About the Lon Device Manager

The Lon Device Manager (Figure 17) is the default view for a LonNetwork—simply double-click the LonNetwork in the Nav side bar, or within the station’s Driver Manager to see this view.

Figure 17. Lon Device Manager (not Learn Mode)

The Lon Device Manager provides support for learning (or discovering/adding) Lonworks devices to the database, for managing device addresses, and for downloading standard applications to devices.

An available “Path” column is also in the Lon Device Manager, which you can enable in the table options menu. Its intention is to allow for easier sorting of devices by parent LonDeviceFolder (reflected in path), a technique often used on a routed Lon network, where devices may be on different network channels (channel Id and subnet). For related details, see Lon Router Manager.

The following sections provide more details:

Lon Device Manager key points

In many ways, the Lon Device Manager works similar to other device managers that support online device discovery. See “About the Device Manager” in the Drivers Guide for general information.

However, the Lon Device Manager is unique from other managers in the following ways:

A second row of buttons exists below ones common to most device managers. These buttons are only available when not in “learn mode” (split panes, “Discovered” and “Database”).

These buttons are:
- Commission
  
  To set a selected device’s internal tables (including address-related) to a functioning but unbound state. For details, see Commission.
- Replace
  
  To download network management data to a selected device, used when replacing a device, or when re-synchronizing nv bind information. For details, see Replace.
- Quik Learn
  
  To both discover and automatically add Lon devices in the station, representing new nodes found in the working domain. For details, see Quik Learn.
- App Download
  
  To download a vendor-supplied “nxe” file, such as may be used for a firmware update or application update. For details, see App Download.
Following a Discover, any Lon node already represented in the station’s LonNetwork does not appear in learn mode’s “Discovered” table (see Figure 18). This differs from other drivers, where an existing discovered device appears “ghosted” in the “Discovered” table.
The Match function has an available toggle in which you select whether to use the subnet-node address of the discovered (network) node, or have address management performed automatically by the Lon Device Manager—see Figure 19.
- Choose the first (“Use Net Subnet/Node”) if working with a previously-managed network.
- Choose the second (“Use Db Subnet/Node”) if working with an unmanaged network.

Figure 18. Lon Device Manager (Learn Mode following a Discover)

Figure 19. Match function has address source toggle

About Commission

Commission in the Lon Device Manager is used to set a device’s internal tables to a functioning but unbound state. You typically perform this on any newly-added Lon device except those created by a Quik Learn of a previously managed network, where the initial state of the device is already “Config Online.”

You can examine a device’s/discovered node’s internal tables using the Lon Utilities Manager.

For more details, see Commission process.

Commission process

A commission command results in the following steps:

Steps marked * do not apply if commissioning LocalLonDevice.

* If using a service pin, the process waits for a service pin message to obtain the nodes Neuron ID, otherwise, the Neuron ID already stored is used.
* Needed “device data” is read from the device (for example: hosted, two domains, address count, address of snvt self-doc table).
The device’s domain table is initialized, as follows:
- Domain index 0 is set to the LonNetwork’s working domain.
- If the device has two domains, domain index 1 is set to “not in use”.
  A property “Always In Zero Length Domain” is in the LonNetwork’s “LonNetmgmt” component, with a false (default) value. If set to true, and the LonNetwork’s working domain is not the zero-length domain, the second domain entry is set to the zero-length domain. See Always In Zero Length Domain notes.
- Use Netmgmt authentication key and devices subnet/node address in all active domains.
All entries in the address table are set to “not in use.”
* All entries in nvconfig are set to unbound selector (0x3FFF - nvIndex). If under LonNetmgmt, VerifyNvDir is set, a check is made that device and database nv’s have matching direction.
If there is a configSrv nv, it is set to external.
Update configuration device data as follows:
- channelId: per property under LonNetMgmt.
- nodePriority: per Lon device property.
- location: per Lon device property.
- authenticate: per property under LonNetMgmt.
Node is set to state Configured, online.

About Replace

The Replace function in the Lon Device Manager downloads network management config data to a selected device. As the name implies, you use it when physically replacing a device (you have removed the old device, and replaced it with an identical type device).

Even more typically, you use Replace on the same (original) device, in case you have run a verify report from the Lon Utility Manager, and saw errors reported for that device. Typically, after performing binds from the Lon Link Manager, it is a good practice to run such a verify report—this ensures each device’s nv bind configuration matches the network management stored in Niagara. For more details, see Lon Utilities Manager.

For more details about replace, see Replace process.

Replace process

A Replace command results in the following steps:

If using a service pin, the process waits for a service pin message to obtain the nodes Neuron ID, otherwise, the Neuron ID already stored is used.
Verification is made that the new (replacement) device’s program ID matches the programId stored in the existing Lon device.
The device’s domain table is initialized, as follows:
- Domain index 0 is set to the LonNetwork’s working domain.
- If the device has two domains, domain index 1 is set to “not in use”.
  A property “Always In Zero Length Domain” is in the LonNetwork’s “LonNetmgmt” component, with a false (default) value. If set to true, and the LonNetwork’s working domain is not the zero-length domain, the second domain entry is set to the zero-length domain. See Always In Zero Length Domain notes.
- Use Netmgmt authentication key and devices subnet/node address in all active domains.
All entries in the address table are set to match the station database.
All entries in nvConfig are set to math the station database.
Update configuration device data as follows:
- channelId: per property under LonNetMgmt.
- nodePriority: per Lon device property.
- location: per Lon device property.
- authenticate: per property under LonNetMgmt.
Node is set to state Configured, online.

You can examine a device’s/discovered node’s internal tables using the Lon Utilities Manager.

About Quik Learn

Quik Learn in the Lon Device Manager is a function that combines online node discovery and Lon device (database) creation in one operation. You often use it to populate a new LonNetwork with the proper device components. See Using Quik Learn for a new LonNetwork.

You can also use Quik Learn when adding new devices to an already configured LonNetwork (in this scenario, select the “Unconfigured network” option).

In addition, Quik Learn operation differs depending on if you have devices selected or not when you issue the command.

Quik Learn searches locally-installed lon<vendor> modules to find possible lnml files. This differs from a Discover and Add, where all modules used by Workbench are searched. For the best possible results, make sure that any needed lon modules are installed on the JACE platform before running Quik Learn.Note also that starting in AX-3.3, Quik Learn can optionally create “LonObject” containers for learned LonComponents. For further details, see Use Lon Objects notes.

For more details, see:

Quik Learn, no device selected

If you click Quik Learn with no devices in the database selected, a popup dialog asks about previous network management, and whether to learn links, with config upload preselected, as shown in Figure 20.

Figure 20. Learn dialog from Quik Learn, no device selected

The following process occurs during the Lon Learn job.

A discovery occurs for all nodes on the working domain (only). As each device is discovered:
- If you specified a managed network, then unconfigured nodes are ignored, and a check is made for duplicate subnet-node address conflicts. If conflicts are found, the learn is aborted.
- Device data is retrieved for each node, including neuronId, programId, nodeState, authenticated, twoDomains, workingDomain, and channelId.
- Attempt is made to match with existing device (subnet, node, programId with neuronId=0). If not matched, device data is saved for this node until all devices are discovered.
Remaining unmatched devices are processed. For each unmatched device:
- Attempt is made to match with existing device (programId match with neuronId=0).
- If no match possible, a new DynamicDevice is created, where the node’s program ID is used to find the appropriate lnml file among the host’s locally installed lon<vendor> modules.
As each device is matched or created, the database’s device data is sync’ed with data read from the physical node.
If learn links was selected:
- For each device, upload address, nvConfig, and alias tables.
- For each device add links.
- location: per Lon device property.
- authenticate: per property under LonNetMgmt.
If upload config was selected, for each device upload values of its ncis and cps.

Quik Learn, device(s) selected

If you click Quik Learn with one or more devices in the database selected, a popup dialog asks if you wish to learn links, as shown in Figure 21.

Figure 21. Learn dialog from Quik Learn, device selected

If you click Cancel, the learn is aborted. If you click OK, the following process occurs during the Learn Lon Links job:

For each device selected:
- Subnet, node address, and domainId are verified. If not a match, then the learn is aborted.
- Device data is retrieved, including programId, nodeState, authenticated, twoDomains, workingDomain, and channelId.
- Uploaded are address, nvConfig, and alias tables.
For each device selected:
- Add links.

About AppDownload

The AppDownload function in the Lon Device Manager provides a means to download vendor-supplied application file (of type: *.nxe) to one or more selected Lon devices.

An *.nxe file contains a binary application image for loading in a specific Lonworks device. If the download changes the “external interface” of the device, you must also supply either an *.xif or *.lnml file to correctly set the nv data, which is represented in station database separate from the device’s application. Different external interfaces should be associated with unique program IDs. Some vendors support multiple device types in the same hardware platform.

For more details, see AppDownload process.

AppDownload process

When you select a device and click AppDownload, a popup dialog asks if you to specify the application (*.nxe) file. You click the folder icon (for the File Chooser), and then navigate to select the needed nxe file, as shown in Figure 22.

Figure 22. Enter Download Files and File Chooser dialogs, from AppDownload

If the application download will change the device’s external interface, you should also select either a matching .xif or .lnml file (if you supply both, the .xif is used and the .lnml is ignored).

After you have selected the file(s) and click OK, the following occurs:

Verification is made that the supplied file(s) are for the same device type.

If files are for a different programId than the device, a prompt is issued to verify that the change of device type is acceptable.
Issue a warning about the action about to be taken, asking for confirmation.