OmniBus
OmniBus is a serial-protocol gateway you run on your own Linux hardware. It bridges field buses — BACnet MS/TP, Modbus RTU, OSDP, M-Bus, DNP3, Johnson Controls Metasys N2, and the Jandy AquaLink RS / Pentair pool buses — to modern transports: TCP, MQTT (including Sparkplug B), a REST API, and webhooks. Everything is configured through a password-protected web UI.
OmniBus is distributed as software, not hardware. You bring the machine — a server, a virtual machine, or a single-board computer such as a Raspberry Pi — and install OmniBus onto it with a single script. That keeps you in control of the hardware lifecycle, spares, and security baseline, while OmniBus handles the protocols.
What it does
- Speaks the buses integrators actually have in the field. Each serial port runs one protocol adapter. Point it at an RS-485/RS-232 line (or, for the network-transport adapters, at an upstream TCP server) and OmniBus decodes the traffic into structured data.
- Republishes that data on whatever your upstream system speaks. A single bus reading can simultaneously stream to a TCP socket, publish to an MQTT broker, answer a REST call, and fan out to webhooks.
- Is configured entirely from a browser. No config files to hand-edit on the device, no vendor toolchain. A first-run wizard creates your admin account and walks you through hostname, network, time, and MQTT.
Who it's for
System integrators and controls contractors who need to get a legacy serial device — a BACnet MS/TP trunk, a Modbus meter, an OSDP reader, a pool controller — onto an IP network, an MQTT broker, or an Ignition/SCADA front end, without buying a single-purpose protocol converter for each one.
A two-minute mental model
- One port = one physical serial line (or one network-transport client).
- One adapter = the protocol spoken on that port (Modbus RTU, BACnet MS/TP, …).
- Up to four outputs/inputs per port — TCP, MQTT, REST, webhooks — each toggled independently.
Read Architecture for the full picture, or jump straight to Getting Started to install.
Where to go next
| If you want to… | Go to |
|---|---|
| Install OmniBus on a machine | Getting Started → Installation |
| Understand ports, adapters, and outputs | Concepts |
| Configure a specific protocol | Protocols |
| Wire OmniBus into MQTT / REST / webhooks | Integrations |
| Manage users, TLS, backups, and the host | Administration |
| Diagnose a problem | Reference → Troubleshooting |
:::note Support Questions or a bug to report? Email support@harnessautomation.com. :::