Develop Reference

How to detect if docker container crashed

I am running a process every 5 minutes and checking to make sure every container. If the container does not respond I can flag it as down. I have the containers IP address and I loop through each ip and check if it responds to a ping. If not I flag it as down. Is there a better way to do this? My code:
#Transactional
#Scheduled(fixedRate = 1000 * 60) //5 min
public void monitorHosts(){
Iterable<Ncl> ncls = nclRepository.findAll();
for(Ncl ncl: ncls){
for(String host: ncl.getHosts()){
Boolean isHostAlive = isHostAlive(host);
if(!isHostAlive){
Ncl nclWorking = nclRepository.findOne(ncl.getUuid());
if(nclWorking != null){
Set<String> hosts = nclWorking.getHosts().stream().filter(x -> x.equals(host)).collect(Collectors.toSet());
nclWorking.getHosts().clear();
nclWorking = nclRepository.save(nclWorking);
nclWorking.setHosts(hosts);
nclRepository.save(nclWorking);
}
}
}
}
}
private Boolean isHostAlive(String host){
try{
InetAddress address = InetAddress.getByName(host);
boolean reachable = address.isReachable(10000);
return reachable;
} catch (Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
return false;
}
}

It mostly depends on what you need to do with the information about your containers.
There is a number of monitoring solutions available, which can monitor your containers and notify some one if there are some troubles.
If you have to use this info in some application, then you can use some solutions like Consul.io and let them check your services statuses, not containers (in most cases man aware of the service availability in the container, not container itself). Or you can use docker-api for Java, because ICMP-protocol is not always a good solution, especially in distributed networks.

I would use docker events
extract from the doc
https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/events/#examples
use something like
docker events --filter 'event=stop'

This is more obtrusive but is a nice one:
Using HEALTHCHECK that docker provides
You can customize it for each application. Something like:
HEALTHCHECK --interval=5m --timeout=3s \
CMD curl -f http://localhost/ || exit 1
Then you can check the health status as this:
docker inspect --format='{{json .State.Health}}' <container_id>
Or you can use docker ps and see the STATUS column:
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
225426fc7c93 ubuntu "tail -f /dev/null" 5 seconds ago Up 4 seconds (healthy)
Or you can query the docker API:
curl --unix-socket /var/run/docker.sock http:/v1.24/containers/json
PS: You can set the healthcheck at docker run time (without modifying the Dockerfile). Docs

How to programmatically connect internet via datacard with AT commands?

I have a datacard ZTE MF190. I want to use AT commands to register in 2G or 3G and access internet via datacard. Found this article about how to make data call:
AT+cgatt=1
AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”epc.tmobile.com” //I used my operator PDP context
AT+CGACT=1,1
But ping from OS terminal shows 100% package loss.
I've tried on Ubuntu 14 and Windows 7.
How can I connect internet with AT commands using datacard on Ubuntu?
UPDATE
I gave bounty to #tripleee's answer because it's more full than first one and answered all my questions. But I'm not satisfied with answers, so I'll answer my own question in a week.
In my answer I'll show how to handle this process with Java. So, please do not move this question to other Stack Exchange websites.

Creating a connection between the card and your provider is not sufficient. You need some mechanism for creating a network interface out of this connection, and set up your network stack to route packets over this interface.
Traditionally, the pppd daemon has been a popular choice for this task. You would create a "chat script" with the commands for establishing a data call (these days, pppd might come packaged with a suitable canned script) and the daemon would handle the entire process of placing the call, authenticating, setting up a network interface over the circuit, and configuring the system to route packets over it, as well as configuring DNS etc to use it for resolver queries, etc.

I tried to sniff USB port but on this case dashboard can not connect because of busy port
It is certainly possible. See this question
Found this article about how to make data call
What that article is about is how to set up the call, not how to make it.
After you made correct setup, connect to internet with this command:
ATD*99***1#
UPDATE1: After a bit of research I believe that article was written only to promote their software and has no practical use. In reality dialing is made with pppd or wvdial
UPDATE2: We discussed ways to solve the problem in a chat room (in Russian). It turned out cnetworkmanager will be the way to go

As far as I know wvdial uses ppp daemon to connect to the internet using modem. wvdial is preinstalled on desktop version of Ubuntu.
wvdial uses a config file located /etc/wvdial.conf. Let's edit this file. Type in your terminal
sudo nano /etc/wvdial.conf
and you will see something like this
[Dialer Defaults]
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2
Stupid Mode = yes
ISDN = 0
Modem Type = Analog Modem
New PPPD = yes
Phone = *99#
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB2
Username = ''
Password = ''
Baud = 9600
Dial Timeout = 30
Dial Attempts = 3
Explanation of all keys you can find in wvdial.conf(5) - Linux man page. If you need to change your provider dial number, username, password or any other information about connection and device you can change file content and save it.
There are 3 serial ports for ZTE MF190. Normally it's ttyUSB0, ttyUSB1 and ttyUSB2. And in my case ttyUSB2 is for internet connection. It would not work on other ports. So you need to find the right serial port for your modem.
There is an automatic configurator which edits wvdial.conf file, sets serial port baud rate etc. Since it is not always configure correctly I would not recommend to use it:
sudo wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf
It would be better if you configure wvdial manually.
Now, when your device connected and wvdial configured to work with device, you can execute this line from terminal:
wvdial
You will see a lot of lines. But if you see those lines - you have succeeded.
local IP address XX.XX.XX.XX
remote IP address XX.XX.XX.XX
primary DNS address XX.XX.XX.XX
secondary DNS address XX.XX.XX.XX
Now, how we can use it in programming? I'll provide some code to work with it on Java. You can use this code to dial.
public int dialer() {
// status for debug. If status == 4 then you connected successfully
int status;
// create process of wvdial
ProcessBuilder builder = new ProcessBuilder("wvdial");
try {
// start wvdial
final Process process = builder.start();
// wvdial listener thread
final Thread ioThread = new Thread() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
final BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader(process.getErrorStream()));
// wvdial output line
String line;
while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
// if "local IP address" line detected set status 1
if (line.contains("local IP address")) {
status = 1;
}
if (line.contains("remote IP address")) {
status = 2;
}
if (line.contains("primary DNS address")) {
status = 3;
}
if (line.contains("secondary DNS address")) {
status = 4;
}
}
reader.close();
} catch (final Exception e) {
}
}
};
// start listener
ioThread.start();
// wait 6 secs and return status. Some kind of timeout
Thread.sleep(6000);
} catch (Exception e) {
}
return status;
}
And here is a disconnector method. All you need is to kill wvdial process and thread will be destroyed:
public boolean disconnect() {
ProcessBuilder builder = new ProcessBuilder("pkill", "wvdial");
try {
builder.start();
return true;
} catch (IOException e) {
return false;
}
}

Recommended way to get hostname in Java

Which of the following is the best and most portable way to get the hostname of the current computer in Java?
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("hostname")
vs
InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName()

Strictly speaking - you have no choice but calling either hostname(1) or - on Unix gethostname(2). This is the name of your computer. Any attempt to determine the hostname by an IP address like this
InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName()
is bound to fail in some circumstances:
The IP address might not resolve into any name. Bad DNS setup, bad system setup or bad provider setup may be the reason for this.
A name in DNS can have many aliases called CNAMEs. These can only be resolved in one direction properly: name to address. The reverse direction is ambiguous. Which one is the "official" name?
A host can have many different IP addresses - and each address can have many different names. Two common cases are: One ethernet port has several "logical" IP addresses or the computer has several ethernet ports. It is configurable whether they share an IP or have different IPs. This is called "multihomed".
One Name in DNS can resolve to several IP Addresses. And not all of those addresses must be located on the same computer! (Usecase: A simple form of load-balancing)
Let's not even start talking about dynamic IP addresses.
Also don't confuse the name of an IP-address with the name of the host (hostname). A metaphor might make it clearer:
There is a large city (server) called "London". Inside the city walls much business happens. The city has several gates (IP addresses). Each gate has a name ("North Gate", "River Gate", "Southampton Gate"...) but the name of the gate is not the name of the city. Also you cannot deduce the name of the city by using the name of a gate - "North Gate" would catch half of the bigger cities and not just one city. However - a stranger (IP packet) walks along the river and asks a local: "I have a strange address: 'Rivergate, second left, third house'. Can you help me?" The local says: "Of course, you are on the right road, simply go ahead and you will arrive at your destination within half an hour."
This illustrates it pretty much I think.
The good news is: The real hostname is usually not necessary. In most cases any name which resolves into an IP address on this host will do. (The stranger might enter the city by Northgate, but helpful locals translate the "2nd left" part.)
In the remaining corner cases you must use the definitive source of this configuration setting - which is the C function gethostname(2). That function is also called by the program hostname.

InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName() is the more portable way.
exec("hostname") actually calls out to the operating system to execute the hostname command.
Here are a couple other related answers on SO:
Java current machine name and logged in user?
Get DNS name of local machine as seen by a remote machine
EDIT: You should take a look at A.H.'s answer or Arnout Engelen's answer for details on why this might not work as expected, depending on your situation. As an answer for this person who specifically requested portable, I still think getHostName() is fine, but they bring up some good points that should be considered.

As others have noted, getting the hostname based on DNS resolution is unreliable.
Since this question is unfortunately still relevant in 2018, I'd like to share with you my network-independent solution, with some test runs on different systems.
The following code tries to do the following:
On Windows
Read the COMPUTERNAME environment variable through System.getenv().
Execute hostname.exe and read the response
On Linux
Read the HOSTNAME environment variable through System.getenv()
Execute hostname and read the response
Read /etc/hostname (to do this I'm executing cat since the snippet already contains code to execute and read. Simply reading the file would be better, though).
The code:
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
String os = System.getProperty("os.name").toLowerCase();
if (os.contains("win")) {
System.out.println("Windows computer name through env:\"" + System.getenv("COMPUTERNAME") + "\"");
System.out.println("Windows computer name through exec:\"" + execReadToString("hostname") + "\"");
} else if (os.contains("nix") || os.contains("nux") || os.contains("mac os x")) {
System.out.println("Unix-like computer name through env:\"" + System.getenv("HOSTNAME") + "\"");
System.out.println("Unix-like computer name through exec:\"" + execReadToString("hostname") + "\"");
System.out.println("Unix-like computer name through /etc/hostname:\"" + execReadToString("cat /etc/hostname") + "\"");
}
}
public static String execReadToString(String execCommand) throws IOException {
try (Scanner s = new Scanner(Runtime.getRuntime().exec(execCommand).getInputStream()).useDelimiter("\\A")) {
return s.hasNext() ? s.next() : "";
}
}
Results for different operating systems:
macOS 10.13.2
Unix-like computer name through env:"null"
Unix-like computer name through exec:"machinename
"
Unix-like computer name through /etc/hostname:""
OpenSuse 13.1
Unix-like computer name through env:"machinename"
Unix-like computer name through exec:"machinename
"
Unix-like computer name through /etc/hostname:""
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
This one is kinda strange since echo $HOSTNAME returns the correct hostname, but System.getenv("HOSTNAME") does not:
Unix-like computer name through env:"null"
Unix-like computer name through exec:"machinename
"
Unix-like computer name through /etc/hostname:"machinename
"
EDIT: According to legolas108, System.getenv("HOSTNAME") works on Ubuntu 14.04 if you run export HOSTNAME before executing the Java code.
Windows 7
Windows computer name through env:"MACHINENAME"
Windows computer name through exec:"machinename
"
Windows 10
Windows computer name through env:"MACHINENAME"
Windows computer name through exec:"machinename
"
The machine names have been replaced but I kept the capitalization and structure. Note the extra newline when executing hostname, you might have to take it into account in some cases.

InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName() is better (as explained by Nick), but still not very good
One host can be known under many different hostnames. Usually you'll be looking for the hostname your host has in a specific context.
For example, in a web application, you might be looking for the hostname used by whoever issued the request you're currently handling. How to best find that one depends on which framework you're using for your web application.
In some kind of other internet-facing service, you'll want the hostname your service is available through from the 'outside'. Due to proxies, firewalls etc this might not even be a hostname on the machine your service is installed on - you might try to come up with a reasonable default, but you should definitely make this configurable for whoever installs this.

Although this topic has already been answered there's more to say.
First of all: Clearly we need some definitions here. The InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName() gives you the name of the host as seen from a network perspective. The problems with this approach are well documented in the other answers: it often requires a DNS lookup, it's ambiguous if the host has multiple network interfaces and it just plain fails sometimes (see below).
But on any OS there's another name as well. A name of the host that gets defined very early in the boot process, long before the network is initialized. Windows refers to this as computername, Linux calls it kernel hostname and Solaris uses the word nodename. I like best the word computername, so I'll use that word from now on.
Finding the computername
On Linux/Unix the computername is what you get from the C function gethostname(), or hostname command from shell or HOSTNAME environment variable in Bash-like shells.
On Windows the computername is what you get from environment variable COMPUTERNAME or Win32 GetComputerName function.
Java has no way of obtaining what I've defined as 'computername'. Sure, there are workarounds as described in other answers, like for Windows calling System.getenv("COMPUTERNAME"), but on Unix/Linux there's no good workaround without resorting to JNI/JNA or Runtime.exec(). If you don't mind a JNI/JNA solution then there's gethostname4j which is dead simple and very easy to use.
Let's move on with two examples, one from Linux and one from Solaris, which demonstrate how you can easily get into a situation where you cannot obtain the computername using standard Java methods.
Linux example
On a newly created system, where the host during installation has been named as 'chicago', we now change the so-called kernel hostname:
$ hostnamectl --static set-hostname dallas
Now the kernel hostname is 'dallas', as evident from the hostname command:
$ hostname
dallas
But we still have
$ cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 chicago
There's no misconfiguration in this. It just means the host's networked name (or rather the name of the loopback interface) is different from the host's computername.
Now, try executing InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName() and it will throw java.net.UnknownHostException. You are basically stuck. There's no way to retrieve neither the value 'dallas' nor the value 'chicago'.
Solaris example
The example below is based on Solaris 11.3.
The host has deliberately been configured so that the loopback name <> nodename.
In other words we have:
$ svccfg -s system/identity:node listprop config
...
...
config/loopback astring chicago
config/nodename astring dallas
and the contents of /etc/hosts :
:1 chicago localhost
127.0.0.1 chicago localhost loghost
and the result of the hostname command would be:
$ hostname
dallas
Just like in the Linux example a call to InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName() will fail with
java.net.UnknownHostException: dallas: dallas: node name or service name not known
Just like the Linux example you are now stuck. There's no way to retrieve neither the value 'dallas' nor the value 'chicago'.
When will you really struggle with this?
Very often you'll find that InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName() will indeed return a value which is equal to the computername. So there's no problem (except for the added overhead of name resolution).
The problem arises typically within PaaS environments where there's a difference between computername and the name of the loopback interface. For example people report problems in Amazon EC2.
Bug/RFE reports
A bit of searching reveals this RFE report : link1, link2. However, judging from the comments on that report the issue seems to have been largely misunderstood by the JDK team, so it is unlikely it will be addressed.
I like the comparison in the RFE to other programming languages.

Just one-liner ... cross platform (Windows-Linux-Unix-Mac(Unix)) [Always works, No DNS required]:
String hostname = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader(Runtime.getRuntime().exec("hostname").getInputStream()))
.readLine();
You're done !!

Environment variables may also provide a useful means -- COMPUTERNAME on Windows, HOSTNAME on most modern Unix/Linux shells.
See: https://stackoverflow.com/a/17956000/768795
I'm using these as "supplementary" methods to InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName(), since as several people point out, that function doesn't work in all environments.
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("hostname") is another possible supplement. At this stage, I haven't used it.
import java.net.InetAddress;
import java.net.UnknownHostException;
// try InetAddress.LocalHost first;
// NOTE -- InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName() will not work in certain environments.
try {
String result = InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName();
if (StringUtils.isNotEmpty( result))
return result;
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
// failed; try alternate means.
}
// try environment properties.
//
String host = System.getenv("COMPUTERNAME");
if (host != null)
return host;
host = System.getenv("HOSTNAME");
if (host != null)
return host;
// undetermined.
return null;

The most portable way to get the hostname of the current computer in Java is as follows:
import java.net.InetAddress;
import java.net.UnknownHostException;
public class getHostName {
public static void main(String[] args) throws UnknownHostException {
InetAddress iAddress = InetAddress.getLocalHost();
String hostName = iAddress.getHostName();
//To get the Canonical host name
String canonicalHostName = iAddress.getCanonicalHostName();
System.out.println("HostName:" + hostName);
System.out.println("Canonical Host Name:" + canonicalHostName);
}
}

If you're not against using an external dependency from maven central, I wrote gethostname4j to solve this problem for myself. It just uses JNA to call libc's gethostname function (or gets the ComputerName on Windows) and returns it to you as a string.
https://github.com/mattsheppard/gethostname4j

hostName == null;
Enumeration<NetworkInterface> interfaces = NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces();
{
while (interfaces.hasMoreElements()) {
NetworkInterface nic = interfaces.nextElement();
Enumeration<InetAddress> addresses = nic.getInetAddresses();
while (hostName == null && addresses.hasMoreElements()) {
InetAddress address = addresses.nextElement();
if (!address.isLoopbackAddress()) {
hostName = address.getHostName();
}
}
}
}

Building off of Dan Ortega's answer, I created a generic executeCommand(String) method that takes a command as a paramater.
import java.io.*;
public class SystemUtil {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
System.out.println(retrieveHostName());
}
public static String retrieveHostName() throws IOException {
return executeCommand("hostname");
}
private static String executeCommand(String command) throws IOException {
return new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader(Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command).getInputStream()))
.readLine();
}
}

InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostName() is the best way out of the two as this is the best abstraction at the developer level.

How to control the handset using AT commands in java

I know that by using AT commands we can control the handset.As example unlocking screen we can give a specific AT command or moving right to the menu or left or bottom or up we can give specific AT commands. What all are the AT commands for doing this kind of control.
Thank you.

From what I understand, the AT commands are more used for phone-type functions (making calls, or sending SMS, etc), rather than menu navigation, etc.
I'm not entirely sure if that was your end-goal after menu navigation, but you can find more details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayes_command_set (the original +AT command set)
If you wanted to send SMS from a handset connected to your computer you might want to take a peek at this page: http://www.developershome.com/sms/atCommandsIntro.asp
If you wanted more control when performing functions, like sending SMS, etc, you might want to investigate "PDU Mode."
It is entirely possible that some handset manufacturers may have implemented additional +AT commands to allow other functions to be performed, so you might do better by specifically searching for the commands related to the handset you are using.
(Of course, if you're having issues connecting to the handset hardware itself, you need to ensure you have either the javax.comm extension or some favoured Java USB API installed)
If post doesn't help, perhaps you could provide more details in your question? (eg. what you are ultimately trying to do, if you think it would help)

List of AT commands
sample java code to use AT command
public void servicesDiscovered(int transID, ServiceRecord serviceRecord[])
{
String url = serviceRecord[0].getConnectionURL(1, false);
try
{
//ClientSession conn= (ClientSession)Connector.open(url);
StreamConnection meineVerbindung = (StreamConnection) Connector.open(url);
if(conn== null)
System.out.println("Kann Service URL nicht oeffnen\n");
else
{
OutputStream out = conn.openOutputStream();
InputStream in = conn.openInputStream();
String message = "AT+CGMI\r\n";
// send AT-command
System.out.println("send AT Comand request: "+message);
out.write(message.getBytes());
out.flush();
out.close();
byte buffer[] = new byte[10000];
// read the response from mobile phone
in.read(buffer);
System.out.println("AT Comand response: "+buffer.toString());}
}
catch(IOException e)
{
System.out.println("Service Error(3): "+e.getMessage());
}
}

How can I emulate a COM port, write data to it and read data from it?

I'm trying to test my code that reads from a USB port (COM25 when the device is connected) that is created when a device is connected to my computer and to a boat. I cannot power the USB device when not on the boat so testing is difficult. Can someone let me know how to simulate a COM port and write data to it so my test program is able to connect to that simulated COM port and read that data?
I'm reading this from a Java program but the simulation doesn't need to be in Java or any specific language. Just a program that will simulate the COM port and allow me to connect to it. I downloaded a COM port emulator from AGG Software and it appears that it's writing to what I deem COM25 but I'm not able to connect to it from my Java test.

The general answer for this kind of problem is to wrap the code that talks to the COM port in a class that implements an interface. If you do this as a Facade (pattern) then you can also make the COM methods you call sensible from your end.
The interface can then be mocked or faked for the test. (There is a great article on test objects, but I haven't been able to find it yet.) One advantage here is that you can create a fake version that throws exceptions or otherwise does things that are possible for the port to do but hard to get it to do in practice.

Where I work, we solved a similar issue by having our emulator not spoof a COM port at all. Here's how you can do it:
Define an interface for talking with your COM port, something like IUsbCommService
Implement your real COM-communcation service, using the standard Java Comm API
For your emulator, simply kick of a thread that spits out the same sort of data you can expect from your USB device at regular intervals.
Use your IOC framework of choice (e.g., Spring) to wire up either the emulator or the real service.
As long as you hide your implementation logic appropriately, and as long as you code to your interface, your service-consumer code won't care whether it's talking to the real USB device or to the emulator.
For example:
import yourpackage.InaccessibleDeviceException;
import yourpackage.NoDataAvailableException;
public interface IUsbProviderService {
public void initDevice() throws InaccessibleDeviceException;
public UsbData getUsbData()
throws InaccessibleDeviceException, NoDataAvailableException;
}
// The real service
import javax.comm.SerialPort; //....and the rest of the java comm API
public class UsbService implements IUsbProviderService {
.
.
.
}
// The emulator
public class UsbServiceEmulator implements IUsbProviderService {
private Thread listenerThread;
private static final Long WAITTIMEMS = 10L;
private String usbData;
public UsbServiceEmulator(long maxWaitTime) throws InaccessibleDeviceException{
initialize();
boolean success = false;
long slept = 0;
while (!success && slept < maxWaitTime) {
Thread.sleep(WAITTIMEMS);
slept += WAITTIMEMS;
}
}
private void initialize() throws InaccessibleDeviceException{
listenerThread = new Thread();
listenerThread.start();
}
private class UsbRunner implements Runnable {
private String[] lines = {"Data line 1", "Data line 2", "Data line 3"};
public void run() {
int line = 0;
while(true) {
serialEvent(lines[line]);
if(line == 3) {
line = 0;
} else {
line++;
}
try {
Thread.sleep(200);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
//handle the error
}
}
private void serialEvent(String line) {
if(/*you have detected you have enough data */) {
synchronized(this) {
usbData = parser.getUsbData();
}
}
}
}
Hope this helps!

Thanks to all the answers so far! Here's what I ended up doing as a result of recommendations from someone at work.
Downloaded the COM Port Data Emulator (CPDE) from AGG Software
Downloaded the Virtual Serial Port Driver (VSPD) from Eltima Software
(I just randomly picked a free data emulator and virtual serial port package. There are plenty of alternatives out there)
Using VSPD, created virtual serial ports 24 and 25 and connected them via a virtual null modem cable. This effectively creates a write port at 24 and a read port at 25.
Ran the CPDE, connected to 24 and started writing my test data.
Ran my test program, connected to 25 and was able to read the test data from it

There are plenty of relevant answers in this section. But as for me, I personally use Virtual Serial Port Driver, which works perfect for me. But I must admit that there are plenty alternatives when it comes to creating virtual ports: freevirtualserialports.com; comOcom to name a few. But I haven't got a chance to use them, so my recommendation for solving this problem is Virtual Serial Port Driver.

I recommend fabulatech's virtual modem.
Get it at http://www.virtual-modem.com
You might also want to get a COM port monitor for your tests - You can find it at
http://www.serial-port-monitor.com
Good luck with the boat! :)

I use com0com and it works great for what I need.

In addition all others, I would like to added this nice, free emulator https://sites.google.com/site/terminalbpp/ I do use. I do also use AGG Com port data emulator.