Setting up NiagaraAX as a Chopan server

NoteThe main use case for the station to operate as a Chopan server is to support client Chopan client requests from networked hibernating devices—which at the time of this document are not widely available. Until full support for hibernating devices is in place, consider this section more “informational” than practical.

The JACE station running the SedonaJen6lpNetwork can operate as a CHoPAN server, providing it is properly licensed (license feature jen6lp must have attribute export=”true”). This lets the station respond to CHoPAN client read and write requests from networked Jennic-based devices.

Verify station’s Chopan Server

With the JACE station open in NiagaraAX Workbench:

  1. Open the property sheet of the SedonaJen6lpNetwork, if not already open.

  2. Expand the Chopan Server container to verify the software Port number (1810 is default), the server is Enabled (true, also default), and the Status is ok.

    You can specify another “non-default” Port number; however, you will need to specify this same port in the client-side ChopanDevice component that represents the JACE, when configuring the Sedona app in any networked Jennic-based device.

    Debug output to the station’s Application Director is available, but disabled by default.

Understand/set Chopan authorization

With the JACE station open in NiagaraAX Workbench, after enabling the network’s Chopan Server:

  1. In the Nav tree, expand the station’s Config node to reveal Services and UserService, and double-click the UserService for the UserManager view.

    Find the User named CHoPAN. This user is automatically created, with no permissions assigned by default.

    NoteThe station automatically allows Sedona reads of any appropriate component, but writes to station components are checked for authorization (as part of this CHoPAN user scheme). This is necessary because CHoPAN is an unauthenticated protocol, meaning that CHoPAN servers do not authenticate or prevent and reads or writes to local components.

  2. As necessary, assign permissions to user CHoPAN, selecting categories and whatever level write (W) privileges may be needed.

    Any incoming request that results in a modification of the station database will be checked against the permissions given to this User. In order for the station to accept a write from CHoPAN, the component being written must be assigned to a category for which the CHoPAN User has write privileges.

    NoteIf you are familiar with the NiagaraAX BACnet export authentication scheme (via a User named BACnet), please note that this is the identical model.

For related details, see Chopan authorization.