HOW TO GUIDE
Are you a bit unsure as to how to install BACnetP2? Or how to get the reports needed for pricing? Or maybe you need P2 backup files and don't know where to start. This is a how-to guide for our BACnetP2 gateway, that will hopefully answer your questions. It is made up of a series of how-to articles which will be added periodically. All of this information is contained in our BACnetP2 user guide which is available from our BACnetP2 Downloads page.
We decided that it was fitting for us to start this series of articles where most people start on their journey with BACnetP2: Insight Reports. BACnetP2 pricing is based on the configuration of the existing P2 system. In order for us to give you a quote for the system you want to integrate, we need two reports: System Profile Report and Panel Configuration Report. These can often cause delays, as it is sometimes not possible to retrieve these reports remotely. You may also not be sure how to get these reports. We have put together a very simple, step-by-step guide to help you generate these reports. If you would like this in a document format that you can download, please go to our BACnetP2 Pricing page.
You don’t have to do anything other than send us the reports, we will go through them and count the devices to give you a quote.
These instructions show you how to run the System Configuration Report and the Panel Configuration Report. Aside from selecting the type of report to run and naming the files, the instructions are the same for both reports. In our example, we are going to run the System Profile Report first.
Start on the Insight PC desktop.
1) Opening the Report Builder: The first step is to locate the Insight toolbox and press the Report Builder icon to open it.
Please note that it may also look like this:
2) Create a new Report: Open a new report by clicking on Definition and then clicking New.
3) You are now going to select the type of report you want to run. Select the System Profile Report, then press OK.
4) Press the Configure button.
5) Check the File option, then press the file options button.
6) Press the Output file button. We suggest saving the report to your Desktop so you can find it easily.
7) Enter a filename for the report and then press Save. We suggest SystemProfileRep.csv
8) Close File Options and then close Report Output Options
9) Now press Run Report.
10) Allow the report to generate (this may take several minutes). Once the report has generated then close.
11) Close the System Profile Report.
12) Now you can run another report.
Your report will be on the desktop (if you saved it there).
**Remember that we need you to run both reports, and send us both so that we can give you a quote.**
13) Create a new Report: Open a new report by clicking on Definition and then clicking New.
14) You are now going to select the type of report you want to run. Select the Panel Configuration Report, then press OK.
15) Press the Configure button.
16) Check the File option, then press the file options button.
17) Press the Output file button. We suggest saving the report to your Desktop so you can find it easily.
18) Enter a filename for the report and then press Save. We suggest PanelConfigRep.csv
19) Close File Options and then close Report Output Options
20) Now press Run Report.
21) Allow the report to generate (this may take several minutes). Once the report has generated then close.
22) Close the Panel Configuration Report.
23) Now you can close the Report Builder, or run another report.
Your report will be on the desktop (if you saved it there).
This is the second part in our how-to series, and it is a step-by-step guide to install our BACnetP2 gateway. This is included in the BACnetP2 User Guide which can be found on our BACnetP2 Downloads page. You can follow this guide and install it yourself, or we could install it for you. When you buy a BACnetP2 licence, it comes with 1-year remote support included. You can also buy a Linux device with BACnetP2 pre-installed if you prefer. If you would like to do that, you can contact our hardware supplier from our Partners page. Since you are here reading a guide on how to install BACnetP2, we will assume you want to install it yourself and jump right in.
Downloading:
BACnetP2 comes as an Ubuntu package that needs to be installed in the Ubuntu operating system. Download the latest package here
Step 1: Setting the Time and Date if installing on a remote network without an internet connection
Due to the BACnet protocol, the devices on the BACnet network including the P2 Driver will need the same date and time accurate to about 5 min -+ to operate correctly.
To view the current time use the command:
To set the time use the command:
Step 2: Install the Gateway
Copy the Ubuntu package to the Home directory either using an USB flash drive or SSH file transfer.
Note: For SSH file transfer use FileZilla for SSH https://filezilla-project.org/ For SSH command line use PuTTy https://www.putty.org/
To install, navigate to the location of the package and type in the following in the command prompt. “sudo dpkg -i pkg_bacnet_p2.deb”. The P2 gateway will install and immediately start running as a service.
Step 3: Explore the Network
To locate the BACnetP2 gateway on the network, send a “who-is” command with any BACnet explorer program to explore the network. The P2 gateway will appear as device address 2600000 as the device name on the network.
Step 4: View the Status of the Gateway
Scripts can be used to start, stop and show the status of the P2 Gateway.
The following command will show the status of the P2 Gateway:
To Stop the P2 Gateway the following command can be used:
To Start the P2 Gateway the following command can be used:
This is the third part in our how-to series, and it is a step-by-step guide to generate the panel P2 backup files. This is included in the BACnetP2 User Guide which can be found on our BACnetP2 Downloads page. We rely on the Insight PC to provide the Apogee panel database backup files. Once we have these files installed on the BACnetP2 gateway then we are able to restore any panel database as may be required.
This manual process involves 5 steps.
1) (Optional) Ensure that Insight has the latest copy of each panel database.
2) Generate the panel P2 backup files.
3) Rename the P2 backup files ready for BACnetP2 use.
4) Transfer the backup files to the BACnetP2 data folder.
5) (Optional) Verify that correct files are installed on BACnetP2.
This is an optional step. Sometimes the technician has directly updated the panel database, in which case the Insight database may be out of sync with the panels. The following steps will ensure that the Insight database and the panel databases are the same.
On the Insight PC select the “Database Transfer” utility.
Expand the tree to show the BLNs.
Select all required BLNs and then press the “Add” button.
Once all the required panels are listed as “selected field panels” press the “Upload All” button.
Press OK
Wait until all transfers are completed.
Open the “MMI Transfer utility”
Expand the device tree to reveal the BLNs
Select the 1st BLN by clicking on the BLN name in the left side.
NB: For RS485 BLN field panels, we need to know the drop address. Usually the Panel name indicates the drop address. For example “Node 3” would be address 3, however this is NOT always the case.
Select “Details” in the “View” menu to reveal the field panel addresses.
Make notes, as required, of any field panel names where the address is not obvious.
Select all the panels for this BLN using the “Edit” menu.
Now open the “File” menu and select the “Export to file” option.
The export may take several minutes.
Now repeat this process for each of the remaining BLN
Now close the “MMI Database Transfer” utility.
Now we need to locate the Insight export folder so we open the “file explorer”
Select the “Insight” folder, usually C:\Insight
Select the “Database” folder, usually C:\Insight\Database
If you sort the list by “Date Modified” you should see the exported backup files.
Once you have located the files you can group them by sorting on “Type” as shown.
Select all the .P2 and the .EXP.LOG files and then send them to a “compressed (zipped) folder” as shown.
The Zipped folder will usually appear at the bottom of the list.
Please send this zipped file to PurpleSwift at info@purpleswift.com or continue to the next section.
Lookup the BACnetP2 assigned “panel number” for each panel. For RS485 panels this is the drop address. For Ethernet panels this is the last number in the panel IP address. So panel on IP 192.168.1.99 = “panel number” 99
In the screenshot below you can see the “panel number” shown. “CSV20 Stats CAB2 (99) …” 99 in this example.
Rename the panel backup files to the BACnetP2 naming scheme: (00)_DMxxx.P2 Where xxx is the 3 digit “panel number” so 099 in our example.
(00)_DM099.P2
Use SSH to transfer the backup files to the BACnetP2 data folder. We use Filezilla to do this. The data folder is located here: /var/lib/bacnet_p2/data
To verify a panel backup file use CSV12 – Execute Command. Watch CSV4 for the progress, and CSV2 and possibly CSV3 for the results.
On a RS485 BLN the verify command is: verify nn Where nn is the panel drop address.
On an Ethernet BLN the verify command is: verify xyz Where xyz is the panel node name.
If you are wondering how to tell if a panel has lost its database then take a look at the panel stats. See the screenshot above. The global count (“Stats Panel (ALL)”) gives the number of panels that are “Not READY” which indicates a lost database. The individual panel stats will be prefixed with “Not READY” if the database is lost.
For feedback on this article email Siobhan: marketing(at)purpleswift.com