User guide

Control Center
User Manual
 Attero Tech LLC 2013 Page 4 614-00002-07
3 – Running the Application
Control Center runs in one of two modes. There is an online mode (called normal mode) and an offline mode (called demo
mode). For configuring devices on a live CobraNet network, normal mode must be used.
Demo mode can be used to demo the features of the software and Attero Tech devices without the need for an active
CobraNet network and also to provide a method to create device configurations offline for a particular application that can
be downloaded to the live system once it is installed and running. Further information on the two operating modes can be
found in section 3.3.
If Control Center is to be used in normal mode, before the application can be run, it is necessary to configure a network
adapter in the PC to allow it to communicate with CobraNet devices.
3.1 – Setting up the PC Network Adapter
If Control Center is going to be used in Normal mode, it requires that it has access to the CobraNet network through a
correctly configured network card (NIC). To be configured correctly, that NIC requires a valid IP address. This IP address
can either be given to the NIC manually (known as a static IP address), or be given to it automatically over the network
(known as a dynamic IP address). The method of how the NIC in the PC gets its address will depend on the available
facilities of the CobraNet network it is connected to. If the CobraNet network has IP address assignment facilities (such as a
DHCP server), the PC should use that service and be setup to get an address automatically otherwise the NIC should be
assigned a static IP address. For most regularly applications, the PC NIC will likely need to be assigned a static IP address.
*Note: If the network card to be used is set to obtain its IP address dynamically and there is no service on the CobraNet
network to supply an IP address, the PC will fall back to either an alternate address that it has been previously supplied or it
will give itself an automatic private IP address beginning with 169.254.x.x (known as APIPA). In either case, the entire
process can take up to a minute. Control Center will not operate correctly in normal mode if it is started during this time
and will given an error regarding the IP address being invalid (the address is seen as 0.0.0.0).
Once the NIC has a valid IP address, the Control Center application can be started.