Can Conductor send out alerts based on system state?

Question

Can Conductor send out alerts via SMS or email based on its view of system state? For example if the network switch connecting Conductor to the lighting network goes down, but it's secondary network is still intact, can it/will it notify users via SMS/email that the switch is down?

Answer

The simple answer is 'No'. Conductor does not track nor does it have a database of ETC devices that exist in a lighting system. Therefore if parts of a system, or an entire system suddenly drops offline, it is not able to generate an error/alert on its own to send to users letting them know. All errors which Conductor monitors and sends alerts for are generated by other devices on the network. Conductor does not generate any errors on its own for which an alert can be sent. If the switch connecting Conductor to the rest of the lighting network goes down, there may be other devices that produce an error that Conductor can send an alert for, but there is no data path for those devices to tell Conductor this has occurred.

Let's look at a few scenarios in which the switch Conductor is connected to is live and well:

• The only Paradigm processor on the network is powered off. NO alert is generated since there isn't another processor to report it missing.
• The only Paradigm processor on the network has its Ethernet cable unplugged. It generates an error saying as much, but since the data path to Conductor has been removed NO alert is generated.
• The system has two or more Paradigm processors and one of them loses network connectivity. All other processors report it missing so Conductor DOES generate alerts for each processor.
• The lighting network has eight Response Mk2 Gateways across multiple switches. The switch powering three of them is damaged by a power surge and goes offline. The Gateways and other ETC products have no knowledge of them needing to exist as a "system", therefore NO alert is generated.