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Topic: ConMan error when talking to CobraNet

I'm telling on myself here folks. I built a simple Project File with a ControlNode and a CAB4n. I deployed but got the following message: role start failed: raw_ethernet::start_read - adapter not initialized. Hmm what's wrong? The standard troubleshooting excersizes revealed nothing. Retrying didn't help either. But wait a minute here, I'm the Factory Guy, I should know this by heart.

It turns out I had the classic RTFM problem. The answer is in the NWare release notes. Open the NWare helpfile, click on Release Notes and do a search for ConMan Feature. The process is outlined there. The long and short of it is you have to tell ConMan which network interface to use for CAB control by editing conman.cfg.xml.

The first step is to start ConMan from a command line using the -adapters switch. Your command should look something like this: C:\some_file_path_to\ConMan\conman -adapters. BTW,It doesn't work if you use the Run box.

Adapter information should appear.

Open conman.cfg.xml for editing in Notepad. By default it looks something like this:

<conman_configuration>
  <conman>
    <server_name value='conman_0' />
  </conman>
</conman_configuration>

Add another line for the adapter per the instructions in the Release Notes. It should look similar to this now:

<conman_configuration>
  <conman>
    <server_name value='conman_0' />
    <cab_adapter value='\Device\{a-really-long-hex-number}' />
  </conman>
</conman_configuration>

Return to your Command line window containing the output of conman -adapters.

Select the interface you wish to use for CAB control.

Copy the really long hex number for that interface and paste it between the brackets in the line you just added to conman.cfg.xml.

This is what my file ended up looking like:

<conman_configuration>
  <conman>
    <server_name value='conman_0' />
    <cab_adapter value='\Device\{39458d16-e4aa-4239-ae2c-ccae9809d9a4}' />
  </conman>
</conman_configuration>

Don't forget to save the changes.


Start ConMan and deploy normally. If you selected the correct network interface you should have full control of the CAB from ConMan.

Piece of cake.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. -Socrates