#### Setting up BACnet Broadcast Management Devices (BBMDs) To minimize network communications, IP routers do not pass on broadcasts that they receive. If your system has controllers on different IP subnets separated by an IP router, you must set up a BACnet router on each IP subnet as a BACnet Broadcast Management Device (BBMD). A BBMD passes BACnet/IP broadcasts across the IP router to other BBMDs. The following Automated Logic® BACnet routers can function as a BBMD on an IP subnet:
ExecB routers: | G5 routers:
LGE LGRM-E LGR25 LGR250 LGR1000 ME-LGR25 ME-LGR200 ME812u-LGR ME812u-E | G5RE G5CE
To set up BBMDs, use the appropriate method in the table below.
If your WebCTRL® system has... | Use this method
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50 or less IP subnets with:* No third-party BACnet routers Authority from your customer to manage all Automated Logic® and third-party BBMDs on the network Third-party BACnet routers that support BBMD writes from the network | Let SiteBuilder automatically configure your BBMDs.
Any of the following: More than 50 IP subnets * Third-party BBMDs that you do not have authority to manage Third-party BBMDs that use a non-standard port for BACnet communications | Set up custom BBMDs through the WebCTRL® interface or using the BBMD Configuration Tool.
* If your system has only G5 routers, this number changes from 50 to 500. NOTE If the WebCTRL® server is on an IP subnet without an Automated Logic® BACnet router, register the server as a foreign device. See To set up the WebCTRL® server as a foreign device.
Click for details below To set up BBMDs in SiteBuilder To set up BBMDs through the WebCTRL® interface To set up BBMDs using the BBMD Configuration Tool To set up the WebCTRL® server as a foreign device
##### To set up BBMDs in SiteBuilder As you add each Automated Logic® BACnet router to an IP network on the Network tree, check Automatically Configure My BBMDs on the Address tab. SiteBuilder automatically selects a controller in each IP subnet as the BBMD and sets up BBMD tables appropriately. To see which BACnet routers SiteBuilder assigned as BBMDs, select View > Display > BBMD. BBMDs show B=assigned on the Network tree. To override SiteBuilder's BBMD selection, right-click a different BACnet router on the same IP subnet, then select Force to BBMD. NOTE If you are managing 3rd party BBMDs, you must add every 3rd party device that could be a BBMD as a 3rd party device router in SiteBuilder.
##### To set up BBMDs through the WebCTRL® interface Make a list of the IP addresses for every controller that will function as a BBMD in your system. CAUTION Multiple BBMDs on an IP subnet disrupt BACnet communications. Define only one BBMD on either side of each IP router in your system. In Notepad, type the list putting each IP address on a separate line. (ExecB routers support up to 50 IP addresses per .bdt file; OptiFlex™ routers support up to 500.) NOTE If you must communicate with a third-party router that does not use the BACnet/IP port 47808 (0xbac0), you must include the hexadecimal port number in the IP address. For example, `172.168.23.67:0xe78a` Save the file in the webroot\<system_name> folder with a .bdt extension instead of .txt. On the WebCTRL® Network tree, select one of the Automated Logic® controllers that will function as a BBMD. To check if the controller has an existing BBMD table, click , then select Manual Command. In the manual command field, type`: bbmd read x.x.x.x` where x.x.x.x is the IP address of the controller you are on. Click OK. If the Broadcast Distribution Table contains IP addresses that are not in your .bdt file, add them to your .bdt file. Click , then select Manual Command. In the manual command field, type: `bbmd write filename.bdt x.x.x.x` where`filename.bdt` is the .bdt file in the webroot\<system_name> folder and`x.x.x.x` is the IP address of the controller you are on. Click OK. Issue another bbmd read command to verify that the .bdt file was written correctly.
##### To set up BBMDs using the BBMD Configuration Tool Before you begin, do the following: Set up the IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and network numbers for the WebCTRL® server and each Automated Logic® controller on the IP network. See Setting up controller IP addresses. Go to http://accounts.automatedlogic.com. On the Support tab, select Download. Under Engineering and Startup Tools, select Utilities > BBMD Configuration Tool. Follow the instructions. Make a list of the IP addresses for every controller that will function as a BBMD in your system. CAUTION Multiple BBMDs on an IP subnet disrupt BACnet communications. Define only one BBMD on either side of each IP router in your system. In Notepad, type the list putting each IP address on a separate line. (Maximum of 50 IP addresses per .bdt file) NOTE If you must communicate with a third-party router that does not use the BACnet/IP port 47808 (0xbac0), you must include the hexadecimal port number in the IP address. For example, `172.168.23.67:0xe78a` Save the file in the webroot\<system_name> folder with a .bdt extension instead of .txt. Open the BBMD Configuration Tool. In the IP Address or Host Name field, type the IP address of an Automated Logic® controller that functions as the BBMD (BACnet Broadcast Management Device) for its subnet. Click the Broadcast Distribution Table Read button to see if the controller has an existing BBMD table. The information found is displayed in the bottom half of the window. If the Broadcast Distribution Table contains IP addresses that are not in the .bdt file you created in steps 2 and 3, add them to your .bdt file. Verify that the same controller IP address is still in the IP Address or Host Name field. Click the Broadcast Distribution Table Browse button, then select the .bdt file that you created in steps 2 and 3. Click the Broadcast Distribution Table Write button to send the information to the controller. Click Read again to verify that the new .bdt file was written to the Automated Logic® controller. Repeat steps 5 through 11 for each Automated Logic® controller that will function as a BBMD in your system.
##### To set up the WebCTRL® server as a foreign device If the WebCTRL® server is on an IP subnet without an Automated Logic® BACnet router, register the server as a foreign device to a BBMD in the system. That BBMD will then forward BACnet broadcasts to the server. Register the server with the BBMD that will have the fastest response time. Response time is affected by distance and network complexity. On the WebCTRL® System Configuration tree, select Connections. On the Configure tab, select BACnet/IP Connection. If the Status column shows: Connected, click Disconnect. Stopped or Design Mode, go to step 4. Type the WebCTRL® server's IP address in the IP Address field. (172.18.64.37, in the example above.) NOTE If you have more than one network interface card, type the address that connects to the controller network. Type the WebCTRL® server's subnet mask in the IP Subnet Mask field. (255.255.0.0, in the example above.) Select Force Registration from the Foreign Device drop-down list. Select the BBMD in the Primary BBMD field. To have a backup in case the first BBMD fails, select another BBMD in the Backup BBMD if primary fails field. Click next to Tuning Parameters. Keep the 600-second default value in the Register FD Interval field. NOTE If the re-registration does not occur within this time, the BBMD will delete the WebCTRL® server from its list. Click OK. If running WebCTRL® Server (not WebCTRL® Design Server), select the BACnet/IP Connection, then click Start. If your system does not have any BBMDs Follow the steps below to create pseudo BBMDs so that you can register the server. In the SiteBuilder application, double-click each BACnet router and check Automatically Configure My BBMDs on the Address tab. In the WebCTRL® application, select any location on the Network tree. Run the manual command`bbmd update` to create a blank .bdt table in every router and mark them for download. Download parameters to the routers. Follow the steps above to register the WebCTRL® server as a foreign device to one of the routers.