Technical Document

NiagaraAX-3.x BACnet Guide

February 26, 2008

NiagaraAX BACnet Guide
Copyright © 2008 Tridium, Inc.
All rights reserved.
3951 Westerre Pkwy, Suite 350
Richmond
Virginia
23233
U.S.A.

Copyright Notice
The software described herein is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
This document may not, in whole or in part, be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form without prior written
consent from Tridium, Inc.
The confidential information contained in this document is provided solely for use by Tridium employees, licensees, and system owners; and is not to be released to, or reproduced for,
anyone else; neither is it to be used for reproduction of this Control System or any of its components.
All rights to revise designs described herein are reserved. While every effort has been made to assure the accuracy of this document, Tridium shall not be held responsible for damages,
including consequential damages, arising from the application of the information contained herein. Information and specifications published here are current as of the date of this
publication and are subject to change without notice.
The release and technology contained herein may be protected by one or more U.S. patents, foreign patents, or pending applications.

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BACnet and ASHRAE are registered trademarks of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks, and
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 CONTENTS

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Bacnet FAQs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
BACnet terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Document Change Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Bacnet Driver Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–1

Bacnet licensing considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–1
Bacnet client limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–1
Bacnet server (export) ability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–1
Bacnet MS/TP licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–2
Bacnet software installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–2

Bacnet Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3

Configure the BacnetNetwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3
Add a BacnetNetwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3
To add a BacnetNetwork in the station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3
Configure the LocalDevice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3
To configure the Bacnet LocalDevice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3
Configure the Network ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–4
To access the Bacnet Comm network port(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–4
To add a Bacnet Comm network port(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–4
To configure a BACnet/IP port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–4
To configure a BACnet/Ethernet port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–5
To configure a BACnet/MSTP port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–5
Create BacnetDevices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–5
Using online Discover to add BacnetDevices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–6
To discover BACnet Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–6
To add discovered BACnet Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–6
Manually adding BacnetDevice components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–6
To add a BacnetDevice using New device wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–6
To copy a BacnetDevice from the bacnet palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–7
To match a BacnetDevice to a discovered device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–7
Create Bacnet proxy points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–8
Using online Discover to add Bacnet proxy points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–8
To discover BACnet objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–8
To add discovered BACnet objects as Bacnet proxy points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–8
Manually adding Bacnet proxy points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–9

Niagara Bacnet Client Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–11

About Bacnet Network Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–11
About bacnet palette components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–11
About Bacnet Comm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–12
About Bacnet Comm: Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–12
About Bacnet Comm: Network: Router Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–13
About Bacnet Comm: Network: Ip Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–13

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About Bacnet Comm: Network: Ethernet Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–14

About Bacnet Comm: Network: Mstp Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–14
About Bacnet Comm: Client, Server, and Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–15
About Bacnet Polling Changes (AX-3.2, AX-3.1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–15
Basic Bacnet polling design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–15
Bacnet 3.1 polling changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–16
Bacnet 3.2 polling changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–17
Bacnet Local Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–17
An essential Local Device property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–17
About Local Device slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–18
About Bacnet Tuning Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–18
Bacnet Tuning Policy notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–18
Bacnet-only Tuning Policy properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–19
Special tuning notes about “stale” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–19
Bacnet Device Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–20
About Bacnet Device Find Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–20
Bacnet Device Manager discover notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–21
Who Has function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–21
Bacnet Device components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–21
BacnetDevice properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–22
About the Config Device Ext container . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–22
About Bacnet Config objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–23
Bacnet Point Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–24
Bacnet Point Manager “Discovered” notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–24
Discovered object table columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–25
Discovered object usage notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–25
Bacnet Point Manager “Database” notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–25
Database proxy point table columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–26
Modifying the Database table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–27
Bacnet proxy points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–27
Bacnet ProxyExt properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–27
Bacnet ProxyExt actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–28
Status merger for Bacnet proxy points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–28
Status merger operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–29
Facets usage to poll additional properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–29
Advanced “add DOPR slot” to ProxyExt method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–30
About Bacnet Device’s Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–31
About the Bacnet Schedule Import Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–32
Notes on Bacnet Schedule Imports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–32
About the Bacnet Schedule Export Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–33
Exporting to BACnet Schedule and Calendar objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–34
BacnetScheduleExport properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–35
About Bacnet Trend Logs (Histories) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–36
About the Bacnet History Import Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–36
BACnet Trend Log import notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–37
About histories imported from Trend Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–38
BacnetHistoryImport properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–39
About Bacnet virtual points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–40
Usage of Bacnet virtual points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–40
Browsing Bacnet virtual points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–40
About BacnetVirtualProperties (AX-3.3 and later) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–41
Bacnet AX-3.2 virtual notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–42
Bacnet virtual points in Px views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–42
Px usage of Bacnet virtuals (AX-3.3 and later) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–43
Px usage of Bacnet virtuals in AX-3.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–44
Bacnet virtual ord syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–45
Priority example in Bacnet virtual ord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–45
Tuning Policy example in Bacnet virtual ord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–45

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Niagara Bacnet Server Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–47

Bacnet server configuration overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–47
About the Export Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–48
About server descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–48
About export descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–48
About file descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–48
About log descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–49
About export folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–49
Types of objects for Bacnet export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–49
About BACnet server access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–50
Allowing write access from BACnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–50
Bacnet Export Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–51
About Discover in Bacnet Export Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–51
Add (and Edit) in Bacnet Export Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–52
Properties of Bacnet export descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–54
Bacnet Export Manager application notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–55
Bacnet File Export Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–55
About Discover in Bacnet File Export Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–55
Add (and Edit) in Bacnet File Export Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–56
Properties of Bacnet file descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–57
Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–57
About Trend Log exports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–58
About BacnetTrendLogExt extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–58
Differences in BACnet-exposed histories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–59
About Discover in Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–60
Add (and Edit) in Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–61
Properties of Bacnet trend log descriptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–61
Local Device notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–62
Local Device properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–63
Local Device container slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–63
About Active Cov Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–64
Local Device backup and restore properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–64
About backup and restore operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–65

Bacnet Plugin Guides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–67

Views in bacnet module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–67
bacnet-BacnetConfigManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–67
bacnet-BacnetDeviceManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–67
bacnet-BacnetExportManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–67
bacnet-BacnetFileExportManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–68
bacnet-BacnetHistoryImportManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–68
bacnet-BacnetNiagaraLogExportManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–68
bacnet-BacnetPointManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–68
bacnet-BacnetScheduleExportManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–68
bacnet-BacnetScheduleImportManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–68
bacnet-BacnetVirtualPropertyView . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–68
bacnet-BdtManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–68
bacnet-FdtManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–68
Views in bacnetws module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–69
bacnet-BacnetWsDeviceManager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–69

Bacnet Component Guides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–71

Components in bacnet module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–71
bacnet-BacnetAnalogInput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–72
bacnet-BacnetAnalogInputDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–72
bacnet-BacnetAnalogOutput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–72
bacnet-BacnetAnalogOutputDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73
bacnet-BacnetAnalogValue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73
bacnet-BacnetAnalogValueDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73

NiagaraAX-3.x
iii
BACnet Guide
 Contents
February 26, 2008

bacnet-BacnetAnalogValuePrioritizedDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73
bacnet-BacnetArray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73
bacnet-BacnetBinaryInput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73
bacnet-BacnetBinaryInputDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73
bacnet-BacnetBinaryOutput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73
bacnet-BacnetBinaryOutputDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73
bacnet-BacnetBinaryValue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73
bacnet-BacnetBinaryValueDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73
bacnet-BacnetBinaryValuePrioritizedDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73
bacnet-BacnetBooleanCovTrendLogExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–73
bacnet-BacnetBooleanIntervalTrendLogExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–74
bacnet-BacnetBooleanProxyExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–74
bacnet-BacnetBooleanScheduleDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–74
bacnet-BacnetCalendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–74
bacnet-BacnetCalendarDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–74
bacnet-BacnetClientLayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–74
bacnet-BacnetConfigDeviceExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–74
bacnet-BacnetConfigFolder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–74
bacnet-BacnetDestination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–74
bacnet-BacnetDevice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–74
bacnet-BacnetDeviceFolder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–74
bacnet-BacnetDeviceObject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–74
bacnet-BacnetEnumCovTrendLogExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–75
bacnet-BacnetEnumIntervalTrendLogExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–75
bacnet-BacnetEnumProxyExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–75
bacnet-BacnetEnumScheduleDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–75
bacnet-BacnetEthernetLinkLayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–75
bacnet-BacnetEventHandler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–75
bacnet-BacnetExportFolder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–75
bacnet-BacnetExportTable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–75
bacnet-BacnetFile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–75
bacnet-BacnetFileDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–75
bacnet-BacnetHistoryDeviceExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–75
bacnet-BacnetHistoryImport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–76
bacnet-BacnetIpLinkLayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–76
bacnet-BacnetListOf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–76
bacnet-BacnetLoopDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–76
bacnet-MstpLinkLayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–76
bacnet-BacnetMultiPoll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–76
bacnet-BacnetMultistateInput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–76
bacnet-BacnetMultiStateInputDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–76
bacnet-BacnetMultistateOutput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–76
bacnet-BacnetMultiStateOutputDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–76
bacnet-BacnetMultistateValue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–77
bacnet-BacnetMultiStateValueDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–77
bacnet-BacnetMultiStateValuePrioritizedDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–77
bacnet-BacnetNetwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–77
bacnet-BacnetNetworkLayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–77
bacnet-BacnetNiagaraHistoryDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–77
bacnet-BacnetNotificationClass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–77
bacnet-BacnetNotificationClassDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–77
bacnet-BacnetNumericCovTrendLogExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–77
bacnet-BacnetNumericIntervalTrendLogExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–77
bacnet-BacnetNumericScheduleDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–78
bacnet-BacnetPoll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–78
bacnet-BacnetPointDeviceExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–78
bacnet-BacnetPointFolder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–78
bacnet-BacnetRouterTable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–78
bacnet-BacnetSchedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–78
bacnet-BacnetScheduleDeviceExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–78
bacnet-BacnetScheduleExport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–78
bacnet-BacnetScheduleImportExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–79
bacnet-BacnetServerLayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–79
bacnet-BacnetStack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–79
bacnet-BacnetStringCovTrendLogExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–79
bacnet-BacnetStringIntervalTrendLogExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–79
bacnet-BacnetStringProxyExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–79
bacnet-BacnetStringScheduleDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–79

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bacnet-BacnetTransportLayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–79
bacnet-BacnetTrendLog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–79
bacnet-BacnetTrendLogDescriptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–79
bacnet-BacnetTrendLogAlarmSourceExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–80
bacnet-BacnetTuningPolicy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–80
bacnet-BacnetTuningPolicyMap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–80
bacnet-BacnetVirtualComponent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–80
bacnet-BacnetVirtualGateway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–80
bacnet-BacnetVirtualObject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–80
bacnet-BacnetVirtualProperty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–81
bacnet-BacnetWorker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–81
bacnet-BroadcastDistributionTable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–81
bacnet-ForeignDeviceTable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–81
bacnet-LocalBacnetDevice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–81
bacnet-NetworkPort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–81
Components in bacnetws module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–81
bacnetws-BacnetWsClientLayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–82
bacnetws-BacnetWsDevice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–82
bacnetws-BacnetWsNetwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–82
bacnetws-BacnetWsStack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–82
bacnetws-LocalBacnetWsDevice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–82

BACnet Supervisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A–1

BACnet Supervisor overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A–1
Bacnet Ws Device Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A–1
Event Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A–2
Enrollment Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A–3
Communication Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A–4
Reinitialize Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A–5
Time Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A–5
Backup Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A–6
Restore Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A–7
LocalBacnetWsDevice additions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A–9
BacnetWsDevice additions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A–9

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 PREFACE

Preface
• Bacnet FAQs
• BACnet terms
• Document Change Log

Bacnet FAQs
The following are frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the NiagaraAX Bacnet driver:
Q: Why are there two spelling variations used: BACnet and Bacnet?
A: The term Bacnet (vs. BACnet) is used throughout this document when referring to NiagaraAX compo-
nents and the Bacnet driver itself. This reflects the actual Niagara component and view names, such as
BacnetNetwork, BacnetDevice, Bacnet Device Manager, and so on. If the term BACnet is used, this refers
to BACnet in a context wider than the Niagara Framework, that is the protocol defined by ASHRAE
Standard 135.
Q: Why is it when I add proxy points for a device, that some proxy points are disabled by default?
A: By default, when you add a writable proxy point for a “commandable” type BACnet object (any object
with a priority_array property), the proxy point’s “Enabled” property is “false.” This is simply a “safety
technique,” to help prevent unintended BACnet writes from Niagara.
Keep in mind if you add a writable proxy point for the “present_value” property of such a (commandable)
BACnet object, that once enabled, that point’s 16 priority levels map directly to the BACnet priority levels
for that object. For example, if you invoke an “Emergency Override” action on the proxy point, it is
written to the BACnet object at priority level 1 (the highest). Or, if you link the “In4” slot of the writable
proxy to a Logic object, then slot 4 of the “priority_array”of the remote BACnet object will be controlled
by Niagara (by the output of the Logic object).
For these type point(s) to work at all—including reading the value from the device, or writing the value
to it from Niagara, you must manually set Enabled to “true.” You can do this either in the initial Add
dialog for these point(s), or in subsequent Edit dialogs (double-click on a point in Bacnet Point
Manager).
Also, note that if there is a BACnet object that you want to limit Niagara writes to one particular priority
level, instead of adding a writable proxy point for “present_value”, you could instead add one for a
particular “index” (level) under the object’s “priority_array” property.
Q: How do I make an object in the station appear as a BACnet object?
A: You “expose” objects in a station to BACnet, including chosen components, histories, and files, from one
central location: the Export Table under the Local Device in the BacnetNetwork. For more details,
see “Bacnet server configuration overview” on page 4-47.
Q: Why do some proxy points display differently after upgrading my system to AX-3.2?
A: By default, proxy points no longer poll “additional” BACnet properties of a target object like
“Status_Flags” and “Priority_Array”—however, you can configure proxy points for these (and other)
additional polled properties. For more details, see “About Bacnet Polling Changes (AX-3.2, AX-3.1)” on
page 3-15, and “Facets usage to poll additional properties” on page 3-29.
Q: Are there advantages to using “Bacnet virtual points” instead of proxy points?
A: For JACE platforms that have limited storage (Flash) capacity for their hosted station, use of Bacnet
virtual points (starting in AX-3.2) can offer advantages over proxy points, at least for simple Px view
monitoring. For more details, see “About Bacnet virtual points” on page 3-40.

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BACnet terms
The following list of terms and abbreviations is specific to BACnet usage in NiagaraAX, and covers
entries used in this document. For the definitive BACnet glossary of terms, refer to the ASHRAE publi-
cation: Standard 135-2004 – BACnet® – A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and
Control Networks. For general NiagaraAX terms, see the Glossary in the User Guide.
APDU Application (layer) protocol data unit. A unit of data specified within any of the BACnet link-
layer protocols, consisting of protocol control information and possibly application user data.
BACnet Building Automation and Control NETworking protocol (ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135-
2004). An open communication protocol standard conceived by a consortium of manufacturers and sys-
tem users under the auspices of ASHRAE. Data is modeled as a common set of “objects” using a standard
set of “services.” See “Bacnet FAQs” about the spelling variation “Bacnet.”
BACnet client Operation mode for a BACnet system or device, where it makes use of a BACnet device
for some particular purpose via a service request instance.
BACnet server Operation mode for a BACnet system or device, where it provides a service to a re-
questing client.
BACnet/Ethernet Or B/ETH. BACnet over Ethernet, one of the original BACnet link-layer types.
Since the introduction of BACnet/IP, its usage has become less common.
BACnet/IP Or B/IP. BACnet over Ethernet IP. Introduced in “Annex J” of the BACnet standard, it has
become the most popular BACnet link-layer protocol (except in lowest-cost devices, where MS/TP is
used).
BACnet MS/TP Or MSTP. BACnet link-layer protocol used by lower-cost devices, using master slave
/ token passing over RS-485 multidrop networks. QNX-based JACEs support direct MS/TP (network)
trunks, one per RS-485 port (if licensed for MS/TP). See “Bacnet MS/TP licensing” on page 1-2.
BBMD BACnet/IP Broadcast Management Device. A device that receives and redistributes broadcast-
type BACnet messages (Who-Is, I-Am, etc.) to other B/IP devices on its own subnet, and sends broadcast-
type messages to BBMDs on other subnets. By having one BBMD on each subnet, a B/IP network can
span subnets (between IP routers, which otherwise typically block broadcast type messages). A Niagara
station supports operation as a BBMD.
Config object NiagaraAX can model BACnet objects in a client BACnet device as “Config” objects,
where you can see all properties of the object together. For details, see “About Bacnet Config objects” on
page 3-23.
COV Change-of-Value. BACnet provides services for COV reporting, on both the client and server
sides. NiagaraAX supports COV reporting services on both sides.
Device object Or device component. In general NiagaraAX terms, any component representing an ex-
ternal device. Specific to a BacnetNetwork, each BacnetDevice is a container that represents a particular
BACnet device. It has several device extensions, one being the Config Device Ext. By default, this Config
extension contains a (frozen) Device Object component, which represents the single BACnet Device Ob-
ject in that device. This component cannot be deleted, but other Config objects can be added if needed.
On the BACnet server side, a station’s Device Object is represented by the configuration of its single Local
Device component under its BacnetNetwork. See “Local Device notes” on page 4-62.
foreign device A BACnet/IP term for a BACnet device that exists on an IP subnet without a BBMD,
where the device can “register” with a BBMD on another (remote) subnet as a “foreign device” to explic-
itly receive BACnet broadcast messages. In no way does it imply any reduced functionality.
internetwork Two or more BACnet networks connected by a BACnet router. The single BacnetNet-
work in a station often represents an internetwork, for example if any external BACnet routers exist, or
if the BacnetNetwork has multiple ports under its BacnetComm, Network component. If the latter, the
station can act as a BACnet router between its local networks.
MS/TP Master Slave / Token Passing. See BACnet MS/TP.
object identifier Or object ID. A BACnet method to identify a particular object within a device, using
a combination of its object type and an instance number (unique for that type, within that device). In the
case of the single Device Object (type) per BACnet device, it must have a unique instance number across
the BACnet internetwork on which it is installed.

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February 26, 2008

Document Change Log

Updates (changes/additions) to this NiagaraAX BACnet Guide document are listed below.
• Updated: February 26, 2008
Changed document to reference the new NiagaraAX Drivers Guide, which was created from infor-
mation formerly found in the NiagaraAX User Guide. Reworked and expanded the section “About
Bacnet virtual points” on page 3-40, to describe the Bacnet virtual component redesign in AX-3.3
and later. Added new corresponding summary descriptions in the “Bacnet Component Guides” and
“Bacnet Plugin Guides” sections.
• Updated: April 30, 2007
Converted document to “new look” print format. Added new “BACnet Supervisor” Appendix A,
containing information formerly in a NiagaraAX BACnet Supervisor User Guide (PDF only) docu-
ment. Included in that appendix are new sections covering the client-side Backup Device and Re-
store Device functions available for an AX-3.2 BACnet Supervisor.
In the “Niagara Bacnet Client Concepts” section, added new sections “About Bacnet Polling Changes
(AX-3.2, AX-3.1)”, “Who Has function”, “Facets usage to poll additional properties” (AX-3.2), and
“About Bacnet virtual points” (AX-3.2).
In the “Niagara Bacnet Server Operation” section, added a new subsection about Local Device back-
up and restore properties (AX-3.2).
Updated the summary descriptions for components and views found in the “Bacnet Component
Guides” and “Bacnet Plugin Guides” sections, including creation of many that were found missing.
Made numerous other small changes and additions, including an AX-3.2-upgrade related entry in
the “Bacnet FAQs” section of this preface.
• Revised: April 4, 2006
Minor corrections throughout, mostly for typos. Started a “Bacnet FAQs” section in this Preface.
• Revised: February 1, 2006
Major changes and additions. Started a “BACnet terms” section in this Preface. Reversed order of
this change log to put newest changes at top.
Added new section “Bacnet licensing considerations” in “Bacnet Driver Installation” section.
Updated various discussions and figures in the main section “Niagara Bacnet Client Concepts”, in-
cluding new subsections “About the Bacnet Schedule Import Manager”, “About the Bacnet Schedule
Export Manager”, “About the Bacnet History Import Manager”, and “BACnet Trend Log import
notes”.
Added new main section “Niagara Bacnet Server Operation”, with main subsections “Bacnet server
configuration overview”, “Bacnet Export Manager”, “Bacnet File Export Manager”, “Bacnet Niagara
Log Export Manager”, and “Local Device notes”.
Made numerous small changes in sections “Bacnet Component Guides” and “Bacnet Plugin
Guides”. Document title changed to BACnet Guide (was Bacnet Guide).
• Revised: September 15, 2005
Changed to new cover design (affects PDF only).
• Revised: July 6, 2005
Minor changes. Moved Copyright and Trademarks information to front of document, and removed
Bajadoc references. Print version (PDF) has new cover appearance.
• Published: June 24, 2005
Added Copyright and Trademarks to preface.
• Draft: June 15, 2005
Added several missing components in “Bacnet Component Guides” section. No other changes.
• Draft: May 25, 2005
From a review, made minor corrections in the “Bacnet Quick Start” and “Niagara Bacnet Client
Concepts” sections. Added more detail under “Bacnet proxy points” on page 3-27, including new
sections “Bacnet ProxyExt actions” and “Status merger for Bacnet proxy points”.
• Draft: May 18, 2005
(Initial change log). More detail in procedures under “Create Bacnet proxy points” on page 2-8.
Related to this, added a new section “Bacnet Point Manager” on page 3-24, which provides details
on the Discovered and Database tables (panes) in the Point Manager.
Various other minor additions made to the “Niagara Bacnet Client Concepts” section.

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 CHAPTER 1
Bacnet Driver Installation
To use the NiagaraAX Bacnet driver, you must have a target JACE host that is licensed for the feature
“bacnet,” or a PC host acting as a BACnet Supervisor (meaning it is also licensed for bacnet). See the
next section “Bacnet licensing considerations” for further details.
Note: Link layer types BACnet/IP and BACnet/Ethernet are supported by any NiagaraAX platform. However,
please note that BACnet MS/TP trunks are directly supported by QNX-based JACEs only, for example a
JACE-403 or JACE-2. Separate Bacnet MS/TP licensing is also required. Other platforms can indirectly
support MS/TP devices through BACnet routers.
The following sections provide details about Bacnet driver licensing and software installation:
• Bacnet licensing considerations
• Bacnet software installation

Bacnet licensing considerations

NiagaraAX Bacnet licensing is explained in the following sections:
• Bacnet client limits
• Bacnet server (export) ability
• Bacnet MS/TP licensing

Bacnet client limits

As in various other NiagaraAX drivers, the host’s license may contain limits within the “bacnet” feature
portion of your license. Maximum limits apply to the total number of devices, points, schedules, and
histories supported. If any entry value is "none", no set limits apply for that item type.
All limits apply directly to the “client” operation of the Bacnet driver, meaning the total number of
BacnetDevices, Bacnet proxy points, imported Bacnet Schedules and Calendars, and imported Bacnet
Trend Logs supported under the (single) BacnetNetwork. Therefore limits, if any, apply across all Bacnet-
Devices and related child components in the station, regardless of the BacnetComm, Network port used
to reach any device (IpPort, EthernetPort, MstpPort).
Limits do not apply to “server” operation of the Bacnet driver. See “Bacnet server (export) ability”.

Bacnet server (export) ability

A single entry in the “bacnet” license feature determines whether a station can provide BACnet server
functions. If enabled for server operation, this entry is:
export="true"
Note: Any JACE ordered with the “Enterprise Connectivity Pack,” required for Niagara communications to other
JACEs and/or an AX Supervisor, should also have this entry enabling BACnet server operation.
If instead the export value is "false", no components, files, or histories are exported to BACnet, apart
from the single BACnet Device Object that represents the station (as configured by the Bacnet Local
Device). Although you can still use the various views of the Local Device’s Export Table to add Bacnet
export descriptors (and file and history descriptors), all descriptors will have a “fault status,” with a fault
cause of “Server capability not licensed.”
For more details on BACnet server functions, see “Niagara Bacnet Server Operation” on page 4-47.

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Bacnet MS/TP licensing February 26, 2008

Bacnet MS/TP licensing

Bacnet MS/TP is a separately-licensed feature, requiring a feature named "mstp" in the JACE’s license file.
For example:
<feature name="mstp"
expiration="2006-10-19"
port.limit="1"
parts="DR-MSTP-AX"/>

Where port.limit defines the number of MS/TP trunks (JACE RS-485 ports) that can be used. This
ranges from 1 to 4, varying on the type of the host JACE controller, and the license purchased.
The “EIA-485 (or RS-485) load factor” of connected MS/TP devices determines how many devices are
physically supported, per trunk, due to electrical considerations. This ranges from 31 (“full load”) to up
to 127 (“quarter load”) devices. Note that any other device limits in the license’s bacnet feature, or
platform limits (e.g. JACE-403, 27 total devices) also apply.

Bacnet software installation

From your PC, use the Niagara Workbench 3.n.nn installed with the “installation tool” option (checkbox
“This instance of Workbench will be used as an installation tool”). This ensures your Workbench has the
needed distribution files (.dist files) for commissioning various models of remote JACE platforms. The
dist files are located under your Niagara install folder in a “sw\dist” subfolder.
Apart from installing the 3.n.nn version of the Niagara distribution file in the JACE, make sure to install
the bacnet module too (if not already present, or upgrade if an older revision). For more details, see the
appropriate “Install and Startup Guide” for the target JACE platform.
Following this, the remote JACE is now ready for Bacnet configuration in its running station, as described
in the rest of this document. See “Niagara Bacnet Client Concepts” on page 3-11 and “Niagara Bacnet
Server Operation” on page 4-47, for details on how the Bacnet driver works.
Note: Basic procedures for using the Bacnet client features of the driver, including online discovery of BACnet
devices and contained objects (and their addition to your Niagara station) is in the next section, “Bacnet
Quick Start”.

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 CHAPTER 2
Bacnet Quick Start
This section provides a collection of procedures to use the NiagaraAX Bacnet driver’s client functions—
the most typical usage of the NiagaraAX Bacnet driver. Like other NiagaraAX drivers, you can do most
configuration from special “manager” views and property sheets using Workbench. These are the main
subsections:
• Configure the BacnetNetwork
• Create BacnetDevices
• Create Bacnet proxy points

Configure the BacnetNetwork

To configure the BacnetNetwork, perform the following main tasks:
• Add a BacnetNetwork
• Configure the LocalDevice
• Configure the Network ports

Add a BacnetNetwork
To add a BacnetNetwork in the station
Use the following procedure to add a BacnetNetwork under the station’s Drivers container.
To add a BacnetNetwork in the station:
Step 1 Double-click the station’s Drivers container, to bring up the Driver Manager.
Step 2 Click the New button to bring up the New DeviceNetwork dialog. For more details, see “Driver Manager
New and Edit” in the Drivers Guide.
Step 3 Select “BacnetNetwork,” number to add: 1, and click OK.
This brings up a dialog to name the network.
Step 4 Click OK to add the BacnetNetwork to the station.
You should have a BacnetNetwork named “BacnetNetwork” (or whatever you named it), under your
Drivers folder.

Configure the LocalDevice

To configure the Bacnet LocalDevice
You must define one essential Bacnet LocalDevice property—the Device object ID used by the station
(see “An essential Local Device property” on page 3-17).
To configure this essential property, in the station with the BacnetNetwork:
Step 1 Right-click the BacnetNetwork and select Views > Property Sheet.
This produces the network’s property sheet.
Step 2 In the property sheet, click to expand the Local Device (see Figure 3-9 on page 18).
Note: You can alternately use the Nav side bar, and simply double-click Local Device.
Step 3 In the numerical Object Id field, change the entry from “-1” to a valid, BACnet Device instance
number, unique across the entire BACnet internetwork (range is 0 to 4,194,302).
Note: Make sure you are using an instance number that is NOT being used by any other BACnet device on the job!
Step 4 Click the Save button.

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Configure the Network ports February 26, 2008

Above the Object Id, the Status should change from {fault} to {ok}, and the Fault Cause
should change from “Invalid Object ID” to blank.
Step 5 In the property sheet, click to collapse the Local Device.
See the next section: “Configure the Network ports”.

Configure the Network ports

By default, a new BacnetNetwork contains a Bacnet Comm component supporting BACnet/IP.
Regardless of BACnet port usage, some minimal configuration is needed. For more details than given in
the following procedures, see “About Bacnet Comm” on page 3-12.
Use the following quick start procedures to configure Bacnet network ports:
• To access the Bacnet Comm network port(s)
• To add a Bacnet Comm network port(s)
• To configure a BACnet/IP port
• To configure a BACnet/Ethernet port
• To configure a BACnet/MSTP port

To access the Bacnet Comm network port(s)

Do this to add one or more additional ports, or to access the default BACnet/IP port.
To access the Bacnet Comm network ports:
Step 1 In the BacnetNetwork property sheet, click to expand Bacnet Comm, then Network.
Or, select these items using the Nav side bar (see Figure 3-2 on page 12).
Step 2 Depending on your BACnet installation, you can do several things:
• If you are connecting to a BACnet/IP network, you can use the default IP port. See “To configure a
BACnet/IP port” on page 2-4.
• If you are connecting to a BACnet/Ethernet or BACnet/MSTP network, you need to add the appro-
priate NetworkPort for that type of network. “To add a Bacnet Comm network port(s)”.

To add a Bacnet Comm network port(s)

If needed, in addition to an IpPort, you can add one EthernetPort (per adapter), and/or up to four
MstpPorts.
You can also add additional IpPorts, to enable communications on additional UDP ports, such as 47809
(0xBAC1), or whatever UDP ports may also be used. Note in this case, the station is acting as BACnet/IP
router between two logical BACnet/IP networks (that actually exist on the same physical network).
To add a Bacnet Comm network port:
Step 1 Open the Bacnet Comm, Network. See “To access the Bacnet Comm network port(s)”).
Step 2 Open the bacnet palette in the Workbench palette side bar (Figure 3-1 on page 11). See “Using the
palette side bar” in the User Guide for general details.
Step 3 In the bacnet palette, expand the NetworkPorts folder.
Step 4 Drag the port type you want from palette into the Network container (or, use copy and paste instead). In
the popup Name dialog, you can rename the port—or, simply use the default name.
Step 5 Click OK to add the network port.
If needed, repeat to add additional Bacnet network ports.
As needed, see the following related procedures:
• To configure a BACnet/IP port
• To configure a BACnet/Ethernet port
• To configure a BACnet/MSTP port

To configure a BACnet/IP port

You need to perform a few essential configuration items.
To configure a BACnet/IP port:
Step 1 Expand the Ip Port in the property sheet view.
Step 2 Set the Network Number from “-1” to the BACnet network number for the network segment to which
you are connecting.
• If this is an existing BACnet installation, make sure to use the same network number already in use.
• If this is a new BACnet installation, you can choose this number (for example: 1).

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Step 3 Expand the Link component in the property sheet.

Step 4 Under Link, use the drop-down list for Adapter to select the network adapter to use.
Step 5 Review the Udp Port setting being used for BACnet communications.
By default, UDP port 47808 decimal (0xBAC0 in hexadecimal) is used. If your BACnet/IP installation is
using another UDP port, enter this port number in the Udp Port property.
Step 6 Click the Save button to save Ip Port changes.
Step 7 Right-click the Ip Port (in property sheet or Nav side bar), and select Actions > Enable.

To configure a BACnet/Ethernet port

You need to perform a few essential configuration items.
To configure a BACnet/Ethernet port:
Step 1 Expand the EthernetPort in the property sheet view.
Step 2 Set the Network Number from “-1” to the BACnet network number for the network segment to which
you are connecting.
• If an existing BACnet installation, make sure to use the same network number already in use.
• If a new BACnet installation, you can choose this number (for example: 2).
Step 3 Expand the Link component in the property sheet.
Step 4 Under Link, use the drop-down list for Adapter Title to select the Ethernet adapter to use. These
adapters are automatically discovered and validated by Niagara. The properties “Adapter Description”
and “Adapter Name” provide additional information about a selected adapter.
Step 5 Click the Save button to save EthernetPort changes.
Step 6 Right-click the EthernetPort (in property sheet or Nav side bar), and select Actions > Enable.

To configure a BACnet/MSTP port

You need to perform a few essential configuration items.
To configure a BACnet/MSTP port:
Step 1 Expand the MstpPort in the property sheet view.
Step 2 Set the Network Number from “-1” to the BACnet network number for the network segment to which
you are connecting.
• If an existing BACnet installation, make sure to use the same network number already in use.
• If a new BACnet installation, you can choose this number (for example: 3).
Step 3 Expand the Link component in the property sheet.
Step 4 Under Link, perform the following configuration:
• Set the Port Name to the RS-485 port to be used on the JACE. For example, if a JACE-545 (with
four RS-485 ports), one of the following: COM3, COM4, COM5, or COM6.
• Set the Mstp Address to a unique BACnet MAC address on that MSTP trunk, in decimal, with
valid range from 0 (default) to 127. Each BACnet device on the MS/TP network segment must have
a unique MAC address.
Note: Typically, you leave the Mstp Address at 0 (the default), and verify that no other MS/TP
device on the trunk is addressed the same. If there is ever a “lost token,” the device with the lowest MAC
address regenerates the token (and in this case it will be the station).
• Set Max Master to the lowest known master device on the network, with possible room for expan-
sion if needed. Also, the Max Info Frames property controls how many messages are sent before
passing the token, and may be increased up to 50 to increase performance in some cases.
Step 5 Click the Save button to save MstpPort changes.
Step 6 Right-click the MstpPort (in property sheet or Nav side bar), and select Actions > Enable.

Create BacnetDevices
After configuring the BacnetNetwork network port(s), you can use online discovery to find and create
BacnetDevice components under the BacnetNetwork. Or, you can add BacnetDevice components to the
station manually. You use the BacnetNetwork’s default Bacnet Device Manager view.
This section provides quick start procedures for both tasks, as follows:
• Using online Discover to add BacnetDevices
• Manually adding BacnetDevice components
Note: For general information, see the “About the Device Manager” section in the Drivers Guide.

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Using online Discover to add BacnetDevices

If the JACE is connected to the BACnet device network(s), this is the easiest way to accurately populate
the station with the necessary configured BacnetDevice objects. Use the following procedures:
• To discover BACnet Devices
• To add discovered BACnet Devices

To discover BACnet Devices

Perform this task to discover BACnet devices.
To discover BACnet devices:
Step 1 In the Nav side bar, right-click the BacnetNetwork and select Views > Bacnet Device Manager
to bring up the Bacnet Device Manager.
Step 2 Click the Discover button to automatically learn what devices are on the network.
A popup Configure Device Discovery dialog appears. By default, discovery occurs for all
possible BACnet devices connected on locally connected networks. If needed, you can make changes
before initiating the discovery. See “About Bacnet Device Find Parameters” on page 3-20.
Step 3 Click OK to initiate the discovery process.
A progress bar appears at the top of the view, and updates as the discovery occurs.
Step 4 When the discovery job completes, discovered BACnet devices are listed in the top pane of the view, in
the “Discovered” table. The bottom pane, labeled “Database,” is a table of devices that are currently
mapped into the Niagara station—initially, this table will be empty.
Note: This works the same as in most Device Manager views. For details, see the section “About Device Discover,
Add and Match (Learn Process)” in the Drivers Guide.
To add learned devices, see the next section: “To add discovered BACnet Devices”.

To add discovered BACnet Devices

Perform this task to add discovered BACnet devices to your station database.
To add discovered BACnet devices:
Step 1 You can map a discovered device in the station in a number of ways:
• Drag it from the Discovered pane to Database pane (brings up an Add dialog).
• Double-click it in the Discovered pane (also brings up an Add dialog).
• Click to highlight in the Discovered, then press “a”. (“Quick Add”, meaning no Add dialog).
This works the same as in other driver’s Device Manager views.
Step 2 When the Add dialog appears, you can edit the configuration of the BacnetDevice object before it is
added in the Niagara station. Initial property values are determined from the device (and are typically
acceptable).
• For Bacnet-specific details, see “BacnetDevice properties” on page 3-22.
• For general details, see the section “About Device Discover, Add and Match (Learn Process)” in the
Drivers Guide.
Step 3 When you have a BacnetDevice component configured properly for your usage, click OK.
The BacnetDevice is added to the station, and appears listed in the Database pane—and is now dimmed
in the Discovered pane.

Manually adding BacnetDevice components

To manually add a BacnetDevice, you can use the Device Manager’s New device wizard, or drag (or copy)
a BacnetDevice from the bacnet palette. You can also use the Match function in the Device Manager to
match a manually added (or duplicated device) with a discovered device.
The following procedures explain how:
• To add a BacnetDevice using New device wizard
• To copy a BacnetDevice from the bacnet palette
• To match a BacnetDevice to a discovered device

To add a BacnetDevice using New device wizard

You can perform this task even when the JACE station is not communicating on BACnet networks.
Note: This works the same as in other driver’s Device Manager views. For general details, see the section “Device
New Folder and New” in the Drivers Guide.

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To add BacnetDevices using New device wizard:

Step 1 In the Bacnet Device Manager, click the New button.
This brings up the first New device wizard dialog.
• Select BacnetDevice in “Type to Add.”
• Enter the number of devices to add (default value is 1).
• Click OK.
Step 2 When the next New dialog appears, you can edit the configuration of the BacnetDevice object before it is
added in the Niagara station. This New dialog is like the Add and Edit device dialog, but in this case
values are not pre-populated from any discovery.
Configure these properties according to the device you are attempting to connect with. For specific
details, see “BacnetDevice properties” on page 3-22.
Step 3 When you have a BacnetDevice component configured properly for your usage, click OK.
The BacnetDevice is added to the station, and appears listed in the Database pane.

To copy a BacnetDevice from the bacnet palette

You can perform this task even when the JACE station is not communicating on BACnet networks. See
“Using the palette side bar” in the User Guide for general palette details.
To copy a BacnetDevice from the bacnet palette:
Step 1 Open the bacnet palette in the Workbench palette side bar (Figure 3-1 on page 11).
Step 2 Drag the BacnetDevice from the palette into the Database pane of the Bacnet Device Manager.
A popup Name dialog prompts for the Niagara name for this BacnetDevice.
Step 3 Enter whatever name you need, then click OK.
The BacnetDevice is added to the station, and appears listed in the Database pane.
Step 4 To edit the device, double-click it for the Edit dialog. This dialog is like the Add device dialog, but in
this case values are not pre-populated from any discovery.
Configure these properties according to the device you are attempting to connect with. For specific
details, see “BacnetDevice properties” on page 3-22.

To match a BacnetDevice to a discovered device

If online with the BACnet network, you can match a manually added BacnetDevice to a discovered device
using the Device Manager’s Match button. This copies essential configuration (learned in the auto-
discovered device) into the selected BacnetDevice component.
This is useful if you previously manually added the BacnetDevice (using New device, or copied from the
bacnet palette). Also, this can be useful if you saved a fully-engineered device locally in your Workbench,
and wish to duplicate it for a network of identical devices. For more details, see the section “Match
(Device)” in the Drivers Guide
To match an existing BacnetDevice (in Database pane) to a discovered device:
Step 1 If the Discovered device table is empty, perform a Discover. See “To discover BACnet Devices” on page
2-6.
Step 2 Click to select (highlight):
• One device in the Discovered table.
• One device in the Database table.
Step 3 Click the Match button, or type Ctrl + m, to match the devices.
This brings up the Match dialog, which is like the Add device dialog, where values are pre-populated
from the discovery. The only difference is that the Type field cannot be edited.
Note: Alternately, you can simply type m for a “Quick Match,” whereby the Match dialog is bypassed and the
match is made in the station database.
Step 4 As needed in the Match dialog, edit any property required. For specific details, see “BacnetDevice
properties” on page 3-22.
Step 5 Click OK to match the discovered device to the BacnetDevice component.
The discovered device now appears dimmed, indicating it is already represented in the station.

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Create Bacnet proxy points

As with device objects in other drivers, each BacnetDevice has a Points extension that serves as the
container for proxy points. The default view for any Points extension is the Point Manager (and in this
case, the Bacnet Point Manager). You use it to create Bacnet proxy points under any BacnetDevice.
This section provides quick start procedures for both tasks, as follows:
• Using online Discover to add Bacnet proxy points
• Manually adding Bacnet proxy points
Note: For general information, see the “About the Point Manager” section in the Drivers Guide.

Using online Discover to add Bacnet proxy points

If the JACE is connected to the BACnet device network(s), this is the easiest way to accurately add Bacnet
proxy points under a BacnetDevice. Use the following procedures:
• To discover BACnet objects
• To add discovered BACnet objects as Bacnet proxy points
Note: This works the same as in most Point Manager views. For details, see the section “About Point Discover,
Add and Match (Learn Process)” in the Drivers Guide.

To discover BACnet objects

Perform this task to discover Bacnet objects as proxy point candidates.
To discover Bacnet objects in a device:
Step 1 In the Bacnet Device Manager, in the Exts column, double-click the Points icon in the row
representing the device you wish to explore.
This brings up the Bacnet Point Manager.
Step 2 Click the Discover button to automatically learn what BACnet objects are in the device. Niagara
interrogates the device for its object list, and a progress bar appears at the top of the view.
When the discovery job completes, discovered BACnet objects are listed in the top pane of the view, in
the “Discovered” table. Each BACnet object in the device occupies one row.
You can click to expand objects (by default, “presentValue” is on top of any object that has it). See “Bacnet
Point Manager “Discovered” notes” on page 3-24 for more details.
Step 3 To proxy learned objects, see the next section: “To add discovered BACnet objects as Bacnet proxy
points”.

To add discovered BACnet objects as Bacnet proxy points

Perform this task to add discovered BACnet objects to your station database as proxy points.
To add discovered BACnet objects as Bacnet proxy points:
Step 1 Select the property of the discovered object you wish to proxy. Typically, this is the default (top)
“presentValue” property, but you may wish to create one or more additional proxy points for other
properties (expand the discovered object). Possible examples include “eventState,”or for a priority-type
object, a particular “priorityArray” index (level).
Step 2 You can map selected items in the station in a number of ways:
• Drag from the Discovered pane to Database pane (brings up an Add dialog).
• Double-click an item in the Discovered pane (also brings up an Add dialog).
• Click to select in Discovered, then press “a”. (“Quick Add”, meaning no Add dialog).
This works the same as in other driver’s Point Manager views.
Step 3 When the Add dialog appears, you can edit the configuration of the proxy point’s BacnetProxyExt before
it is added in the Niagara station. Initial property values are determined from the learned object (and are
typically acceptable).
Note the following about entries in the Add dialog:
• Name is the “Object_Name” as reported by the BACnet object, plus “Property_Indentifier” to ensure
a unique point name. For example: “AHU1-Frz_Stat-eventState”
The exception to this is for “presentValue” points (default), where only “Object_Name” is used in
point name. For example: “AHU1-Frz_Stat”
Note: Each slash (“/”) character, if any, is replaced by a period (“.”) in the Niagara name.
This is the Niagara point name only—any change is not written to the BACnet object.
• Type is the Niagara control point type to use for the proxy point.

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Note: Unlike other entries in the Add dialog, you cannot edit Type later.
• Enabled is whether the proxy point is enabled for polling, writing, etc.
Note: By default, any writable Type point (BooleanWritable, NumericWritable, etc) for a
“commandable” type object (any with a priority_array property, such as a Binary_Output,
Analog_Output, etc), will have Enabled initially set to false. To allow for point operation, you must
set this property to true. See “Bacnet FAQs” on page ii-vii for more details.
• Object ID, Property ID, and Index are how the point references its value in the remote BACnet de-
vice.
• Tuning Policy Name specifies the Bacnet tuning policy to use for the proxy point.
• Data Type specifies the ASN data type of the property in the BACnet object. Values are automat-
ically converted to the appropriate Niagara type for the point. For example, Analog Input
Present_Value is an ASN REAL, but can be interpreted by a StringPoint as a character string.
• Read and Write display the read and write status of the point.
• Device Facets represent the facets learned from the device.
• Facets represent the parent Niagara proxy point’s facets, for how the value should be displayed in
Niagara.
Step 4 When you have a Bacnet proxy point(s) configured properly for your usage, click OK.
The proxy points ares added to the station, and appear listed in the Database pane.
For more details, see “Bacnet Point Manager “Database” notes” on page 3-25.

Manually adding Bacnet proxy points

You can manually add Bacnet proxy points, using the New button in the Bacnet Point Manager, or by
dragging from the bacnet palette.

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Niagara Bacnet Client Concepts
This section describes the “client side” operation of the NiagaraAX Bacnet driver, the most commonly
used NiagaraAX implementation with BACnet. These are the main subsections:
• About Bacnet Network Architecture
• About Bacnet Comm
• Bacnet Local Device
• About Bacnet Tuning Policies
• Bacnet Device Manager
• Bacnet Device components
• Bacnet Point Manager
• Bacnet proxy points
• About Bacnet Device’s Schedules
• About Bacnet Trend Logs (Histories)

About Bacnet Network Architecture

The Bacnet driver uses the standard NiagaraAX network architecture. See “About Network architecture”
in the Drivers Guide for more details. However, a station’s BacnetNetwork is unique because of simulta-
neous support for multiple BACnet link layer types, using different BACnet communications protocols:
BACnet/IP, BACnet/Ethernet, (and if a JACE-4/5 host platform, BACnet MS/TP). Thus, depending on
configuration, a BacnetNetwork may proxy BACnet devices that not only reside in different BACnet
networks, but are also accessed using different physical ports on the host JACE controller.
For more details, see “About Bacnet Comm” on page 3-12.

About bacnet palette components

In Workbench, open the bacnet palette to see the various Bacnet components (Figure 3-1).

Figure 3-1 Components in bacnet palette

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Even without showing the many other components under the Config and Server folders, this demon-
strates that Bacnet is one of the more comprehensive NiagaraAX field bus drivers. However (like most
NiagaraAX drivers), you seldom need to work from the palette. Instead, the various Bacnet manager
views simplify component creation, enforcing proper component hierarchy.
The few scenarios where you may need to work from the bacnet palette including the following:
• When adding another network port, found under folder NetworkPorts.
• When adding a specialized history extension (BacnetLogExtension) to any point in the station, in or-
der to make its Niagara history exportable as a BACnet-compliant Trend Log object. See “About
BacnetTrendLogExt extensions” on page 4-58 for more details.
• When adding a BacnetDestination to the station’s AlarmService, found under folder Alarming.

About Bacnet Comm

Under the BacnetNetwork, the Bacnet Comm container configures the “protocol stack” used by Niagara
for all BACnet communications. Bacnet Comm has a Comm Control property that you must enable for
any BACnet communications.
In addition, Bacnet Comm has several child components, discussed in the following subsections:
• About Bacnet Comm: Network
• About Bacnet Comm: Network: Router Table
• About Bacnet Comm: Network: Ip Port
• About Bacnet Comm: Network: Ethernet Port
• About Bacnet Comm: Network: Mstp Port
• About Bacnet Comm: Client, Server, and Transport
• About Bacnet Polling Changes (AX-3.2, AX-3.1)

About Bacnet Comm: Network

The Network container under Bacnet Comm determines BACnet network-layer configuration for the
station. This includes whatever port/protocols will be used (BACnet/IP, BACnet/Ethernet, and if a QNX-
based host, BACnet MS/TP), as well as operation as a BACnet router (if multiple network ports will be
used). You can access Bacnet Comm directly in the Nav side bar, as shown in Figure 3-2.

Figure 3-2 Bacnet Comm access using Nav side bar

Configuration properties determine if routing is enabled, as well as other routing-specific parameters.

By default, a newly added BacnetNetwork will have an IP port under its Bacnet Comm—the most popular
BACnet protocol (BACnet/IP). If needed, you can copy another network port into the Network container
from the bacnet palette, as shown being done in Figure 3-3.

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Figure 3-3 Adding Network port from bacnet palette

Note: Whatever port type (default IP included), all ports require a unique Network Number across the entire
BACnet internetwork. The default Network Number value is -1 (inoperative). Ensure that each network
port has a unique, positive Network Number for proper operation. The valid Network Number range is
from 1 to 65534.
Existing BACnet network(s) note:
• If adding a station on an existing BACnet internetwork, specify the established BACnet/IP network
number and/or BACnet/Ethernet network number currently in use.
• If a JACE with one or more enabled MS/TP ports, specify a previously unused network number for
each MstpPort (RS-485) port.

About Bacnet Comm: Network: Router Table

If using more than one Bacnet Comm network port, and Routing Enabled is true in the parent Bacnet
Comm slot, router table entries automatically populate under this container. Router entries are listed by
“dnet” (destination network). See Figure 3-4.

Figure 3-4 Router Table in property sheet example

About Bacnet Comm: Network: Ip Port

The Ip Port container provides for BACnet Annex J communications as a BACnet/IP device. Link binding
is automatic to the IP address and the selected Ethernet adapter of the host Niagara platform.
By default, the “conventional” UDP port 0xBAC0 (decimal 47808) is used, however, you can specify using
another UDP port. Figure 3-5 shows the Ip Port property sheet expanded to its Link container.

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Figure 3-5 Property sheet view of Ip Port, Link container expanded

As with other Bacnet network ports, the Ip Port provides its own, independent Poll Scheduler (Poll
Service). See “About poll components” in the Drivers Guide for more details. Also see “About Bacnet
Polling Changes (AX-3.2, AX-3.1)” on page 3-15.
Link property IP Device Type allows for B/IP operation as a BBMD (BACnet Broadcast Management
Device) or BACnet Foreign Device, or a standard BACnet device (the default). Remaining properties
support further configuration as a BBMD or Foreign Device.

About Bacnet Comm: Network: Ethernet Port

If needed, you can add an Ethernet Port from the bacnet palette (see Figure 3-3 on page 13). The Ether-
netPort container provides for BACnet/Ethernet communications. Link binding is automatic to the
selected Ethernet adapter of the host Niagara platform.

Figure 3-6 Property sheet view of Ethernet Port, Link container expanded

As with other Bacnet network ports, the Ethernet Port has its own, independent Poll Scheduler (Poll
Service). See “About poll components” in the Drivers Guide for more details. Also see “About Bacnet
Polling Changes (AX-3.2, AX-3.1)” on page 3-15.

About Bacnet Comm: Network: Mstp Port

If a QNX-based JACE station, and if licensed for BACnet MS/TP (see “Bacnet MS/TP licensing” on page
1-2), you can add one or more Mstp Ports from the bacnet palette (see Figure 3-3 on page 13). Each Mstp
Port container provides for BACnet MS/TP communications as a “master” type device, and supports one
network trunk of BACnet MS/TP devices. See Figure 3-7 for a property sheet.

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Figure 3-7 Property sheet view of Mstp Port, Link container expanded

You must configure Link properties to specify the JACE serial port used, as well as other serial commu-
nications parameters. In addition, other MS/TP master parameters may require configuration.
Up to 4 Mstp Ports are supported, depending on host JACE platform, as well as licensing considerations.
As with other Bacnet network ports, each Mstp Port has its own, independent Poll Scheduler (Poll
Service). See “About poll components” in the Drivers Guide for more details. Also see “About Bacnet
Polling Changes (AX-3.2, AX-3.1)” on page 3-15.

About Bacnet Comm: Client, Server, and Transport

Relative to other Bacnet Comm child containers, properties under the Client, Server, and Transport
containers typically require little configuration (from default values).
Note: Possible exceptions apply to the Bacnet Comm Server component, specifically to its “Reinitialize
Allowed” property—which is hidden, by default. If job circumstances require a remote BACnet client to
have the ability to reboot the Niagara host (running the station), you can clear the “Hidden” config flag for
this property from the Server’s slot sheet, and change its value from false to true.
In the Server layer component, its Reinitialize Allowed property must be set to true to support any of
the following:
• A remote BACnet client to reinitialize the station (in most cases, this results in a host reboot).
• Server-side support of “backup and restore” functions from a remote BACnet Workstation client,
conforming to BACnet DM-BR-B BIBB.
Note: This requires AX-3.2 or higher. In addition, you may wish to adjust related properties in the
BacnetNetwork’s LocalBacnetDevice. See “Local Device backup and restore properties” on page 4-64.

About Bacnet Polling Changes (AX-3.2, AX-3.1)

Since the initial (AX-3.0) release, polling improvements have been made in the NiagaraAX Bacnet driver,
culminating in a reworked polling mechanism starting in AX-3.2. This section describes the different
Bacnet driver polling mechanisms by different release levels (AX-3.1, AX-3.2), and notes related areas of
possible configuration changes and default behaviors.
• Basic Bacnet polling design
• Bacnet 3.1 polling changes
• Bacnet 3.2 polling changes
Basic Bacnet polling design
Regardless of NiagaraAX release level, the Bacnet driver is unique among all drivers in that there are
multiple communication port types available (IpPort, EthernetPort, MstpPort), along with multiple
instances of ports supported, all under one network-level component (BacnetNetwork). Thus, the driver
design has always used a separate “BacnetMultiPoll” (Poll Service) component for each network
port, where each “poll scheduler” component is found under BacnetComm, Network, <port>, as shown
in Figure 3-8.

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Figure 3-8 Separate Poll Service for each port under BacnetComm, Network

Regardless of NiagaraAX release level, you can adjust the basic poll settings used for each port in its own
poll scheduler, as well as see individual statistics. The basic operation of each Poll Service, including the
four “buckets” (3 rate group + “dibs” stack) is explained in the Drivers Guide, in the section “About poll
components”. Note that a “multi-thread” capability exists in all Bacnet Poll Services, as this is sometimes
needed even in a (typically speedy) IpPort or EthernetPort link layer, where point polling might involve a
BACnet router (say, going between B/IP and slower MS/TP devices).
Also unique to Bacnet polling (in any release) is the interplay with BACnet COV services, where some
server devices may offer COV for point updates (as a typically desirable alternative to polling). This
affects Tuning Policy configurations, and how you should assign tuning policies for points. For related
details, see “Bacnet Tuning Policy notes” on page 3-18, “BacnetDevice properties” on page 3-22, and
“Bacnet ProxyExt properties” on page 3-27.
And now for the release-level differences in Bacnet point polling:
• Bacnet 3.1 polling changes
• Bacnet 3.2 polling changes

Bacnet 3.1 polling changes

In AX-3.1, polling of Bacnet proxy points uses the Basic Bacnet polling design, with only a minor bug fix
for a scenario where a poll thread could “spin” if any of the configured rates in a Poll Service had been set
to zero (0). As polling rates default to non-zero values, any AX-3.0 job can avoid this issue by simply not
assigning 0 for any poll rate.
Note that in any AX-3.0 or AX-3.1 system, Bacnet proxy point polling works like this:
• All proxy points (regardless of property chosen for polling), poll the target object’s Status_Flags
property (if present). This reflects in the proxy point’s status, as it is “merged” with the native Nia-
gara status for the point itself. For details, see “Status merger for Bacnet proxy points” on page 3-28.
• Prioritized points (for objects with Priority_Array property) always poll that property in addition to
the chosen property, such that this extra information is seen in the point display, using a “bac=n”
display convention to show the currently active level.
• Points polled from the “dibs” stack in any Poll Service (highest priority) are always polled using the
ReadProperty service instead of ReadPropertyMultiple. This individual poll technique does not al-
ways make best use of polling bandwidth.
• BacnetDevice components use a “maxDevicePollSize” property, a dynamic property that is some-
times added and (initially) auto-calculated when the device is learned or created, going by the prop-
erty “maxAPDULengthAccepted” in its corresponding Device object. The purpose of this property
was to allow tunable “group polling” (ReadPropertyMultiple service, if supported by device), speci-
fying the number of points per poll—where you may adjust it downwards, if found necessary. This
was sometimes needed if polling was for points with larger, unbounded data types, such as string or
octet-string. Also, this property could automatically decrement on its own, in certain scenarios
where polling issues occurred. In these cases, this resulted in more poll list entries (using single
ReadProperty service).

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Bacnet 3.2 polling changes

Starting in AX-3.2, polling of Bacnet proxy points uses the Basic Bacnet polling design, but reworks the
polling mechanism with the following changes (from Bacnet 3.1 polling changes):
• By default, any Bacnet proxy point polls only the (one) single, configured property for polling. Thus,
if you specify “presentValue,” that is all the point’s out displays from BACnet—no native object sta-
tus, or currently active level (“bac=n”, if a commandable object), affect the point display.
However, as needed you can add either or both of these extra polled properties, and/or others, by
editing the facets of proxy points. See “Facets usage to poll additional properties” on page 3-29. Also,
note that if adding statusFlags (as before) there is a point “status merge”—see “Status merger for Bac-
net proxy points” on page 3-28.
• Using an “added slot” method on a Bacnet ProxyExt, it is now possible to poll for data outside the
normal boundaries of a single object poll, such as sometimes needed in “Event Enrollment” scenar-
ios. For more details, see “Advanced “add DOPR slot” to ProxyExt method” on page 3-30.
• Efficiencies in polling now come about from a “PollListEntries” method, where any “pollable” com-
ponent (proxy points, Config objects) that is subscribed is added by its poll service into aggregate poll
list objects (by containing device), where they are better processed. In addition, “dibs” polling can
now make more efficient use of bandwidth by using ReadPropertyMultiple to poll objects.
For the most part, these efficiencies do not affect station polling configuration (however, starting in
AX-3.2, the “maxDevicePollSize” property of a BacnetDevice, if still present, has no significance).
Note that improvements should be noticed in different scenarios—including station startup, taking
less time to “settle out” from initial polling.

Bacnet Local Device

The Bacnet Local Device is a frozen slot under the BacnetNetwork that represents the station exter-
nally. In general, this means providing BACnet server responses to remote client requests (from other
BACnet devices on a connected network).
Note: Essentially, every component outside the Bacnet Local Device represents BACnet client operation. Client
operation is done with BacnetDevice objects, child proxy points, and so on.
The Local Device has many properties, plus other container slots, briefly described in the following
sections:
• An essential Local Device property
• About Local Device slots

An essential Local Device property

Perhaps the most important Local Device property is the device object ID for the station—by default, this
is -1 (driver inoperative). To permit any Bacnet operation in the station, you must reassign this to a valid,
unique, device ID on the BACnet network. Range is from 0 to 4194302.
Figure 3-9 shows the property sheet of the BacnetNetwork expanded to show the Local Device container.
In this example, the station is operating as BACnet Device 101.

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Figure 3-9 Bacnet Local Device property Object Id is critical for driver operation

Most other properties are status (read-only) types reflective of the station’s BACnet device capabilities.
However, several are configuration properties to specify location, description, and various APDU param-
eters. External from Niagara (to other BACnet devices), these properties determine how the BACnet
Device object appears that represents the station. See “Local Device properties” on page 4-63 for more
details.

About Local Device slots

The Export Table under the BacnetNetwork’s Local Device container is the central location to export
station data as BACnet objects. The default view on the Export Table is the Bacnet Export Manager, in
which you select and expose station components. For complete details, see “Niagara Bacnet Server
Operation” on page 4-47, as well as “Local Device notes” on page 4-62.

About Bacnet Tuning Policies

Bacnet Tuning Policies are set at the network level, similar to other NiagaraAX drivers. For more details,
see “About Tuning Policies” in the Drivers Guide.
• Bacnet Tuning Policy notes

Bacnet Tuning Policy notes

Typically, you create multiple tuning policies in the BacnetNetwork—especially if you have multiple
Bacnet network ports enabled. This allows you to reference different tuning policies from Bacnet proxy
points under different networks (often with vastly different performance capabilities). For example,
points under a Bacnet MSTP network would likely use different tuning policies than those under a Bacnet
IP network.
Note: You can add a tuning policy in the BacnetNetwork’s property sheet by simply right-clicking an existing
policy, then choosing Duplicate in the shortcut menu. Name it as desired, then edit its properties as
needed.
Also, if you have client BacnetDevices that provide support for COV notifications, you typically add at
least one tuning policy that has its “Use Cov” property set to True (and possibly with other adjustments),
see Figure 3-10.

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Figure 3-10 Example Tuning Policy used for points under a COV-capable device

Then, when adding/editing proxy points under such COV-capable devices, you can specify to use this
(COV-specific) tuning policy. See “About Tuning Policies” in the Drivers Guide for general information
about tuning policies.
Also see the two next sections:
• Bacnet-only Tuning Policy properties
• Special tuning notes about “stale”
Bacnet-only Tuning Policy properties
In addition to properties typical to most Tuning Policies, the Bacnet driver provides these properties:
• Use Cov
Default is False. If set to True, and assigned proxy points are under a BacnetDevice that supports the
Subscribe COV service, any necessary updates (Niagara proxy subscriptions) are attempted using
BACnet COV subscriptions to the device. If the subscription attempt succeeds, the “Read Status”
property of the point’s BacnetProxyExt displays “COV”. If the subscription attempt for a proxy point
fails, normal polling is used and the “Read Status” property shows “Polled”.
• Use Confirmed Cov
If Use Cov is enabled (True) and assigned proxy points are under a BacnetDevice that supports Con-
firmed COV notifications, any necessary updates (Niagara proxy subscriptions) are attempted using
BACnet Confirmed COV subscriptions to the device. If Use Cov is disabled (False), it makes no dif-
ference what this property value is. The default value is True.
• Cov Subscription Lifetime
The lifetime, in minutes, for which Niagara will subscribe for COV notifications, then (if necessary)
periodically re-subscribe. A value of zero means an indefinite lifetime, although this is not guaran-
teed to persist across resets of the server device. The default value is 15 minutes.
Special tuning notes about “stale”
In general, you should never set the “Stale Time” property in a Tuning Policy shorter than the poll cycle
time, or else points will go stale in the course of normal polling. Instead, set the stale timer to be longer
than the largest expected poll cycle time. This period can vary depending on how many Px graphics are
being viewed, and so on.
Also, note that for each point, the stale timer is measured from the last time the point was updated. This
means if you have a 10-minute stale timer, and an 8-minute poll cycle time, you will have some points with
values nearly 8 minutes old. If you stop polling, those points will begin going stale roughly 2 minutes after
polling has stopped, and not 10 minutes.
This has resulted in some confusion—where the expectation was that after viewing a graphic, any points
in it should stay up for the 10 full minutes (or the configured Stale Time) before going stale. However, the
actual time depends on how long ago they were last polled.

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Bacnet Device Manager

The Bacnet Device Manager (Figure 3-11) is the default view for the BacnetNetwork, and works similar
to other device managers that support online device discovery. See “About the Device Manager” in the
Drivers Guide for general information.

Figure 3-11 Bacnet Device Manager is default view for BacnetNetwork

The following sections provide Bacnet-related details:

• About Bacnet Device Find Parameters
• Bacnet Device Manager discover notes
• Who Has function

About Bacnet Device Find Parameters

When you click Discover in the Bacnet Device Manager, a Configure Device Discovery dialog
appears, as shown in Figure 3-12.

Figure 3-12 Bacnet Configure Device Discovery

Depending on the size of the BACnet network you are learning, you may wish to configure settings from
defaults. By default, all known networks are selected to learn (each network number matches an entry in
the router table), “all networks” are not selected to learn, and the full range of device IDs (0 to 4194302)
is specified.
All fields in the Configure Device Discovery dialog are explained, as follows:
• Device Low Limit
Devices with an instance ID lower than this are not discovered. Default value is 0.
• Device High Limit
Devices with an instance ID higher than this are not discovered. Default value is 4194302 (the max-
imum valid BACnet instance number).
• Network
Allows selection of either:
• All Networks — Niagara will search on all possible BACnet networks segments, including all lo-
cally connected networks, as well as segments accessed over BACnet routers.
• <Known networks (by network number)> — Choices reflect the number of network ports avail-
able under Bacnet Comm, Network component, plus any additional remote networks dis-
covered by receiving “I-am-router” messages. Click to include/exclude as needed. By default, all
known networks are individually pre-selected.

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• Wait Response Time

Determines how many seconds Niagara waits before determining that all BACnet devices that exist
have responded to the discovery request. The default value is 10 seconds.
Often, you may wish to further limit the range of device IDs, and perhaps enable the device learn across
“All Networks.” In the case of MSTP networks, or complex BACnet networks (that span several routers,
you may need to set the “Wait Response Time” upwards (from 10 seconds) in order to learn all BACnet
Device objects.

Bacnet Device Manager discover notes

You can rerun a device discover as many times as needed. If your BACnet network is very large, you may
wish to add multiple BacnetDeviceFolders (using New Folder button), and run a series of differently
configured device discovers (Figure 3-12) from each one, using the BacnetDeviceManager view available
with each folder.

Who Has function

The Bacnet Device Manager provides a Who Has button that provides a popup dialog to set parameters
for the BACnet “Who-Has” service. You can use this to locate objects by name or object ID (type and
instance number). The default dialog is shown in Figure 3-13.

Figure 3-13 Default Who Has popup dialog

As in the device discover dialog, you can set device low and high limits, as well as select which BACnet
networks (by number) receive the Who-Has broadcast (or all networks). When you click OK, a Bacnet
Who Has job is started, and when the job completes the results (including “I-Have” responses) appear in
another popup window, as shown in Figure 3-14.

Figure 3-14 Example result from Who Has

Bacnet Device components

BacnetDevice components and properties are similar to most driver’s device components—see
“Common device components” in the Drivers Guide for general information.
In addition to common components, views, and device extensions, the BacnetDevice contains a “Config”
device extension container. It provides a “Device Object” with a complete list of standard BACnet Device
properties for the remote device.
The following sections provide more details:

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• BacnetDevice properties
• About the Config Device Ext container

BacnetDevice properties
When you add (or edit) a BacnetDevice from the Bacnet Device Manager, several key device properties
appear in that dialog, as shown in Figure 3-15.

Figure 3-15 Add dialog in Bacnet Device Manager

These properties are described as follows:

• Name
As learned, this reflects the “Object_Name” property from the device’s sole Device object.
Note: Each slash (“/”) character (if any) is replaced by a period (“.”) in the Niagara name.
This is only the Niagara component name for this device—if desired, you can edit it to whatever you
want. It does not affect the name in the remote BACnet device.
• Type
Type is specific type of BacnetDevice. Typically, is single selection only of Bacnet Device.
• Device ID
The BACnet Object_Identifier reported (if learned) by this device. Editing does not affect the device’s
ID, only the ID used by Niagara to access this device.
• MAC Addr
The data link layer MAC address for this device.
• Enabled
A flag indicating whether Niagara has enabled communications to the device.
• Use Cov
A flag specifying whether Niagara attempts to subscribe for COV notifications, as a way to monitor
proxy point values.
• If the device was learned, and Niagara determined that the device indicates support for server-
side COV, this flag defaults to true.
• Otherwise, this flag is false. In this case, no proxy points under the device will use COV.
Note: If true, then individual proxy points under the device may use COV subscriptions, depending
on their assigned tuning policy. See “Bacnet Tuning Policy notes” on page 3-18.
• Max Cov Subscriptions
(Applies only if “Use Cov” is true.) Specifies the maximum number of COV subscriptions that Nia-
gara will attempt to use with this device. This allows the station to restrict itself from consuming all
of the available subscription space in that device.
• Poll Frequency
Specifies the polling frequency group (Slow, Normal, Fast) for polling this device, as well as for all
its proxy points (regardless of their individual poll frequency settings). Default is Normal.
Note: Poll Frequency property is not used for AX-3.2, and may be hidden from the Add/Edit dialog
in future builds.

About the Config Device Ext container

Properties of the Device Object under the Bacnet Config Device Ext are populated when the device was
learned. These represent BACnet Device object properties. Included are several properties that show the
various protocol services and objects supported by that device.

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The default view of the Bacnet Config Device Ext is the Bacnet Config Manager (Figure 3-16).

Figure 3-16 Bacnet Config Manager

From this view, you can learn other config-type objects, each representing a BACnet object in that device.
You might do this to “evaluate” a BACnet device, rather than for permanent station engineering. In this
case, remember to delete the config-type objects afterwards, as they consume station resources. See
“About Bacnet Config objects” on page 3-23.
Note: In AX-3.2, an alternate method is available to evaluate the objects in a device, via its “Virtual Gateway.”
For more details, see “About Bacnet virtual points” on page 3-40.
About Bacnet Config objects
A config object provides a view of a BACnet object in its native format—where all properties of that
object are presented as a whole. Figure 3-17 shows the property sheet of a Binary Input config object.

Figure 3-17 Example config object for a Binary Input object

Unlike Bacnet proxy points that you create using the Bacnet Point Manager, when subscribed, config
objects poll all properties—not as efficient as the selective proxy point model. In addition, slots of Bacnet
config objects use primitive or special data types, not compatible with normal linking logic.

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Config objects are expected to be useful for one-time commissioning, or for proprietary objects for which
the proxy point interaction may be insufficient.

Bacnet Point Manager

The Bacnet Point Manager is the default view for the Points extension (or Points Folder) under any
BacnetDevice, and works similar to other point managers that support online point discovery. See “About
the Point Manager” in the Drivers Guide for general details.
The following sections provide Bacnet-related details:
• Bacnet Point Manager “Discovered” notes
• Bacnet Point Manager “Database” notes

Bacnet Point Manager “Discovered” notes

By default, the “Discovered” table for Bacnet objects lists the single “Device” object at top, and other
objects underneath, with each object initially occupying a single row. See Figure 3-18.

Figure 3-18 Discovered Bacnet objects show present value

You can resort objects by clicking on any column header. Often, this is useful to sort by “Object ID”
(BACnet object type), to group like type objects together.
Also, you can click to expand any object (Figure 3-19). This lets you select other properties (apart from
Present_Value) as a candidate to proxy.

Figure 3-19 Click plus (+) icon beside any discovered object to see all properties

The following sections provide more details about the Discovered pane in the Bacnet Point Manager:
• Discovered object table columns
• Discovered object usage notes

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Discovered object table columns

By default, the following columns appear in the Discovered table, from left-to-right:
Object Name Object ID Property ID Index Value
Object Name This is the “Object_Name” property of the discovered BACnet object. This name should
be unique within this specific device. When you select an object to add as a proxy point, this is the default
(Niagara) name in the station for the Bacnet proxy point.
Object ID This is the “Object_Identifier” property of the discovered BACnet object, which is a combi-
nation of BACnet object type and instance number (unique within that type). In this column, these two
fields appear separated by a “:”, using Niagara descriptors for type. For example:
• analogInput:3
• multiStateValue:3
• binaryOutput:3
Property ID The property shown for the discovered BACnet object. By default, all objects that have a
“Present_Value” property are listed with this value “on top,” as shown in Figure 3-18. BACnet objects
without a “Present_Value” property (for example, a Device object or Schedule object), list showing
“Object_Identifier” as the top Property ID.
Typically, present value is the most useful piece of data from any BACnet object. However, you can
expand any discovered object (Figure 3-19) to see all its other properties as children in the discovered
pane, where each one is a separate proxy point candidate. Additionally, properties that are “arrays” are
further expandable (see Index column).
Index This is a numeric index into an “arrayed” property, if selected, otherwise is blank. For example, if
you expand a “priority-type” object (e.g: object type “binaryOutput”) and expand again on its “priorit-
yArray” property, each child row displays with a unique index number (1—16).
Note: Use this to proxy a point to write to only one specific level of the “Priority_Array” property of the target
BACnet object (instead of accessing all levels, by proxy of only the default “presentValue” property). This
may be useful in your control scheme, if you have a number of possible sources in the station you wish to
evaluate (on a Niagara priority basis), to write to one BACnet priority level (only) in the target BACnet
object.
Value The (static) value of the associated property, captured when Niagara retrieved the object list (or,
for any “non-default” properties, when you expanded the “top” property—see Property ID).
Discovered values display showing any descriptors associated with the BACnet object’s related properties
(“Units,” “Active_Text,” “Inactive_Text,” and so on).
Discovered object usage notes
You can rerun a point discover as many times as needed. If the BACnet device contains many objects, you
may wish to add multiple BacnetPointFolders (using New Folder button), and add discovered points
differently into each one, using the Bacnet Point Manager view available with each folder.

Bacnet Point Manager “Database” notes

The “Database” table contains existing Bacnet proxy points, where each appears as a row in the table.
Each proxy point represents one data item from a specific BACnet object in that device (Figure 3-20).

Figure 3-20 Database shows Bacnet proxy points in the station

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You can resort points by clicking on any column header. Often, this is useful to sort by “Object ID”
(BACnet object type), or perhaps by name.
Also, if you created BacnetPointFolders under a device’s Points container, you can see all proxy points in
the device from the main (root) Points Manager using “All Descendants” tool. For details, see the section
“Points New Folder and New” in the Drivers Guide.
The following sections provide more details about the Database pane in the Bacnet Point Manager:
• Database proxy point table columns
• Modifying the Database table
Database proxy point table columns
By default, the following columns appear in the Database table, from left-to-right:
Name Out Object ID Property ID Index Read Write
Note: You can also modify columns shown, see “Modifying the Database table” on page 3-27.
Name The Niagara name for the Bacnet proxy point. If you added the point from a discover (selecting
the default “presentValue” property), and did not edit Object Name, this will be identical to the BACnet
object’s name. As needed, you can edit when adding, or at any later time.
Out The current out value, including any point facets. For (presentValue) proxy points before AX-3.2,
this includes both the BACnet “Present_Value” and the logical “OR” status merger of the BACnet object’s
“Status_Flags” (in_alarm, fault, overridden, out_of_service) along with Niagara point status.
Note: BACnet status flags “in_alarm” and “out_of_service” OR with Niagara status “alarm” and “disabled,”
respectively. Status flags “overridden” and “fault” map OR to identically named Niagara statuses. For more
details, see “Status merger for Bacnet proxy points” on page 3-28.
Also, (before AX-3.2) if a writable proxy point for a “priority type” BACnet object (Binary_Output,
Analog_Output, etc.), the out value facets always include the active BACnet priority array level (1—16),
as the object’s “Priority_Array” is also automatically polled. By default, this is formatted as “bac=n”. For
example, a (presentValue) BooleanWritable point for a Binary_Output object may have an out of:
On {ok} @ 16 bac=16
Where here, the active Niagara point priority level (@ 16) agrees with the current BACnet priority level.
Note: Starting in AX-3.2, out display of a proxy point defaults to only the single (configured) property value, along
with Niagara status for the proxy point. However, you can edit point facets to poll for additional properties,
such as the native “statusFlags” and/or “priorityArray” level. For details, see “Facets usage to poll
additional properties” on page 3-29.
Object ID Just as in the Discovered table, this is the “Object_Identifier” property of the proxied BACnet
object, which is a combination of BACnet object type and instance number (unique within that type). In
this column, these two field appear separated by a “:”, using Niagara descriptors for type. For example:
• analogInput:3
• multiStateValue:3
• binaryOutput:3
Property ID The BACnet property name proxied by the point. For example “Present Value” or “Event
State,” depending on selection.
Index Applies only if an “arrayed” property, like “Priority Array” (otherwise it is “-1” for no index).
Provides a numeric index into the property array.
Read The read-only “Read Status” of the ProxyExt, which is typically either “Polled,” “COV,” or “unsub-
scribed,” depending on a number of factors. If a read error occurs, other descriptive text may appear
instead.
Write The read-only “Write” status of the ProxyExt, which is typically “readonly” if the proxy point is
not writable, or if a writable point type, either “writable” or “ok” (last Niagara write occurred within
effective Tuning Policy period). Or, if a write operation fails, the write status provides some descriptive
text.
For example, if you create a writable point for a readonly object (say, a NumericWritable for presentValue
of an Analog_Input object), and attempt to write from Niagara, following this the write status may show:
“Property:Write Access Denied”. If the error is actually a BACnet Error, then this colon-separated
format will contain the Error Class and Error Code returned by the device.

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Modifying the Database table

You can modify which data columns appear in the Bacnet Point Manager database table. For the options
menu, simply click the small “table options” control in the upper right corner. See the section “Manager
table features” in the Drivers Guide for general details.
Non-default selections for data columns in the Bacnet Point Manager Database table include various
properties of both the parent proxy point and the Bacnet ProxyExt, and are the following:
• Path — Station path to the proxy point.
• Type — Type of Niagara point the proxy is based upon (BooleanWritable, NumericPoint, etc.).
• Enabled — Whether the Niagara proxy point is currently enabled for communications.
• Tuning Policy Name — Name of the network’s TuningPolicy component assigned to the point.
• Data Type — The ASN data type for the property (ENUMERATED, REAL, and so on).
• Device Facets — Learned facets from the source BACnet object.
• Facets — Facets in use by the parent proxy point.
• Conversion — Conversion used between device facets and point facets (typically “Default”).
• Read Value — Last value read from device, expressed in device facets.
• Write Value — (Applies to writable types only) Last value written, using device facets.

Bacnet proxy points

Bacnet proxy points are similar to other driver’s proxy points. Refer to “About proxy points” in the Drivers
Guide for general information.
The following sections provide driver-specific details about Bacnet proxy points:
• Bacnet ProxyExt properties
• Bacnet ProxyExt actions
• Status merger for Bacnet proxy points
• Facets usage to poll additional properties (AX-3.2)

Bacnet ProxyExt properties

Figure 3-21 shows the property sheet of an example Bacnet ProxyExt.

Figure 3-21 Property sheet for a BacnetBooleanProxyExt

Note: To deal with proprietary object types and properties, you can refer to the numerical codes supplied by the
device vendor. Then click to highlight the Object Id, or the Property Id, and type in the needed numeric code.
For example, a proprietary property 1000 may be included on some company’s analog input objects.
Or, if you have added the relevant enumeration value into the BacnetDevice’s Enumeration List property,
you should be able to select it by name (normally) from the drop-down list.
In addition to typical ProxyExt properties (refer to “ProxyExt properties” in the Drivers Guide), the proxy
extension in Bacnet proxy points include these additional properties:
• Object Id
Consists of two fields: BACnet object type, and object instance number. Within any one object type
in that device, instance numbers must be unique. See “Object ID” on page 3-26, also Note above.

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• Property Id
BACnet property ID for the specific data item being proxied. Often, this is “Present Value.” See
“Property ID” on page 3-26. If a proprietary property, see the preceding Note.
• Property Array Index
Index to a particular element in an arrayed property, if applicable. For example, if the point proxies
priority level 7 of a priority array input of a Binary_Output point, this value is “7”. If not applicable
to the property being proxied, this value is “-1”.
• Data Type
(read only) ASN primitive application data type, for example, “REAL” or “ENUMERATED.”
• Read Status
(read only) Indicates whether “Polled,” “COV,” or “Unsubscribed.” See “Read” on page 3-26.
• Write Status
(read only) Indicates “readonly” or “writable,” or some other value following a Niagara write. See
“Write” on page 3-26 for more details.

Bacnet ProxyExt actions

For any Bacnet proxy point, its ProxyExt provides two actions, as shown in Figure 3-22. Note that these
actions are on the ProxyExt itself, and not the parent control point.

Figure 3-22 Actions for any Bacnet ProxyExt

These actions are briefly described as follows:

• Force Read
Results in an immediate poll of the source BACnet object’s property.
• Force Write
Forces an attempt to write from Niagara to the BACnet object’s property. Note that if the property is
read-only (or otherwise protected by the BACnet device), an error is seen in the Write Status property.

Status merger for Bacnet proxy points

Bacnet proxy points are unique from proxy points in most other field bus drivers, because the BACnet
protocol provides for native “abnormal status” of data objects. Niagara can learn about this from the
“Status_Flags” property of a BACnet object.
Possible abnormal BACnet “Status_Flags” include the following:
• IN_ALARM — appears as {alarm} in Niagara
• FAULT — appears as {fault} in Niagara
• OVERRIDDEN — appears as {overridden} in Niagara
• OUT_OF_SERVICE — appears as {disabled} in Niagara
To get this native status, you do not have to create a proxy point expressly for the “statusFlags” of a
BACnet object—however, this is handled differently in the Bacnet driver by NiagaraAX release level:
• Prior to AX-3.2, if you create a proxy point for any other property of that object (typically, “pre-
sentValue” or” eventState”), “statusFlags” is also automatically polled. Values from both properties
reflect in the Read Value of the ProxyExt. A “status merger” with Niagara point status occurs.
• Starting in AX-3.2, by default only the selected property is polled and reflected in the Read Value
of the ProxyExt. However, you can include the polling of other data (including “statusFlags”), by add-
ing to the facets of the point. See “Facets usage to poll additional properties” on page 3-29.

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• If “statusFlags” is added to facets, a “status merger” with Niagara point status occurs—just as it
does “automatically” for pre-AX-3.2 Bacnet proxy points.
• If “statusFlags” is not added to facets, no status merger occurs—only Niagara status is shown
for the proxy point (e.g., if the BACnet object is “in_alarm”, it will likely show “ok” in Niagara).
Status merger operation
In the parent proxy point, any of the above “native” abnormal statuses are OR’ed with the equivalent
Niagara-originated statuses, and merged with Niagara-only status flags, such as “stale,” “unackedAlarm,”
etc. (see “About point status” and “How status flags are set” in the User Guide).
This is mentioned because it is possible to see a proxy point show a status (as one example) “disabled,”
and yet it is enabled in Niagara (the source BACnet object is set to “Out of Service”). Or, you may
encounter a variety of other combinations.
Note that the “Read Value” property of a point’s ProxyExt should only show the BACnet status, so it can
be used to distinguish between Niagara and BACnet contributions to the status bit string. Also, consider
the possibility of any independent alarm and fault parameters between the source BACnet object, and any
possible NiagaraAX alarm extension on the proxy point.

Facets usage to poll additional properties

As previously mentioned, starting in AX-3.2 only the single selected property of the BACnet object is
polled by default, for any Bacnet proxy point. For example, if you add a proxy point for a Binary Input
object and select “presentValue” as its Property Id, by default that is the only value polled in the source
object. If that BACnet object was to have a native “in_alarm” status, you would have no indication in
Niagara—it would show only Niagara point status, such as “ok”.
However (if needed), you can edit the point facets of any Bacnet proxy point to include additional
properties (beyond the configured property) for polling—one of which could be “statusFlags.” Note this
facets edit applies to the main point’s facets (and not “device facets” in its ProxyExt).
The facet edit sequence in Figure 3-23 shows facets editing (in AX-3.3) to include statusFlags.

Figure 3-23 Adding “statusFlags” facet to point’s facets for polling

Add facet

Type the facet name in the key field

Select Select
Boolean true
for Type for Value

To add to the point poll using this technique, add Boolean facet(s) with any of these (Key) names:

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• statusFlags for the Status_Flags property;

• priorityArray for the Priority_Array property;
• eventState for the Event_State property;
• reliability for the Reliability property
Note: The Workbench facets editor (Config Facets dialog) changed in AX-3.3, as shown in Figure 3-23. If
doing this operation using AX-3.2 Workbench, use a similar method in the Facets Editor, where you:
• Click Advanced from the Facets Editor.
• This produces a Key field, where you type in the facet name (e.g. statusFlags). Type is Boolean.
• Click Add to include the facet, and then set its value from false to true.
• Click OK to close the Facets Editor and then Save the point change.
After adding additional facet(s), resulting metadata from additional polled properties is reflected in the
status of a proxy point in the following ways:
• statusFlags are included by merging with the Niagara proxy point status (bits of BStatus). See “Status
merger for Bacnet proxy points” on page 3-28 for more details.
• priorityArray is included as it was in pre-AX-3.2 point status, showing “bac=X”, where X is 1 to 16.
• eventState is included as a facet showing “state=stateName”, where stateName is the name of a
BacnetEventState enumeration, such as normal, offnormal, highLimit, and so on.
• reliability is included as a facet showing “reliability=reliabilityEnum”, where reliabilityEnum
is one of the BacnetReliability values, such as noFaultDetected, overRange, shortedLoop, and so
on.
Note: To reproduce the “pre-AX-3.2” status display of a proxy point configured to poll for “presentValue” of a
commandable BACnet object (with a priorityArray, such as an Analog_Output, Binary_Output, etc.), you
need to use the technique described above to add two facets to the proxy point:
• statusFlags
• priorityArray
Advanced “add DOPR slot” to ProxyExt method
In AX-3.2 and later, in addition to editing the proxy point’s facets to poll additional properties (see “Facets
usage to poll additional properties” on page 3-29), the point’s ProxyExt can have a slot added that points
to a specific property for additional polling—even one in a different BACnet object and/or BACnet
device. This technique is based on a “BacnetDeviceObjectPropertyReference” format (or DOPR, for
short), where numerical codes are required for processing.
Figure 3-24 shows a slot of the proper type being added to the ProxyExt of a proxy point.

Figure 3-24 Adding slot in proxy point for DOPR poll method

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After adding the slot, go to ProxyExt’s property sheet and edit the new slot’s properties to poll/display the
property needed. Figure 3-25 shows a DOPR example for property “highLimit” (Property Id 45) of Analog
Input 1 in the same device (device -1).

Figure 3-25 Configuring properties in DOPR slot in ProxyExt for DOPR poll method

Due to the complexity of this technique, it is expected to be infrequently used. However, in certain appli-
cations, such as with Event Enrollment objects (a BACnet object that monitors other objects for the
purpose of generating alarms based on its own algorithm), it may prove useful.
The resulting metadata is included with the name of the DOPR. If it is an Event Enrollment object, and
the DOPR property is Event_State (the alarm state of the EE object), the facet appears like:
<EEinstanceNumber>=<EE event state>
if another property, the facet is:
<EEinstanceNumber>_<EEpropId>=<prop value>

About Bacnet Device’s Schedules

The Schedules device extension of a BacnetDevice allows you to import one or more remote Schedule
and/or Calendar objects in a BACnet device into the station as read-only Niagara schedule components.
As needed, you can then use these BACnet schedules or calendars in the station.
Also, you can export any Niagara schedule component (residing anywhere in the station), into a device’s
existing BACnet Schedule or Calendar object. In this case, the Niagara schedule has “supervisory
control” over the remote BACnet Schedule object, essentially “swapping in” its configuration.
Both of these are “client-side operations,” in which you must select the particular BACnet device, then its
specific Schedule or Calendar object that you wish to import (from) or export (to).
Do these operations using the two manager views on a BacnetDevice’s Schedules extension:
• Bacnet Schedule Import Manager (default view)
• Bacnet Schedule Export Manager
Note: A BACnet device must contain a Schedule object or Calendar object to make use of these functions.
Sometimes, a BACnet device may have neither type of object. A Discover command in either schedule
manager view will determine this—if no Schedule or Calendar objects are found, that BacnetDevice’s
Schedules extension has no practical application.

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About the Bacnet Schedule Import Manager

Double-click Schedules under any BacnetDevice to access its Bacnet Schedule Import Manager.
Figure 3-26 shows this view in “Learn mode” after a discover, with BACnet schedules added.

Figure 3-26 Bacnet Schedule Import Manager (Learn mode shown)

Imported schedules and calendars are Niagara schedule components with a BacnetScheduleImportExt.
Events in an imported schedule (or calendar) are obtained from that BACnet device, and are read-only.
By default, the Schedules device extension also contains a Retry Trigger, for automatic usage as needed.
For details see “About the Retry Trigger” in the Drivers Guide.
Note that the Schedules device extension can also contain BacnetScheduleExport components. These
correspond to Niagara schedules or calendars that are “pushed” to specific BACnet Schedule or Calendar
objects in the remote device. See “About the Bacnet Schedule Export Manager” on page 3-33 for related
details. Also, see the next section “Notes on Bacnet Schedule Imports”.
Notes on Bacnet Schedule Imports
The Add (and Edit) dialog for importing BACnet Schedules and Calendars is shown in Figure 3-27.

Figure 3-27 Add dialog in Bacnet Schedule Import Manager

The default name is the BACnet object’s name, and you typically leave this and other properties at
defaults. Upon adding, the object’s configuration is uploaded to the read-only Niagara schedule
component. Note that the default import (read synchronization) from the device’s object is “Manual”,
meaning that you must use the Import button in the Bacnet Schedule Import Manager to refresh the
Niagara schedule. Alternatively, you can also set the trigger time of the BacnetScheduleImportExt to be
either Daily or Interval, if you anticipate ongoing changes in the BACnet object’s configuration.
Note: When the remote BACnet schedule is imported, if it contains a reference to a Calendar object in the device,
the Calendar object will also be brought in as a schedule import, in order to keep the schedule in Niagara
self-complete.

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Figure 3-28 shows the property sheet of a BacnetScheduleImportExt for an imported schedule.

Figure 3-28 Property sheet of BacnetScheduleImportExt

Note that the BACnet property “Priority for Writing” is included—however, this means little in the
Niagara (station) usage of this imported schedule.

About the Bacnet Schedule Export Manager

Right-click Schedules under any BacnetDevice and select Bacnet Schedule Export
Manager for this view, or use its view selector (Figure 3-29). This figure shows this view in “Learn mode”
after a discover, with one schedule already exported.

Figure 3-29 Bacnet Schedule Export Manager (Learn mode shown)

Exported schedules and calendars are schedule export components , each “pointing” to a Niagara
schedule component in the station. Events in an exported schedule (or calendar) are written by Niagara
to the identified object in that BACnet device.
Note: The BacnetNetwork’s Local Device also has a child Export Table, with a Bacnet Export Manager
view that permits “exposing” Niagara schedule components in the station as either BACnet Schedule
objects or Calendar objects. However, this is a “server type” export, where exported components are made
available to any networked BACnet device (and not written to specific objects in a BACnet device, to which
we act as a client). See “Niagara Bacnet Server Operation” on page 4-47 for more details.
The following sections provide more details about exporting to BACnet objects:
• Exporting to BACnet Schedule and Calendar objects
• BacnetScheduleExport properties (including Skip Writes)

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Exporting to BACnet Schedule and Calendar objects

Starting in AX-3.1, there are two Add options when exporting to BACnet Schedule and Calendars,
reflected in the drop-down control beside the Add button, as shown below:

• Device — Data in the schedule that exists in the BACnet device is initially used, overwriting (ini-
tializing) the Niagara schedule. Essentially, this starts the same as if the schedule was imported.
• Niagara — Data in the Niagara schedule overwrites data in the existing BACnet schedule when
exported (how it originally worked in AX-3.0).
It is expected that the “Device” option may often be useful. After choosing an option and clicking Add,
the dialog appears. The Add (and Edit) dialog for exporting to a BACnet object is shown in Figure 3-30.

Figure 3-30 Add dialog in Bacnet Schedule Export Manager

The default name is the target BACnet object’s name, and you typically leave this at default. The most
critical property is the Supervisor Ord (null by default).

In the Supervisor Ord property, click the open folder for a Select Ord popup dialog, in which you
can navigate to find the source Niagara schedule or calendar in the station (Figure 3-31).

Figure 3-31 Select Ord popup for Supervisor Ord property in BacnetExport

Another property of interest (to BACnet) is the “Priority For Writing” property, which defaults to priority
16. Set this as needed by the application in the BACnet device.
Finally, the default “Execution Time” (write synchronization) to the device’s BACnet object is at a
continuous 5-minute “Interval”. If needed you can adjust this, or set to “Daily” or even “Manual” (whereby
an Export from the Bacnet Schedule Export Manager is required).

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When you click OK in the Add dialog to create the schedule export, the component is added to the
database, and an attempt is made to write the (source) Niagara configuration into the (target) BACnet
Schedule or Calendar object. If successful, the status of the BacnetScheduleExport component remains
“ok,” and its row in the Database table of the export manager remains uncolored (white).
However, if any portion of the BACnet write failed, the BacnetScheduleExport has a “fault” status, and its
row in the export manager’s Database table appears colored orange, as shown in Figure 3-32.

Figure 3-32 Fault status (orange) indicates write problem to target BACnet schedule

Status: ok

Status: fault

In the case of fault, access the BacnetScheduleExport properties and examine the Fault Cause, and if
necessary adjust the Skip Writes property.
BacnetScheduleExport properties
To access the property sheet of a BacnetScheduleExport component, right-click it from either the Nav
side bar, or within the Database table of the export manager (as shown in Figure 3-33).

Figure 3-33 Property sheet of BacnetScheduleExport component

Included is a “Fault Cause” property that provides a text string description if a write operation failed to
the target BACnet Schedule or Calendar object. For example:
“scheduleDefault::Property:Write Access Denied”.
In addition, a Skip Writes property lets you adjust which property types in a target BACnet Schedule
object are written to, upon an export from a Niagara weekly schedule component.

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About schedule export Skip Writes Depending on the BACnet device’s implementation by vendor,
some properties of its Schedule objects may be read-only. For example, a BACnet Schedule object may
allow writes to its weekly schedule events, but not to its exception schedule (“Special Events” in Niagara),
if they are read-only (or perhaps do not even exist). Or, the object’s “Priority_For_Writing” property may
be read-only, or the object may not even have a weekly schedule or exception schedule (a Schedule must
only have one or the other, it may have both).
To allow for this, a BacnetScheduleExport component provides a “Skip Writes” property in which you
can specify the properties to be written upon an export from Niagara. From the property sheet, click the
far-right side control for a popup Facets Editor, as shown in Figure 3-34.

Figure 3-34 Skip Writes property of BacnetScheduleExport component

As shown above, the default is to not skip writing any properties upon export (false for all), meaning
that all property areas of the source Niagara schedule component are written to the target BACnet
Schedule object. As needed, set any of these in the Facets Editor to true, such that Niagara does
not attempt to write to them. This can allow an export without a fault (see Figure 3-32).
Note: Skip Writes does not apply if exporting to a BACnet Calendar (from a CalendarSchedule).
The Skip Write property areas (facets) are:
• scheduleDefault — Corresponds to “Default Output” of the source Niagara schedule.
• weeklySchedule — Corresponds to the regular day-of-week events of the source Niagara schedule,
as defined in its Weekly Scheduler view.
• exceptionSchedule — Corresponds to all “Special Events” of the source Niagara schedule.
• effectivePeriod — As defined by the “Effective Period” in the source Niagara schedule.
• priorityForWriting — As defined by the “Priority For Writing” property in the BacnetScheduleEx-
port component itself (instead of the source Niagara schedule).

About Bacnet Trend Logs (Histories)

The Trend Logs device extension under the BacnetDevice allows you to import BACnet Trend Log
objects in the device into the station as Niagara histories. For general information on this device
extension, see “About the Histories extension” in the Drivers Guide.
Also see the following sections:
• About the Bacnet History Import Manager
• BACnet Trend Log import notes
Note: A BACnet device must contain Trend Log objects to make use of this feature. A Discover command will
determine this—if no Trend Log objects are found, the Trend Logs extension has no practical appli-
cation.

About the Bacnet History Import Manager

The Bacnet History Import Manager is the default view of the Trend Logs (history) extension under
any BacnetDevice. Simply double-click Trend Logs to open this manager view (Figure 3-35).

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Figure 3-35 Bacnet History Import Manager is default view of a device’s Trend Logs

You discover Trend Log objects in the BACnet device, and add them as history import components,
each of which displays as one row in this manager view. For each import component added, a corre-
sponding Niagara history is made in the station, and is populated with data from the BACnet Trend Log
object. By default, the Trend Logs container also has a Retry Trigger, for automatic usage as needed.
For details, refer to “About the Retry Trigger” in the Drivers Guide.
See “BACnet Trend Log import notes” for more details.

BACnet Trend Log import notes

As in other manager views, when you click Discover the Bacnet History Import Manager goes to
“Learn mode,” split into two panes, and a Trend Logs discover job occurs (Figure 3-36). The figure below
shows one Trend Log already imported in the station.

Figure 3-36 Learn mode in Bacnet History Import Manager

To import Trend Logs, you select them in the top Discovered pane, and then click Add, producing the
Add dialog (Figure 3-37). This dialog shows some of a BacnetHistoryImport component’s properties.

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Figure 3-37 Add dialog in Bacnet History Import Manager

Fields in the Add (and Edit) dialog in the Bacnet History Import Manager are as follows:
• Name
The BACnet Trend Log object’s name.
• Object Id
The BACnet object type (Trend Log) and instance number, unique within the device.
• Execution Time
The frequency at which data is imported from the remote Trend Log into the Niagara history. De-
fault is daily, at 2:00 AM.
• Enabled
Must be true (default) to import Trend Log data into the Niagara history.
• Capacity
Capacity of the imported Niagara history, defaulting to unlimited.
• Full Policy
Niagara policy when history reaches its capacity.
• Local History Name
Name of the Niagara history initially created and populated by the Trend Log data.
Note that after adding, you can access additional BacnetHistoryImport properties from the property
sheet of any BacnetHistoryImport. Also the following right-click actions are available:
• Execute
Like an Archive from the manager, this updates the Niagara history from the Trend Log data.
• Clear Records in Device
Produces a confirmation dialog. If answered “Yes,” the attempts to clear all records in the source
BACnet Trend Log object. However, note that records in the imported Niagara history remain.
Also see the next section, “About histories imported from Trend Logs”.
About histories imported from Trend Logs
Niagara histories imported from BACnet Trend Logs have additional fields in each record, namely
“Sequence Number” and “Log Event,” which reflect BACnet-required items. These fields do not affect
“History Chart” views of these histories, but do require slightly more storage space.
Note: The concept of sequence number was introduced with Addendum B to the 2001 edition of the specification.
Trend Logs that were implemented against earlier editions (which includes logs from R2 Niagara stations,
and Niagara AX histories that were collected with a non-BacnetTrendLogExt) will not have sequence
number in their log data, so Niagara has to access the records by time only.
Figure 3-38 shows a History Table view of an example history created by a BacnetHistoryImport.

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Figure 3-38 History Table for history imported from BACnet Trend Log

BacnetHistoryImport properties
To access the property sheet of a BacnetHistoryImport component, right-click it from either the Nav side
bar, or within the Database table of the Bacnet History Import Manager (as shown in Figure 3-39).

Figure 3-39 Property sheet of BacnetHistoryImport component

The “Config Overrides” properties (capacity, fullPolicy) work as they do in the “History Config”
properties of a normal history extension. See the “Configure history extensions” section in the User Guide
for more details.
The last four properties affect the special collection process from the imported Trend Log object, and are
described as follows:
• Reference Time
Provides a Date and Time for reference.
• Max Records By Request
Defines the maximum Trend Log records that can be archived (0 to max), with default of 0. Note that
with the 0 default, Niagara asks for 10 records per request.
• Always Request By Reference Time
Whether Trend Log records should always request against the reference time. Default is false.
• Last Sequence Number Processed
Shows the highest numerical BACnet sequence number processed. Note that sequence numbers are
included in the imported Niagara history. See “About histories imported from Trend Logs” on page
3-38, including the relevant Note.

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About Bacnet virtual points

Starting in AX-3.2, each Bacnet Device includes a child Virtual gateway child component that
provides access to the “virtual component space” specific to that device. For general information, refer to
the “Virtual gateway and components” section in the Drivers Guide. Virtual points are under this gateway.
The following main subsections provide more details on Bacnet virtual points:
• Usage of Bacnet virtual points
• Browsing Bacnet virtual points
• Bacnet virtual points in Px views
• Bacnet virtual ord syntax

Usage of Bacnet virtual points

There are two primary uses for Bacnet virtual points:
• Px view bindings for simple polling of values, without the station resource overhead of (persisted)
proxy points. Upon being unsubscribed, virtual components are simply removed from the poll
scheduler and also station memory. The only persisted parts are the ords (using virtual syntax) in the
Px widget bindings. In many cases, particularly with replicated device applications, this allows a
JACE station to graphically monitor many more devices than if using just proxy points.
• Quick review and (if needed) adjustments to one or more properties in BACnet objects, from the
Workbench property sheets of virtual components. Otherwise, you would typically need to create
persisted “Config” type objects, then delete them after reviewing and changing properties.
Virtuals are transient vs. persisted components—they are dynamically created (and subscribed) only
when accessed, and are not permanently stored in the station database. This precludes any linking to or
from virtuals—as links would be lost. Nor are point extensions (alarm, history) supported under virtual
components. These things require use of Bacnet proxy points, which are persisted in the station database.

Browsing Bacnet virtual points

Unlike the Points device extension, there is no special view for a virtual gateway—you can simply
double-click it to access its property sheet, or expand it in the Nav tree. When you do this for a device’s
BacnetVirtualGateway, a call is made to the device to discover its BACnet objects, each appearing as a
virtual object (slot) under the gateway. This request returns the device’s “object list” (Figure 3-40).

Figure 3-40 BacnetVirtualGateway functions as BACnet object list

As shown above, virtual objects are listed by object ID, i.e. <objectType>_<instanceNumber>, for
example analogInput_2 or trendLog_1. You can expand any Bacnet virtual object to see that object’s
properties, where each property is a child virtual. See the next section “About BacnetVirtualProperties
(AX-3.3 and later)”.
Note: Note if an AX-3.2 station, this varies slightly—see “Bacnet AX-3.2 virtual notes” on page 3-42.

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Figure 3-41 Properties of a BacnetVirtualObject are BacnetVirtualProperty components (AX-3.3 and later)

About BacnetVirtualProperties (AX-3.3 and later)

Starting in AX-3.3, the granularity of Bacnet virtual points increased to the “object, property level”, using
BacnetVirtualProperty components. Each BacnetVirtualProperty has two properties: Status and value, as
shown in Figure 3-42. By default, value automatically includes the object’s units abbreviation, state_text,
and so on.

Figure 3-42 Each BacnetVirtualProperty has two properties: Status and value

Note that status reflects Niagara poll status, but does not reflect any “intrinsic” BACnet status (such as
alarm). Intitially, status changes from “stale” to “ok” upon the first polled read, and typically remains “ok”.
Status could possibly change to either “stale” or “down” in certain scenarios.
Each BacnetVirtualProperty also has a “set” action for right-click access, as shown in Figure 3-42.

Figure 3-43 Each BacnetVirtualProperty has a write action

This allows you to easily do “one time” configuration tweaks from the Workbench property sheet of the
virtual property—providing that the remote BACnet device permits writes, of course. Note that this write
action exists for every property of the BACnet object, even read-only or status types. Furthermore, this
action is also available on a Px widget bound to any BacnetVirtualProperty. see “Px usage of Bacnet
virtuals (AX-3.3 and later)” on page 3-43 for related details.
Note: You can globally rename the set action (and resultant popup dialog) to something else by editing the bacnet
lexicon value for the key named BacnetVirtualProperty.set.
In addition, each BacnetVirtualProperty has a default “Bacnet Virtual Property View” that shows both
value and status, as shown in Figure 3-44.

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Figure 3-44 Default “Bacnet Virtual Property View” shows both value and poll status

Although it is not an exciting view, it is an option when creating Px bindings and selecting “Workbench
view,” and it also provides a quick preview outside of the Px editor.
Bacnet AX-3.2 virtual notes
In AX-3.2 only, Bacnet virtual points are at the “object level” ony, using a single BacnetVirtualComponent
to model each BACnet object under the device’s gateway. See Figure 3-45.

Figure 3-45 Property sheet of BacnetVirtualComponent (AX-3.2 only)

This “virtual view” property sheet reflects current property values. If needed, you can modify selectively
and click Save with new values entered. Unlike with the later AX-3.3 virtual point design, there is no
available action on BacnetVirtualComponents, nor is status (of polling) included with property values.
Note: If making wide use of Bacnet virtual points, it is recommended to use AX-3.3 or later. In addition to
providing more features, polling has proven to work better under certain scenarios.

Bacnet virtual points in Px views

Bacnet virtual points can show real-time values in Px views. Starting in AX-3.3, this includes an available
right-click “set” action, as well as the Niagara poll status (ok, stale, down) of the polled property.
Note: A BacnetVirtualGateway cannot have its “own” Px view, but you can use its child virtual components in
Px views for other components, for example on the Bacnet Device itself, or its Points extension, and so on.
The only persisted (permanent) record any Bacnet virtual point is its ord in the Px binding to it, which
uses a “Bacnet virtual ord syntax” that includes the BacnetVirtualGateway within the ord. This ord is
automatically resolved when you drag a Bacnet virtual component onto the Px page, and make your
selection in the popup Px “Make Widget” dialog.
Note: For complete details on Px view and widget editing, see “About Px Editor” in the User Guide.
The next two sections explain “Px usage of Bacnet virtuals (AX-3.3 and later)” and “Px usage of Bacnet
virtuals in AX-3.2”.

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Px usage of Bacnet virtuals (AX-3.3 and later)

In AX-3.3, you drag a BacnetVirtualProperty in the Px view, as shown in the example in Figure 3-46.

Figure 3-46 Dragging BacnetVirtualProperty into Px editor view, with resulting Make Widget popup

Often you may wish to include the “presentValue” property, as shown here. In the Make Widget dialog,
you can select either “Bound label” (as shown) or “Workbench view” for the “Bacnet Virtual Property
View.” If using a bound label, the accompanying display name label (if that option was selected) can be
edited to another text string, as shown in Figure 3-47.

Figure 3-47 Binding to BacnetVirtualProperty in Px view

At the time of this document, every BacnetVirtualProperty provides an action to write (“set” is default
name), which may be useful in some scenarios. Figure 3-48 shows an example action being invoked.

Figure 3-48 Default “set” action and resulting popup for write to a present_value property

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By default, in the case of a write to the “presentValue” property of a BACnet object with a priority_array
(such as an Analog Output or Binary Output), the Niagara write is issued at priority level 16. You can
specify another priority level by editing the ord used in the Px binding (to the Bacnet virtual component).
See “Bacnet virtual ord syntax” on page 3-45 for related details.
Note: Currently, the “set” dialog for a BacnetVirtualProperty for present_value provides two fields (Figure 3-49).

Figure 3-49 Set dialog type field (drop-down list), value field in example binding to present_value

The two fields in the set action dialog apply as follows:

• Data type drop-down list (Real, Binary, Integer, NULL), with the applicable type (among the first
three) preselected. The only valid change is to NULL, to clear (auto) the priority_array at that level.
• Value to write (numeric real, binary state drop-down, integer), with the current value initially shown.
Currently if a binary object, the drop-down values are expressed as either “active” or “inactive”.
Px usage of Bacnet virtuals in AX-3.2
In an AX-3.2 station, you can drag a BacnetVirtualComponent in the Px view, and then select “Properties”
in the popup Make Widget dialog to select which property, as shown in the example in Figure 3-50.

Figure 3-50 Make Widget popup from dragging BacnetVirtualComponent (AX-3.2) into Px view

Often the “presentValue” property will be selected, as shown above. The accompanying display name
label (if that option was selected) can be edited to another text string, if desired, as shown in Figure 3-51.

Figure 3-51 BacnetVirtualComponent in Px view

Unlike with Bacnet virtual points in AX-3.3 and later, there is no included polling status nor any available
right-click actions, such as “set”.

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Bacnet virtual ord syntax

Specific to Bacnet usage, the syntax for a “virtual ord” uses a specialized form as follows:
<ord to VirtualGateway>|virtual:/objectType_Instance[A]/propertyName[B]
where [A] may be a semicolon-separated list of modifiers. Valid options include:
• priority=X (to indicate the priority at which the point shall be written)
• policy=X (to indicate the name of a tuning policy. Note that virtual points do not use COV.
and where [B] may be a semicolon-separated list of modifiers. Valid options include:
• status=DOPR (the device object property reference encoded all numerically, ignore line wrap):
objectType_instanceNumber_propertyId_[propertyArrayIn-
dex]_[deviceObjectType_deviceInstance], where [optionals in brackets]
• status=0_0_85_8_10 (AI0, PresentValue in Dev10)
• status=0_0_111 (AI0, StatusFlags in local device)
• status=1_3_87_10 (AO3, PriorityArray[10] in local device)
Properties that are BACnetStatusFlags will be merged with the bits in the status portion of the BSta-
tusValue, other properties will add their value to the facets of the status portion.
Or in the special case of an arrayed property:
<ord to VirtualGateway>|virtual:/objectType_Instance/propertyName/elementN
where N is the property array index.
Priority example in Bacnet virtual ord
Any “set” write to the polled present_value property of a Binary Output object occurs at priority level 10:
station:|slot:/Drivers/BacnetNetwork/BnetDev_99/virtual|virtual:/binaryOutput_2;priority=10/presentValue

Tuning Policy example in Bacnet virtual ord

Polling of this Analog Input object’s present_value occurs using a Bacnet tuning policy named “FastP” :
station:|slot:/Drivers/BacnetNetwork/BnetDev_99/virtual|virtual:/analogInput_1;policy=FastP/presentValue

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Niagara Bacnet Server Operation
This section describes the “server side” operation of the NiagaraAX Bacnet driver. If the host platform is
licensed as a BACnet server, you can “export” any number of selected types of objects in the station
(regardless of location) to appear as BACnet objects. As such, these objects can service client requests
from any networked BACnet devices. Exporting of Niagara schedules and calendars is included. Histories
can be exported also, where they appear externally as BACnet Trend Log objects.
Note: For related licensing details, see “Bacnet server (export) ability” on page 1-1.
Server operation of the Bacnet driver is concurrent with client configuration and operation—often, you
may choose to do both. In special cases, you may configure for BACnet server operation only.
These are the main subsections:
• Bacnet server configuration overview
• Bacnet Export Manager
• Bacnet File Export Manager
• Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager
• Local Device notes

Bacnet server configuration overview

You configure all BACnet server operation in and under the Bacnet Local Device in the station’s
BacnetNetwork. The local device’s Export Table provides special manager views to centrally manage
server functions, via a right-click on the Export Table node, or in its view selector (Figure 4-1).

Figure 4-1 Export Table has 3 special views

View Selector

Export Table

Server Descriptors

The following sections provide more details:

• About the Export Table
• About server descriptors
• Types of objects for Bacnet export
• About BACnet server access

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About the Export Table

The Export Table (Figure 4-1) is a frozen slot under the BacnetNetwork Local Device that acts as the
container for all the various Bacnet server descriptors and Bacnet export folders. Currently, it has no
other configuration properties. However, the Export Table has three important views.
• Bacnet Export Manager
• Bacnet File Export Manager
• Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager

About server descriptors

Bacnet server descriptors are the Niagara components responsible for exporting station objects as
BACnet objects. Each descriptor resides under the Export Table, and corresponds to a particular
component, file, or history in the station.
You add, edit, and manage server descriptors using the different manager views of the Export Table. Each
manager view simplifies selection and enforces object ID instance rules. Server descriptors are automat-
ically given Niagara names (upon creation) using an <ObjectType>_<InstanceNumber> convention,
for example: analogValue_1, trendLog_0, schedule_2, and so on (Figure 4-1).
Note: Generally, it is recommended that you do not change the Niagara name of the export descriptor. If you wish
to change the name by which the object is known to BACnet clients, do this in the objectName property,
which is initialized with the name of the exposed component.
There are three categories of Bacnet server descriptors:
• export descriptor (for components, reflecting the Niagara station “object space”)
• file descriptor (for files)
• log descriptor (for histories)
In addition, as needed, you can add Bacnet export folders to organize Bacnet server descriptors.
About export descriptors
Bacnet export descriptors include 15 different types to export different Niagara components, including
Boolean, Enum, and Numeric points (read-only and writable), and various Schedule types. You add them
using the Bacnet Export Manager view.
Externally, to another BACnet device, the exported BACnet object appears with properties that source
from two different areas of the station. For example, each exported component (point or schedule)
exports as a BACnet object with properties from the component itself, plus additional properties in its
export descriptor.
Note: You do not see export (component) descriptors in the other two export manager views (Bacnet File Export
Manager, Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager). Those views show other “non-component” server
descriptors.
The different types of export descriptors include:
• BacnetAnalogInputDescriptor
• BacnetAnalogOutputDescriptor
• BacnetAnalogValueDescriptor
• BacnetAnalogValuePrioritizedDescriptor
• BacnetBinaryInputDescriptor
• BacnetBinaryOutputDescriptor
• BacnetBinaryValueDescriptor
• BacnetBinaryValuePrioritizedDescriptor
• BacnetBooleanScheduleDescriptor
• BacnetCalendarDescriptor
• BacnetEnumScheduleDescriptor
• BacnetLoopDescriptor
• BacnetMultiStateInputDescriptor
• BacnetMultiStateOutputDescriptor
• BacnetMultiStateValueDescriptor
• BacnetMultiStateValuePrioritizedDescriptor
For additional details, see “About Discover in Bacnet Export Manager” on page 4-51, “Add (and Edit) in
Bacnet Export Manager” on page 4-52 and “Properties of Bacnet export descriptors” on page 4-54.
About file descriptors
A Bacnet file descriptor exports a file under the station directory as a BACnet File object. You add file
descriptors using the Bacnet File Export Manager view of the Export Table.

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Note: You do not see file descriptors in the other two export manager views (Bacnet Export Manager, Bacnet
Niagara Log Export Manager). Those views show other server descriptors.
There is only one type: BacnetFileDescriptor. For more details, see “About Discover in Bacnet File Export
Manager” on page 4-55 and “Properties of Bacnet file descriptors” on page 4-57.
About log descriptors
A Bacnet log descriptor exports a Niagara history as a BACnet Trend Log object. There are two different
types of log descriptors:
• BacnetNiagaraHistoryDescriptor — Created when you select and add a “standard” Niagara history
using the Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager view of the Export Table. Note that the resulting ex-
ported Trend Log object is compliant only with the original “broken” specification for BACnet
Trend Logs, which was superceded and fixed in Addendum B to the 2001 version of the spec,
• BacnetTrendLogDescriptor — Automatically created when you add a specialized Bac-
netTrendLogExt extension to a point. The resulting exported Trend Log object is fully-BACnet
compliant with the 2004 version of the BACnet spec.
For more details, see “About Trend Log exports” on page 4-58.
Note: You do not see log descriptors in the other two export manager views (Bacnet Export Manager, Bacnet File
Export Manager). Those views show other server descriptors.
About export folders
Use Bacnet export folders to organize any collection of Bacnet server descriptors. Add export folders
using the New Folder button in any of the Export Table manager views.
Note: There is only one type of Bacnet export folder—you see export folders in all views (Bacnet Export Manager,
Bacnet File Export Manager, Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager). Note that the default (double-click)
view for any export folder is the Bacnet Export Manager.

Types of objects for Bacnet export

Table 4-1 lists the types of objects in the station (components, files, histories) that you can export as
BACnet objects. Export any component using the Export Table’s Bacnet Export Manager view. To export
files and histories, you use the Bacnet File Export Manager and Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager
views, respectively.

Table 4-1 Niagara objects for export as BACnet objects

Station component, file, or history BACnet object choices Notes
type
Alarm Class Notification Class See “Alarm server operation”.
BooleanPoint, BooleanWritable, various Binary Input Proxy points under any driver are supported.
kitControl components (i.e. Logic) Binary Value
BooleanWritable (additional choices) Binary Output
Binary Value Prioritized
EnumPoint, EnumWritable Multi State Input Proxy points under any driver are supported. Note that the
Multi State Value Facets, range, ordinal (integer) in the exported EnumPoint
or EnumWritable must begin with 1, and not 0. The range
EnumWritable (additional choices) Multi State Output must also be contiguous up to the maximum value (gaps in
Multi State Value Prioritized the range are not allowed).Otherwise, the object does not
export to BACnet.
NumericPoint, NumericWritable, various Analog Input Proxy points under any driver are supported.
kitControl components (i.e. Math) Analog Value
NumericWritables (additional choices) Analog Output
Analog Value Prioritized
LoopPoint Loop Loop object export is default.
Analog Input
Analog Value

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Station component, file, or history BACnet object choices Notes

type
BooleanSchedule, EnumSchedule, Schedule In addition, you can selectively export the configuration of
NumericSchedule, StringSchedule a standard Niagara schedule or calendar into an existing
CalendarSchedule Calendar Schedule object or Calendar object in a client BACnet
device, using the Bacnet Schedule Export Manager view of
that BacnetDevice’s Schedules extension.
<file> (any) File Files under the station folder can be exported.
<history> (any) Trend Log Two different methods exist for exporting Niagara histo-
ries. See “About Trend Log exports”.

About BACnet server access

By default, the Bacnet driver provides external BACnet (client) devices “read access” to all exposed
(exported to BACnet) objects in the station. Access depends on a station user named “BACnet”. If this user
does not already exist in the station, the Bacnet driver automatically creates it, upon startup. The BACnet
user is intially created without any permissions, as shown in Figure 4-1. Allowing write access from
BACnet requires you to assign this user the necessary permissions.

Figure 4-2 BACnet station user automatically created, but without write permissions

Allowing write access from BACnet

Assigning “read permissions” to the station user BACnet is not necessary—BACnet server access is
automatic to external BACnet client requests. However, to allow any external writes (from BACnet) to
properties of exported components, including invoking commands (actions), you must assign the
BACnet user the necessary permissions to those components.
For example, to allow an invoked “Active” action from BACnet to an exported BooleanWritable, in
addition to making it “BACnet Writable” at priority level 8 when exporting (see “Add (and Edit) in Bacnet
Export Manager” on page 4-52), you must configure the station’s BACnet user to have operator write
permissions on that BooleanWritable, at a minimum. Or, if an exported NumericWritable has an alarm
extension, and you want to permit external BACnet writes to its “alarm limit” values, configure the
BACnet user to have admin write permissions on the exported NumericWritable.
In either example, to allow an external BACnet write to a property like “Out Of Service” or “Notify Type,”
you must give the BACnet user admin write permissions on the Bacnet export descriptors. For details
about station user security, see “About Security” in the User Guide.
Note: BACnet user permissions also apply to writes of any exported files and histories. Also, note that while a
password for the BACnet user is technically not needed (for external BACnet access), you should assign one
anyway, because of the write permissions typically assigned. Guard this password carefully!

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Bacnet Export Manager

The Bacnet Export Manager (Figure 4-3) is the default view for the Export Table, as well as any child
Bacnet Export Folder, and provides features like many other manager views.

Figure 4-3 Bacnet Export Manager view

This view shows only Bacnet export descriptors and any Bacnet export folders. The following sections
provide more details:
• About Discover in Bacnet Export Manager
• Add (and Edit) in Bacnet Export Manager
• Properties of Bacnet export descriptors
• Bacnet Export Manager application notes

About Discover in Bacnet Export Manager

You typically use Discover in the Bacnet Export Manager, vs. New and/or Match. When you click
Discover, the Bql Query Builder dialog appears, as shown in Figure 4-4.

Figure 4-4 Discover yields Bql Query Builder

See “About the Bql Query Builder” in the Drivers Guide for general information. Relative to usage in the
Bacnet Export Manager, this dialog lets you find and select components in the station to export
(expose) as BACnet objects.
You can export the following component types (Also see “Types of objects for Bacnet export” on page 4-
49):
• Any components sub-classed from BooleanPoint, EnumPoint or NumericPoint, (including Writ-
ables) meaning the following types:
• Any proxy point that is not a StringPoint or StringWritable, under any driver.

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• Most kitControl components that have a null ProxyExt—this includes all Math and Logic com-
ponents, for example. Typically, you export these as a “value type” object (Analog Value, Binary
Value, Multistate Value). Note that you can export a LoopPoint as a BACnet Loop object.
Again, kitControl objects subclassed from StringPoint (string Output) cannot be exported.
• Any Niagara Schedule component except a TriggerSchedule (no BACnet object equivalent).
• Alarm Class components (under the station’s AlarmService), which export as BACnet Notification
Class objects.
Note: Therefore in the Bql Query Builder, type selections other than Control Point, Boolean Point, Enum
Point, Numeric Point, Schedule, and Alarm Class have no practical application.
As with other manager views featuring online discovery, “Learn Mode” in Bacnet Export Manager has
two panes:
• Top (discovered) Local Objects pane—listing components found from your last Bql query.
• Bottom (database) Export Objects pane—listing components currently exported to BACnet.
These are special “export descriptor” components—each essentially a pointer to the exposed Niaga-
ra component, with additional slots that determine how BACnet access/writes are handled. See the
next section, “Add (and Edit) in Bacnet Export Manager” for more details.
When exporting, the manager automatically performs “object ID maintenance” on exported compo-
nents, ensuring that no duplicate combinations of object type and instance number are created.

Add (and Edit) in Bacnet Export Manager

When you click Add with a component highlighted to export, the Add dialog (Figure 4-5) contains a
number of fields with either default or empty values, described below.

Figure 4-5 Add dialog in Bacnet Export Manager

All fields in this dialog apply separately to each highlighted (for export) component, as follows:
Note: Select Type first, before editing other fields such as Object Name and Description. Otherwise, those entries
become cleared and you will need to re-enter.
In addition, Type is the only slot you cannot change after adding (say, in the Edit dialog).
• Name
Niagara read-only component name for the Bacnet export descriptor, which defaults to the combi-
nation of <object type>_<instance number>. Reflects the “Type” chosen (below it in dialog).
• Object Name
The “exposed to BACnet” name for this object. By default, the entire component path under the sta-
tion’s Config is included, using period (“.”) delimiters between parent.child levels. This enforces (ex-
ternally) the BACnet requirement for unique names for all objects in a device.
Note: You can shorten or edit object name, either now or later. However, please note that each Object
Name should be unique among all server descriptors under the Export Table.
The Batch Search and Replace feature is useful when adding/editing multiple exports.
• Type
Initially (in Add dialog) you can select the specific Bacnet export descriptor (object type)—in most
cases, from two or more choices. Click the drop down control (Figure 4-6) to select type.

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Figure 4-6 Bacnet export descriptor (object) type choice is typically two or more

Writable Niagara components typically offer more type selections than read-only points, such as:
• Two read-only: “input” or “value” type, e.g. Binary Input or Binary Value object.
• Two writable: “output” or “prioritized value” type, e.g. Binary Output or Binary Value Priori-
tized object.
Figure 4-7 shows an example of type selections when exporting an NdioBooleanWritable point.

Figure 4-7 Writable points provide more export type selections

• Object Type
Reflects the “BACnet Object type” exposed, dependent on Type selection.
• Inst Num
The instance number portion of this object’s “Object ID,” which must be unique within the station
for this (exported) BACnet Object type. By default, the export manager enforces this.
Note: If you are exporting a group of points at once, you can select them all in the Add/Edit dialog,
and type the instance number for the first one, and each descriptor will be assigned successive instance
numbers as available.
• Export Ord
Station’s Ord location of the source component. By default, format used is the numeric “handle” in-
stead of slot (better if source object gets renamed). In an Edit (dialog) scenario, you can access a
more meaningful ord by clicking the right-side Folder control. This produces a popup Select Ord
dialog, showing the component’s location in the station’s component tree hierarchy.
• Description
Optional text string; this appears as the Description property value in the exposed BACnet object.
• BACnet Writable
(“Dimmed” if the export Type is read-only, for example Analog Input or Binary Value)
For writable types, an array of checkboxes lets you select the specific priority levels externally ex-
posed to BACnet to accept writes. Included are “all controls” to clear or select, see Figure 4-8. (For
“full BACnet compliance,” all levels must be selected—however, see the Note: below).

Figure 4-8 BACnet Writable settings for exposed writable point includes all priority levels

Note: Each priority level (1—16) that you enable for BACnet writes results in that “InN” input on
the source component to be linked to this “Bacnet export descriptor” component. These links appear
as “nubs” when viewing the source writable point in its wire sheet view.
Do not select any priority level already linked or in use by Niagara, otherwise control contention will
occur. Also see “Allowing write access from BACnet” on page 4-50.
Note: After creation (adding) Bacnet export descriptors, note that each descriptor also has additional properties
accessible in its property sheet, along with those seen in the Add and Edit dialog. See the next section,
“Properties of Bacnet export descriptors” for more details.

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Properties of Bacnet export descriptors

Each Bacnet export descriptor has various properties that affect its BACnet representation. Access these
properties in the property sheet view of any export descriptor, as shown in Figure 4-9.

Figure 4-9 Additional properties of Bacnet export descriptors on property sheet

Some of these properties are BACnet optional properties, such as “Notify_Type” and “Device Type.”
Others are required, such as “Out_Of_Service”. The following list describes additional properties in
Bacnet export descriptors, not seen in the Add or Edit dialog for the component:
• Fault Cause
Niagara-only, read-only property showing an explanatory text string if the export descriptor is in
fault. For example, if its Object Id is manually edited to be the same as another existing export de-
scriptor—a fault occurs and the Fault Cause would be “Duplicate Object ID.”
• Reliability
BACnet read-only property that reads “No Fault Detected” when things are OK, and typically
“Unreliable Other” if the exported BACnet object appears in fault. This might happen, for exam-
ple, if the source (exported) component is a proxy point under some other driver, and device com-
munications are down, or if the point has been disabled.
In this case, note that the Bacnet export descriptor retains a status of “ok.”
• Out Of Service
Writable BACnet property, which you can set to false if needed—this affects the BACnet exposure
and access of the source component only. In other words, if the source (exported) component is a
proxy point, the equivalent “Enabled” property in its ProxyExt is not affected.
• Notify Type
Writable BACnet property that can be set to either Alarm (default) or Event. Applies if the source
Niagara component has an alarm extension.
• Cov Increment
Writable BACnet property included only for analog object types (Analog Input, Analog Output, An-
alog Value, Analog Value Priority, Loop), specifying the minimum COV required before a COVNo-
tification is issued to subscriber BACnet COV-clients. Default value is typically 1.00.
• Device Type
Writable BACnet property included only for some object types (Analog Input, Analog Output, Bi-
nary Input, Binary Output, Multi-state Input, Multi-state Output), typically associated with the type
of physical input or output. Use is optional. In NiagaraAX, this might apply mostly to exported Ndio
points—where each point corresponds to a physical device.

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Bacnet Export Manager application notes

If you are exporting large numbers of components to BACnet, it is recommended that you use the New
Folder button in the Export Table’s manager view to make multiple Bacnet export folder containers, for
logical organization of export descriptors. For example, you may wish to make such a folder for a certain
driver network, and another for Niagara schedules. Each export folder provides the same set of export
manager views as the Export Table.
Note: Before deleting any source (exported) component in the station, first delete its corresponding Bacnet export
descriptor, using the Bacnet Export Manager. Otherwise, the export descriptor may remain “orphaned” in
the Export Table, showing “Invalid Ord!” in the Target Name and Value columns. If this occurs, you can
delete the orphaned export descriptors manually.
Any exported points or components that contain an alarm extension are automatically exposed to
BACnet with properties related to alarming available. For example, if you exported a NumericPoint with
an OutOfRangeAlarmExt, its exposed BACnet object (say, Analog Value) will have properties “High
Limit,” “Low Limit,” “Deadband,” and so on.

Bacnet File Export Manager

Use the Bacnet File Export Manager (Figure 4-10) to export files under the station’s folder as BACnet File
objects. This view shows only Bacnet file descriptors and any Bacnet export folders.

Figure 4-10 Bacnet File Export manager view

Files can be accessed as read-only or as writable, depending on the local file system. Currently, the
BACnet “File_Access_Method” is Stream Access only.
The following sections provide more details:
• About Discover in Bacnet File Export Manager
• Add (and Edit) in Bacnet File Export Manager
• Properties of Bacnet file descriptors

About Discover in Bacnet File Export Manager

You typically use Discover in the Bacnet File Export Manager, vs. New and/or Match. When you click
Discover, the top pane shows files under the station’s folder, as shown in Figure 4-11.

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Figure 4-11 Discover in Bacnet File Export Manager

As with other manager views featuring online discovery, “Learn Mode” in Bacnet File Export Manager
has two panes:
• Top (discovered) Local Files pane—listing all files and subfolders under the station folder.
• Bottom (database) Exported Objects pane—listing files currently exported to BACnet. These
are special “file descriptor” components—each essentially a pointer to the exposed station file, with
additional slots that determine how BACnet access/writes are handled. See the next section, “Add
(and Edit) in Bacnet File Export Manager” for more details.
When exporting, the manager automatically performs “object ID maintenance” on exported files,
ensuring that no duplicate combinations of object type and instance number are created.

Add (and Edit) in Bacnet File Export Manager

When you click Add with a file highlighted to export, the Add dialog (Figure 4-12) contains a number of
fields with either default or empty values, described below.

Figure 4-12 Add dialog in Bacnet File Export Manager

All fields in this dialog apply separately to each highlighted (for export) file, as follows:
• Name
Read-only Niagara component name for the Bacnet file descriptor, which defaults to the combina-
tion of: file_<instance number>.
• Object Name
The “exposed to BACnet” name for this file. By default, only the filename and extension are used.
• Object Type
Read-only reflection of the “BACnet Object type” exposed, in this case always: File.
• Inst Num
The instance number portion of this object’s “Object ID,” which must be unique within the station
for this (exported) BACnet File object type. By default, the export manager enforces this.
• Export Ord
Station’s Ord location of the source file, using standard file Ord notation.

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• Description
Optional text string; this appears as the Description property value in the exposed BACnet object.
Note: After creation (adding) Bacnet file descriptors, note that each descriptor also has additional properties
accessible in its property sheet, along with those seen in the Add and Edit dialog. See the next section,
“Properties of Bacnet file descriptors” for more details.

Properties of Bacnet file descriptors

Each Bacnet file descriptor has various properties that affect its BACnet representation. Access these
properties in the property sheet view of any export descriptor, as shown in Figure 4-13.

Figure 4-13 Additional properties of Bacnet file descriptors on property sheet

The following list describes additional properties in Bacnet file descriptors, not seen in the Add or Edit
dialog for the component:
• Status
Niagara-only, read-only status flag for the file descriptor component.
• Fault Cause
Niagara-only, read-only property showing an explanatory text string if the file descriptor is in fault.
For example, if its Object Id is manually edited to be the same as another existing file descriptor—a
fault occurs and the Fault Cause would be “Duplicate Object ID.”
• File Type
BACnet property, as a text string intended to identify the use of this file. Default value is blank, how-
ever, the actual exported BACnet File object contains some default value, such as “text/plain” or
“application/zip”.
• Archive Time
Timestamp compared against the actual file timestamp, in order to set the BACnet property “Ar-
chive” (True if Archive Time < file timestamp, or False if Archive Time > file timestamp).
• File Access Method
Read-only BACnet property that indicates the types of file access supported. Currently, this is
Stream Access only.
Note: Additional properties in the exported File object exist, even though not visible in the Bacnet File Descriptor
property sheet. These properties include:
• File Size (integer, in bytes)
• Modification Date (actual file timestamp)
• Archive (True or False, see Archive Time above)
• Read Only (True or False, as determined by the local Java file system)

Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager

Use the Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager (Figure 4-14) to export standard Niagara station histories
as BACnet Trend Log objects, as well as manage any BacnetTrendLogDescriptors.

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Figure 4-14 Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager view

Note: If fully BACnet-compliant Trend Log objects are required, you must configure the source Niagara points
with one of the BacnetTrendLogExt extensions (from the bacnet palette). For details, see the next section
“About Trend Log exports”.
The following sections provide more details:
• About Trend Log exports
• About Discover in Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager
• Add (and Edit) in Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager
• Properties of Bacnet trend log descriptors

About Trend Log exports

BACnet Trend Log objects closely resemble standard NiagaraAX histories in many ways. However, a
fully-compliant BACnet Trend Log includes additional data such as sequence numbers, as well as record
entries for log events such as log enable, log disable, and buffer purge within the log data.
Therefore, depending on requirements, there are two methods to export a NiagaraAX history:
• Whenever a fully BACnet-compliant Trend Log object is needed, you must paste a special Bac-
netTrendLogExt extension (from the bacnet palette) into the source point in the station, instead of
the typical history extension. In this case, the resulting history will provide the additional BACnet-
compliant data such as sequence numbers and log events. For more details, see the next section
“About BacnetTrendLogExt extensions”.
• If retroactively exporting to BACnet, and a Trend Log object that provides “by time” and “by index”
access only is sufficient, export by simply selecting any “standard” Niagara history (created by a stan-
dard history extension). Do this in the Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager, using a “Discover.” In
this case, the exposed Trend Log object does not provide sequence numbers or “by sequence num-
ber” access, because this information was not stored within the original history.
See “Differences in BACnet-exposed histories” on page 4-59 for an example of how the histories differ.
About BacnetTrendLogExt extensions
Find BacnetTrendLogExts in the bacnet palette, under the Trending folder (Figure 4-15).

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Figure 4-15 BacnetTrendLogExts in the bacnet palette

You can use one of these instead of a “standard history extension,” pasting it in any point in which you
need to export its history as a fully BACnet-compliant Trend Log object. For example, if you have a Lon
proxy point of type NumericPoint, for “nvoSpaceTemp” representing room temperature, you could copy
a BacnetNumericIntervalTrendLogExt into that NumericPoint. Its resulting history (created only after
you enable it, as with any history extension) will now be fully BACnet-compliant.
By default, when you add one of the BacnetTrendLogExt extension types to a component, note that a
corresponding Bacnet log descriptor of type BacnetTrendLogDescriptor is automatically created in the
root of the Export Table. You still define the normal collection parameters in the BacnetTrendLogExt
history extension (of the source component), however, there are additional properties in its associated
Bacnet Trend Log descriptor.
BacnetTrendLogExt extension types As found in the bacnet palette under the Trending, Bacnet-
LogExtensions folder (Figure 4-15), the different types of BacnetTrendLogExt include:
• BacnetBooleanCovTrendLogExt
• BacnetBooeanIntervalTrendLogExt
• BacnetEnumCovTrendLogExt
• BacnetEnumIntervalTrendLogExt
• BacnetNumericCovTrendLogExt
• BacnetNumericIntervalTrendLogExt
• BacnetStringCovTrendLogExt
• BacnetStringIntervalTrendLogExt
In addition, there is a BacnetTrendLogAlarmSourceExt that you can paste under any of the extensions
above. This provides intrinsic BACnet alarming/notification for buffer near-full events.
Differences in BACnet-exposed histories
A Niagara history created by a BacnetTrendLogExt has extra fields for sequence numbers, and also “Log
Events,” as shown in Figure 4-16.

Figure 4-16 History table for Niagara history created by a BacnetTrendLogExt

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Compare that with a “standard” Niagara history, as shown in Figure 4-17.

Figure 4-17 History table for standard Niagara history

About Discover in Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager

You typically use Discover in the Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager for any “standard history” you
wish to export to BACnet as Trend Log object—that is, without the ability for sequence number access
from BACnet. Using Discover is not necessary for the history of any component in which you have
already added one of the BacnetTrendLogExts—as the Bacnet driver automatically added a
BacnetTrendLogDescriptor under the root of the Export Table.
When you click Discover, the top pane shows the histories under the station’s folder, as shown in
Figure 4-18.

Figure 4-18 Discover in Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager

As with other manager views featuring online discovery, “Learn Mode” in Bacnet Niagara Log Export
Manager has two panes:
• Top (discovered) Local Histories pane—listing all histories in the local station.
• Bottom (database) Exported Objects pane—listing histories currently exported to BACnet.
These include both types of log descriptor components—each essentially a pointer to the exposed
history, with additional slots that determine how BACnet access/writes are handled. See the next
section, “Add (and Edit) in Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager” for more details.
When exporting, the manager automatically performs “object ID maintenance” on exported files,
ensuring that no duplicate combinations of object type and instance number are created.

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Add (and Edit) in Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager

When you click Add with a history highlighted to export, the Add dialog (Figure 4-19) contains a number
of fields with either default or empty values, described below.

Figure 4-19 Add dialog in Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager

All fields in this dialog apply separately to each highlighted (for export) history, as follows:
• Name
Read-only Niagara component name for the Bacnet log descriptor, which defaults to the combina-
tion of: trendLog_<instance number>.
• Object Name
The “exposed to BACnet” name for this history. By default, the entire component path under the sta-
tion’s History is included, using period (“/”) delimiters between parent.child levels. This enforces
(externally) the BACnet requirement for unique names for all objects in a device.
Note: You can shorten or edit object name, either now or later. However, please note that each Object
Name should be unique among all server descriptors under the Export Table.
• Type
Type of descriptor, in the Add dialog it is: Bacnet Niagara History Descriptor.
In any subsequent Edit dialog, this cannot be changed.
• Object Type
Read-only reflection of the “BACnet Object type” exposed, in this case always: Trend Log.
• Inst Num
The instance number portion of this object’s “Object ID,” which must be unique within the station
for this (exported) BACnet Trend Log object type. By default, the export manager enforces this.
• Export Ord
Station’s Ord location of the source history, using standard history Ord notation.
• Description
Optional text string; this appears as the Description property value in the exposed BACnet object.
Note: After creation (adding) Bacnet log descriptors, note that each descriptor also has additional properties
accessible in its property sheet, along with those seen in the Add and Edit dialog. See the next section,
“Properties of Bacnet file descriptors” for more details.

Properties of Bacnet trend log descriptors

Each Bacnet trend log descriptor has various properties that affect its BACnet representation. Access
these properties in the property sheet view of any log descriptor, as shown in Figure 4-20.

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Figure 4-20 Additional properties of BacnetNiagaraHistoryDescriptor on property sheet

The following list describes additional properties in Bacnet log descriptors, not seen in the Add or Edit
dialog for the component:
• Status
Niagara-only, read-only status flag for the file descriptor component.
• Fault Cause
Niagara-only, read-only property showing an explanatory text string if the log descriptor is in fault.
For example, if its Object Id is manually edited to be the same as another existing log descriptor—a
fault occurs and the Fault Cause would be “Duplicate Object ID.”
• Id
Appears only if a BacnetNiagaraHistoryDescriptor (as shown Figure 4-20), and reflects the same
Niagara history “Export Ord” in the station.
• Log Ord
Appears only if a BacnetTrendLogDescriptor (as shown Figure 4-21), and reflects the handle of the
the specific BacnetTrendLogExt responsible for creating the exported history.

Figure 4-21 Properties of BacnetTrendLogDescriptor

Local Device notes

Relative to BACnet server operation, the following sections explain items about the Local Device, such
as found on its property sheet:
• Local Device properties
• Local Device container slots
• Local Device backup and restore properties (AX-3.2 and later only)

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Local Device properties

Various properties of the BacnetNetwork’s Local Device affect server-side visibility or operation, in
addition to the critical Object Id property (see Figure 3-9 on page 18). Figure 4-22 shows the property
sheet of a Local Device and these properties.

Figure 4-22 Some properties of Bacnet Local Device affect server operation

The following descriptions apply to these configurable properties:

Note: The three APDU settings below are used in both client and server operation. Many sites will require
different settings of these parameters.
For instance, for a small IP-based network, optimal settings may be more like:
• Apdu Timeout = 5000 ms
• Number of Apdu retries =1
Large, routed networks may require higher Apdu Timeouts.
• Location — Optional text string to describe location of the Niagara host (default is “unknown.”)
• Description — Optional text string to describe the BACnet Device object.
• Apdu Segment Timeout — (default is 2000 ms) Defines the time waited before retransmission of an
APDU segment (only relevant if devices are doing segmentation).
• Apdu Timeout — (default is 3000 ms) Defines the time waited before retransmission of an APDU
requiring acknowledgment, for which no acknowledgement has been received.
• Number of Apdu retries — (default is 3) Defines the maximum number of an APDU will be retrans-
mitted.
• Character Set — (default ANSI X3.4) Defines the character set supported, with other selections be-
ing IBM/Microsoft DBCS, JIS C 6226, ISO 10646 (UCS-4), ISO 10646 (UCS-2), ISO 8859-1, and
“Unknown.”

Local Device container slots

The BacnetNetwork’s Local Device provides a few container slots, found near the bottom of the Local
Device’s property sheet (Figure 4-23).

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Figure 4-23 Container slots near bottom of Local Device property sheet

Apart from the Export Table (see “About the Export Table” on page 4-48), these container slots are as
follows (note some may be hidden by default, by design):
• Device Address Binding — (may be hidden) has entries reflecting client-side operation, essentially a
list of Device objects (by object ID) and BACnet device address. These identify actual device param-
eters used when making client BACnet service requests to these devices. For informational use only.
• Active Cov Subscriptions — (may be hidden) applies to server operation. See About Active Cov Sub-
scriptions.
• Enumeration List — a list of the manufacturer-specific extensions to extensible BACnet enumera-
tions that are defined and applicable for this specific device. In the case of the Local Device, there is
no need for editing. In client BacnetDevice components, however, editing items in the Enumeration
List may provide utility for proprietary items, perhaps property IDs.
About Active Cov Subscriptions
The NiagaraAX Bacnet driver provides “server-side Subscribe_COV” to remote BACnet devices (on
station objects exposed as BACnet objects). The Active Cov Subscriptions slot in the Local Device
contains a dynamic list of current Subscribe_COV subscriptions. Each appears as an Ord to the export
descriptor. Figure 4-24 shows an example with 3 active COV subscriptions.

Figure 4-24 Active COV Subscriptions in Bacnet Local Device

Depending on the actual implementation, there may be many active COV subscriptions.

Local Device backup and restore properties

In AX-3.2 and later, server-side support was added for the BACnet DM-BR-B BIBB, such that a remote
BACnet Workstation client can backup and restore the configuration of a station running on a JACE host.
Several related properties were added to the LocalBacnetDevice, as shown in Figure 4-25.

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Figure 4-25 Backup and restore related properties in AX-3.2 or later LocalBacnetDevice

The following descriptions apply to these properties:

• Last Restore Time — Timestamp of when a backup .dist file was last restored by a remote BACnet
Workstation client. If never, all timestamp fields show asterisks (*).
• Backup Failure Timeout —(Defaults is 3 minutes). Specifies the maximum time after receiving a
backup command that the server has to complete the backup (to .dist file) process. May need to be
increased in cases of a large station. If exceeded, the backup is canceled and a failure message is sent
to the initiating BACnet Workstation client.
• Backup Preparation Time — (Default is 1 minute). Specifies the time allotted for the station, after
receiving the backup request, to locally save the station database.
• Restore Preparation Time — (Default is 1 minute). Specifies the time allotted for the station, after
receiving a restore request, to gracefully shut down the station and close files before beginning the
dist file installation.
• Backup and Restore State — (read-only) Shows the current backup and restore state, where “Idle” is
shown when no operation is active. This can change to “Preparing for backup” and so forth.
Note: Properties above were defined in a recently accepted proposal to the SSPC to fix known issues with the
backup and restore feature, as currently defined in the spec. The proposal will be the subject of a future
public review document, but it will likely be accepted, and so it has been implemented for now. When the
document becomes an official part of the standard, there will likely be an update patch to adjust the
property identifier indices.
See the next section, “About backup and restore operations”, for additional details.
About backup and restore operations
Any backup or restore initiated from a remote BACnet Workstation client requires several things before
it is acted upon by the station, as follows:
• The station user “BACnet” requires admin-level write permissions on the BacnetNetwork and Bac-
netLocalDevice, at a minimum.
• The normally-hidden “Reinitialize Allowed” property of the Server layer component (child of the
BacnetComm container under the BacnetNetwork) must be unhidden and set to a value of “true,” as
it defaults to “false.” Once changed, it can be rehidden if desired. See “About Bacnet Comm: Client,
Server, and Transport” on page 3-15 for related details.
If the conditions above are met, and if an AX-3.2 or later station receives a backup or restore request,
these operations occur as described below:
• Backup operation
• Restore operation
Note: Backup and restore procedures used adhere to Clause 19 of the BACnet Specification.
Backup operation Backup operation proceeds as follows:
• The LocalBacnetDevice’s “Backup and Restore State” property changes from “Idle” to “Preparing for
backup.”
• The station’s BackupService begins preparing a backup .dist, containing the following:
• Station database - config.bog
• Alarm history database
• History database
• Module metadata - information about which version of each module is loaded.

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Note: Modules themselves are not backed up.

• The assembled backup .dist file is then exported as a File object and is part of the configurationFiles
property of the device object. The backup client then reads the File object using BACnet file access
services.
• The LocalBacnetDevice’s “Backup and Restore State” property changes back to “Idle,” and normal
station operation resumes.
Restore operation Restore operation proceeds as follows:
• The LocalBacnetDevice’s “Backup and Restore State” property changes from “Idle” to “Preparing for
restore.”
• The station begins a graceful shutdown, saving opened files.
• The backup .dist file is sent from the remote BACnet Workstation client to the JACE platform.
• The backup .dist file is installed, and then the JACE host rebooted.
• Upon station startup, the LocalBacnetDevice’s “Backup and Restore State” property changes back to
“Idle,” the “Last Restore Time” reflects the time of the backup .dist installation, and normal station
operation resumes.

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Bacnet Plugin Guides
Plugins provide views of components, and can be accessed many ways—for example, double-click a
component in the tree for its default view. In addition, you can right-click a component, and select from
its Views menu. For summary documentation on any view, select Help > On View (F1) from the
Workbench menu, or press F1 while the view is open.
Summary information is provided here about the different:
• Views in module bacnet
• Views in module bacnetws

Views in bacnet module

Summary information is provided on views specific to components in the bacnet module, with views
listed in alphabetical order as follows:
• BacnetConfigManager
• BacnetDeviceManager
• BacnetExportManager
• BacnetFileExportManager
• BacnetHistoryImportManager
• BacnetNiagaraLogExportManager
• BacnetPointManager
• BacnetScheduleExportManager
• BacnetScheduleImportManager
• BacnetVirtualPropertyView
• BdtManager
• FdtManager
bacnet-BacnetConfigManager
Use the Bacnet Config Manager to query a BACnet device for its objects. In this view, you can create,
edit, access, and delete Bacnet config objects. The BacnetConfigManager is the default view for the
BacnetConfigDeviceExt (Config container) under a BacnetDevice. The BacnetConfigManager is also
the default view for any BacnetConfigFolders under the Config container. To view, right-click Bacnet-
ConfigDeviceExt or BacnetConfigFolder and select Views > Bacnet Config Manager. For more
details, see “About the Config Device Ext container” on page 3-22.
bacnet-BacnetDeviceManager
Use the BacnetDeviceManager to create, edit, and access Bacnet devices. The BacnetDeviceManager
is the default view on the BacnetNetwork. To view, double-click the BacnetNetwork, or right-click
BacnetNetwork and select Views > Bacnet Device Manager. For more details, see “Bacnet
Device Manager” on page 3-20.
bacnet-BacnetExportManager
The BacnetExportManager is the default view of the BacnetExportTable under the LocalBacnet-
Device. You use it to export Niagara points and objects as Bacnet objects. To view, under the LocalBac-
netDevice, right-click BacnetExportTable (Export Table) and select Views > Bacnet Export
Manager. For more details, see “Bacnet Export Manager” on page 4-51.

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bacnet-BacnetFileExportManager
The BacnetFileExportManager is one view of the BacnetExportTable under the LocalBacnetDevice.
You use it to export files as Bacnet Files. To view, under the LocalBacnetDevice, right-click BacnetExport-
Table (Export Table) and select Views > Bacnet File Export Manager. For more details,
see “Bacnet File Export Manager” on page 4-55.
bacnet-BacnetHistoryImportManager
Use the BacnetHistoryImportManager to import Bacnet Trend Logs under a BacnetDevice as Niagara
histories. The BacnetHistoryImportManager is the default view for the BacnetHistoryDeviceExt (Trend
Logs container) under a BacnetDevice. To view, under a BacnetDevice right-click BacnetHistoryDevi-
ceExt and select Views > Bacnet History Import Manager. For more details, see “About the
Bacnet History Import Manager” on page 3-36.
bacnet-BacnetNiagaraLogExportManager
The BacnetNiagaraLogExportManager is one view of the BacnetExportTable under the LocalBacnet-
Device. You use it to export Niagara histories as Bacnet Trend Logs. To view, under the LocalBacnet-
Device, right-click BacnetExportTable (Export Table) and select Views > Bacnet Niagara Log
Export Manager. For more details, see “Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager” on page 4-57.
bacnet-BacnetPointManager
Use the Bacnet Point Manager to query a BACnet device for its objects. In this view, you can create,
edit, access, and delete Bacnet proxy points. The BacnetPointManager is the default view for the Bacnet-
PointDeviceExt (Points container) under a BacnetDevice. The BacnetPointManager is also the default
view for any BacnetPointFolders under the Points container. To view, right-click BacnetPointDeviceExt
or BacnetPointFolder and select Views > Bacnet Point Manager. For more details, see “Bacnet
Point Manager” on page 3-24.
bacnet-BacnetScheduleExportManager
Use the BacnetScheduleExportManager to export Niagara schedules in the station as Bacnet
schedules to the target BacnetDevice. The BacnetScheduleExportManager is a view on the BacnetSched-
uleDeviceExt (Schedules container) under a BacnetDevice. To view, right-click BacnetScheduleDevi-
ceExt and select Views > Bacnet Schedule Export Manager. For more details, see “About the
Bacnet Schedule Export Manager” on page 3-33.
bacnet-BacnetScheduleImportManager
The BacnetScheduleImportManager is the default view on the BacnetScheduleDeviceExt
(Schedules container) under a BacnetDevice. Use the BacnetScheduleImportManager to import
Bacnet schedules residing in the target BacnetDevice (as Niagara schedules in the station). To view, right-
click BacnetScheduleDeviceExt and select Views > Bacnet Schedule Import Manager. For
more details, see “About the Bacnet Schedule Import Manager” on page 3-32.
bacnet-BacnetVirtualPropertyView
This is the default view on a BacnetVirtualProperty under a BacnetVirtualObject (AX-3.3 and later
only). It simply shows the combined value and poll status of the virtual property component. For more
details, see “About BacnetVirtualProperties (AX-3.3 and later)” on page 3-41.
bacnet-BdtManager
The BdtManager (Broadcast Distribution Table, or BDT) is the default view of the BroadcastDistribu-
tionTable under the Link container of an IpPort (BacnetIpLinkLayer). When the station is operating as a
BBMD, Niagara maintains this table listing all other participating BBMDs, including their IP address and
broadcast distribution masks. If necessary, this view allows you to manually edit the BDT.
bacnet-FdtManager
The FdtManager (Foreign Device Table, or FDT) is the default view of the ForeignDeviceTable under
the Link container of an IpPort (BacnetIpLinkLayer). When the station is operating as a (BACnet)
“foreign device,” this table lists all other BACnet foreign devices that have registered with Niagara,
including their IP address, time to live, and purge time. This view allows you to manually edit the FDT, if
necessary, to support devices that cannot register themselves.

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Views in bacnetws module

Summary information is provided on views specific to components in the bacnetws module (applies
only if a BACnet Supervisor, where the bacnetws module is required in addition to the bacnet module).
Views specific to the bacnetws module are as follows:
• BacnetWsDeviceManager
bacnet-BacnetWsDeviceManager
Use the BacnetWsDeviceManager to create, edit, and access BacnetWsDevices and BacnetDevices in
a BACnet Supervisor station. The BacnetWsDeviceManager is the default view on the BacnetWsNetwork.
To view, double-click the BacnetWsNetwork, or right-click the BacnetWsNetwork and select Views >
Bacnet Ws Device Manager.
The BacnetWsDeviceManager provides all the same functions as the regular Bacnet Device Manager for
a BacnetNetwork, plus offers additional buttons/functions for supervisory control of BACnet devices, as
described in the BACnet specification B-OWS device profile. For more details, see “Bacnet Ws Device
Manager” on page A-1.

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Bacnet Component Guides
These Component Guides provide summary information about:
• bacnet module components
• bacnetws module components

Components in bacnet module

Summary information is provided on components specific to the bacnet module, listed in alphabetical
order as follows:
• BacnetAnalogInput
• BacnetAnalogInputDescriptor
• BacnetAnalogOutput
• BacnetAnalogOutputDescriptor
• BacnetAnalogValue
• BacnetAnalogValueDescriptor
• BacnetAnalogValuePrioritizedDescriptor
• BacnetArray
• BacnetBinaryInput
• BacnetBinaryInputDescriptor
• BacnetBinaryOutput
• BacnetBinaryOutputDescriptor
• BacnetBinaryValue
• BacnetBinaryValueDescriptor
• BacnetBinaryValuePrioritizedDescriptor
• BacnetBooleanCovTrendLogExt
• BacnetBooeanIntervalTrendLogExt
• BacnetBooleanProxyExt
• BacnetBooleanScheduleDescriptor
• BacnetCalendar
• BacnetCalendarDescriptor
• BacnetClientLayer
• BacnetConfigDeviceExt
• BacnetConfigFolder
• BacnetDestination
• BacnetDevice
• BacnetDeviceFolder
• BacnetDeviceObject
• BacnetEnumCovTrendLogExt
• BacnetEnumIntervalTrendLogExt
• BacnetEnumProxyExt
• BacnetEnumScheduleDescriptor
• BacnetEthernetLinkLayer
• BacnetExportFolder
• BacnetExportTable
• BacnetFile
• BacnetFileDescriptor
• BacnetHistoryDeviceExt
• BacnetHistoryImport

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• BacnetListOf
• BacnetIpLinkLayer
• BacnetLoopDescriptor
• BacnetMstpLinkLayer
• BacnetMultiPoll
• BacnetMultistateInput
• BacnetMultiStateInputDescriptor
• BacnetMultistateOutput
• BacnetMultiStateOutputDescriptor
• BacnetMultistateValue
• BacnetMultiStateValueDescriptor
• BacnetMultiStateValuePrioritizedDescriptor
• BacnetNetwork
• BacnetNetworkLayer
• BacnetNiagaraHistoryDescriptor
• BacnetNotificationClass
• BacnetNotificationClassDescriptor
• BacnetNumericCovTrendLogExt
• BacnetNumericIntervalTrendLogExt
• BacnetNumericScheduleDescriptor
• BacnetPoll
• BacnetPointDeviceExt
• BacnetPointFolder
• BacnetRouterTable
• BacnetSchedule
• BacnetScheduleDeviceExt
• BacnetScheduleExport
• BacnetScheduleImportExt
• BacnetStack
• BacnetStringCovTrendLogExt
• BacnetStringIntervalTrendLogExt
• BacnetStringProxyExt
• BacnetStringScheduleDescriptor
• BacnetTransportLayer
• BacnetTrendLog
• BacnetTrendLogDescriptor
• BacnetTrendLogAlarmSourceExt
• BacnetTuningPolicy
• BacnetTuningPolicyMap
• BacnetVirtualComponent
• BacnetVirtualGateway
• BacnetVirtualObject
• BacnetVirtualProperty
• BacnetWorker
• BroadcastDistributionTable
• ForeignDeviceTable
• LocalBacnetDevice
• NetworkPort
bacnet-BacnetAnalogInput
A Config object that represents a BACnet Analog Input object in its entirety. For more details, see
“About Bacnet Config objects” on page 3-23.
bacnet-BacnetAnalogInputDescriptor
BacnetAnalogInputDescriptor exposes a numeric-type component as a BACnet Analog Input
object. You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and
access exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetAnalogOutput
A Config object that represents a BACnet Analog Output object in its entirety. For more details, see
“About Bacnet Config objects” on page 3-23.

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bacnet-BacnetAnalogOutputDescriptor
BacnetAnalogOutputDescriptor exposes a NumericWritable as a BACnet Analog Output object.
You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and access
exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetAnalogValue
A Config object that represents a BACnet Analog Value object in its entirety. For more details, see
“About Bacnet Config objects” on page 3-23.
bacnet-BacnetAnalogValueDescriptor
BacnetAnalogValueDescriptor exposes a numeric-type component as a BACnet Analog Value
object (non-commandable). You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to
add, edit, delete, and access exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on
page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetAnalogValuePrioritizedDescriptor
BacnetAnalogValuePrioritizedDescriptor exposes a NumericWritable as a writable (commandable)
Bacnet Analog Value object. You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to
add, edit, delete, and access exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on
page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetArray
BacnetArray represents a Bacnet Array, which contains an indexed sequence of objects of a
particular Bacnet data type. The BacnetArray is available in the bacnet module.
bacnet-BacnetBinaryInput
A Config object that represents a BACnet Binary Input object in its entirety. For more details, see
“About Bacnet Config objects” on page 3-23.
bacnet-BacnetBinaryInputDescriptor
BacnetBinaryInputDescriptor exposes a boolean-type component as a BACnet Binary Input object.
You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and access
exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetBinaryOutput
A Config object that represents a BACnet Binary Output object in its entirety. For more details, see
“About Bacnet Config objects” on page 3-23.
bacnet-BacnetBinaryOutputDescriptor
BacnetBinaryOutputDescriptor exposes a BooleanWritable as a BACnet Binary Output object. You
use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and access
exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetBinaryValue
A Config object that represents a BACnet Binary Value object in its entirety. For more details, see
“About Bacnet Config objects” on page 3-23.
bacnet-BacnetBinaryValueDescriptor
BacnetBinaryValueDescriptor exposes boolean-type component as a BACnet Binary Value object
(non-commandable). You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add,
edit, delete, and access exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page
4-48.
bacnet-BacnetBinaryValuePrioritizedDescriptor
BacnetBinaryValuePrioritizedDescriptor exposes a BooleanWritable as a writable (commandable)
BACnet Binary Value object. You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to
add, edit, delete, and access exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on
page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetBooleanCovTrendLogExt
An extension for collecting a Niagara history for the StatusBoolean out value of a component, using
COV. Unlike when using the equivalent “standard” history extension (BooleanCOVHistoryExt), the
history created by this extension can be exported as a fully-compliant BACnet Trend Log object. For
more details, see “About BacnetTrendLogExt extensions” on page 4-58.

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bacnet-BacnetBooleanIntervalTrendLogExt
An extension for collecting a Niagara history for the StatusBoolean out value of a component, using
a defined interval. Unlike when using the equivalent “standard” history extension (BooleanInterval-
HistoryExt), the history created by this extension can be exported as a fully-compliant BACnet Trend Log
object. For more details, see “About BacnetTrendLogExt extensions” on page 4-58.
bacnet-BacnetBooleanProxyExt
This BacnetProxyExt maps a BACnet boolean value to a BooleanPoint or BooleanWritable.
bacnet-BacnetBooleanScheduleDescriptor
BacnetBooleanScheduleDescriptor exposes a Niagara BooleanSchedule as a BACnet Schedule
object. You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and
access exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetCalendar
Tridium Client Application Layer Implementation. BacnetCalendar represents the client side of the
application layer of the Bacnet communications stack. The BacnetCalendar is available in the bacnet
module.
bacnet-BacnetCalendarDescriptor
BacnetCalendarDescriptor exposes a Niagara CalendarSchedule to BACnet as a Calendar
object.You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and
access exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetClientLayer
BacnetClientLayer (Client) represents the client side of the application layer of the Bacnet commu-
nications stack. Client resides under the BacnetStack (Bacnet Comm) of a BacnetNetwork, and has
no available properties.
bacnet-BacnetConfigDeviceExt
BacnetConfigDeviceExt (Config device extension) is a frozen device extension under every Bacnet-
Device. It functions as the container for any config-type objects, which represent individual BACnet
objects in the device. By default, it contains a BacnetDeviceObject for the device’s sole BACnet Device
object.
For more details, see “About the Config Device Ext container” on page 3-22.
bacnet-BacnetConfigFolder
BacnetConfigFolder is the implementation of a folder under a BacnetConfigDeviceExt (Config).
Typically, you add such folders using the New Folder button in the BacnetConfigManager view of
the Config container. Each BacnetConfigFolder has its own BacnetConfigManager view.
bacnet-BacnetDestination
BacnetDestination represents a BACnet device that is to receive alarms from Niagara, as a type of
alarm recipient. It resides with standard alarm recipients and alarm classes under the station’s
AlarmService. The BacnetDestination is available in the bacnet module Alarming folder.
bacnet-BacnetDevice
BacnetDevice is a Niagara representation of a remote BACnet device. Each BacnetDevice resides
under the station’s BacnetNetwork. Each BacnetDevice contains a full complement of device exten-
sions (containers), including Points, Schedules, and Trend Logs (Histories), for modeling data (from that
device) in the station. For more details, see “Bacnet Device components” on page 3-21, “About Bacnet
Device’s Schedules” on page 3-31, and “About Bacnet Trend Logs (Histories)” on page 3-36.
bacnet-BacnetDeviceFolder
BacnetDeviceFolder is the Bacnet implementation of a folder under a BacnetNetwork. Typically, you
add such folders using the New Folder button in the BacnetDeviceManager view of the Bacnet-
Network. Each BacnetDeviceFolder has its own BacnetPointManager view. The BacnetDeviceFolder is
also available in the bacnet palette.
bacnet-BacnetDeviceObject
BacnetDeviceObject is a config object that contains all the properties of a BACnet Device object as
defined by the BACnet specification. Properties such as the device address, which are not BACnet
Device properties, but which are associated with this device, are contained directly in this object. By
default, the BacnetDeviceObject is available in the BacnetConfigDeviceExt.
See “About the Config Device Ext container” on page 3-22 for related details.

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bacnet-BacnetEnumCovTrendLogExt
An extension for collecting a Niagara history for the StatusEnum out value of a component, using
COV. Unlike when using the equivalent “standard” history extension (EnumCovHistoryExt), the
history created by this extension can be exported as a fully-compliant BACnet Trend Log object. For
more details, see “About BacnetTrendLogExt extensions” on page 4-58.
bacnet-BacnetEnumIntervalTrendLogExt
An extension for collecting a Niagara history for the StatusEnum out value of a component, using a
defined interval. Unlike when using the equivalent “standard” history extension (EnumIntervalHis-
toryExt), the history created by this extension can be exported as a fully-compliant BACnet Trend Log
object. For more details, see “About BacnetTrendLogExt extensions” on page 4-58.
bacnet-BacnetEnumProxyExt
This BacnetProxyExt handles multistate values in a BACnet device, and maps enumerated values in
the device to the parent EnumPoint or EnumWritable.
bacnet-BacnetEnumScheduleDescriptor
BacnetEnumScheduleDescriptor exposes a Niagara EnumSchedule to BACnet as a Schedule object.
You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and access
exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetEthernetLinkLayer
Tridium Bacnet Ethernet virtual link layer implementation. The BacnetEthernetLinkLayer is
available under the BACnetComm, NetworkPorts folder of the bacnet palette.
bacnet-BacnetEventHandler
BacnetEventHandler processes event notification messages, and the acknowledgement of those
messages, including ConfirmedEventNotification, UnconfirmedEventNotification, and Acknowl-
edgeAlarm. It is a frozen container slot of the BacnetServerLayer (Server under Bacnet Comm).
bacnet-BacnetExportFolder
BacnetExportFolder is the implementation of a folder to use under the LocalBacnetDevice’s Bacne-
tExportTable to organize Bacnet server descriptors. Typically, you add such folders using the New
Folder button in the different manager views of the BacnetExportTable, namely the BacnetExport-
Manager, BacnetFileExportManager, and BacnetNiagaraLogExportManager.
Each BacnetExportFolder provides the same set of export manager views. The BacnetExportFolder is also
available in the bacnet palette.
bacnet-BacnetExportTable
The Export Table is a frozen slot under the LocalBacnetDevice, and contains all the server (export)
descriptors that expose station objects as BACnet objects. You use the different export manager
views of the Export Table to export station objects. For more details, see “Bacnet server configuration
overview” on page 4-47.
bacnet-BacnetFile
A Config object that represents a BACnet File object. For more details, see “About Bacnet Config
objects” on page 3-23.
bacnet-BacnetFileDescriptor
BacnetFileDescriptor exposes a file under the station’s folder as a BACnet File object. You use the
Bacnet File Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and access exported
files. For more details, see “About file descriptors” on page 4-48.
All files in Niagara are accessed using the STREAM_ACCESS method.
bacnet-BacnetHistoryDeviceExt
BacnetHistoryDeviceExt (Trend Logs) is a frozen device extension under every BacnetDevice,
and the container for BacnetHistoryImport components. The default view is the Bacnet History
Import Manager, used to import data from Trend Log objects in the device, into the station as Niagara
histories. For more details, see “About Bacnet Trend Logs (Histories)” on page 3-36.

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bacnet-BacnetHistoryImport
BacnetHistoryImport defines the archive action to retrieve data from a BACnet Trend Log object
into a Niagara history created by the addition of this component. You add BacnetHistoryImports
(import Trend Logs) using the Bacnet History Import Manager view of the parent BacnetHistoryDevi-
ceExt. For more details, see “BACnet Trend Log import notes” on page 3-37 and “BacnetHistoryImport
properties” on page 3-39.
bacnet-BacnetIpLinkLayer
The Bacnet IP virtual link layer implementation,it appears as the Link node under an IpPort
NetworkPort child of the BacnetComm, BacnetNetworkLayer. This Link container contains
properties specifying a number of items, including Ethernet adapter, IP address, UDP port, IP device
type, BBMD address, and registration lifetime.
This Link node is also the parent container for the BroadcastDistributionTable and ForeignDeviceTable.
For more details, see “About Bacnet Comm: Network: Ip Port” on page 3-13.
bacnet-BacnetListOf
BacnetListOf represents a Bacnet ListOf sequence, which contains a non-indexed sequence of
objects of a particular Bacnet data type. The BacnetListOf is available in the bacnet module.
bacnet-BacnetLoopDescriptor
BacnetLoopDescriptor exposes a kitControl LoopPoint to BACnet as a Loop object. You use the
Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and access exported
components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-MstpLinkLayer
Tridium Bacnet MS/TP virtual link layer implementation. The BacnetMstpLinkLayer is available
under the BACnetComm, NetworkPorts folder of the bacnet palette.
bacnet-BacnetMultiPoll
BacnetMultiPoll is used to configure and manage a group of Bacnet proxy points to be polled. The
BacnetMultiPoll provides a flexible polling algorthim based on four “buckets.”
Each pollable proxy point assigned to a BacnetMultiPoll is configured in one of three buckets: fast,
normal, or slow. In addition there is a fourth bucket called the “dibs stack.” Whenever a point is
subscribed it immediately gets “first dibs” and goes on the top of the dibs stack. The poll scheduler always
polls the dibs before doing anything else. The dibs stack is polled last-in, first-out (LIFO). As long as
entries are in the dibs stack they are polled as fast as possible with no artificial delays.
When the dibs stack is empty the scheduler attempts to poll the components in each bucket using an
algorthim designed to create uniform network traffic. For example if the fast rate is configured to 5000ms
and there are 5 components currently subscribed in the fast bucket, then the scheduler will attempt to
poll each component with a second to delay.
Every ten seconds the poll scheduler rechecks the buckets for configuration changes. So if a point’s
configuration is changed from slow to fast, it takes at most ten seconds for the change to take effect.
Statistics are also updated every ten seconds. Statistics may be manually reset using the resetStatistics
action.
For additional details, see “About poll components” in the Drivers Guide.
bacnet-BacnetMultistateInput
A Config object that represents a BACnet Multi-state Input object. For more details, see “About
Bacnet Config objects” on page 3-23.
bacnet-BacnetMultiStateInputDescriptor
BacnetMultistateInputDescriptor exposes an EnumPoint as a BACnet Multi-state Input object. You
use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and access
exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48
bacnet-BacnetMultistateOutput
A Config object that represents a BACnet Multi-state Output object. For more details, see “About
Bacnet Config objects” on page 3-23.
bacnet-BacnetMultiStateOutputDescriptor
BacnetMultiStateOutputDescriptor exposes an EnumWritable as BACnet Multi-state Output
object. You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and
access exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48

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bacnet-BacnetMultistateValue
A Config object that represents a BACnet Multi-state Value object. For more details, see “About
Bacnet Config objects” on page 3-23.
bacnet-BacnetMultiStateValueDescriptor
BacnetMultiStateValueDescriptor exposes an EnumPoint as BACnet Multi-state Value object (non-
commandable). You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit,
delete, and access exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetMultiStateValuePrioritizedDescriptor
BacnetMultiStateValuePrioritizedDescriptor exposes an EnumWritable as a writable
(commandable) BACnet Multi-state Value object. You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the
BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and access exported components. For more details, see “About
export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetNetwork
BacnetNetwork is the base container for all Bacnet components in the station. In addition to being
the network container for BacnetDevices and their child data objects (Bacnet proxy points), it
contains the station’s BACnet communications protocol stack (Bacnet Comm), plus a Local Bacnet
Device, which configures the station’s representation as a BACnet device.
Note: Only one BacnetNetwork component is supported in any station, regardless of how many different BACnet
link-layer protocols are being used.
As with other NiagaraAX driver networks, the BacnetNetwork should reside under the station’s Drivers
container. For general information, see “Niagara Bacnet Client Concepts” on page 3-11.
The default view of the BacnetNetwork is the Bacnet Device Manager.
bacnet-BacnetNetworkLayer
BacnetNetworkLayer represents the generic superclass for all network layer implementations. In
practical terms, it is the container for all network ports, plus the BacnetRouterTable. The BacnetNet-
workLayer resides under the BacnetStack (Bacnet Comm) of a BacnetNetwork or BacnetWsNetwork.
bacnet-BacnetNiagaraHistoryDescriptor
BacnetNiagaraHistoryDescriptor is the server log descriptor that exposes a standard Niagara
history to BACnet as a Trend Log object, supporting only “by time” or “by index” requests for the
trend log data. You use the Bacnet Niagara Log Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add,
edit, delete, and access these descriptors.
Alternatively, you can add one of several BacnetTrendLogExt (specialized history extension) to a point—
this creates another type of log descriptor. For more details, see “About log descriptors” on page 4-49.
bacnet-BacnetNotificationClass
A Config object that represents a BACnet Notification Class object. For more details, see “About
Bacnet Config objects” on page 3-23.
bacnet-BacnetNotificationClassDescriptor
This export descriptor allows a station’s AlarmClass to be exposed to BACnet as a Notification Class
object. You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and
access exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetNumericCovTrendLogExt
An extension for collecting a Niagara history for the StatusNumeric out value of a component, using
COV. Unlike when using the equivalent “standard” history extension (NumericCovHistoryExt), the
history created by this extension can be exported as a fully-compliant BACnet Trend Log object. For
more details, see “About BacnetTrendLogExt extensions” on page 4-58.
bacnet-BacnetNumericIntervalTrendLogExt
An extension for collecting a Niagara history for the StatusNumeric out value of a component, using
a defined interval. Unlike when using the equivalent “standard” history extension (NumericInterval-
HistoryExt), the history created by this extension can be exported as a fully-compliant BACnet Trend Log
object. For more details, see “About BacnetTrendLogExt extensions” on page 4-58.

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bacnet-BacnetNumericScheduleDescriptor
BacnetNumericScheduleDescriptor exposes a Niagara NumericSchedule to BACnet as a Schedule
object. In the bacnet palette, it appears under the Server folder as ServerNumSchedDesc.
However, you typically use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete,
and access exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetPoll
BacnetPoll is used to configure and manage a group of Bacnet proxy points to be polled. The
BacnetPoll provides a flexible polling algorthim based on four “buckets.”
Each pollable proxy point assigned to a BacnetPoll is configured in one of three buckets: fast, normal, or
slow. In addition there is a fourth bucket called the “dibs stack.” Whenever a point is subscribed it
immediately gets “first dibs” and goes on the top of the dibs stack. The poll scheduler always polls the dibs
before doing anything else. The dibs stack is polled last-in, first-out (LIFO). As long as entries are in the
dibs stack they are polled as fast as possible with no artificial delays.
When the dibs stack is empty the scheduler attempts to poll the components in each bucket using an
algorthim designed to create uniform network traffic. For example if the fast rate is configured to 5000ms
and there are 5 components currently subscribed in the fast bucket, then the scheduler will attempt to
poll each component with a second to delay.
Every ten seconds the poll scheduler rechecks the buckets for configuration changes. So if a point’s
configuration is changed from slow to fast, it takes at most ten seconds for the change to take effect.
Statistics are also updated every ten seconds. Statistics may be manually reset using the resetStatistics
action.
For additional details, see “About poll components” in the Drivers Guide.
bacnet-BacnetPointDeviceExt
BacnetPointDeviceExt (Points) is the Bacnet implementation of PointDeviceExt, a frozen device
extension under every BacnetDevice. Its primary view is the BacnetPointManager. For more details,
see “Bacnet Point Manager” on page 3-24.
bacnet-BacnetPointFolder
BacnetPointFolder is the Bacnet implementation of a folder under a BacnetDevice’s Points
container (BacnetPointDeviceExt). You add such folders using the New Folder button in the
BacnetPointManager view of the Points component. Each BacnetPointFolder has its own BacnetPoint-
Manager view. The BacnetPointFolder is also available in the bacnet palette.
bacnet-BacnetRouterTable
BacnetRouterTable stores the table of known routers to BACnet networks. In the station, the Bacne-
tRouterTable is under the BacnetNetwork’s Bacnet Comm, Network component. For more details,
see “About Bacnet Comm: Network: Router Table” on page 3-13.
bacnet-BacnetSchedule
A Config object that represents a BACnet Schedule object. For more details, see “About Bacnet
Config objects” on page 3-23.
bacnet-BacnetScheduleDeviceExt
BacnetScheduleDeviceExt (Schedules) is the container for BACnet schedules under a Bacnet-
Device. Its default view is the BacnetScheduleImportManager. Another view is the BacnetSchedule-
ExportManager, to allow writing Niagara schedule configuration into a device’s BACnet schedule. For
details, see “About Bacnet Device’s Schedules” on page 3-31.
bacnet-BacnetScheduleExport
BacnetScheduleExport is used to export the configuration of a Niagara schedule or calendar into a
specific Schedule or Calendar object in a BACnet device. The schedule in the remote BACnet device
is the “subordinate,” and Niagara will periodically synchronize the values by writing its local values to the
remote device using WriteProperty service requests. You add BacnetScheduleExports using the Bacnet
Schedule Export Manager view. For details, see “About the Bacnet Schedule Export Manager” on page 3-
33.

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bacnet-BacnetScheduleImportExt
BacnetScheduleImportExt is a child extension of a schedule that is being imported from a BACnet
device. The schedule in the remote BACnet device is the “master,” and Niagara will periodically
synchronize its local copy by reading the appropriate values. You add BacnetScheduleImportExts using
the Bacnet Schedule Import Manager view. For details, see “About the Bacnet Schedule Import Manager”
on page 3-32.
bacnet-BacnetServerLayer
BacnetServerLayer (Server) represents the server side of the application layer of the BACnet
communications stack. It is the container for the BacnetWorker and BacnetEventHandler. Bacnet-
ServerLayer resides under the BacnetStack (Bacnet Comm) of a BacnetNetwork or BacnetWsNetwork.
See “About Bacnet Comm: Client, Server, and Transport” on page 3-15 for related details.
bacnet-BacnetStack
BacnetStack (Bacnet Comm) provides the protocol stack for BACnet communications for a
BacnetNetwork, and is a frozen child container slot of the network. In turn, it has child frozen
container slots BacnetClientLayer, BacnetServerLayer, BacnetTransportLayer, and BacnetNet-
workLayer. For more details, see “About Bacnet Comm” on page 3-12.
bacnet-BacnetStringCovTrendLogExt
An extension for collecting a Niagara history for the StatusString out value of a component, using
COV. Unlike when using the equivalent “standard” history extension (StringIntervalHistoryExt), the
history created by this extension can be exported as a fully-compliant BACnet Trend Log object. For
more details, see “About BacnetTrendLogExt extensions” on page 4-58.
bacnet-BacnetStringIntervalTrendLogExt
An extension for collecting a Niagara history for the StatusString out value of a component, using a
defined interval. Unlike when using the equivalent “standard” history extension (StringIntervalHis-
toryExt), the history created by this extension can be exported as a fully-compliant BACnet Trend Log
object. For more details, see “About BacnetTrendLogExt extensions” on page 4-58.
bacnet-BacnetStringProxyExt
The BacnetProxyExt that handles the point configuration of a point of generic type in a BACnet
device. It is the default for types NULL, OCTET_STRING, CHARACTER_STRING, BIT_STRING,
DATE, TIME, and OBJECT_IDENTIFIER.
bacnet-BacnetStringScheduleDescriptor
BacnetStringScheduleDescriptor exposes a Niagara StringSchedule to BACnet as a Schedule
object. You use the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetExportTable to add, edit, delete, and
access exported components. For more details, see “About export descriptors” on page 4-48.
bacnet-BacnetTransportLayer
BacnetTransportLayer (Transport) is the Tridium Transport Layer implementation. Transport
resides under the BacnetStack (Bacnet Comm) of a BacnetNetwork or BacnetWsNetwork, and
contains properties that typically do not require adjustment.
bacnet-BacnetTrendLog
BacnetTrendLog is a Config object that provides the configuration of a Trend Log object in a
BACnet device (to access its log data, you must import that Trend Log under the Trend Logs
extension of that BacnetDevice). For more details, see “About Bacnet Config objects” on page 3-23.
bacnet-BacnetTrendLogDescriptor
BacnetTrendLogDescriptor is the server descriptor that exposes a Niagara history created with a
BacnetTrendLogExt as a BACnet Trend Log object. These descriptors are automatically created in
the root of the BacnetExportTable when you copy one of the various BacnetTrendLogExt extensions into
a component. For related details, see “About BacnetTrendLogExt extensions” on page 4-58.
Note: Unlike a history exported with a BacnetNiagaraHistoryDescriptor (created by a “standard” Niagara
history extension), a history exported by a BacnetTrendLogDescriptor appears as a fully BACnet-
compliant Trend Log object. This means that it supports “by sequence number” requests in addition to “by
time” requests from external BACnet devices.

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bacnet-BacnetTrendLogAlarmSourceExt
BacnetTrendLogAlarmSourceExt defines the intrinsic alarming/notification for a server-side Trend
Log object exposed to BACnet. If needed, you paste it as a child of any of the BacnetTrendLogExt
type extensions under the source Niagara component. It is found in the bacnet palette, under the
Trending, BACnetLogExtensions folder.

bacnet-BacnetTuningPolicy
A tuning policy for the BacnetNetwork, with both standard NiagaraAX tuning policy properties, and
additional properties related to client-side usage of the BACnet Subscribe_COV service.
For an explanation of driver tuning policies, refer to “About Tuning Policies” in the Drivers Guide. For
details specific to Bacnet, see “Bacnet Tuning Policy notes” on page 3-18.
bacnet-BacnetTuningPolicyMap
A container for one or more BacnetTuningPolicy(ies). Typically, you create multiple tuning policies
and assign Bacnet proxy points as needed, based upon the different BacnetComm, Network, port used
(Ip Port, Ethernet Port, Mstp Port).
Note: Each Bacnet network port has its own PollService, including 3 different poll rates (Fast, Normal, Slow).
This varies from other driver networks, where a single PollService is used.
For an explanation of driver tuning policies, refer to “About Tuning Policies” in the Drivers Guide. For
details specific to Bacnet, see “Bacnet Tuning Policy notes” on page 3-18.
bacnet-BacnetVirtualComponent
A BacnetVirtualComponent is the AX-3.2 BACnet driver implementation of a Baja “virtual point”,
where each BacnetVirtualComponent represents a BACnet object. You find these by expanding the
property sheet of the BacnetVirtualGateway under each BacnetDevice and BacnetWsDevice. The
property sheet of each BacnetVirtualComponent provides dynamic property values of that object.
Virtual components reside in the station’s “virtual component space,” and are not persisted in the
station’s database in its component space (Config), like regular components. For a general explanation
about Baja virtual components, refer to “About virtual component spaces” in the Drivers Guide.
Note: AX-3.2 or higher is required for virtual components. Starting in AX-3.3, the BACnet design for virtual
points changed such that BacnetVirtualComponents are replaced by BacnetVirtualObject components,
each with BacnetVirtualProperty components.
BacnetVirtualComponents can provide basic monitor access in Px views, or be used for one-off” read/
write access to configuration properties. For details, see “About Bacnet virtual points” on page 3-40.
bacnet-BacnetVirtualGateway
(AX-3.2 or later) The BacnetVirtualGateway is the Bacnet driver implementation of the Baja Virtual
Gateway. A virtual gateway is a component that resides under the station’s component space (Config),
and acts as a gateway to the station’s “virtual component space.” Note other object spaces are Files and
History. For a general explanation about Baja virtual components, refer to “About virtual component
spaces” in the Drivers Guide.
Starting in AX-3.2, each BacnetDevice and BacnetWsDevice has its own BacnetVirtualGateway, at the
same level as its device extensions (Points, Schedules, and so on). Accessing components under the
gateway dynamically adds them as “virtual points” while they are subscribed, but they exist only in
memory (are not persisted in the station database like proxy points). When virtual points become unsub-
scribed, they are automatically cleaned up from the station database.
The “virtual point” level under a BacnetVirtualGateway varies as follows:
• In AX-3.3 and later, expanding a BacnetVirtualGateway results in that device’s BACnet objects to be
listed underneath. Each is a BacnetVirtualObject that contains a number of BacnetVirtualProperty
components to represent its properties. Thus, virtual points are at the “object, property level.”
• In AX-3.2 (only), expanding a BacnetVirtualGateway results in that device’s BACnet objects to be
listed underneath as BacnetVirtualComponent components, where each has a property sheet that
shows all the values for the BACnet object’s properties. Thus, virtual points are at the “object level.”
For more details, see “About Bacnet virtual points” on page 3-40.
bacnet-BacnetVirtualObject
A BacnetVirtualObject is the AX-3.3 and later Bacnet driver implementation of the container for
Baja “virtual points”, where each BacnetVirtualObject represents a BACnet object. Find them by
expanding the BacnetVirtualGateway under each BacnetDevice and BacnetWsDevice. Each BacnetVir-

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tualObject contains some number of BacnetVirtualProperty child components, which represent

the properties of that BACnet object. These BacnetVirtualProperty components act as “virtual points” to
access data in the device.
Virtual components reside in the station’s “virtual component space,” and are not persisted in the station’s
database in its component space (Config), like regular components. Usage of Bacnet virtual points is
anticipated for monitor access in Px views, or for for “one-off ” read/write access to configuration
properties. For more details, see “About Bacnet virtual points” on page 3-40.
bacnet-BacnetVirtualProperty
A BacnetVirtualPropery is the AX-3.3 and later Bacnet driver implementation of a property under
a BacnetVirtualObject. Essentially, each represents an available “virtual point” under that Bacnet-
Device, via its parent BacnetVirtualObject and its parent BacnetVirtualGateway.
Usage of Bacnet virtual points is anticipated for monitor access in Px views, or for for “one-off ” read/write
access to configuration properties. For more details, see “About Bacnet virtual points” on page 3-40.
bacnet-BacnetWorker
BacnetWorker manages the queue and and thread processing for writes to BACnet. It is a frozen
slot of the BacnetServerLayer (Server under Bacnet Comm), and typically requires no configuration.
bacnet-BroadcastDistributionTable
The BroadcastDistributionTable is a frozen child slot of the BacnetIpLinkLayer (Link) node under
an BacnetIpLinkLayer child of the BacnetComm, BacnetNetworkLayer. If the station is operating as
a BBMD (BACnet Broadcast Management Device), this BDT table contains the IP addresses and
broadcast distribution masks of all other known participating BBMDs.
Its default BdtManager view allows manually entering known BBMDs, if needed. All changes to the BDT
are automatically propogated to the other BBMDs in the table.
bacnet-ForeignDeviceTable
The ForeignDeviceTable is a frozen child slot of the BacnetIpLinkLayer (Link) node under an
BacnetIpLinkLayer child of the BacnetComm, BacnetNetworkLayer. If the station is operating as a
BACnet foreign device, this FDT table contains information about other BAcnet foreign devices regis-
tered with the station. Typically, this table is automatically populated, and devices are purged after the
requested lifetime expires.
Its default FdtManager view allows manually entering foreign devices, if they are incapable of self-regis-
tration. Manually entered foreign devices are not purged from the FDT table.
bacnet-LocalBacnetDevice
LocalBacnetDevice (Local Device) is the representation of Niagara as a BACnet device on the
BACnet internetwork, and is a frozen container under the BacnetNetwork. Its child BacnetExport-
Table container provides server-side functions to export station objects as BACnet objects, and service
BACnet client requests.
For related details, see “Bacnet Local Device” on page 3-17 and “Bacnet server configuration overview”
on page 4-47.
bacnet-NetworkPort
Handles sending and receiving messages to and from the BACnet link layer. The different types of
Network Ports are IpPort, EthernetPort, and MstpPort. For more details, see “About Bacnet Comm:
Network” on page 3-12.

Components in bacnetws module

Summary information is provided on components specific to the bacnetws module, listed in alpha-
betical order as follows:
• BacnetWsClientLayer
• BacnetWsDevice
• BacnetWsNetwork
• BacnetWsStack
• LocalBacnetWsDevice

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bacnetws-BacnetWsClientLayer
BacnetWsClientLayer (Client) represents the client side of the application layer of the Bacnet
communications stack. Client resides under the BacnetWsStack (Bacnet Comm) of a BacnetWs-
Network, and has no available properties.
bacnetws-BacnetWsDevice
BacnetWsDevice is a Niagara representation of a remote BACnet device in the BacnetWsNetwork
of a BACnet Supervisor station. Each BacnetWsDevice includes all the same properties and device
extensions (containers) of Points, Schedules, and Trend Logs (Histories) as does a regular BacnetDevice
component, for modeling data (from that device) in the station.
For more details, see “Bacnet Device components” on page 3-21, “About Bacnet Device’s Schedules” on
page 3-31, and “About Bacnet Trend Logs (Histories)” on page 3-36. Note that a BacnetWsDevice also
provides additional actions not available on a regular BacnetDevice, providing supervisory control
functions. These actions are: Comm Control, Reinitialize Device, Get Enrollment Summary, Get Event
Information. See “BacnetWsDevice additions” on page A-9 for related details.
bacnetws-BacnetWsNetwork
BacnetWsNetwork is the base container for all Bacnet components in a BACnet Supervisor station
(used instead of a BacnetNetwork). In addition to being the network container for BacnetWsDevices
and/or BacnetDevices and their child data objects (Bacnet proxy points), it contains the station’s BACnet
communications protocol stack (Bacnet Comm), plus a LocalBacnetWsDevice, which configures the
station’s representation as a BACnet device.
Note: Only one BacnetWsNetwork/BacnetNetwork component is supported in any station, regardless of how
many different BACnet link-layer protocols are being used.
As with other NiagaraAX driver networks, the BacnetWsNetwork should reside under the station’s
Drivers container. For general information, see “Niagara Bacnet Client Concepts” on page 3-11.
The default view of the BacnetNetwork is the Bacnet Ws Device Manager. For more details, see
“BACnet Supervisor” on page A-1.
bacnetws-BacnetWsStack
BacnetWsStack (Bacnet Comm) provides the protocol stack for BACnet communications for a
BACnet Supervisor station, and is a frozen child container slot of its BacnetWsNetwork. In turn, it
has child frozen container slots BacnetClientLayer, BacnetServerLayer, BacnetTransportLayer, and
BacnetNetworkLayer. For more details, see “About Bacnet Comm” on page 3-12.
bacnetws-LocalBacnetWsDevice
LocalBacnetWsDevice (Local Device) is the representation of Niagara as a BACnet device on
the BACnet internetwork for a BACnet Supervisor, and is a frozen container of a BacnetWsNetwork.
The LocalBacnetWsDevice has all the same proprerties and components of a regular LocalBacnetDevice,
including a child BacnetExportTable container that provides server-side functions to export station
objects as BACnet objects and service BACnet client requests.
For related details, see “Bacnet Local Device” on page 3-17 and “Bacnet server configuration overview”
on page 4-47.
The LocalBacnetWsDevice also provides additional properties not available on a LocalBacnetDevice,
used in operation as a BACnet time-synch master. See “LocalBacnetWsDevice additions” on page A-9.

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BACnet Supervisor
Available starting with AX-3.1, the BACnet Supervisor is a specially-licensed AxSupervisor that lets you
interact with BACnet devices from a supervisory standpoint, as described in the BACnet Specification
B-OWS device profile. The BACnet Supervisor includes all the same functionality as the regular
NiagaraAX BACnet driver, as described in other sections of this document.
This appendix describes the additional features and functionality specific to the BACnet Supervisor, and
has the following main sections:
• BACnet Supervisor overview
• Bacnet Ws Device Manager
• LocalBacnetWsDevice additions
• BacnetWsDevice additions

BACnet Supervisor overview

The BACnet Supervisor uses much of the same software as the regular BACnet driver. A few extensions
are made to allow enhanced operations. Instead of a BacnetNetwork, you use a BacnetWsNetwork as
the root container for BACnet operations.
Using its Bacnet Ws Device Manager view, you add BacnetWsDevices instead of BacnetDe-
vices. Because the BacnetWsNetwork is also a BacnetNetwork, you can also manually copy regular
BacnetDevices into the network—however, you will not be able to perform the supervisory-related
functions on them.
Note: The distinction between a BacnetDevice and BacnetWsDevice is purely a Niagara difference—this simply
identifies what properties the Niagara representation will have, and what functions may be done with the
device. If a target BacnetWsDevice cannot support a specific supervisory request, it will return the appro-
priate error, meaning that the action will fail with an understandable message dialog.
To use the BACnet Supervisor, you need to have a couple of things in place:
• The Supervisor PC must have both the bacnet and bacnetws modules in its modules folder (also
applies for any other Workbench PC with which you access the BACnet Supervisor).
• The Supervisor PC must have both the bacnet feature and bacnetws feature in its Vykon (Tridium)
license. Note that license may also have limits on the number of devices, points, and so forth.

Bacnet Ws Device Manager

The Bacnet Ws Device Manager (Figure A-1) is the default view for the BacnetWsNetwork, and provides
all the same features as the regular Bacnet Device Manager.

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Figure A-1 Bacnet Ws Device Manager is default view for BacnetWsNetwork

You discover BACnet devices in this view the same as in the Bacnet Device Manager view. For
details, see “About Bacnet Device Find Parameters” on page 3-20.
When doing this, the Add dialog provides the same parameters for adding BacnetWsDevices as for
BacnetDevices. See “BacnetDevice properties” on page 3-22.
This device manager view of this BACnet Supervisor network provides several additional buttons in the
button bar. These correspond to additional functions that can be performed on BacnetWsDevices.
These additional buttons available in the Bacnet Ws Device Manager are:
• Events — See “Event Information” on page A-2.
• ESumm — See “Enrollment Summary” on page A-3.
• Comm Ctl — See “Communication Control” on page A-4.
• Reinit — See “Reinitialize Device” on page A-5.
• — See “Time Synchronization” on page A-5.
• Backup — (AX-3.2 only) See “Backup Device” on page A-6.
• Restore — (AX-3.2 only) See “Restore Device” on page A-7.

Event Information
This button in the Bacnet Ws Device Manager retrieves event information from the selected
device, requesting all outstanding events from the BACnet device. The purpose of this feature is that if
Niagara somehow missed receiving an event, you can still retrieve and acknowledge this event using the
Event Information service. For example, the Niagara station may not have been running at the time the
original event occurred.
If the GetEventInformation service is supported, this will be used to retrieve events. The events retrieved
in this manner contain enough information to generate a valid acknowledgment to the remote device.
These event summaries will be propagated to the Niagara Alarm Service through the alarm class assigned
in the eventSummaryAlarmClass property of the Event Handler.
Event Handler configuration is contained within the Server layer configuration, as shown in Figure A-2.

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Figure A-2 Event Summary Alarm Class

If the GetEventInformation service is not supported, but the GetAlarmSummary service is supported,
the events will be retrieved using GetAlarmSummary.
The GetAlarmSummary service retrieves only events with a Notify_Type of “alarm”, so events with a
Notify_Type of “event” are not retrieved.
Event summaries retrieved using GetAlarmSummary do not have enough information to generate a valid
acknowledgment, so they are not propagated to the Niagara Alarm Service. In this case, a dialog box is
presented to the user, such as shown in Figure A-3.

Figure A-3 Alarm Summary dialog, showing a single object in alarm

Enrollment Summary
This button in the Bacnet Ws Device Manager retreives a summary of all objects within the
device that match a set of filter criteria that you define. When you click the Enrollment Summary button,
a filter configuration dialog box is displayed, as shown in Figure A-4.

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Figure A-4 Get Enrollment Summary request configuration dialog

Here you configure the various options to define the specific types of objects you wish to locate, and then
click OK. The device is queried for a list of objects that meet the specified filter criteria, and the result is
displayed in a dialog box, as shown in Figure A-5.
Filter options include the following:
• Acknowledgement
Filter on points that are acknowledged, or unacknowledged, or leave the filter open to all points.
• Enrollment
Filter on only event mechanisms that have a specific recipient, definable either by device id or by de-
vice address.
• Event State
Specify a particular event state, to restrict the request to include only points that are currently in a
specific event state.
• Event Type
Restrict the filter to objects that use a particular event type algorithm.
• Priority
Choose to only include objects where the priority of the last transition is within certain bounds.
• Notification Class
Include only objects and event mechanisms where the notification class used to route the event no-
tifications is equal to a specific number.

Figure A-5 Example Get Enrollment Summary response dialog

Communication Control
This button in the Bacnet Ws Device Manager allows you to control a device’s ability to
generate traffic on the network. This could be useful in a diagnostic situation, where you want to tempo-
rarily eliminate all traffic except from a single device. Or you may have a faulty device that is sending
extraneous data, and you wish to "silence it" until you can identify the cause of the problem. When you
click this button, a dialog box appears which allows you to configure the request, as shown in Figure A-6.

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Figure A-6 Device Communication Control configuration dialog

Configuration options include the following:

• Enable Disable
You can choose to Enable or Disable the device from sending any BACnet requests. You can also
choose to “Disable Initiation,” which allows the device to respond to BACnet requests, while being
prevented from initiating any requests of its own. Note that the sending of a single I-Am request is
allowed if a Who-Is request that matches the device’s device id is received.
• Duration
You can configure the length of time for which communications will be disabled, after which the
communications will automatically be re-enabled for the device.
• Password
Some devices may require a password to disable their communications. If a device requires a pass-
word, you may enter it here.
When you click OK, a request to control the communication is sent to the device. The result is displayed
in a dialog box, with either a success message, or a message including the error returned by the device.

Reinitialize Device
This button in the Bacnet Ws Device Manager allows you to restart a device. In the popup
dialog (Figure A-7), you may choose either “Cold Start” or “Warm Start.”

Figure A-7 Reinitialize Device configuration dialog

Note: The specific meaning of terms Cold Start and Warm Start is left up to the device’s manufacturer to define,
so make sure you understand exactly what each procedure entails for the device in question.
As shown above, this dialog has two fields:
• Reinitialize Command
Select either Warm Start (default) or Cold Start (see Note: above).
• Password
Enter the password required by the device to invoke this command. Some devices may not require
a password, so if you do not enter anything, no password is sent to the device.
When you click OK, the reinitialize request is sent to the device. The result is displayed in a dialog box,
as either a success or failure.

Time Synchronization
This button in the Bacnet Ws Device Manager is available only on the tool bar and the menu bar. It
allows you to send a one-time time synchronization message. When you click it, you are first asked to
confirm this action, as it will send the current station time to all controllers on the network. If you choose
Yes, you are presented with a dialog, shown in Figure A-8.

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Figure A-8 Time Synchronization configuration dialog

As shown above, this dialog has two fields:

• Time Synch Type
Select either Local Time (default), or UTC Time.
• Time Synch Range
Select either Local Networks Only (default), or All Connected Networks.
When you click OK, a time synchronization request is then broadcast to the network. This is a one-time
message. If you wish to schedule periodic time synchronization, you can configure this in the Local-
Bacnet Device.

Backup Device
(AX-3.2 only) This button in the Bacnet Ws Device Manager allows you to backup the selected
device’s configuration, as one or more “restorable” files on the BACnet Supervisor PC. If needed, you can
use the Restore function later to reinstall this backup.
Note: The target device must support the BACnet DM-BR-B BIBB, as part of the B-BC device profile
conformance. In addition, the device may require a password before it initiates a backup or a restore.
Otherwise, a backup or restore job will immediately fail, showing the associated reason in the job log
details. For example, you may see “Unrecognized Service” or “Security: Password Failure”.
When you click Backup, the standard Directory Chooser appears, in which you specify the target
directory for the backup file(s). If needed, use the “new folder” control , as was done in the example
shown in Figure A-9 to make a “Bacnet” folder under the system “backups” folder.

Figure A-9 Directory Chooser dialog to specify backup directory

After you choose the target directory, the Backup Device dialog appears, as shown in Figure A-10.

Figure A-10 Backup Device configuration dialog

Configuration fields in this dialog include the following:

• Base Directory
Reflects the ord for the local target directory, as previously chosen in the Directory Chooser.
If needed, you can modify it using file ord syntax.

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• Device Directory Name

This specifies the subdirectory that will be made under the base directory for the device’s backup
file(s). This defaults to <BacnetWsDeviceName><YYYYMMDD_HHMM>, where the last portion is a
timestamp that reflects when the backup was initiated. If desired, you can modify.
• Password
Some devices may require a password to initiate a backup and/or a restore. If a device requires a
password, you may enter it here.
When you click OK, the backup request is sent to the device. A Backup job is started, and as shown in
Figure A-10 you can click on the job log control near the top of the manager to see the progress of the
backup.

Figure A-11 Backup job started, Job Log details dialog

When the job completes, it will post a success or failed status. A successful backup has the specified
device subdirectory under the target base directory, containing one or more backup files for the device.
Note: An invalid backup job typically fails immediately. However, a valid backup job may take several minutes
to complete, depending on the implementation in the target BACnet device. Typically, the device executes
some “preparation routine” first, before assembling and sending the backup files. In the case of AX-3.2 or
higher stations running the Bacnet driver, there is a set server routine as well as associated properties,
found in the LocalBacnetDevice of the BacnetNetwork. For more details, see “Local Device backup and
restore properties” on page 4-64.

Restore Device
(AX-3.2 only) This button in the Bacnet Ws Device Manager allows you to restore a previous
backup to the selected device, where a backup is one or more “restorable” files saved on the BACnet
Supervisor PC. See “Backup Device” on page A-6.
Note: The target device must support the BACnet DM-BR-B BIBB, as part of the B-BC device profile
conformance. In addition, you may require a device password to have it initiate a backup or a restore.
Otherwise, a backup or restore job will immediately fail, showing the associated reason in the job log
details. For example, you may see “Unrecognized Service” or “Security: Password Failure”.
When you click Restore, the standard Directory Chooser appears, in which you navigate to the
directory that contains the backup file(s), as shown in Figure A-12.

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Figure A-12 Directory Chooser dialog to specify directory with backup file(s)

After you choose the source directory, the Restore Device dialog appears, as shown in Figure A-10.

Figure A-13 Restore Device configuration dialog

Configuration fields in this dialog include the following:

• Directory
Reflects the ord for the local source directory, as previously chosen in the Directory Chooser.
If needed, you can modify it using file ord syntax.
• Password
Some devices may require a password to initiate a backup and/or a restore. If a device requires a
password, you may enter it here.
When you click OK, the restore backup request is sent to the device. A Restore job is started, and as shown
in Figure A-14 you can click on the job log control near the top of the manager to see the job progress.

Figure A-14 Restore job started, Job Log details dialog

When the job completes, it will post a success or failed status. Successful restores will install the backup
file(s) found in the source directory, and typically re-initialize (reboot) the device.
Note: An invalid restore job typically fails immediately. However, a valid restore job may take several minutes to
complete, depending on the implementation in the target BACnet device. Typically, the device executes
some “preparation routine” first, before accepting the backup files. In the case of AX-3.2 or higher stations
running the Bacnet driver, there is a set routine as well as associated properties, found in the LocalBacnet-
Device of the BacnetNetwork. For more details, see.

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LocalBacnetWsDevice additions
The LocalBacnetWsDevice (Local Device) component represents the configuration of the
NiagaraAX station as it appears as a BACnet device on the BACnet network. It includes all the same child
slots, properties, and actions as the LocalBacnetDevice component in the Bacnet driver. For details, see
related sections in “Niagara Bacnet Server Operation” on page 4-47.
Each LocalBacnetWsDevice also has the following available additional properties, relating to operation
as the time-synch master:
• Time Syncronization Recipients
Contains the list of recipients for periodic Time Synchronization messages. You can add and remove
entries to this list using the addElement and removeElement actions. The entries in this list are
BacnetRecipients. They can be either a Device Object Identifier, or a BACnet Address.
• Time Synchronization Interval
Configures how frequently Niagara will send the time synchronization messages. The default value
is 24 hours.
• Align Interval
Specifies if the periodic time synchronization messages should be aligned to the beginning of the
next interval. For example, if Time Synchronization Interval is exactly 24 hours and Align Interval is
true, then the time synchronization messages will be sent out exactly at the beginning of the day, at
12:00 midnight.
• Interval Offset
Specifies an offset from the beginning of the interval at which to send the periodic time synchroni-
zation messages. If Align Interval is false, this property is ignored.
• Utc Time Syncronization Recipients
Contains the list of recipients for periodic UTC Time Synchronization messages. Works the same as
the Time Syncronization Recipients property, where you can add and remove entries to this list us-
ing the addElement and removeElement actions. The entries in this list are BacnetRecipients. They
can be either a Device Object Identifier, or a BACnet Address.

BacnetWsDevice additions
Each BacnetWsDevice component added using the Bacnet Ws Device Manager contains the same set of
child slots, properties, and actions as a BacnetDevice component. For details, see related sections in
“Niagara Bacnet Client Concepts” on page 3-11.
Each BacnetWsDevice also has the following available additional actions:
• Comm Control
Also available from the Bacnet Ws Device Manager. See “Communication Control” on page A-4.
• Reinitialize Device
Also available from the Bacnet Ws Device Manager. See “Reinitialize Device” on page A-5.
• Get Enrollment Summary
Also available from the Bacnet Ws Device Manager. See “Enrollment Summary” on page A-3.
• Get Event Information
Also available from the Bacnet Ws Device Manager. See “Event Information” on page A-2.

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