Feature request: make it possible to ignore address for DeviceNicknames

It would be nice to have an option to ignore device address when using DeviceNickNames.
Seems it should be easy to implement: for example use * as address or 0000, or FFFF

#2

WOW! Seems putting 0000 as address works exactly like I need (like "any address")

#3

Michael,

In wiki it's written:
DeviceNicknames This is in the format ,,
,

So, 3 options to identify USB device

But when you open device info in GUI there are 4 options (instead of 3): Vendor, Product, HUB, address

So, the question is: how
is calculated?

I'm asking because I would like to have an alias not to be linked to given usb port. Unfortunately, setting
to 0 doesn't work correctly (if there some identical usb devices from the same vendor - for example security tokens all the tokens have the same alias names)

#4

hub is entirely derived from the address so , there really is only three options, vendor/product/address.

Im going to remove the hub label at some point as its confusing...

So you can give a nickname to a device as its allocated to the device on that port , just dont switch the device to another port otherwise it will pickup that nickname. It only would do that with identical devices which is what it sound like you have.

#5

If I'm not mistaking each USB device should have it's own serial nubmer. How about to make alias linked to that serias as well as vendor/product/address?
So it would be possible to assign alias name to the device but not port (as it's implemented by the moment)

#6

Should have but doesnt :) Most manufactures dont bother, anyway i will add it in so if it does have a serial number you can use that to make the alias, that requires a server/client update which i will do today....

#7

OK download server 2.6.1 and client 3.2.6 and it will now display the serial number in "Device Properties" AND it will also qualify the nickname with the device serial number (if the device has a serial number) instead of using the vendorid/productid/address.

Checking my test dongles for example, the iLok has a serial number but the wibubox doesnt, the USB flash drives have a serial number but the usb-serial device converters all have the same serial etc. So its a bit of a mess regarding standardization of the serial number.

If the device does not have a serial number, it will not show in device properties.

#8

So, what is the new format for DeviceNickNames in conf? I've found nothing in wiki by the moment

#9

OK its a bit complicated, because it has to be backwards and forwards compatible with existing installations...

The format of the nickname that is qualified by the device serial number is

nicknameserial,0000,0000,characters in serial

For example my ilok is called Michaels iLok and its serial number is 5F8AA52B-4A29123C

DeviceNicknames=Michaels iLok5F8AA52B_4A29123C,0000,0000,17

You can actually just right click on the device if its plugged in and select "Rename..." and put in the name and it will correctly work with the new format automatically

#10

Michael, thanks

Just an idea: may be it's more reasonable not to implement algorithm for backwards and forwards compatibles but perform an config upgrade (like it's done on table formats in databases) ? I think it's much easy to implement and support

#11

I understand what you mean but actually sometimes an old server version needs to run after a new server has already run (e.g when testing or needing to reproduce a bug on a particular version) so they must be interchangable at any time.

Michael,

Am I correct, that when "characters in serial" == 0, than aliasing works as before and take into consideration product and vendor ID?

Or with "characters in serial" == 0 it acts as ANY serial?