Quickstart Guide

While each app has its own page in the User Guide, this page will walk you through the minimum requirements for getting an app up and running.

Installation

Although the Edge ACM software may already installed, it may be necessary to perform the initial installation or upgrade the existing installation on a piece of hardware. Follow the instructions in the Installing Edge Manager to configure the hardware.

Edge ACM

Edge ACM is the the polling engine that collects data from the field device using native protocols and provides that data to other apps for publication, eg. AUTOSOL MQTT, Azure.

In order to poll data, the following objects must be created in Edge ACM:

  • One or more Folder objects to hold the other objects

    • Add by right clicking Edge ACM or a folder, selecting Add, then selecting Folder.

  • One or more Connection Settings objects to establish the IP and port.

    • Add by right clicking a folder, selecting Add, then selecting Connection Settings

If multiple devices share an IP and port (eg. are all on the same master radio), a single Connection Settings object can be shared by multiple Device objects

  • One or more Schedule objects to configure how frequently Edge ACM will poll its associated Tag Groups

    • Add by right clicking a folder, selecting Add, then selecting Schedule

  • One or more Tag Group objects to identify the Tags to be polled

    • Add by right clicking a folder, selecting Add, then selecting Tag Group

  • One or more Tag objects in each Tag Group to establish which tags/registers are polled in the end device, and the rules by which it is published.

    • Add by right clicking a Tag Group, selecting Add, then selecting Tag

  • One or more Device objects (Allen-Bradley® ControlLogix, Modbus, ROC, ABB® Totalflow).

    • Add by right clicking a folder, selecting Add, then selecting the appropriate Device object.

At least one device object must be Enabled, linked to a Connection Settings object, and have a Tag Group that contains at least one Tag selected in order for communications to occur.

To start Edge ACM, right click Edge ACM, select Commands, and select Start. If the app is Licensed and the above steps have been taken, the indicator circle will turn Green and files will be generated in the Log Viewer

Priority Forward

Priority Forward is the app that allows the App Manager to control access to a device, allowing a primary connection to override all other communications.

In order to control communications, the following objects must be configured in Priority Forward:

  • One or more folder objects to hold the other objects

    • Add by right clicking Priority Forward, selecting Add, then selecting Folder

  • One or more Advanced Channel Settings object to establish rules for the Channel

    • Add by right clicking a folder, selecting Add, then selecting Advanced Channel Settings

  • One or more Channel object to establish the IP and port of the end Device and the local ports used for Primary and Secondary connections

    • Add by right clicking a folder, selecting Add, then selecting Channel

Once these objects exist, right click Priority Forward, select Commands, and select Start

Azure

Azurearchived is the app that publishes data from Edge ACM to your Azure IoT Hub

Symmetric Key must be selected for the authentication type when creating the IoT Hub device in Azure IoT Hub

In order to communicate with your Azure IoT Hub:

  • Right click the Azure app and select Properties

  • Set the Connection String to match the Primary or Secondary Connection String you have configured within Azure IoT Hub.

    • Each instance of Edge Manager should be configured to publish to a separate Device in Azure IoT Hub

Once the Connection String is configured and the other settings established, right click Azure, select Commands, and select Start to begin publishing to Azure IoT Hub.

Data will only publish to Azure when Edge ACM is running and retrieving data from its end devices.

AUTOSOL MQTT

AUTOSOL MQTT is the app that publishes polled data from Edge ACM to an MQTT Broker

In order to communicate with an MQTT Broker the following objects must be configured within AUTOSOL MQTT:

Once the objects have been created, right click AUTOSOL MQTT, select Commands and select Start

Common Issues

If newly saved changes haven’t shown up in your client software, verify that you have issued a Restart or a Stop then Start command to apply the changes..

 

For assistance, please submit a ticket via our Support Portal, email autosol.support@autosoln.com or call 281.286.6017 to speak to a support team member.