DESL Microgrid Handbook

A handbook and learning notes for the DESL Microgrid platform.

Author

Published

September 14, 2026

IT Infrastructure

Overview

The DESL Microgrid server setup utilizes a physical Dell server running VMware ESXi hypervisor to host three distinct virtual machines (VMs). This virtualization approach isolates network traffic, database management, and control functions while allowing fast internal inter-VM communication over software switches (vSwitch).

                          ┌────────────────────────┐      ┌────────────────────────┐
                          │ DESL Microgrid Subnet  │      │   EPFL Public Network  │
                          │     192.168.1.X        │      │     128.179.xx.xx      │
                          └───────────┬────────────┘      └───────────┬────────────┘
                                      │                               │
        ┌─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┐
        │ Dell Physical Server        │ vmnic0                        │ vmnic3                   │
        │ (ESXi Host: 192.168.1.55)   │                               │                          │
        │                             ▼                               ▼                          │
        │                   ┌──────────────────┐            ┌──────────────────┐                 │
        │                   │     vSwitch0     │            │     vSwitch1     │                 │
        │                   └─────────┬────────┘            └─────────┬────────┘                 │
        │                             │                               │                          │
        │      ┌──────────────────────┼──────────────────────┐        │                          │
        │      │ ens256               │ ens160               │ Ethernet0 │ ens192                │
        │      ▼                      ▼                      ▼        ▼                          │
        │ ┌───────────┐         ┌───────────┐          ┌────────────┐                            │
        │ │   VM.1    │         │   VM.2    │          │    VM.3    │                            │
        │ │  Router   ├─────-──►│ DataBase  │          │  DESLCtrl  │                            │
        │ │ (Ubuntu)  │         │ (Ubuntu)  │          │ (Win 10)   │                            │
        │ └───────────┘         └───────────┘          └────────────┘                            │
        │  192.168.1.56         192.168.1.58           192.168.1.59                              │
        │  128.179.34.35                                                                         │
        └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Component

Machine / Layer	OS / Function	Private IP	Port Mapping	Role
ESXi Host	VMware ESXi	`192.168.1.55`	—	Physical Dell Hypervisor host
VM.1 Router	Ubuntu Linux	`192.168.1.56` / `.57`	`128.179.34.35`	Firewall, traffic routing, DNAT port forwarding
VM.2 DataBase	Ubuntu Linux	`192.168.1.58`	`:52000` (InfluxDB) `:52100` (Grafana)	Time-series data storage & monitoring dashboard
VM.3 DESLCtrl	Windows 10	`192.168.1.59`	—	Matlab / Labview control algorithm execution

Access

Internal Access (Local Microgrid Subnet)

Users connected to the DESL Microgrid Network (192.168.1.X) can directly target individual VM IPs via SSH or web browser without going through external translation.
ESXi Management Interface: https://192.168.1.55
- username: root
- password: Root442$1
DataBase VM Direct SSH: ssh <username>@192.168.1.58
- username(Database VM): database
- password: DESLDatabase

External Access (Public EPFL Network)

External access to internal resources is handled via Port Forwarding (DNAT) configured on VM.1 Router:

InfluxDB API: Incoming traffic to 128.179.34.35:52000 $\rightarrow$ Forwarded internally to 192.168.1.58:8086
- username: admin
- password: DESLInfluxDB
Grafana Dashboard: Incoming traffic to 128.179.34.35:52100 $\rightarrow$ Forwarded internally to 192.168.1.58:3000
- username: admin
- password: DESLGrafana2024$1

Operating Procedures

A. Accessing the DataBase VM via Web Console

Connect to the local MG network.
Open a web browser and navigate to https://192.168.1.55.
Log in using the ESXi root credentials.
Navigate to Virtual Machines $\rightarrow$ VM.2 DataBase $\rightarrow$ Console $\rightarrow$ Launch Web Console.

B. Adding the Database VM Direct SSH Access

Open the Database VM console or SSH session with admin rights.

ssh database@192.168.1.58

Now you can execute Linux commands directly on the Database VM, such as:

checking InfluxDB status:

sudo systemctl status influxd

find PID of InfluxDB process:

ps aux | grep influxd

stop InfluxDB service:

sudo service influxd stop

restart InfluxDB service:

influxd

C. InfluxDB Troubleshooting & Restart Protocol

If InfluxDB fails or holds locked port instances:

Connect to the DataBase VM (192.168.1.58).
Stop any rogue or hanging background instances:

sudo service influxd stop

Restart the service in the background cleanly:

sudo systemctl start influxd
# OR run directly in the background:
nohup influxd > /dev/null 2>&1 &

InfluxDB Crash Troubleshooting

The InfluxDB service may crash when a large query is executed, I doubt this is due to the limited RAM of the VM.

Until August 2026, the VM.2 DataBase is only allocated 4GB of RAM.
May manage memory limits using the influxd configuration options or environment variables, such as setting INFLUXD_QUERY_INITIAL_MEMORY_BYTES and INFLUXD_QUERY_MAX_MEMORY_BYTES to cap memory usage per query.

Battery Container

Control desktop PC in the container:
- IP address: 128.178.46.56
- Username: epfl_osmose@outlook.com
- Password: osmoseEPFL+
Container Control LabView Structure
- LabView → Main Control → BESS Protected Control → password: FigaBoh
Container Guide

Container: How to sniff the CAN

In the server room, turn off SRC2 by pressing and holding the Power button until the green LED turns off. (Question: shall we shut down the LabView program first?)
Switch computers to the Box PC (blue Ethernet cable, monitor cable and peripheral USB cable).
Execute /SRC1 From Yongjiang_V2/SRC1_Modbus.exe. Input the IP address of the string 172.17.10.10X (X = 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9), for string#1 to string#9, and click Initialize.
In A1 Battery Modbus Tool -> Contactors, click open to open the contactor, wait for a few seconds, then click Shutdown battery to turn off the string, check that the LED light on the string should turn off.
Insert the DB37 cable to the CAN bus between the Battery that has been shut down (like in this Figure).
Back to the A1 Battery Modbus Tool, Click on Startup battery, wait for all the batteries to start up, and the status should change to Ready.
For the disconnected battery, click on precharge to precharge before closing the contactor, until the voltage of the disconnected string reaches the value of other connected strings. Once the voltage levels are similar, click on full charge.
Switch back to the desktop PC (blue Ethernet cable, monitor cable and peripheral USB cable), log in to the desktop, credentials see above.
Restart SRC2 in the server room by pressing the Power button, then the green LED turns on.
Start the BESS Control VI in the desktop PC, and click Startup to start the BESS control program.
The data should be display on Grafana, via this link. The Number of strings should be 9, but sometimes it may show 7/8 due to unknown reasons, after tens of minutes, it may recover to 9.

Container: Apply for the door access

To gain the access to the container, ask Sophie to apply for the door access for you.

Door id: ELL LECL.1 (container externe) (the door on the long side of the container, facing ELL).

Repository

An InfluxDB query client is available DESL/Influx_reading_writing. Python and Matlab clients are provided for reading and writing time-series data to the InfluxDB server.
Microgrid central control algorithm is available DESL/Labview-ugrid/mg_central_controller.

IT Management Training

Info: sti-it.epfl.ch
Eduroam user name: weliu@epfl.ch
Entra ID username: wenyu.liu@epfl.ch, password management by 1234
Service: epnet.epfl.ch/
Active Directory: sti-it.epfl.ch/ad, only on Windows machines, ADSciper is required.
subdomain: intranet.epfl.ch
Port management: geoportail.epfl.ch/
Login to the EPFL owned Windows machine:
- Connect to EPFL wifi
- username: intranet username, e.g. weliu
- password: your EPFL password

Other Items

Exposed CompactRIO

A web-based configuration and management interface for a CompactRIO device (cRIO-9068, named ELL-040-PV-Facade) is mistakenly exposed to the EPFL public network.

Subnet IP: 192.168.1.153
Public Access: 128.178.46.115

CompactRIO Access

CompactRIO devices can be accessed via SSH, for example, on the SCADA PC:

ssh admin@192.168.1.153

Then you have:

admin@ELL040-PV-Facade:~#