In the world of IT and High Definition Workstation Graphics, you’ve probably run across implementations leveraging a high performance graphics card in a workstation to do Design and CAD-type of work.  In many instances, considering what you pay for one of these beefy graphics workstations, you will want to either:

1. Have a configuration where you can allow a remote/contract designer to work on a project without having to come to your place of business; or
2. You have a team of designers working on a very critical project that requires high data security – either through restricted physical access, restricted Data “leakage” (meaning someone can’t copy the design files and take them with them) or performing fast & reliable backups on a scheduled basis (data protection).

Teradici Host Access cards are the “go-to” solution for enabling this type of work environment.  Working in Tech Support for a major computer manufacturer, I occasionally see an issue with a newly deployed/re-deployed Teradici card where you cannot access the Administrative Web Interface (AWI) for the card to do the basic configuration of the card.  For whatever reason, it cannot be accessed on the default IP (192.168.1.100) or found by other rudimentary means.  Here is a quick list of common problems and solutions to locating the IP of the Tera card.  These steps were built from a Tera2220 card (dual-port DisplayPort configuration).

When the Teradici card doesn’t show up with the default IP address on first setup or doesn’t pull an IP from DHCP – that can cause some problems with first connection to the Tera card because it cannot be found on the network.  Some possible reasons for this failure are:

• It has a static IP configuration already existing on the Tera card (not default of 192.168.1.100/24)
• NIC cable is bad
• Card has bad configuration on it (aside from a Static IP configured).
• Card itself, is bad (usually, this is not likely…)

Ways to work around this:

• Check DHCP for IP address for “pcoip-host-<MAC addr of Tera card>”.  If card is configured for DHCP, this is the PCoIP Device Name and you can find the IP address in DHCP Leases & connect to the AWI (web interface of the card).  The MAC address of the card is on a sticker on the card, usually on the housing of the RJ-45 connector.   Or can just leverage DNS and open a browser to:  https://pcoip-host-<MACaddrofTeraCard>
• Direct connect an Ethernet cable and laptop (with 192.168.1.x ip) to the Tera card and try to connect to the default IP (if DHCP is configured on the Tera card – it will fail and fall back to the default Static IP of 192.168.1.100
• Do the same config as above, but use Wireshark to do a packet capture of the network to discover the MAC/IP of the Tera card.
• Do a Hardware Jumper reset on the Tera card by the following process.  This is for a Tera 2220 card, so your mileage may vary on what model of Tera card you have:
  • On the host card, just above the RJ-45 shield, there is a section not covered by the Heatsink.  There is a row of jumpers – find a set of 3 jumper pins marked as J15.
  • With the power off, put a jumper on  pins 2-3, install the card and power on the PC.  There is a light on the back of the card by the RJ-45 port – “Heartbeat LED” it will post solid, then blink once.  Once it has blinked, the card is reset.
  • Power down the PC and remove the jumper, then restart the PC and you should be able to access it via normal means: DHCP assigned IP  or  by Default IP if DHCP is not set up on the network, and then reconfigure the device.

As always, I hope this helps 🙂   Lemme know if this does work for you or if you come up with other ways to work around this.

– Scott