# FAQ #### 1. Do you offer sensors or devices? No. ABB BuildingPro is a platform for managing and controlling your buildings and devices. #### 2. Which devices can be connected to ABB BuildingPro? In ABB BuildingPro you can integrate all data from devices that are connected via our [**Connector apps** ](/collection/english-v14/apps/apps.md). We currently support the following connector apps:\ \&#xNAN;*ABB free\@home*, *Akenza*, *CoffeeCloud*, *Electricity maps*, *Exchange App*, *Forecast*, *Glutz*, *GP Joule*, *Kentix*, *KentixONE*, *Kontakt.io*, *Localino*, *Loriot.io*, *Microsoft 365*, *myStrom App*, *Niagara*, *OpenBOS*, *ROOMZ*, *SAML SSO*, *Signify*, *Spreadsheet*, *stopwatch*, *Thingdust*, *Weather*, *Xovis*, *Xovis People Counter*, *Zevyy*. Via the module [**Connectivity as a Service** → **connect devices with Eliona**](/collection/english-v14/connectivity-as-a-service/connect-devices-with-abb-buildingpro.md) the following protocol integrations are also available to you: 1. **Connect devices via Modbus** 2. **Connect devices via MQTT**\ – incl. **MQTT Edge Nodes** (Control Edge) 3. **Connect devices via RESTful** 4. **Connect devices via webhook** 5. **connect devices via Apache Kafka** 6. **Connect devices via OPC UA** In addition, you can find a brief introduction to the concept in the main menu under [**EDGE NODES**](/collection/english-v14/edge-nodes/edgenodes-in-abb-buildingpro.md) * **What are Edge Nodes?** – * **EdgeNodes in** ABB BuildingPro → **Set up Control Edge** – here you configure and manage your edge nodes in order to connect remote field devices and protocols yourself (e.g. BACnet, KNX, MBUS) via EdgeNode. #### 3. If a sensor stops working, will I see that in ABB BuildingPro? Yes. When setting up the sensor, you set a "Time to inactivity". This means that if the system does not receive a signal from the sensor after this time, the sensor is set to the status "inactive". You can view the information about the sensors (including their status) in the menu item "[Asset Management](/collection/english-v14/documentation/assets/asset-modeling-create-templates.md)". #### 4. Can I change my active subscription plan? All our subscriptions are valid for one year. During the first three months you can change your package; to do so, write to . After one year you can renew your existing package or choose another package. #### 5. What does "Infravolt" mean? Infravolt is basically a currency with which we measure the consumption of resources. Each element has its cost in Infravolt. You can view "the costs" in the section "[settings](/collection/english-v14/documentation/settings.md)" on the tab "[license](/collection/english-v14/documentation/settings/license.md)" in the "Infravolt consumption" block. #### 6. How will I be informed about changes and new features? The world keeps turning, and so does ABB BuildingPro. We notify all our users in the newsletter as soon as a new update is released. You can also learn about upcoming changes in the chapter [Changelog](/collection/english-v14/new-features/changelog-current-version-v14.2.5.md) . #### 7. How does the deployment of ABB BuildingPro work? The ABB BuildingPro system can be deployed on any virtual machine or cloud solution. If you provide an SSH connection, the system is set up remotely using "one-click deployment". If you cannot provide an SSH connection, please contact the Eliona support team. We recommend a virtual machine running at least "Ubuntu 20.04", as support for older versions (Ubuntu 18.04) is ending and this may lead to problems. #### 8. Why do we rely on PostgreSQL instead of NoSQL or time-series databases? Most developer teams, including our ABB BuildingPro developers, work in the smart building provider environment on this huge pool of data called big data. For performance reasons, the extreme flood of time-series data is often stored in a NoSQL database and the metadata in a relational database. Almost all IoT platforms use NoSQL databases. It is clear that each of these databases works differently; operating a polyglot database architecture increases operational and application complexity. At Eliona, we do without a NoSQL database while maintaining the same performance, and thus eliminate the increased complexity in operation and challenges in configuration. To ensure excellent scalability of data ingestion rates (time series) while being able to keep all metadata in one database, we rely on PostgreSQL and TimescaleDB. This makes it possible to write time series and metadata simultaneously with enormous data throughput. 120,000 data rows per second with a huge database size. In one minute, you could write the energy data of all of Switzerland into ABB BuildingPro. But let's go back and show what is the focus of IoT/SmartBuilding projects: collecting data, analyzing it and reacting to it in order to improve benefit/efficiency, reduce downtime/waste and offer better services. In other words, we need more than a data store: We also need an easy way to gain actionable insights from the data. And that is where SQL comes in. While in recent years it has been fashionable to denounce SQL and praise NoSQL, the truth is that SQL is extremely powerful. **Advantages of PostgreSQL** On the market for more than 30 years Open source many add-ons, plugins and extensions web services such as [RESTful](/collection/english-v14/for-developers/rest-api.md) complex WHERE predicates (supported by secondary indexes) aggregations and ordering; window functions, libraries with mathematical and statistical functions, etc. All GEO information – important in the area of localization and tracking – is provided via PostGIS If the standard performance of PostgreSQL needs to be increased (from 100,000 transactions per second), there is a further development of PostgreSQL called "TimescaleDB", which can easily compete with InfluxDB.
#### 9. What standardized integration options are available in ABB BuildingPro? * Eliona [REST API](/collection/english-v14/for-developers/rest-api.md). * Eliona [App SDK](/collection/english-v14/apps/app-sdk.md). * [MQTT](/collection/english-v14/connectivity-as-a-service/connect-devices-with-abb-buildingpro/connect-devices-via-mqtt.md) (we supply an MQTT broker with ABB BuildingPro, with ABB BuildingPro itself functioning as an MQTT client). * [REST](/collection/english-v14/connectivity-as-a-service/connect-devices-with-abb-buildingpro/connect-devices-via-restful/configure-restful-connection.md) Requests (we have the option of configuring REST and a wide variety of requests in the frontend). * [Webhooks](/collection/english-v14/connectivity-as-a-service/connect-devices-with-abb-buildingpro/connect-devices-via-webhook.md) #### **10. Why am I not staying logged in to** ABB BuildingPro **?** Why am I, despite selecting "*Stay logged in*", prompted to log in again after a certain time?
The "Stay logged in" option normally has a validity period of 8 hours, approximately one working day. It only ensures that during this time no new login is required with the same browser if it or the app has been closed. The limited validity period ensures that security and control over access to ABB BuildingPro are maintained. After this time has expired, the user must log in again. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.buildings.ability.abb/collection/english-v14/foreword/faq.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.