BACnet Simulator Guide
About
The BACnet simulator can run as a BACnet/IP or BACnet/MSTP device. It can be configured and modified via a Lua script, which allows for the creation of and interaction with various different BACnet object instances and their properties.
Running
Environment Variables
As the simulator can run in either IP or MSTP modes, an environment variable, RUN_MODE must be set to specify which mode to run in.
| Option | Expected Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| RUN_MODE | IP / MSTP | Controls whether the simulator will run as an IP or MSTP device |
Note
If this is not set, the device will default to IP
Server Options
Several arguments can be included when running the simulator which are described below.
| Option | Arguments | Description | Example | Default if not Set |
|---|---|---|---|---|
--instance
| instance - Instance ID of the device | Set the BACnet instance ID of the device on the network | --instance 1234
| 1234 |
--name
| name - Name of the device | Sets the device object name | --name BACnetSimulator
| SimpleServer |
--script
| script - Path to the lua script | Passes a lua script to the simulator which is used to create a simulated device | --script script.lua
| Populate the simulator with 1 instance of every object |
--populate
| populate - Number of instances of each object | Creates n instances of each type of bacnet object. Used to pad out the sim with a large amount of object instances. | --populate 10
| Populate the simulator with 1 instance of every object |
Note
The arguments populate and script should not be used as the same time
Download the Docker image
docker pull iotechsys/bacnet-sim:2.0
Simple Run
The simulator can be run with no configuration. This will run the IP version and populate the device with 1 instance of every object. The default network ID and device object name are described the table above.
docker run --rm --name bacnet-sim iotechsys/bacnet-sim:2.0
Lua Scripting
To run the simulator with one of the example lua scripts thats included in the container, a command is provided. As can be seen, both the BACnet instance ID and device name are both set along with the path to the lua script.
docker run --rm --name bacnet-sim -e RUN_MODE=IP/MSTP iotechsys/bacnet-sim:2.0 --instance 1234 --name BACnetSimulator --script /example-scripts/device-service-example.lua
The script used will run the simulator with 2 instances of the objects Analog Input, Analog Output and Analog Value. The present value properties of Analog Input and Analog Value objects will update every 5 seconds with a random value between 1 and 1000.
There are a number of other example scripts provided within the docker container under the directory /example-scripts/. See Lua Scripting Examples.
To create and use your own lua script, See Lua Scripting.
Populate with Object Instances
If script driven changes to properties are not required, the populate argument can be used
instead of script. This option will populate the device with n number of instances of every object type the simulator supports.
This can be an easy way create a device with a very large number of object instances. An example command is provided.
docker run --rm --name bacnet-sim -e RUN_MODE=IP/MSTP iotechsys/bacnet-sim:2.0 --instance 1234 --name BACnetSimulator --populate 100
As can be seen both the BACnet instance ID and device name are both set along with number of object instances to populate the device with.
Networking Configuration
IP
If the IP version of the simulator is being run on a separate host from the BACnet device service, the following flag must be included in the docker run command:
--network=host
If the IP version simulator is running on the same host as the BACnet device service, run the simulator as instructed. Once running find the IP of the docker container with the following command:
docker inspect -f '{{range.NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' bacnet-sim
Using this IP set the BBMDAddress driver option within the BACnet device service configuration file.
MSTP
To connect to the MSTP version of the simulator on the same host as the BACnet device service, run the simulator as instructed. Once running find the IP of the docker container with the following command:
docker inspect -f '{{range.NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' bacnet-sim
With socat, create a serial connection to the container using its IP and set the port to /tmp/virtualport
socat pty,link=/tmp/virtualport,raw,echo=0 tcp:<IP_of_containter>:55000
Using this virtual port, set it as the SerialInterface driver option within the BACnet device service configuration file.