Beetle configuration

Click on the desired Beetle in the device list to go to its configuration page. All relevant information about the device is displayed there.

General

Status: Shows whether the device is connected to the Avelon server and whether remote access via VPN is possible.
Host or IP Address: Displays the current host name or IP address through which the device can be accessed.
Serial Number: The serial number is used to uniquely identify the device. It is also printed on the sticker attached to the housing of the appliance.
Last Connection: Indicates when the device last connected to the Avelon server.

Location

Address: The location address of the device. If you fill in this field, the device will be displayed on the map widget and in the map navigation.
GPS: If the address input above is insufficient, you can also specify the location of the device using GPS coordinates.
Time Zone: The time zone in which data point measurements are recorded. This setting will apply to all data points of the device.

Communication watchdog

The communication watchdog checks if the device is connected to the Avelon server and triggers an alarm if it is not. The watchdog must be activated and configured separately for each device.

Waiting period before alarm: If a communication interruption is detected, the system will wait for this amount of time before an alarm is sent. This can prevent too many alarms from being triggered if the connection is frequently interrupted for only a short time. The alarm timeout must be at least 2 minutes.
Alarm Chain: Select the alarm chain that should be escalated in the event of an alarm.

Warning

Watchdog alarm tickets cannot be closed until the device sends an acknowledgment that the alarm is gone and that the connection with the server is reestablished. As a result, when trying to close a ticket prior to device acknowledgment, the following error message is displayed: “This ticket cannot be closed. The alarm must be acknowledged by the device first”.

BACnet

Operating Mode

Set the mode in which the Beetle is to be operated.

BBMD
The Beetle behaves as a BACnet/IP Broadcast Management Device (BBMD). The associated Broadcast Distribution Table (BDT) can be edited by clicking Configure.

Simple Device
The Beetle behaves as a simple BACnet device.

Foreign device
The Beetle behaves as a foreign device. A foreign device is a BACnet device that has an IP subnet address that is different from the IP subnet address that includes the BACnet/IP network that the device wants to join. Although the device can communicate directly with other BACnet devices, it only receives broadcasts from other devices if it is registered with the corresponding BBMD. The associated Foreign Device Table (FDT) can be edited by clicking on Configure.

Device access

Here you configure which user groups are allowed to access the device and its data points. If users should see data points or their recordings or live values, they need to have access to the respective device on which these data points are located.

Granting access to a device also enables access to the device via our public API.

To add a user group, click on Add User Group* and select a user group from the list. All users in that user group will get access to the device. To remove a user group, click on Remove next to the corresponding user group.

Note

Avelon Connect displays only devices that have an Avelon Connect - Remote Access license assigned. In addition, the logged-in user must have the access right “Remote access to authorized devices” assigned via their user role.

Additional functions

Open Device Homepage: Opens the web page of the device. Further settings are available there.

Further settings are available via the menu More at the top right:

Manage Remote Resources: Define which services on the local network can be accessed via the device by entering their IP and port number.
Show PAT rules: View the PAT (Port Address Translation) rules that are currently active on the device.

Note

The rules can only be edited directly on the Beetle’s web interface. For more information, refer to the Port Forwarding section of the Remote Access chapter in the Beetle User Manual.

Software update

If your Beetle is connected to Avelon Cloud, it will check for software updates on a regular basis. When a new version is available, it will download and install it automatically and reboot afterwards. This usually happens during our regular maintenance windows which will be announced through our maintenance mailing list.

During the update, the Beetle will continue to work as expected. However, there will be a short interruption of service during the reboot at the end of the update, which should only take a few seconds.

Licenses

All licenses that are activated for the current device are displayed here. These are either enabled functions or data point packages that can be used in conjunction with this device. You can also see how many units of the respective license have already been used.

Energy Management: The number of data points that can be used for energy management, i.e. mainly in chart widgets.
Energy Reporting: The number of data points that can be used for energy reporting, i.e. as part of automatically generated PDF reports.
Heads-up!: The number of data points that can be used in the context of an alarm.
Operate: The number of data points that can be used in a control system on schematics.
SMS (this month): The monthly quota of SMS messages that can be sent to users in the context of alarms. If this quota is exhausted, all further SMS messages will be charged additionally.
Weather Forecast: The number of forecast data points of the Avelon weather service that can be used.
Weather Readings: The number of weather readings from the Avelon weather service that can be used.

Warning

If the suffix “Free” is added to one of the data point packets, this means that this data point packet was not purchased. In this case, Avelon provides a free entry-level license so that basic functions can still be used. However, the functionality of the free licenses is limited. For example, measurement data are only stored for a few days, and the configuration options for alarms are limited.

Note

To purchase additional licenses for the device, please click Shop. You will then be redirected to the Avelon Shop. This function is only available on Avelon Cloud.