StreamConnect

Test utility to create a layer 4-type bridge from a pair of RS232, named pipe or TCP/IP streams, on Windows OS.

RS232 functionality is a bit limited - no error detection or flow control.

Building

• Download or clone the source
• Install .Net SDK (https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/dotnet/hello-world-tutorial/install)
• Install the .Net 4.6.2 Developer pack (https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet-framework)
• Open the project folder in VS code
• In VS code, start a terminal and run "dotnet build" to build the app

The build should output:

Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 15.9.20+g88f5fadfbe for .NET Core
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

  Nothing to do. None of the projects specified contain packages to restore.
  StreamConnect -> c:\git\IpToSerial\StreamConnect\bin\Debug\StreamConnect.exe

Build succeeded.
    0 Warning(s)
    0 Error(s)

Time Elapsed 00:00:02.02

Running the app

• Run the app with a pair of stream endpoint specifications: bin\debug\StreamConnect.exe <SourceStream> <DestinationStream>
• For RS232 comms, the stream endpoint is specified in the form "COMxx" where x is the COM port. Serial settings are set in code 'SerialSettings.cs' (default uses 19200 baud, with DTR raised while a client is connected)
• Named pipe comms is specified as \\.\pipe\PipeNameHere
• A socket endpoint is specified as IP:port where IP is a dotted IPv4 address

For example, when started with bin\debug\StreamConnect.exe 0.0.0.0:49153 COM1, the app will accept incoming TCP/IP connections and when connected, redirect data to/from the local COM port.

Output should be like this:

Source Socket 0.0.0.0:1234 -> Dest Serial COM1
Connection from Socket 0.0.0.0:1234
Connection made
............................Input stream disconnected

By default the tool echoes dots to the console as data is forwarded. You can enable a hex dump of the data transferred by building with dotnet build /p:DefineConstants=OperationDebugs.

Why?

I use it for redirecting / monitoring serial port usage from VMs when talking to fixed-function RS232 devices, and for emulating IPToSerial devices.

Running with virtual serial ports

The app can also be used to map VMWare virtual serial ports to local COM ports, see Program.cs for details.

Mapping a COM port within a hyper V Gen 2 VM to a host com port

• Shut down the VM
• Disable UEFI secure boot in the vm
  • Set-VMFirmware -VMName my_gen2_vm -EnableSecureBoot Off
• On the host, associate a pipe with the VM COM port
  • Set-VMComPort -VMName my_gen2_vm -Number 1 -Path \\.\pipe\com1
• Run a named pipe server on the host
  • .\bin\debug\StreamConnect.exe \\.\pipe\com1 COM1
• Start the VM
• Named pipe server should show:
  • Connection from NamedPipe \\.\pipe\com1
  • Connection made