EBO Idea Exchange
Have ideas on how to improve the EcoStruxure Building Operation? Please share and get votes from our Community to influence development efforts.
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What are the main changes vs the previous solution :
For a better user experience and usability, files will be organized by “Software packages” related to versions (ex : EBO 2022).
A package now includes all needed items for the installation of a given version:
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What:
I would like to see SBO/EBO support BBMD traffic through a NAT router. This could be implemented similar to the Foreign Device implementation, where there is a field under the properties of the IP Network, to enter the Global IP address and port of the NAT router.
Reason:
Many of our customers require that all of our BACnet devices be behind a router to keep the BACnet the broadcast traffic off their network.
We can setup port forwarding to get remote access to the AS for programming, software upgrades, etc., but we cannot reach the MNBs with the WPT Commissioning Tool to perform Peer-To-Peer linking and firmware upgrades etc.
Right now we have to use a 3rd party BACnet/IP to BACnet/IP router, that supports this feature. We would much rather use a "By Schneider" product or better yet just have the AS(P) support this feature.
Technical:
Support for BBMD traffic through a NAT router, was added to the BACnet Standard with Addendum o to the 2008 Standard. The heart of this change was the addition of Clause J.7.X whose key aspect is bullet point d:
"Except when propagating a received Forwarded-NPDU message, the "B/IP Address of Originating Device" field in Forwarded-NPDU messages is the global IP address and port of the NAT Router through which the BBMD communicates. This is required so that responding devices on the remote subnet may communicate with the originating device. Received Forwarded-NPDU messages are propagated as-is to foreign devices and to the local IP subnet as defined in J.4.5"
The short version is that when the BBMD responds to another BBMD or a Foreign device, the IP address of the local BBMD is stored in the BACnet section of the IP packet. Without NAT support, then the local IP address, 192.168.1.10 for example, is returned. This is a problem because communication fails when the Foreign Device or remote BBMD then tried to send a Unicast packet to a non-routable IP address. With NAT support then the Global IP address, 201.1.1.1 for example is passed. This allows the Foreign device or remote BBMD to send a Unicast packet using a routable IP address and communication is allowed to continue.
See attached PDF of Addendum o for more information.
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