Add data sources to the PI Connector for BACnet

Add data sources and configure them for data collection from the PI Connector Administration Site page.

1. From the Overview page, click the Data Source List link, or click Add or modify data sources in the Data source for the PI Connector for BACnet area.

2. To add a new data source, enter the name in the Data source name field, and then click Add and configure.

   Note: All Data source name values for the PI Connector for BACnet must be unique.

   The configuration window opens.

3. Enter and select your data source configurations and then click Save.

   • Data source description

     Optional: Description of the data source configuration.

   • Local IP Address to Bind To

     Required: On the machine on which you want to perform the BACnet communication, select a network interface.

   • IPv4 Address of Devices

     Required: Subnet IP address range with wildcard mask or CIDR notation. The biggest subnet that can be specified is a /24 or class C network. Ensure that the specified subnet does not overlap with a subnet that is specified in a different configuration.

   • UDP Port Number

     Required: UDP port number for BACnet communication. The port number is a positive integer with an upper limit of 65535. The default is 47808.

   • Device ID

     Optional: If the BACnet device does not support responding to Who-Is requests, specify the device ID. If this field is specified, a single IP must be entered for the IPv4 Address instead of a subnet. Ensure that this device is not previously specified in a different configuration.

     Note: You should not specify this field in the configuration if the device responds to Who-Is messages.

   • Network Number

     Optional: If the BACnet device is a routed device and does not support responding to Who-Is requests, specify the network number. If this field is specified, both the device ID and MAC Address must also be specified.

   • MAC Address

     Optional: If the BACnet device is a routed device and does not support responding to Who-Is requests, specify its BACnet MAC Address. If this field is specified, both the device ID and Network Number must be specified.

   • Present Value and Status Flag Scan Frequency (seconds)

     Optional: Rate at which Present Value and Status Flag values are polled for all objects unless otherwise specified in the File to be Filtered.

   • Data source Rediscovery Frequency (Hours)

     Optional: Rate at which network discoveries occur. A value of 0 disables discovery.

   • Number of Present value and status flags scans before marking a device as disconnected

     Optional: When no response is received for the configured number of scans, a device will be marked as disconnected.

   • COV Subscription Lifetime (seconds)

     Optional: The lifetime of Change Of Value (COV) subscriptions for all objects. When the lifetime elapses, the connector will re-subscribe.

   • Perform network discovery

     Optional: When a File to be Filtered is used, network discovery can be disabled. Only the properties defined in the file will present in the resulting PI AF assets.

   • Number of concurrent requests to be sent across all devices in this data source

     Optional: The maximum number of requests the connector will send at any given time to this data source.

     Note: The maximum number of requests to a single device will be lower than this number if there are multiple devices on the data source.

   • Number of milliseconds to wait between sending requests

     Optional: The connector will wait this number of milliseconds between sending each request.

   • File to be Filtered

     Optional: If you want to filter devices or objects, navigate to and upload the modified CSV file that was generated by the BACnet Network Discovery Tool (see Selection of devices or objects), and click Save. If a file is not uploaded, the connector will collect data from all discovered assets on this data source.

     The Overview page lists the new data source.