Echelon LonMaker - Manual (Page 52)

36 Getting Started
When designing multiple drawing files, organize the individual drawing files as subsystems within the
top-level drawing file, and limit the top-level drawing to contain only those subsystems. This
minimizes the number of drawing files that must be opened as you descend the subsystem hierarchy.
Avoid deep subsystem hierarchies with long subsystem names that results in long subsystem paths.
Subsystem paths may be stored in devices to help the network recovery process if you lose you the
network database, but devices have limited memory available to store the network path. Furthermore,
visualization tools such as Wonderware’s InTouch
® have limits to item name lengths that can be
exceeded with long subsystem paths.
Network Changes
To improve network performance when making numerous network changes at one time, set the
LonMaker tool OffNet. This will allow you to make the changes quickly, as the changes will be saved
in the LNS network database instead of being sent to the physical devices. When you finish making
the changes, set the LonMaker tool OnNet and the changes are propagated to the physical devices.
Connections
If you will be making changes to a subsystem, limit the number of connections monitored by the
LonMaker tool to less than five per subsystem. Having more than five monitored connections in a
subsystem will increase the time required to perform certain network management operations.
Alternatively, you can turn off all monitoring while making changes by right-clicking a clear space in
the subsystem page and clicking Enable Monitoring if it is currently set. You can turn monitoring on
again after making the changes.
If you are using an LNS application that does not support monitor sets (groups of data points that the
LonMaker tool uses to monitor and control network variables) and you are making many bound
connections to the LNS application, make the bound connections persistent. This will improve
network performance. Conversely, non-persistent bound connections, which can be created in a
LonMaker network with LNS applications other than the LonMaker tool, can significantly increase the
time required to open and close a LonMaker drawing. LNS tools that support monitor sets, such as the
LonMaker tool, enable monitoring of monitor points to be setup quickly once a LonMaker network is
opened. This is because points in monitor sets are always persistent. The LonMaker tool automatically
creates monitor sets for connection monitoring when monitoring is enabled on a LonMaker network.
To enable monitoring, right-click a clear space in the subsystem page and clicking Enable Monitoring
if it is not currently set. For more information on monitor sets, see the LNS Programmer’s Guide.
Sharing the LNS Interface with the LNS DDE Server
If the LNS DDE Server and the LonMaker tool are running concurrently and sharing the same LNS
network interface, limit the polling rate of the LNS DDE server to 10 polls per second on a
L
ON W ORKS channel. Having the LNS DDE Server polling above this rate will degrade network
performance. By default, the LNS DDE server polls active network variables every 1 second, so more
than 10 active network variables running at the default poll interval can impact network performance.
You will see similar performance degradation if you have any other LNS monitoring application
sharing the LNS network interface with the LonMaker tool, or if you are using connection monitoring
in the LonMaker tool.
If you will be making numerous network changes, either disable the LNS DDE Server and any other
LNS monitoring applications, or reduce the polling rate to a maximum of 10 polls per second while
you are making changes.
Functional Blocks
If you have a large network with many unconnected network variables on the functional blocks, delete
the unused network variable shapes. Network variable shapes add performance overhead, yet they are
not required if they are not connected. You can re-add network variable shapes to a functional block if
you need to connect them later. To simplify following this guideline, you can create functional block