The Terminal Monitoring feature monitors and provides information about the terminals you have configured in the application. This feature can also notify specific users when a terminal’s status changes (e.g., online to offline, or vice versa).
The Terminal Monitoring feature allows a user to do the following:
Check the status of a terminal (New, Service, Online, Offline, or Offline – Processing Offline Data) and notify users when a terminal’s status changes.
Check if the Internet protocol (IP) address of a terminal is reachable through the network.
Restart a terminal in service or application mode (if the device has such capabilities).
Send a Reload Configuration command to a terminal.
Launch Service Mode browser (if the device has such capabilities).
Trigger the transfer of relay schedules and offline data to individual terminals.
Find out the last time a device communicated with the server, posted offline data, or made a successful XMLCONFIG request.
See Also:
Enable Monitoring on a Terminal
Using the Terminal Monitor Form
Configure Email Notification for Terminal Status Changes
Modifying the TERMINAL_STATUS_CHANGE Message Trigger
This feature requires the following:
You must have the Terminal Monitor module included in your license file.
The Terminal Monitor module must be enabled.
To check if the module is included in your license and enabled:
Click Main Menu > Configuration > System > Licensing.
In the License Modules tab, select the Module Name called Terminal Monitor.
The following boxes must be checked: Licensed and Module Enabled.
In order to monitor a terminal, the terminal must have the Monitor box checked n the Terminal form.
Click Main Menu > Configuration > Terminal > Terminal.
If the terminal record does not yet exist, click Add to add the terminal. Make sure you check the Monitor box.
If the terminal record already exists, select the terminal record and click Modify. Make sure the Monitor box is checked.
Click Save.
The terminal will appear in the Terminal Monitor form.
The Terminal Monitor form displays information about terminals you have configured and that have the Monitor box checked on the Terminal form.
To use this form:
Click Main Menu > Administration > Terminal > Terminal Monitor.
If necessary, use the Filter fields to find the terminal records you want to view.
The Terminal Status field displays the terminal’s status as of the last time the TERMINAL_MONITOR service ran. You must enable this service on the Service Instance form. The Terminal Status options are:
New: The terminal has never connected to the application server. There have been no attempts to PING, restart, or reload the terminal's configuration.
Service: The terminal is in Service Mode. Only applies to B-Net 9520, B-NET 9540, and B-web 9300/9500 terminals.
Offline: The terminal is not connecting to the application server and is offline.
Offline - Processing Offline Data: The terminal is processing offline transactions.
Online: The terminal is connecting to the application server and is online.
Select one or more terminal records and use the buttons at the top of the screen to perform the following actions:
Use the Document Transfer button to trigger the transfer of the latest relay schedules, offline person data, and offline charge element data to individual terminals.
Use the Is Device Reachable button to check if the IP Address of a terminal is reachable.
Use the Restart in Service Mode button to restart a B-Net 9520, B-Net 9540, or B-web 9300/9500 terminal in Service Mode so you can you can configure its network parameters using the Service Browser.
Use the Restart in Application Mode button to restart a B-Net 9520, B-Net 9540, or B-web 9300/9500 terminal in Application Mode. In Application Mode, the client software runs on the terminal and employees can use the login screen and other forms.
Use the Reload Configuration button to perform a soft restart of the terminal application. This option is useful when changes are made to the terminal's settings that require a terminal restart.
You can use the Launch Service Browser button on a B-Net 9520, B-Net 9540, or B-web 9300/9500 terminal that is in Service Mode. When you click this button, the Terminal login form appears. It displays the IP address of the terminal.
On the Communications Details tab of the Terminal Monitor form, you can find out when a device communicated with the server, posted offline data, or made a successful XMLCONFIG request.
The Comments tab on the Terminal Monitor form allows you to create and view comments that are specific to a terminal ID. For example, you can add comments that relate to the results on the Communication Details tab.
The Terminal Documents tab on the Terminal Monitor form is used to view the relay schedules, offline person data, and offline charge element data that has been sent to the selected terminal using the Document Transfer button.
In order to assure that the user has the most recent information, the Terminal Monitor form refreshes automatically every 180 seconds. You can change the refresh time by modifying the form_refresh_time value on the Form Settings form. You can also refresh the information, at any time, by clicking Find on the Terminal Monitor form.
To notify people via email anytime a monitored terminal changes status, follow the steps below:
Navigate to the Message Email Config form (Main Menu > Configuration > Messages > Message Email Configuration) and click Modify.
Enter the information for the Email Server. The Username and Email Address fields affect what is displayed in the "From" section of the email.
Click Save.
Navigate to the Employee Group form (Main Menu > Employee Management >Employee Group).
Add a new Employee Group record with Employee Group Type MESSAGE_GROUP. This group will contain the people that will receive Terminal Status Change e-mails.
Select the new Employee Group record on the Employee Group form.
Click the Employee Group Member tab on the lower half of the screen.
Click Add and add any Employee Numbers that should receive Terminal Status Change e-mails. The e-mails will be sent to the e-mail address found in the Email Address1 field of the individual's Employee record.
Navigate to the Message Policy form (Main Menu > Configuration > Policies > Message Policy).
Create a Message Policy that includes the TERMINAL_STATUS_CHANGE message trigger.
On the Trigger tab, select the Message Trigger Name TERMINAL_STATUS_CHANGE.
On the Trigger Setting tab, select the Setting Type SEND_EMAIL_TO_GROUP and click Modify.
For Setting Value, select the Employee Group your created in Step 5 above.
Click Save.
To consolidate emails for multiple terminals that change their status, make sure the TERMINAL_STATUS_CHANGE message trigger has CONSOLIDATE_EMAIL_MESSAGES set to TRUE. For example, if the TERMINAL_STATUS_CHANGE message trigger has CONSOLIDATE_EMAIL_MESSAGES set to TRUE and five terminals change status, a single email will be sent listing these terminals and the status change of each terminal. If CONSOLIDATE_EMAIL_MESSAGES was set to FALSE, then five separate emails would be sent (one for each terminal). See Trigger Setting for more information.
Assign the above Message Policy to the members of the MESSAGE_GROUP you defined earlier. You can assign the Message Policy to a single Employee via the Employee Setting form, to a Employee Group with type POLICY_GROUP or FACILITY via the Employee Group Setting form, or to all users via the System Settings form. An Employee setting overrides an Employee Group setting, which overrides a System Setting.
Assign the above Message Policy to the TERMINAL_MONITOR service (via the Service Parameter tab of the Service Instance form).
If you want to generate terminal monitor messages from specific groups of terminals to specific group of recipients, you need to create multiple instances of the TERMINAL_MONITOR service and assign the appropriate Terminal Profiles and Message Policy to each instance.
If you want to generate terminal monitor messages from all terminals using a single instance of the TERMINAL_MONITOR service, you need to assign all the Terminal Profiles and the appropriate Message Policy to this instance.
Emails are sent when the Message Delivery service runs. These emails may also be viewed on the Message Log form before and after they are sent. Make sure that both the TERMINAL_MONITOR and MESSAGE_DELIVERY services are enabled via the Service Instance and Service Schedule forms.
You have now configured the system so that whenever the TERMINAL_MONITOR service runs, an email will be generated (but not sent) if the status of a terminal changed since the last time the service ran. With the above configuration, the TERMINAL_MONITOR service will generate (but not send) an email message if the status of a terminal changed since the last time the service ran.
The TERMINAL_STATUS_CHANGE Message Trigger includes the text of the email message that will be sent by the TERMINAL_MONITOR service. The email message includes the following information:
Terminal ID [%TERMINAL_ID%]
GID [%GID%]
DID [%DID%]
New terminal status [%STATUS_CHANGE%]
Date and time the terminal status changed [%POST_TIME%]
To change the text in this message trigger, go to Configuration > Form Configuration > Dictionary Label and edit the Label Name MSF_STATUS_CHANGE.
The TERMINAL_MONITOR service checks the status of your shop floor terminals and updates information on the Terminal Monitor form (Main Menu > Administration > Terminal > Terminal Monitor). To enable the service, use the Service Instance form.
The service will check only the terminals that have the Monitor box checked on the Terminal form. The terminal status will not update until the service runs again. The service also generates email messages for responsible parties, such as system administrators or managers. Messages are sent according to the configuration for the TERMINAL _STATUS_CHANGE trigger on the Message Trigger form. Emails are sent when the MESSAGE_DELIVERY service runs. For details, see Terminal Monitoring Feature.
Each terminal performs a status check with the application server at a predefined interval (the Check Online Time Interval value is defined in seconds on the Terminal Type form). The application updates the terminal_status table with the timestamp for these status checks. To determine the status of the terminal, the TERMINAL_MONITOR service looks at the timestamp of the last status check in the terminal_status table), the predefined interval for the status checks, and the existence of offline data. The TERMINAL_MONITOR service then updates the status column in the terminal_monitor and terminal_status_audit tables with the terminal’s latest status. The updates are reflected in the Status column of the Terminal Monitor and Status History forms.