Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue How can EcoStruxure BMS server serve data to external devices or software? Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment EcoStruxure Building Operation Third party devices or software Cause The EcoStruxure Building Operation software supports the major communication protocols in building automation and security management. In many projects, it is required that an EcoStruxure BMS server serve data to external devices or software, E.X. HMI, SCADA or power monitoring. Resolution The following is a summary of the available options to serve EcoStruxure BMS server data to the external world: BACnet:  When you create a BACnet Interface, the system automatically creates the Application and IP network folders within the BACnet Interface folder on the System Tree. If you create a BACnet Interface for a SmartX server, you can optionally create an MS/TP network. You can create BACnet objects in BACnet application folder of EcoStruxure BMS servers and these object will be visible for external BACnet clients. More information about EBO BACnet interface: BACnet Interface   Modbus Slave network:  If you configure the Modbus Slave Network (and associate it with a serial port), you can set up any external Modbus master device to communicate with the internal Modbus Interface. In this example, a Modbus Slave Network is set up on an EcoStruxure BMS Server and the external master device is configured with the same Modbus properties as the Modbus Slave Network object. The Modbus master device can also be an HMI device. More information about Modbus serial interface: Modbus Serial Networks Modbus server network: You can create a Modbus TCP Network on an Ethernet network (TCP/IP).  You can create an internal interface which acts as the server to an external client/clients. More information about Modbus TCP interface: Client and Server Networks   MQTT: MQTT is a lightweight and flexible data transfer protocol for IoT resources. EcoStruxure Building Operation, V3.2 or higher, can be configured to send data to an MQTT broker on interval or event-driven. The below are the tested brokers: Microsoft Azure IoT Hub Amazon IoT Core IBM Watson IoT Mosquitto More information about MQTT interface: MQTT Overview LonWorks Interface: EcoStruxure BMS servers can have a local node on their networks that can act as a LonWorks node. In the local node, you can create your own NVs that can be bound to external LonWorks devices using LonWorks bindings. The NVs in your local node can then be used in EcoStruxure Building Operation bindings for applications and graphics. More information about LonWorks interface: LonWorks Engineering   SNMP: Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet-standard protocol for managing devices on IP networks. The EcoStruxure BMS servers support SNMP version 3. The SmartX servers support several SNMP traps. SNMP traps enable an agent to notify the management station of significant events by way of an unsolicited SNMP message. More information about SNMP: SNMP EcoStruxure Web Service (EWS) server: EcoStruxure Web Services allows seamless sharing of operational data, including alarms and historical information, between software from different Schneider Electric Business Units. When the EcoStruxure BMS server is an EcoStruxure Web Service server, it exposes objects, such as values, to another EcoStruxure system that is an EcoStruxure Web Service client. The EcoStruxure Web Service client can read and change values on the EcoStruxure BMS depending on the configuration of the EcoStruxure BMS server. More information about EBO EWS Server: EcoStruxure Web Service Server Smart Connector: A development framework that simplifies and accelerates integrations with third-party systems or other data sources. It is an open, extensible and configurable application framework that allows developers to create innovative new capabilities, applications, and solutions which extend and enhance EcoStruxure Building solutions.   For further information watch the Smart Connector explainer video or visit the Smart Connector Developer Community on the Exchange: For developers wanting to get started using the Smart Connector framework visit: https://www.smartconnectorserver.com Smart Connector shop at Exchange:  https://shop.exchange.se.com/en-US/home 

Issue Micronet BACnet (MNB) AV and BV objects in G3 are purple indicating they are overridden. The AV and BV objects are read only, how can they be overridden? Product Line TAC IA Series Environment Niagara G3 Micronet BACnet MNB-300 MNB-VAV MNB-1000 Cause Purple BACnet values (I/A Series R2 and G3 graphic override color) are internal BACnet points that can not be modified (display only). This behavior is normal and began to appear in MNB controller firmware versions 1.2 and higher. Per the BACnet specification, read-only type points must be set to indicate an override condition. The root cause is a design change required by the BACnet specification to bring the controllers into compliance for BTL certification. The ASHRAE BACnet Specification 135-2004 specifies that the "read-only" type objects (e.g. Analog Value, Binary Value, etc.) OVERRIDDEN flag is: Logical TRUE (1) if the point has been overridden by some mechanism local to the BACnet device. In this context "overridden" is taken to mean that the Present Value property is not changeable through BACnet services.In this case, the override is meant to indicate to Niagara that the point is locally overridden (by the controller) and cannot be changed by the Niagara BACnet service (or user).When the ENC learns the device it reads what "Protocol Services" it supports. If it supports COV then the "use COV" flag is set to true in the device object and when the proxy points are brought in they are defined as COV and once subscribed they will send their present value and status flag values to the ENC. In this case the AVM & BVM (being read only) objects will show overridden along with their value and be purple by default. Resolution All MNB devices support COV so the use COV property is set to true when they are discovered in the ENC.If the use COV property of the Device object is changed to false the ENC will use readPropertyMultiple (if supported in the device) to poll for data. If readPropertyMultiple is not supported in the device the ENC will read one property at a time. Now when the points are learned they will be defined as polled and when polled only the present value (PV) is requested (by default). Hence the AVM & BVM objects will show their value but not show overridden because their status flags are not known at the ENC. If the use COV device property is set to true after the AVM and BVM proxy points are defined in the ENC they will show overridden and purple after they are successfully subscribed. Turning the use COV property in the device to false at this point will cause these objects to be polled but their status is already known so they will continue to show overridden along with their present value. The only way to change that is to delete and re-learn them while the device use COV property is sent to false.

Issue How is a subnet defined? Environment Refer to "TCP/IP Network Administration" by Craig Hunt, O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. Cause Sectioning network communication by subnets. Resolution A subnet is defined by applying a bit mask (subnet mask) to the IP address. If a bit is on in the mask, that equivalent bit in the address is interpreted as a network bit. If a bit in the mask is off, the bit belongs to the host part of the address. The subnet is only known locally.