Visara LINCS Features - Manual (Page 62)

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LINCS Features
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number, and physical location. The request may also contain some Extended Vital Product
Data if this feature is enabled as described in a subsequent section.
Not all devices support the Vital Product Data feature. Devices which support it report the
VPD information to LINCS when the device powers on. This data is considered device-defined
VPD because it is saved in the display station and provided to LINCS on request.
LINCS allows for the definition of user-defined VPD for devices which do not support the
VPD feature. This data may be supplied by display operators and saved on the System disk.
Note that user-defined VPD is assigned to a specific port. Since the data is not stored in the
device, if the device is moved, the VPD does not move with it.
Configuration and Management for VPD
Configuration – No configuration is required for Vital Product Data Support.
Management – The following utilities are available on the Vital Product Data Menu in Central
Control Mode.
• The Display/Update LINCS VPD utility displays vital data for the LINCS node. It also
allows for the definition of a “Location” which will be sent to the host in a PSID reply
if defined.
• The Display/Update Port VPD utility displays the vital data for devices attached to the
LINCS node. This utility allows users to define their own vital data to be sent inbound in
the PSID request in the event that the device does not supply it’s own vital data.
Extended Vital Product Data
Extended Vital Product Data (Extended VPD) is information consisting of label and data fields.
This information can be about any subject, such as building location and department number.
The label fields are entered and saved during LINCS configuration. The data fields are entered
by the user at a DFT and are saved in that display station along with the corresponding labels.
The user can enter Extended VPD only for the display station being used.
Some display stations enable users to update Extended VPD in Setup mode for the display
station. A LINCS Central Control utility provides Extended VPD panels that display and allow
update of Extended VPD information for display stations that do not provide Extended VPD
updating in Setup mode.
LINCS requests the Extended VPD from each display station when the display station powers
on. When Extended VPD is updated using the Central Control Update Extended VPD utility,
LINCS provides the updated information to the display station. If the display station is moved
to another port the Extended VPD moves with the display station. If the display station is
moved to another node that uses different labels, the Extended VPD should be updated. All
non concurrent Extended VPD is indicated in the On-line test with an asterisk (*) in front of
each data field with a label that does not match.
Extended VPD is included in the LINCS reply to a PSID request if the Extended VPD feature
is enabled and if Extended VPD is present on a device. One subvector is sent for each Extended
VPD label.