BACnet-tools

This service is used to configure and manage the BACnet-tools, used to explore a BACnet network. The tools can be used via the log command.

The BACnet-tools can be installed on the "Services" tab within the DINGO-Manager. The tools can also be installed from a SSH terminal with this command: sudo sh -c "$(curl -s http://apps.control2net.com/apt/install-bacnet-tools)"

Note:

An alternative to using the the BACnet-tools, is using the BACnet webservices.

Note:

The DINGO-Stack must be in safe mode, when using the BACnet-tools. This is because the BACnet Server in the DINGO-Stack can conflict with the BACnet-tools.

To try the BACnet tools; select the BACnet tools service and click the "Log..." button. See screenshot.

Commands to try:

/opt/GoIoT/bacnet-tools/bacwi 2>&1

This will send a Who-Is request onto the network
/opt/GoIoT/bacnet-tools/bacwh Temperature 2>&1

This will ask, Who-Has objects named "Temperature".
/opt/GoIoT/bacnet-tools/bacepics -v 806 2>&1

This will read all objects in the device, with device-identifier 806.
/opt/GoIoT/bacnet-tools/bacrp 803 0 2 85 2>&1

This will read the present-value from analog-input,2 on device: 803.

Read the documentation below for more commands. Use the --help parameter on the commands for options.

Documentation

BACnet Tools are binary demo application command line utilities that use BACnet/IP to perform a variety of BACnet services.

Some tools use BACnet WhoIs to bind to devices, but can also use a static binding file address_cache.

Most of the tools have help (--help option), and use environment variables to configure the datalink.

The Client Tools use WhoIs to bind to target devices. The WhoIs can be eliminated by using the address_cache file, which is read by each client tool from the current working directory. Having the device address from the address_cache file will greatly improve the throughput and speed of the client tools. The address_cache file can be generated using the standard output of the bacwi tool.

Example:

bacwi -1 > address_cache

Client Tools

bacarf - BACnet AtomicReadFile service
bacawf - BACnet AtomicWriteFile service
bacdcc - BACnet DeviceCommunicationControl service
bacepics - BACnet EPICS for Device object.
bacrd - BACnet ReinitializeDevice service
bacrp - BACnet ReadProperty service
bacrpm - BACnet ReadPropertyMultiple service
bacscov - BACnet SubscribeCOV service
bacts - BACnet TimeSynchronization service
bacucov - BACnet UnconfirmedChangeOfValue service
bacupt - BACnet UnconfirmedPrivateTransfer service
bacwh - BACnet WhoHas service
bacwi - BACnet WhoIs service
bacwp - BACnet WriteProperty service

Server Tools

bacserv - BACnet Device Simulator

Router Tools

baciamr - BACnet I-Am-Router to Network message
bacinitr - BACnet Initialize Router message
bacwir - BACnet Who-Is Router to Network message

MS/TP Tools

mstpcap - a tool that is used for capturing MS/TP traffic from an RS-485 serial adapter and saving the packets in a file for viewing by Wireshark.
mstpcrc - calculates Header CRC or Data CRC for ascii hex or decimal input. Optionally takes the input and saves it to a PCAP format file for viewing in Wireshark.

Environment Variables

The environment variables can be set temporarily by using the export command, e.g. export BACNET_IFACE=eth1

The environment variables can be made persistent by adding them to the DINGO-Stack profile: dingo.sh

BACNET_APDU_TIMEOUT - set this value in milliseconds to change the APDU timeout. APDU Timeout is how much time a client waits for a response from a BACnet device. Default is 3000ms.
BACNET_APDU_RETRIES - indicate the maximum number of times that an APDU shall be retransmitted.
BACNET_IFACE - set this value to dotted IP address (Windows) of the interface (see ipconfig command on Windows) for which you want to bind. On Linux, set this to the /dev interface (i.e. eth0, arc0). Default is eth0 on Linux, and the default interface on Windows. Hence, if there is only a single network interface on Windows, the applications will choose it, and this setting will not be needed.
BACNET_IP_PORT - UDP/IP port number (0..65534) used for BACnet/IP communications. Default is 47808 (0xBAC0).
BACNET_BBMD_PORT - UDP/IP port number (0..65534) used for Foreign Device Registration. Defaults to 47808 (0xBAC0).
BACNET_BBMD_TIMETOLIVE - number of seconds used in Foreign Device Registration (0..65535). Defaults to 60000 seconds.
BACNET_BBMD_ADDRESS - dotted IPv4 address of the BBMD or Foreign Device Registrar.
BACNET_BDT_ADDR_1 - dotted IPv4 address of the BBMD table entry 1..128
BACNET_BDT_PORT_1 - UDP port of the BBMD table entry 1..128 (optional)
BACNET_BDT_MASK_1 - dotted IPv4 mask of the BBMD table entry 1..128 (optional)
BACNET_IP_NAT_ADDR - dotted IPv4 address of the public facing router
BACNET_MAX_COV_SUBCRIPTIONS - max number of COV subscriptions to the local DINGO-BACnet device and any Virtual BACnet devices the DINGO-Stack is serving.

Default value is 256. Do not set this value higher than needed as that can affect performance.

Note:

This environment variable only limits the locol device plus virtual-devices COVs, but has no effect on how many COVs are subscribed to external devices for example via BACnet/WS.

Example Usage

You can communicate with the virtual BACnet Device by using the other BACnet command line tools. If you are using the same PC, you can use BBMD/FD

(Foreign Device registration) to do this - use the bvlc script. You can monitor the interaction and bytes on the wire using Wireshark. Here is an example usage for Window and for Linux.

Linux

To use the tools from the command line, you need to use the path to the command, or include the path in your PATH environment variable. The dot "." means current directory. The "/" is used to separate directories. "./" means the path starts from the current directory.

When the tools are built from the Makefile, they are copied to the bin/ directory.

So from the root of the project you could run the tools like this using a terminal window:

$ make clean all

$ ./bin/bacserv 1234

In another terminal window use ifconfig to determine the network interface IP address that bacserv is using:

$ ifconfig

Use that address (likely from eth0) to configure the BBMD and Foreign Device environment variables:

$./bin/bvlc.sh 192.168.0.42

bvlc.sh script configures environment variables to use BACnet/IP port 47809 for any subsequent BACnet tools run from that shell, and enables the BBMD Foreign Device Registration.

Perform a device discovery:

$ ./bin/bacwi -1

Read all the required properties from the Device 1234 and display their values:

$ ./bin/bacepics -v 1234

Read the Object_Identifier property from the Device 1234:

$ ./bin/bacrp 1234 8 1234 75

Write 100.0 (REAL=4 datatype) to Device 1234 Analog Output (1) One (1) at priority 16 with no index (-1).

$ ./bin/bacwp 1234 1 1 85 16 -1 4 100.0

Each tool has help:

$ ./bin/bacrp --help

Windows

The BACnet tools are used from the Command Prompt, or CMD.EXE.

From the command prompt window, start the simulated BACnet device:

c:\> bacserv 1234

From another command prompt window, use ipconfig to determine the network interface IP address that bacserv is using:

c:\> ipconfig

Use the default IP address to configure the BBMD and Foreign Device environment variables:

c:\> bvlc.bat 192.168.0.42

bvlc.bat batch file configures environment variables to use BACnet/IP port 47809 for any subsequent BACnet tools run from that command prompt window, and enables the BBMD Foreign Device Registration.

Perform a device discovery:

c:\> bacwi -1

Read all the required properties from the Device 1234 and display their values:

c:\> bacepics -v 1234

Read the Object_Identifier property from the Device 1234:

c:\> bacrp 1234 8 1234 75

Write 100.0 (REAL=4 datatype) to Device 1234 Analog Output (1) One (1) at priority 16 with no index (-1).

c:\> bacwp 1234 1 1 85 16 -1 4 100.0

Each tool has help:

c:\> bacrp --help

Source Code

The source code and makefiles for the bacnet-tools is included in the BACnet Protocol Stack library and can be found at: http://bacnet.sourceforge.net/

The bacnet-tools source is located in bacnet-stack/demo/project where:

bacarf - bacnet-stack/demo/readfile
bacawf - bacnet-stack/demo/writefile
bacdcc - bacnet-stack/demo/dcc
bacepics - bacnet-stack/demo/epics
bacrd - bacnet-stack/demo/reinit
bacrp - bacnet-stack/demo/readprop
bacrpm - bacnet-stack/demo/readpropm
bacscov - bacnet-stack/demo/scov
bacts - bacnet-stack/demo/timesync
bacucov - bacnet-stack/demo/ucov
bacupt - bacnet-stack/demo/uptransfer
bacwh - bacnet-stack/demo/whohas
bacwi - bacnet-stack/demo/whois
bacwp - bacnet-stack/demo/writeprop
bacserv - bacnet-stack/demo/server
etc.