Building X Portal FAQs
How do I move organization’s from one group to another?
Log into FIN Stack (or the customer branded version).
Go to Folio and make a Snapshot of the project to download it locally (https://finproducts.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FINFramework/pages/770708256/Folio+Menu#Make-Snapshot).
Log into the Building X Portal under Customer's Organization subscription.
Delete the device from the current organization/group.
Add the device to the new organization/group.
Activate the device on the new organization/group.
This will reset the installed distribution. The distribution has to be installed again.
Once the software is running, login to the software UI and re-upload the license (Licenses).
Upload the Snapshot captured in step 2 (https://finproducts.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FINFramework/pages/770708256/Folio+Menu#Upload-Snapshot).
Re-connect the device to Edge2Cloud (https://finproducts.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/Edge2Cloud/pages/1713768749/Edge2Cloud+guide#Edge2Cloud-in-FIN).
How do I update the OS?
See Building X Devices Application User Guide
How do I update FIN?
See Full Installation Guide page 16 “Updating distributions”
Will I lose my users and projects when updating FIN?
The only time a project and users would get deleted is if you:
Reset Configuration
Factory Reset
Or delete a device from the Building X portal and re-activate it using the Activation key when moving it from one subscription to another.
Apps out of sync message may occur when onboarding a F200
If you encounter this error message perform one of the following steps
Click the Synchronize button.
Delete the device out of Building X and then re-add it again.
Connect to the gateway and perform a reset configuration.
NOTE: When selecting reset configuration, general settings, such as network connection mode, password and device name are deleted. Only certificates for cloud communication and registration will stay. During reset, the device will stay online.
If all the above steps fail, contact your local support channel.
Gateway FAQs
What happens if I do a factory reset?
Doing a factory reset, all configuration data and installed apps will be deleted. The activation ID doesn't change and the device will still be registered in the portal. After the reset has been completed, you can remotely access the device logging in to the gateway with the default username and password. You’ll then need to re-install the applications.
How to Perform a Factory Reset on a F200?
Remove power from the F200.
Press and hold the SCV button.
Apply power to the F200.
The lights will be on for about 5 seconds and then turn off.
When the run light turns on about 20 seconds later, release the SVC button.
The lights will turn back on for approximately 10 seconds and then turn off.
Wait until the run light turns on solid. The controller has been factory reset, which should take about 20 seconds.
Note: If you can connect locally to the gateway, you can click on the Maintenance and click the Reset to Factory button as an alternative method.
What Endpoints needed to be whitelisted on the firewall?
The following is a list of endpoints that needed to be whitelisted.
MQTT
mqtts://mqtt.connectivity.siemens.com:443
Firmware Update Service
Container Image Registry
Bootstrap
Authentication Proxy
NTP Server
0.siemens.pool.ntp.org:123(TCP/UDP) (Main Server)
1.siemens.pool.ntp.org:123(TCP/UDP) (Backup Server)
2.siemens.pool.ntp.org:123(TCP/UDP) (Backup Server)
3.siemens.pool.ntp.org:123(TCP/UDP) (Backup Server)
How do you check to see if the F200 can communicate with the endpoints?
Connect to the F200 gateway.
Click on Network and select IP.
At the bottom of the screen there is a network diagnostic button.
How to check the Internet Bandwidth and latency?
Service performance is based on the Internet Bandwidth and latency.
A speed of at least 1 Mbit/s is recommended for best user experience.
With 500Kbit/s, firmware download could take an hour with possible retries and firmware update my take up to two hours.
Recommended latency is less than 2 seconds.
Test is between Building X cloud servers and the device, not to internet speed test of the device on the network.
Connect to the F200 gateway.
Click on Network and select IP.
Towards the middle of the screen there is a network speed button.
Can you change port 8090 that the F200 uses?
You cannot change port 8090 that the F200 currently uses.
FIN Project FAQs
Ways to prevent a Disk Full Emergency Shutdown Error Message
The "disk full" error indicates that there are too many files exceeding the device storage capacity. Numerous combinations of factors could contribute to this issue, such as:
Excessive log files: Logs may be growing in size. You can reduce the maximum age of the files via the Host → Settings under the Log section.
Accumulated histories: F200s have limited space and therefore histories should be cleared after a certain time. Refer to the following article for steps on clearing histories: Clearing Histories.
Exceeding the point limit (5K points).
Snapshot accumulation: Ensure there aren't too many snapshots. You can control the number of snapshots on the F200 controller by enabling purge settings. For instructions on setting up purge settings, see this article: Purge Settings.
Adding large files: Large images, zips or any other file types to a project can reduce space on the device. Don't go above 90% cumulative. Look at the Disk Space in the Host → Debug.
Run the following queries in Folio → Launch to help clean up some zip files to reduce space.
To delete failed snapshot zip files:
readAll(file and finFileUpload).findAll(x => x->file.toStr == "application/x-zip-compressed").finHardDelete
To delete backed zip files:
readAll(file and bak and finBackup).findAll(x => x->file.toStr == "application/zip").finHardDelete
To delete other zip files:
readAll(file and finFileUpload).findAll(x => x->file.toStr == "application/zip").finHardDelete
If there are unused or not needed template .fst files, be sure to delete those as well. They can be found in DB Builder → Templates tree to delete.
How to re-register to Edge2Cloud on a F200?
In order to be able to register this instance again to Edge2Cloud, the cloud.ks file in the FIN directory needs to be deleted to clear the identity it had before. The cloud.ks file would have to be deleted when connected to the FIN instance directly for security reasons.
To do this, follow the below steps.
Connect to the FIN instance directly not via Edge2Cloud
Open the Folio app → Launch
Run this function:
finEdge2CloudResetDeviceRegistration()Refresh the browser and try to re-register the instance again (a reboot of the F200 is not required)
My snapshot fails to download, what can I do?
This issue occurs when a project is likely to have large files that are typically over 200MB in size. If you come across this on small devices such as F200, you can get around by increasing the HTTPS Timeout property to about 10 minutes. However, we don’t recommend keeping this 10 minute timeout as the default period for performance reasons.
The HTTPS Timeout property can be found in the Host → Settings → under the HTTP section.
I can’t restore a snapshot on F200?
This will typically occur when the database is has one or more large files over 30MB. If this occurs you can perform the following.
Upgrade to version 5.1.5.154 and higher
Upload the snapshot via a local web browser connection. Don’t use Building X or Edge2Cloud.
Change the HTTPs Timeout Property to 300,000. The HTTPS Timeout property can be found in the Host Settings in the HTTP Section. However, we don’t recommend keeping 300,000 timeout as the default period for performance reasons.
If all else fails, contact your local support channel.
How to delete a project on an F200?
To delete a project inside an F200, use the following steps:
Log into the project to be deleted.
Go to Folio → Launch.
Enter the query below with the project name and current date.
projDelete(@p:demo,"2024-01-01")
Replace “demo” with whatever your project name is.
Replace “2024-01-01” with the current date (YYYY-MM-DD format).Refresh the browser page.
The Host page will appear and the project will no longer exist. A reboot of the F200 is not required.
Cannot access the WAN Ip Address locally
If you have configured your F200 for a separate network and your internet connection is on the WAN port, you cannot access the IP address assigned to the WAN port locally. You can only access it through Building X portal.
How to Export Diagnostic Log Files of a FIN instance for troubleshooting purposes?
Diagnostic log files can be useful for troubleshooting and may be requested by your support channel.
Connect to the project
Open Folio → Launch
Query for:
logRead(toSpan("today"))
Note: You can switch "today" with other date spans such as yesterday, thisWeek, lastWeek, etc. or use a custom range in this format YYYY-MM-DD..YYYY-MM-DD. A specific day would be YYYY-MM-DD.
For example, to view the diagnostic log information from all of June 2023, enter the following query command: logRead(toSpan(2023-06-01..2023-06-30))
Then toggle from Grid view to Zinc view at the top right of the window.
You can then select everything [Ctrl+A] and copy [Ctrl+C] and paste [Ctrl+V] in a notepad or spreadsheet.
How to fix a locked user on a F200?
If Max Failed Login Attempts is enabled and exceeded, a user may be locked out for the following reasons:
Incorrect password attempts by a colleague or unauthorized user trying to access FIN.
A connector repeatedly attempting to connect with the same username but an incorrect password.
An external instance trying to access FIN with the same username and an incorrect password.
Exceeding the max limit of failed login attempts will disable the user. To prevent regular users from being locked out, it is advisable to create separate users for connectors and external sources. For the F200, registering the devices to Edge2Cloud is highly recommended to avoid a complete lock out.
To resolve a locked-out user on an F200 controller, you can:
If the device is registered to Edge2Cloud, the cloud user can log in and enable and/or create a new user to access the instance.
Perform a "Reset Configuration" in the gateway settings of the device. This action will delete the app data such as the project, users, and gateway settings. After the device reboots, the user must reconfigure the gateway network settings and re-onboard the F200 using Building X.
How large of files can we upload?
The guideline is to maintain disk usage below 90% of the total capacity. Look at the Disk Space in the Host → Debug for current and total capacity. With that, the user can have 1 or more large file(s) as long as they are under that percentage threshold.
Is there a project size limit?
The guideline is to maintain disk usage below 90% of the total capacity. Look at the Disk Space in the Host → Debug for current and total capacity.
How many history trends can be stored?
The guideline is to maintain disk usage below 90% of the total capacity. Look at the Disk Space in the Host → Debug for current and total capacity.
Why do my graphics take a long time to load or timeout?
This could be a number of things, but most common scenario indicates that large images without compression are being used for both the graphic and graphic thumbnails. Without compression, it takes the browser more time to render them. We strongly advise to use images that use compression, as this has a significant impact on performance. For graphic thumbnails, size of 122px by 66px would be preferred.
How to transfer a project from a server to embedded or vice versa?
When it comes to moving projects between different instances, we recommend to use the Snapshot feature. You can create, backup and restore a snapshot to another instance. Visit the Snapshots Tree documentation for more info.