Echelon SmartServer 2.2 - Manual (Page 100)

SmartServer 2.2 User’s Guide 101
application on the SmartServer before opening the network with the new network interface. You can
disable the RNI using the SmartServer Web interface or the console application.

To use the SmartServer Web interface to disable the RNI, right-click the SmartServer host device,
point to Setup, and then click Security. The Setup – Security Web page opens. In the Service
section, clear the Enable Downlink RNI Connections check box. To restart the RNI application
later, select the Enable Downlink RNI Connections check box.

To use the console application to disable the RNI, enter the following command:
deactivate 4
“4” is the index of the RNI application. You can obtain the index of the applications on the
SmartServer by entering the following command:
listapp
Confirm that you want to disable the RNI application. Disabling the RNI application may cause
the SmartServer to reboot. To restart the RNI application later, enter the following command:
activate 4
See Appendix B for more information about the console application.
If you are using a local L ON W ORKS network interface and you want to switch the network interface to
the RNI configured on the SmartServer, you must physically remove the local network interface device
from the network.
Connecting the SmartServer with RNI vs. IP-852
You can use the SmartServer to connect an OpenLNS, LNS, and OpenLDV-based application to a
L
ON W ORKS network over an IP network. You can create this remote connection by either configuring
the SmartServer as an RNI or activating IP-852 routing on the SmartServer and adding it to the same
IP-852 channel on which the computer running the OpenLNS, LNS, or OpenLDV application resides.
If you use the SmartServer as an RNI, it means that you are using it as a network interface to establish
a point-to-point connection between an OpenLNS, LNS, or OpenLDV-based application and the
L
ON W ORKS channel to which your SmartServer is attached. This approach is simpler than using
IP-852 routing and is an option if you are only using a single SmartServer on one channel.
If you need to connect multiple TP/FT-10 or PL-20 channels over an IP network so that a single
application could connect to the devices on each channel, then you can use IP-852 routing on the
SmartServer. In addition, you can use IP-852 routing if you have multiple SmartServers on multiple
channels, and you want to connect the channels. This may be especially useful if each SmartServer
needs to connect to the same OpenLNS or LNS Server.
In addition, you can use a SmartServer as an RNI and as an IP-852 router simultaneously. For
example, consider a building with multiple floors, where the devices in the rooms on each floor are
connected by an FT-10 channel, and each floor has a SmartServer installed to manage those devices.
You could create an IP-852 channel to connect all three floors and control them with a central
application. This would be the best way to perform control of the building over a long period of time.
However, you may need another entry point into the network at some point, to perform maintenance on
a certain part of the building. In this case, you could configure the SmartServer as an RNI for a
specific floor to be accessed by an OpenLNS, LNS, or OpenLDV application. This would prevent you
from having to re-configure the IP-852 channel with the Configuration Server, which you may want to
avoid doing if you do not plan on making the new entry point a long-term part of the network.
The following figure demonstrates a SmartServer on an IP-852 channel being configured as an RNI for
a specific floor (Floor 3) of a building. This enabled an OpenLNS, LNS, or OpenLDV application to
connect to the devices on Floor 3 without having to re-configure the IP-852 channel with the
Configuration Server. In this example, the SmartServer for Floor 3 is involved in two separate TCP/IP
connections: (1) the IP-852 connection with the other SmartServers, and (2) the RNI connection with
the application for Floor 3.