Glossary

This glossary defines the key terms used throughout Proxus documentation. When a term appears in docs, it carries the meaning defined here.

A

Action

A response that runs when a Rule condition is met. Actions include sending Alerts, forwarding data to Outbound Connectors, or triggering Notifications. See Actions & Notifications.

Alert

A visible notification generated by the Rules Engine when a condition triggers. Alerts appear in the Management Console and can be forwarded via Notification Channels. See Alerts.

C

Central Server

The central component of the Proxus Hub & Spoke architecture. Hosts the Management Console, orchestration logic, and data persistence (PostgreSQL + ClickHouse). All Edge Gateways connect to the Central Server.

ClickHouse

The columnar time-series database used by Proxus for storing high-frequency telemetry data and system logs. Dashboards and the Telemetry API query ClickHouse. See Data Retention.

D

Data Quality

A composite score measured across five dimensions (Accuracy, Completeness, Integrity, Consistency, Freshness) for every connected device. See Data Quality & Metrics.

Deployment Manifest

The configuration package that an Edge Gateway downloads from the Central Server when it connects. Contains Device Profiles, Rules, Functions, and integration settings. See Edge Architecture.

Device

A logical representation of a physical asset (PLC, sensor, meter) in Proxus. Devices are assigned to a Gateway and linked to a Device Profile. See Devices & Assets.

Device Profile

A reusable template that defines which Tags to read from a device, using which Protocol, and at what polling interval. One profile can be assigned to many devices. See Device Profiles.

Device Token

A unique identifier assigned to a device for authentication when connecting via the Embedded MQTT Broker. See MQTT Broker Authentication.

E

Edge Gateway

A lightweight runtime deployed close to industrial equipment. Handles data acquisition, local rule execution, and Store & Forward during network outages. Gateways are stateless by design. See Edge Architecture.

Embedded MQTT Broker

A built-in MQTT 3.1.1 broker running on every Edge Gateway. Devices can publish telemetry directly to the gateway without external broker infrastructure. See MQTT Broker.

F

FunctionBase

The base class that all User Functions inherit from. Provides OnMessageReceive, OnStarted, logging methods, Save(), and scheduling capabilities. See C# Functions.

H

Hub & Spoke Topology

The distributed architecture pattern used by Proxus. One Central Server (Hub) coordinates multiple Edge Gateways (Spokes) across geographically distributed sites. See Hub & Spoke Topology.

I

ISA-95

An international standard (IEC 62264) that defines a hierarchical model for industrial data: Enterprise → Site → Area → Line → Cell → Equipment. Proxus uses ISA-95 to structure the Unified Namespace. See UNS.

M

Management Console

The web-based user interface for configuring and monitoring the entire Proxus platform. Accessible at http://<server>:8080. See User Interface.

MCP Server

Model Context Protocol server that exposes platform capabilities to AI agents (LLMs). Provides structured tool calls for querying devices, reading telemetry, and managing rules. See MCP Server.

N

Notification

A message sent through a Notification Channel when a Rule triggers. Supports email, webhook, Slack, and Teams. See Notifications.

Notification Channel

A configured delivery method for Notifications. Each channel defines the target (email address, webhook URL, etc.) and the message template. See Notifications.

O

OData

The protocol used by the Proxus REST API for CRUD operations on platform entities (Devices, Gateways, Rules). Supports $filter, $select, $top, $skip, and $orderby. See REST API.

Operations Center

The real-time monitoring dashboard that displays system health, data freshness, connectivity, action queue, and data flow topology in one screen. See Operations Center.

Outbound Connector

An integration that forwards data from Proxus to an external system (database, cloud service, messaging broker). Unlike Notifications, connectors send continuous data streams. See Outbound Connectors.

P

Protocol

A communication method for reading data from industrial equipment. Proxus supports Siemens S7, Modbus TCP/RTU, OPC UA, Allen-Bradley, Beckhoff ADS, Mitsubishi, FANUC, SNMP, MTConnect, and more. See Protocols.

R

RBAC

Role-Based Access Control. Proxus uses RBAC with support for object-level criteria, navigation permissions, and UNS topic permissions. See Security.

Rule

A condition-action pair evaluated by the Rules Engine. When incoming data matches the condition (threshold, expression, or anomaly model), the rule triggers one or more Actions. See Rules Engine.

Rules Engine

The automation component that evaluates incoming telemetry against defined rules at the Edge Gateway level. Supports threshold rules, expression rules, and anomaly detection. See Rules Engine.

S

SparkplugB

An MQTT-based industrial messaging specification using binary Protocol Buffers encoding. Proxus supports SparkplugB as an alternative UNS payload format. See SparkplugB Support.

Stateless Edge

The design principle that Edge Gateways do not store configuration locally. All workload configuration comes from the Central Server via the Deployment Manifest. A failed gateway can be replaced by simply applying the same token to new hardware. See Edge Architecture.

Store & Forward

The resilience mechanism on Edge Gateways that buffers data to local disk when the connection to the Central Server is lost. Data is sent in FIFO order when connectivity is restored, preserving timestamps and sequence. See Store & Forward.

System Gateway

A special Edge Gateway that runs co-located with the Central Server. It handles internal system tasks and can be used for testing without remote hardware. Named SYSTEM in the Management Console.

T

Tag

A single data point (signal) read from a device. Defined inside a Device Profile with a name, address, and data type. Examples: Temperature, Vibration, Status. See Device Profiles.

Telemetry API

The dedicated REST endpoint (POST /api/Telemetry/execute) for running SELECT queries against ClickHouse telemetry data. Returns NDJSON (JSONEachRow). See REST API.

TransportData

The internal message format used within the Proxus pipeline. Contains metadata (device name, gateway ID) and payload (key-value pairs with data type). Used in User Functions for message processing. See C# Functions.

U

Unified Namespace (UNS)

The central data model of Proxus. All operational data is organized into a hierarchical topic structure following the ISA-95 standard. Acts as the Single Source of Truth for current state. See Unified Namespace.

User Function

A custom C# class that inherits from FunctionBase and runs on an Edge Gateway. Functions process telemetry data, perform calculations, and can inject new data back into the pipeline. See C# Functions.

W

White Labeling

The ability to replace the Proxus brand elements (logo, colors, application name) with custom branding for OEM or partner deployments. See White Labeling.