Technical Document

NiagaraAX-3.3 Provisioning Guide

for Niagara Networks

Published: December 3, 2007

NiagaraAX Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Copyright © 2007 Tridium, Inc.
All rights reserved.
3951 Westerre Pkwy, Suite 350
Richmond
Virginia
23233
U.S.A.

Copyright Notice
The software described herein is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terms of the
agreement.
This document may not, in whole or in part, be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium
or machine-readable form without prior written consent from Tridium, Inc.
The confidential information contained in this document is provided solely for use by Tridium employees, licensees, and system
owners; and is not to be released to, or reproduced for, anyone else; neither is it to be used for reproduction of this Control System
or any of its components.
All rights to revise designs described herein are reserved. While every effort has been made to assure the accuracy of this document,
Tridium shall not be held responsible for damages, including consequential damages, arising from the application of the information
contained herein. Information and specifications published here are current as of the date of this publication and are subject to
change without notice.
The release and technology contained herein may be protected by one or more U.S. patents, foreign patents, or pending applications.

Trademark Notices
BACnet and ASHRAE are registered trademarks of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.
Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks, and Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, and Internet
Explorer are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Java and other Java-based names are trademarks of Sun Microsystems Inc. and
refer to Sun's family of Java-branded technologies. Mozilla and Firefox are trademarks of the Mozilla Foundation. Echelon, LON,
LonMark, LonTalk, and LonWorks are registered trademarks of Echelon Corporation. Tridium, JACE, Niagara Framework,
NiagaraAX and Vykon are registered trademarks, and Workbench, WorkPlaceAX, and AXSupervisor, are trademarks of Tridium Inc.
All other product names and services mentioned in this publication that is known to be trademarks, registered trademarks, or
service marks are the property of their respective [Link] software described herein is furnished under a license agreement and
may be used only in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
 CONTENTS

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
About this document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii–v
Provisioning FAQs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii–vi
Provisioning terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii–vi
Document Change Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii–vii

Provisioning Niagara Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–1

Provisioning license considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–1
Provisioning software installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–1

Provisioning Niagara Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–1

Conversion- AxSupervisor previously running AX-3.1/AX-3.2 provisioning . . . . 2–1
Run the conversion to Provisioning 3.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–1
To convert the AxSupervisor to use the newer (AX-3.3) style provisioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–1
New Provisioning- add and configure necessary components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–2
Add the Batch Job Service and ProvisioningNwExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–2
To add the Batch Job Service and ProvisioningNwExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–2
Configure the NiagaraDevice extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–2
To configure the NiagaraStation Platform Connection extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–2
Run provisioning jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3
Backup all stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3
To backup all stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3
Run custom Niagara provisioning jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3
Add persisted Niagara provisioning jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2–3

Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–1

Niagara Provisioning overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–1
About the ProvisioningNwExt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–2
Niagara Network Job Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–2
Initial (run once) steps List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–3
Steps for each station List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–3
Adding Job List Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–3
Removing Job List Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–3
Reorder Job List Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–3
Stations List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–4
Adding Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–4
Removing Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–4
Reorder Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–4
Alarm checkboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–4
Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–4
Niagara Network Job List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–5
Jobs Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–5
Jobs table columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–5

NiagaraAX-3.3
i
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 December 3, 2007

Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–5
Job Log notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–6
Device Network Job View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–7
Job elements (read-only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–7
Step summary table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–7
Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–8
Batch Job Log File View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–8
Batch Job Step Log File View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–9
Step elements (read-only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–9
Step log table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–9
Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–10
Device Step Details View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–10
ProvisioningNwExt properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–11
ProvisioningNwExt properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–12
ProvisioningNwExt containers and components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–12
ProvisioningNwExt action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–12
Supervisor Software container . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–13
Supervisor Software Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–13
Software tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–13
Details pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–13
Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–13
Licenses property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–15
Network License Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–15
Supervisor License Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–15
About the Niagara Network Job Prototype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–16
Scheduling a job prototype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–17
Job retention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–18
Job actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–19
Niagara Network Prototype View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–19
Initial (run once) steps List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–20
Steps for each station List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–20
Adding Job List Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–20
Removing Job List Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–21
Reorder Job List Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–21
Stations List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–21
Adding Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–21
Removing Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–21
Reorder Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–21
Alarm checkboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–21
Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–21
Prototype Job List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–22
Jobs Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–22
Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–23
Niagara provisioning job steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–23
Update Licenses step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–24
Backup Stations step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–24
Copy Supervisor File step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–24
Copy Local File step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–25
Install Software step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–26
Reboot step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–27
Run Robot step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–28
Upgrade Out-of-date Software step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–28
Provisioning Robot notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–28
Provisioning Robot Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–28
Run Robot step view features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–29
Robot Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–30
Robot Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–30

NiagaraAX-3.3
ii
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
December 3, 2007

Niagara Provisioning Job management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–30

BatchJobService . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–31
BatchJobService properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–31
Job execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–31
Batch Job log files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–32
Provisioning Niagara station data files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–32
Histories related to provisioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–32
About provisioning-related alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3–33

Provisioning Station Extension Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–1

Types of provisioning extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–1
Provisioning Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–2
Extension Access in Provisioning Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–2
Edit in Provisioning Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–2
Platform Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–3
Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–3
Ping action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–4
New station notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–4
StationProxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–4
Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–5
Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–6
Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–6
Provisioning Station Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–6
Station Job List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–7
Step Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–8
Step table columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–8
Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–8
Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–8
Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–9
Station Software View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–9
Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–10
Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–10
Start Backup action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–11
Licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4–11
Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–11
Poll action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4–12

Provisioning Plugin Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–1

Plugin Reference Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–1
Plugins in batchJob module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–1
Plugins in provisioningNiagara module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–2

Provisioning Niagara Component Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–1

Component Reference Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–1
Components in batchJob module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–1
Components in provisioningNiagara module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–1

NiagaraAX-3.3
iii
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 December 3, 2007

NiagaraAX-3.3
iv
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 CONTENTS

Preface
Note: This document explains Niagara provisioning for an AxSupervisor running AX-3.3 or later. Provisioning
changed significantly from earlier Niagara releases (AX-3.1 and AX-3.2). Because a different station archi-
tecture and different modules are involved, there are now separate documents for provisioning in AX-3.3
and beyond (this document), and for provisioning in earlier releases.
For details on provisioning in earlier AX-3.1 or AX-3.2 releases, please refer to the NiagaraAX Provisioning
Guide.
This preface has the following sections:
• About this document
• Provisioning FAQs
• Provisioning terms
• Document Change Log

About this document

As noted earlier in this Preface, this document applies to Niagara provisioning in AX-3.3 and later, and
has the following main sections:
• Provisioning Niagara Installation
Explains the NiagaraAX platform, software, and licensing requirements.
• Provisioning Niagara Quick Start
Provides several quick procedures for online AxSupervisor station configuration to add the Provi-
sioningNwExt to the station’s NiagaraNetwork, configure provisioning NiagaraStation extensions,
and begin typical provisioning tasks. Also included is a simple upgrade procedure to convert the old-
er style (AX-3.1 or AX-3.2) ProvisioningService-based station of an AX-3.3 AxSupervisor to the
newer and more flexible “NetworkExt” model used for provisioning.
• Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Provides concepts behind the ProvisioningNwExt in the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork, including
its special views, properties, and various container slots. Many other concepts are also explained, in-
cluding the available “job prototype” components and their views, individual Niagara provisioning
steps, the ProvisioningRobot, provisioning job management, and provisioning-related alarms.
• Provisioning Station Extension Concepts
Provides concepts behind other provisioning-related components under the NiagaraNetwork in the
AxSupervisor, including their special views and properties. These components are automatically
created as device extensions under NiagaraStation components.
• Provisioning Plugin Guides
Provides brief summaries of the various provisioning views, each with links back to the more detailed
concepts sections. Entries are used in NiagaraAX context-sensitive help “On View”.
• Provisioning Niagara Component Guides
Provides brief summaries of the different provisioning components, with links back to the more de-
tailed concepts sections. Entries are used in NiagaraAX context-sensitive help “Guide On Target”.

NiagaraAX-3.3
v
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 December 3, 2007

Provisioning FAQs
The following are frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the provisioningNiagara module in
NiagaraAX:
Q: What is meant by provisioning Niagara?
A: Provisioning Niagara means an administrator can configure AxSupervisor automation of:
• one or more pre-defined tasks
• against one or more (potentially many) stations in its Niagara Network
• done from the AxSupervisor
• in a way where results are recorded and can be referred to later.
Tasks would otherwise need to be performed manually by a user with Workbench, often by making
platform connections to JACEs. All provisioning work is performed by the AxSupervisor station, as jobs.
For more details, see “Niagara Provisioning overview” on page 3-1.
Q: What type of pre-defined tasks can provisioning perform?
A: In AX-3.3, provisioning includes the ability to do station backups, install software, update license s, and
copy files, among other things. Also, you can write custom Program code to execute as “provisioning
robots,” allowing station database changes. For more details, see “Niagara provisioning job steps” on page
3-23.
Q: Is the provisioningNiagara module available for an AxSupervisor running AX-3.1.x? or AX-3.2.x?
A: No, provisioningNiagara requires AX-3.3 or later on theAxSupervisor. However, if necessary, you can use
it against its supervised JACEs (represented as NiagaraStations in the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork)
running earlier builds—for example, AX-3.1.x or AX-3.2.x.
Q: If I upgrade my AxSupervisor to AX-3.3, and it is currently running AX-3.1 or AX-3.2 with provi-
sioning, will it be much work to convert its station over to the new provisioningNiagara architecture,
in order to make use of the new features (licensing and run robot)?
A: No, a conversion solution is already included. In the AX-3.3 version of the ProvisioningService, there is
a new right-click command “Upgrade to Provisioning 3.3”. This automates the conversion from the AX-
3.1 / AX-3.2 style provisioning station architecture (ProvisioningService-based) to the newer provi-
sioning architecture used (NiagaraNetwork ProvisioningNwExt-based) starting in AX-3.3. For details,
refer to the section “Conversion- AxSupervisor previously running AX-3.1/AX-3.2 provisioning” on page
2-1.
Q: Is there any other sort of provisioning besides “provisioning Niagara”?
A: At the time of this document, provisioning in AX-3.3 applies only to the Niagara driver, meaning for hosts
represented in the NiagaraNetwork of an AxSupervisor station. However, with the separation of provi-
sioning functions into different modules, reflected by a BatchJobService as well as a “network-level”
“ProvisioningNwExt,” the provisioning architecture may support future functionality in other drivers.

Provisioning terms
The following list of terms and abbreviations are used when describing Niagara provisioning, and are
used in this document. For general NiagaraAX terms, see the Glossary in the User Guide. Note that this
glossary may grow over time, or may else simply be eliminated.
batch job A batch job is a station job that is managed and launched (sent to the station’s JobService) by
the station’s BatchJobService. New in AX-3.3, the BatchJobService and batch jobs replace job control
functions that were formerly done (exclusively) by the ProvisioningService.
At the time of this document, only NiagaraNetwork provisioning uses batch jobs. However, at some fu-
ture time other network drivers may also offer provisioning using batch jobs.
job A job is used to manage a task performed by the station. It runs asynchronously in the background,
but provides user visibility. Provisioning is done entirely with jobs, and starting in AX-3.3, entirely with
“batch jobs”, which requires the AxSupervisor to have the BatchJobService (in addition to the “core” Job-
Service). The BatchJobService provides additional job control functions to launch and manage jobs.
Apart from provisioning, other station services and drivers also perform jobs, all of which can be viewed
in the station’s JobService. However, unlike other jobs, all provisioning (batch) jobs are persistent across
a station restart. Also, provisioning provides specialized views for building and administering provision-
ing batch jobs.

NiagaraAX-3.3
vi
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 CONTENTS

platform snapshot A “snapshot” of installed software on a remote host running a station, which gets
built/updated when you access the “Software” extension under a NiagaraStation component. This snap-
shot is used by Niagara provisioning when performing queries and installation of software.
software registry Used to describe the catalog of available software installable files, such as modules
(.jars) or Niagara distribution files (.dists) under the !sw directory of a NiagaraAX workstation or AxSu-
pervisor.

Document Change Log

Updates (changes/additions) to this NiagaraAX Provisioning for Niagara Networks Guide document are
listed below.
• Published: December 3, 2007
Initial document, as the equivalent document to the previous NiagaraAX Provisioning Guide, which
applied only to an AxSupervisor running prior releases AX-3.1 or AX-3.2. Although there are many
similarities between Niagara provisioning in AX-3.1 and AX-3.3, including the basic organization of
this document, enough changed such that a separate document was warranted.

NiagaraAX-3.3
vii
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 December 3, 2007

NiagaraAX-3.3
viii
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 CHAPTER 1
Provisioning Niagara Installation
To use the latest provisioning features, your must have a NiagaraAX-3.3 or later AxSupervisor. By default,
your AxSupervisor PC host is licensed with the feature “provisioning”. See the next section “Provisioning
license considerations” for further details.
Note: Your AxSupervisor must be running AX-3.3 or later, however, any subordinate JACEs can be running any
NiagaraAX release.
JACEs do not require any provisioning-related module (provisioningNiagara, batchJob, provisioning),
nor do they require a license feature for provisioning. However, JACEs do require the program module
(and the ProgramService in their station) in order to process provisioning jobs with “Run Robot” steps.
The following sections provide details about Provisioning licensing and software installation:
• Provisioning license considerations
• Provisioning software installation

Provisioning license considerations

Only an AX-3.3 or later AxSupervisor can be (or needs to be) licensed for provisioningNiagara, with an
entry similar to below in its [Link] (Tridium license) file:
<feature name="provisioning"
expiration="never"
parts="ENG-WORKSTATION"/>
If this feature is missing or becomes expired, the AxSupervisor station’s ProvisioningNwExt (under its
NiagaraNetwork) will have a fault status, as will all provisioning-related extensions for NiagaraStations
under its NiagaraNetwork.

Provisioning software installation

Starting in AX-3.3, provisioning software requires multiple modules installed in the modules folder of
the AxSupervisor PC. These modules are
• provisioningNiagara
• batchJob
Note: If the AxSupervisor was upgraded from AX-3.1 or AX-3.2, it also requires the provisioning module, in
order to perform the conversion to the new provisioningNiagara architecture used n AX-3.3 and later.
Basic configuration procedures and a few global provisioning tasks are covered in the next section,
“Provisioning Niagara Quick Start”.

NiagaraAX-3.3
1–1
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 Chapter 1 – Provisioning Niagara Installation
December 3, 2007

NiagaraAX-3.3
1-2
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 CHAPTER 2
Provisioning Niagara Quick Start
This section provides a collection of procedures to configure the AxSupervisor station for provisioning
Niagara, including either a conversion from an earlier (ProvisioningService-based) AxSupervisor that was
using AX-3.1/AX-3.2, or a new AxSupervisor—or one not previously configured for provisioning. Also,
procedures are included to begin performing basic provisioning—including the most typical first usage.
These are the main subsections:
• Conversion- AxSupervisor previously running AX-3.1/AX-3.2 provisioning
• New Provisioning- add and configure necessary components
• Run provisioning jobs

Conversion- AxSupervisor previously running AX-3.1/AX-3.2 provisioning

To convert an AxSupervisor upgraded to AX-3.3 to use the newer-style provisioning, a conversion utility
is included in Workbench as a right-click command on the AxSupervisor’s ProvisioningService.
You use this command while the AxSupervisor station is running.
Conversion applies only if the AxSupervisor was configured for provisioning when running AX-3.1 or
AX-3.2. Otherwise, see “New Provisioning- add and configure necessary components” on page 2-2.
Note: Before converting an AxSupervisor station to the newer “ProvisioningNwExt-based” Niagara provisioning,
please note the following:
• “Pending jobs” (if any) that are under the Pending Jobs folder under the ProvisioningService are not
converted—you may wish to examine them first, in order to replicate them after the conversion.
Typically, you would use a (new) “job prototype” component to replace a pending job.
• Conversion launches two jobs: first a “Station Save” job for the AxSupervisor, then the actual “Con-
version” job in which: the BatchJobService is added/converted, the ProvisioningService is deleted,
the new ProvisioningNwExt is added to the NiagaraNetwork, and finally provisioning-related device
extensions under NiagaraStation components are “mixed-in/updated.” See the station’s Job Service
Manager for details on these jobs after converting.
• After conversion, you should be able to immediately run new provisioning jobs. However, because
after the conversion there is no ProvisioningService (with associated views), you no longer have the
previous Workbench access to older provisioning files, including backups, job log and step log de-
tails—these are now effectively orphaned.
Note that these older files remain under the AxSupervisor station’s “^provisioning” directory,
including backups in the “^provisioning/stationData/stationName/backups” direc-
tory, and so these older backups are still restorable. For example, at the AxSupervisor PC, using
Workbench you could expand the “My File System” in the Nav tree to navigate to the stations’ pro-
visioning backup folders (above), and then drag backup dist file(s) into the Niagara Network Job
Builder view (on the ProvisioningNwExt) as steps for each station list.

Run the conversion to Provisioning 3.3

Run the conversion to Provisioning 3.3 only after reading the previous Note: above.

To convert the AxSupervisor to use the newer (AX-3.3) style provisioning

Step 1 In Workbench, open the running AxSupervisor station.
Step 2 Expand its Config space to reveal its ProvisioningService in its Services folder.
Step 3 Right-click the ProvisioningService, and in the popup menu choose
Upgrade from Provisioning 3.1

NiagaraAX-3.3
2–1
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
New Provisioning- add and configure necessary components Chapter 2 – Provisioning Niagara Quick Start
Add the Batch Job Service and ProvisioningNwExt December 3, 2007

A second Confirm dialog appears, asking whether to convert to a “ProvisioningNiagaraNetworkExt”.

Click Yes.
Step 4 The Workbench view changes to the station’s Job Service Manager, in which you see two related
jobs—first a Station Save, then the Conversion. Both jobs typically complete within a few seconds.
Step 5 The provisioning conversion is now complete. Notice that the ProvisioningService is now gone, but a
BatchJobService was added. Also, the NiagaraNetwork now has a “ProvisioningNwExt”, with similar
views as the old ProvisioningService.
Assuming that provisioning was previously configured and operational, it should now be operational for
your NiagaraNetwork.
Note: After converting provisioning in an AxSupervisor to the newer AX-3.3 architecture, it is recommended that
you delete the “[Link]” file from the AxSupervisor’s !/modules folder, leaving only
the equivalent “[Link]” file (associated with this document) in its place.
Otherwise, provisioning-related Help topics viewed at the AxSupervisor may show incorrect information.

New Provisioning- add and configure necessary components

To configure Niagara provisioning for an AxSupervisor not previously configured for provisioning,
perform the following main tasks:
• Add the Batch Job Service and ProvisioningNwExt
• Configure the NiagaraDevice extensions

Add the Batch Job Service and ProvisioningNwExt

To add the Batch Job Service and ProvisioningNwExt
Step 1 In Workbench, open the AxSupervisor station.
Step 2 Open the provisioningNiagara palette in the Workbench palette side bar (see “Using the palette
side bar” in the User Guide for general details).
Step 3 Expand the station’s Config space to see its Services folder, and double-click it for the Service
Manager view. If a BatchJobService is already listed, verify it is enabled (status “ok”), and skip ahead to
step 6.
Step 4 From the palette, drag the BatchJobService onto the station’s Services folder. In the popup Name
dialog, you can rename the service—or, simply use the default name.
Step 5 Click OK to add the BatchJobService to the station.
You should have a BatchJobService named “BatchJobService” (or whatever you named it), under your
Services folder. For more details, see “BatchJobService” on page 3-31.
Step 6 Uner the station’s Config space, expand its NiagaraNetwork. If a ProvisioningNwExt is already a child
of the network, verify that it is enabled (status “ok”), and skip ahead to the next procedure, “Configure the
NiagaraDevice extensions”.
Step 7 From the palette, drag the ProvisioningNwExt onto the station’s NiagaraNetwork. In the popup
Name dialog, you can rename the ProvisioningNwExt—or, simply use the default name.
Step 8 Click OK to add the ProvisioningNwExt to the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork.
You should have a ProvisioningNwExt named “ProvisioningNwExt” (or whatever you named it), under
your NiagaraNetwork.

Configure the NiagaraDevice extensions

When you add the ProvisioningNwExt to the NiagaraNetwork in an AxSupervisor station, every existing
NiagaraStation device (under the network) automatically has five new device extensions created. See
“Types of provisioning extensions” on page 4-1 for more details.
In addition, as you add more NiagaraStations, they too will have these extensions (see “New station notes”
on page 4-4). In order for provisioning to work with the hosts running these stations, you need to enter
some property values in one of these extensions.

To configure the NiagaraStation Platform Connection extensions

For each NiagaraStation device in the AxSupervisor station’s NiagaraNetwork, you must enter the corre-
sponding platform daemon credentials of its host. The simplest way to do this is by using the Niagar-
aNetwork’s Station Manager view, as follows:
Step 1 In the Nav tree, expand Config, Drivers then double-click NiagaraNetwork.

NiagaraAX-3.3
2-2
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 2 – Provisioning Niagara Quick Start Run provisioning jobs
December 3, 2007 Backup all stations

The Station Manager view appears, listing all stations.

Step 2 Double-click the name of a station to open its Edit dialog.
The last three “Platform” fields are for editing that station’s Platform Connection extension properties,
namely for platform User, Password, and Port.
Step 3 Enter its platform connection credentials (User name and Password), and if using a non-default port
address, change from the default (standard) port 3011 to the port number used.
Note: These should be the same credentials and port you use when you open a platform connection directly to
this remote (JACE) host.
Step 4 Click the OK button.
Upon the next monitor ping of that host’s platform daemon, its “Station Run State” should change from
Unknown to Running (the station’s “Platform Connection” extension should now have status “ok”).
Repeat this procedure for each NiagaraStation listed in the Station Manager view.
Note: If using the identical platform credentials and port numbers in multiple (or even all) hosts running each
station, you can select multiple stations (rows) in the Station Manager to do this edit (right-click and
select Edit with multiple stations highlighted).
Note: Alternatively, you can use a new Provisioning Manager view on the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork
to edit these properties for each NiagaraStation. From this view, select Edit with multiple stations
highlighted. For more details, see “Provisioning Manager” on page 4-2.

Run provisioning jobs

After you Add the Batch Job Service and ProvisioningNwExt and Configure the NiagaraDevice exten-
sions (or, Run the conversion to Provisioning 3.3), you can run provisioning jobs.
• Backup all stations
• Run custom Niagara provisioning jobs
• Add persisted Niagara provisioning jobs

Backup all stations

To backup all stations
Use the following procedure to immediately backup all stations.
Step 1 In Workbench, open the AxSupervisor station.
Step 2 In the Nav bar, expand its Config space to see its NiagaraNetwork, including direct child components.
Step 3 Right-click the ProvisioningNwExt and select Actions > Start Backup.
For more details, see “ProvisioningNwExt action” on page 3-12.
Note: You can also configure the “Backup Schedule” child of the ProvisioningNwExt to perform a global backup
of all stations at some pre-determined time(s), including some repeating interval. For more details, see
“ProvisioningNwExt containers and components” on page 3-12.

Run custom Niagara provisioning jobs

Using the Niagara Network Job Builder (default view of the ProvisioningNwExt) you can run various
sequences of provisioning steps against one or more stations in the NiagaraNetwork of the AxSupervisor.
For related details, see the “Niagara Network Job Builder” on page 3-2, and “Niagara provisioning job
steps” on page 3-23.
For example, you may wish to run the following “two-step” job for all stations, after you have a new
NiagaraAX build installed on your AxSupervisor:
• first step: Backup Stations step
• second step: Upgrade Out-of-date Software step

Add persisted Niagara provisioning jobs

Using “job prototype” components copied from the provisioningNiagara palette into the
AxSupervisor’s station, you can specify various sequences of provisioning steps against one or more
stations in the NiagaraNetwork of the AxSupervisor, and save as normal “persisted” components
(duplicate, re-edit, etc.). Each job prototype provides a default Niagara Network Prototype View for
building that job. As needed, link any job prototype component to a TriggerSchedule in the station for
future execution.

NiagaraAX-3.3
2-3
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Run provisioning jobs Chapter 2 – Provisioning Niagara Quick Start
Add persisted Niagara provisioning jobs December 3, 2007

For related details, see the “About the Niagara Network Job Prototype” on page 3-16, “Scheduling a job
prototype” on page 3-17, “Niagara Network Prototype View” on page 3-19, “Niagara provisioning job
steps” on page 3-23, and “Provisioning Robot notes” on page 3-28.

NiagaraAX-3.3
2-4
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 CHAPTER 3
Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
This section describes Niagara Network provisioning concepts, including the ProvisioningNwExt
component for the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork, which provides the core of Niagara provisioning.
Also described are the available “job prototype” components for Niagara provisioning, the different
provisioning job steps, and the various views encountered while working with all of these items.
These are the main subsections:
• Niagara Provisioning overview
• About the ProvisioningNwExt
• Niagara Network Job Builder view
• Niagara Network Job List view
• Device Network Job View (and similar Batch Job Log File View)
• Batch Job Step Log File View (and similar Device Step Details View)
• Supervisor Software container
• ProvisioningNwExt Licenses property
• About the Niagara Network Job Prototype component
• Niagara Network Prototype View
• Prototype Job List view
• Niagara provisioning job steps
• Provisioning Robot notes
• Niagara Provisioning Job management

Niagara Provisioning overview

Niagara provisioning is available only to an AxSupervisor station. It provides automation of various tasks
to remote (JACE) hosts in the station’s NiagaraNetwork. For the most part, these are platform tasks—that
is, otherwise done using (full) Workbench, making individual platform connections directly to remote
JACE hosts, then using the appropriate platform views.
Additionally (starting in AX-3.3), “provisioning robot” tasks are available. This allows running custom
program code in the station running on each JACE host (executed by those stations’ ProgramService).
It is important to note that the AxSupervisor station does all these tasks, modeled in the station as provi-
sioning jobs. Outside of provisioning, you must perform similar tasks using (full) Workbench, typically
by making individual platform connections directly to remote JACE hosts, then using the appropriate
platform views. Or in the case of “provisioning robots,” by opening station connections and then copying
and executing Program objects.
Note: For details about the platform user interface, see “Platform overview” in the NiagaraAX Platform Guide.
Provisioning provides some advantages over “direct” platform (or station) connections, for example:
• When provisioning, you need only one station connection—to the AxSupervisor, and no other con-
nections (platform or otherwise).
This means you can do provisioning from anywhere you can open the AxSupervisor station...even
using Web Workbench! (ordinary platform tasks cannot be done using Web Workbench.)
• Provisioning allows the same series of tasks (executed as the job’s steps), to be executed to any num-
ber of target JACE hosts. Most job steps execute sequentially on one host, then are repeated on the
next host, until all specified hosts are done—or, just to a single JACE, if specified. This ability is useful
when performing the same tasks with multiple JACEs, such as a job-wide software upgrade, or a pe-
riodic backup of all hosts’ station configurations.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3–1
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
About the ProvisioningNwExt Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
December 3, 2007

Note: The “Update Licenses” step (new in AX-3.3), if included in a provisioning job, actually runs
only once—initially, where the host for each included target station is queried and updated to match
the licenses currently on the licensing server.
• You can build a provisioning job to run immediately, using the job builder view of the NiagaraNet-
work’s ProvisioningNwExt, as well as use the BackupSchedule slot of the ProvisioningNwExt to
specify a regular, repeating schedule backup for all stations. Or, you can use “job prototype” compo-
nents copied from the provisioningNiagara palette and pasted in the station. Any job prototype can
be linked to a TriggerSchedule, and can also be run immediately.
• By default, provisioning provides persistent storage of all jobs on the AxSupervisor, including all sta-
tistics associated each job and step (creating user, begin and end job times, step details, log output,
and so on). In the case of station backups, any saved .dist file can also be restored directly from its
batch job step log— via a “Restore” function, whereby it is executed as another provisioning job.
• Provisioning tasks in the AX-3.3 or later AxSupervisor station can be done in three different ways:
• From the ProvisioningNwExt, under the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork component, de-
scribed next—see “About the ProvisioningNwExt”.
• From individual job components. See “About the Niagara Network Job Prototype” on page 3-16.
• From NiagaraStation provisioning (device) extensions, under each station modeled in Drivers,
NiagaraNetwork. See “Provisioning Station Extension Concepts” on page 4-1.

About the ProvisioningNwExt

The ProvisioningNwExt of a NiagaraNetwork in an AX-3.3 or higher AxSupervisor station is the
core of Niagara provisioning. The following subsections provide related details:
• Views: Niagara Network Job Builder and Niagara Network Job List are both views.
• Slots: ProvisioningNwExt properties, ProvisioningNwExt containers and components, and Provi-
sioningNwExt action are slots on the ProvisioningNwExt.

Niagara Network Job Builder

The default view on the ProvisioningNwExt, you can start here to specify and launch a “one time”
provisioning job needed now, meaning that you do not need to save as a reusable component.
Note: If you would rather build a job that you can schedule or run at a later time, save, duplicate and modify,
and so on, use a NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype component copied anywhere in the AxSupervisor’s station
(each has its own equivalent view). See “About the Niagara Network Job Prototype” on page 3-16.

Figure 3-1 Niagara Network Job Builder is default view of ProvisioningNwExt

Alarm checkboxes

Initial (run once) steps List

Steps for each station List

Stations List

Buttons

As shown in Figure 3-1, this view has three list areas:

• Initial (run once) steps List

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-2
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Niagara Network Job Builder
December 3, 2007 Initial (run once) steps List

• Steps for each station List

• Stations List
There are also alarm checkboxes and buttons.

Initial (run once) steps List

This top area of the Niagara Network Job Builder shows a one-line summary for each step to be
performed once in the job, regardless of how many stations will be specified. Currently, when provi-
sioning Niagara this means only one step type: “Update Licenses”, and is optional. (Often you may
wish to skip this step, but add other types of steps in the middle “Steps for each station List” pane).
To add this step, click the “+” (add) button below this list—see “Adding Job List Steps” on page 3-3 for
further details. For details on this initial step, see “Update Licenses step” on page 3-24.

Steps for each station List

This middle area of the Niagara Network Job Builder shows a one-line summary for each step to be run
for each station specified in this job. In most provisioning jobs, you add one or more steps. As needed,
you can also remove and reorder steps (when the job runs, steps execute in the top-to-bottom order).
Adding Job List Steps
Figure 3-2 New Job Step popup menu (from Niagara Network Job Builder)

Add a provisioning job step by using any of the following methods:

• Click the “+” (add) button below the list, and choose the step type from the New Job Step popup
menu (see Figure 3-2). Note that this dialog provides two different types of file copy steps:
• Copy Local File — To copy a file that exists locally on your local Workbench PC (not on the
AxSupervisor), to each target host running an included station. This is the only step type not
available in a job prototype.
• Copy Supervisor File — To copy a file that exists on the AxSupervisor (not on your local PC),
to each target host running an included station. Note if you are running Workbench at the Ax-
Supervisor PC, both are effectively the same step options.
For details about step types, see “Niagara provisioning job steps” on page 3-23.
• Right-click in the steps list, select Add, and choose the step type from the popup menu.
• Drag a file from Workbench’s Nav tree into the steps list (implicit File Copy step).
• Drag a software item (module or dist) from Workbench’s Nav tree that appears under the Provision-
ingNwExt’s “Software” container, into the Job Steps List (implicit Install Software step).
• Drag a ProvisioningRobot that exists in the station’s Config (component) architecture into the Job
Steps List (implicit Run Robot step).
Removing Job List Steps
Remove a provisioning job step using either of these two methods:
• Click to select the step, then click the “X” (remove) button below the list.
• Right-click the step, and select Remove from the popup menu.
Reorder Job List Steps
Reorder a selected job step by clicking the (up) or (down) arrow button at the bottom of the list. Or, right-
click a job step and select Move Up or Move Down, as needed.
Note: Job steps are executed in the same top-to-bottom order as defined in the two step lists: “initial steps” first,
then “steps for each station”.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-3
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Niagara Network Job Builder Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Stations List December 3, 2007

Stations List
This lower area of the Niagara Network Job Builder lists all the stations to be processed by the job—note
this means each station processes all steps in the (middle pane) “Steps for each station List”. Only stations
in the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork can be added. For any job, you add one or more stations, and you
can also remove and reorder stations (stations are processed in a top-to-bottom order).
Adding Stations
Add a station to a job in the Niagara Network Job Builder by doing any of the following:
• Click the “+” (add) button below the list, and choose the station(s) in thee Add Station popup
dialog (see Figure 3-3). A Check All button allows you to choose all stations.
• Right-click in the Stations List, select Add, and choose the station(s) in the popup menu.
• In the Nav tree, drag a station from under the NiagaraNetwork into the Stations List.

Figure 3-3 Add Station dialog

Removing Stations
Remove a station from a job in the Niagara Network Job Builder using either of these two methods:
• Click to select the station, then click the “X” (remove) button below the list.
• Right-click the station, then select Remove from the popup menu.
Reorder Stations
Reorder a selected station in the Niagara Network Job Builder by clicking the (up) or (down) arrow button
at the bottom of the list. Or, right-click a station and select Move Up or Move Down, as needed.
Note: Stations are processed in the same top-to-bottom order as defined in the Stations List.

Alarm checkboxes
The two checkboxes at the top of the Niagara Network Job Builder determine if alarms are to be issued
by the BatchJobService for this provisioning job, and under what circumstances. Alarms use the
alarm class specified in the property sheet of the BatchJobService.
• Generate an alarm when any step fails or is canceled — if checked, an alert is
raised whenever a job step fails or is canceled.
• Generate an alarm when a job completes successfully — if checked, an alert is
raised whenever a job completes with no step failures.
Note: Checkbox settings apply to the provisioning job being built, and do not affect other provisioning jobs that
may exist (already queued to run, or as job prototypes, that is NiagaraNetworkJobPrototypes).
For further alarm details, see “About provisioning-related alarms” on page 3-33.

Buttons
The Run Now button at the bottom of the Niagara Network Job Builder becomes enabled when there is
at least one job step in either the “Initial (run once) steps List” or “Steps for each station List”, and one
station in the “Stations List”. When you are finished specifying a provisioning job, you can click it.
• Run Now — click to dispatch the job to the batch job queue for immediate execution. The Work-
bench view automatically changes to the Device Network Job View.
Note: The Refresh button is always enabled, note that it removes all entries from all three lists.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-4
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Niagara Network Job List
December 3, 2007 Jobs Table

Niagara Network Job List

Another view on the NiagaraNetwork’s ProvisioningNwExt, access it via the view selector (Figure 3-
4), or by right-clicking the ProvisioningNwExt and selecting Views > Niagara Network Job List.
As shown in Figure 3-4, this view has one list area: Jobs Table, with buttons at the bottom.

Figure 3-4 Niagara Network Job List is another view of the ProvisioningNwExt

Jobs Table
This main area of the Niagara Network Job List shows a supervisor-wide list of provisioning jobs that
have been sent to run, are running, or are have completed. Note that any “pending jobs” do not appear
until the linked trigger schedule actually fires.
This jobs table differs from the one in the JobServiceManager view on the station’s JobService in the
following ways:
• This table shows all NiagaraNetwork provisioning jobs, whereas the Job Service Manager table
shows only 10 jobs maximum (of various types, and not just provisioning jobs).
• Jobs persist (remain) following a station restart, whereas all jobs are cleared under the JobService.
• More information shows in this table, with columns for start time, end time, and so on.
• You can double-click any job row to view its Job Log, a series of log messages about the job stored
in its job log file (same as using the View Log button at the bottom of the view).
• You can right-click a job for a popup menu—providing same functions as buttons (at view bottom).
Jobs table columns
Jobs table columns in the Niagara Network Job List include the following:
• Start — time the job was queued.
• End — time the job terminated (successfully, failed, or canceled).
• User — station user that requested the job (shows “unknown” if job triggered by a linked schedule).
• Status — the status of the jobs, as one of the following:
• Unknown — job is pending execution, because all threads in the job queue are in use.
• Running — job is executing.
• Canceling — request to cancel the job was sent, but has not been processed yet, and the job
is still executing.
• Success — job finished successfully, with all steps completed for all stations.
• Canceled — job was canceled before it completed, and is no longer running.
• Failed — at least one step failed in one station; job is no longer running.
The status column ends with a “>>” (Details) and “X” (Dispose) button for each job, these function
the same as the Job Summary and Dispose buttons at the bottom of this view.

Buttons
Most buttons near the bottom of the Niagara Network Job List become enabled when you have a job row
selected in the Jobs Table. Buttons are described as follows:
• View Log — For a popup Job Log dialog, showing log messages output by the selected job. See
“Job Log notes” for more details.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-5
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Niagara Network Job List Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Buttons December 3, 2007

• Job Summary — To change to the Device Network Job View (or Batch Job Log File View), to dis-
play the selected job in detail.
• Cancel — Enabled only if selected job has Running status. If clicked, the job is notified it should
cancel when safe to do so. Note that not all job steps can be canceled.
• Dispose — For a confirmation dialog to delete the selected job(s), including all associated job files
(Figure 3-5).

Figure 3-5 Dispose Job Confirmation

If you confirm to dispose:

• Job(s) is deleted from the JobService (if still there, not rolled off as 11th job, or station restart).
• All associated job files are deleted, including the batch job log file, batch job step log files, and
other files if applicable. Note for a backup job, this includes deleting the backup .dist file(s).
• Job(s) is removed from the Jobs Table in the extension’s Niagara Network Job List.
Note: You can use the Dispose button with multiple selected jobs, if needed.
Job Log notes
The popup Job Log table shows you a running log of messages output with the execution of the job. As
shown in Figure 3-6, each row includes a column for status, timestamp, message, and details.

Figure 3-6 Job Log dialog example

Note: New log messages do not appear dynamically—to see newer messages you must reopen the Job Log.
To see more details (if available) on any row, double-click it for a Job Details popup dialog, as shown
in Figure 3-7.

Figure 3-7 Log Details example from Job Log

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-6
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Device Network Job View
December 3, 2007 Job elements (read-only)

Device Network Job View

The Device Network Job View (Figure 3-8) shows details for a single Niagara provisioning job execution.
It is the default view for any NiagaraNetworkJob. You see this view when you select “Run Now” in the
Niagara Network Job Builder or Niagara Network Prototype View, or by clicking the “>>” (Details)
button in the Niagara Network Job List or the Prototype Job List on any recent provisioning job.
Note: If the job has completed (and no longer appears in its JobServiceManager view), instead of this view you see
the Batch Job Log File View (see Figure 3-10 on page 8) which operates in the same manner.

Figure 3-8 Device Network Job View lists steps in one job.

As shown in Figure 3-8, from top-to-bottom this view has three areas:
• Job elements (read-only)
• Step summary table
• Buttons

Job elements (read-only)

The four read-only elements at the top of the Device Network Job View (or Batch Job Log File View)
include the following:
• User — Station user that submitted the provisioning job (is “unknown” if a scheduled job).
• Started — Date/time when the job was submitted to the job queue.
• Ended — Date/time when the job stopped running, or blank if still running.
• State — Current or final state of the job, as one of the following:
Note: First three states apply only if the Device Network Job View.
• Unknown — job is pending execution, because all threads in the job queue are in use.
• Running — job is executing.
• Canceling — request to cancel the job was sent, but has not been processed yet, and the job
is still executing.
• Success — job finished successfully, with all steps completed for all stations.
• Canceled — job was canceled before it completed, and is no longer running.
• Failed — at least one step failed in one station; job is no longer running.

Step summary table

This main area of the Device Network Job View (or Batch Job Log File View) shows a summary for each
step in the job that has ever started processing for a station (in other words, no rows appear for steps that
have not yet started, or were skipped because prior steps either failed or were canceled).
Columns in the step summary table include the following:
• Station — the station the step is (or has) processed.
• Step — type of provisioning job step (see “Niagara provisioning job steps” on page 3-23).
• Started — time the step started processing for this station.
• Ended — time the step finished, or blank if the step is still running.
• State — the state of the steps, as one of the following:
Note: First two states apply only if the Device Network Job View.
• Running — step is executing.
• Canceling — request to cancel the step was sent, but job has not processed this yet, and the
step is still executing.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-7
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Batch Job Log File View Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Buttons December 3, 2007

• Success — step finished successfully, and is no longer running.

• Canceled — job was canceled before it completed, and is no longer running.
• Failed — the step failed and is no longer running.
The State column ends with a “>>” (Step Details) button for each step. If clicked, this changes the
view to the Batch Job Step Log File View, showing all log messages on this single step.

Buttons
Buttons at the bottom of the Device Network Job View (or Batch Job Log File View) are described as
follows:
• View Log — (always enabled) Click for a popup Job Log dialog showing log messages output by
the job. See “Job Log notes” on page 3-6 for more details.
• Job List — (always enabled) Click to go “up a level” to the Niagara Network Job List.
• Cancel Job — Enabled only if job is running. Clicking notifies the job to cancel when safe to do so.
• Cancel Device — Enabled only if job is running, and a step row is selected in the Step summary
table. Clicking notifies the job to cancel for the selected station (when safe to do so), and to begin job
processing for the next station.
• Dispose — Enabled if job is finished. Click for a confirmation dialog to delete the selected job(s),
including all associated job files (Figure 3-5).

Figure 3-9 Dispose Job Confirmation

If you confirm to dispose:

• The job is deleted from the JobService (if still there, not rolled off as 11th job, or station restart).
• All associated job files are deleted, including the batch job log file, batch log step log files, and
other files if applicable. Note for a backup job, this includes deleting the backup .dist file(s).
• The job is removed from the Jobs Table in the ProvisioningNwExt’s Niagara Network Job List.

Batch Job Log File View

The Batch Job Log File View (Figure 3-10) shows details for a single Niagara provisioning job that has
completed. You can see this view by clicking the “>>” (Details) button in the Niagara Network Job List or
the Prototype Job List on any such provisioning job.

Figure 3-10 Batch Job Log File View lists steps in one job

As shown in Figure 3-10, this view is nearly identical to the Device Network Job View (for a Niagara
provisioning job still under the station’s JobService). See the following Device Network Job View
sections for related details:
• “Job elements (read-only)” on page 3-7
• “Step summary table” on page 3-7
• “Buttons” on page 3-8

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-8
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Batch Job Step Log File View
December 3, 2007 Step elements (read-only)

Batch Job Step Log File View

The Batch Job Step Log File View (Figure 3-11) shows details for one provisioning job step executed
against a single station. It is the default view for any batch job step log file (.bjsl extension). Typically,
you see this view by clicking the “>>” (Details) button on a completed step in the Device Network Job
View or Batch Job Log File View.

Figure 3-11 Batch Job Step Log File View lists details on one step for a station.

As shown in Figure 3-11, from top-to-bottom this view has three areas:
• Step elements (read-only)
• Step log table
• Buttons

Step elements (read-only)

Read-only elements at the top of the Batch Job Step Log File View include the following:
• Device — Station the step is (or has) processed.
• Job Step — Type of provisioning step (Backup Stations, File Copy, Install Software, etc.).
• Started — Date/time the step started processing.
• Ended — Date/time the step finished, or blank if it is still running.
• State — Current or final state of the step, as one of the following:.
• Running — step is executing.
• Canceling — request to cancel the step was sent, but has not been processed yet, and the job
is still executing.
• Success — step finished successfully, and is no longer running.
• Canceled — job was canceled before it completed, and is no longer running.
• Failed — the step failed and is no longer running.
• File (only if a Backup Stations step) — File path and name on AxSupervisor for the saved backup
.dist file. Uses convention:
^provisioningNiagara/stationData/stationName/backups/backup_stationName_yymmdd_hhmm.dist

Step log table

This main area of the Batch Job Step Log File View shows the log items written during the step execution.
Columns in the step log table include the following:
• Status — Status of the step processing when the log message was written, for example: Message,
Success, or Failed.
• Timestamp — Date/time when the log message was written.
• Message — The actual log message.
• Details — Any additional details (or the beginning of such details).
Note: Double-click any step log message to see additional details, if any (see Figure 3-12). For
example, an error message may include a “stack trace” in the details.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-9
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Device Step Details View Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Buttons December 3, 2007

Figure 3-12 Log Details dialog on message in step log

Buttons
Buttons at the bottom of the Batch Job Step Log File View are described as follows:
• Job Summary — (always enabled) Click to go “up a level” to the Batch Job Log File View or Device
Network Job View (the latter if job is running or recent).
• Refresh Log — Enabled only if job is running. Clicking reloads the information from the job
(available because this view cannot get new log entries as they are written on the AxSupervisor).
• Restore — Enabled if it was a Backup Stations step, and it completed successfully. Click for a con-
firmation dialog to install the station from the backup .dist saved in this job step (Figure 3-13).

Figure 3-13 Restore Station Confirmation

Note: Read the Restore Station confirmation carefully. There is no “undo” after restoring a
station backup.
If you confirm to restore:
• A provisioning job is queued to install the backup .dist.
• The view changes to the Device Network Job View for the new (install backup) job.
Note: If the step was a Run Robot step, these additional buttons are available at the bottom of the Batch Job
Step Log File View or Device Step Details View:
• Robot Source — (always enabled) Click to view the program code of the ProvisioningRobot.
• Robot Log — Enabled after job has completed. Click to see the log output from the execution of
the ProvisioningRobot.
For more details, see “Run Robot step view features” on page 3-29.

Device Step Details View

The Device Step Details View (Figure 3-14) shows details for one provisioning job step currently running
against a single station. Typically, you do not see this view, unless from the Device Network Job View, you
click the “>>” (Details) button on most running steps. After the job completes and you ask for step details,
instead of this view you typically see the Batch Job Step Log File View.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-10
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts ProvisioningNwExt properties
December 3, 2007 Buttons

Figure 3-14 Device Step Details View lists details on one running step for a station.

Note: If a currently running backup station step, you see a slightly different view still: the Backup Step
Details View (Figure 3-15 below). Note that the view for a “Run Robot step” also provides additional
buttons. See “Run Robot step view features” on page 3-29.

Figure 3-15 Backup Step Details View lists details on one running backup step for a station.

All views on running steps are nearly identical to the Batch Job Step Log File View. For more details,
please see the following Batch Job Step Log File View sections:
• “Step elements (read-only)” on page 3-9
• “Step log table” on page 3-9
• “Buttons” on page 3-10

ProvisioningNwExt properties
The ProvisioningNwExt for the NiagaraNetwork has a number of frozen slots, both containers
(some with special views) as well as a few simple properties. Access them through the component’s
property sheet (Figure 3-16).

Figure 3-16 ProvisioningNwExt property sheet

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-11
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
ProvisioningNwExt properties Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
ProvisioningNwExt properties December 3, 2007

See the following sections for more details:

• ProvisioningNwExt properties
• ProvisioningNwExt containers and components

ProvisioningNwExt properties
Simple properties of the ProvisioningNwExt (Figure 3-16) are described as follows:
• Status — Is either fault if provisioning is not licensed, disabled if Enabled property is false,
and in all other cases is ok.
• Enabled — If set to false, provisioning activity cannot occur, and provisioning-related extensions
in NiagaraStations are set to disabled.
• Fault Cause — Text explanation for why the extension is in fault.

ProvisioningNwExt containers and components

As shown in Figure 3-16, the ProvisioningNwExt contains these other frozen child components:
• Backup Schedule — A standard TriggerSchedule with its trigger output pre-linked to the Pro-
visioningNwExt’s “Start Backup” action, which when invoked performs a backup of all stations. This
is just a convenience you can use to set a regular schedule for a backup of all stations at the same
time. Simply double-click it for its Trigger Scheduler view.
Note: If you prefer for scheduled backups of different stations to occur at different times, you can
create separate TriggerShedules and link them to the “Start Backup” action of the appropriate
“Backup” extension under different NiagaraStations. Or, simply use the reusable “job prototype”
components (NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype) copied from the provisioningNiagara palette. For more
details, see “About the Niagara Network Job Prototype” on page 3-16.
• Software — Software Container that summarizes software versions available on the AxSupervisor
to be installed into stations. For more details, see “Supervisor Software container” on page 3-13 and
“Supervisor Software Manager” on page 3-13.
• Licenses — Provides views into licenses installed in NiagaraStations under the NiagaraNetwork,
as well as the AxSupervisor’s “license database.” For more details, see “Licenses property” on page 3-
15.
• Poll Scheduler — The Station Poll Scheduler controls the polling of the StationProxy exten-
sions by the ProvisioningNwExt. This poll scheduler operates as in most driver networks. See “About
poll components” in the User Guide for general information. Polling only happens for station proxy
objects that are subscribed (linked somewhere, or being viewed or charted, etc.).
Note: Often, you can leave poll configuration at defaults. Alternately, assign the Poll Frequency
property in the StationProxy extensions (NiagaraStation provisioning extensions) differently than the
default “Normal.”

ProvisioningNwExt action
As shown in Figure 3-17, the ProvisioningNwExt has a single Start Backup action.

Figure 3-17 Start Backup action of ProvisioningNwExt

When invoked, a provisioning job to backup every NiagaraStation (providing its Backup extension is
enabled) is immediately submitted to the batch job queue.
Note that invoking this action is equivalent to doing the following:
• Going to the Niagara Network Job Builder view of the ProvisioningNwExt.
• Adding a Backup Stations step in the view’s “Steps for each station List”.
• Adding all stations in the view’s Stations List.
• In the buttons area, clicking Run Now.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-12
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Supervisor Software container
December 3, 2007 Supervisor Software Manager

Supervisor Software container

The Software container under the ProvisioningNwExt provides a “window” into the AxSupervisor’s
software registry (installable software files stored under its !sw directory), and is populated by compo-
nents that represent these files. When the service starts (station startup), it starts a thread that scans the
software registry and populates this container. The Software container also lists software files added to
the registry after the initial scan.
Direct children of the Software container are summary objects (InstallableSummary components) for
named, typed software files (for example, file type module named “baja”). For each summary object, there
is a specification object (InstallableSpec components) for each version in the registry.
Apart from these summary children, the Software container has but a single frozen property: “loaded”, a
boolean slot indicating whether the startup thread has finished scanning the registry (by default, this
property is hidden).
Your key interface to the Software container is its default view: the Supervisor Software Manager.

Supervisor Software Manager

The default view of the Software container under the ProvisioningNwExt is the Supervisor
Software Manager (Figure 3-18).

Figure 3-18 Supervisor Software Manager is default view of Software container

This view provides the following:

• Visibility into the software registry on the AxSupervisor.
• Ability to add software files in the software registry on the AxSupervisor.
• Ability to compare software versions against stations under the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork.
Parts of this view include the Software tree pane, Details pane, and bottom-located buttons.
Software tree
This left pane of the Supervisor Software Manager shows all child nodes, where each root node repre-
sents a software file’s name, and its children represent the versions of the software file in the registry. You
can drop a module or distribution file from Workbench’s Nav tree into this software tree.
If it is an acceptable file (that is readable and correctly formatted), its version will be checked against the
software database of the AxSupervisor. If not a duplicate, it is transferred to the AxSupervisor and
becomes registered in its software database.
Details pane
This right pane of the Supervisor Software Manager shows details about any version node selected in the
Software tree, including file name, size, description, version, and all dependencies.
Buttons
Buttons near the bottom of the Supervisor Software Manager are described as follows:
• Sync Workbench— (always enabled) Available to update the AxSupervisor’s software database to
include all installable files in your Workbench’s software database (under its !sw directory). See the
next section “Sync Workbench”.
• Add File — (always enabled) For the standard File Chooser dialog, in which you can navigate
to the location of the software file for a module or distribution file.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-13
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Supervisor Software container Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Supervisor Software Manager December 3, 2007

• Check Stations — enabled when you have a software node selected in the Software tree.
Sync Workbench When you click this in the Supervisor Software Manager, the comparison between the
different software databases is made.
• If the AxSupervisor already has all the software installable files that your Workbench environment
has, a popup dialog informs you that the “provisioning software is up to date” (Figure 3-19).

Figure 3-19 Up to Date dialog from Sync Workbench

• If your Workbench environment has installable files that the AxSupervisor does not, an Add Soft-
ware popup dialog lists these files, and asks if you wish to transfer them to the AxSupervisor, as
shown in Figure 3-20. You can select Yes (to transfer) or No to cancel, as desired.

Figure 3-20 Add Software dialog from Sync Workbench

Check Stations When you click this in the Supervisor Software Manager, the selected version (or latest
version, if a root node is selected) is compared against the “platform snapshot” in each of the NiagaraSt-
ation’s Software station extensions.
A dialog is then displayed for that module, as shown in Figure 3-21.

Figure 3-21 Example dialog for installable from Check Stations function

This dialog shows a table with rows for each enabled NiagaraStation, displaying the version of the
software in its platform snapshot (viewable in its Software extension).
The last column in the table shows the status of the platform snapshot for each station, which can have
one of the following values:
• Up to Date — station version is equal to or greater than the software file in the AxSupervisor.
• Out of Date — AxSupervisor software file version is greater than the version installed on the sta-
tion’s host.
• Not Installed — this software file is not installed on the station’s host.
• No Snapshot — No platform snapshot has been taken for this station, so there is no basis for com-
parison.
• Bad Remote File — Station’s host has a version that is corrupt or otherwise unusable.
Buttons in this dialog provide added functionality.
Buttons As shown in Figure 3-21, buttons in the dialog produced by Check Stations are as follows:
• Select Out of Date — Selects each of the rows (stations) with an “Out of Date” status.
• Update Snapshot — Queries the platform daemon for each of the hosts running the selected sta-
tions, and builds a “snapshot” of installed software (useful for any with status “No Snapshot”).
• Create Job — Closes this dialog, and changes the view to the Niagara Network Job Builder.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-14
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Licenses property
December 3, 2007 Network License Summary

• Cancel — Closes this dialog, and takes no other action.

Licenses property
Among ProvisioningNwExt properties, the Licenses property under the NiagaraNetwork’s Provi-
sioningNwExt provides two different views of licenses related to this Niagara Network. It has no direct
component children, or child properties.

Figure 3-22 Licenses slot of ProvisioningNwExt provides two views

The two Licenses views are:

• Network License Summary — Provides a summary table listing the currently known license infor-
mation for each station (NiagaraStation) in the network.
• Supervisor License Manager — Provides a manager view into the AxSupervisor’s “local license da-
tabase”, similar to the “Workbench License Manager” view (Tool) for any Workbench PC.

Network License Summary

The default view of the Licenses slot under the ProvisioningNwExt is the Network License
Summary (Figure 3-23).

Figure 3-23 Network License Summary is default view of ProvisioningNwExt’s “Licenses” slot

This view provides summary information about the license in each host running a station, and is sourced
by the “Licenses” device extension of each child NiagaraStation station. If you double-click on a row, the
view changes to the property sheet of the “Licenses” extension for that particular NiagaraStation.
Note: A status of "Up To Date" simply means that the license on the remote host agrees with the license that the
AxSupervisor has for it in its (own) local license database. It may be possible that a more recent license is
available for it on the licensing server.
For more details and related information, refer to the Platform Guide sections “About the licensing server”,
“About the local license database”, and “About license archive (.lar) files”.
As needed in the Network License Summary view, you can select one more stations (license rows), and
Update. An update requests the latest license from the online licensing server, and if a newer one is
found (than already installed), installs it in the JACE, as well as update that license in the AxSupervisor’s
local license database. The “Last Updated” timestamp is also reset to the time of the update command.

Supervisor License Manager

The Supervisor License Manager (Figure 3-23) is an available view of the Licenses slot under
the ProvisioningNwExt.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-15
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
About the Niagara Network Job Prototype Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Supervisor License Manager December 3, 2007

Figure 3-24 Supervisor License Manager view is available view on ProvisioningNwExt’s License slot

This view provides access and management of the AxSupervisor’s “local license database”—that is, the
structured organization of “host ID-named” subfolders and contained license files that reside under the
AxSupervisor’s !/licenses folder. As in the equivalent “Workbench License Manager” view, it
provides a two-pane window into all the license files and parent “host ID” folders, where:
• Left pane provides tree navigation, where you can expand folders and click (to select) license files.
• Right pane shows the text contents of any selected license file.
Buttons at the bottom of this view provide a way to manage the contents of the AxSupervisor’s local
license database, and are described as follows:
• Import File — Always available, this allows you to add license file(s) from a local license file or
license archive (.lar) file.
• Export File — Always available, this allows you to save all licenses (or any selected licenses) lo-
cally, as a license archive file.
• Delete — This allows you to delete licenses from the AxSupervisor’s local license database.
• Synchronize — Typically always available if you have Internet connectivity. This lets you update
all licenses (or any selected licenses) in AxSupervisor’s local license database with the most current
versions, via the online licensing server.
For more details and related information, refer to the Platform Guide sections “About the licensing
server”, “Workbench License Manager”, “About the local license database”, and “About license archive
(.lar) files”.

About the Niagara Network Job Prototype

A NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype component (or simply a “job prototype”) is a persisted component that
specifies a Niagara provisioning job—meaning a specific set of steps to be performed on a given list of
Niagara stations. You can link the out (Trigger) slot of a standard TriggerSchedule to the component’s
“Submit Job” action, to specify some future (and possibly periodic) execution.
Starting in AX-3.3, these components can be added in the AxSupervisor station as needed for provi-
sioning its NiagaraNetwork. Find these components in the provisioningNiagara palette, as
“NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype” components. Like other components, you can duplicate, modify,
and reuse these jobs as needed in the AxSupervisor station.
Note: Locate these job prototype components wherever needed in the architecture of the AxSupervisor’s station
database—for example, they do not need to be under the ProvisioningNwExt, or even the NiagaraNetwork.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-16
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts About the Niagara Network Job Prototype
December 3, 2007 Scheduling a job prototype

Figure 3-25 Copying a NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype from the provisioningNiagara palette

Figure 3-25 shows a job prototype (NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype component) added, copied/dragged

from the palette.
Note: Alternatively, you can quickly make a “one-time/run-now” job using the Niagara Network Job Builder. Or,
a similar job is automatically made/run if you invoke the ProvisioningNwExt action Start Backup.
However, unlike job prototypes, these jobs cannot be saved as components for reuse.
Further details on job prototype components are in the following subsections:
• Scheduling a job prototype
• Job retention
• Job actions
• Niagara Network Prototype View (default view, and “main interface”)
• Prototype Job List (another available view)

Scheduling a job prototype

You can link a job prototype component to a TriggerSchedule for scheduled execution. For convenience,
the provisioningNiagara palette provides a TriggerSchedule for drag and drop copying (Figure 3-26).

Figure 3-26 Copying a TriggerSchedule from the provisioningNiagara palette

This is a standard TriggerSchedule component, identical to the one found in the schedule palette.
To schedule, you link the “Trigger” slot of a source TriggerSchedule to the “Submit Job” (action) slot of
the job prototype component, as shown being done in Figure 3-27.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-17
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
About the Niagara Network Job Prototype Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Job retention December 3, 2007

Figure 3-27 Linking TriggerSchedule to job prototype component

To define the schedule, double-click on the linked TriggerSchedule for its Scheduler view. You can set up
a one-time trigger in the future, or define regular (repeating) triggers, or define any combination of such
trigger events. For more details, see the “Trigger Scheduler view” section in the User Guide.
Note: If desired, you can copy a TriggerSchedule under a job prototype component (using it as the container), and
make this same link. This provides portability. Remember if you duplicate/copy the parent job prototype
after configuring the schedule, all copied job components will have that same scheduling configuration.

Job retention
Unique to a job prototype (or more accurately, any type of batch job component), is the feature of job
retention—essentially a “disposal” configuration for its previously executed jobs. When a batch job is
disposed, any associated files stored on the AxSupervisor are deleted, and that job is removed from the
various job list views. Disposal is especially important in regards to jobs with backup steps, each of which
results in an associated backup .dist file to be stored for each station. Over time, retaining all such jobs
can consume an extremely large amount of file space on an AxSupervisor.
By default (as copied from the provisioningNiagara palette), a job component’s retention is set for all of
its jobs to be permanently retained (until manually disposed). However, you can modify a job prototype’s
retention policy such that some executed jobs will be automatically disposed—depending on either the
“elapsed time” or by reaching some number of job executions. Access a job’s retention properties on
either the top of its Prototype Job List view (Figure 3-28Figure 3-28), or in the component’s
property sheet.

Figure 3-28 Retention properties for NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype component

The two retention properties are described as follows:

• Retention Policy — This determines how long (or many) executed batch jobs are retained in
the station’s job management system, after which they are disposed. Choices include:
• Retain permanently — (default as copied from palette). All executed batch jobs remain in
the AxSupervisor’s station job management system, until manually disposed.
• Dispose after a specified amount of time — Executed batch jobs are disposed
after some period of time (relative to their “end” timestamp).

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-18
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Niagara Network Prototype View
December 3, 2007 Job actions

The field editor allows selection of a period including days, hours, and minutes (default 7 days).

• Keep a limited number of executions — Only the most recent number n of exe-
cuted batch jobs are retained, after which older jobs are disposed.
The field editor provides a numerical entry field (for example, 10 executions). Included is a
checkbox (flag) to specify whether only successful job executions are to be counted.

• Retention Policy Check Frequency — (1 hour for job from palette). The periodic frequen-
cy at which the job’s Retention Policy is evaluated and enforced. Note that you can also manually in-
voke the “Enforce Retention Policy” action on the job component. See the next “Job actions” section.
Note: Keep in mind that if you configure retention properties and then duplicate/copy the job prototype, that all
copied job components will have that same retention configuration.

Job actions
Each job prototype has two available right-click actions, as shown in Figure 3-29.

Figure 3-29 Actions for a NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype

The Submit Job action is equivalent to the Run Now button when in the job prototype’s default
Niagara Network Prototype View. The Enforce Retention Policy action immediately applies the
job’s retention policy. For related details, see the previous “Job retention” section.

Niagara Network Prototype View

The default view on any (reusable) Niagara job prototype, you use it to specify, schedule, or otherwise
edit this particular Niagara provisioning job. As shown in Figure 3-30, this view is similar to the Niagara
Network Job Builder view (of the ProvisioningNwExt), in that it has three list areas:
• Initial (run once) steps List
• Steps for each station List
• Stations List
Also as in the Niagara Network Job Builder view, there are alarm checkboxes and buttons.
Note: The additional Save button in the Niagara Network Prototype View is mainly how this view
differs from the Niagara Network Job Builder view. For more details, see “Buttons” on page 3-21.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-19
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Niagara Network Prototype View Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Initial (run once) steps List December 3, 2007

Figure 3-30 NiagaraNetworkPrototypeView is default view of a NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype

Alarm checkboxes

Initial (run once) steps List

Steps for each station List

Stations List

Buttons

Initial (run once) steps List

This top area of the Niagara Network Prototype View shows a one-line summary for each step to be
performed once in the job, regardless of how many stations will be specified. Currently, when provi-
sioning Niagara this means only one step type: “Update Licenses”, and is optional. (You may wish to
skip this step, but add other types of steps in the middle “Steps for each station List” pane).
To add this step, click the “+” (add) button below this list—see “Adding Job List Steps” on page 3-20 for
further details. For details on this initial step, see “Update Licenses step” on page 3-24.

Steps for each station List

This middle area of the Niagara Network Prototype View shows a one-line summary for each step to be
run for each station specified in this job. In most provisioning jobs, you add one or more steps. As needed,
you can also remove and reorder steps (when the job runs, steps execute in the top-to-bottom order).
Adding Job List Steps
Figure 3-31 New Job Step popup menu (Niagara Network Prototype View)

Add a provisioning job step by using any of the following methods:

• Click the “+” (add) button below the list, and choose the step type from the New Job Step popup
menu (see Figure 3-31). Note that all the same types of job steps are available as in the Niagara Net-
work Job Builder, with the exception of the Copy Local File step).
For details about step types, see “Niagara provisioning job steps” on page 3-23.
• Right-click in the steps list, select Add, and choose the step type from the popup menu.
• Drag a file from Workbench’s Nav tree into the steps list (implicit Copy Supervisor File step).
• Drag a software item (module or dist) from Workbench’s Nav tree that appears under the Provision-
ingNwExt’s “Software” container, into the Job Steps List (implicit Install Software step).
• Drag a ProvisioningRobot that exists in the station’s Config (component) architecture into the steps
list (implicit Run Robot step).

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-20
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Niagara Network Prototype View
December 3, 2007 Stations List

Removing Job List Steps

Remove a provisioning job step using either of these two methods:
• Click to select the step, then click the “X” (remove) button below the list.
• Right-click the step, and select Remove from the popup menu.
Reorder Job List Steps
Reorder a selected job step by clicking the (up) or (down) arrow button at the bottom of the list. Or, right-
click a job step and select Move Up or Move Down, as needed.
Note: Job steps are executed in the same top-to-bottom order as defined in the two step lists: “initial steps” first,
then “steps for each station”.

Stations List
This lower area of the Niagara Network Prototype View lists all the stations to be processed by the job—
note this means each station processes all steps in the (middle pane) “Steps for each station List”. Only
stations in the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork can be added. For any job, you add one or more stations,
and you can also remove and reorder stations (stations are processed in a top-to-bottom order).
Adding Stations
Add a station to a job in the Niagara Network Prototype View by doing any of the following:
• Click the “+” (add) button below the list, and choose the station(s) in thee Add Station popup
dialog (see Figure 3-32). A Check All button allows you to choose all stations.
• Right-click in the Stations List, select Add, and choose the station(s) in the popup menu.
• In the Nav tree, drag a station from under the NiagaraNetwork into the Stations List.

Figure 3-32 Add Station dialog

Removing Stations
Remove a station from a job in the Niagara Network Prototype View using either of these two methods:
• Click to select the station, then click the “X” (remove) button below the list.
• Right-click the station, then select Remove from the popup menu.
Reorder Stations
Reorder a selected station in the Niagara Network Prototype View by clicking the (up) or (down) arrow
button at the bottom of the list. Or, right-click a station and select Move Up or Move Down, as needed.
Note: Stations are processed in the same top-to-bottom order as defined in the Stations List.

Alarm checkboxes
The two checkboxes at the top of the Niagara Network Prototype View determine if alarms are to be
issued by the BatchJobService for this provisioning job, and under what circumstances. Alarms use
the alarm class specified in the property sheet of the BatchJobService.
• Generate an alarm when any step fails or is canceled — if checked, an alarm
is raised whenever a job step fails or is canceled.
• Generate an alarm when a job completes successfully — if checked, an alarm is
raised whenever a job completes with no step failures.
Note: Checkbox settings apply to the provisioning job being built, and do not affect other provisioning jobs that
may exist (either as other provisioning components, jobs already queued to run, or built in the Niagara
Network Job Builder).
For further details, see “About provisioning-related alarms” on page 3-33.

Buttons
The Niagara Network Prototype View has three buttons along the bottom, which from left-to-right are:

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-21
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Prototype Job List Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Jobs Table December 3, 2007

• Run Now — Enabled when there is at least one job step in either the “Initial (run once) steps List”
or “Steps for each station List”, and at least one station in the “Stations List”. Click to dispatch the
job to the batch job queue for immediate execution. The Workbench view automatically changes to
the Device Network Job View.
Note: If unsaved changes (Save button enabled), a popup dialog asks if you wish to save the config-
uration in this view (before queuing to run).
• Save — Enabled whenever you have unsaved changes in this view. Click to immediately save the
changes to the corresponding job prototype component.
• Refresh — Always enabled. If unsaved changes exist, this prompts if you wish to save. If you an-
swer no, the view is restored to the last saved configuration.

Prototype Job List

Another view on any Niagara job prototype, access it via the view selector (Figure 3-33), or by right-
clicking the NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype and selecting Views > Prototype Job List.
As shown in Figure 3-33, this view has one list area: Jobs Table, with buttons on the right and the bottom.

Figure 3-33 Prototype Job List is another view of a NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype component

This view differs from the Niagara Network Job List (NiagaraNetwork’s ProvisioningNwExt view) in
the following ways:
• The two “retention properties” for the associated job prototype component are shown at top, where
you can adjust if needed. For more details, see “Job retention” on page 3-18.
• This Jobs Table area shows only jobs from the (one) associated Niagara job prototype, whereas the
Niagara Network Job List table shows all retained Niagara provisioning jobs.

Jobs Table
This main area of the Prototype Job List shows Niagara provisioning jobs that have been sent to run, are
running, or are have completed. Note that any “pending jobs” do not appear until the job prototype’s
linked trigger schedule actually fires.
Jobs table columns in the job list include the following:
• Start — time the job was queued.
• End — time the job terminated (successfully, failed, or canceled).
• User — station user that requested the job (shows “unknown” if job triggered by a linked schedule).
• Status — the status of the jobs, as one of the following:
• Unknown — job is pending execution, because all threads in the job queue are in use.
• Running — job is executing.
• Canceling — request to cancel the job was sent, but has not been processed yet, and the job
is still executing.
• Success — job finished successfully, with all steps completed for all stations.
• Canceled — job was canceled before it completed, and is no longer running.
• Failed — at least one step failed in one station; job is no longer running.
The status column ends with a “>>” (Details) and “X” (Dispose) button for each job, these function
the same as the Job Summary and Dispose buttons at the right side of this view.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-22
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Niagara provisioning job steps
December 3, 2007 Buttons

Buttons
Most buttons along the right side of the Prototype Job List become enabled when you have a job row
selected in the Jobs Table.

Figure 3-34 Buttons along right side of Prototype Job List view.

Buttons are described as follows:

• Submit Job — Always enabled. This lets you request this prototyped job to run now. A new job
row is added atop the Jobs Table, with its status dynamically updated to show the job’s progress.
• View Log — For a popup Job Log dialog, showing log messages output by the selected job. See
“Job Log notes” on page 3-6 for more details.
• Job Summary — To change to the Device Network Job View, to display the selected job in detail.
• Cancel — Enabled only if selected job has Running status. If clicked, the job is notified it should
cancel when safe to do so. Note that not all job steps can be canceled.
• Dispose — For a confirmation dialog to delete the selected job(s), including all associated job files
(Figure 3-35).

Figure 3-35 Dispose Job Confirmation

If you confirm to dispose:

• Job(s) is deleted from the JobService (if still there, not rolled off as 11th job, or station restart).
• All associated job files are deleted, including the job log file, station step log files, and other files
if applicable. Note for a backup job, this includes deleting the backup .dist file(s).
• Job(s) is removed from the Jobs Table in the both the Prototype Job List and also in the Niagara
Network Job List.
Note: You can use the Dispose button with multiple selected jobs, if needed.

Niagara provisioning job steps

Any Niagara Network provisioning job contains one or more component steps. Typically, you add steps
in either of the “step lists” areas (“Initial—Run once” and/or “Steps to run for each”) in either of these two
views:
• Niagara Network Job Builder (view on the NiagaraNetwork’s ProvisioningNwExt)
• Niagara Network Prototype View (view on a particular Niagara job prototype).
Both views offer identical controls to add , remove , or reorder steps.
After any step completes, you can view details on it by accessing the Batch Job Step Log File View.
The different types of provisioning steps you can include in a Niagara provisioning job include the
following:
• Update Licenses step
• Backup Stations step
• Copy Supervisor File step
• Copy Local File step (available in the Niagara Network Job Builder view on ProvisioningNwExt)
• Install Software step
• Reboot step
• Run Robot step
• Upgrade Out-of-date Software step

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-23
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Niagara provisioning job steps Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Update Licenses step December 3, 2007

Update Licenses step

Currently, when adding Niagara provisioning job steps, the Update Licenses step (UpdateLicenses-
JobStep) is the only step option for the “Initial steps to run only once” (top) step list in either the Niagara
Network Job Builder or Niagara Network Prototype View. When processed by the AxSupervisor, it
gathers information on the licenses installed on the target station’s host(s), and then accesses the online
licensing server (in one message) to see if the licenses are up-to-date.
If any updated (different) licenses are found, they are installed to the target station’s host(s)—and also
updated in the AxSupervisor’s “local license database.”
Note: If the AxSupervisor is not configured for Internet connectivity, then only its local license database is used
to compare against licenses installed on the target station’s host(s). If any updated (different) licenses are
found, they are installed on the target station’s host(s).
For related information, refer to the Platform Guide sections “About the licensing server” and “About the
local license database”.

Backup Stations step

Among Niagara provisioning job steps, the Backup Stations step (ProvisioningBackupStep) makes an
online backup for each specified station (providing station is running), or if a specified station is not
running, an offline backup. It is available in the New Job Step menu when adding a step in either the
Niagara Network Job Builder or Niagara Network Prototype View, and also in the provision-
ingNiagara palette. Also, it is automatically added when you invoke the ProvisioningNwExt action
Start Backup.
In either case, the backup dist file for each station is stored on the AxSupervisor, using the following
convention:
^provisioningNiagara/stationData/stationName/backups/
backup_stationName_timestamp.dist
where
• stationName is the name of the station processed in the step
• timestamp is the job’s start time, formatted as YYYYMMDD_HHmmss.sss

Copy Supervisor File step

Among Niagara provisioning job steps, the Copy Supervisor File step copies a single file from the
AxSupervisor to a given location on the target JACE. It is available in the New Job Step menu when
adding a step in either the Niagara Network Job Builder or Niagara Network Prototype View, and also in
the provisioningNiagara palette (as “CopyFile” step).
When you add this step, the standard File Chooser dialog appears, showing folders and files under
the AxSupervisor’s (currently running) station folder—use it to specify the source file on the AxSuper-
visor PC. Figure 3-36 shows an example of a .gif file being selected.

Figure 3-36 Select AxSupervisor source file using File Chooser

After selecting a local source file, a Destination dialog prompts you for the target destination to copy
this file to, as shown in Figure 3-37.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-24
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Niagara provisioning job steps
December 3, 2007 Copy Local File step

Figure 3-37 Select target Destination

Note that this destination folder applies to all stations in the job. You may need to edit destination, as
shown done in Figure 3-38.

Figure 3-38 Edited target Destination

Here, the destination was changed to specify a “logos” subfolder under images folder, all under the
“station root” absolute (^). If a destination folder does not already exist on the target host, it is created.
Note: The destination string must always begin with the character for either the system-home relative (!) or the
station-home relative (^). No means is provided to modify any files outside of the Niagara release directory
on any target JACE hosts.
Upon execution, file copy steps are combined with other file copy steps, install software steps, or upgrade
out-of-date software steps in order to run more efficiently.

Copy Local File step

Among Niagara provisioning job steps, the Copy Local File step copies a single file from your (local)
Workbench PC to a given location on the target JACE. It is available when adding a step in the Niagara
Network Job Builder (ProvisioningNwExt view) only. It is also available in the provisioningNiagara
palette (as “CopyFile”), but only if copied in the Niagara Network Job Builder view (and then selected
instead of the “Copy Supervisor File” step in an intermediate popup dialog).
When you select this step, the standard File Chooser dialog appears, showing all drives mapped on
your local PC—use it to navigate to the source file to copy. Figure 3-36 shows an example of an .lnml
file being selected.

Figure 3-39 Select local source file using File Chooser

After selecting a local source file, a Destination dialog prompts you for the target destination to copy
this file to, as shown in Figure 3-37.

Figure 3-40 Select target Destination

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-25
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Niagara provisioning job steps Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Install Software step December 3, 2007

Note that this destination folder applies to all stations in the job. You may need to edit destination, as
shown done in Figure 3-38.

Figure 3-41 Edited target Destination

Here, the destination was changed to specify an “lnml” folder under the “station root” absolute (^). If a
destination folder does not already exist on the target host, it is created.
Note: The destination string must always begin with the character for either the system-home relative (!) or the
station-home relative (^). No means is provided to modify any files outside of the Niagara release directory
on any target JACE hosts.
When the job is scheduled or run, unless the file being copied is local to the AxSupervisor (i.e. you are
using Workbench on the AxSupervisor), a temporary copy of the file is made there. This temporary file
is cleaned up once the job completes.
Upon execution, file copy steps are combined with other file copy steps, install software steps, or upgrade
out-of-date software steps in order to run more efficiently.

Install Software step

Among Niagara provisioning job steps, the Install Software step (InstallBySpecStep) installs a versioned
software file to the target JACE host(s), from the AxSupervisor’s software database (files under its !sw
folder). It is available in the New Job Step menu when adding a step in either the Niagara Network Job
Builder or Niagara Network Prototype View, and also in the provisioningNiagara palette.
Note: If using a remote Workbench PC to connect to the AxSupervisor station, and you copy/drag a (local)
software file into the jobs step list pane from the Nav tree, the service automatically checks to see if that
software file/version already exists on the AxSupervisor. If not, it is immediately downloaded to (and regis-
tered with) the AxSupervisor, in the background.
If adding this step in the job creation view using the (add) button, an Install Software dialog
appears (Figure 3-42), in which you select the software module or .dist file to install.

Figure 3-42 Install Software dialog

Select an item by expanding to see its version, then click that software file, then OK (Figure 3-43).

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-26
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Niagara provisioning job steps
December 3, 2007 Reboot step

Figure 3-43 Expanding item to select software file by version

Note that when you drag a software item from the service’s Software container, and more than one
version (file) for that item is in the AxSupervisor’s software database, a popup dialog prompts you to
select the version (Figure 3-44).

Figure 3-44 Select dialog from dragging item with multiple versions

Once added, the Install Software step appears in the job steps list pane. If the software has dependencies
on module that are not yet installed on a particular JACE host, and those modules are in the AxSuper-
visor’s software registry, those modules will be automatically included in the processing of that host
(station), in order to satisfy dependencies.
Note: It is your (provisioning user’s) responsibility to ensure that platform dependencies of the software are met
by the JACE hosts running the target stations. For example, it is permissible to have a job with an install
software step that includes stations running on different platform types, say JACE-545s and JACE-403s.
However, if a step installs a distribution file specific to a JACE-403, note that the dependency check will fail
on the JACE-545s, and no software will be installed on them.
When the job executes, install software steps are combined with other software install steps, copy file
steps, and upgrade out-of-date-software steps to run more efficiently.
Note: A slightly different step (InstallStep) is created when you copy/drag a “backup .dist” file into the Job Steps
List pane—a backup .dist is not a “versioned” install (nor is it a FileCopyStep).

Reboot step
Among Niagara provisioning job steps, the Reboot step (RebootJobStep) reboots each station’s host, then
waits until its Niagara platform daemon comes back up and is available for connections again. It is
available in the New Job Step menu when adding a step in either the Niagara Network Job Builder or
Niagara Network Prototype View, and also in the provisioningNiagara palette.
Usage is expected to be infrequent, perhaps as a temporary measure for some misbehaving third-party
software module. This job step will fail if a station’s Software device extension is disabled or in fault.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-27
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Provisioning Robot notes Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Run Robot step December 3, 2007

Run Robot step

Among Niagara provisioning job steps, the Run Robot step (RunRobotStep) causes the specified Provi-
sioningRobot (program) in the AxSupervisor station to be executed by each remote station in the job, by
each station’s ProgramService. Find it in the New Job Step menu when adding a step in either the
Niagara Network Job Builder or Niagara Network Prototype View, and also in the provision-
ingNiagara palette.
Usage requires the AxSupervisor station to have a ProvisioningRobot customized to perform a task (or
tasks) that specifically apply to all stations included in the provisioning job. This job step will fail if a target
station is not running, does not have the ProgramService, or selectively in other cases were faulty or
inapplicable program code is included in the specified ProvisioningRobot.
For more details, see “Provisioning Robot notes” on page 3-28.

Upgrade Out-of-date Software step

Among Niagara provisioning job steps, the Upgrade Out-of-date Software step (UpgradeOutOfDat-
eStep) compares the versions of software installed on the station’s host with the latest versions of the same
software in the AxSupervisor’s software database. Any software found with a higher version on the
AxSupervisor is then installed to the station. Find it in the New Job Step menu when adding a step in
either the Niagara Network Job Builder or Niagara Network Prototype View, and also in the provi-
sioningNiagara palette.
Note: Although not typical, please note that the latest version of any software module found under the AxSuper-
visor’s software database (under !sw) is always installed by this step, even if the AxSupervisor itself is using
an earlier installed version (as found in its !modules directory). Normally, the AxSupervisor has the
latest versions of software modules installed, so this distinction is moot.
When the job executes, upgrade out-of-date-software steps are combined with other software install
steps and copy file steps, to run more efficiently.

Provisioning Robot notes

This section provides various notes about the ProvisioningRobot available in the AX-3.3 and later
provisioningNiagara palette. To use a ProvisioningRobot, copy (drag) it from the palette into the
AxSupervisor station (wherever needed), and modify its program code as appropriate.
You can then reference the ProvisioningRobot when adding a “Run Robot step” when building a provi-
sioning job. Or when building a job, simply drag a station’s ProvisioningRobot into the step list area (in
the Niagara Network Job Builder or Niagara Network Prototype View)—this adds the Run Robot step.
More details are in the following subsections:
• Provisioning Robot Editor
• Run Robot step view features

Provisioning Robot Editor

The default and main view of a ProvisioningRobot is the Provisioning Robot Editor (Figure 3-45), where
you edit and compile the Baja program code to be executed by all target stations.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-28
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Provisioning Robot notes
December 3, 2007 Run Robot step view features

Figure 3-45 Provisioning Robot Editor is default view for a ProvisioningRobot

This view operates like the “Robot Editor” view of a station’s ProgramService. To successfully customize
and use ProvisioningRobots, you should already be familiar with the NiagaraAX (Baja) class structures
and methods, as well as the Java syntax used by Baja program code.
The Provisioning Robot Editor tool bar has buttons for Compile and Run Now (Compile and
Submit). As shown in Figure 3-46, clicking Run Now produces the “Choose Stations” dialog.

Figure 3-46 Run Now produces Choose Stations dialog, then switches to Niagara Network Job Builder view

After you select one or more stations, the Niagara Network Job Builder view appears, with the Run Robot
step and selected stations entered, ready for you to launch (or if needed, add other steps).
Note: As a simple test, the ProvisioningRobot “as copied” from the provisioningNiagara palette, if specified
in a “Run Robot” step (or commanded to “Run Now”) should execute without errors by any target station
with the ProgramService. In addition, the program code in this ProvisioningRobot includes a number of
helpful programming tips within the remark lines near the top of the code.

Run Robot step view features

Step views for a “Run Robot step” provides additional buttons near the bottom of the view (Figure 3-47).

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-29
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Niagara Provisioning Job management Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Run Robot step view features December 3, 2007

Figure 3-47 Run Robot step in Batch Job Step Log File View

Each of these buttons produces a popup dialog:

• Robot Source
• Robot Log
For additional details about step views, see “Batch Job Step Log File View” on page 3-9.
Robot Source
Click Robot Source for read-only display of the ProvisioningRobot code used in the “Run Robot step”,
as shown in Figure 3-48.

Figure 3-48 Robot Source popup showing program code used in referenced ProvisioningRobot

Robot Log
Click Robot Log to see any text written to the robot's “log” PrintWriter during the step's execution, as
shown in Figure 3-49.

Figure 3-49 Robot Log Contents popup showing log output from executing the ProvisioningRobot

Niagara Provisioning Job management

Niagara Provisioning uses batch jobs as the method for doing most of its tasks. A combination of objects,
including components, files, and histories are used to model provisioning jobs, and their contained steps.
Note that batch jobs are different than other jobs run by the AxSupervisor’s JobService, because:
• File records of a batch job execution are retained until the job is explicitly disposed of, instead of be-

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-30
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Niagara Provisioning Job management
December 3, 2007 BatchJobService

ing held temporarily as children of the JobService, then quickly disappearing.

• Batch jobs can optionally trigger alarms (alerts) upon successful or unsuccessful completion.
• Batch jobs are first dispatched to a thread pool job queue, before being given to the JobService.
• Histories are automatically created for provisioning batch jobs as well as for individual device steps.
These sections describe those objects and their relationship to each other.
• BatchJobService
• Job execution
• Batch Job log files
• Provisioning Niagara station data files
• Histories related to provisioning
• About provisioning-related alarms

BatchJobService
The BatchJobService is required in the AxSupervisor station to facilitate provisioning. Copy it from the
batchJob or provisioningNiagara palette into the AxSupervisor’s Services folder. As shown in
Figure 3-50, it has no special views.

Figure 3-50 BatchJobService in AxSupervisor has no special views, and only a few properties

The BatchJobService is responsible for dispatching all provisioning jobs (as batch jobs) on an AxSuper-
visor, where batch jobs are run by the station’s JobService. The BatchJobService provides “job control”
functions for provisioning jobs. However, you do not normally interface with it, apart from specifying the
station’s alarm class to use for provisioning alarms. See the next section “BatchJobService properties”.
BatchJobService properties
Properties and slots of the BatchJobService (Figure 3-50) are described as follows:
• Status — Is either fault if provisioning is not licensed, disabled if Enabled property is false,
and in all other cases is ok.
• Enabled — If set to false, provisioning activity via the BatchJobService cannot occur.
• Fault Cause — Text explanation for why service is in fault.
• Job Queue — (Thread Pool Job Queue) Manages the submission of provisioning batch jobs by us-
ing a thread pool, to ensure the AxSupervisor’s CPU and network resources are not overtaxed by
concurrent sessions. A single property, Max Threads, defaults to one (1). No special views or other
features are provided.
Note: Only after determining the station has available resource overhead, should Max Threads be
adjusted up to 2. Otherwise, other tasks performed by the station may be affected.
• Alarm Class — Alarm class in the AxSupervisor station’s AlarmService to be used for alarms
(technically, alerts) when provisioning batch jobs fail and/or complete—as set in the alarm check-
boxes of the view used to build the provisioning job. For example (in the Niagara Network Job Build-
er), see “Alarm checkboxes” on page 3-4.
For further details, see “About provisioning-related alarms” on page 3-33.

Job execution
Just prior to execution, some steps in a provisioning batch job are combined. Currently, the only steps
that are combined are “Install Software,” “Copy File,” and “Upgrade Out-of-date Software” steps that are
adjacent to each other. Combining steps avoids duplication of dependency-checking with a station, and
minimizes the number of reboots required.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-31
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Niagara Provisioning Job management Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
Batch Job log files December 3, 2007

Upon execution, the provisioning batch job first executes any “initial, steps to run only once”—in Niaga-
raNetwork provisioning this simply means the “Update Licenses” step (if included). Typically the
AxSupervisor has Internet connectivity, and makes a single, silent inquiry to the licensing server, passing
the current licensing information for each host running an included station (in the job). The licensing
server responds with updated licensing information (if any) for these hosts in the form of a license
archive, where any updated licenses are installed—as well as updated within the AxSupervisor’s “local
license” database. For more background details, refer to related Platform Guide sections “About the
licensing server” and “About the local license database”.
Following this, the provisioning batch job executes remaining “steps to run for each station,” working
through its list of stations in sequence, and for each station it executes its steps in sequence. When the
job reaches a station in the list, its station state becomes “Running”. If any of the steps fail, the station’s
state becomes “Failed,” and no additional steps are run for that station, and the job continues with the
next station in the list.
If every step succeeds for a station, its station state becomes “Success.” If the job is canceled during a
station step, its station state, the station state of all following stations, and the job state all become
“Canceled.”
When all steps are complete for all stations without canceling, and all steps completed successfully, the
job state is “Success.” However, if even one step failed, the job state will be “Failed”.

Batch Job log files

Batch job log files are binary records of a single completed provisioning batch jobs, as well as single steps
in completed provisioning batch jobs. Batch job log files and batch step log files are always written under
the AxSupervisor’s station directory using the following convention:
^batchJob/logs/batchJob_type/[Link] (or .bjsl)

Caution Do not manually delete any batch job log files on the AxSupervisor, e.g. using Windows Explorer, or in
Workbench using the “My File System” node in the Nav tree. Instead, use the “Dispose” job feature in
various provisioning views, for example the Niagara Network Job List, or Prototype Job List view for
Niagara provisioning job components. When you dispose a job, all of its related batch job log files (and
Provisioning Niagara station data files) are automatically deleted.

Provisioning Niagara station data files

In addition to batch job log files, Niagara provisioning creates other files under the AxSupervisor’s station
directory to store backup .dist files, as well as “snapshots” of the software installed on the hosts
running those stations.
Backup .dist files are written under the AxSupervisor’s station directory using the following convention:
^provisioningNiagara/stationData/station/backups/backup_station_timestamp.dist
Software snapshot files are written under the AxSupervisor’s station directory using this convention:
^provisioningNiagara/stationData/station/software/[Link]

Caution Do not manually delete any stationData files on the AxSupervisor, e.g. using Windows Explorer, or in
Workbench using the “My File System” node in the Nav tree. Instead, use the “Dispose” job feature in
various provisioning views, for example the Niagara Network Job List, or Prototype Job List view for
Niagara provisioning job components. When you dispose a job, all of its related stationData files (and
Batch Job log files) are automatically deleted.

Histories related to provisioning

Niagara provisioning jobs are automatically recorded within the history space of the AxSupervisor, as
shown in histories highlighted in Figure 3-51.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-32
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts Niagara Provisioning Job management
December 3, 2007 About provisioning-related alarms

Figure 3-51 Provisioning related histories in AxSupervisor’s history space

These histories are automatically created using the following names:

• DeviceNetworkHistoryRecord
Contains one record for each Niagara provisioning job attempted. Includes various fields showing
the job's finished state, submitting user, stations to process, and whether it has been disposed.
• DeviceStepHistoryRecord
Contains one record for each “run for each station” step, per station, for any Niagara provisioning
job. Includes various available fields, showing the step's type, finished state, description, station, and
whether disposed (included in a job that was disposed).
• NetworkStepHistoryRecord
Contains one record for each initial “steps to run only once” step (that is “Update Licenses” for any
Niagara provisioning job). Includes various available fields, showing the step's type, finished state,
description, network type, and stations to process.

Caution Do not rename, delete, or clear these histories on the AxSupervisor, for example using the “Database
Maintenance” view on the AxSupervisor’s history space. These histories are used by the station’s
BatchJob API code, and by various “job list” views.
Deleting these histories can result in provisioning-related files becoming “orphaned,” such that it becomes
impossible to know if they can safely be deleted. Therefore, examination of these histories is optional, and
in most cases you can simply ignore them.

About provisioning-related alarms

For any Niagara provisioning job, you can configure it to generate an alarm either upon job failure,
successful job completion, or both. For details, see “Alarm checkboxes” on page 3-4 (Niagara Network Job
Builder) and “Alarm checkboxes” on page 3-21 (Niagara Network Prototype View).
Alarm routing uses the alarm class specified in the AxSupervisor’s BatchJobService properties, and any
alarm appears as an Alert (source state) in the Alarm Console, showing the BatchJobService ord as
source (local:|station:|slot:/Services/BatchJobService). See Figure 3-52.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-33
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Niagara Provisioning Job management Chapter 3 – Niagara ProvisioningNwExt Concepts
About provisioning-related alarms December 3, 2007

Figure 3-52 Niagara Provisioning alarm is an “alert” with source as BatchJobService

Note: The single alarm source of the BatchJobService applies to all Niagara provisioning related alarms (alerts),
meaning only one row is used in the Alarm Console for all provisioning alerts. Keep in mind if there are
multiple alerts, and you click Acknowledge on that row, all alerts will be acknowledged.
As needed, double-click that row to see multiple provisioning alerts in the Alarm Details view for the
BatchJobService, as shown done in Figure 3-52.
Note that as shown, each Niagara provisioning alert includes a hyperlink for more details. When you
click the Hyperlink button with the alert highlighted, the view changes to either:
• Batch Job Log File View — For that job, in cases where the alert is raised for successful job
completion. For more details on this view, see “Batch Job Log File View” on page 3-8.
• Batch Job Step Log File View — For a failed job step, in cases where the alert is raised for
a job failure. For more details on this view, see “Batch Job Step Log File View” on page 3-9.
Figure 3-53 shows an example hyperlink to the step log file view for a failed Niagara provisioning job.

Figure 3-53 Batch Job Step Log File View from Hyperlink in Alarm Console

Note: If you disposed a Niagara provisioning job before acknowledging it from the Alarm Console, if you click the
Hyperlink button to it from an associated Alarm Details view, you will see a “Cannot Display Page”
error in the view. This happens because disposing a job removes the batch job log (.bjl) file and all batch
job step log (.bjsl) files associated with that job. Therefore, it is recommended that you acknowledge any
related alarms (alerts) before disposing jobs.

NiagaraAX-3.3
3-34
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 CHAPTER 4
Provisioning Station Extension Concepts
This section explains components that are automatically created by the ProvisioningNwExt under a
different area of the AxSupervisor station (apart from the station’s ProvisioningNwExt under its
NiagaraNetwork, or separately copied “job prototype” components from the provisioningNiagara
palette). These components are special “device extensions” created under each of the NiagaraStation
devices contained in its NiagaraNetwork. Some have special views, also described in this section, as
well as a “Provisioning Manager” view that is available on the NiagaraNetwork.
Along with the ProvisioningNwExt and its children (see “About the ProvisioningNwExt” on page 3-2) all
station extension components are required to be present (and enabled) for full provisioning support.
These are the main subsections:
• Types of provisioning extensions
• Provisioning Manager view on the NiagaraNetwork
• Platform Connection extension
• StationProxy extension, and its views Provisioning Station Director and Station Job List
• Software extension, and its Station Software View
• Backup extension
• Licenses extension

Types of provisioning extensions

When you add the ProvisioningNwExt under the NiagaraNetwork of a licensed AxSupervisor’s station,
five different device extensions are automatically created under each NiagaraStation component, as
shown in Figure 4-1.

Figure 4-1 Provisioning extensions added to NiagaraStation device

Provisioning
Extensions

These device extensions are in addition to the standard Points, Histories, Alarms, Schedules
and Users extensions that exist for any NiagaraStation device.
Note: These provisioning extensions are also automatically added when you add a new station under the Niaga-
raNetwork in the AxSupervisor station (providing the network has the ProvisioningNwExt).
The five provisioning extension types are:
• Platform Connection — manages the platform connection between the AxSupervisor and the re-

NiagaraAX-3.3
4–1
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Provisioning Manager Chapter 4 – Provisioning Station Extension Concepts
Extension Access in Provisioning Manager December 3, 2007

mote JACE running the station.

• StationProxy — polls the station for system statistics.
• Software — holds a “snapshot” of the current software versions installed on the JACE host.
• Backup — enables the AxSupervisor to make backups of the station.
• Licenses — enables the AxSupervisor to update licenses on the JACE running the station.
Although automatically created, you must (minimally) configure some properties in the Platform
Connection provisioning extension.

Provisioning Manager
When you add the ProvisioningNwExt under an AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork, in addition to the five
provisioning extensions added to each child NiagaraStation, a new table-based view becomes available
on the network: the Provisioning Manager, as shown in Figure 4-2.

Figure 4-2 Provisioning Manager view of the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork

This view provides a “network-at-a-glance” summary of provisioning-related items, where each row
represents a NiagaraStation component (similar to the network’s default Station Manager view).
Included in each row is the status and health of each NiagaraStation’s “Platform Connection” (provi-
sioning extension), updated by the ongoing “ping” monitor to its platform daemon. For any station (row),
you can also right-click it and manually issue a “Ping” action.
See the following sections for further details:
• Extension Access in Provisioning Manager
• Edit in Provisioning Manager

Extension Access in Provisioning Manager

In the Exts column, for each NiagaraStation, the Provisioning Manager provides double-click access to
the following provisioning device extensions:
StationProxy extension, with a default Provisioning Station Director view.
For more details, see “StationProxy” on page 4-4 and “Provisioning Station Director” on page 4-6.
Software extension, with a default Station Software Manager view.
For more details, see “Software” on page 4-8 and “Station Software View” on page 4-9.
Other types of provisioning extensions are accessible by expanding a NiagaraStation in the Nav tree, or
from the property sheet of a NiagaraStation.

Edit in Provisioning Manager

The Provisioning Manager provides an Edit button at the bottom of the view, enabled whenever you
have one more rows selected. Edit allows you to modify the platform connection credentials used for
provisioning access by the AxSupervisor station—otherwise accessible in each NiagaraStation’s
“Platform Connection” (device extension) property sheet.

NiagaraAX-3.3
4-2
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 4 – Provisioning Station Extension Concepts Platform Connection
December 3, 2007 Properties

Figure 4-3 Edit dialog from Provisioning Manager

This Edit feature can be useful when first configuring Niagara provisioning on a NiagaraNetwork,
especially if multiple (if not all) remote JACE hosts are using the same platform credentials. In this case,
a single “gang edit” of these selected rows provides the configuration needed for AxSupervisor access.

Platform Connection
The Platform Connection (PlatformConnection component), among the provisioning extensions,
specifies the HTTP port and credentials for the AxSupervisor to use for making a platform connection
to each host represented by a NiagaraStation. Platform connections are used in most provisioning jobs,
and in the polling performed by the ProvisioningNwExt.
In order for provisioning to work for any station, you must specify both its platform port and platform
credentials in each newly-created Platform Connection extension. You can do this in its property sheet,
as shown in Figure 4-4 (no “special” views exist for this extension).

Figure 4-4 Platform Connection property sheet

The following sections provide more details:

• Properties
• Ping action
• New station notes

Properties
Properties of a Platform Connection provisioning extension are described as follows:
• Status — Current status of extension, where value is ok, disabled, or fault.
The platform connection will be in fault if any of the following occurs:
• AxSupervisor has no ProvisioningNwExt under its NiagaraNetwork (e.g., it has been deleted).
• AxSupervisor is not licensed for provisioning.
• NiagaraStation is in fault.
• The station’s platform daemon rejects the platform connection’s credentials.
The extension will be disabled if the ProvisioningNwExt is disabled.
• Fault Cause — If in fault, gives brief text explanation.
• Port — Port on which the platform daemon in the station’s host (JACE) is listening, where the default

NiagaraAX-3.3
4-3
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
StationProxy Chapter 4 – Provisioning Station Extension Concepts
Ping action December 3, 2007

port is 3011. If this port was changed in commissioning, you must match it here.
(Shows as “Platform Port” in Add dialog when in the Station Manager view and adding a new
station, see “New station notes”, also in the similar Edit dialog).
• Credentials — Credentials used for a platform connection to the JACE running the station, where
you enter a Username and Password.
(Credentials show as “Platform User” and “Platform Password” in the Add dialog when working in
the Station Manager view, see “New station notes”, also in the similar Edit dialog).
• Health — Contains information about the success or failure of the last pings, and is similar to the
standard “Health” slot in most driver networks.
• Alarm Source Info — Specifies how and if alarms are to be generated as a result of ping monitor fail-
ures, similar to the standard “Alarm Source Info” slot in most driver networks.

Ping action
A single “Ping” action is available on the Platform Connection, to immediately force a short message to
the host’s platform daemon. Its “Health” property updates with ping results. You can issue this action
after entering port and credentials properties, to test their validity.

New station notes

As shown in Figure 4-5, when working in the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork to add a new station, the
Add dialog automatically includes three provisioning-related properties (providing that the AxSuper-
visor is configured with the ProvisioningNwExt).

Figure 4-5 Add dialog for new NiagaraStation (in NiagaraNetwork)

These properties are at the bottom of the Add (or Edit) dialog for a NiagaraStation, all starting with
“Platform.” They are for the Port and Credentials properties in the Platform Connection extension. These
three properties do not appear in these dialogs when working in the NiagaraNetwork of any JACE station,
or if an AxSupervisor is not configured with (or licensed for) the ProvisioningNwExt.
If you want to perform provisioning on the station, be sure to put proper values in these platform fields.

StationProxy
The StationProxy extension (StationProxy component), among the provisioning extensions, provides
platform administration functions like those available when you open a direct platform connection in
Workbench, using the Station Director and Platform Administration views. It also
provides a number of actions for station control functions.
By default, this extension is enabled, to allow polling from the ProvisioningNwExt for values of the
extension’s properties. Figure 4-6 shows the property sheet for the station’s StationProxy extension. Note
that other special views are provided, including the default view (Provisioning Station Director) as well
as a Station Job List.

NiagaraAX-3.3
4-4
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 4 – Provisioning Station Extension Concepts StationProxy
December 3, 2007 Properties

Figure 4-6 StationProxy property sheet

The following sections provide more details:

• Properties
• Actions
• Views

Properties
Properties of the StationProxy are described as follows:
• Enabled — Defaults to true, set to false if you wish to prevent polling by the ProvisioningNwExt.
Note that Enabled must be true in order to use the special views on the Station Proxy extension,
namely the Provisioning Station Director and the Station Job List.
• Status — Current status of extension, where value is ok, disabled, or fault.
The platform connection will be in fault if any of the following occurs:
• AxSupervisor has no ProvisioningNwExt under its NiagaraNetwork (e.g., it has been deleted).
• AxSupervisor is not licensed for provisioning.
• NiagaraStation is in fault.
• Host’s platform daemon rejects the platform connection’s credentials.
The extension will be disabled if its Enabled property is set to false, or if the ProvisioningN-
wExt is disabled.
• Poll Frequency — Corresponds to the Poll Scheduler in the ProvisioningNwExt, as part of its
monitor “ping” mechanism (a ping of the platform daemon in the host running each station). See the
section “ProvisioningNwExt containers and components” on page 3-12 for related details.
Note: Remaining properties described below are read-only, and reflect various items about the
platform.
• Is Restart Enabled — If true, the station can be restarted without a reboot of its host platform (such
as with Win32-based platforms).
• Is Reboot Enabled — If true, the host’s platform daemon is capable of (and allows) rebooting of the
host.
• Is Auto Start — If true, the station is restarted automatically after the host is rebooted.
• Is Auto Restart — If true, the host is restarted (or rebooted if “Is Restart Enabled”=false) when-
ever the station terminates with a failure exit code.
• Station Status — Reflects one of the following values:
• Idle — Station is not currently running, and can be started without a reboot.
• Starting — Station process is running, but has not completed its startup sequence.
• Running — Station is running.
• Stopping — Station is in process of shutting down, but its process is still alive.
• Halted — Station is not currently running, and the host must be rebooted before it can start.
• Unknown — StationProxy has status disabled or fault, and so station status is unknown.
Status is also unknown if the station is unreachable, or if a poll has not happened yet.

NiagaraAX-3.3
4-5
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Provisioning Station Director Chapter 4 – Provisioning Station Extension Concepts
Actions December 3, 2007

• Is Accepting Messages — If false (unlikely), thread dumps, station saves, and graceful shutdown
is not possible using the platform daemon.
• Log Buffer Size — Size (in bytes) of the buffer used by the platform daemon to hold the console out-
put.
• Log Buffer File Size — Maximum size of the [Link] file (in bytes) that the platform daemon
saves console output to, when the station stops.
• Num Cpus— Number of CPUs on the host running the station.
• Current Cpu Usage — Percentage of time the CPU(s) have been in use in the last second.
• Overall Cpu Usage — Percentage of time the CPU(s) have been in use since the platform daemon
started.
• Total Physical Memory — Total KB of physical RAM on the station’s host.
• Free Physical Memory — KB of available physical RAM on the station’s host.
• File System Attributes — Free space statistics for each file system on station’s host.
In addition to these properties, the StationProxy extension has a number of Actions.

Actions
As shown in Figure 4-7, each StationProxy provisioning extension provides a number of actions, available
as right-click commands.

Figure 4-7 Action menu for StationProxy extension

Many of these actions are also available in the Provisioning Station Director view, as well as in views using
a direct platform connection. When invoked, each action performs as follows:
• Poll — Causes AxSupervisor to poll the host’s platform daemon for current data.
• Dump Threads — AxSupervisor requests that the station send a thread dump to its console output.
• Save Station— AxSupervisor requests that the station save its current state to its own (local) con-
[Link] file.
• Stop Station — AxSupervisor requests that the station shuts down gracefully.
• Start Station — (applicable only if current station status is idle). AxSupervisor requests the platform
daemon to start the station.
• Kill Station — AxSupervisor requests for the station to terminate immediately, without graceful
shutdown.
• Restart Station — Depending on “Is Restart Enabled” value, causes one of the following:
• If “Is Restart Enabled” is false — Station’s host is rebooted.
• If “Is Restart Enabled” is true — Station is stopped gracefully, then restarted again.
• Reboot Host — Depending on “Is Reboot Enabled” value, causes one of the following:
• If “Is Reboot Enabled” is false — Nothing happens.
• If “Is Reboot Enabled” is true — AxSupervisor requests for the platform daemon to shut down
gracefully, then reboot the host.

Views
Each StationProxy provisioning extension has two special views, summarized as follows:
• Provisioning Station Director — The default view for the StationProxy extension, this view closely
resembles the “Station Director” view in a direct platform connection.
• Station Job List — Provides a list summarizing provisioning job steps that have been executed
against this particular station, with additional details available.

Provisioning Station Director

The Provisioning Station Director is the default view on the StationProxy provisioning
extension of a NiagaraStation. As shown in Figure 4-8, this view closely resembles the “Application
Director” (formerly Station Director) view available in a direct platform connection to a host.

NiagaraAX-3.3
4-6
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 4 – Provisioning Station Extension Concepts Station Job List
December 3, 2007 Views

Figure 4-8 Provisioning Station Director is default view on StationProxy extension

Note: Refer to the “Application Director” section in the NiagaraAX Platform Guide for descriptions of most
elements in this view. Only elements that differ from that view are explained here.
Differences from the Application Director view are summarized as follows:
• Since the Provisioning Station Director only shows information for one station, it does
not show the station name and status within a table (at the top of the view), but instead shows this
data at the top using simple text labels.
• Where the Application Director updates the “Auto-Start” and “Restart on Failure” settings
immediately when changed, the Provisioning Station Director works more like a normal view, mean-
ing you must click the Save button after making any changes.
• Although the appearances of the two views are similar, their implementations are different. The Ap-
plication Director connects the Workbench view directly to the station’s platform daemon,
and is best for extended troubleshooting. Whereas, the Provisioning Station Director uses
the AxSupervisor station as an intermediary, and as a result is not as responsive, and is less efficient
(uses additional AxSupervisor resources).

Station Job List

Another view on the StationProxy extension, access it via the view selector (Figure 4-9), or by right-
clicking the extension and selecting Views > Station Job List.

Figure 4-9 Station Job List is available view on StationProxy extension

The main elements in this view are the Step Table, and the buttons near the bottom.

NiagaraAX-3.3
4-7
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Software Chapter 4 – Provisioning Station Extension Concepts
Step Table December 3, 2007

Step Table
This main area of the Station Job List view shows a row for each step that has been executed against the
station. Note that no record is available for a step’s execution unless it has started. For this reason, the
following steps do not appear in this view:
• steps for jobs not yet started.
• steps for jobs that are running, but are still running prior steps.
• steps that come after any earlier steps (for any station) that were canceled.
• steps that would have executed after another step, but the other step failed for this station.
Note: Because of this, the Station Job List is not the appropriate view to find the answer for questions like “why
did the backup scheduled for Tuesday on this station not run?”. For this type of information, you should
look in the Niagara Network Job List of the ProvisioningNwExt.
The step table includes columns for various data. You can do any of the following within the table:
• Click the “>>” (Details) button to the right of the status for any step to view its Step Log File
View (same as using the Step Details button at the bottom of the view).
• Double-click any step row to view its Job Log, a series of log messages about the step stored in its
job log file (same as using the View Log button at the bottom of the view).
• Right-click a step for a popup menu, providing same functions as buttons (at bottom of view).
Step table columns
Step table columns in the Station Job List include the following:
• Job Step — the type of job step, such as “Backup Stations” and so on (for more details, see “Nia-
gara provisioning job steps” on page 3-23).
• Start — time the step started executing for the station.
• End — time the step completed for the station.
• Status — the status of the step for the station (note that the overall status for the job, and the status
value for the step in other stations, may be different) as one of the following:
• Running — step is executing.
• Canceling — request to cancel the step was sent, but has not been processed yet, and the step
is still executing.
• Success — step finished successfully, and is no longer running.
• Canceled — step was canceled before it completed, and is no longer running.
• Failed — the step failed and is no longer running.
The status column ends with a “>>” (Details) button for each job, this function the same as the Step
Details button at the bottom of this view.

Buttons
Buttons near the bottom of the Station Job List become enabled when you have a step row selected in the
Step Table. Buttons are described as follows:
• View Log — For a popup Job Log dialog, showing log messages output when executing this step
in the job. For more details, see “Job Log notes” on page 3-6.
• Step Detail — Switches the view to the Batch Job Step Log File View. For more de-
tails, see “Batch Job Step Log File View” on page 3-9.
• Job Summary — To change to the Batch Job Log File View (for the job that contained
this step). For more details, see the “Batch Job Log File View” on page 3-8.

Software
The Software extension (SoftwareStationExt component), among the provisioning extensions, permits
any of the following steps in provisioning jobs to be processed for a station running on this host: Install
Software step, Upgrade Out-of-date Software step, Copy Supervisor File step, Reboot step.
By default, this extension is enabled, to allow these provisioning steps for the station. Figure 4-10 shows
the property sheet for the station’s Software extension. Note that other functions are also provided by this
extension, using its default Station Software View (a special view).

NiagaraAX-3.3
4-8
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 4 – Provisioning Station Extension Concepts Station Software View
December 3, 2007 Properties

Figure 4-10 Software Station Ext property sheet

See the following sections for more details:

• Properties
• Station Software View

Properties
Properties of the Software station provisioning extension are described as follows:
• Enabled — Defaults to true, set to false if you wish to prevent steps listed above to process
against this station in any provisioning jobs. Also, note this must be true to use the Station Software
View, or use the Supervisor Software Manager with this station.
• Status — Current status of extension, where value is ok, disabled, or fault.
The platform connection will be in fault if any of the following occurs:
• AxSupervisor has no ProvisioningNwExt under its NiagaraNetwork (e.g., it has been deleted).
• AxSupervisor is not licensed for provisioning.
• NiagaraStation is in fault.
• Host’s platform daemon rejects the platform connection’s credentials.
The extension will be disabled if its Enabled property is set to false, or if the ProvisioningN-
wExt is disabled.
• Fault Cause — If in fault, gives brief text explanation.
• Last Update — Date/timestamp of when a “platform snapshot” was last updated (is “null” if a plat-
form snapshot has never occurred).

Station Software View

The Station Software View is the default view on the Software provisioning extension of a Niaga-
raStation. As shown in Figure 4-11, this view closely resembles the “Software Manager” view
available in a direct platform connection to a host.

NiagaraAX-3.3
4-9
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Backup Chapter 4 – Provisioning Station Extension Concepts
Properties December 3, 2007

Figure 4-11 Station Software View is default view on Software provisioning extension

Note: Refer to the “Software Manager” section in the NiagaraAX Platform Guide for descriptions of most
elements in this view. Only elements that differ from that view are explained here.
Whenever you access this view, a “snapshot” is taken of that NiagaraStation’s installed software, and this
view’s table reflects its current software configuration. Other differences from the Software Manager
view in a direct platform connection are summarized as follows:
• Where the Software Manager has table columns “Installed Version” and “Available Version”
that represent the station’s and Workbench’s versions of each software item, the Station Soft-
ware View has equivalent columns “Station Version” and “Supervisor Version”.
• Instead of a Commit button that starts the software installation by running it in Workbench, there
is an Execute Job button, to submit the installation as a provisioning batch job in the AxSuper-
visor station. When you click Execute Job, the view changes to Device Network Job View.

Backup
The Backup extension (BackupStationExt component), among the provisioning extensions, permits
Backup Stations steps in provisioning jobs to be processed for a station running on this host. By default,
this extension is enabled, to allow backups in Niagara provisioning jobs. Figure 4-4 shows the properties
for the stations Backup extension (no “special” views exist for this component).

Figure 4-12 Backup Station Ext property sheet

Properties
Properties of the Backup station provisioning extension are described as follows:
• Enabled — Defaults to true, set to false if you wish to prevent Backup Stations steps to process

NiagaraAX-3.3
4-10
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 4 – Provisioning Station Extension Concepts Licenses
December 3, 2007 Start Backup action

against this station in any provisioning jobs.

• Status — Current status of extension, where value is ok, disabled, or fault.
The extension is disabled if its Enabled property is set to false, or if the ProvisioningNwExt is
disabled.
• Fault Cause — If in fault, gives brief text explanation.
In addition, there is a single Start Backup action.

Start Backup action

Each Backup station provisioning extension provides its own Start Backup action, which when
invoked immediately submits a provisioning job that contains a single Backup Stations step against this
station.
Note: If needed, you can add and link a TriggerSchedule output to this action, to provide specific time(s) or
interval for backing up this particular station. Or, you can simply add a “job prototype” component to the
station and configure it to do this, using its own schedule. Note that a “global” (backup all stations) Trigger-
Schedule already exists by default—see “ProvisioningNwExt containers and components” on page 3-12.

Licenses
The Licenses extension (LicenseStationExt component), among the provisioning extensions, permits the
Update Licenses step in Niagara provisioning jobs to be processed for a station running on this host. By
default, this extension is enabled.
Figure 4-4 shows the properties for the station’s Licenses extension (no “special” views exist for this
component). This view appears whenever you double-click a specific license row in the “Network License
Summary” view of the ProvisioningNwExt’s “Licenses” slot, and is used to update the table in that
view.

Figure 4-13 License Station Ext property sheet

Properties
Properties of the Licenses station provisioning extension are described as follows:
• Enabled — Defaults to true, set to false if you wish to prevent Update Licenses steps to process
against this station in any provisioning jobs.
• Status — Current status of extension, where value is ok, disabled, or fault.
The extension is disabled if its Enabled property is set to false, or if the ProvisioningNwExt is
disabled.
• Fault Cause — If in fault, gives brief text explanation.
• Last Update — Timestamp of when the license was last updated by Niagara provisioning, or “null” if
it has not yet been updated this way.
• License Status — Typically either “Up to Date” or “Unknown” (the latter if a license update (step or
action) from Niagara provisioning has never occurred. Other states are possible, such as “Expired”.
• License Summary — Container slot for properties describing the license(s), including the unique
Host ID for the platform, “brand” identifiers, and other vendor license info including timestamps
when each license was originally generated, and date of expiration (if ever).
• Certificates Summaries — Container slot for properties describing installed certificate(s), including
when each certificate was originally generated, and date of expiration (if ever).

NiagaraAX-3.3
4-11
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Licenses Chapter 4 – Provisioning Station Extension Concepts
Poll action December 3, 2007

In addition, the Licenses station extension has a single Poll action.

Poll action
Each Licenses station provisioning extension provides its own Poll action, which when invoked
immediately submits an “Update” request to retrieve the latest license from the licensing server (or if
unavailable, from the AxSupervisor’s local license database). This action is equivalent to the “Update”
command issued from the License Summary View of the ProvisioningNwExt’s Licenses slot.

NiagaraAX-3.3
4-12
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 CHAPTER 5
Provisioning Plugin Guides
Plugins (views) provide visualizations of components. Summary descriptions of views are available by
selecting Help > On View (F1) from the menu, or by pressing F1 while the view is open. The following
Plugin Reference Summary includes modules related to provisioning Niagara in AX-3.3 and later.

Plugin Reference Summary

Summary information is provided on views in the following Niagara provisioning-related modules:
• batchJob
• provisioningNiagara

Plugins in batchJob module

Provisioning Niagara includes use of the following batchJob views (listed alphabetically), each with a brief
summary description:
• Batch Job Log File View
• Batch Job Step Log File View
• Device Network Job View
• Device Step Details View
• Prototype Job List
batchJob-BatchJobLogFileView
This view shows the details for a single job execution, and is the default view for any batch job log file
(.bjl extension). Typically, you see this from either the Niagara Network Job List or the Prototype
Job List when you click the “>>” button on any completed job. You also see this view when in the Batch
Job Step Log File View and you click the Job Summary button.
The view provides a summary table showing each step in the job, for each station. On any step, you click
the “>>” button to see the Batch Job Step Log File View to see complete details for that step. Or, you can
click the View Log button to see a popup Job Log dialog listing all logged messages for this job.
For more details, see “Batch Job Log File View” on page 3-8.
batchJob-BatchJobStepLogFileView
This view shows the details for a provisioning job step executed (and completed) against a single
station, and is the default view for any batch job step log file (.bjsl extension). Typically, you see
this from either the Device Network Job View or the Station Job List when you click the “>>” button on
any completed step.
The view provides a summary table showing log messages that occurred during step execution. You can
double-click rows to show additional Log Details, if any.
For more details, see “Batch Job Step Log File View” on page 3-9.
Note: If the job step was Backup Station, and it executed successfully, a Restore button is available. This
allows you to restore the station using the .dist file saved from this provisioning job. If you answer Yes to the
confirmation dialog (no undo), an install backup job is immediately executed, and the view changes to the
Device Network Job View for that job.

NiagaraAX-3.3
5–1
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Plugins in provisioningNiagara module Chapter 5 – Provisioning Plugin Guides
batchJob-DeviceNetworkJobView December 3, 2007

batchJob-DeviceNetworkJobView
The Device Network Job View shows the details for a single job execution. It is the default view for
any NiagaraNetworkJob. From the Niagara Network Job Builder or Niagara Network Prototype
View, you change to this view when you specify a job to Run Now. You also see this view when in the
Niagara Network Job List and you click the “>>” button on a job that is still running, or from the Batch
Job Step Log File View when you click Job Summary.
The view provides a summary table showing each step in the job, for each station. Controls allow you to
view a job log, cancel an uncompleted job, or dispose of a completed job.
For more details, see “Device Network Job View” on page 3-7.
batchJob-DeviceStepDetailsView
This view shows the details for a provisioning job step executed against a single station, while that
step is still running. Typically, you see this from either the Device Network Job View or the Station
Job List when you click the “>>” button on a running step.
The view provides a summary table showing log messages that occurred during step execution. You can
double-click rows to show additional Log Details, if any.
For more details, see “Device Step Details View” on page 3-10.
Note: If the job step was Backup Station, that step is still running, you see a slightly different view, the Backup
Step Details View. In either case, once the step is finished, neither view is accessible—they are replaced by
the Batch Job Step Log File View.
batchJob-PrototypeJobList
This is an available view on any reusable Niagara provisioning job component (NiagaraNetworkJob-
Prototype) and allows configuration of the following:
• Retention policy — Rules on whether executed jobs be retained permanently, disposed of after a de-
fined time period, or disposed of after a defined number of executions.
• Policy enforcement frequency— Specifies the repeating interval at which the component’s retention
policy should be evaluated (processed).
This view also provides a table-based history of this batch job and its results. Included for each job is a
Job Log, available as a popup dialog via double-clicking a job row, and a Batch Job Log File View,
accessed by clicking the “>>” button next to its status descriptor.
For more details, see “Prototype Job List” on page 3-22.

Plugins in provisioningNiagara module

Provisioning Niagara includes use of the following provisioningNiagara views (listed alphabetically), each
with a brief summary description:
• Backup Step Details View
• Network License Summary
• Niagara Network Job Builder
• Niagara Network Job List
• Niagara Network Prototype View
• Provisioning Manager
• ProvisioningRobotEditor
• Provisioning Station Director
• Station Job List
• Station Software View
• Supervisor License Manager
• Supervisor Software Manager
provisioningNiagara-BackupStepDetailsView
This view shows the details for a Backup Stations step executed against a single station, while that
step is still running. Typically, you see this from either the Device Network Job View or the Station
Job List when you click the “>>” button on a running step.
The view provides a summary table showing log messages that occurred during step execution. You can
double-click rows to show additional Log Details, if any.
For more details, see “Device Step Details View” on page 3-10

NiagaraAX-3.3
5-2
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 5 – Provisioning Plugin Guides Plugins in provisioningNiagara module
December 3, 2007 provisioningNiagara-NetworkLicenseSummary

Note: If the job step type was something other than Backup Stations, and that step is still running, you see a
slightly different view, the Device Step Details View. In either case, once the step is finished, neither view is
accessible—they are replaced by the Batch Job Step Log File View.
provisioningNiagara-NetworkLicenseSummary
This is the default view on the Licenses slot (SupervisorLicenses) of the ProvisioningNwExt
under the NiagaraNetwork. It lists all child NiagaraStations, including their unique host IDs, current
license status, and last time of license update. Information in this table is populated by the Licenses
device extension (LicenseStationExt) under each NiagaraStation.
For more details, see “Network License Summary” on page 3-15.
provisioningNiagara-NiagaraNetworkJobBuilder
The Niagara Network Job Builder view is the default view for the ProvisioningNwExt (Provi-
sioningNiagaraNetworkExt) of a NiagaraNetwork. It allows you to build a provisioning job for
immediate execution (to run now), where you specify steps to be performed in the job, and for which
stations. Once you specify a job, you can then submit it for execution.
Access this view by simply double-clicking the ProvisioningNwExt, or by right-clicking it and
selecting Views > Niagara Network Job Builder.
For more details, see “Niagara Network Job Builder” on page 3-2.
provisioningNiagara-NiagaraNetworkJobList
The Niagara Network Job List view is an available view for the ProvisioningNwExt of a Niagar-
aNetwork. It provides a Supervisor-wide table-based history of provisioning jobs and their results.
Included for each job is a Job Log, available as a popup dialog via double-clicking a job row, and a Job
Details view, accessed by clicking the “>>” button next to its status descriptor.
Access this view by right-clicking and selecting Views > Provisioning Job List, or selecting it
from the ProvisioningNwExt’s view selector.
For more details, see “Niagara Network Job List” on page 3-5.
provisioningNiagara-NiagaraNetworkPrototoypeView
The Niagara Network Prototype View is the default view for a Niagara provisioning job saved as a
reusable component (NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype). It is nearly identical to the Niagara Network
Job Builder, it that you specify job steps, and the stations to be included. However, in addition to being
able to run the job immediately, you can also save the prototyped job for use later, and/or schedule its
execution using a separately added (and linked) TriggerSchedule.
Access this view by simply double-clicking a NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype component, or by right-
clicking it and selecting Views > Niagara Network Prototype View.
For more details, see “Niagara Network Prototype View” on page 3-19.
provisioningNiagara-ProvisioningManager
The Provisioning Manager is an available view on the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork, providing it
has the ProvisioningNwExt (ProvisioningNiagaraNetworkExt). This view provides a central
look at the status and health of “platform connectivity” to the various Niagara hosts, as well as quick
access to some of the provisioning (device) extensions under each NiagaraStation.
For more details, see “Provisioning Manager” on page 4-2.
provisioningNiagara-ProvisioningRobotEditor
The Provisioning Robot Editor is the default view of a ProvisioningRobot in the AxSupervisor
station. It closely resembles the “Edit” tab of the Program Editor view for Program components,
in that you view, edit, and compile the Baja code represented as the ProvisioningRobot.
For more details, see “Provisioning Robot Editor” on page 3-28.
provisioningNiagara-ProvisioningStationDirector
The Provisioning Station Director is the default view of the StationProxy extension under a Niaga-
raStation device. It closely resembles the Station Director view available in a platform connection,
where station output can be observed, and other station control is available.
Although the two views operate similarly, the Provisioning Station Director is slightly less responsive, as
it connects through the AxSupervisor station as an intermediary (versus a direct platform connection, as
used by the Station Director).
For more details, see “Provisioning Station Director” on page 4-6.

NiagaraAX-3.3
5-3
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Plugins in provisioningNiagara module Chapter 5 – Provisioning Plugin Guides
provisioningNiagara-StationJobList December 3, 2007

provisioningNiagara-StationJobList
The Station Job List view is available for the StationProxy extension under a NiagaraStation device.
It shows a list of provisioning job steps that were executed against this specific station. Included for
each job step is a Job Log, available as a popup dialog via double-clicking a job row, and a Batch Job
Step Log File View, accessed either by clicking the “>>” button next to its status descriptor, or by clicking
the Step Details button.
Access this view by right-clicking the StationProxy extension and selecting Views > Station Job
List, or by selecting it from the extension’s view selector.
For more details, see “Station Job List” on page 4-7.
provisioningNiagara-StationSoftwareView
Station Software View is the default view of the SoftwareStationExt under a NiagaraStation device.
It closely resembles the Software Manager view available in a platform connection. When this view
loads, a “snapshot” of installed software is automatically updated, so that the table reflects the station’s
current state.
For more details, see “Station Software View” on page 4-9.
provisioningNiagara-SupervisorLicenseManager
This is an available view on the Licenses slot (SupervisorLicenses) of the ProvisioningNwExt
under the NiagaraNetwork. It provides management access to the AxSupervisor’s local license
database (under its !licenses/db subdirectory).
For more details, see “Supervisor License Manager” on page 3-15.
provisioningNiagara-SupervisorSoftwareManager
The Supervisor Software Manager is the default view on the SoftwareContainer of the Provision-
ingNwExt in a NiagaraNetwork. It lists all InstallableSummary components, representing the
installable software items under the !sw directory on the AxSupervisor, with each expandable to show
InstallableSpecs. Controls at the bottom provide different software management functions.
For more details, see “Supervisor Software Manager” on page 3-13.

NiagaraAX-3.3
5-4
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 CHAPTER 6
Provisioning Niagara Component Guides
This Component Reference Summary provides summary descriptions of components related to provi-
sioning Niagara in AX-3.3 and later.

Component Reference Summary

Summary information is available on components in the following provisioning-related modules:
• batchJob
• provisioningNiagara

Components in batchJob module

• BatchJobService
• ThreadPoolJobQueue
batchJob-BatchJobService
The BatchJobService is responsible for dispatching all provisioning jobs (as batch jobs) on an
AxSupervisor, where batch jobs are run by the station’s JobService. The BatchJobService replaces the
“job control” functions formerly handled by the ProvisioningService in AX-3.1 or AX-3.2. Other Niagara
provisioning functions are handled by the NiagaraNetwork’s ProvisioningNwExt (ProvisioningNia-
garaNetworkExt).
Note: The BatchJobService requires the AxSupervisor station to also have the HistoryService and JobService,
otherwise the BatchJobService will be in fault. Typically, any AxSupervisor already has these services.
In addition, the BatchJobService requires the AxSupervisor host platform to be licensed with the “provi-
sioning” feature, or else the service will be in fault.
For more details, see “BatchJobService” on page 3-31.
batchJob-ThreadPoolJobQueue
The Thread Pool Job Queue is a frozen container slot under the BatchJobService. Its only property,
Max Threads, specifies the maximum number of concurrent provisioning jobs that can be
performed by the AxSupervisor. By default, this is one (1), and is typically left at default, as provisioning
threads can be resource intensive in an AxSupervisor station.
Note: Only after determining the station has available resource overhead, should Max Threads be adjusted up
to 2 or beyond. Otherwise, other tasks performed by the station may be affected.

Components in provisioningNiagara module

• BackupStationExt
• FileCopyStep
• InstallableSummary
• InstallableSpec
• InstallBySpecStep
• InstallStep
• LicenseStationExt
• PlatformConnection
• ProvisioningBackupStep
• NiagaraNetworkJob
• NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype

NiagaraAX-3.3
6–1
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 Chapter 6 – Provisioning Niagara Component Guides
provisioningNiagara-BackupStationExt December 3, 2007

• ProvisioningNiagaraNetworkExt
• RebootJobStep
• SoftwareContainer
• SoftwareStationExt
• Station Poll Scheduler
• StationProxy
• UpgradeOutOfDateStep
provisioningNiagara-BackupStationExt
The BackupStationExt (Backup) is one of five device extensions automatically added to every
NiagaraStation under the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork, providing the AxSupervisor also has the
ProvisioningNwExt (ProvisioningNiagaraNetworkExt) under its NiagaraNetwork. Other NiagaraStation
provisioning extensions are the LicenseStationExt, PlatformConnection, SoftwareStationExt, and
StationProxy.
For more details, see “Provisioning Station Extension Concepts” on page 4-1, and “Backup” on page 4-10.
provisioningNiagara-FileCopyStep
CopyFile steps can be added in the middle pane (“to run for each station”) in the Niagara Network
Job Builder or the Niagara Network Prototype View, when specifying a provisioning job. This
produces the standard File Chooser dialog, in which you specify the file to copy. When working in the
Niagara Network Job Builder view, you can select either a Supervisor file or a Local file (on your PC) to
copy; if working in the Niagara Network Schedule View you can only select a Supervisor file. After
selecting the source file, a Destination dialog lets you specify a system-home-relative or station-home-
relative path, to which the file is copied to (in all specified stations). Note that other types of provisioning
steps can be also be added.
For more details, see “Niagara provisioning job steps” on page 3-23, “Copy Supervisor File step” on page
3-24, and “Copy Local File step” on page 3-25.
provisioningNiagara-InstallableSummary
Installable Summaries represent software files under the !sw directory of the AxSupervisor host,
and reside under the SoftwareContainer of the NiagaraNetwork’s ProvisioningNwExt. Each
contains one or more specification objects for each version in the software registry, represented as
InstallableSpec components. For more details, see “Supervisor Software container” on page 3-13.
provisioningNiagara-InstallableSpec
Installable Specs are children of InstallableSummary components, as the lowest level component
under the SoftwareContainer of the NiagaraNetwork’s ProvisioningNwExt. Installable Specs
are version-specific, and describe the installable software item, including version number, dependencies,
and other data. For more details, see “Supervisor Software container” on page 3-13.
provisioningNiagara-InstallBySpecStep
InstallSoftware steps can be added in the middle pane (“to run for each station”) in the Niagara
Network Job Builder or the Niagara Network Prototype View, when specifying a provisioning job.
When adding a software item (module or dist), you must specify a specific version. Note that other types
of provisioning steps can be also be added.
For more details, see “Niagara provisioning job steps” on page 3-23, and “Install Software step” on page
3-26.
provisioningNiagara-InstallStep
Install backupdist steps are created when you copy an existing backup .dist file into the middle
job step pane (“to run for each station”) in the Niagara Network Job Builder or the Niagara Network
Prototype View. This step is different from a “version-specific” install step (InstallBySpecStep) produced
by either the “Install Software” step selection (where you must select a particular version), or by copying
a specific (versioned) module or .dist file into the job step pane.
provisioningNiagara-LicenseStationExt
The LicenseStationExt (Licenses) is one of five device extensions automatically added to every
NiagaraStation under the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork, providing the AxSupervisor also has the
ProvisioningNwExt (ProvisioningNiagaraNetworkExt) under its NiagaraNetwork. Other NiagaraStation
provisioning extensions are the BackupStationExt, PlatformConnection, SoftwareStationExt, and
StationProxy.
For more details, see “Provisioning Station Extension Concepts” on page 4-1, and “Licenses” on page 4-
11.

NiagaraAX-3.3
6-2
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 6 – Provisioning Niagara Component Guides
December 3, 2007 provisioningNiagara-PlatformConnection

provisioningNiagara-PlatformConnection
The PlatformConnection is one of five device extensions automatically added to every NiagaraSt-
ation under the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork, providing the AxSupervisor also has the Provision-
ingNwExt (ProvisioningNiagaraNetworkExt) under its NiagaraNetwork. Other NiagaraStation
provisioning extensions are the BackupStationExt, LicenseStationExt, SoftwareStationExt, and Station-
Proxy.
For more details, see “Provisioning Station Extension Concepts” on page 4-1, and “Platform Connection”
on page 4-3.
provisioningNiagara-ProvisioningBackupStep
BackupStation steps can be added in the middle pane (“to run for each station”) in the Niagara
Network Job Builder or the Niagara Network Prototype View, when specifying a provisioning job.
When executed, this step makes an online backup for each specified station (providing station is
running), or if a specified station is not running, an offline backup. In either case, the backup dist file for
each station is stored on the AxSupervisor. Note that other types of provisioning steps can be also be
added.
For more details, see “Niagara provisioning job steps” on page 3-23, and “Backup Stations step” on page
3-24.
provisioningNiagara-NiagaraNetworkJob
A NiagaraNetworkJob specifies a list of job stages with steps that were performed on each Niagara
station in the list. NiagaraNetworkJobs are found under the AxSupervisor station’s JobService. The
default view of a NiagaraNetworkJob is the Device Network Job View.
For more details, see “Device Network Job View” on page 3-7.
provisioningNiagara-NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype
A NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype is a component representing a potential Niagara provi-
sioning job. A NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype may be copied from the palette (or duplicated from
another NiagaraNetworkJobPrototype). You can link a TriggerSchedule to its “Submit Job” action in
order to schedule executions of this job, as well as run it immediately, as needed. The default view of this
component is the Niagara Network Prototype View. Another Prototype Job List view is also available.
For more details, see“About the Niagara Network Job Prototype” on page 3-16.
provisioningNiagara-ProvisioningNiagaraNetworkExt
The ProvisioningNiagaraNetworkExt (ProvisioningNwExt) is a network extension for the
NiagaraNetwork in an AxSupervisor station. It is required to enable provisioning of hosts repre-
sented by NiagaraStations under that network. It provides a central spot to perform Niagara provisioning
tasks, dispatched as batch jobs by the station’s BatchJobService, and executed by the station’s JobService.
The ProvisioningNwExt contains frozen slots that serve different functions, and has special views (apart
from standard component views). The default view is the Niagara Network Job Builder, and a Niagara
Network Job List view is also available.
For more details, see “About the ProvisioningNwExt” on page 3-2.
provisioningNiagara-ProvisioningRobot
A ProvisioningRobot is a special Program component that can be customized and saved on the
AxSupervisor station, then selected as the source “robot” in a RunRobotStep when configuring a
Niagara Network provisioning job. When queued and run by the AxSupervisor’s BatchJobService, the
program code in the ProvisioningRobot is executed by each station included in the provisioning job, by
each station’s ProgramService.
As copied from the provisioningNiagara palette, a ProvisioningRobot is “pre-configured” with some
essential “wrapper” lines of code. Also included is placeholder “do something” code that may prove useful
in some cases (if modified in a way meaningful when run against the stations included in a job).
Find the ProvisioningRobot in the “Robot” folder of the provisioningNiagara palette. The default view for
the ProvisioningRobot is the ProvisioningRobotEditor, where you edit and compile the Baja code
intended to be run by all stations in a Niagara provisioning job.
For more details, see “Run Robot step” on page 3-28 and “Provisioning Robot notes” on page 3-28.

NiagaraAX-3.3
6-3
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 Chapter 6 – Provisioning Niagara Component Guides
provisioningNiagara-RebootJobStep December 3, 2007

provisioningNiagara-RebootJobStep
RebootStations step can be added in the middle pane (“to run for each station”) in the Niagara
Network Job Builder or the Niagara Network Prototype View, when specifying a provisioning job.
This results in platform (host) reboot of hosts running the specified stations. Note that other types of
provisioning steps can be also be added.
For more details, see “Niagara provisioning job steps” on page 3-23, and “Reboot step” on page 3-27.
provisioningNiagara-RunRobotStep
RunRobot steps can be added in the middle pane (“to run for each station”) in the Niagara Network
Job Builder or the Niagara Network Prototype View, when specifying a Niagara provisioning job. For
any Run Robot step, you use the “Select a Robot” dialog to specify a Provisioning Robot on the AxSuper-
visor, to be run by the ProgramService of each station in the provisioning job.
For more details, see “Niagara provisioning job steps” on page 3-23, and “Run Robot step” on page 3-28.
provisioningNiagara-SoftwareContainer
The Software Container (Software) under the ProvisioningNwExt provides visibility into the
AxSupervisor’s software registry (the installable software files stored under the !sw directory).
Children in this container are summary objects for named, typed, software files—for example, modules
and platform distributions, represented as InstallableSummary components. The default view is the
Supervisor Software Manager.
For more details, see “Supervisor Software container” on page 3-13.
provisioningNiagara-SoftwareStationExt
The SoftwareStationExt (Software) is one of five device extensions automatically added to every
NiagaraStation under the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork, providing the AxSupervisor also has the
ProvisioningNwExt (ProvisioningNiagaraNetworkExt) under its NiagaraNetwork. Other NiagaraStation
provisioning extensions are the BackupStationExt, LicenseStationExt, PlatformConnection, and Station-
Proxy. The default view is the Station Software View.
For more details, see “Provisioning Station Extension Concepts” on page 4-1, and “Software” on page 4-8.
provisioningNiagara-StationPollScheduler
The Station Poll Scheduler controls the polling of StationProxy extensions by the Provisioning-
NwExt of the NiagaraNetwork. As a container slot under this network extension, the poll scheduler
operates as in most driver networks. See “About poll components” in the User Guide for general infor-
mation. Polling only happens for StationProxy extensions that are subscribed (linked somewhere, or
being viewed or charted, etc.).
Note: Often, you can leave configuration at defaults. Or if needed, assign the Poll Frequency property of Station-
Proxy slots (NiagaraStation provisioning extensions) differently than the default “Normal.”
provisioningNiagara-StationProxy
The StationProxy is one of five device extensions automatically added to every NiagaraStation
under the AxSupervisor’s NiagaraNetwork, providing the AxSupervisor also has the Provisioning-
NwExt (ProvisioningNiagaraNetworkExt) under its NiagaraNetwork. Other NiagaraStation provisioning
extensions are the BackupStationExt, LicenseStationExt, PlatformConnection, and SoftwareStationExt.
For more details, see “Provisioning Station Extension Concepts” on page 4-1, and “StationProxy” on page
4-4.
provisioningNiagara-SupervisorLicenses
The SupervisorLicenses (Licenses) slot under the NiagaraNetwork’s ProvisioningNwExt
provides two views:
• Network License Summary — Default view, lists NiagaraStations and their host IDs.
• Supervisor License Manager — Provides a manager view into the AxSupervisor’s local license data-
base (under its !licenses/db subdirectory).
This component has no other properties or actions. For more details, see “Licenses property” on page 3-
15.
provisioningNiagara-UpdateLicensesJobStep
UpdateLicensesJobStep (Update Licenses) can be added in the top pane (“initial steps to run only
once”) in the Niagara Network Job Builder or the Niagara Network Prototype View, when specifying
a provisioning job. Currently, this is the only step type you can add as an initial step. When processed, the
AxSupervisor gathers information on the licenses installed on the target station’s host(s), and then

NiagaraAX-3.3
6-4
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
Chapter 6 – Provisioning Niagara Component Guides
December 3, 2007 provisioningNiagara-UpgradeOutOfDateStep

accesses the license server (in one message) to see if they are up-to-date. If any updated (different)
licenses are found, they are installed to the target station’s host(s)—and also updated in the AxSuper-
visor’s local license database.
If the AxSupervisor is not configured for Internet connectivity, then only its local license database is used
to compare against licenses installed on the target station’s host(s). If any updated (different) licenses are
found, they are installed on the target station’s host(s).
For more details, see “Niagara provisioning job steps” on page 3-23 and “Update Licenses step” on page
3-24.
provisioningNiagara-UpgradeOutOfDateStep
UpgradeOutOfDateStep can be added in the middle pane (“to run for each station”) in the Niagara
Network Job Builder or the Niagara Network Prototype View, when specifying a provisioning job.
When processed, the versions of software on the target station’s host(s) are compared with the latest
versions of the same software in the AxSupervisor’s software database. If any newer versions are found,
they are installed to the target station’s host(s). Note that other types of provisioning steps can be also be
added.
For more details, see “Niagara provisioning job steps” on page 3-23, and “Upgrade Out-of-date Software
step” on page 3-28.

NiagaraAX-3.3
6-5
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks
 Chapter 6 – Provisioning Niagara Component Guides
provisioningNiagara-UpgradeOutOfDateStep December 3, 2007

NiagaraAX-3.3
6-6
Provisioning Guide for Niagara Networks