Keysight IO Libraries Suite 2025 Update 1(for Linux)

Contents:

What is the Keysight IO Libraries Suite?

The Keysight IO Libraries Suite is a collection of 64-bit libraries and utility programs. The API libraries (VISA and SICL) enable instrument communications for a variety of Linux distribution environments that are compatible with GPIB, USB, USB-GPIB, LAN, and RS-232 test instruments from a variety of manufacturers. Several utility programs help you quickly and easily connect your instruments to your PC. 

Establishing communication between your instruments and your PC is simple.

  1. Install the IO Libraries Suite: Get all the software you need to connect instruments to your Linux desktop workstation by way of the various supported interfaces.
  2. Connect Your Instruments: Connect cables and power on instruments.
  3. Run Keysight Connection Expert to Identify and Communicate with Instruments: View connected instruments, send commands to your instruments, and configure the settings.

What's New in Keysight IO Libraries 2025 Update 1(for Linux)?

New Features 

Defect fixes

System Requirements

Keysight IO Libraries Suite has been tested on the following system configurations.

Linux Distributions:

Debian Version Kernel-Version
12.x 6.1

Disk Space Requirement:

Software Requirement

 Installing the Software

Note:

  • Manual installation using the rpm package is not supported.
  • The IO Libraries Suite installation process has undergone a major change. Now there will be a single installer.

To install Keysight IO Libraries Suite:

  1. Download the Keysight IO Libraries installer from www.keysight.com.
  2. Disconnect any USB instruments, USB/GPIB converters, PXI and AXIe chassis, and FireWire (IEEE 1394)/VXI interfaces connected to your PC.
  3. Close all applications running on the PC.
  4. Install the IO Libraries Suite.
    1. Copy the downloaded installer to a local folder.
    2. Open a terminal window and change to the folder containing the installer.
    3. Run commands for interactive or silent installation as required.
      Installation Type Command

      Step-by-Step Interactive Installation

      An interactive graphical user interface (GUI) for installation starts if it detects XWindows running on your PC.
      Note: Ensure the permission for the installer is set to executable.

      sudo ./IOLibrariesSuite-21.1.x.y-linux-x64.run

      Silent Installation

      sudo ./IOLibrariesSuite-21.1.x.y-linux-x64.run -–mode unattended

      Silent Installation with Progress Indicators

      sudo ./IOLibrariesSuite-21.1.x.y-linux-x64.exe -–mode unattended –-unattendedmodeui minimal

      Note:

      • If the installer detects an unsupported Linux kernel, you’ll see a prompt to continue or cancel. The installation continues by default, but using an unverified kernel version may lead to unexpected issues, as this version has not been fully tested.

      • If the installer detects a previous version of IO Libraries Suite, the installer will ask whether you want to uninstall the existing version to continue. Typically, select Yes. 
  5. For some settings to take effect, you must log out and back in again after completing the installation. If you are running Ubuntu 18.04 and above, you should reboot instead of just logging out/in.
  6. Reboot is required after installing Keysight IO Libraries Suite or reconnecting instruments when using Keysight VISA or SICL.
  7. Re-connect any devices that you disconnected before installation.

Refer to www.keysight.com for the most recent information about Linux support at Keysight Technologies, Inc.

Launch IO Control Application 

With IO Libraries 2025 or later, IO Control is available as a web application. You can launch it in any of the following ways:

(Optional) If Additional Users Need Access to Your IO Libraries Machine

The options below are for users of either RS232 or USBTMC. 

If you are using RS232:

By default, IO Libraries create a kt-iols group on the machine. The installer will add the installing superuser to both kt-iols and the existing system dialout groups (for RS-232 usage). If you want other users on that machine to be able to access RS-232, you must manually add those users to both kt-iols and dialout. The administrator/superuser should log out and back in again after adding these users for the changes to take effect. 

If you are using USBTMC: 

By default, IO Libraries create a kt-iols group and an usbtmc group on the machine. The installer will add the installing superuser to both kt-iols and to usbtmc. If you want other users on that machine to be able to use USBTMC, you must manually add those users to both kt-iols and usbtmc. The administrator/superuser should log out and back in again after adding these users for the changes to take effect. 

After Installing the IO Libraries Suite

After installing IO Libraries Suite, verify that the following modules/settings are available, or some IO Libraries Suite functionality may not work. While some of these modules are available by default on a Linux system, others are installed automatically during IO Libraries Suite package installation.

Linux Version Modules/Settings Feature(s) Affected

CentOS(RHEL)
  • gawk
 Affects the building of Kernel Drivers.
  • firewalld
  • firewall-config

Affects the functioning of the VXI11/SICL-LAN interface, remote interface access, and mDNS browsing since they are required to configure firewall rules that enable access to port 111 and mDNS.
  • iptables-services

Affects the functioning of the firewalld.
  • avahi-compat-libdns_sd

Affects mDNS discovery.
  • adjust firewall settings

If VXI-11 or remote interface interruption/SRQ functionalities don't work, you may need to adjust the firewall rules.

IO Libraries Suite VISA listens at a random TCP port for connection requests from VXI-11 instruments or remote gateways for interruption/SRQ functionalities (e.g., viEnableEvent). By default, IO Libraries Suite uses direct rules of firewall-cmd to handle such traffic and RHEL8.x/CentOS8.x uses nftables as the firewalld backend. nftables has a known limitation for direct rules of firewall-cmd. Therefore, you need to adjust these rules.

You can use the following commands to trust the traffic from the instrument or remote gateway to work around the issue.

#firewall-cmd --add-rich-rule='rule family=ipv4 source address=10.74.2.100 accept' --permanent

#firewall-cmd --reload

"10.74.2.100" is the instrument IP address or remote gateway address for remote interfaces.

Linux Version Modules / Settings Feature(s) Affected

Ubuntu / Debian Desktop
  • gawk
 Affects the building of Kernel Drivers.
  • libavahi-compat-libdnssd1
Affects mDNS discovery.
  • iptables-services

Affects the functioning of the VXI11/SICL-LAN interface, remote interface access, and mDNS browsing since they are required to configure firewall rules.

Uninstalling the Software

Keysight IO Libraries Suite installation process automatically generates an uninstaller under "/opt/keysight/iolibs/uninstall" and named IOLibrariesSuite-uninstall. Users can run this uninstaller from a Terminal window to uninstall Keysight IO Libraries Suite.

To force a silent uninstallation, use sudo ./IOLibrariesSuite-uninstall --mode unattended.

Known Issues

License Grant

Keysight grants you a non-exclusive license of the Software at no charge pursuant to the terms of the License Agreement. The License Agreement is displayed when you install the software and is available in the IO Libraries Suite Online Help. You may download the Software, and store or run the Software for internal use and purposes in accordance with this Agreement and the documentation provided with the Software. Such documentation may include license terms provided by Keysight's third-party suppliers, which will apply to the use of the Software and take precedence over these license terms. In the absence of documentation specifying the applicable license, you may store or run the Software on your PC(s) and instrument(s). If the Software is otherwise licensed for concurrent or network use, you may not allow more than the maximum number of authorized users to access and use the Software concurrently.

Trademarks and Copyright

PCIe® and PCI EXPRESS® are US registered trademarks and/or service marks of PCI-SIG.

© Keysight Technologies 1983-2025