Introduction to PowerManage
Overview​
PowerManage is a centralized service management platform by Johnson Controls (JCI). It is designed to monitor, manage, and diagnose multiple alarm and security systems from a single interface. It helps security service providers manage connected security and home automation systems from a central monitoring station (CMS).
Use PowerManage to receive alarm events, monitor panel status, provision services, and provide remote technical support from one interface.
The current stable release is PowerManage 5.0, running on AlmaLinux 9.8.
Use PowerManage when you need to monitor panels, review events, manage configuration, provision services, or support remote troubleshooting workflows.
Who uses PowerManage​
PowerManage supports several user groups.
| Callout | User group | Typical tasks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Operators | Monitor alarm events, manage panels, and respond to incidents in the web interface. |
| 2 | Installers | Use the AlarmInstall mobile app to enroll panels, configure devices, and perform on-site diagnostics. |
| 3 | End customers | Use the ConnectAlarm mobile app to arm or disarm systems, view camera feeds, and manage home automation. |
| 4 | Administrators | Configure server settings, manage certificates, and control user permissions through the Machine Management Interface (MMI). |
Available pages, actions, and settings depend on your role, permissions, deployment configuration, and enabled features.
What you can do with PowerManage​
PowerManage provides these core capabilities:
- Receive and route events. PowerManage acts as an IP receiver for regular and visual alarm events. It routes events to operators, central stations, automations, and downstream integrations.
- Provision and enroll panels. You can auto-enroll panels over broadband or cellular connections and manage licensing and feature enablement through the Repository.
- Monitor and manage devices. You can view panel status, run diagnostics, check faults, and perform remote inspections from the web interface.
- Manage firmware updates. PowerManage distributes firmware to panels and communicators through the Remote Software Update (RSU) service.
- Enable home automation. You can create automation rules, control smart devices, and manage scenes locally on the panel and remotely through the server.
- Deliver video verification. PowerManage supports video on demand (VOD) and visual verification from PowerG cameras and RTSP/ONVIF IP cameras.
- Report to central stations. Events are forwarded to central monitoring stations using industry-standard protocols, including SIA (DC-09), CID, and MLR2 (Surgard).
- Manage users, roles, and permissions. Administrators can create users, assign roles, define groups, and control access to panels and features.
Supported panel families​
PowerManage supports multiple panel families, including Visonic, DSC, and Qolsys.
For more information about supported systems and versions, see Compatible systems.
Deployment models​
You can deploy PowerManage in the following configurations:
- Standalone. A single server handles all operations. This is the simplest setup and is suitable for smaller deployments.
- Redundancy. Two servers operate in a master-secondary configuration for high availability. If the primary server fails, the secondary server takes over automatically.
PowerManage supports bare-metal installations, cloud installations such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), and virtual machine deployments. It does not support the DigitalOcean platform.
Architecture overview​
PowerManage can run as a self-contained server or as a progressively decoupled system. In a decoupled system, some services can run externally, for example in Kubernetes or Amazon EKS, while legacy components remain on the server.
Key data flows include:
- Panel connectivity. Panels connect over broadband or cellular by using protocols such as SIA/IP and LwM2M. PowerManage services ingest events and telemetry.
- Operator and dealer interface. Users access the web interface over HTTPS through a configured hostname and certificate.
- Installer and customer apps. The AlarmInstall and ConnectAlarm mobile apps connect through PowerManage gateways and REST APIs.
- Repository synchronization. The server synchronizes licenses, firmware packages, certificates, and feature flags with a central Repository, optionally using MQTT messaging.
- External integrations. PowerManage can connect to external platforms such as Connect24 for secure, scalable operations, as well as SIM providers and billing services.
User interfaces​
PowerManage provides several interfaces for different tasks.
| Callout | Interface | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Web interface | A browser-based GUI for operators and dealers to manage panels, view events, run reports, and configure system settings. Supported browsers include Google Chrome 147+, Mozilla Firefox 150+, Microsoft Edge, and Safari. |
| 2 | Machine Management Interface (MMI) | A server-side console for administrators to configure network settings, certificates, firewall rules, diagnostics, and system profiles. |
| 3 | ConnectAlarm app | A mobile app for end customers on Android and iOS. Customers can arm or disarm systems, view camera feeds, manage automation rules, and receive push notifications. |
| 4 | AlarmInstall app | A mobile app for installers on Android and iOS. Installers can enroll panels, configure devices, run diagnostics, and manage camera profiles. |
| 5 | REST APIs | Programmatic interfaces for user, installer, and third-party integrations. |
Security features​
PowerManage includes built-in security capabilities:
- Encrypted communication. All panel-to-server communication is encrypted at the protocol level, including Fibro, ITv2, LwM2M, and SIA. Web and API traffic uses TLS encryption.
- Built-in firewall. PowerManage uses nftables, upgraded from legacy iptables. By default, the firewall accepts connections only on ports required for panel-server communication.
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA). You can enable email-based MFA for web interface sign-in.
- Action logging. PowerManage records all actions performed by users in the web interface and makes those actions available for review.
- Login activity metrics. PowerManage provides SNMP and Prometheus metrics for failed and successful sign-ins. Use these metrics to monitor suspicious activity.
- Certificate management. You can manage SSL/TLS certificates through MMI, including applying, renewing, and deleting certificates.
- OS security. The base AlmaLinux distribution includes kernel security configuration based on Red Hat best practices, with regular updates to open-source packages in each major release.
Security-related behavior depends on deployment configuration, certificate configuration, firewall rules, and enabled authentication settings.
Version support​
Johnson Controls advises customers to upgrade to the latest release.
| PowerManage version | Status |
|---|---|
| 5.0 | Latest stable release — Supported |
| 4.20 | Previous stable release — Supported |
| 4.18 and earlier | End of Life (EOL) |
PowerManage uses semantic versioning: an epoch number followed by major version, minor version, and patch level. Even major versions are stable public releases. Odd major versions are internal releases.
Security patches are provided for the latest version of the current release and the latest version of the prior release.