Issue
Need to know more information on what tree files are in ION/SPM/PME.

Product Line
ION Enterprise, Struxureware Power Monitoring (SPM), Power Monitoring Expert (PME)

Environment
Tree files

Cause
N/A

Resolution
The ION Enterprise system uses "tree" files to cache device configuration information. These files store, for example, information about all the ION modules on the device and setup register information. With this cache ION Enterprise can quickly access setup information for ION client programs like Designer, Vista, and Log Server/Log Inserter.

Running in the background is a program called TreeMon. It manages these cache files and allows the ION client programs to "lock" the cache while they make changes to the device configuration. During this "locked" period no other ION client can make changes to the device. Also the Log Server/Log Inserter will not begin uploading any logs associated with modified Data Recorder or Waveform modules.
Once the ION client program is finished it releases its "lock" and Treemon then proceeds to update the cache file to reflect what is on the device. During this time the tree is marked "dirty". Once Treemon has completed updating the cache the tree is marked "clean" and can once again be accessed (and locked) by an ION client node.

The term "tree" came about because of the structure of the ION module architecture. At the base of this tree is the single ION object called the Feature Manager. It owns all of the ION Managers. Each one of these managers owns ION modules of a particular type. Each ION module owns Setup registers. If you draw the relationship between these ION objects the drawing looks like a tree with many branches. This is why the files are called tree files.