Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue An error occurred while installing DSS: The account already exists In the Windows event log, an error states the following: The account already exists. --Stacktrace-- at System.DirectoryServices.Interop.IAds.SetInfo() at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.CommitChanges() at TAC.DSS.Install.User.Create() at TAC.DSS.Install.UserInstall.Install() --End of stacktrace-- This error can be found when installing Vista 4.3.x or higher after selecting Vista Administration of the SQL database Product Line TAC Vista Environment Vista 4.3.x or higher Cause The two accounts that Vista is trying to create for SQL database administration are already created on this computer and a different password is specified. The TACA_PCNAME and TACM_PCNAME use automatically generated passwords that cannot change for Vista to contact the SQL database. Resolution Remove the TACA_PCNAME and TACM_PCNAME accounts from the computer Install Vista Server once more.

Issue IP Packages are sent out on the wrong network interface. Environment PC configured to use more than one network interface (Multihomed) Cause When a PC should send out a TCP/IP network package to another device it will determine if the destination device is located on the same local network. If it is, the PC can address the message directly to the device's IP address. If it is not, the package need to be sent to a router that can route the message to its final destination using what is called a default gateway. This is normally no problem when the PC is connected to only one network but if it is connected to more than one network that uses gateways to route the traffic on the networks, the PC does not always know which network interface to use for messages that are not addressed to one of the local networks. Resolution Tell the PC which routing path to use for a destination address or a destination network. If your PC is configured to use more than one network interface (Multihomed) and your packages are not sent out on the correct network interface, you need to add a routing path for this or those destinations using the "Route ADD" command in Windows via the command prompt. Example: Add a route path for a network: route add 192.168.2.0 MASK 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.1 ^ 1 ^ 2 ^3 1 = Network address where the devices are located 2 = Network Subnet mask 3 = IP address of the router (gateway) that should be used to forward the packages. Add a route path per device: route add 192.168.2.25 MASK 255.255.255.255 192.168.0.1 route add 192.168.2.26 MASK 255.255.255.255 192.168.0.1 ^ 1 ^ 2 ^3 1 = IP address of the destination device. 2 = should always be 255.255.255.255 3 = IP address of the router (gateway) that should be used to forward the packages. For more information of how to use this command, type "route help add" in the command prompt. Note that added route paths are not persistent by default and will be erased after a system reboot. To make them persistent you need to add the command -p route -p add 192.168........

Issue What are the differences between Standard Continuum Import/Export and Continuum BACnet COV? What issues can arise from programming a Bacnet system if you are using the Continuum Import/Export concepts. Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Standard Continuum Import/Export Continuum BACnet COV Cause Information on Continuum import/export and BACnet COV concept to help select the method that meet the environment. Resolution Using standard Continuum import/export where one or more controllers reference a point from another controller creates a relationship in the controllers such that whenever the exported value changes (or exceeds the threshold setting), the point value will be sent out in a broadcast to the network and the controllers that are looking at that point will intercept this single broadcast message and use the new value in their programs. It is very efficient in that no matter how many controllers on the network require a point value from a single controller, only one export message is required. The down side of that is that if there was a network interruption when the message was sent, one or more of the receiving controllers may miss the data update. For critical data exchange, especially if the value rarely changes, such as a schedule point, the use of a refresh program should be used to occasionally retransmit the value by setting the refresh attribute of the point to true. BACnet utilizes Change of Value (COV) data sharing. The main difference here is that for every controller that references a point from another controller, an individual subscription for that point is registered in the exporting controller. So if 10 controllers wanted the same point exported from one controller there would be 10 subscriptions made to that controller. When the point value exceeds the COV Increment (which is equivalent to threshold) there are 10 individual point to point messages sent to the 10 subscribing controllers. The benefit here is that the delivery of the data to all the subscribers is guaranteed. The down side is that there is much more traffic on the network and much more strain put on the exporting controller. Although the data exchange is very reliable, if you were, for instance, to have an MSTP controller possess a global OAT sensor, and 100 other controllers wanted that value exported, every change in value would require 100 point to point messages to send it to the 100 subscribers. MSTP devices default to a Max_Info_Frames of 2, which means that the controller can only deliver 2 of these messages when it gets a chance to talk on the network. The MSTP controller only gets a chance to talk after every other controller on the network has had a chance to, plus the BCX controller which is interlaced between each MSTP controller when using enhanced MSTP. So, if there were 100 MSTP controllers on the network, the exporting controller could only send updates to two of his 100 recipients every 200 token passes on the MSTP network. The data would get backed up, especially if the value was frequently changing, so the updates may never get out. If this amount of data sharing is required in BACnet, the best method to perform it would be to first set the COV Increment to a reasonable number to limit the amount of exports required, and then map the point in one or more BCX level controllers which have much more bandwidth on the network and capability of data sharing and let them export the COV's to the required recipients.

Issue How do I share data between standard Continuum controllers and Continuum BACnet controllers? What communication method is used (COV, Import/export, or point to point)? What problems can I encounter? Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Continuum Controllers (CX9200, CX9400, CX9900,CX9702, CX9680, bCX9640, ACX5720, ACX5740) Continuum BACnet Controllers (b4920, bCX4040) Cause All communication between Continuum controllers and Continuum BACnet controllers is done using point to point protocol. Since BACnet controllers do not support Import/export and Continuum controllers do not support COV, point to point is the only common method to communicate. Resolution The method of programming the data sharing can be the same as standard Continuum programming, however because of the point to point protocol a specific method should be used. Using typical Continuum programming techniques, you would create a mirrored point in the BACnet controller (a BCX for instance). You would then write a PE program in the BCX that mirrors the point, for instance: Line Mirror BCX DataPoint1 = CX/Infinet/DataPoint1 goto Mirror Line E: goto mirror This method would perform a point to point communication every BCX scan and retrieve the data whether it has changed or not. It will create a lot of unnecessary network traffic and slow the scans of both controllers. The line E is necessary because with a point to point communication, the program will disable if the target controller temporarily goes offline. Now consider if you were mirroring many points between the systems for instance you were using the BCX as a BACnet gateway for the Continuum system. That same program would have many points that are being transferred. You would also write multiple programs because of the number of points being polled. The net result of this programming method would be that the entire system would be brought to its knees! Extremely slow scan rates in both controllers because these point to point data requests have to be completed end to end during the scan. Congested Infinet communications because to get the Infinet points we go all the way down the 19.2K Baud Infinet to get the data. The system would just plain no longer function correctly. The only reasonable method to accomplish this type of data transfer would be for the owner of the data that you want to transfer to the other controller sends the data to that controller, and only on an as needed basis, such as a change in its value. Therefore in the scenario described above where you want to mirror points in a BACnet BCX from a Continuum system, you would write the transfer program(s) in the CX controller, and within that program use a local variable for each transferred point to allow you to know if its value has changed since the last transfer, and not retransmit if the value is the same, thereby significantly decreasing network traffic and burden on the system. This method has the added benefit of eliminating the need to clog up the Infinet network, because the program in the CX automatically creates an import/export relationship between the CX and the Infinet controller's points so the normal export broadcast will transfer the data to the CX. One example of the program in the CX to perform the data transfer is as follows: Numeric num1 Line Mirror If num1<>CX/Infinet/datapoint1 then set BCX dataPoint1 to CX/Infinet/datapoint1 num1 = CX/Infinet/datapoint1 endif goto Mirror Line E: if TS>5 then goto Mirror You could also streamline the programs using such methods as creating an InfinityFunction that would be called to minimize the redundant portions of the data comparison and transfer in the programs for multiple point transfers. The function could be named “Exporter” look like this: Arg 1 RemotePoint Arg 2 LocalPoint Arg 3 TestPoint If TestPoint<> LocalPoint then Set RemotePoint to LocalPoint TestPoint= LocalPoint endif Return And now any point that you want to be exported would call this function so the above program would be reduced to: Numeric num1, ..... numX Line Mirror Exporter (BCX dataPoint1, CX/Infinet/datapoint1, num1) . . Exporter (BCX dataPointX, CX/Infinet/datapointX, numX) goto Mirror Line E: if TS>5 then goto mirror After the initial scan when we send all the current data to the BCX, only changed data would be sent thereafter. This syntax would be repeated for each point that you wanted to mirror. This program is setup to be looping. You could create a similar program to be fallthru and trigger it from a minute or seconds system variable. If kept looping it would be recommended to go to a delay line between scans if there was a lot of data transfer going on. There should also be many programs like this if there is a lot of data to be transferred for a couple of reasons. First, if for some reason one of the points could not be transferred due to a temporary comm loss, the program would disable, go to line E and restart from the beginning, not executing any data transfer on the points below the one that failed. Second, if you were transferring many points, you would most likely exceed the maximum file size. Always be cautious as to how much data you try to transfer, and how often. There is no fixed limit per controller, but system performance will degrade proportionally to the speed and amount of data being transferred. As an additional note, it would also be extremely beneficial to put thresholds on the exported points to decrease un-necessary traffic.

Issue Can all the RAM be used in a MNL controller? Environment MNL controller Cause After doing a compile in WorkPlace Tech, there are only 8 bytes left in the RAM available (shown in the Application Statistics window).  Is there a concern if the application uses all available RAM?  Resolution The controllers are designed to operate whether there is leftover application RAM or not.  Use the WorkPlace Tech Tool 4.0 Engineering Guide (F-27254) to see the RAM memory requirements for each object.

Issue Problems and cautions when communicating with TAC (Viconics) Bacnet communicating thermostats Product Line Andover Continuum Environment BACnet Continuum Viconics Cause Need troubleshooting and cautionary information when working with Viconics Stats and Continuum Resolution Integrating SE/Viconics' Devices on an MSTP Network SE7000 Series Room Controllers do not support the COV service but SE8000 do support it. For the SE7000 controllers, special attention should be given to the polling time settings at the Supervisory Controller and Workstation level when using a graphic interface or an application program to read or write to a room controller object. Enhanced MSTP Continuum BACnet devices support enhanced MSTP, which is a proprietary service which allows the BCX level controller to receive the MSTP token between every MSTP controller on the network. This feature allows the BCX to have speedy access to send and retrieve data to any MSTP controller on the network for such things as graphics and data polling. The SE/Viconics stats, as well as any other 3rd party BACnet device, does not support this feature. So a network of stats will perform normal BACnet token passing and for instance, if you had 100 stats on the MSTP, the BCX controller would only be allowed to talk once for every 100 token passes on the network. This will make for slow responses to such things as graphics requests for data. Sending too many requests for data on the network will bottleneck the requests. Graphics Continuum graphics will poll the SE7000 series because they do not support COV. It is very important that you set the request interval on the Thermostat device object editor to a large number such as 5000 ms. This will avoid overwhelming the stat with poll requests. This becomes even more critical in area graphics where a single graphic might poll many devices. If proper poll rate is not respected, devices may be reported offline by saturating the traffic handling capacity of BACnet MSTP without COV subscription. Plain English programs As for the application programming, you should be very careful when programming things such as sending setpoints, or mirroring the Stat's points in the BCX controller for such things as trend logs or graphics polling. You will need to write the setpoint change programs to send only on change, and any data mirroring on a once in a while basis. Otherwise, any read or write request will occur at the controller's scan rate, which might be in hundredths of milliseconds. This can easily bog down a network as single commands can be sent to all ASC devices down the MSTP trunks every hundredths of milliseconds. Programs writing to the devices should have a structure similar to the following: Line setschedule Numeric ScheduleState Schedulestate = Schedule If Schedule = On then MV11 = Occupied If Schedule = Off Then MV11 = Unoccupied goto TestForChange Line TestForChange if Schedule <> Schedulestate then goto setschedule line E if ts>5 then goto setschedule Retries and Timeouts Another thing to look for in a BACnet integration is the Device object of the Supervisory Controller (and the Operator’s Workstation). This object contains the 2 following required properties: Retry Timeout: The Retry Timeout property specifies the time between re-transmissions if the acknowledgement has not been received. When you are experiencing problems with controllers dropping off-line, increasing this value may help. Number of APDU Retries: The Number of APDU Retries property specifies the number of times unsuccessful transmissions will be repeated. If the receiving controller has not received the transmission successfully after this many attempts, no further attempts will be made. For example, if one of the thermostats does not reply to a Supervisory Controller (SC) request, and the SC’s Retry Timeout is set to 2000 msec and the Number of APDU Retries is set to 1, then the SC will send one other request, 2 sec later. If the MSTP device does not reply, it will be considered Off-line by the workstation. So having a Retry Timeout value of 10000 msec and a Number of APDU Retries property set to 3 at the SC level may prevent device from dropping Off-line. These properties should also be changed at the Workstation device editor since the workstation will likely issue requests to any MSTP devices when the graphics are used. For more detailed information on programming for these stats see the installation guides and instruction manuals for these devices.

Issue Creating an object in a BACnet B3 or Infinet controller results in "Invalid Handle ID" or "Unable to insert row in Database Table" error Environment BACnet B3 Infinet controller i2 controller Cause Most commonly this is caused by having too many objects in a B3 or Infinet controller. There is a maximum amount of objects 255, Approximately 50 of them are reserved for system reserved variables and objects, leaving approximately 200 that can be user created in these types of controllers. Resolution One way to determine if this is the problem is to select the controller through Continuum Explorer and get an object count of how many objects are in the controller. If you are seeing roughly 200 objects then try and delete one object to see if you can create a new one. If you can then you have run into the above problem and you need to re-think the programming of the controller.

Issue Error on login to the webClient: "Max user connections has been reached" Environment Continuum webClient Cause webClient support up to 5 users simultaneously. Resolution Make sure the key is enabled for webClient. Make sure all the DCom settings are set correctly. Make sure the IIS and WebClient software was not installed through a remote terminal service type of software. If this was done they will need to uninstall the IIS, WebClient, etc… and then go directly on the server and re-install the software. Make sure the IIS server was not rebooted through a remote terminal service application and then subsequently logged on through remote a terminal service. If this is done they will need to go directly on the IIS server and reboot it while physically on the machine. Verify how many users are actually logged on. Should not display something like 5 / 5. In this case you “have” exceeded the maximum and one user must log off. Users typically run into this on standalone systems where the key is configured for two users and the person shuts down the browser and neglects to log off. Users are NOT disconnected in this case until the 20 minute session timeout occurs. In this state the administrator can close the ACWebServerProxy dialog to disconnect ALL users with one click.

Issue Can not get graphics to work through firewalls when using webClient prior to Version 1.73. Environment webClient prior to Version 1.73 Cause Prior to 1.73 when dealing with WebPinpoint and firewalls you would need one of the below IIS server configurations. Resolution Scenario 1 -- All Client browsers inside the firewall. IIS server needs to be located inside firewall. Web Pinpoint will function correctly.   Scenario 2 -- All Client browsers are Outside the firewall. IIS server needs to be located in a DMZ ( 2 firewalls required to have a DMZ). Web Pinpoint will function correctly.   Scenario 3 -- Clients are located inside and outside the firewall Two IIS servers required, one inside the Firewall and one located in the DMZ. Web Pinpoint functions correctly. Or One IIS server required, client machines outside the firewall access the IIS through a VPN. Web Pinpoint functions correctly.   Scenario 4 -- All client machines are located outside the firewall. IIS server and ALL controllers located outside the firewall **Not recommended**   At revision 1.73 firewalls will no longer be an issue and there is no special configuration needed, just set it up as if there were no firewalls.

Issue Error connecting to webClient after upgrade: "Class factory can't supply requested class" Webclient/accmgr.dst line 13 (or similar) Environment webClient Cause This is caused by not rebooting the IIS server when requested during the installation of the software. Resolution Reboot the IIS server Make sure there are no other browsers connected to it Then re-install the webClient software

Issue What port numbers do routers have to have open in order to run a Continuum system? Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Cyberstation Continuum BACnet / Infinet Controllers TCP/IP Cause There have been many questions on which network ports the Continuum system uses for communication. Below is a listing of the network ports along with what the port is being used for. Resolution The destination UDP port from the controller will always be one of the below port numbers. The source UDP port that the controller uses is completely arbitrary and will be anywhere from 32768 to 65534. (0x8000 to 0xFFFE) Controller/Cyberstation Application Packet type Decimal port number Hex Port numbers   Controller Error Log Tool - UDP 33487 0x82CF BACNet B4 controller Point Configuration UDP 33487 0x82CF BACNet B4 controller Alarm Configuration, Alarms, and COV UDP 47808 0xBAC0 BACNet B4 controller Controller flash TCP 33456 0x82B0 BACNet B4 controller Web Server TCP 80 NetController Point Configuration, Alarms, and Events UDP 33487 0x82CF Netcontroller Save from Controller TCP 33440 0x82A0 NetController Controller flash TCP 33456 0x82B0 Sending Email  TCP 25 NetController WebServer TCP 80 (but configurable) CX9702 ** Point Configuration, Alarms, and Events See Note 33487 0x82CF CX9702 ** Save from Controller See Note 33440 0x82A0 CX9702 ** Controller flash See Note 33456 0x82B0 CX9702 ** WebServer See Note 80 (but configurable) ** Note: UDP or TCP port (user configurable via the TransportType attribute) Remote View Remote view Video TCP 18772 0x4954 CyberStation Controller Alarms and Events UDP 33487 0x82CF CyberStation Peer Cyberstation communication UDP 44224 (1.4x and 1.5x), 47808 (all other revisions) 0xACC0 (1.4x and 1.5x), 0xBAC0 (all other revisions) CyberStation Workstation to SQL database TCP Determined by Microsoft, 1433 by default CyberStation BACNet communication UDP 47808 0xBAC0 CyberStation MSMQ TCP 1801 0x0709 CyberStation MSMQ UDP 3527 0x0DC7 CyberStation MSMQ UDP 1801 0x0709 CyberStation MSMQ RPC 135 0x0087 CyberStation MSMQ RPC 2101*,2103*, 2105* 0x0835, 0x0837, 0x0839 *Message Queuing message traffic and internal session management traffic between Queue Managers is delivered over Winsock through reserved TCP port 1801. The Message Queuing Independent Client multicasts a server discovery broadcast over reserved UDP port 1801. Message Queuing Servers listen on TCP port 2101* for RPC-based MQIS and Active Directory lookups. Message Queuing 3.0 independent clients and Message Queuing servers make MQIS requests directly to Active Directory by using LDAP on TCP port 389. Message Queuing Independent Clients and Servers listen on fixed TCP port 2103* and 2105* for RPC-based remote reads of their public queues and private queues. Also, the Dependent Client uses these two ports to communicate with its server for send and for receive. There is a dynamic RPC port that is assigned by the RPC layer for handshaking with an Independent Client or with an RPC server for the Message Queuing Server to determine the fixed ports. This is typically port 135. The internal "ping" mechanism for Message Queuing operates over reserved UDP port 3527. When you use HTTP messaging in Message Queuing 3.0, Message Queuing message traffic and internal session management traffic between Queue Managers is delivered over Winsock through reserved TCP port 1801. * These port numbers may be incremented by 11 if the initial choice of RPC port is being used when Message Queuing initializes. A connecting QM queries port 135 to discover the 2xxx ports. For more information on MSMQ ports check with Microsoft, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/178517 A .PDF document containing this Network Port information can be downloaded Here.

Issue Are 120 Ohm terminating resistors required on the IOU bus? Environment IOU Bus Cause Occasionally, customers have reported that unreliable communications with RS485 versions of IO Modules can be corrected by removing the 120 ohm bus termination resistors. The Continuum IO Module Install Sheet and the Continuum IO Systems Reference documents state that these resistors are required because it is recommended by the RS485 standard and by Echelon documents. These documents assume a perfect bus topology where there are no stubs, cable impedance is uniform throughout the bus, shielding is continuous, and each node's transceiver circuit presents the same load. Resolution The reality is that each installation of a Continuum IO bus is a little different with respect to these parameters and does not represent an ideal bus. A typical installation usually consists of clusters of modules plugged directly together and then connected to each other and the NetController by various lengths of shielded cable. Additional variations are introduced by the fact that multiple vendors and multiple generations of RS485 transceiver ICs are used in the Continuum modules. This means that each installation is in fact a little different and it is possible that the added load of the termination resistors can cause the signal levels on the bus to be ambiguous to some transceivers when the bus is idle. In these cases, removal of the resistors will make the bus more reliable. In summary, if you are experiencing IO Module communications problems, first check all connections per the installation instructions and ensure that the NetController and modules are properly grounded. If you are still experiencing problems try removing the 120 ohm resistors and check to see if reliable communication is restored.

Issue How to remove unwanted entries from the Alarm log, Access Event log, Error log, and Activity log automatically. Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Continuum SQL Server MSDE, 2000, 2005, 2008 Cause Want to setup automatic truncation of event logs and unsure how to do this in an SQL Server environment. Resolution MSDE Engine For MSDE, you can go to our Exchange online site and download the Standalone MSDE Database Utilities from the Tools, Utilities and Service Packs section of the Continuum part of our Exchange online web site. This is capable of automatically truncating the logs, as well making automated backups, checking for low hard drive space, etc. SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 For full-blown SQL Server, you can easily create a scheduled Job. Details are described below. To create a scheduled Job that will truncate the Continuum logs in the SQL Server: 1. Open up SQL Enterprise Manager. Note that the SQL Server Agent service must be running in order to create a Job. 2. Highlight the Continuum database 3. From the Menu, select Tools \ Job Scheduling A wizard opens; "Welcome to the Create Job Wizard" Hit Next 4. Select Transact-SQL Command 5. Hit Next 6. For the Database Name, select ContinuumDB (or whatever the name of the DB is) 7. In the large white space for the Transact-SQL Command, cut and paste the code from our web site: /****** Replace 90 with the number of days to maintain in each log ********/ delete from accessevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 delete from activityevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 delete from alarmevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 delete from errorevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 8. Hit Next 9. On the next screen, you are asked when you do want to run this job. Select "On a recurring basis" and hit the Schedule button. 10. On the Schedule page, set up whatever schedule you desire 11. Hit OK to close the Schedule Page 12. Hit Next 13. On the Job Notifications screen, you can choose (if you want) any email or net send alerts. This is optional 14. Hit Next 15. In the final page, you are given a summary of the Job you have just created and you can change the name of your Job to anything you want. It might be a good idea to give it a more descriptive name like "Weekly Log Truncation" 16. Click Finish and you are done. You should get a message that the job was created successfully. To verify that the Job is running correctly, you can go to the Enterprise Manager of SQL Server and click on the Management Folder, then expand the SQL Server Agent folder and click on Jobs. On the right-hand pane, you will see a list of created jobs. Scroll down and find the job that you just created. You can get information about the history of the Job, whether it ran successfully or not.   SQL Server 2008 1. Run Mgmt Studio and login as sa. 2. Make sure SQL Server Agent is running. Would expect it is by default. 3. Right-click on Jobs (under SQL Server Agent). Select New Job... 4. General tab - Name: TrimLogs // Owner: sa // Category: Database Maintenance // Enabled checkbox 5. Steps tab - New... // Step name: DateDiff // Type Transact-SQL script (T-SQL) // Run as: [null] // Database: ContinuumDB //Command: [pasted in code below]. Press OK. delete from accessevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 delete from activityevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 delete from alarmevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 delete from errorevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90   6. Schedules tab - New... // Name: Weekly // Schedule type: Recurring & Enabled // Occurs: Weekly // Recurs every: 1 week(s) on [whatever date and time]. Press OK. 7. Did not set up Alerts, Notifications or Targets. 8. Press OK. 9. Set it up to run a few minutes after creation. 10. After time passed, opened Mgmt Studio and double-clicked Job Activity Monitor. Saw TrimLogs had successfully run. 11. Ran query: Select count(*) from ActivityEvent to verify count went down.  

Issue How to tell if an AC-1 Plus card reader has been tampered with Environment AC-1 Plus card reader Cause Knowing whether a card reader has been tampered with is an important security measure. Resolution Set up an InfinityNumeric. Name it anything. Set its IOU number the same as the entry IOU (or exit IOU) of the door and set the channel number to 6. Set the direction for IOInput. The value of the numeric represents the status of the reader. 0 = Normal 1 = No Reader Present 2 = Reader Voltage problem NOTE: This only works on the AC1Plus access control module.

Issue What are the Plain English program limitations when it comes to number of characters in the program and line label sizes? Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Plain English Editor Cause You must stay within the character limits of a Plain English program to have it execute without problems. Resolution Plain English program limitations for a CX9XXX level controller: Number of characters allowed in 1 line label: 16 Number of characters allowed per line: 140 Number of characters allowed in all lines labels (one program): 272  ** there is a 4 char overhead per line label Number of individual lines in (one program): 399 (including whitespace) Number of total characters: 31,728, approx. (this is really based on file size) Limitations for a Infinet/B3 level controller: Number of characters allowed in 1 line label: 16 Number of characters allowed per line: 140 Number of characters allowed in all lines labels (one program): 157  ** there is a 4 char overhead per line label Number of individual lines in (one program): 399 (including whitespace) Number of total characters: 10,725, approx. (this is really based on file size)

Issue Controlling I/NET DO points from a Xenta 527 Environment I/NET Site with Xenta 527 Cause Need to control DO Points using Xenta 527 Resolution I/NET DO point states are modified with the "control" tag in Xbuilder. This tag issues a command based on the control descriptions order specified, not the actual command value. For example if you are trying to control a door point in I/NET and the Control Description table looks like the following: Command 00: STRT 1 01: stop 0 02: Secr 0 03: UnLk 0 04: Lock 0 The Discrete Output definition has 02: Secr defined as the control description. When you change the value of the control tag of the DO point on the Xenta 527 (connection object, on values/graphic page) the valid values will be the following since it is a 3 state point: 0: Secr 1: UnLk 2: Lock The order of the control descriptions matter, but the order of the commands used (whether zero is first) does not matter to the Xenta 527.  

Issue My TAC Vista 5 license that I created from my entitlement doesn't work, but the demo license works fine. Environment Vista 5 Cause Only the Demo license works without a License server installed. Resolution The license server must be installed on your TAC Vista Server machine even if it is a standalone server.  

Issue An error occurred while installing DSS: MSDTC The content of the dialog box or windows event entry starts with: System.EnterpriseServices.RegistrationException: Unable to open COM+ 1.0 catalog to configure components. ----> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x8004E00F): COM+ was unable to talk to the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator Product Line TAC Vista Environment Vista Installation DSS Cause This happens when there is a problem with Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MDTC) Resolution Go to Control Panel Administrative Tools – Services Check if MSDTC in running as a Service. The name that you should see in the service list is 'Distributed Transaction Coordinator' Make sure that this is Started, Automatic, Network Service (for XP and Win2003) Here is how to install it if it is not already running: Open cmd prompt Navigate to C:\Windows\%windir% Type "msdtc -install" which installs Msdtc. The service now appears under the 'Services' area. After installing follow the steps in Microsoft Technical Bulletin.

Issue How to recover I2 controller with auto started corrupt/bad PE program and flash backed up with this corrupt/bad program. Environment I2 Controller Cause If the program is in flash, and the ACCRestartMode is set to ACCWarmToCool and the ACCStatusFlash is set to AccValidFlash, you’ll find yourself in an endless loop when trying to power down and restart. What needs to be performed at this point is to get the corrupted/bad auto start program out of the backed up flash. The corrupted program can be one that has just been created/edited or imported and then saved to flash. Resolution Get the corrupt/bad program out of the controller and its flash: With the WS in offline edit, dump the corrupted program/s to file and then delete it/them from the controller. Now send the I2 controller to text file. Edit the controller and write down the parameters i.e.….Name, model #, commport, serial # and infinet ID. Then delete the controller. Bring WS online, manually create a new I2 with a temporary name, same serial #, same model #, same comport and an infinet ID that is not used… ie (if you have for example less than 100 infinet controllers use infinet id of 101) select apply. The temporary I2 just created should come online. Once online, delete it. (The reason for creating with a new temp name and Infinet ID, is that a newly created controller will create an empty controller and empty out the flash.) Now create a new I2 with the original name, commport, serial # and original infinet ID. Once online import the controller dump file we saved, reload and back up to flash if needed.

Issue What is the Vista Server LNS license? Environment Vista Licensing Cause Vista will automatically detect the presence of binding tools (LonMaker, Alex, Lonwatcher, and NL220) and properly communicate with the LNS server without the need of a specific license. However, if you have an LNS database but no binding tool then the LNS license will need to be ordered and installed. Resolution The Vista Server LNS license is used by Vista to enable LNS communication when there is not a binding tool installed on the computer. Note: Vista 5.0 had a bug and was incorrectly checking for the binding tool. This was corrected in Hotfix 14 and 17.