver, will then have full DHX Driver functionality just as though the DHX device in the server system were installed in the remote system.

Virtual DHX Driver

The Virtual DHX Driver emulates Allen-Bradley 1784-KT and 1784-KTX adapter cards for 16-bit DOS/Windows 3.x applications. As a result, it allows legacy DOS and Windows 3.x applications that use these cards to run under current Windows operating systems in their original binary form. This includes programs such as Allen-Bradley’s 6200, AI and ODS software and hundreds of other custom applications written by software developers and system integrators. With the Virtual DHX Driver installed, you can execute 16-bit programs exactly the same way as in their original environment.

These applications can run concurrently with other 16- or 32-bit applications, sharing the same 32-bit device driver. In addition, you can concurrently execute multiple instances of the same application. For example, you can run multiple instances of the 6200 programming software and monitor the operation of multiple Data Highway Plus networks.

If your computer uses Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista or the 64-bit edition of any Windows version, refer to Cyberlogic Knowledge Base article KB2010-02_Running_16-Bit_Applications.pdf for important information on using the Virtual DHX Driver on your system.