Chapter overview
Bottom line: Configuration fields, placeholders, ports, and network exposure are distinct concepts. Create only a responsibility list; do not enter live values, open ports, or change networks.
- Purpose
- Distinguish configuration fields, file placeholder values, connection ports, and network exposure responsibilities.
- Prepare
- A blank responsibility sheet; no ETS project, host information, or network settings required.
- Time
- About 15 minutes
- System change
- Do not modify Home Assistant or the network; use only placeholder text to organize address fields, port roles, and exposure responsibilities.
- Expected result
- Distinguish configuration fields, placeholders, and responsibility for network exposure without entering any live-site identifiers.
- Stop conditions
- Do not enter or expose real hosts, endpoints, individual addresses, or group addresses.
- Steps require opening listeners, firewalls, or establishing a live connection.
Scope and safety boundaries
This chapter only covers documentation classification. No real individual address or group address is allowed. You may not publish real client ranges, hosts, IPs, ports, URLs, interfaces, device paths, serial numbers, or credentials. Document placeholder text cannot be pasted into settings.
Do not enable listeners, modify firewalls, routing or network interfaces, or perform connection tests. This chapter does not add the repository, install or start it. Any changes still require complete isolation, written approval, and approved immutable artifact/image provenance; the site currently lacks an approved digest.
Group reading, group writing, telegram transmission, ETS programming or downloads and physical control are prohibited. Correctly formatted fields do not prove KNX bus, ETS, integration or device performance.
Core concepts
Think of settings as a blank administrative form that cannot be submitted or applied.
Form fields, house numbers and who can enter
Think of it this way: Blank fields show what type of information a form expects. A placeholder is like a prompt to enter a house number. The house number only points to one door. Who can walk to the door is determined by the building entrance, walkways and access control.
Formal term: Configuration fields, documentation placeholders, ports, and network exposure surfaces.
The four should be reviewed separately. Knowing the space type does not prove that the value has been filled in; knowing the door number does not prove that the door is open; and an open door does not prove that anyone can reach it.
An individual address is also different from the group address. This chapter does not configure any kind of address, nor does it start an ETS project.
Preparation and prerequisites
Create a four-column accountability chart. Each column only contains concepts, not numbers or environmental values:
- Form field: Set the name and data role of the field.
- Placeholder: Use semantic placeholder text and mark it "Not deployable."
- Port role: Just say that this is port type information, without writing any numbers.
- Network access: List listeners, bindings, firewalls, routes and network ranges as separate review responsibilities.
If data comes from logs or screenshots, stop sharing it and follow the safe log-sharing guidance. Do not read the live environment merely to complete the form.
Steps
- Mark the column role first. Separate the address class, range class, endpoint host class and port class. Just write categories.
- Use placeholder text instead. In the public form, write only "individual-address placeholder," "client-range placeholder," "endpoint-host placeholder," and "endpoint-port placeholder," and mark each one as not deployable.
- Separate the port from the listener. A port is like a door number; a listener is a service waiting for work. Do not represent them as a single state.
- List exposure responsibilities. Treat binding scopes, firewalls, routing, and accessible networks as independent review items. All marked Not Evaluated.
- Add non-conclusion. It indicates that the address has not been configured, the port has not been opened, the listener has not been established, the endpoint has not been verified, and the bus has not been certified.
- Remove live values. If any numeric addresses, ports, hosts, URLs or environment names appear in the form, delete them before delivery.
Verification and evidence
Completion requires separated responsibilities and no live values. The result is not a usable configuration.
- I can explain that a field is a space, placeholder text is a prompt, a port is like a door number, and network exposure determines who can reach that door.
- All placeholder text is clearly marked "For document classification only; not deployable."
- The table has no addresses, ranges, hosts, IPs, port numbers, URLs, or other context identifying information.
- I did not modify Home Assistant, listener, firewall, routing or network, nor did I operate ETS or bus.
Next step: Go to Chapter 8, use the "reception desk" to understand the boundaries of responsibility between the listener and KNXnet/IP.
Troubleshooting
- Readers would like to see format examples: Use only semantic placeholder text. Don't provide numbers that seem directly applicable.
- Placeholder text is treated as a setting value: Add "Not applicable" next to each placeholder and remove copyable snippets.
- A port number is mistaken for a listening service: Return the conclusion to the door role. The listener state requires another layer of evidence.
- A listening service is mistaken for public exposure: State that bindings, firewalls, routes, and network ranges have not been evaluated.
- Someone asked to open a port for verification: Stop. This chapter does not do live network changes or detection.
FAQ
Advanced note: Add-on four fields of 0.6.1 schema
The pinned schema treats address as a required string, client_address as a required range string, ip_address as an optional string, and dest_port as an optional port. This describes only the field contract.
Pinned sources define defaults for some fields, but those values are not disclosed in this chapter. A required or optional field does not imply that a project has been configured, an endpoint exists, a listener has been created, or network exposure is secure.
Can placeholder text be pasted into Add-on settings?
No. It only helps you understand the field roles, not the schema values.
Is a port a switch?
No. It's more like a door role. Whether a service is listening and who can reach it are separate responsibilities.
Does selecting the field mean there is no network exposure?
No. Usage describes only the schema; exposure requires additional review of listeners, bindings, firewalls, routes, and network scopes.
Can I write a set of fake numbers?
No. Numbers that appear fake can still be copied or misidentified. It is safer to use semantic placeholder text.
Does the fact that there are no errors in the field check mean that the connection can be made?
No. Structure, listener, endpoint reachability and KNX bus are different evidence layers.
Evidence and sources
Evidence class: source-bounded
Feature crosswalk: addon-options-schema
Pinned sources support only the documented scope. This page does not represent validation of any local environment, hardware, network, or KNX bus.