About ChannelMembers

ChannelMember components typically represent Lon/IP 852 routers, as well as one required entry for the JACE station itself (as a “channel node”). If using a third-party (non-Niagara) Config Server, all ChannelMembers are automatically added once communications to the CS have been established.

If configuring Niagara as the CEA-852 Config Server, you must manually add ChannelMembers. Once added, you can monitor these component’s status in the Member Manager view, and if necessary, also edit and open a browser connection to any selected one (for possible configuration, if the device provides a built-in web server). ChannelMembers also provide a number of right-click actions.

See the following sections for more details:

New (and Edit) dialogs

Adding a new ChannelMember in the Member Manager view provides dialogs shown in Figure C.3.

Figure C.3. New ChannelMember dialogs

Only the first four properties are configurable in either the New or Edit dialog, described as follows:

Name

Name of the NiagaraAX component to represent this device, it is also the value of slot “cnName” of the created component. Default value is “ChannelMember”.

For the component that represents this station, you typically enter “Niagara” to match the default value of the “Net Name” property of the ipChannel’s Network Config component.
ipAddress

IPv4 address of the device on the LAN. Enter the unique IP address of the device.

For the component that represents this station, enter the host JACE platform’s IP address.
ipPort

Software port monitored for messages from the Config Server, with the default (and typically used) conventional value of 1628.
natIpAddress

If behind a NAT router, the device’s assigned external (Internet) address, if applicable. If not behind a NAT router, leave at the default 0.0.0.0 value.

ChannelMember read-only properties

Remaining property values are obtained from each device, and are also available for display in columns in the Member Manager view, as follows:

routerType

Enumerated descriptor for the router type. (Not shown as default column in the view)
- Configured
- Learning
- Bridge
- Repeater
cnFlags

Enumerated descriptor for the channel flag. (Not shown as default column in the view)
- None
- All Broad Casts
- Security
- All Broad Casts _Security
nodeType

Enumerated descriptor for the channel member type. (Not shown as default column in the view)
- Uninitialized
- Non Ip to Ip Router
- Ip Channel Node
- Ip Channel Proxy
- Ip to Ip Router
iState

Enumerated descriptor for member status, as either:
- New Member
- Sent D R Req
- Sent D R
- Sent C R Req
- Up to Date
- Error
subnet/Node

Assigned Lonworks subnet/node address, unique on site for this device.
neuronId

Device’s unique Lonworks Neuron ID.
domainId

Assigned Lonworks working domain. (Not shown as default column in the view)

Note the read-only items above are available for data columns in the Member Manager view, as shown in Figure C.4 (only default items shown selected).

Figure C.4. Table selector in Member Manager view of ipChannel component

A “faultCause” property is also available for display in the Member Manager, for example to display a possible issue such as “Device will not ack DEVICE_CONFIGURATION”.

Member Manager buttons

If the Niagara station is set up as the CEA-852 Config Server, use the New button in the Member Manager to add a member for each CEA-852 router and also one for the JACE station too. See the section Setup on a LonIp channel with Niagara as the Config Server.

The Edit button provides a similar dialog for ChannelMembers already in the station database.

See New (and Edit) dialogs for more property details.

Use the Browse button on any selected ChannelMember to launch a separate client web browser window to that device’s local IP address. This is simply a convenience feature. Often, Lon/IP 852 routers include a web server interface that allows (proprietary) remote configuration of the device.

ChannelMember actions

Any selected ChannelMember has an action menu, as shown in Figure C.5.

Figure C.5. Action menu for any selected IpLon ChannelMember

Actions may be useful when troubleshooting the LonIp driver, and are described as follows:

Update

Forces an update of LonIp channel information to that device. Note this also occurs automatically upon station startup, and whenever LonIp channel information changes.
Get Statistics

Produces a popup dialog with various statistics for the selected channel member (Figure C.6).

Figure C.6. Statistics popup dialog from ChannelMember’s action Get Statistics

This information may be particularly useful when troubleshooting.
Get Status Aux

Produces a popup action submenu for the selected channel member (Figure C.7).

Figure C.7. Popup submenu action dialog from ChannelMember’s action Get Status Aux

Get Status Aux submenu actions include the following:
- Status No Clear — Reads current status without resetting the statistics counters. Equivalent to the Get Statistics action, with resultant popup previously shown in Figure C.6.
- Status With Clear — Reads current status and resets (clears) the statistics counters. The resultant popup shows many “0” entries, as shown below in Figure C.8.
  
  Figure C.8. Status popup dialog after Status With Clear action (from Get Status Aux)
- Registration — View this member’s registration information in a popup (Figure C.9).
  
  Figure C.9. Status popup dialog from ChannelMember action Get Status Aux, Registration
- Membership — View this member’s internal membership list in a popup (Figure C.10).
  
  Figure C.10. Status popup dialog from ChannelMember action Get Status Aux, Membership
- Route — View this member’s routing information in a popup (Figure C.11).
  
  Figure C.11. Status popup dialog from ChannelMember action Get Status Aux, Route