Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Can two (or more) OPC servers be configured to get information from the same Continuum system? Environment CyberStation OPC Server Infinity CX controller. Cause General configuration Resolution Yes, multiple OPC servers can be configured to get information from the same Continuum system. It is recommended that each OPC server runs in its own computer and uses a different CX as its primary controller.

Issue Need to know minimal CyberStation user rights for security guards to be able to see video in a VideoLayout object launched from Pinpoint. Environment CyberStation VideoLayouts (as opposed to VideoMonitor) Cause When trying to give security officers the right to click on a graphic object to open up a video layout. What Continuum security rights do they need to do this? Resolution Tested with v1.93. The minimal rights (keys in the Security editor application) to see video in a VideoLayout appears to be the following: 1. Run Graphics Editor. 2. VideoServer, View . 3. VideoLayout, View 4. VideoLayout, General Page You need a hotspot on a menu page to open a Pinpoint graphic. That graphic has a button to open a VideoLayout.

Issue Does ReportCmdLine.exe interact directly with network mail services.  Does ReportCmdLine.exe function the same as selecting the email delivery icon on the report toolbar? Environment CyberStation ReportCmdLine.exe Exchange Reports Email Delivery Cause The ReportCmdLine.exe and manual report delivery do not function in precisely the same way.    Resolution The ReportCmdLine.exe has no interaction with mail services whatsoever.    What ReportCmdLine does is it notifies the report object that the report should be created in the form of an email, or a file, or both.  The effect is similar, though not precisely the same as opening the report object and selecting the Email button on the tool bar.    These two actions, i.e. sending a report email by selecting the report email button or by using the ReportCmdLine argument 3, differ in the following way.  Report Email button: The Report Email button creates an email that must then be sent manually.    ReportCmdLine.exe When the report object receives the email argument from the ReportCmdLine.exe it creates an email in the Outlook Outbox.  In either case the email is not sent until, in case of the Report email button, the operator selects the send button on the report email or, in the case of the ReportCmdLine, Outlook is launched upon which it can move the email from it's outbox to the sent mail box.  These operations are handled by the report object.  ReportCmdLine plays no part in this beyond passing on the argument.  In either case you need a mail client that supports Enhanced MAPI protocol (IOW/ Outlook) on the same Continuum workstation otherwise the report email will remain in the OutBox and will not be sent until Outlook is launched.

Issue Reloading a controller causes AccDataServices crash after controller is reset. Creating controller that is offline does same as above. Environment CyberStation Cause ControllerStatus/InfinetStatus EventNotification configured to Email/Page on alarm but MS Outlook has not been installed on the machine. Resolution Edit the EventNotification and de-select the email/page on alarm in the actions tab and the recipient list. OR Install MS Outlook

Issue Why doesn't the Known Occupancy Count (KnownOccupCount) number increase when Personnel enter the Area. Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Continuum Access Control Continuum Cyberstation Cause The Known Occupancy Count shows the current number of personnel in the given Area. The doors within that Area must have both Entry and Exit readers for this number to be incremented when people enter and decremented when people exit. Resolution The Known Occupancy Count will not function with Entry only doors. Both Entry and Exit readers are required on the doors within the Area.  

Issue Is the Ethernet id (MAC address) of the CX controller used in communication? Environment All CX master controllers CX9900 CX9640 CX9702 bCX4040 bCX4000 CX9680 ACX5740 ACX5720 Cause Documentation Resolution The Ethernet id of InfinityControllers is not actually used during communication, the id is saved to the database for informational purposes only. The id is saved to the database when the controller is first created and commissioned, if the controller is then replaced it is possible to have a mismatch between the value of the Ethernet id in the database and the live value as read from the controller. This mismatch in the Ethernet id can be corrected or safely ignored. It does not have an effect on system operation either way.

Issue There is a need to know which versions of Digital Sentry was tested with version 1.94 Environment Continuum Windows XP Windows 7 Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008 Cause Certain versions of Digital Sentry may or may not be supported in some versions of Continuum. Resolution Digital Sentry versions 7.2.xx and 7.3.54 were tested with Continuum 1.94

Issue What are the different options on the CyberStation security key? Product Line Andover Continuum, Pelco Environment CyberStation Cause Documentation Resolution NOTE: These are the options used to program a security key but not necessarily what shows when a key is read using MMC key reader. For example when a key is programmed for FIPS-201 it does NOT show the -F when the key information is read using MMC key reader, one way to know if FIPS-201 is enabled is to look at the Allowed Credentials setting in the Cyberstation, the FIPS credential options will be blank if the Cyberstation key is not enabled for FIPS-201 CyberStation: SU-INT           Single User Integrated SU-HVAC      Single User HVAC SU-SEC        Single User Security LAN-INT        LAN Integrated LAN-HVAC   LAN HVAC LAN-SEC      LAN Security   CyberStation Options: -U                    Unlimited Points -P                    Programmer’s Version -B                    Badging Option -CFRB 1            Basic CFR Compliance Pack – 1 st Workstation -CFRBV 1         Basic CFR Compliance Pack – 2 nd Workstation & up -CFRA 1            Advanced CFR Compliance Pack – 1 st Workstation -CFRAV 1         Advanced CFR Compliance Pack – 2 nd Workstation & up -D                    Data Exchange Option – includes Personnel Import Utility -E 2, 3                 Endura integration option -F 1, 2                 FIPS 201 option -USB 4              USB Key   1    Option requires special approval before it can be enabled. 2    Option only available through software upgrade process; cannot be ordered with new P/N configurations. 3    New option introduced in v1.91; required per workstation for integration with a Pelco Endura system. Currently this is free as of 8/2/14 but needs a cookie       from repair for this option to work 4    USB Key Option is mandatory for new orders Note: The Continuum version number of a key, allows it to operate with all Cyberstation versions up to that release.

Issue Where can the FIPS fields be added to be accessed by webclient browsers? Environment Webclient FIPS Cause The question comes up asking if there is a way to add in the FIPS field to be accessed by webclient and it is not FIPS compliant Resolution Webclient is not FIPS compliant at this time. See page 15, item 8 in the Product Announcement FIPS 201 Solution   Additional Notes: In order to be FIPS compliant there is a middleware software piece that is part of the FIPS standard. The middleware company that we partnered with is called ImageWare and their product EpiBuilder integrates with Cyberstation. The integration doesn't currently run on a browser platform. If a site doesn't require FIPS then you would be able to add personnel through webclient, adding card numbers and areas, etc. Badge creation would still need to be done at a Cyberstation though since the ImageWare (EpiBuilder) application integration is used to create the badges.

Issue The question is sometimes is asked if the default passwords (community strings) for Public and Private can be changed in Netcontrollers Environment Netcontrollers (BCX, 9680, 99xx) Cause Sites want to change the default Community strings for better security Resolution The option to change the community string password is only available if the controller is enabled for snmp alarming. If the controller is at the default with only snmp access to be shown in a Network Management System, the ability to change the default community string name is not available. In that case, the default community strings passwords have to be used. Once the snmp alarming options is enabled on the controller then the following instructions can be used. There is a place in the configuration page of the Netcontroller called snmp alarm configuration. On that page there are options for the snmp communities (public/private) for Gets and Sets. There are fields there with the default passwords of ‘Public’ for Gets and ‘Private’ for Sets. These can be changed to an 8 character word. This password would then need to be matched within the Network Management Software (NMS) to do the gets and sets. See page 19 of Andover Continuum v1.9 SNMP Configuration Guide for information on setting these passwords.

Issue The Personnel Manager displays both the date and the time in the Date of Birth field. The main problem is that when adding the Data of Birth field to the badge layout, it has both when only the date is desired. Environment CyberStation Personnel Manager Badge Layout Cause The default display of the Date of Birth field in the Personnel manager includes the date and time. The date only is preferred.   Resolution The data display in the personnel manager does not appear to be changeable. However, there is a way to change the Badge Layout. The following worked in v1.93: In Make/Edit Badge select Edit Badge Layout. Double click on DateOfBirth dynamic text field. Select the Text tab. Select the dropdown for 'Format for date/time fields" and select MMMM dd, yyyy. Select OK and save the badge layout. Do a print preview to check. The above did not work in v1.91 at one site so they opted to create a Custom String Attribute under the Personnel Class and just enter the date.  

Issue Badge printer is printing blank credentials. Environment EPI Builder CyberStation Personnel Credentials Access Cards Cause This site has two card printers called BadgePrinter_1 and BadgePrinter_2. When the first badging workstation is busy printing badges on the default badge printer BadgePrinter_1, the second badging workstation has to use BadgePrinter_2.  When the printer selection is changed, the printer selected in EPI Builders Page Setup becomes BadgePrinter_2. When Windows asks the user if they want to save these settings, the Page Layout will retain BadgePrinter_2 in it's configuration.  This becomes a problem when subsequent badges are printed to the default printer BadgePrinter_1 since the page setup is set to print the badge to BadgePrinter_2. Resolution Either the printer settings must be managed more deliberately, or different default badge printers must be dedicated to each badge printing workstation.

Issue Schedules worked for a while but now when a schedule is edited Continuum throws the following error. Cannot resolve object: 34926186.8395613 in Object Property List.  Please save the BACnet device to the database or make sure the object still exists. Environment Continuum BACnet schedule Cause The scheduled object has been deleted from the database. Resolution Create a new scheduled object and link it to this schedule on the Infinity side, then send to database on the BACnet end.

Issue Is there a way to modify the subject field of an alarm email using the format file? Environment CyberStation Cause Documentation Resolution The 'subject ' field is not customizable using the email format file. A side effect of not being able to modify the subject line is that depending on the path and name of the object, the subject line can be very long. This becomes an issue when these alarms are sent to a phone where the majority of the text gets truncated on most phones. The behavior is different based on the phone and the wireless carrier. In Continuum version 2.0 there will be a new feature called send mail that no longer ties Continuum email alarms to Outlook and it will also give the option to modify the email's subject line.

Issue The Access Events delivery works well for a long time; However from a special time point, the Access Events delivery stopped  and no access event can be traced after that time. Environment Continuum 1.81 and above Windows XP SP3 CX9900/9940 AC-1 Cause If the time  is not synchronized in Continuum, it may cause issues like below: Several seconds time difference between workstations and controllers will result in some issue, such as lost extendedlogs, Access Events and etc. More than 3 minutes time difference will result in extendedlogs and access events stopped delivery to the workstations Resolution Create an time synchronization program as a fallthru program on anyone workstation in the system, and has the "Run on any workstation" checked, Triggered this program by analog value "hour" on the workstation After the program run, make sure all the CX /ACX controllers and workstations has the same value in "Date" exactly . Open the editor of each workstations in the system, click "Teach" then select "Device Teach" Present your access card in the front of reader, check the access events listview or Access events tab on the door editor to make sure the new access events come in.

Issue How fast are supervised inputs scanned? Environment ACX5720 ACX5740 Netcontroller Netcontroller II CX9702 AC1, AC1A, AC1-plus Cause Want to know how quick a TROUBLE condition is measured on a supervised input. Resolution The Supervised inputs behave a bit differently to the other inputs. The input value is scanned every 100ms to determine its current state and this is compared to a matrix to determine if a trouble event is being generated. To determine that there has been a cut or short, the input needs to see a TROUBLE value 3 times, meaning it needs to be in trouble at least 300ms. There is a caveat to this though. When going from On-TROUBLE-ON or OFF-TROUBLE-OFF, the input just needs to see 1 TROUBLE condition before a trouble alarm is generated. This can be a problem when the input hardware is very fast (such as a Mortise lock or plunger style REX button pressed quickly) and the input goes through the OFF-TROUBLE-ON-TROUBLE-OFF scenario within less than 500ms (100ms for each sample), the samples actually measured (seen by the controller) could be OFF-TROUBLE-OFF...which will raise a trouble condition. You can mitigate the problem by using a more tolerant supervised circuit such as series or parallel. The SeriesParallel circuit is the most secure but is the least tolerant due to the smaller voltage range between each distinct value.  

Issue Is it possible to upgrade a bCX1-R to a bCX1-CR in the field? (upgrade router to controller / router) Environment bCX1-R (bCX4000) bCX1-CR (bCX4040) Cause Want to upgrade a router only controller to a controller/router to provide the ability to add objects and programming to the bCX1. Resolution Yes you can upgrade a bCX1-R to a bCX1-CR in the field. You will need to order the upgrade from Repairs. They will supply you with a flash file to disable the Router only functionality and to adjust the node count. Once the flash file e-mailed by the North Andover Repair Dept has been downloaded to the controller, the appropriate revision bCX4040 file will need to be downloaded from the Buildings Business Extranet to activate the 4040 Controller Router functionality.  

Issue What is the procedure for moving personnel objects from the root or folder into a different folder. Environment CyberStation Cause For various reasons sometimes it becomes necessary to move personnel objects that have been created in different folders or at the root to one folder that will contain all personnel objects. Resolution Because CyberStation applications refer to the personnel objects in the database by id and not by path personnel objects can be safely moved using the procedure below. NOTE: Do not move area objects or rename their container folders if you are using the Personnel Information Manager (PIM) as doing do will break the functionality of personnel profiles used by the PIM application. Make a backup of the ContinuumDB as a precaution. Put CyberStation in offline edit mode. Click on the folder that contains the personnel objects that will be moved.  On the right pane, click one of the objects then using the ‘Edit’ pull down menu select ALL the objects. (or select only the ones you wish to move) Right click on the selected objects then drag and drop them on the destination folder. On the context menu that comes up select ‘Move here’ (DO NOT COPY). After the move operation is complete return CyberStation to online edit mode. If using the Personnel Manager you may need to change the path where new personnel objects are created by default.

Issue Is it true that WebClient does not support NAT. Environment WebClient NAT Cause WebClient is not functioning properly on the sites LAN environment. Resolution WebClient does not support NAT.  One work around is to use 1 to 1 NAT where the translation is always to the same address.

Issue Want to be able to set up a user account where the user can reload controllers, but cannot edit or delete them. Environment CyberStation Cause Do not want certain users to be able to edit or delete controllers. Resolution When testing this with v1.93 it appears you have to give the user "View" and "Edit" access to the InfinityController object type in the security editor application if you want them to be able to reload from ContinuumExplorer. You can lock all the other attributes including the tabs. You can even lock "View" and let them open a Listview of controllers and reload from there - then they don't see the objects within the controllers either.