Plants, Machines, and Devices
Model your site hierarchy, configure device connections, and manage asset files.
The console Data section covers plants, machines, devices, and their tags.
What you'll do
- Create plants, machines, and devices in the ISA-95 hierarchy
- Configure an adapter and define tags
- Upload asset files and optional share links
Plants
Navigate to Plants (/plants) to manage sites.
- Click Add to create a plant with a name, unique code, timezone, and optional geo location
- Open a plant detail page for KPIs, linked machines/warehouses, files, maintenance events, and alarms
- Use the Hierarchy tab to explore the ISA-95 tree
- Settings tab edits metadata; Warehouses tab links inventory zones
Plant scope applies to users — assign operators to the plants they should access.
Machines
Machines (/machines) represent work centers or equipment groups under a plant.
- Select the parent plant when creating a machine
- Assign a machine type from the catalog (
MACHINE_TYPE— e.g. PRODUCTION_LINE) - Attach files (manuals, photos) on the detail page
Machines group devices logically — a production line might have one machine with multiple PLCs as devices.
Devices
Devices (/devices) are control connections — simulators, MQTT endpoints, or protocol drivers.
Create a device
- Go to Devices → Add
- Select plant, machine, adapter type, and connection config
- Add tags with protocol-specific addresses
- Use Test connection and Discover tags where supported
Adapter types
See the Adapters overview for the full matrix (live vs external vs not implemented). Protocol-specific guides:
The adapter orchestrator reconciles running processes against the device registry. Status on the device detail page: RUNNING, STOPPED, ERROR, or NOT_IMPLEMENTED.
OPC UA tag discovery
For OPC_UA devices, use Browse or Scan on the Tags tab — see OPC UA guide.
CSV tag import/export
On the device tags tab, Import CSV and Export CSV bulk-load tag definitions (code, address, unit, data type).
Device liveness
A device shows CONNECTED when telemetry was received within the last 15 seconds. See Data quality and No telemetry troubleshooting.
Tags
Tags are defined on the device detail page. Each tag needs:
- Code — becomes part of the tagPath
- Address — protocol-specific (MQTT topic, S7 DB address, OPC NodeId, etc.)
- Value type and optional unit
Full path format: plantCode/machineCode/deviceCode/tagCode
Active and inactive tags
Each tag has an active flag on the device Tags tab.
| State | Effect |
|---|---|
| Active | Telemetry is written to history and the Redis live cache; tag appears in UNS, Operations Center, and dashboards |
| Inactive | New samples are ignored for history and live mirror; tag is hidden from default UNS/device lists |
Use inactive tags to retire signals without deleting history metadata, or to pause noisy points during commissioning. Reactivate when the tag should flow again.
List APIs support includeInactive=true for administrators who need to see deactivated tags.
Catalog types
Machine types and device types are managed inline when creating machines/devices (MACHINE_TYPE, DEVICE_TYPE catalog categories). Requires catalog permissions.
Asset files
Upload documents and images to plants, machines, or devices.
- Open the entity detail → Files tab
- Upload (max size shown in UI) — requires
assets.create - Share generates a read-only token link (
/share/files/:token) - Revoke share removes public access
Public file URLs do not require login. Directory shares may require a fileId query parameter.