This page lays out a common terminology for discussing the components and underlying technologies used by the platform. The first section discusses capabilities and industry standards that VOLTTRON conforms to while the latter is specific to the VOLTTRON domain.
.. glossary::
Agent
Software which acts on behalf of a user to perform a set of tasks.
BACNet
Building Automation and Control network that leverages ASHRAE, ANSI, and IOS 16484-5 standard protocols
DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol 3)
Communications protocol used to coordinate processes in distributed automation systems
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
JavaScript object notation is a text-based, human-readable, open data interchange format, similar to XML but less
verbose
IEEE 2030.5
Utilities communication standard for managing energy demand and load (previously Smart Energy Profile version 2,
SEP2)
JSON-RPC (JSON-Remote Procedure Call)
JSON-encoded Remote Procedure Call
Modbus
Communications protocol for talking with industrial electronic devices
PLC (Programmable Logic Controller)
Computer used in industrial applications to manage processes of groups of industrial devices
Python Virtual Environment
The `Python-VENV` library allows users to create a virtualized copy of the local environment. A virtual environment
allows the user to isolate the dependencies for a project which helps prevent conflicts between dependencies across
projects.
Publish/Subscribe
A message delivery pattern where senders (publishers) and receivers (subscribers) do not communicate directly nor
necessarily have knowledge of each other, but instead exchange messages through an intermediary based on a mutual
class or topic.
.. note::
The Publish/Subscribe paradigm is often notated as ``pub/sub`` in VOLTTRON documentation.
RabbitMQ
Open-Source message brokering system used by VOLTTRON for sending messages between services on the platform.
Remote Procedure Call
Protocol used to request services of another computer located elsewhere on the network or on a different network.
SSH
`Secure Shell` is a network protocol providing encryption and authentication of data using public-key cryptography.
SSL
`Secure Sockets Layer` is a technology for encryption and authentication of network traffic based on a chain of
trust.
TLS
`Transport Layer Security` is the successor to SSL.
ZeroMQ
(also ØMQ) A library used for inter-process and inter-computer communication.
.. glossary::
Activated Environment
An activated environment is the environment a VOLTTRON instance is run in. The bootstrap process creates the
environment from the shell.
AIP (Agent Instantiation and Packaging)
This is the module responsible for creating agent wheels, the agent execution environment and running agents. Found
in the VOLTTRON repository in the `volttron/platform` directory.
Agent Framework
Framework which provides connectivity to the VOLTTRON platform and subsystems for software agents.
Bootstrap the Environment
The process by which an operating environment (activated environment) is produced. From the :term:`VOLTTRON_ROOT`
directory, executing `python bootstrap.py` will start the bootstrap process.
Config Store
Agent data store used by the platform for storing configuration files and automating the management of agent
configuration
Driver
Module that implements communication paradigms of a device to provide an interface to devices for the VOLTTRON
platform.
Driver Framework
Framework for implementing communication between the VOLTTRON platform and devices on the network (or a remote
network)
Historian
Historians in VOLTTRON are special purpose agents for automatically collecting data from the platform message bus
and storing in a persistent data store.
VIP
VOLTTRON Interconnect Protocol is a secure routing protocol that facilitates communications between agents,
controllers, services, and the supervisory :term:`VOLTTRON_INSTANCE`.
VIP address
Public address bound to by a VOLTTRON platform instance for communication (Example: ``tcp:///192.168.1.20:22916``).
Communication to external platform instances requires that the address be in range for external communication from
the host.
VIP Identity
Unique identifier for an agent connected to an instance. Used for messaging, routing and security.
VOLTTRON Central
VOLTTRON Central (VC) is a special purpose agent for managing multiple platforms in a distributed VOLTTRON
deployment
VOLTTRON_HOME
The location for a specific :term:`VOLTTRON_INSTANCE` to store its specific information. There can be many
`VOLTTRON_HOME`s on a single computing resource such as a VM, machine, etc. Each `VOLTTRON_HOME` will correspond to
a single instance of VOLTTRON.
VOLTTRON_INSTANCE
A single VOLTTRON process executing instructions on a computing resource. For each `VOLTTRON_INSTANCE`, there WILL
BE only one :term:`VOLTTRON_HOME` associated with it. For a `VOLTTRON_INSTANCE` to participate outside its computing
resource, it must be bound to an external IP address.
VOLTTRON_ROOT
The cloned directory from Github. When executing the command:
.. code-block:: bash
git clone https://github.com/VOLTTRON/volttron.git
the top level volttron folder is the VOLTTRON_ROOT.
Web Framework
Framework used by VOLTTRON agents to implement web services with HTTP and HTTPS