DeltaV controllers, CHARM I/O Cards (CIOCs) and WirelessHART I/O Cards (WIOCs) are native nodes on the DeltaV Control Network and have an automatic discovery mechanism that enables the node commissioning process to easily add the hardware to the system. When first installed and connected to the DeltaV Control Network, controllers, WIOCs, and CIOCs are decommissioned nodes on the network. When they are assigned to a specific placeholder in the configuration, controllers, WIOCs, and CIOCs become commissioned nodes, ready to perform their function.
A node can be decommissioned and reassigned to a new placeholder. Decommissioning a node to a new placeholder is rarely done in production level systems, but is quite common in offline development or training systems. Typically the DeltaV Explorer is used to commission and decommission nodes. When a system is in flux, such as during development, or Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), or when it is being used to create a new training scenario, the physical hardware can be left commissioned while the database on the host ProfessionalPlus is changed (for example two databases are swapped on the same ProfessionalPlus without first decommissioning the hardware). When this happens, the new database does not see the hardware on the network because the controller, WIOC, or CIOC is still commissioned to its previous assignment. Physically removing the controller, CIOC, or WIOC node from its carrier decommissions the node and enables it to be commissioned to a new database assignment.