C-Gate and CNI (noob inside)

Hi all.

Finally have cbus setup in the house and a CNI on the TCP/IP network.

I have read the C-Gate Manual and it is quite good, but seems to assume you have projects and a network connection already.

I was looking for a tutorial that starts you off with a new cbus network (pre-programmed or not) and connects you to the CNI etc.

Any tips on setting this up? I read that a networks.txt file is needed but then read that was only for 1.5 and not > 2.0.

My CNI has an IP and I can access it via web (port 80) or telnet (port 9999) so now need to get C-Gate communicating with the CNI to then scan the network (?) and create a project (?)

Thanks for any tips.

Edit: I have managed to start a project and connect to the CNI. But can't open the network for some reason.

Code:

david@david ~ $
/usr/kerberos/bin/telnet  127.0.0.1 20023
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to david (127.0.0.1).
Escape character is '^]'.
201 Service ready: Clipsal C-Gate Version: v2.8.0 (build 2307) #cmd-syntax=1.0
NET CREATE rizal cni 10.3.3.4
408 Operation failed: Invalid project name
project list
124 no projects found
project new rizal
200 OK.
project start rizal
200 OK.
project use rizal
200 OK.
port list
126 no ports found
net list
132 no networks found
net create home cni 10.3.3.4
200 OK.
port list
126 no ports found
net list
131 network=home State=new InterfaceState=closed
net save db
200 OK.
project save rizal
200 OK.
tree rizal
402 Operation not supported by: //RIZAL
tree 254
401 Bad object or device ID: Network not found
port cniscan
129 ip-address=10.3.3.4 status=available port=10001 type=CNI
net open home
120-initializing
120-opening port
120-stopping threads
120-threads stopped
120-closing streams
408 Operation failed: //RIZAL/home: Open failed: failure opening port
net list
131 network=home State=new InterfaceState=closed

 

When you use C-Bus ToolKit to commission a C-Bus installation, it creates a "C-Bus project" file which contains the details of the networks and so forth. It is this project file that C-Gate needs to load.

If you have an existing C-Bus installation and no project file, use C-Bus ToolKit to create a new project and then scan your networks to build up the project details.

It is not recommended that you try to use C-Gate commands to try to attempt to do this process yourself.

 

Thanks for the response Darren.

Does the Toolkit run under Wine perhaps?

I don't have nay Windows machines handy, hence why I am using C-Gate. Couple that with the fact I was thinking about making a simple web frontend to C-Gate for control by girlfriend and I later.

I thought C-gate could make a project from a network scan too and easily? Am I wrong?

Thanks

 

I think it might launch under Wine.

I will try when I am home and on my network.

So once the Toolkit runs and sets up a project, that project is saved on the c-gate side and then access the c-gate daemon from any host (with telnet or toolkit) would allow one to see the projects, load it and make slight adjustments?

Thanks

 

Well no I have cgate.jar running, that is how I ran all those commands in my first post.

So I have got Toolkit running under wine and I seem to be getting as far as I did using Telnet. See image.

I notice I don't have any license info when cgate starts like it states I should in the c-gate manual. Could this be an issue??

 

Ahh posted too soon.

Clicking on Unit > Scan Network
Got all 41 units showing up.
And then I can transfer them to the DB.

I would love to know what c-gate commands this is issuing to get this done.

 

Obviously ToolKit uses C-Gate commands to create the networks and so forth. However, it is really not a good idea to try to do this manually. It would be very easy to create a dodgy project which will cause all sorts of grief. It is safest (and easiest) to let ToolKit do this for you.

 

Cool.

So once I have setup the project in Toolkit and saved it, I can then later access it with telnet to C-Gate, load it up and make small changes??

Thanks Darren

 

It seems I might have been right in my statement. Although had some issues with the Toolkit that using simple Telnet helped "kick" into gear.

Now to work out how to re-program sensors....

Thanks guys.

 

Thank you very much Daniel

This is the path I have found. I have been using Toolkit to mess with the current settings (timer on PIR's, which button does what etc). Still learning my way around it. Then I aim to use telnet/sockets in a python script to do any day-to-day things I might want to do.

Toolkit does seem to run well in Wine. It crashes sometimes, but I found using it in a Windows XP Virtual Box session it crashes there too. Seems more prone to crashing when importing all 50+ units from the network into the DB.

Cool about the licensing. I have just moved on, and hadn't yet ran into any direct problems I thought were relating to licensing. Now I can definitely run that out for any future problems.

Thanks again!

 

Thanks ashleigh

Valid points. I was planning on using telnet/sockets to control things like lights on/off, triggers for when alarm/sensors go off etc.

So I will keep what you say in mind when messing with that.

Thanks all for the info.