.. include:: ../vars.rst

.. _section-introduction:

************
Introduction
************

.. _RTI Connext DDS Getting Started Guide: https://community.rti.com/static/documentation/connext-dds/6.1.2/doc/manuals/connext_dds_professional/getting_started_guide/index.html
.. _Getting Started with Admin Console: https://www.rti.com/gettingstarted/adminconsole
		

.. NOTE::
   This document assumes you have a basic understanding of 
   *RTI® Connext® DDS* application development and concepts, 
   such as a DDS Domains, DomainParticipants, Topics, DataWriters, 
   and DataReaders. For an overview of these concepts, please 
   see the `RTI Connext DDS Getting Started Guide`_.

|RTI_AC| is a tool specifically designed to analyze and visualize
your |CONNEXT| system. This tool can show you the discovered
information in your system, visualized in a comprehensive way.

|AC| lets you visualize your system, explore the configuration of
the different |CONNEXT| entities that were discovered, perform remote
administration of |CONNEXT| Services such as *RTI Routing Service*, and more.

Analyzing and debugging a |CONNEXT| system can be challenging, since
data-centric systems are complex and highly distributed. |AC| provides a
debugging tool that facilitates the process and helps you interact with
the system. In this document, we will explore the different capabilities that
|AC| provides, guiding you through the process with examples and describing
how to configure your |CONNEXT| system so you can explore those capabilities
in an easy and understandable way.


How to Read this Documentation
==============================

There are three main sections in this document: 

* :ref:`section-administration-introduction` shows how |AC| offers a
  centralized tool for monitoring, debugging and administering a 
  |CONNEXT| distributed system. This section shows how to use the
  Administration View. We will configure a scenario and explain
  all of |AC|'s features for performing remote administration, 
  visualizing your system, administrating |CONNEXT| Services, 
  analyzing matches, etc.

* :ref:`section-data-visualization-introduction` shows how |AC| can
  visualize the live data currently flowing in a |CONNEXT| system.
  This section explores how to subscribe to a specific topic and 
  visualize the data through different views, such as time charts
  or sample logs.

* The :ref:`section-release-notes` describe the supported platforms,
  what's new, and what's fixed in the current release, and any known issues. 


Getting Started with |AC_HEADING|
=================================

See the `Getting Started with Admin Console`_ video to 
learn more about |AC|'s features and how to get started.
The video explains the essentials of using |AC| to troubleshoot,
configure and monitor |CONNEXT| Infrastructure Services, and how
to get information about the current DDS traffic and configuration.

.. _section-Finding-Examples:


Finding the Examples
====================

The examples referred to in this document are copied into your home
directory the first time you run *RTI Launcher* or any script in
``<installation path for Connext DDS>/bin``. 

Default path to the examples:

  - macOS systems:
    ``/Users/your user name/rti_workspace/version/examples``
  - Linux systems:
    ``/home/your user name/rti_workspace/version/examples``
  - Windows systems:
    ``your Windows documents folder\rti_workspace\version\examples``.
    Where ``'your Windows documents folder'`` depends on your version of
    Windows. For example, on Windows 10 systems, the folder is
    ``C:\Users\your user name\Documents``.