Description
Site and Device Ranges are configured in the CopperCube to specify which objects the CopperCube archives, and to organize how the objects are sent/uploaded.
In many instances, a building or campus may have too many objects for a single CopperCube to capture. By limiting the device range, one can archive half of the location on one CopperCube and the other half on another. This prevents overlap and accidentally archiving the same object twice.
Note: “objects” refers to BACnet objects in this article.
Site
The CopperCube Sites and Device Ranges page is used to configure the CopperCube so that it knows how to connect to the BACnet network it is monitoring. A CopperCube is able to connect to one or more networks at the same time. These connections can be made either with a direct Ethernet connection or via a Regular IP or a Foreign IP connection. Note that one CopperCube can use different types of connections to communicate with different networks.
In this case, a site is defined as a BACnet tree, as opposed to a physical location. All the objects in the tree must be able to communicate with each other on the highest level to be considered part of the same site. Note that a single CopperCube can archive multiple sites, depending on their size.
See the glossary for more information.
Device Range
The Device Range is the range of device numbers that the CopperCube will archive. Typically, the devices that make up a site will be addressed consecutively. Specifying device ranges can be used to exclude the collection of data from specific devices, such as a Historian or enteliWEB. Alternatively, users can set Device Exclusion Ranges if there is a range of devices that need not be archived.
Site Name
The site name is used to define a common link between the data collected by CopperCubes and a building within Kaizen. As the data is being transmitted from the CopperCube to Kaizen, the site name included in the data stream. This, in combination with the CopperCube ID, will be used by Kaizen to associate the data from a specific site with a building in Kaizen.
Site Name and Connection within the CopperCube
For each new connection on a CopperCube, a unique site name is required. You can create as many connections (and site names) as you like in order to collect data from your BACnet networks. For each new site name and connection, CopperCube will create a unique identifier within the database. This will guarantee the uniqueness of the set of Trend Log, object, and device backup data.
CopperCube Redeployment for Buildings
With each site connection uniquely identified, you will be able to manage the data collection for several buildings efficiently and evolve the Trend Log number that you archive. If your sites grow up to reach the CopperCube limit in terms of Trend Logs, you will be able to remove one site connection from your initial CopperCube and add it to other CopperCube that you deploy. This reorganization of your data collection involves the following:
- The historical data for this site connection will be kept within the first CopperCube but will no longer be available from the graphical interface of the CopperCube
- The link between your CopperCube and Kaizen needs to be updated with the new Site name and CopperCube MAC address
SQL Database Management
The SQL connector creates two tables for each Trend Log as default and names them using this pattern: Sitename_Device_TL#. For more information about the SQL Connector, please see here.
If you create one site connection per building, it will be simpler to create queries within the SQL database.
If you have several buildings within one unique BACnet network, you will need to select the narrowest device range possible in order to collect just the information for one specific building. If the range is too large, you could end up trying to collect 2 times the same TL if you add another connection for a new building. That may cause network issues.
Organization within Kaizen
For each building within Kaizen, you can add multiple associations to a CopperCube and site combination. Creating one site connection for each building will help you to easily set up your building within Kaizen.
