A2X Frequently Asked Questions

I'm looking at the ASCII output of the A2X. I'm used to seeing P, N, C, and A messages, but I haven't seen an M message before. What's that?

The "M" in a M message stands for metadata. Each metadata message is associated with, and immediately follows, either a P or an N message. You can associate them by the message type and the timestamp. The A2X uses this message type to report information about the N and P messages that could not be included in the existing P or N message types. The metatadata format used by the A2X is designed to allow the addition of new values can be added as needed. To see a list of the currently fields and their meaning, see the associated entry in the BWD ALERT2 API Guide.

I need to change the decoder configuration. How do I log in to the A2X?

All configuration options are now available via the API, and through the A2 Control configuration application, so there is no longer any need to log in to the A2X. In order to retrieve data from a remote unit, we support fetching data via SFTP on port 4422. The user name will be "alert2", but the account is disabled by default for security purposes. Set a password via the API or using the A2 Control application to enable it. This same password may be used for remote configuration via A2 Control.

I want to forward decoder output to my cloud-based data collector. How do I do that?

Under the "IP Settings" tab in A2 Control, there are two fields named "ASCII IP Forward" and a "Binary IP Forward". Place the IP or the hostname of one or more data collectors you wish to use in that field. For example, "primary.example.org:4400,secondary.example.org:4400".