Choosing TCP/IP Socket Ports :: TCP/IP Socket Communication (EDA Simulator Link™ DS)

EDA Simulator Link™ DS

Choosing TCP/IP Socket Ports

Depending on your particular configuration (for example, when the MATLAB software and the HDL simulator reside on separate machines), when creating an EDA Simulator Link DS MATLAB application or defining the block parameters of an HDL Cosimulation block, you may need to identify the TCP/IP socket port number or service name (alias) to be used for EDA Simulator Link DS connections.

To use the TCP/IP socket communication, you must choose a TCP/IP socket port number for the server component to listen on that is available in your computing environment. Client components can connect to a specific server by specifying the port number on which the server is listening. For remote network configurations, the Internet address helps distinguish multiple connections.

The socket port resource is associated with the server component of an EDA Simulator Link DS configuration. That is, if you use MATLAB in a test bench configuration, the socket port is a resource of the system running MATLAB. If you use a Simulink design in a cosimulation configuration, the socket port is a resource of the system running the HDL simulator.

A TCP/IP socket port number (or alias) is a shared resource. To avoid potential collisions, particularly on servers, you should use caution when choosing a port number for your application. Consider the following guidelines:

If you are setting up a link for MATLAB, consider the EDA Simulator Link DS option that directs the operating system to choose an available port number for you. To use this option, specify 0 for the socket port number.
Choose a port number that is registered for general use. Registered ports range from 1024 to 49151.
If you do not have a registered port to use, review the list of assigned registered ports and choose a port in the range 5001 to 49151 that is not in use. Ports 1024 to 5000 are also registered, however operating systems use ports in this range for client programs.
Consider registering a port you choose to use.
Choose a port number that does not contain patterns or have a known meaning. That is, avoid port numbers that more likely to be used by others because they are easier to remember.
Do not use ports 1 to 1023. These ports are reserved for use by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
Avoid using ports 49152 through 65535. These are dynamic ports that operating systems use randomly. If you choose one of these ports, you risk a potential port conflict.
TCP/IP port filtering on either the client or server side can cause the EDA Simulator Link DS interface to fail to make a connection.
In such cases the error messages displayed by the EDA Simulator Link DS interface indicate the lack of a connection, but do not explicitly indicate the cause. A typical scenario caused by port filtering would be a failure to start a simulation in the HDL simulator, with the following warning displayed in the HDL simulator if the simulation is restarted:
```
#MLWarn - MATLAB server not available (yet), 
The entity 'entityname' will not be active
```
In MATLAB, checking the server status at this point indicates that the server is running with no connections:
```
  x=hdldaemon('status')
  HDLDaemon server is running with 0 connections
  x=
     4449
```

Windows Users If you suspect that your chosen socket port is filtered, you can check it as follows:

From the Windows Start menu, select Settings > Network Connections.
Select Local Area Connection from the Network and Dialup Connections window.
From the Local Area Connection dialog, select Properties > Internet Protocol (TCP/IP > Properties > Advanced > Options > TCP/IP filtering > Properties.
If your port is listed in the TCP/IP filtering Properties dialog, you should select an unfiltered port. The easiest way to do this is to specify 0 for the socket port number to let the EDA Simulator Link DS software choose an available port number for you.

TCP/IP Socket Communication

Specifying TCP/IP Values