The frequently asked questions below provide information regarding SmartServer applications and references for more information:
License management is available with SmartServer 3.3 and higher. See Manage Licenses as well as Frequently Asked Questions - Licensing for more information.
The SmartServer can be used as a self-installed IP-852 router, which allows you to create an IP-852 network with two or more SmartServer IoTs (e.g., connecting two buildings together) without using a LNS network integration tool to add the SmartServers to the existing LNS network. This application is similar to the i.LON 600 self-installed router as repeater feature. In addition to the SmartServer, you will need to purchase a U60. In this case, the SmartServers are used as repeaters and repeat all the traffic on any FT-10/XF-1250/Power Line SmartServer to all the other channels connected to other SmartServers. This method is useful when a network integration tool does not support routers. In these cases, the SmartServers are physically connected to the existing network, but there are now two logical channels:
See the Using the SmartServer as a Self-Installed IP-852 Router section in (Optional) Set up the IP-852 Configuration Server for more information.
The SmartServer can discover devices but this feature cannot be used for automatic network recovery where you discover the existing provisioned devices on the network without modifying the devices configuration (like subnet/node ids or connections). Using the SmartServer device discovery process in almost all cases change the LON device's subnet/node ids and removes any existing connection which can cause any existing operational site to stop working.
Instead, use IzoT CT or IzoT Net Server as described below. If you still need to do device discovery for Modbus or BACnet, then disconnect the SmartServer from the LON channel before running device discovery in order to not bring down an operational LON network, finally connect the LON channel after discovery is done.
For LON network recovery, set the SmartServer to IMM and use an existing IzoT CT or IzoT Net Server database, or use the CT Recover database from network feature or IzoT Net Server OpenLNS Database Recovery Wizard.
To use the SmartServer on a LON network you will need to purchase at least one U60 or U70 network interface depending on the LON channel type you are using. The SmartServer can be used as a multi-port router which means it can support multiple U60s and U70s. U60s/U70 are not required for BACnet or Modbus devices. USB Network interfaces Types:
See Add a U60 or U70 LON Network Interface and Router for information on how many network interfaces are supported.
Yes, you can use the SmartServer to automatically discover BACnet, Modbus, and LON devices using the Discover button (
) on the Devices widget. Datapoint discovery is only supported for BACnet Devices. For LON and Modbus devices, you must import an XIF file prior to running device discovery. In most cases the device will show up in the SmartServer as unconfigured. To use the device you will in most case have to provision the discovered devices. Provisioning a LON devices will change the domain/subnet/node ids, change the datapoint values and remove any existing connection in the LON device.
When using the SmartServer device discovery any discovery provisioned LON device will in almost all cases have their subnet/node ids changed and all existing connections removed. This can cause an operational LON site to stop working. Device discovery for BACnet and Modbus devices just finds these devices and allows you to access these devices. If you still need to do device discovery for Modbus or BACnet, then disconnect the SmartServer from the LON channel before running device discovery in order to not bring down an operational LON network, finally connect the LON channel after discovery is done.
When started, device discovery will try to discover all devices on LON, Modbus, and if configured on the BACnet channel.
Deleting a discovered LON device using the remove action in the Devices widget may cause a previously working device to stop working. To delete a discovered LON device, first make sure the device is no longer connected to the network (e.g., FT channel) or disconnect the SmartServer from the network (such as disconnect the U60) and then delete the device in the CMS device widget. Doing a reset database will not affect the existing devices. |
If you discover and provision a previously installed LON device when using DMM, then the SmartServer may modify the configuration of the device. If the device is part of an operational system, then the system may no longer function as expected due to the change in the LON device configuration. To restore normal operation, reconfigure your discovered LON devices using the SmartServer CMS. |
Protocols:
For LON device discovery, you can specify a domain ID or use the Enable Domain ID Discovery option on the LON Configuration page to check all 1-byte domains. When using Enable Domain ID Discovery option, the domain ID of the first device discovered, or the first service pin message received, will determine the domain ID that is used for all subsequent device discovery. See (Optional) Add a LON Interface for more information.
The SmartServer can do LON device discovery. However, if the site is operational system, it may no longer be operational after using device discovery. Once LON devices are discovered, you may need to provision the devices (subnet/node ids are changed, existing datapoint values go to default, and existing connections to devices are deleted). If you need to add an existing network, or discover a working network, then first use an existing IzoT CT/IzoT Net Server database, or use OpenLNS Database Recovery Wizard, to do network recovery, then change the SmartServer to IMM mode, and finally use the IzoT Net Export utility to build up the network into the SmartServer. Starting with SmartServer 3.4, LON devices can be discovered for a specific LON domain ID, or you can use LON domain ID discovery for one-byte domains. LON domain ID discovery chooses the domain ID based on the first discovered device, or if it receives a service message from a device. LON devices that are discovered using device discovery appear with current devices status (e.g., provisioned or unprovisioned). For provisioned devices, device discovery preserves the existing connections (that is, connections continue to work after discovery is completed). For DMM, prior to SmartServer 3.4, discovered devices appear as unprovisioned (shown in blue in the CMS), requiring you to provision the device in order to use it. This process deletes all existing connections to the device. For IMM, you only need to run the IzoT Net Export utility after device discovery. If the SmartServer discovers LON devices, then only delete devices that are disconnected from the LON channel, otherwise the SmartServer will decommission the device before it deletes it from the CMS. If you are doing device discovery starting with SmartServer 3.4 and higher, then the SmartServer will show any device that it sees using the current state of the edge device (i.e., if already commissioned, then it will show up as commissioned in the SmartServer CMS). If the SmartServer has a problem reading information from the device then the device will show up blue. |
See also Discovering, Defining, or Importing Devices for more information.
The SmartServer BACnet server allows third-party BACnet tools to access LON and Modbus datapoints. To use this feature, you will need to:
The SmartServer can be used to access BACnet devices either by performing device discovery, which discovers BACnet devices and their datapoints, or by manually creating the BACnet XIF file and defining datapoints that are used for each BACnet device.
If you use the device discovery feature to access BACnet devices, then the SmartServer discovers BACnet devices and their datapoints, and automatically creates a BACnet XIF file if one does not already exist. The BACnet XIF file defines which datapoints are supported by a specific BACnet device type. Each type of BACnet device type will have a unique BACnet XIF file. BACnet XIF files that are created by device discovery will have all the datapoints in the BACnet device.
If you manually create the BACnet XIF file, then you can define which datapoints are used for each type of BACnet device. In this way, you can reduce the overall number of datapoints. Once you have manually created the BACnet XIF files, you can either use device discovery to discover and add the devices, or you can manually add the BACnet device to the SmartServer.
To access BACnet datapoint with the SmartServer CMS, you will need to perform one of the following as described below:
Start device discovery using the CMS Devices widget. For each discovered BACnet device, the SmartServer will automatically create a BACnet XIF if one does not already exist. See Discovering, Defining, or Importing Devices for more information.
Provision the BACnet devices using the CMS Devices widget. See Provisioning Devices for more information.
Start device discovery using the CMS Devices widget. For each discovered BACnet device, the SmartServer will use the imported BACnet XIF file. If a BACnet XIF file is not found for a device, then one will be automatically created. See Discovering, Defining, or Importing Devices for more information.
BACnet datapoints cannot be accessed directly from IzoT CT or IzoT Net Server. To do so, you will need to use a SmartServer internal device to map the BACnet datapoints to LON datapoints so that you can use IzoT CT to monitor and control BACnet devices. Go to the How do I access BACnet or Modbus datapoints in IzoT CT / IzoT Net Server section for information on using an internal device to map BACnet-to-LON datapoints. |
The SmartServer can be used to access as Modbus TCP or RTU devices. To access these devices, you will need to:
For Modbus RTU, configure the SmartServer RS-485 interface using the RS-485 Configuration page. See (Optional) Add a Modbus RTU Interface for more information.
The SmartServer IoT Pro EX Edition has two built-in RS-485 interfaces, and each IOX has its own RS-485 interface. For Modbus RTU, you can only use one of these RS-485 interfaces with a SmartServer. The other SmartServer, or IOX RS-485 interfaces, can be used for other protocols. |
Import the Modbus XIF file using the CMS Device Types widget. See the Importing a Device Type section in Defining Device Types for more information.
Modbus datapoints cannot be accessed directly from IzoT CT or IzoT Net Server. To do so, you will need to use a SmartServer internal device to map the Modbus datapoints to LON datapoints so that you can use IzoT CT to monitor and control Modbus devices. Go to the How do I access BACnet or Modbus datapoints in IzoT CT / IzoT Net Server section for information on using an internal device to map Modbus-to-LON datapoints. |
The SmartServer can be used as a standalone network integration tool. In this application, you will add all devices and provision them only using the SmartServer CMS. While BACnet and Modbus devices are always added and provisioned using the SmartServer CMS, the CMS can be used to add and provision LON devices as well. In the case of LON devices, you will use Device Management Mode (DMM), which is the default.
See Provisioning Devices for more information.
To use the SmartServer with IzoT CT or IzoT Net Server, you will need to:
If you are using the IzoT Net Export utility, then you will need to add a SmartServer IoT device to the LON network. The SmartServer IoT should be added to an IP-70 channel. A separate IP-70 channel should be added for each SmartServer.
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Because BACnet and Modbus datapoints are not LON datapoints, they cannot be directly accessed by IzoT CT or IzoT Net Server. However, you can use a SmartServer internal device to map the BACnet or Modbus datapoints to LON datapoints so that you can access them with a LON integration tool (e.g., CT Browser). Go to the How do I access BACnet or Modbus datapoints in IzoT CT / IzoT Net Server section for information on using an internal device to map BACnet/Modbus-to-LON datapoints. An example of an IzoT CT network is shown below.
To see BACnet datapoints in IzoT CT, you will need to:
To see Modbus datapoints:
In IzoT CT /IzoT Net Server:
For a BACnet Tool:
To access LON devices that you added and provisioned (commissioned):
In IzoT CT/IzoT Net Server:
For a BACnet Tool:
If you are using IzoT Net Export utility, then you will need to add a SmartServer IoT device to the LON network. The SmartServer IoT should be added to an IP-70 channel. A separate IP-70 channel should be added for each SmartServer. IzoT Net Export utility requires that you use IzoT CT 4.2 or a newer version, or IzoT Net Server 4.2 or a newer version. |
BACnet and Modbus datapoints cannot be directly accessed by IzoT CT or IzoT Net Server. To do so, you will need to perform the following steps:
Use your integration tool, such as IzoT CT, to dynamically add datapoints to the internal device. If the LON and BACnet/Modbus datapoint types are similar, then you can use a connections (CON) file to do the mapping between the LON and BACnet/Modbus datapoints.
For example, a float datapoint for the BACnet/Modbus translates directly to SNVT_temp_p. You can use shadowConnect.exe (from the SmartServer GitHub repository) if you have similar datapoint types.
There are some limitations for BACnet XIF and Modbus XIF files when using shadowConnect.exe. Additionally, there are limitations for the names of dynamic datapoints added to IzoT CT/IzoT Net Server database. Once you add a dynamic datapoint into IzoT CT/IzoT Net Server, you cannot rename the datapoint. In this case, you must delete the datapoint and add a new datapoint with a new name. See Naming Considerations for BACnet XIF and Modbus XIF Files in the (Optional) Setting Datapoint Names for more information. |
You can use the SmartServer IoT to replace the following old or discontinued products:
The SmartServer CMS can be accessed in the following ways:
Using Node-RED flows to interact with your remote client/server. See SmartServer IoT Node-RED Tutorial and Creating Sequence of Operations for more information.
You can customize the SmartServer in the following ways:
You can configure your SmartServer's location by following the steps in the Verifying the Device Location section found in Configure Your SmartServer.