LON is supported for SmartConnect 4.3 and higher, with the exception of LON PL.

You can configure the SmartServer as a LON remote network interface (RNI) to provide a LON interface for any LON RNI compatible clients.  Example RNI clients include OpenLNS, IzoT Net Server, LonScanner, and NodeUtil. There is also a video on the SmartServer Training Videos page that describes how to enable the SmartServer IoT LON RNI feature. Click here for SmartServer IoT RNI Setup video.

This section consists of the following:

Prerequisites

To use the LON RNI feature, the SmartServer IoT and Windows PC must be configured for compatible IP-access on your LAN. Verify that the OpenLDV Network Driver and NodeUtil are available or install/configure as needed:

• OpenLDV Network Driver (not the SDK) must be installed. You can use the control panel on your PC to determine whether it is already installed. 

• NodeUtil does not have an installation, but is an archive that must be unzipped into your ../lonworks/bin directory where the path environment variable will find it.

Configuring the RNI Feature

To use RNI assets with applications like NodeUtil and LonScanner Protocol Analyzer, you must:

• Enable the RNI feature (disabled by default) using the SmartServer IoT LON configuration page. 

• Define RNI devices using the LonWorks Interfaces (32-bit) control panel applet.

Follow the steps below to enable and define RNI devices.

1. Open the SmartServer Configuration page as described in Accessing the SmartServer IoT Configuration Page. The Network tab appears as the default SmartServer Configuration page. Once the network settings are configured for the SmartServer system, then the System tab will appear as the default.
   
   

   Open

   

   SmartServer IoT Network Tab

    

   Open

   

   SmartServer IoT System Tab

   
   For SmartConnect, open the SmartServer Configuration page as described in Accessing the SmartConnect Configuration Page. The Configuration page view that appears depends on your cache data. As needed, click the SmartServer IoT tab (left-side). The System tab (top) will appear as the default as shown below.
   
   

    

2. Click the LON tab.
   
   SmartServer IoT and SmartConnect LON Configuration pages are shown below. The examples that follow are shown using SmartServer IoT.
   
   

    

    

3. Plug in the network adapters in sequential order to establish the channel identities the first time you power up your SmartServer IoT as shown below. The SmartServer supports up to four network adapters directly connected. Each network adaptors is assigned an interface identity index with its order of discovery. Once established, these identities are fixed. If the LON Configuration page is open, refresh the page after you install the USB adapter to see it listed in the tables.
   
   

   
   These identities persist across reboots as long as you do not have the Single LonTalk Interface Mode option enabled. If you have more than one adapter, do not enable this option shown below. 
   
   

    

4. Enable the RNI feature by selecting the RNI lon0 configuration options and click Update to save the configuration. For SmartServer 4.3, disregard the vlon0 settings.
   
   

   
   The internal IP-70 channel will see all traffic on all adapters when the system is operating in LON Device Management Mode (DMM). In LON Independent Management Mode (IMM), routers are typically configured to isolate traffic. In this case, to monitor the traffic on a segment, you will need to use a LonScanner-enabled RNI on that specific adapter and not the IP-70 RNI.
   
   

5. On the Windows PC, access the Windows Control Panel and launch the LonWorks Interfaces (32-bit) applet as shown below.
   
   

   
   The LonWorks Interfaces applet appears.
   
   

    

6. Select and add the type of RNI you want to create.
   
   

    

7. Enter a name for the network interface in the X.Default. field.
   
   

    

8. Enter the named IP address if DHCP and DNS server exist in the IP Address / Hostname field. Otherwise, use the dotted-decimal IP address.
   
   

9. Set the Port to match the corresponding interface in the configuration UI.
   
   

10. Specify the authentication type to use MD5 authentication so that only users with the MD5 key can access your RNI if desired.
    
    

11. Click OK.
    
    The new interface adapter appears on the LonWorks Interfaces list.
    
    

     

12. Use the Test button to confirm everything is properly configured.
    
    

     

13. Repeat these steps for every interface you wish to use the RNI as attachment points.
    
    The user-named x.default RNI devices are used by applications that are built on the OpenLDV layer. With the completion of these steps, RNI assets are available for applications to use using OpenLDV. If you are using IzoT CT to manage the network with multiple channel segments, only enabling the IP-70 RNI channel may be needed.

Application Example

To see this application at work, enable LonScanner and NodeUtil and interact with a device as follows:

1. Use the x.default name that was assigned in the LonWorks Interfaces applet when adding the device.
   
   

    

2. Capture a service pin from a target device and interact with that device in NodeUtil.
   
   

    

3. Use LonScanner to evaluate device interactions and determine device state. In the example below, the target is sending to a device that is not powered and not connected.