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Setting Up The Environment

This document provides an overview of setting up the GE iFIX environment and describes how to configure various iFIX components using the System Configuration Utility (SCU), including networking nodes, security, alarms, and SCADA servers. The SCU is a tool for configuring iFIX that allows creating and editing configuration files.

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100% found this document useful (1 vote)
72 views170 pages

Setting Up The Environment

This document provides an overview of setting up the GE iFIX environment and describes how to configure various iFIX components using the System Configuration Utility (SCU), including networking nodes, security, alarms, and SCADA servers. The SCU is a tool for configuring iFIX that allows creating and editing configuration files.

Uploaded by

ckati
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GE iFIX

Setting up the Environment

Version 5.8, SP2


December 2016
Disclaimer of Warranties and Liability

The information contained in this manual is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, GE Intelligent Platforms,
Inc. assumes no responsibilities for any errors, omissions or inaccuracies whatsoever. Without limiting the foregoing,
GE Intelligent Platforms, Inc. disclaims any and all warranties, expressed or implied, including the warranty of mer-
chantability and fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to the information contained in this manual and the
equipment or software described herein. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of such information, equip-
ment and software, is upon the buyer or user. GE Intelligent Platforms, Inc. shall not be liable for any damages, includ-
ing special or consequential damages, arising out of the use of such information, equipment and software, even if GE
Intelligent Platforms, Inc. has been advised in advance of the possibility of such damages. The use of the information
contained in the manual and the software described herein is subject to GE Intelligent Platforms, Inc. standard
license agreement, which must be accepted by the buyer or user before the use of such information, equipment or
software.

Trademark Notices

© 2016, General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

Proficy is a trademark of GE Intelligent Platforms, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Electric Company.

* Indicates a trademark of General Electric Company and/or its subsidiaries.

All other product names and marks identified throughout this book are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective companies. They are used throughout this book in editorial fashion only. No such use, or the use of any
trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or affiliation.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, or stored in a database or retrieval system, or transmitted
or distributed in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior written permission of GE Intelligent Platforms. Information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

We want to hear from you. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions about our documentation, send them
to the following email address:

[email protected]
Table of Contents

Setting up the Environment 2

Reference Documents 2

Introduction 3

SCU Overview 3

Getting Started 5

More Information 5

Networking iFIX Nodes 6

Working with TCP/IP 6

Before You Begin With TCP/IP 6

Mapping IP Addresses 7

Using a Local HOSTS File 7

Using DNS Servers 7

Using DHCP/WINS 8

Verifying Port Assignments 8

Configuring TCP/IP 8

To configure TCP/IP: 8

Notes on Networking with Other iFIX and FIX Nodes 8

Getting Started with the SCU 8

Before You Begin with the SCU 9

Starting and Exiting the SCU 9

Using the SCU Toolbox 10

SCU File Operations 10

Opening a New File 11

Adding a File Description 11

Creating a Report 11

Configuring Directory Paths 11

Overview Checklist 13

To use the SCU in iFIX: 13

Configuring iFIX Using the SCU 13

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. i


Configuring Local Startup Options 14

Specifying the Local Server, Local Logical, and SCU File Name 14

Running iFIX as a Service 14

Windows Services 15

Disabling Fast Startup in Microsoft Windows 8 and 8.1 15

Disabling iFIX as a Service 15

Running iFIX with Terminal Server 15

Running iFIX with Other Programs 15

To configure a different user account for iFIX running as a service: 15

iFIX Paths 15

Required Application Feature 16

Fast User Switching Not Supported 16

Running the OPC Client Driver and iFIX as a Service 16

Using with Environment Protection 16

Running Workspace.exe from the SCU Task List Not Supported 16

Enabling the Local Node Alias Feature 16

Configuring Security 16

Configuring Network Connections 16

Configuring Protocols 17

Configuring Remote Nodes 17

Enabling Secondary SCADA Nodes 17

Using Network Timers on a Per-node Basis 17

Dynamic Connections 17

Configuring LAN Redundancy 18

Configuring Network Timers 18

Configuring Network Security 18

Legacy Network Computing 19

Trusted Network Computing 20

Failure Modes 20

Connection Authentication 20

Site-Specific Authentication 21

ii © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Encryption of Packet Data 22

Non-listening Clients 22

Creating Non-listening Clients 23

To create a non-listening client: 23

Non-listening Clients and Terminal Services 23

Non-listening Clients and Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) 23

Denial of Service Attacks 23

Configuring Alarms 24

Enabling Alarm Services 24

Customizing Alarm Services 25

Configuring Alarm Areas 25

How to use the Configure Alarm Areas Dialog Box 25

To configure alarm areas D and E to receive operator messages: 25

Formatting Messages 26

Selecting a Port 26

Naming a Printer 26

Deleting Alarms 26

Enabling the Startup Queue Configuration 26

Enabling the Alarm ODBC Service 27

Advanced Alarm Configuration 27

Configuring Common Alarm Areas 27

Defining a Common Message Format 27

Routing Application Messages 27

Modifying Alarm Queues 27

Editing the Alarm Area Database 27

Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager 28

Configuring the Alarm Horn 28

Configuring SCADA Servers 29

Enabling SCADA Support 29

Naming the Database 29

Configuring Drivers 29

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. iii


Setting up the Driver 29

Configuring an I/O Driver 30

Configuring Startup Tasks 30

Running iFIX Tasks in the Background 30

Controlling SAC Startup 30

Starting SAC Automatically 31

Starting I/O Drivers Automatically 31

Configuring iFIX for Relational Databases 32

To access a relational database data source: 32

Configuring the SQL Service 32

SCU Dialog Boxes 32

Advanced Alarm Configuration Dialog Box 34

Common Format 34

Common Areas 34

Queue Configuration 34

Operator Messages 34

Recipe Messages 34

Alarm Area Database 34

Advanced Network Configuration Dialog Box 34

Network Timers 34

LAN Redundancy 35

More Network Options 35

Advanced Send Alarm Settings Dialog Box 36

Username 36

Password 36

Confirm Password 36

Send Timeout 36

Receive Timeout 36

Alarm Configuration Dialog Box 36

Alarm Configuration List Box 37

Enable 37

iv © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Disable 37

Modify 37

Advanced 37

Alarm Queues Configuration Dialog Box 37

Local Setup 37

Network Client Setup 38

Network Manager Setup 38

Reset Sizes Button 38

Alarm Service Configuration Dialog Boxes 38

Alarm Printer Configuration Dialog Box 38

Alarm Summary Service Configuration Dialog Box 39

Alarm File Service Configuration Dialog Box 39

Alarm History Service Configuration Dialog Box 39

Alarm ODBC Service Configuration Dialog Box 40

Network Alarm Configuration Dialog Box 40

Startup Queue Configuration Dialog Box 40

Available Phonebook Entries Dialog Box 41

Available Phonebook Entries List Box 41

Configure Alarm Areas Dialog Box 41

Use All Alarm Areas 41

Select from Alarm Area Database 41

Available Areas 41

Arrow Button 41

Remove Button 41

Configured Areas 41

Add Text Box 41

Add Button 42

Browse (...) Button 42

Database Definition Dialog Box 42

Database Name 42

Browse (...) Button 42

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. v


Database IDs Available Dialog Box 42

Database IDs Available List Box 42

Database Types Available Dialog Box 42

Database Types Available List Box 42

Edit Alarm Area Database Dialog Box 42

Alarm Area 42

Configured Alarms 43

Add 43

Modify 43

Delete 43

iFIX ODBC Alarm Service Configuration Dialog Box 43

SQL Login Information 43

Options 44

Lost Connections Options 44

User Fields 44

Database Configuration 45

Column Configuration 45

List of Alarm Clients Dialog Box 45

Clients 45

Edit Box 46

Add Client 46

Configured Areas 46

Add Area 46

Local Startup Definition Dialog Box 46

Local Node Name 46

Local Logical Name 46

Configuration File 46

Browse (...) Button 47

Local Node Alias 47

Continue Running After Logoff 47

Start FIX at System Boot 47

vi © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Message Format Configuration Dialog Box 47

Columns 47

Length 48

Column Order 48

Up Arrow 48

Down Arrow 48

Message Length 48

Current Length 48

Use Common Button 48

Network Alarm Configuration Dialog Box 48

Send Startup Queue Alarms to Original Typers 48

Network Configuration Dialog Box 48

Network 48

Options 49

Remote Nodes 49

Path Configuration Dialog Box 50

Base 50

Language 50

Project 50

Local 50

Database 50

Picture 50

Application 51

Historical 51

Historical Data 51

Alarms 51

Master Recipe 51

Control Recipe 51

Alarm Areas (AAD) 51

Change Base 51

Change Project 51

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. vii


Remote Node Configuration Dialog Box 51

Enable Logical Node Names 51

Primary Node 52

Secondary Node 52

Timers 52

SCADA Configuration Dialog Box 52

Enable 52

Disable 52

Database Name 52

Database Browse (...) Button 52

I/O Driver Name 52

I/O Driver Name Browse (...) Button 53

Configured I/O Drivers 53

Add 53

Configure 53

Setup 53

Delete 53

Failover 53

Send Alarm Filters Dialog Box 53

Send Alarms from Area 54

Send Alarms of Priority 54

SQL Accounts Dialog Box 54

Configured Accounts 54

Add 54

Delete 54

Configure 54

Configure SQL Task 54

SQL Login Information Dialog Box 54

Database Type 55

Database Type Browse (...) Button 55

User Name 55

viii © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Password 55

Database Identifier 55

Database Identifier Browse (...) Button 55

SQL Task Configuration Dialog Box 55

Enable 55

Disable 56

Primary Backup 56

Secondary Backup 56

Error Msg Routing 57

Debug Msg Routing 57

Error Msg to Screen 57

Debug Msg to Screen 57

Database ID 57

Database ID Browse (...) Button 57

SQL Cmd Table 57

Error Log Table 57

Task Sleep Interval 58

Startup Queue Configuration Dialog Box 58

Enable Time Filter 58

Filter Alarms Older Than – Hours 58

Filter Alarms Older Than – Minutes 58

Summary Alarms Only 58

Task Configuration Dialog Box 58

Filename 59

Command Line 59

Configured Tasks 59

Minimized 59

Normal 59

Background 59

Add 59

Change 59

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. ix


Delete 59

Timers Dialog Box 60

Use FIX Network Timers 60

Keep Alive 60

Send 60

Receive 60

Inactivity 60

Reset to Defaults 60

How Do I... 60

Working with SCU Files 61

Adding a File Description to the SCU File 61

To add a description to the SCU file: 61

Creating a SCU File Report 61

To create a SCU file report: 61

Implementing the SCU in iFIX 62

To implement the SCU in iFIX: 62

Working with SCADA Support 62

Adding an I/O Driver to the Configured I/O Drivers List Box 62

To add an I/O Driver to the Configured I/O Drivers list box: 62

Configuring an I/O Driver 63

To configure an I/O driver: 63

Deleting an I/O Driver from the Configured I/O Drivers List Box 63

To delete an I/O driver from the Configured I/O Drivers list box: 63

Enabling and Disabling SCADA Support 63

To enable and disable SCADA support: 63

Selecting a Process Database 63

To select a process database: 64

Configuring Paths 64

Changing the Base Path 64

To change the base path: 64

Changing the Project Path 64

x © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


To change the project path: 65

Defining the Alarm Areas Path 65

To define the Alarm Areas path: 65

Using Alarms 65

Assigning Common Alarm Areas to an Alarm Service 66

To assign the common alarm areas to an alarm service: 66

Assigning Every Alarm to an Alarm Service 66

To assign every alarm area to an alarm service: 66

Assigning Every Alarm Area to Application Messages 67

To assign every alarm area to application messages: 67

Assigning Specific Alarm Areas to an Alarm Service 67

To assign specific alarm area to an alarm service: 67

Assigning Specific Alarm Areas to Application Messages 67

To assign specific alarm areas to application messages: 68

Configuring an Alarm Printer Service 68

To configure an Alarm Printer Service: 68

Configuring the Alarm File Service 68

To configure the Alarm File Service: 68

Configuring the Alarm History Service 69

To configure the Alarm History Service: 69

Configuring the Alarm ODBC Service 69

To configure the Alarm ODBC Service: 69

Configuring the Alarm Startup Network Service 70

To configure the Alarm Network Service: 70

Configuring the Alarm Startup Queue Service 70

To configure the Alarm Startup Queue Service: 70

Configuring the Alarm Startup Summary Service 71

To configure the Alarm Summary Service: 71

Configuring the Message Format 71

Configuring the Alarm Horn in the SCU 71

To configure the Alarm Horn in the SCU: 72

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. xi


Customizing the Common Message Format for an Alarm Service 72

To customize the message format for an alarm service: 72

Defining a Common Message Format 72

To define a common message format: 72

Disabling an Alarm Destination 73

To disable an alarm destination: 73

Enabling an Alarm Destination 73

To enable an alarm destination: 73

Entering the Retry, Pause, and Delay Intervals on the Sender Node 73

To enter the retry, pause, and delay intervals on the sender node: 74

Entering the Alarm ODBC Queue Size 74

To enter the Alarm ODBC queue size: 74

Modifying an Alarm Queue's Size 74

To modify an alarm queue's size: 74

Selecting Common Alarm Areas 75

To select common alarm areas: 75

Selecting Common Alarm Areas Not Listed in the Database 75

To select a common alarm area that is not listed in the alarm area database: 75

Selecting the Common Method Format for an Alarm Service 75

To select the common message format for an alarm service: 76

Viewing the Alarm History of the Local Node 76

To view the alarm history of the local node: 76

Selecting the Alarm Areas for Incoming and Outgoing Alarms 76

To select the alarm areas for incoming and outgoing alarms: 76

Working with Networks 76

Activating Network Timers on a Per Node Basis 77

To activate network timers on a per-node basis: 77

Adding Remote Nodes to your Network Configuration 77

To add remote nodes to your network configuration: 77

Adding or Removing Networking Support in iFIX 78

To add or remove networking support in iFIX: 78

xii © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Configuring iFIX Session Timers 78

To configure the iFIX session timers: 78

Configuring Network Protocols 78

To configure the network protocol: 78

Disabling a Network Path 79

To disable a network path: 79

Enabling Dynamic Connections 79

To enable dynamic connections: 79

Enabling Trusted Computing 79

To enable trusted computing: 79

Creating Site-Specific Authentication 80

To create a site-specific authentication: 80

Modifying a Remote Node on the Network 80

To modify a remote node on the network: 80

Re-enabling a Network Path 80

To re-enable a network path: 80

Removing a Node from the Configured Remote Nodes List 81

To remove a node from the Configured Remote Nodes list: 81

Modifying a Diagnostic Display to Reference a Local Node Name 81

To modify a diagnostic display to reference a local node name: 81

Using SQL 82

Adding Command Parameters for the SQL Task 82

To add command parameters for the SQL task: 82

Configuring the SCU for an ODBC Data Source 82

To configure an ODBC data source: 82

Configuring the SQL Task 83

To configure the SQL task: 83

Displaying the Setup and Status of iFIX ODBC 83

To display the setup and status of iFIX ODBC: 83

Setting the Reference to the Microsoft Remote Data Object Library 83

To set the reference to the Microsoft Remote Data Object library: 83

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. xiii


Entering Your Own Table and Column Names 84

To enter your own table and column names: 84

Configuring Tasks 84

Configuring a Task to Run in the Background 85

To configure a task to run in the background: 85

Configuring a Task to Start Automatically 85

To configure a task to start automatically: 85

Configuring Drivers to Start Automatically 86

To configure I/O drivers to start automatically: 86

Configuring SAC to Start Automatically 86

To configure SAC to start automatically: 86

Working with the Alarm Area Database 86

Creating an Alarm Area 87

To create an alarm area: 87

Deleting an Alarm Area 87

To delete an alarm area: 87

Renaming an Alarm Area 87

To rename an alarm area: 87

Sharing an Alarm Area Database with a File Server 88

To share an alarm area database with a file server: 88

Editing Alarm Areas in the Database 88

Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager 88

Defining Security Rights for the Auto Alarm Manager 89

To define security rights for the Auto Alarm Manager: 89

Enabling TCP/IP Networking for the Auto Alarm Manager 89

To enable TCP/IP networking on the Sender and Receiver nodes: 89

Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager on the Sending Node 89

To configure the Auto Alarm Manager on the Sending node: 89

Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager on the Receiving Node 90

To configure the Auto Alarm Manager on the Receiving node: 90

Entering the Names of the Database Tags You Want to Use 91

xiv © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


To enter the names of the database tags that you want to use: 91

Setting Up the Auto Alarm Manager Timers 91

To set up the Auto Alarm Manager timers: 91

Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager as a Service 92

To configure the Auto Alarm Manager as a service: 92

Defining Local Startup Settings 92

Disabling the Local Node Alias Feature 92

To disable the Local Node Alias feature: 92

Enabling the Local Node Alias Feature 93

To enable the Local Node Alias feature: 93

Running iFIX as a Service under Windows 93

To run iFIX as a service under Microsoft Windows: 93

Specifying the Local Server, Local Logical, and SCU File Names 93

To specify the local server, local logical, and SCU file names: 94

Using the Startup Profile Manager 94

Overview of the Startup Profile Manager 95

What Exactly is a Startup Profile? 95

When Would You Use the Startup Profile Manager? 95

Understanding Startup Profiles When Upgrading from a Previous iFIX Release 96

Startup Profile Manager Basics 96

Configuring the Options for the Startup Profile Manager 96

To change the options for the Startup Profile Manager: 97

Configuring the Default Profile 98

Security Considerations when Using the Startup Profile Manager 99

Key Combinations Available in the Startup Profile Manager 99

Working with Startup Profiles 99

General Overview of Steps for Using the Startup Profile Manager 99

Disabling or Hiding Options in the iFIX Startup Dialog Box 100

Frequently Asked Questions About the Startup Profile Manager 100

When Does iFIX Use the Startup Profiles That You Create? 100

The Override iFIX Startup Command Line Parameters Option in the Startup Profile Manager Does
Not Appear to Work... Why? 100

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. xv


How Do I Stop the iFIX Startup Dialog Box From Appearing? 101

If I am Upgrading from a Previous Release, Do I Have to Use Startup Profiles? 101

Startup Profile Manager Dialog Boxes 101

Add Startup Profile Dialog Box 101

Domain 101

List Domain Members 101

Windows Users List 101

Windows User 102

iFIX Nodename 102

SCU File 102

iFIX Startup Options 102

Add Profile 103

Default Startup Profile Dialog Box 103

Default Client SCU 103

Default iFIX Startup Options 103

Default Service SCU 103

Edit Startup Profile Dialog Box 103

iFIX Nodename 104

SCU File 104

iFIX Startup Options 104

Options Dialog Box 104

Startup Profiles defined in this application override iFIX Startup command line parameters 104

Nodename Prefix String 104

Startup Profile Manager Main Window 104

iFIX Startup Profiles (spreadsheet) 105

Add 105

Edit 105

Remove 105

Help 105

Close 105

Default SCU 105

xvi © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


How Do I... 105

Working with Startup Profiles 105

Adding a Startup Profile 106

To add a startup profile: 106

Editing a Startup Profile 106

To edit a startup profile: 107

Removing a Startup Profile 107

To remove a startup profile: 107

Removing All Startup Profiles 107

To remove all startup profiles: 108

Key combinations in the Startup Profile Manager 108

Backing Up Your Startup Profiles 108

To manually backup the configuration file that contains your startup profiles: 108

Saving the Startup Profiles 109

To save your startup profiles: 109

Changing the Default Settings 109

To change the default settings for the Startup Profile Manager: 109

Defining the Default Startup Profile 110

To define the default startup profile: 110

iFIX Startup 111

Proficy iFIX Startup Dialog Box 111

Start Proficy iFIX 112

SCU 112

Desktop Shortcut 112

Hide Dialog Box 112

iFIX Startup Options 112

Minimize After Startup 113

Show History 113

Registered Tasks 113

Shutdown iFIX 114

Version 114

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. xvii


Running iFIX From the Command Line 114

iFIX Background Tasks 115

Monitoring the Environment with Mission Control 117

Starting I/O Drivers Manually 118

Tuning the Driver's Message Rate 118

The Datascope Program 118

Starting and Stopping Historical Collect 118

Viewing SQL Statistics 119

Viewing SAC Information 119

Viewing Auto Alarm Manager Statistics 119

Viewing Alarm ODBC Information 119

Advanced Topics 120

Understanding Network Load 120

Understanding Network Sessions 121

Understanding Data Transfer 121

Alternative Way of Changing the Refresh Rate 121

Understanding Message Sizes 122

Understanding Alarm Transfer 122

Optimizing iFIX to Reduce Network Traffic 122

Working with Configurable Session Timers 123

Understanding iFIX Session Timers 123

Determining Session Timer Values 123

Configuring Session Timers 124

Working with Wide Area Networks 124

Providing Remote Access 124

Understanding Remote Control Programs 124

Understanding Remote Access Programs 125

Understanding Remote Access Service 125

Increasing the Refresh Rate 126

To increase the refresh rate of an object: 126

Network Paths 126

xviii © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Integrating iFIX into Your Network 126

Disabling Connections from Unauthorized Nodes 127

To restrict access to a SCADA server: 127

Disabling Database Write Access for Unauthorized Nodes 127

Disabling the Logging of Unauthorized Writes 128

To restrict database write access to a SCADA server: 129

Troubleshooting 129

Overview 129

Understanding the Control Panel 130

Avoiding Problems 130

Computer Failures 130

Troubleshooting Computer Failures 131

Problems with Establishing or Losing Sessions 131

Troubleshooting Networks 131

To troubleshoot network problems: 131

Troubleshooting Microsoft Networking 132

To test communications between two nodes: 132

Troubleshooting TCP/IP 132

Using PING 133

Working with TCPTEST 133

Working with NETDIAG 134

Network Error Codes 134

Startup Error Codes 134

Run-time Error Codes 135

Mission Control Field Descriptions 136

I/O Control Tabbed Page Fields 136

HTC Tabbed Page Fields 136

SQL Tabbed Page Fields 137

SAC Tabbed Page Fields 137

Auto Alarm Manager Tabbed Page Fields 138

Send Alarm Statistics 138

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. xix


Receive Alarm Statistics 138

Alarm Synchronization Tabbed Page Fields 138

Alarm ODBC Tabbed Page Fields 139

Index 141

xx © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 1
Setting up the Environment

Setting up the Environment is intended for system integrators, OEMs, and process control engineers
responsible for setting up an iFIX® server or configuring their process environment. This manual assumes
familiarity with Microsoft Windows and your network environment.

Reference Documents
For related information on the System Configuration Utility (SCU), refer to the following manuals:

l Implementing Alarms and Messages


l Configuring Security Features
l Building a SCADA System
l Mastering iFIX

2 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Introduction

As you begin setting up your iFIX® environment, you have the following main tasks to complete:

l Setting up each node's hardware and operating system.


l Setting up the network you want to use.
l Configuring iFIX.

When setting up a node, you should be familiar with your hardware and Microsoft Windows operating sys-
tem. If you are not, make sure you have all relevant documentation nearby for reference. Should you need
to purchase one or more computers for use with iFIX, refer to the Getting Started chapter. A list of iFIX
requirements and recommended computers is available in the Getting Started with iFIX guide.

After setting up each node's hardware and operating system, configure the network for each computer if
you plan to set up a distributed processing system. Typically, this requires you to install a network interface
card (also called a network adapter) and network software on each computer. Choosing these items care-
fully is important to the success of your total system.

Once your nodes are connected and communicating on the network, you are ready to configure iFIX. Your
main tool for accomplishing this is the System Configuration Utility (SCU). With this utility, you can specify
what functions your local server performs, including:

l Where to find files.


l Where to establish security provisions.
l Which nodes to establish network connections with.
l Where to send alarm and operator messages.
l Which SCADA options to use.
l Which I/O drivers to load.
l Which database to load.
l Which programs to execute.

SCU Overview

iFIX needs two things to successfully start up:

l An SCU file.
l Local startup options.

When you start iFIX, it looks for a file that tells it how to configure the local server. This file, known as the
SCU file, contains specific information about programs and options unique to that particular server.

When you start the SCU, it automatically opens the SCU file specified by the local startup options. iFIX only
reads this file during startup. Any subsequent changes you make to the SCU file while iFIX is running do
not take effect until you save it and restart iFIX.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 3


For more information on the SCU file, refer to the SCU File Operations section. For more on local startup
options, refer to the Configuring Local Startup Options section.

4 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Getting Started

Before you start setting up your iFIX environment, complete the following tasks:

l Identify the computers that will function as your View clients, SCADA servers, and development
workstations.
l Identify which nodes will be networked, if any.
l Decide if you want to use a file server to share alarm area databases, or SCU, security, historical,
or recipe files.
l Identify the computer that will function as the file server if you decide to use one.
l Make sure that you have a Windows user account that is a member of either the Administrators
group.

More Information

For more information on how to get started with iFIX, refer to these sections in the Getting Started with
iFIX guide:

l Hardware Requirements
l Recommended Computers
l Memory Requirements
l Software Requirements
l Supported Regional Settings
l Video Drivers
l Supported Networking Protocol
l Supported File Servers
l Optional Hardware
l Set-up Overview

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 5


Networking iFIX Nodes

This chapter describes how to set up network hardware and driver software for Ethernet adapters. The
chapter also describes how to set up TCP/IP protocols for iFIX nodes. For more information, refer to the fol-
lowing topics:

l Working with TCP/IP


l Notes on Networking with Other iFIX and FIX Nodes

In general, you can accomplish these tasks as follows:

1. Select the TCP/IP network protocol.


2. Enable TCP/IP for each computer in the network. iFIX allows up to 200 Client connections (outbound
and inbound).

When you finish, make sure each computer can communicate with your network before proceeding. If it
cannot, refer to the chapter Troubleshooting to resolve any difficulties you experience.

Working with TCP/IP

iFIX uses TCP/IP to provide connectivity for your nodes. Microsoft's TCP/IP is built into the operating system.
For more information on using TCP/IP with iFIX, refer to the following sections:

l Before You Begin With TCP/IP


l Configuring TCP/IP

Before You Begin With TCP/IP

To use TCP/IP, make sure you have the following components:

l Microsoft Windows installation disks or CD-ROM and documentation.


l Network adapter, drivers, and cabling.

For detailed information, refer to the online Help that came with your Microsoft Windows operating sys-
tem.

In addition to the components you need to get started, you need do the following:

l Map the names of each SCADA server IP addresses.


l Verify the communication ports that FIX will use.
l Configure TCP/IP.
l Enable the TCP/IP protocol in the SCU.

6 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


The following sections provide guidelines for completing these tasks. Refer to your TCP/IP manuals for
additional configuration information.
Mapping IP Addresses

To use a TCP/IP network with iFIX, each SCADA server must be mapped to unique IP addresses. This pro-
cess is called name resolution, and TCP/IP vendors handle this in many different ways. You need to decide
which method of name resolution is appropriate for your site. This section provides guidelines to help you
reach that decision.

TCP/IP software can handle name resolution using the following:

l A local HOSTS file.


l DNS (Domain Name System).
l DHCP/WINS (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and Windows Internet Naming Service).

It is recommended that you use a local HOSTS file since this method has provided the highest reliability
during our testing. More information on using a local HOSTS file is included in the section Using a Local
HOSTS File.

If your company currently uses DNS servers, this option can be implemented since DNS servers are based
on HOSTS files.
Using a Local HOSTS File

The HOSTS file provides mapping between node names and IP addresses. This text file is stored locally on
each node. The contents of the HOSTS file should be identical on each node in your TCP/IP network. All FIX
SCADA servers must be in the HOSTS file.
NOTE: In Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, you cannot save the HOSTS file unless you are an Administrator
(in the built-in Administrator user group).

The syntax of the HOSTS file is as follows:


address HOSTNAME

Address — defines the IP address of the node.

Hostname — defines the iFIX node name, as specified in the SCU. The node name must be in uppercase
and is limited to eight characters.

An example of an entry in the HOSTS file is as follows:


198.212.170.4 SCADA01

You can also provide an alias name for the host name as an optional third parameter.
TIP: A common mistake made when creating the Hosts files is leaving an extension at the end on the file name.
For example: HOSTS.txt or HOSTS.doc. Do not include a file extension. The name of the file used by the operating
system is: HOSTS.
Using DNS Servers

A DNS server is a HOSTS file stored on a server. This configuration is easier to administer than local
HOSTS files since any changes to the HOSTS file need to be made only once. However, a single DNS server
can be a single point of failure should it fail to respond. If avoiding a single point of failure is important to
you, consider doing one of the following:

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 7


l Reverting back to local HOSTS files.
l Implementing redundant DNS servers.
Using DHCP/WINS

When using iFIX with DHCP, you also need to use WINS. The local host name must be the same as the iFIX
node name. Refer to your Microsoft documentation for more information on setting up DHCP and WINS.
Verifying Port Assignments

By default, iFIX uses the following port:


FIX2010/tcp

You should not have to change this setting. If the number is used by another application on your node, you
must edit or create a SERVICES file. The SERVICES file defines the port used by each TCP/IP application.

To define unique port numbers for iFIX, refer to your TCP/IP manuals for instructions on locating and edit-
ing the SERVICES file. Make sure, when you edit the file, you enter a unique port number for iFIX or change
the port number of the conflicting application.
NOTE: The port used for iFIX Database Synchronization is port 53014.

Configuring TCP/IP

You can configure TCP/IP with the Windows Network control panel. Microsoft recommends that you use
the Network control panel for all network configuration tasks rather than manually editing the registry.
To configure TCP/IP:

1. In the Control Panel, open the Network and Sharing Center.


2. In the Tasks list on the left, click the Change Adapter settings.
3. Right-click the network connection you plan to use and select Properties. The network connection
Properties dialog box appears. The Local Area Connection Properties dialog box appears.
4. From the Networking tab, verify that all the components for TCP/IP are installed: Internet Protocol
Version 4 and a network adapter driver required for the network adapter hardware.
5. Consult your Windows documentation for information about installing missing components.
6. Additionally, check the HOST file and remove the IPV6 entry if it exists. The Host file is located under
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. The IPV6 address is listed in the host file as:
# ::1 localhost

Notes on Networking with Other iFIX and FIX Nodes

iFIX can share data and alarms with previous versions of iFIX.
NOTE: You cannot run iFIX and FIX 6.x or greater at the same time on a single computer.

Getting Started with the SCU

8 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


This chapter helps you start configuring iFIX with the System Configuration Utility (SCU). It explains how to
start and exit the SCU, complete file operations, and define the iFIX paths for your computer.

l Before You Begin with the SCU


l Starting and Exiting the SCU
l SCU File Operations
l Overview Checklist

Before You Begin with the SCU

The following SCU configuration tips may help you start up and maintain your iFIX environment more effi-
ciently.

l Configure the SCU before you start the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace. This way you do not have to exit the
WorkSpace and restart iFIX.
l Use the local node alias feature in your computer to save development time later. Refer to the
Enabling the Local Node Alias Feature section for more information.
l Run iFIX as a service under Windows to give you more flexibility and security in your process envir-
onment. Refer to the Running iFIX as a Service section for more information.
l Store your SCU files remotely on the network so that FIX Startup can access them on a file server. If
you are using a file server, it may be useful to store all your SCU files in one place. In Microsoft Win-
dows, you have another option — simply connect a networked drive to a remote server on the local
network that contains the desired files or directories. This strategy increases control over con-
figuration files and makes your routine maintenance easier.

Refer to the iFIX Startup chapter for detailed information regarding the startup program in iFIX.

Starting and Exiting the SCU

To properly start and configure the SCU, you should do so before you open the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace. You
can start the SCU by clicking Start and pointing to Programs, Proficy HMI SCADA - iFIX, and then System
Configuration. However, if you are in the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace and you need to make changes, you can
start the SCU by clicking the SCU button on the Application toolbar (Classic view), or on the Applications
tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU (Ribbon view), or by double-clicking System Configuration in
the system tree. Note that, for its first startup, the SCU uses the node name you specified during install-
ation.

The main SCU window displays graphics and icons that represent enabled options and tools. You can click
many parts of the window to bring up the related dialog box. This graphical interface lets you determine at
a glance what kind of node and options the open SCU file enables. You can also disable an option by select-
ing the graphic or icon in the main SCU window and pressing Delete.
NOTE: Deleting an icon from the main SCU window removes that service from your server's configuration. A dialog
box appears warning you of this.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 9


Using the SCU Toolbox

The bottom of the SCU window contains a toolbox that includes all the tools you need to use the SCU.
These tools are accessed by clicking a button in the toolbox. The table below shows what each button
does.

SCU Toolbox Buttons and Their Functions


Clicking the but- Displays the... Which lets you...
ton...
Path Configuration dialog box. Specify the location and names of your iFIX dir-
ectories.

Alarm Configuration dialog box. Enable and configure alarm services.

Network Configuration dialog Configure network connections.


box.

SCADA Configuration dialog box. Configure SCADA servers.

Task Configuration dialog box. Select tasks to run automatically in various start-up
modes.

Security Configuration window. Configure security in your process environment.

SQL Accounts dialog box. Create a SQL login account and configure the SQL
task.

Edit Alarm Area Database dialog Edit the Alarm Area Database.
box.

To exit the SCU, select Exit from the File menu.

SCU File Operations

10 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


The SCU file contains all of the necessary information for iFIX to run as you have specified. You can per-
form several operations with SCU files, as described in the following sections.

l Opening a New File


l Adding a File Description
l Creating a Report
l Configuring Directory Paths

Opening a New File

When you start the SCU, it automatically opens the SCU file specified by the local startup options. If the
SCU cannot find the specified file, it opens a new one. To create a new file while the SCU is open, select
New from the File menu. A new SCU main window appears with no link to the process database and no
drivers configured.

Adding a File Description

At the top of the SCU window, a short title appears under the menu bar. This is the name of your SCU file,
also known as a file description. You can change the name so that each SCU file has a unique identifier.
The file description is only there to help you distinguish between SCU files; the system does not use the
description in any way.

To name your SCU file, select Description from the File menu, or double-click the title area. Enter a descrip-
tion of up to 40 characters in the Enter Configuration File Description field.

Creating a Report

SCU reports contain network information about your server's configuration, including the system path, and
SCADA, alarm, task, and SQL configuration. To create a report of the open SCU file, select Report from the
File menu, type a file name in the File name field, and click Save. The SCU notifies you whether it suc-
cessfully wrote the file. You can view or print the report with any text editor or word processor.

SCU reports have an .RPT file extension and are stored in the directory pointed to by the local path.

Configuring Directory Paths

iFIX uses a number of directories to store program and data files. Use the Path Configuration dialog box to
specify the location and names of your iFIX directories. You can display this dialog box by clicking the Path
button on the SCU toolbox.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 11


When iFIX is installed it creates a directory, called the Base directory, and all the subdirectories you see lis-
ted in the Path Configuration dialog box. If you decide to change the Base path, and the other directories
are subdirectories of the Base path, click Change Base to automatically update all the listed directory
names. When you change a path the SCU creates the new directory for you. However, it does not copy the
files from the old directory to the new directory.
NOTE: When configuring paths for your iFIX components, it may be helpful to place some directories on the local
machine and some on a network server. For example, keeping your Local and Database directories on a local
path name allows you easy accessibility on your computer, whereas copying the Picture and Historical files to a
network server enables anyone on the network to access these files to view a picture, historical data, and so forth.

The table below describes the use of each directory.

Path Descriptions
The path... Is used for storing... Default Path
Base All executable files. The Base path points to the main iFIX directory. C:\Program
Other directories are usually subdirectories of the Base directory. Files\Proficy\Proficy
iFIX
Language The language files used to create dialog boxes and help files. If you C:\Program
choose to implement a language other than English, the new language Files\Proficy\Proficy
and help files replace the files found in this directory. iFIX\NLS
Local Configuration files associated with the local computer, including SCU, C:\Program
recipe format, and system security files. Files\Proficy\Proficy
iFIX\LOCAL
Project A grouping of application files, such as pictures, databases, and tag C:\Program
groups, saved in a specific folder identified by the project name. Files\Proficy\Proficy
iFIX
You can manage your application files by naming a different path for
each project.
Database Process database files, Database Manager configuration files, and I/O C:\Program
driver configuration files. Files\Proficy\Proficy
iFIX\PDB
Picture The pictures of the configuration and run-time environments. C:\Program
Files\Proficy\Proficy
NOTE: If you are using a shared PIC directory on a drive other than the
iFIX\PIC
one on which iFIX is installed, you must enter the full path to the PIC dir-
ectory. For example, if you want to use a shared PIC directory on the G:\
drive, you must enter G:\PIC in the SCU.
Application Data and configuration files for your iFIX applications. If you create your C:\Program
own applications, use this directory to store data files. Files\Proficy\Proficy
iFIX\APP
Historical Historical Trending configuration files. C:\Program
Files\Proficy\Proficy
iFIX\HTR
Historical Historical data files. Historical Trending creates a unique subdirectory C:\Program
Data to this directory for each node that data is being collected from. The sub- Files\Proficy\Proficy
directory uses the name of the node the data comes from. iFIX\HTRDATA
Alarms Alarm data files and event log. C:\Program
Files\Proficy\Proficy

12 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


NOTE: If you want to view an event log (.evt) in Windows Vista or Win- iFIX\ALM
dows Server 2008, make sure that you associate an editor such as Note-
pad with the .evt file type so that you can open and read the file. If you
do not, when you double-click the .evt file in Windows Vista or Windows
Server 2008, an error may appear.
Master Master recipe, master recipe error, and master recipe report files. C:\Program
Recipe Files\Proficy\Proficy
iFIX\RCM
Control Control recipe, control recipe error, and control recipe report files. C:\Program
Recipe Files\Proficy\Proficy
iFIX\RCC
Alarm Primary Alarm Area Database files. C:\Program
Areas Files\Proficy\Proficy
(AAD) iFIX\PDB

Overview Checklist

Following is a list of general tasks for implementing the SCU in iFIX.

To use the SCU in iFIX:

1. Start the SCU before you open the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace.
2. Configure your local startup options, including the local server name, local logical name, and the
local SCU file name.
3. Configure the path in which to store the program and data files.
4. Make any start-up or configuration changes using the SCU toolbox and associated dialog boxes.
Refer to the appropriate chapters in this manual for more information.
5. Save any configuration changes to either a local disk or a remote file server.

Configuring iFIX Using the SCU

This chapter describes how to configure iFIX with the System Configuration Utility (SCU). This includes:

l Configuring Local Startup Options


l Configuring Security
l Configuring Network Connections
l Configuring Network Security
l Configuring Alarms
l Configuring SCADA Servers

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 13


l Configuring Startup Tasks
l Configuring iFIX for Relational Databases

Configuring Local Startup Options

Local startup options allow you to define configuration options that apply only to your server. If you try to
exit the SCU without specifying local startup options, the SCU warns you that iFIX will not be able to prop-
erly configure your server. Local startup options allow you to specify:

l The local server name.


l The local logical name.
l The local SCU file name.
l Whether the local server runs as a service under Windows.
l Whether the local server uses the local node alias feature.

Specifying the Local Server, Local Logical, and SCU File Name

Before you start iFIX, you need to specify the local server name, local logical name, and local SCU file
name in your Windows Registry. (The Windows Registry is a database that your operating system uses to
store application information.) We strongly recommend that you use the SCU to write changes to the
registry for you instead of editing the registry directly.

Logical node names are used to group partner SCADA servers (primary and secondary) to form a logical
pair. This ensures that you can establish SCADA server failover in your SCADA network. For more inform-
ation on configuring SCADA server failover using the SCU, refer to the Enhanced Failover electronic book.

To choose local node, local logical, and configuration file names, select Local Startup from the Configure
menu and enter the names in the appropriate fields of the Local Startup Definition dialog box. The SCU
stores all SCU files created on the local server in the directory defined by the local path, unless you specify
otherwise when saving the file.
NOTE: If you enable security and set the security path to a folder other than the default, which is the C:\Program
Files\Proficy\Proficy iFIX\Local folder, when you change the node name, security is disabled. You will need to con-
figure iFIX security again and enable it.

Running iFIX as a Service

You can run iFIX as a service under Windows. When enabled, this option allows you to close any fore-
ground task and log out of Windows without shutting down core iFIX tasks like networking, SAC pro-
cessing, alarming, and I/O driver control. This provides a much higher level of security to your process,
because operators can log in and log out of a Windows server before and after their shift without affecting
the process.

14 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


To configure iFIX to run as a service, shut down iFIX, log in as an Administrator, and select the Continue
Running After Logoff check box in the Local Startup Definition dialog box in the SCU. Be aware that if iFIX is
running, this check box is unavailable.

After iFIX is configured to run as a service, the applications that you start in the Task Configuration dialog
box also start as services. For more information, refer to the Configuring Startup Tasks section.

When you run iFIX as a service, you should be aware of the following:
Windows Services

In the Windows Services control panel, do not stop the iFIX service or make changes to the iFIX con-
figuration. This applies to iFIX running on any operating system.

Disabling Fast Startup in Microsoft Windows 8 and 8.1

In Windows 8 and 8.1, there is a functionality available in the Power Options called “Fast startup” (Power
Options are accessible from the Settings > Control Panel). When “Fast startup” is enabled as a Power
Option (the default) and you power down your computer or tablet, Windows will save the current state of
the system. The next time you restart Windows, your previous state is restored. This is because, by default,
Microsoft Windows 8 and 8.1 shuts down by logging off all users and then hibernating. In this case, any
service that was running will continue to run on the next startup.

When iFIX is running as a service, you may want to avoid this "Fast Startup" functionality. To revert to the
full shutdown on Windows 8 and 8.1, in the Power Options on the SCADA Server, select "Choose what the
power buttons do." Select the “Change settings that are currently unavailable” option and then scroll down
to the Shutdown Settings area, and clear the “Turn on Fast startup” option.

(The "Fast Startup" feature is not available on Microsoft Windows Server 2012.)
Disabling iFIX as a Service

After disabling the Continue Running After Logoff option in the Local Startup Definition dialog box in the
SCU, you must restart iFIX.
Running iFIX with Terminal Server

You must configure the Default Service SCU in the Startup Profile Manager if you want to run iFIX as a ser-
vice on the Terminal Server. For more information, refer to the Configuring the Default Profile section in
the Using Terminal Server electronic book.
Running iFIX with Other Programs

By default, iFIX uses the local System account when running as a service. However, you cannot use the Sys-
tem account with certain applications, such as the Proficy Historian.
To configure a different user account for iFIX running as a service:

1. From Control Panel, open the Administrative Tools, then Services.


2. In the Services folder, right-click on Proficy HMI/SCADA iFIX server, then select Properties.
3. In the Log On tab, set the user name and password for This Account to the user account you want
to log in when iFIX is running as a service.
iFIX Paths

Windows does not map network drives until a user logs in. Therefore, if you are running iFIX as a service
under Windows, all iFIX paths must be set to a local drive.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 15


Required Application Feature

You must assign the Enable Ctrl+Alt+Del application feature to the user that is logged in when iFIX is run-
ning as a service. Otherwise if a user logs out of the operating system while iFIX is running as a service, no
one will be able to log back in to the operating system.

Fast User Switching Not Supported

Fast user switching is not supported with iFIX, even if you are running iFIX as a service.

Running the OPC Client Driver and iFIX as a Service

If you want to run the OPC Client driver as a service, iFIX must also run as a service. Likewise, if you want
to run iFIX as a service, the OPC Client driver must run as a service. You cannot run one as a service,
without the other also running as a service.

Using with Environment Protection

If you plan to use environment protection when iFIX is running as a service, be sure to add TSFE.EXE to
your Windows Startup program group. TSFE.exe is an iFIX application (located in your iFIX install folder)
that enables task switching and keyboard filtering when a new user logs into Windows. By adding
TFSE.exe to your startup group, you are ensuring that users can log into Windows with environment pro-
tection enabled and then operate iFIX in an appropriate, secured environment.

Running Workspace.exe from the SCU Task List Not Supported

It is not recommended that you run Workspace.exe in the SCU task list when iFIX is running as a service.

Enabling the Local Node Alias Feature

The Local Node Alias feature allows you to substitute a placeholder, THISNODE, for the node portion of a
data source in order to automatically access information from the local SCADA server. This is ideal for
developing pictures that can be shared among several computers that each access different SCADA serv-
ers. To use the Local Node Alias feature, you must first enable it in the Local Startup Definition dialog box.

Configuring Security

You can configure security using the Security Configuration program, which can be accessed from the SCU
by clicking the Security button on the SCU toolbox.

Before starting the Security Configuration program, make sure that iFIX is running and, if security is
enabled, that you have the proper account privileges.

The Configuring Security Features manual fully describes the security program.

Configuring Network Connections

16 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


You can enable network communications between any two iFIX servers by configuring each computer's
network connections. To define these connections, click the Network button on the SCU toolbox.

You can use the Network Configuration dialog box to configure network protocols, configure network com-
munications, establish dynamic connections. Refer to the following subsections for information on all of
these functions.

l Configuring Protocols
l Configuring Remote Nodes
l Configuring LAN Redundancy
l Configuring Network Timers

Configuring Protocols

iFIX allows you to establish communications with the TCP/IP protocols. Enabling the TCP/IP protocol in the
SCU, allows you to use that protocol for your iFIX network.

Configuring Remote Nodes

iFIX allows you to configure primary and secondary nodes for SCADA server failover. By entering a
primary and secondary node in the Network Configuration dialog box, you ensure connection with that
node should communication with the primary node fail. The following sections describe how you can
enable, configure, and modify remote nodes in your network environment.

For more information on implementing SCADA server failover in your environment, refer to the Enhanced
Failover electronic book.

Enabling Secondary SCADA Nodes

You must first add a remote node to your configuration before you can enable SCADA server failover in
your network.

You can view or make changes to the configured remote nodes in the Remote Nodes area of the dialog
box. To view the primary and secondary nodes currently configured, select the Show All Names check box.

Using Network Timers on a Per-node Basis

The Remote Node Configuration dialog box allows you to modify network timer values on a per-node
basis.

Refer to the Advanced Topics chapter for more information on configuring network timers, including what
each time-out value represents.

Dynamic Connections

Dynamic connections allow iFIX to make a network connection when it needs to retrieve data from a
server. For example, if a picture references a remote server, and the remote server has not been con-
figured in the SCU, iFIX automatically makes a dynamic connection to that server when you open the

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 17


picture. The servers will remain connected, even if you close the picture or exit the run-time environment.
In fact, with Dynamic Connections enabled, you do not have to enter node names in the Configured
Remote Nodes list at all.

When iFIX first opens a picture that requires a dynamic connection, it may take a slightly longer time
resolving the connection. This delay depends on the amount of network connections required for the spe-
cific picture and if these servers are available for a connection.

The Dynamic Connections option is disabled by default, and affects all connections from the node. All
dynamic connections will inherit the network timer settings defined within the SCU. If you choose to enable
dynamic connections, iFIX may attempt to establish a connection when calling the System.FindObject
method in a script. This happens when a name or an object is referenced in a script but is not currently
loaded. For example, consider the following script:
Dim shape as Object
Set shape = System.FindObject("badname.rect1")

badname is the name of a picture that is not currently loaded. In this script, iFIX attempts to establish this
connection with badname. When the connection fails, the following error occurs:
Object not found

NOTE: With Dynamic Connections enabled, a new node will not receive alarms from a SCADA server until a con-
nection is established. If you want a remote node to receive alarms from a SCADA server immediately after start-
ing up, you should add the SCADA server name to the Configured Remote Nodes list of the View client.

Configuring LAN Redundancy

You can configure LAN redundancy simply by enabling it in the SCU. You must have a protocol enabled so
that the SCU is configured for network support.

To enable LAN redundancy, click the Advanced button on the Network Configuration dialog box. A caution
message box warns you not to modify these values without familiarity with the system. If you are unsure
as to how to proceed, refer to the Advanced Topics chapter and your network documentation. To continue,
click Yes.

Refer to the Mastering iFIX manual for more information on configuring LAN redundancy in iFIX.

Configuring Network Timers

The Advanced Configuration dialog box allows you to change your View client's network session timer val-
ues. You can also change your network timers on a per-node basis. For more information, refer to the Con-
figuring Remote Nodes section. Refer to the Advanced Topics chapter for more information on network
session timers.

Configuring Network Security

18 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Secure communications between two or more iFIX nodes is available with authenticated server-to-client
communications, as well as end-to-end data protection. The ability to configure non-listening clients also
provides additional security measures.

Refer to the following topics for more detailed information about network security:

l Connection Authentication
l Site-Specific Authentication
l Encryption of Packet Data
l Non-listening Clients

There are two types of network computing: Legacy (default) and Trusted (secure).

An iFIX network can be configured to have multiple IP addresses; however, you cannot mix trusted and leg-
acy communications on the same network. You can configure the network to be only trusted, or only leg-
acy secure.

Legacy Network Computing


Legacy (default) network computing allows you to continue to use legacy security with iFIX 4.0. Legacy
security works on non-secure IP addresses. Legacy security limits the network exposure through several
methods:

l Communications through authorized incoming IP validation


l Authorized IP connections
l Authorized modification validation a the communications layer
l Basic network encryption

Communications through authorized incoming IP validation

iFIX is aware of the IPs assigned to the machine it is running on and can be set to allow communications
only on the dedicated IP address. This can be used in conjunction with hardware firewalls to limit the com-
puters that can communicate with an iFIX installation. Machines with multiple Ethernet cards can be used
to bridge between trusted and un-trusted networks.

Authorized IP connections

Legacy security supports the Accept Unknown Connections feature. This feature is a list of authorized IPs
that are allowed to make connections to the iFIX networking system. Machines not on this authorized list
are not allowed to connect and communicate with the SCADA. For more information, refer to Disabling
Connections from Unauthorized Nodes.

Authorized modification validation at the communications layer

Legacy security supports the Accept Unknown Writes feature. This feature is a list of authorized nodes that
are allowed to modify the iFIX databases. The type of packet coming in is validated against the list, and
nodes that are not on the list are not allowed to modify the iFIX databases. For more information, refer to
Disabling Database Write Access for Unauthorized Nodes.

Basic network encryption

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 19


Legacy security supports a number of methods to encrypt the data being sent over the network, such as
simple encryption and data hiding. For more information, refer to your Windows documentation.

Trusted Network Computing


Secure networking is either enabled or disabled. When enabled, the communications server (the client or
SCADA the receiving incoming connections) accepting the incoming connection will require all incoming
connections to be secure. All incoming connections on a secure communications network must meet the
secure communications requirements.

For more information about trusted computing, refer to Connection Authentication.

Failure Modes
There are three situations that will cause a connection attempt to fail:

l A legacy machine attempting to connect to a secure only (trusted network) machine is rejected and
a security message sent.
l A machine with an invalid certificate attempting to connect is rejected and a security message is
sent.
l Connection is lost and the new connection reverts back to the authentication of certificate per the
initial connection.

Connection Authentication

Clients connecting to a server must use an authentication requirement to validate the connection to the
server. This assures that the client (sender) is authorized to communicate with the server (SCADA) within
the secure network. An authentication certificate method is used to ensure that the client is authorized by
having the same set of certificates as the server. This is done using a signed password that is validated on
the server end to authenticate that the client's certificate will be used to authorize connections between
iFIX 4.0 and greater nodes. Your iFIX installation provides a default network password (INETWORK) that
allows a default configuration to continue to work as it currently does.

Authentication is managed by the user and is either enabled or disabled; that is, you can only turn on
authentication together. This means that you can have only default computing (legacy and iFIX 4.0) or trus-
ted computing (iFIX 4.0 to iFIX 4.0) on an iFIX network; you cannot combine legacy and trusted computing
on a node . When secure networking is enabled, the communications server (the client or SCADA) accept-
ing the incoming connection will require all incoming connections to be secure; that is, incoming con-
nections must fulfill the requirements of a secure iFIX connection.

Secure communications allow only machines with known credentials to complete a connection within the
secure network.

A secure layer is used to authenticate communications. This gives iFIX networking the ability to validate
end-to-end communications. The default certificate used allows all of iFIX to communicate with trans-
mission security without site-specific authentication. An authorized user can change the default certificate
for a machine to a site-specific certificate. For more information, refer to Site-Specific Certificates.

20 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


The following image graphically demonstrates how trusted networking allows or disallows connections
among various types of iFIX installations.

NOTE: It is recommended to enable Enforced Trusted Computing to establish secure connections, and strongly
recommended to change the network password to something other than the default. For more information on
Enforced Trusted Computing, refer to the Site-Specific Certificates section.

Site-Specific Authentication

iFIX 4.0 and greater gives you the ability to create site-specific passwords to prevent unauthorized iFIX
installations from communicating.

You can change the default password used to validate and authenticate network transmissions. This
allows you to set up multiple iFIX networks with different passwords, thus isolating iFIX networks from
each other. As a result, non-configured or default installations cannot be used to initiate communications
in an iFIX network.

Only by having two or more iFIX 4.0 or greater machines properly configured will the authentication be
used.

Site-specific authentication is achieved by enabling the Enforce Trusted Computing option and setting the
password in the Network Password field in the Network Configuration dialog box on the System Con-
figuration Utility (SCU), as shown in the figure below.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 21


The password is masked and case sensitive, and is encrypted in the SCU file. This is the physical layer of
security for the network password.

The default password, displayed in the Network Password field, is provided for legacy iFIX installations. For
more information, refer to the Connection Authentication section.

If the SCU file is copied to a different machine, a pop-up message appears warning you that it is invalid
when the SCU file is open and/or when iFIX starts. You will be required to enter the network password in
the SCU if you need to establish a network connection with 'Enforce Trusted Computing' enabled.

Encryption of Packet Data

Encryption of data packets can be achieved through the implementation of the Microsoft Internet Protocol
Security (IPsec) feature.

For additional details, refer to Knowledge Base article KB17010 on the GE Intelligent Platforms customer
technical support site http://digitalsupport.ge.com.

Non-listening Clients

22 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


All iFIX 3.5 and earlier SCADA and client nodes create listeners for incoming communications. For clients,
this usually means that unsolicited alarm messages can be accepted from SCADA machines they have not
initiated communications with.

A non-listening client is a client/SCADA that cannot accept incoming connections. Non-listening cli-
ents/SCADAs allow the machines to make connections to other servers as normal, but also allow them to
not have a listener created. This means that any attempts to communicate with a non-listening client will
fail, but the non-listening client can still communicate when it initiates the connection.

Creating Non-listening Clients

iFIX 4.0 and greater allow you to configure clients to be non-listening by default, securing iFIX so that non
user-configured communications are denied. You can modify the clients' behavior at a later time if you
want them to accept incoming connections.
To create a non-listening client:

1. Open the FIX.INI on your SCADA server or client using a text editor. This file resides in the iFIX Local
path.
2. Locate the TCPTASK under the [NETWORK] section and change:
RUN=%TCPTASK.EXE

to:
RUN=%TCPTASK.EXE/s

3. Save the file. You can now start an iFIX session without opening a listening socket.
NOTE: The use of non-listening machines is independent of the secure communications requirements and is
node/instance specific. For more information about secure communications, refer to Connection Authentication.

Non-listening Clients and Terminal Services

Creating listening sockets for every machine has become a potential security risk.

On Terminal Services, only the last iFIX client session to open a socket maintains the socket; that is, any call
to open a socket closes the previous socket. Therefore, on Terminal Services, only one iFIX client has a
listener, and that is based on the last client to start.

Using Terminal Services, all clients, except the last one to start, are automatically non-listening. The cre-
ation of non-listening clients is not required. However, it is recommended that you make the clients non-
listening, as non-listening clients are more secure than listening clients.

Non-listening Clients and Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)

If you are using Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 SP1, and an iFIX client attempts to open a
socket, the firewall appears informing you of this attempt. If you choose No, the client closes the socket
and becomes non-listening; if you choose Yes, you create an open socket. Closing down this socket pre-
vents firewall notifications from being displayed; however, as outgoing communications establish the
socket to the SCADA, only the ability to receive unsolicited messages is removed.

Denial of Service Attacks

Denial of service (DoS) attacks are a potential problem when unnecessary listening sockets are open. A
DoS attack is an attempt to prevent legitimate users of a service from using that service.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 23


Nothing done in iFIX can prevent a DoS, nor mitigate its affect on the network; however, closing down
unnecessary listening sockets prevents iFIX from needlessly processing DoS messages aimed at the client
nodes.

In a physically secure situation this is not a problem, as the attack would have to come from within the
secure network. In a distributed network, however, where clients and SCADAs are on separate networks,
the chance of one of the networks not being secure increases. Closing the listening socket prevents iFIX
from processing incoming messages that are not intended for iFIX; that is, an iFIX only firewall.

Configuring Alarms

When a process value exceeds a limit that you define, iFIX issues an alarm to inform operators of this
event. You can enable and configure alarm services using the Alarm Configuration functionality of the
SCU.

To configure alarms, click the Alarm button on the SCU toolbox. The following sections detail how to con-
figure alarming functions.

l Enabling Alarm Services


l Customizing Alarm Services
l Advanced Alarm Configuration
l Editing the Alarm Area Database
l Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager
l Configuring the Alarm Horn

Enabling Alarm Services

Alarm services give you the tools you need to customize your alarm configuration. They are flexible in that
you can enable any one or all of them, and you can define settings for each service to help you implement
your alarming scheme. The following alarm services are available on the Alarm Configuration dialog box:

l Alarm Printers 1, 2, 3, and 4


l Alarm Summary Service
l Alarm File Service
l Alarm History Service
l Alarm Network Service (active only if you are networked)
l Alarm Startup Queue (active only if you are configured as a networked SCADA server)
l Alarm ODBC Service

To enable and configure a service, simply double-click it. For more detailed information on alarm services,
refer to the Implementing Alarms and Messages manual. The following sections detail how you can cus-
tomize alarm services using the SCU.

24 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Customizing Alarm Services

You can modify several settings of each alarm service to customize your configuration. Each alarm service
contains its own configuration dialog box with specific options that you can modify. You can also access
the Alarm Areas dialog box from this configuration dialog box.

Refer to the Implementing Alarms and Messages manual for more detail on how the dialog boxes work for
each service.

Configuring Alarm Areas

The Configure Alarm Areas dialog box controls which alarms and application messages the alarm service
can receive. You can access this dialog by clicking the Areas button on the configuration dialog box for the
task you have selected.
NOTE: You can also perform advanced alarm area configuration functions. Refer to the Advanced Alarm Con-
figuration section for more details.

Refer to the Implementing Alarms and Messages manual for more information on routing alarm areas.

The following section briefly describes how to use the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box when configuring
alarm areas.

How to use the Configure Alarm Areas Dialog Box

The SCU allows you to access the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box from several locations in the inter-
face, including the following:

Alarm Services. Double-click on an alarm service in the Alarm Configuration dialog box and then click
Areas. A Configure Alarm Areas dialog box appears specific to the service you enabled.

Common Alarm Areas. Click Advanced on the Alarm Configuration dialog box and then click Common
Areas. A Configured Alarm Areas dialog box appears for common areas. Note that the Use Areas Com-
mon to All Services option button is not available because you have already chosen to route to com-
mon areas.

Application Messages. Click Advanced on the Alarm Configuration dialog box and then click either Oper-
ator Messages or Recipe Messages for the messages you want to route to specified alarm areas. You
can configure up to fifteen alarm areas.

There are several areas of the dialog box that help you configure your alarm areas. The following simple
example illustrates how to configure alarm areas D and E to receive operator messages.
To configure alarm areas D and E to receive operator messages:

1. Select alarm areas. The alarm area selection option buttons let you choose which alarm areas you
want to configure.
l Click the Select from Alarm Area Database option to display all areas from the alarm area
database in the Available Areas list box. You can also click the Browse button to search
alternate directories.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 25


l Click the Use "ALL" Alarm areas option to add all the alarm areas in the database to the list
of configured alarm areas.
l Click the Use areas common to all services option to add all the alarm areas common to all
services to list of configured alarm areas.
2. Add alarm areas to the Configured Areas list box. Highlight areas D and E in the Available Areas list
box and click the right arrow button. This adds the selected areas to the Configured Areas list box. If
you need to remove an area, highlight the area to be removed and click the X button. (If you selec-
ted Use "ALL" Alarm Areas in Step 1, the alarm area ALL is added to the Configured Areas list box.
This alarm area indicates the configured alarm services receives alarms from every available
alarm area.)
3. When you are finished, click OK to save your configuration, and exit the Configure Alarm Areas dia-
log box.
Formatting Messages

You can define the length, number of characters, and the column order for alarm or event messages. To
do this, click Format on the configuration dialog box for the task you have selected, and enter the appro-
priate formatting options in the Message Format Configuration dialog box. This dialog box shows the
column content and layout fields for block information.

To use areas common to all alarms and messages across the network, click Use Common, and configure
the common messages using the Advanced Alarm Configuration dialog box. Refer to the Advanced Alarm
Configuration section for more information.
Selecting a Port

For each printer service, you can connect the printer to serial ports (COM) 1 or 2, to parallel ports (LPT) 1 or
2, or to a USB port.
Naming a Printer

The Printer Description area displays the printer that corresponds to the port selection. Rather than use a
generic title, such as Alarm Printer 1, you can change the name of the printer task as it appears in the
Printer Name text box.
Deleting Alarms

You can automatically or manually delete alarms using the Alarm Summary service. Select either the Auto-
matic or Manual option buttons in the Alarm Deletion area to choose the method of alarm deletion.
Enabling the Startup Queue Configuration

Using the Startup Queue Configuration dialog box, you can configure the SCADA server to send all the
alarms that have occurred prior to starting iFIX on the View client. The SCADA server sends these alarms
to the iClient when the client starts. To enable the Startup Queue Configuration, double-click the Alarm
Startup Queue service. The Startup Queue Configuration dialog box appears.
NOTE: You must be configured as a SCADA server and have the Network Alarm Service enabled in order to enable
the Startup Queue Service.

By default, the Summary Alarms Only check box is selected so that the Alarm Startup Queue service deliv-
ers only the current alarms. If you want to receive additional alarms and messages, click the check box to
disable this function.
NOTE: By disabling the Summary Alarms Only option, you may receive duplicate alarms at some alarm des-
tinations. You also increase network traffic if iClients are configured to receive alarms from the local SCADA
server.

26 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


You can also filter alarms according to a set time. To do this, select the Enable Time Filter check box and
enter the hour and minute in the appropriate Filter Alarms Older Than fields.
Enabling the Alarm ODBC Service

Another valuable service you can enable in the SCU is Alarm ODBC. This service sends alarms and mes-
sages to an ODBC relational database. Once the relational database receives and stores the data, you can
easily retrieve any information you want by querying the database.

For more information on the Alarm ODBC Service, refer to the Configuring the Alarm ODBC Service sec-
tion in the Implementing Alarms and Messages manual.

Advanced Alarm Configuration

The SCU provides advanced functionality that gives you more ways to configure your alarm destinations.
To access advanced configuration options, click the Advanced button in the Alarm Configuration dialog
box.

The sections that follow summarize the functions that are available. For complete details on how to work
with alarm areas, refer to the Implementing Alarms and Messages manual.

Configuring Common Alarm Areas

To assign alarm areas common to all services, click the Common Areas button and select the alarm areas
you want.

Defining a Common Message Format

You can define a common message format for alarms and messages received by Alarm Printer, Alarm
File, and Alarm History services. To do this, click the Common Format button and select or edit the prop-
erties of the messages you wish to define.

Routing Application Messages

To control which alarm areas receive application messages on other servers, configure the alarm areas
for these messages. You can configure areas for either operator messages, recipe messages, or both, by
clicking the Operator Messages or Recipe Messages buttons.

Modifying Alarm Queues

Sometimes a large process environment requires that you balance using system resources against hand-
ling large numbers of alarms. In order to do this, you may have to modify alarm queues so that your local
SCADA server can handle the number of alarms being routed through the network. For more information
on modifying alarm queues, refer to the Implementing Alarms and Messages manual.

Editing the Alarm Area Database

The SCU makes it easy for you to configure the Alarm Area Database. You can make changes to the data-
base after you have configured any number of alarm areas.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 27


To edit the alarm area database, start iFIX on the local SCADA server, click the Alarm Area Database but-
ton on the SCU toolbox. You can also access this dialog box by clicking Advanced on the Alarm Con-
figuration dialog box and then clicking Alarm Area Database.

Using the Edit Alarm Area Database dialog box you can add, modify or delete an alarm area, or designate
a name for an alarm area that is specific to your process environment. For example, you can replace the
default alarm area, A, with a more intuitive name, Main Oil Well, by selecting A in the Configured Alarm
Areas list, entering a new name in the Alarm Area field, and clicking Modify. The new name is added to the
list in alphabetic order.
NOTE: Changing alarm area names in the alarm area database automatically changes them in your process
database.

Refer to the Implementing Alarms and Messages manual for more information on editing the Alarm Area
Database.

Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager

The Auto Alarm Manager lets you configure a remote server so that it automatically delivers alarms to a
central location using the Microsoft Remote Access Service.

To access the Auto Alarm Manager feature in the SCU, select Auto Alarm Manager from the Configure
menu. The Auto Alarm Manager Configuration dialog box appears. Click Enable to activate all the fields. By
default, the Auto Alarm Manager is disabled.

Auto Alarm Manager statistics are displayed in Mission Control so that you can easily monitor the pro-
gram's progress. Refer to the Viewing Auto Alarm Manager Statistics section for more information.

Refer to the Using Auto Alarm Manager section in the Implementing Alarms and Messages electronic book
for more information on configuring the Auto Alarm Manager.

Configuring the Alarm Horn

When a new alarm occurs in the system, iFIX can notify you through the alarm horn. You can enable or dis-
able the alarm horn from the SCU, and also from the WorkSpace through the Alarm Horn Expert. For
example, you can disable the horn in SCU, then enable or disable it from the Alarm Horn Expert once iFIX
has started.

It is important to note that these two alarm horn configurations work independently of each other. For
example, if you disable the alarm horn in the SCU, then enable it using the alarm horn expert once iFIX has
started, each time that you shutdown and restart iFIX, the horn will be disabled. This occurs because the
SCU setting is the initial value and it takes effect each time that you start iFIX.
NOTE: Shutting down and restarting the WorkSpace has no effect on the alarm horn configuration.

For more information on running experts, refer to the Running Experts section in the Creating Pictures
manual.

28 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Configuring SCADA Servers

SCADA servers monitor process values and communicate with process hardware. To establish and con-
figure a SCADA server, click the SCADA button on the SCU toolbox. The following subsections detail how to
configure SCADA servers using the SCADA Configuration dialog box.

l Enabling SCADA Support


l Naming the Database
l Configuring Drivers

Enabling SCADA Support

To operate as a SCADA server, you must first enable SCADA support using the SCADA Configuration dia-
log box. When you enable SCADA support, the local node becomes a SCADA server capable of accessing
your process hardware. You can then set up and configure I/O drivers and establish SCADA server failover
in your network.

Naming the Database

Once you enable SCADA support, you can define the process database you want to load when iFIX starts.
You can also change the database name from the main SCU window by double-clicking the database entry
(located under the Node name entry).
NOTE: iFIX comes with an empty database file named EMPTY.PDB. This database is read-only. By loading and sav-
ing the database to a different name you can quickly create an empty, working database. We recommend that
you create a new database with a new name to prevent overwriting your work when re-installing or upgrading
software.

Configuring Drivers

iFIX provides at least two I/O drivers to provide the communications link between the process hardware
and iFIX. Before your SCADA server can communicate with the process hardware, you need to define and
configure at least one I/O driver. iFIX can load up to eight I/O drivers during startup.

The first step in configuring your driver is to tell iFIX which driver you want to use.

Setting up the Driver

Some drivers use an interface card to communicate with the process hardware. In this case you may have
to configure the interface card to use the driver.
NOTE: Not all drivers require an interface card, so the setup field may be grayed out. Refer to your I/O driver
manual for information on configuring this card.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 29


Configuring an I/O Driver

I/O drivers are configured using the I/O Driver Configuration program.
NOTE: Not all drivers have a configuration program, so the Configure field may be grayed out. Also, the initial
screen of the I/O Driver Configuration program varies depending on the type of driver you are configuring.

Configuring Startup Tasks

You can specify tasks for automatic start-up by clicking the Task button on the SCU toolbox and displaying
the Task Configuration dialog box. The tasks listed in this dialog box start when you run the FIX Startup pro-
gram. For example, if you always use I/O Control when you start iFIX, configure the SCU to start
IOCNTRL.EXE automatically. Add the IOCNTRL.exe to the top of the configured task list.

In the Task Configuration dialog box, an asterisk (*) next to a task means that Startup minimizes the task
after starting it. A percent sign (%) preceding a task means that Startup starts that task in the background.
To change the state of a task, select the task, select an option from the Start Up Mode area, and click
Change. iFIX executes the tasks in the same order as they appear in the Configured Tasks list. To remove a
task from the list, select the task from the Configured Tasks list and click Delete.

If desired, add any specific command line parameters in the Command Line field. Refer to the Controlling
SAC Startup section for available SAC command line parameters, or refer to individual application manu-
als for available command line parameters for each application.

Refer to the Running iFIX Tasks in the Background section for information on iFIX tasks that can be started
in the background.

If you run iFIX as a service, the tasks listed in the task list also start as a service. Refer to the Running iFIX
as a Service section for information on how to start iFIX as a service.
NOTE: It is not recommended that you run Workspace.exe in the SCU task list when iFIX is running as a service.

Running iFIX Tasks in the Background

When you automatically start programs, you can specify that they run in the background so that they do
not interfere with your typical operation. You should only configure the following iFIX tasks as background
tasks (All of these files are located in the FIX Base path):

l SAC (WSACTASK.EXE)
l Historical Collect (HTC.EXE)
l SQL Task (WSQLODC.EXE)
l I/O Control (IOCNTRL.EXE)
l Event Scheduler (FIXBACKGROUNDSERVER.EXE)

Controlling SAC Startup

30 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


iFIX lets you control the startup status of SAC using the task configuration of the SCU.
Starting SAC Automatically

When you enable the SCADA function, the SCU includes WSACTASK.EXE in the startup list within the Task
Configuration dialog box. This starts SAC automatically.

If you disable SAC during development, you must enable it again. You can also modify how SAC operates
by entering specific command line parameters. The following command line parameters are available:

l S – Synchronizes SAC to the system clock. Refer to the Building a SCADA System manual for inform-
ation on scan times and synchronization.
l Dseconds – Delays SAC processing of the database until the I/O driver initializes and receives data
from control devices. By default, SAC automatically delays processing for 8 seconds. You can use
the D parameter to specify a delay of 1 to 300 seconds, for example D30, to control initial pro-
cessing of database blocks.
l Q – Sets the number of queue entries for the Alarm Queue Status program that monitors the
alarms deleted by SAC. This parameter lets you override the default (500), and prevents the queue
from expanding to the maximum length of 2000.
l R – Suppresses Range (RANGE) alarms.
l UN – Suppresses Under Range (UNDER) alarms.
l N – Suppresses No Data (NO_DATA) alarms.
l C – Suppresses communication (COMM) and No Data (NODATA) alarms.
l U – Suppresses the Over Range (OVER) alarms.
l W - Enables a warm start delay after a SCADA failover. During the warm start delay period, SAC
suppresses driver alarms for the time period specified following a SCADA failover. Once the time
period elapses, driver alarms are handled as usual.
You can use the W parameter to specify a delay of n seconds where n can be 1 – 300 seconds. For
example, the parameter W30 causes SAC to suppress NODATA and COMM alarms for 30 seconds
after a SCADA failover.
If n is outside of the acceptable range, the parameter is ignored and NODATA and COMM alarms
are processed as usual after a SCADA failover.
IMPORTANT: SAC parameters do not use the slash (/) or dash (-) delimiters. Use spaces to enter optional
SAC parameters. For example: S D30

Starting I/O Drivers Automatically

I/O drivers are started by the I/O Control program through the Task Configuration dialog box. When you
install an I/O driver, the I/O Control program is automatically added to the list of tasks.

If you remove the I/O Control program from the task list, you can add it back again. The table below shows
you the command line parameters you can use to specify how I/O drivers start.

I/O Control Command Line Parameters


Parameter Description

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 31


/A Starts all I/O drivers identified in the SCADA configuration.
/Sxxx Starts one I/O driver, where xxx is the three letter I/O driver acronym. For example, /SABH.
/Dxxx Delays the startup of a driver where xxx is the delay time in seconds.
/APxxx Sets the message rate for all drivers, where xxx is a value of 1 to 100.
/SdrvPxxx Sets a specific driver's message rate, where xxx is a value of 1 to 100.

NOTE: FIX I/O drivers 7.x or greater automatically start communicating with their OPC server. No command line
parameter is needed.

Configuring iFIX for Relational Databases

iFIX supports relational databases, such as Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle through Microsoft's industry-
standard Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). Using the SCU, you can set up your server to access mul-
tiple relational databases from a process database. The SCU's SQL functionality allows you to read and
write data between a SCADA server's process database and multiple relational databases.

To access a relational database data source:

1. Set up your relational database and ODBC driver.


2. Configure the ODBC data source.
3. Add the database to the SQL connection list.
4. Create the library and error tables.

For more information on accessing relational database data sources, refer to the Installing and Con-
figuring Data Sources chapter in the Using SQL manual.

Configuring the SQL Service

The SQL Task Configuration dialog box lets you configure the SQL service, including enabling SQL support,
specifying a backup file location, identifying a relational database, routing SQL errors and messages to
alarm areas, and defining a sleep interval.

For more information on configuring the SQL service, refer to the Configuring the SQL Task chapter in the
Using SQL manual.

SCU Dialog Boxes

The SCU includes the following dialog boxes (listed in alphabetical order):

l Advanced Alarm Configuration Dialog Box


l Advanced Network Configuration Dialog Box
l Advanced Send Alarm Settings Dialog Box

32 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


l Alarm Configuration Dialog Box
l Alarm File Service Configuration Dialog Box
l Alarm History Service Configuration Dialog Box
l Alarm ODBC Service Configuration Dialog Box
l Alarm Printer Configuration Dialog Box
l Alarm Queues Configuration Dialog Box
l Alarm Service Configuration Dialog Boxes
l Alarm Summary Service Configuration Dialog Box
l Auto Alarm Manager Configuration Dialog Box
l Available Phonebook Entries Dialog Box
l Configure Alarm Areas Dialog Box
l Database Definition Dialog Box
l Database IDs Available Dialog Box
l Database Types Available Dialog Box
l Drivers Available Dialog Box
l Edit Alarm Area Database Dialog Box
l File Description Dialog Box
l iFIX Alarm ODBC Service Configuration Dialog Box
l List of Alarm Clients Dialog Box
l Local Startup Definition Dialog Box
l Message Format Configuration Dialog Box
l Network Alarm Configuration Dialog Box
l Network Configuration Dialog Box
l Path Configuration Dialog Box
l Remote Alarm Areas Dialog Box
l Remote Node Configuration Dialog Box
l SCADA Configuration Dialog Box
l Select the File Name to Use Dialog Box
l Send Alarm Filters Dialog Box
l SQL Accounts Dialog Box
l SQL Login Information Dialog Box
l SQL Task Configuration Dialog Box
l Startup Queue Configuration Dialog Box
l Task Configuration Dialog Box
l Timers Dialog Box

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 33


Advanced Alarm Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to access advanced settings for the alarm configuration. The Advanced Alarm
Configuration dialog box displays the following items:

Common Format

Opens the Common Message Format Configuration dialog box.

Common Areas

Opens the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box.

Queue Configuration

Opens the Alarm Queues Configuration dialog box.

Operator Messages

Opens the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box for the Operator Messages.

Recipe Messages

Opens the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box for the Recipe Messages.

Alarm Area Database

Opens the Edit Alarm Area Database dialog box.

Advanced Network Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to change the values of the network timers and control LAN redundancy on your
node. iFIX uses your entries in this dialog box to tailor resources precisely for your configuration.
CAUTION: Modifying network resources can seriously affect the performance of a node. You should not use this
dialog box unless you have a thorough understanding of iFIX networking concepts.

The Advanced Network Configuration dialog box displays the following items:

Network Timers

Field Description
Keep Alive Field and Allows you to specify the amount of time that, if no activity has
Check Box occurred over an established connection, a View client waits before
sending a heartbeat message. The default value for this field is 20
seconds.
Send Field and Check Allows you to specify the amount of time that a View client waits for
Box a request to the SCADA server to be acknowledged. If this timer
expires, the session ends. The default value for this field is 30
seconds.
Receive Field and Check Allows you to specify the amount of time that a View client waits for
Box a reply from the SCADA server. When running iFIX over TCP/IP, the

34 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


effective session timeout values is either the Send timer or the
Receive timer, whichever is greater. If this timer expires, the session
ends. The default value for this field is 60 seconds.
Inactivity Field and Allows you to specify the amount of time that, if no data activity has
Check Box occurred over an established connection, a View client waits before
removing the dynamic connection from the list of outgoing con-
nections. If this timer expires, the session ends. The default value for
this field is 300 seconds.
Reset to Defaults Button Allows you to reset the network timers to their default values.

NOTE: See the Determining Session Timer Values section in the Setting up the Environment electronic book for more
information on network timers.

LAN Redundancy

Field Description
Available Paths List Displays a list of available network paths.
Enable Status Option Allows you to enable the network path selected in the Available
Button Paths list box for LAN redundancy.
Disable Status Option Allows you to disable the network path selected in the Available
Button Paths list box for LAN redundancy.
Enable LAN Redundancy Allows you to enable the LAN redundancy feature on the node.
Check Box
Reset to Defaults Button Allows you to reset LAN redundancy to its default values.

More Network Options

Field Description
Accept Unknown Host Select this option to allow the SCADA node to accept connections
from any computer. When the parameter is disabled, access is
restricted to the iClients (View) you specify.
Accept Unauthorized Select this option to allow the SCADA node to log all unauthorized
Writes write attempts from the iClients.
Log Unauthorized Select this option to enable the logging of failed writes.
Writes
Edit Box Allows you enter a node name to add to the Hosts or Write Nodes
list.
Add Hosts Button Click the button to add a node from the above edit box to the Hosts
list.
Remove Host Select a host in the list and then click this button to remove it from
the list.
Add Write Node Button Click the button to add a node from the above edit box to the Write
Nodes list.
Remove Node Select node that allows writes in the list and then click this button to
remove it from the list.
Hosts List Displays a list of hosts.
Write Nodes List Displays a list of writable nodes.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 35


Advanced Send Alarm Settings Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to set up the Auto Alarm Manager as a service and set up the program's com-
munication timers. The Advanced Send Alarm Settings dialog box displays the following items:

Username

Allows you to specify the user name of a Windows user account that the Auto Alarm Manager can use to
report alarms when no one is logged into the sending node. The user name you specify must reside on the
RAS server and must have dial-in permission.

Password

Allows you to specify the password of a Windows user account that the Auto Alarm Manager can use to
report alarms when no one is logged into the sending node. Use the Confirm Password field to re-enter
the password specified in this field.

Confirm Password

Allows you to confirm the password specified in the Password field.

Send Timeout

Allows you to fine tune serial communication between the sending and receiving nodes. This field controls
the amount of time the Auto Alarm Manager has to send alarms to the receiving node.

Receive Timeout

Allows you to fine tune serial communication between the sending and receiving nodes. This field controls
the amount of time the Auto Alarm Manager waits for a response from the receiving node that the alarms
were delivered successfully.

Alarm Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to enable or disable the following alarm services:

l Alarm Printers 1-4


l Alarm Summary Service
l Alarm File Service
l Alarm History Service
l Alarm ODBC Service
l Alarm Network Service
l Alarm Startup Queue Service

Once enabled, you can configure an alarm service by specifying alarm areas, port definitions, printer
names, message formats, and other settings when appropriate.

36 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


NOTE: If you do not have the Alarm Network Service enabled, application messages are logged only to local alarm
services. Enable the Alarm Network Service to send messages out over the network.

The Alarm Configuration dialog box displays the following items:

Alarm Configuration List Box

Double-click an entry within the Alarm Configuration list box to modify an alarm service and access its con-
figuration dialog box. You can only access configuration dialog box if the alarm service is enabled.

Enable

Allows you to enable an alarm service.

Disable

Allows you to disable an alarm service.

Modify

Allows you to access a service's configuration dialog box.

Advanced

Allows you to access advanced settings for the dialog box.

Alarm Queues Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog box displays the alarm queue resources. iFIX uses your entries in the SCU menus to tailor
resources precisely for your configuration. Most users never need to modify these defaults.
CAUTION: Modifying alarm queue resources can seriously affect the performance of a node. You should not use
this dialog box unless you have a thorough understanding of iFIX alarming concepts.

In the Setup areas, each enabled service displays the maximum number of alarms it can handle at any one
time. This means that enough system resources are reserved to hold the number of messages listed here
in memory until they can be sent to the alarm service (for example, a printer). If more messages come in
after the memory queue has been filled, the older messages are discarded.

You must strike a balance between using up resources and recording all alarms. If your system can handle
it, you should set these entries to the maximum number of alarms that the system will send to the alarm
service at any one time.

The Alarm Queues Configuration dialog box displays the following items:

Local Setup

Field Description
Summary Queue Displays the size of the Summary queue.
File Queue Displays the size of the File queue.
Printer 1 Queue Displays the size of the Printer 1 queue.
Printer 2 Queue Displays the size of the Printer 2 queue.
Printer 3 Queue Displays the size of the Printer 3 queue.
Printer 4 Queue Displays the size of the Printer 4 queue.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 37


History Queue Displays the size of the History queue.

Network Client Setup

Field Description
Send Queue Displays the size of the Send queue.
Control Queue Displays the size of the Control queue.

Network Manager Setup

Field Description
Receive Queue Displays the size of the Receive queue.
Startup Queue Displays the size of the Startup queue.
Control Queue Displays the size of the Control queue.
Send Buffers Displays the size of the Send Buffers.

Reset Sizes Button

Allows you to configure your alarm queues to the standard defaults, or the defaults to be calculated by the
maximum alarms.

Alarm Service Configuration Dialog Boxes

The Alarm Service Configuration dialog box allows you to specify some or all of the following features for
an alarm service:

l Which alarm area information and messages are sent to the printer.
l The format for the alarm information and messages.
l The port the printer is connected to.
l The name of the printer.
l Whether manual alarm deletion is enabled or disabled.
l The information for the ODBC Alarm Service.

The following sections describe the fields in each individual Alarm Service Configuration dialog box.

Alarm Printer Configuration Dialog Box

Field Description
Port Definition Area The Port Definition area lets you connect an alarm printer to serial
ports (COM) 1 or 2, to parallel ports (LPT) 1 or 2, or to a USB port.
Each printer service must be attached to a unique port. The default
port is USB.
Printer Name Field Allows you to specify the name of the alarm printer as it appears on
the Alarm Configuration dialog box. The printer name can be up to
32 characters in length.
Areas Button Allows you to access the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box. This dia-
log box lets you specify the alarm areas for the selected alarm ser-

38 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


vice.
Format Button Allows you to access the Alarm Service Message Configuration dia-
log box. This dialog box lets you specify a format for the alarm
information and messages generated by this node.

Alarm Summary Service Configuration Dialog Box

Field Description
Manual Button Allows you to enable manual alarm deletion.

Once manual alarm deletion is enabled, you can delete any alarm in
the Alarm Summary OCX. To delete these alarms, use one of the fol-
lowing methods:

l Select the alarm you want to delete and then select the
Delete command from the right mouse button menu.
l Create a script for a push button that allows you to delete
selected alarms.
Automatic Button Allows you to disable manual alarm deletion.
Horn Support Enable Allows you to enable the alarm horn so that an alarm sounds when a
new alarm appears. The horn repeats at three speeds to distinguish
between low, medium, and high priority alarms. A one-second incre-
ment between beeps signifies high priority alarm, a two-second
increment signifies a medium priority, and a three-second increment
signifies a low priority.
Horn Support Disable Allows you to disable the alarm horn.

NOTE: You can later enable or disable the alarm horn from the
Alarm Horn Expert once iFIX has started. The SCU alarm horn set-
tings and the the Alarm Horn Expert settings work independently of
each other. For example, if you disable the alarm horn in the SCU,
then enable it using the alarm horn expert once iFIX has started,
each time that you shutdown and restart iFIX, the horn will be dis-
abled. This occurs because the SCU setting is the initial value and it
takes effect each time that you start iFIX.
Areas Button Allows you to access the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box. This dia-
log box lets you specify the alarm areas for the selected alarm ser-
vice.

Alarm File Service Configuration Dialog Box

Field Description
Areas Button Click to access the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box.
Format Button Click to access the Alarm File Service's Message Format Con-
figuration dialog box.

Alarm History Service Configuration Dialog Box

Field Description

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 39


Areas Button Click to access the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box.
Format Button Click to access the Alarm History Service's Message Format Con-
figuration dialog box.

Alarm ODBC Service Configuration Dialog Box

Field Description
Areas Button Click to access the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box.
Configure Button Click to access the iFIX Alarm ODBC Service Configuration dialog
box.

Network Alarm Configuration Dialog Box

Field Description
Send Startup Queue Allows you to configure the Alarm Network Service to send start-up
Alarms to Original alarms to all of the client's enabled alarm destinations.
Typers Check Box

Startup Queue Configuration Dialog Box

Field Description
Enable Time Filter Allows you to filter the alarms received by the View node by select-
Check Box ing the Enable Time Filter check box and entering a time interval.
When you do this, the View node receives all current SCADA node
alarms upon startup in addition to all previous alarms within the time
interval you specify.
Filter Alarms Older Than Allows you to specify the number of hours previous to startup in
Hours Field which you want to receive the SCADA node's alarms. Valid entries
are from 0 to 23. The default is 23.

NOTE: The default setting, 23 hours and 59 minutes, displays all of


the SCADA node's alarms that occurred between the time the View
node started up and the previous day.
Filter Alarms Older Than Allows you to specify the number of minutes previous to startup in
Minutes Field which you want to receive the SCADA node's alarms. Valid entries
are from 0 to 59. The default is 59.

NOTE: The default setting, 23 hours and 59 minutes, displays all of


the SCADA node's alarms that occurred between the time the View
node started up and the previous day.
Summary Alarms Only Allows you to receive only summary alarms on the View node. To dis-
Check Box play summary and operator alarms on the View node, clear the Sum-
mary Alarms Only check box.

NOTE: If this check box is cleared when using the Alarm Startup
Queue, duplicate alarms will be displayed on all alarm destinations
except alarm summary every time the connection to a SCADA node
is established.

40 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Available Phonebook Entries Dialog Box

The Available Phonebook Entries dialog box displays the following item:

Available Phonebook Entries List Box

Displays a list of the Remote Access Service (RAS) phone book entries you have defined. To select an entry,
click the phone book entry you want and click the OK button.

Configure Alarm Areas Dialog Box

When configuring alarm areas, you can assign:

l Every alarm area to alarm services.


l Common alarm areas to alarm services.
l Specific alarm areas to alarm services.
l Every alarm area to application messages.
l Specific alarm areas to application.

The Configure Alarm Areas dialog box displays the following items:

Use All Alarm Areas

Allows you to add all the alarm areas in the database to the list of configured alarm areas.

Select from Alarm Area Database

Displays the alarm areas available in the database that you can add to the list of configured alarm areas.
You can click the browse button to select a path for the alarm areas database.

Available Areas

Displays the alarm areas available in the database that can be added to the list of configured alarm areas.
This list is displayed only when the Select from Alarm Area Database option button is selected.

Arrow Button

Allows you to add the alarm area selected in the Available Areas list box to the list of configured alarm
areas. This button can only be used when the Select from Alarm Area Database option button is selected.

Remove Button

Allows you to delete an alarm area from the list of configured alarm areas. You must select an alarm area
in the Configured Areas list box before you can use this button.

Configured Areas

Displays a list of configured alarm areas.

Add Text Box

Allows you to specify an alarm area to add to the list of configured alarm areas. You must click the Add but-
ton to add the alarm area to the list.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 41


Add Button

Allows you to add the alarm area specified in the Add field to the list of configured alarm areas.

Browse (...) Button

Allows you to browse to the alarm areas database. This button can only be used when the Select from
Alarm Area Database option button is selected.

Database Definition Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to edit the database information currently defined for this node. The Database
Definition dialog box displays the following items:

Database Name

Enter a name in the Database Name field to specify the database used by this node. iFIX loads the data-
base specified in this field during startup.

Browse (...) Button

Click to browse for an iFIX database name.

Database IDs Available Dialog Box

The Database IDs Available dialog box displays the following item:

Database IDs Available List Box

Displays all available ODBC data sources to which you can connect. Select an ODBC data source and click
OK to place that data source name in the Database Identifier field.

Database Types Available Dialog Box

The Database Types Available dialog box displays the following item:

Database Types Available List Box

Displays all available relational database types to which you can connect. Select a relational database and
click OK to place that relational database name in the Database Type field.

Edit Alarm Area Database Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to create, edit, or remove alarm areas in the database. The Edit Alarm Area
Database dialog box displays the following items:

Alarm Area

Allows you to specify a name for an alarm area.

42 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Configured Alarms

Displays the names of all the alarm areas configured in the database. You can modify the name of an
alarm area by selecting it in the list, entering a new name in the Alarm Area field, and clicking the Modify
button.

Add

Allows you to add an alarm area to the database. You must enter a name in the Alarm Area field before
you can add a new alarm area.

Modify

Allows you to change the name of an alarm area. You must select an alarm area from the Configured
Alarm Areas list box and enter a new name in the Alarm Area field to modify an alarm area.

Delete

Allows you to delete an alarm area from the database. You must select an alarm area from the Configured
Alarm Areas list box before you can delete an alarm area.

iFIX ODBC Alarm Service Configuration Dialog Box

The iFIX ODBC Alarm Service Configuration dialog box displays the following items:

SQL Login Information

Field Description
Use Login Information Allows you to use the existing SQL setup to specify the database
from SQL Configuration type, user name, password, and database identifier. This feature can
Check Box be used only if you have installed and configured the iFIX SQL option.
Database Type Field Allows you to specify a database type for the relational database.
You can also click the Browse button to display a list of available
database types.

If you are using a Microsoft Access database, the database and the
Alarm ODBC service must be on the same machine.
Database Type Browse Allows you to display a list of available database types.
Button
User Name Field Allows you to enter the user name required to connect to the rela-
tional database.
Password Field Allows you to enter the password required to connect to the rela-
tional database.
Database Identifier Allows you to specify a database identifier for the relational data-
Field base. You can also click the Browse button to display a list of avail-
able database identifiers.
Database Identifier Allows you to display a list of available database identifiers.
Field Browse Button

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 43


Options

Field Description
Allow Operator to Pause Allows you to temporarily stop alarms from being written to the rela-
Alarm Logging Check tional database.
Box
Update Interval Text Box Allows you to control how often data is written to the relational data-
base. Valid entries are 1 to 300 seconds. The default is 1 second.
Alarm Queue Size Field Allows you to specify the maximum number of records in the iFIX
Alarm Queue. By increasing the queue size, you can prevent alarm
loss. Valid entries are from 1 to 32767. The default value is 100.
Number of Records to The number of records to read from the user queue before writing to
Log from iFIX Field the relational database. Increasing this number will result in a more
efficient ODBC, but will also increase the risk of losing alarms. The
maximum number you can enter is 100.
Number of Records to The number of records to read from the Lost Connection file before
Log from Backup File writing to the relational database.
Field

Lost Connections Options

Field Description
File Field Allows you to specify a temporary (TMP) file for the Alarm ODBC Ser-
vice. If the service cannot access the relational database, alarms and
messages are saved in this file. When the relational database re-
establishes contact with the Alarm ODBC Service, iFIX automatically
reads the data in the TMP file to update the relational database.

Leave this field blank to disable this feature.


File Field Browse Button Allows you to select a file.
Tag Field Allows you to specify a tag that indicates a broken connection with
the relational database.

Alternatively, instead of entering a tag here, you can create an Alarm


ODBC watch dog using the Scheduler. For more information, refer to
the Creating an Alarm ODBC Watchdog Using the Scheduler section.
Tag Field Browse Button Allows you to enter the node name and tag name.

User Fields

Field Description
Field Name1 Allows you to enter any ASCII format (A_) database block field. For a
complete list of available database block fields, refer to the Data-
base Manager Help system.
Field Name2 Allows you to enter any ASCII format (A_) database block field. For a
complete list of available database block fields, refer to the Data-
base Manager Help system.
Field Name3 Allows you to enter any ASCII format (A_) database block field. For a

44 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


complete list of available database block fields, refer to the Data-
base Manager Help system.
Field Name4 Allows you to enter any ASCII format (A_) database block field. For a
complete list of available database block fields, refer to the Data-
base Manager Help system.

Database Configuration

Field Description
Create Table at Runtime Allows you to have the Alarm ODBC Service create the table at run-
if Not Found Check Box time if it does not exist.
Table Name Field Allows you to specify a table name. When you enter your own table
name, you must select the alarm and message fields you want to
archive using the Column Configuration spreadsheet.

If you are creating a table, you must enter a unique name. You can-
not overwrite an existing table.

NOTE: When writing to an Oracle database, be aware that the table


name cannot include an embedded period (.) in the name. For
instance, an entry such as SchemaName.TableName.Alarms would
not be acceptable in this field, since it includes a period between
SchemaName and TableName.
Create Table Now But- Allows you to create a table when you configure the Alarm ODBC
ton Service.

Column Configuration

Field Description
Select All Button Allows you to select all the iFIX Field Names and populate the SQL
Column Names automatically. When Clear All is active, allows you to
disable any selected iFIX Field Names.
Restore Defaults Button Allows you to use the default table name, FIXALARMS, to simplify the
table setup. When you use the default table name, the Alarm ODBC
Service completes the Column Configuration spreadsheet.
Column Configuration Allows you to specify the alarm and message fields you want to
List Box archive.

List of Alarm Clients Dialog Box

You can filter the alarms sent to each iFIX or FIX32 client by entering information into the List of Alarm Cli-
ents dialog box (this information can also be entered directly into the FilterAlm.ini file). The List of Alarm Cli-
ents dialog box displays the following items:

Clients

Lists the available iFIX Clients that you want to filter alarms on.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 45


NOTE: If you do not want to filter alarms for a specified client, do not include it in this list.

Edit Box

Allows you to enter an iFIX Client name to add to the Clients list.

Add Client

Click to add a client in the edit box to the Clients list.

Configured Areas

Lists the configured alarm areas for the selected iFIX Client.

Add Area

Click to add an alarm area for the selected iFIX Client. When you click Add, the Configure Alarm Areas dia-
log box appears, which allows you to add alarm areas to the Configured Alarm Areas list.

Local Startup Definition Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to update your operating system's Registry to specify a local node name and
SCU file name.

If you try to exit the SCU without specifying local startup options, the SCU warns you that iFIX will not be
able to properly configure your node.

You can configure to run iFIX as a service by selecting the Continue Running After Logoff check box. This is
a system setting, and will make changes to your registry. When you run iFIX as a service, you can also
select the Start iFIX at System Boot option, which starts iFIX whenever you start Windows.

You can also use the Local Startup Definition dialog box to enable the local node alias feature and to spe-
cify whether you want iFIX to run as a service under Microsoft Windows.

The Local Startup Definition dialog box displays the following items:

Local Node Name

Allows you to specify a unique local node name to specify the name in your operating system's Registry.

Node names can be up to eight characters long. They can include alphanumeric characters, but must
begin with a letter. Special characters cannot be used.

Local Logical Name

Allows you to specify a logical node name used for configuring redundancy.

Node names can be up to eight characters long. They can include alphanumeric characters, but must
begin with a letter. Special characters cannot be used.

Configuration File

Allows you to specify the full path and name of the local SCU file you want to use as a default. You can
also click the browse (...) button to access the File Open dialog box and search for previously defined SCU
files (*.SCU).

46 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Browse (...) Button

Allows you to access the File Open dialog box and search for previously defined SCU files (*.SCU).

Local Node Alias

Allows you to enable the local node alias feature. The local node alias feature allows you to substitute a
placeholder, THISNODE, for the node portion of a tagname in order to automatically access information
from the local SCADA node. This is ideal for developing pictures that can be shared among several com-
puters that each access information from their own SCADA node.
IMPORTANT: You must be logged in as a user in the Administrators group to select or clear the Local Node Alias
check box.

Continue Running After Logoff

Allows you to configure iFIX to run as a service under Microsoft Windows when you start iFIX. If you log out
of Windows, iFIX continues to run as a service for the next user who logs on. To stop the service, stop iFIX.
IMPORTANT: You must be logged in as a user in the Administrators group to select or clear the Continue Running
After Logoff check box. Additionally, this check box is unavailable when iFIX is running.

Start FIX at System Boot

Allows you to automatically start iFIX when Windows starts. This option is available only if you select the
Continue Running After Logoff check box, to run iFIX as a service.
IMPORTANT: You must be logged in as a user in the Administrators group to select or clear the Start FIX at System
Boot check box. Additionally, this check box is unavailable when iFIX is running.

Message Format Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to specify a format for the alarm information, event messages, and application
messages (time and date only) generated by this node. This format applies to all enabled Alarm Printers
and the Alarm File Service.

The following types of Message Format Configuration dialog boxes appear in the SCU – all displaying the
same configuration items:

l Alarm Printer Message Format Configuration dialog box


l Alarm File Server Message Format Configuration dialog box
l Alarm History Service Message Format Configuration dialog box
l Common Message Format Configuration dialog box

Each Message Format Configuration dialog box displays the following items:

Columns

Allow you to add the column name to the Column Order list box. In the case of application messages, you
can only define whether the message does or does not include a Time or Date column.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 47


Length

Allow you to specify the length of text that appears in the alarm or event message.

Column Order

Lists the order that you want each column to appear.

Up Arrow

Allows you to move a column up in the list. Select the column name and then use this button to move it up
in the list.

Down Arrow

Allows you to move a column down in the list. Select the column name and then use this button to move it
down in the list.

Message Length

The Message Length field allows you to specify the maximum number of characters that the printer can
support. Valid entries are from 1-132. The default is 132.

Current Length

The Current Length field displays the number of characters that the printer currently supports.

Use Common Button

Allows you to set the alarm information and message format of the printer or service to the common
format.

Network Alarm Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to configure the Alarm Network Service to send start-up alarms to all of the cli-
ent's enabled alarm destinations.

The Network Alarm Configuration dialog box displays the following item:

Send Startup Queue Alarms to Original Typers

Allows you to configure the Alarm Network Service to send start-up alarms to all of the client's enabled
alarm destinations.

Network Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to control network communications and security for this node. The Network Con-
figuration dialog box displays the following items:

Network

Field Description
No Network Support Allows you to configure iFIX to operate as a stand-alone service.

48 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Option
TCP/IP Option Allows you to select TCP/IP as the network protocol.

Options

Field Description
Dynamic Connections Allows you to establish dynamic connections on this node. Clear this
Check Box check box if you want to connect only to nodes configured in the Con-
figured Remote Nodes list. This feature is not available if you are set-
ting up a stand-alone node.
Enforce Trusted Com- Allows you to establish trusted computing on this node. Clear this
puting Check Box check box if you want to use legacy network computing. This feature
is not available if you are setting up a stand-alone node.
Network Password Field Allows you set a password to create a site-specific certificate for net-
work security. The default password (INETWORK) allows legacy net-
work security to continue. This field is not available if you are setting
up a stand-alone node.
Password Confirmation Allows you to enter the Network Password a second time for con-
firmation. Once you enter the Network Password, you are required
to enter the password again.
Advanced Button Allows you to display the Advanced Network Configuration dialog
box, which allows you to configure network timers and LAN redund-
ancy for your node. This button is available only when you enable
Network support.

Remote Nodes

Field Description

Remote Node Name Displays the name of a remote node on the Local Area Network
(LAN) that you are adding to the network configuration or have selec-
ted from the Configured Sessions list box.
Configured Remote Displays the names of the remote nodes on the Local Area Network
Nodes List Box (LAN) that this node can communicate with. Up to 100 nodes can be
added.
Add Button Allows you to add a remote node name entered in the Remote Node
Name field to the Configured Remote Nodes list box.
Modify Button Allows you to change the name of the currently selected remote
node. Enter the new name in the Remote Node Name field and click
Modify to change the name.
Delete Button Allows you to remove a selected node from the Configured Remote
Nodes list box. Select the node name in the list and click the Delete
button.
Configure Button Allows you to specify the remote node type so that iFIX can correctly
interpret alarming information.
Show All Names Check Allows you to display the primary and secondary nodes that have
Box

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 49


been configured for the logical nodes. Clear this check box to display
only the logical node names.

Path Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog box displays the location and names of the iFIX directories. If you change the base path or pro-
ject path names to a new path, the SCU creates the new directories for you. However, it will not copy the
files from the old directories to the new directories.

If you are using terminal services, although project paths may be different, all users must share the same
base and language paths. The default base path is C:\Program Files\Proficy\Proficy iFIX, while the default
language path is C:\Program Files\Proficy\Proficy iFIX\NLS.

The Path Configuration dialog box displays the following items:

Base

Displays the main iFIX directory. Other iFIX directories are usually subdirectories of the base path.

Language

Displays the main directory for the language files used to create dialog boxes and help files. If you to
choose to implement a native language other than English, the new language and help files replace the
files found in this directory.

Project

Displays the path that you want to store application files, such as pictures, databases, and tag groups. This
allows you to manage application files on a project-by-project basis. The default value for the Project Path
is the base path.

Local

Displays the main directory for configuration files associated with the local computer.

Database

Displays the main directory for process databases, Database Builder configuration files, and I/O driver con-
figuration files.

Picture

Displays the main directory for the following files:

l Picture files
l Dynamo files
l Tag group files
l Macro files
l Block status picture files
l Configuration files

50 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Application

Displays the main directory for data and configuration files used by iFIX applications.

Historical

Displays the main directory for historical configuration files.

Historical Data

Displays the main directory for historical data files.

Alarms

Displays the main directory for alarm data files and security log files.

Master Recipe

Displays the main directory for master recipe, master recipe error, and master recipe report files.

Control Recipe

Displays the main directory for control recipe, control recipe error, and control recipe report files.

Alarm Areas (AAD)

Displays the main directory for alarm area files.

Change Base

Allows you to automatically update all the other subdirectories off the base path if you decide to change it.
NOTE: If you change either the base path or one of the path names to a new path, the SCU creates the new dir-
ectory for you. It does not copy the files from the old directory to the new directory.

Change Project

Allows you to automatically update all the other subdirectories off the Project path if you decide to change
it.
NOTE: The Change Base button overrides the Change Project button. The Change Project button changes all
paths within the PROJPATH root with the exception of the BASEPATH and NLSPATH.

Remote Node Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to enable the logical node name feature and specify primary and secondary
node names for the logical node. You can also access the Timers dialog box by clicking the Timers button.

The Remote Node Configuration dialog box displays the following items:

Enable Logical Node Names

Allows you to enable the logical node name feature on the node.

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Primary Node

Allows you to specify the name of the primary node. The node name you enter cannot already be listed in
the Configured Remote Nodes list box. You also cannot enter the name of a node that is already entered
as a primary node.

Secondary Node

Allows you to specify the name of the standby node. The node name you enter cannot already be listed in
the Configured Remote Nodes list box. You also cannot enter the name of a node that is already entered
as a standby node.

Timers

Allows you to display the Timers dialog box, which allows you to change the values of the network timers
on your node

SCADA Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to:

l Enable or disable SCADA support.


l Specify a database name.
l Add and delete I/O drivers.
l Access the Device Image Definition dialog box to configure a selected driver.

The SCADA Configuration dialog box displays the following items:

Enable

Enable Allows you to use this node as a SCADA node.

Disable

Disable Allows you to use this node as a View node.

Database Name

Allows you to specify the database to use for this node. You can also click the browse (...) button to access
the File Open dialog box where you can search for database files (*.PDB) in the database path.

Database Browse (...) Button

Allows you to access the File Open dialog box where you can search for database files (*.PDB) in the data-
base path.

I/O Driver Name

Displays the name of the driver you are adding, configuring, setting up, or deleting.

52 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


I/O Driver Name Browse (...) Button

Allows you to access the Drivers Available dialog box where you can select from a list of I/O drivers
installed on this node.

Configured I/O Drivers

Displays the three-letter acronym and type of driver configured (CFE or SERIAL) for up to four I/O drivers
configured on this node.

Add

Allows you to add a new I/O driver to the Configured I/O Drivers list box. Enter the acronym for the driver
in the I/O Driver Name field or click the browse (...) button to access the Drivers Available dialog box where
you can select from a list of I/O drivers installed on this node. Click the Add button to add the driver.

If you have more than one version of the specified driver, the SCU prompts you to specify which version of
the driver you want to use.

Configure

Allows you to access the selected driver in order to configure it, or the selected driver's help.

Setup

Allows you to setup the I/O driver interface card. To configure the interface card, click the Setup button and
enter the information requested. Not all drivers require an interface card. Refer to your I/O driver ref-
erence manual for more information.

Delete

Allows you to deletes an I/O driver from the Configured I/O Drivers list box. Select the driver in the list box
and click the Delete button. This action does not delete any configuration work you have done with the I/O
driver DID program or the I/O driver files stored on disk.

Failover

Field Description
Enable Select this check box to enable Enhanced Failover on this SCADA
node.
Data Sync Transport Click this button to open the Data Sync Transport dialog box, where
you configure you network preferences for data transport.
Primary Select this option if the node is the primary SCADA.
Secondary Select this option if the node is the secondary SCADA.
Primary/Secondary Enter the name of the partner SCADA node.
SCADA Name
Enhanced Failover If using security areas in iFIX, enter the letter associated with the
Security Area security area assigned to administrators of your Enhanced Failover
configurations.

Only one security area is supported for Enhanced Failover.

Send Alarm Filters Dialog Box

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This dialog box allows you to select one or more alarm area and an alarm priority. Incoming block alarms
are filtered based on the dialog box selections you make. Each alarm must meet the following criteria
before the Auto Alarm Manager sends it to the receiving node:

l The alarm must be from one of the alarm areas selected from the Send Alarm Filters dialog box.
l The alarm must have an alarm priority greater than or equal to the alarm priority selected from the
Send Alarm Filters dialog box.

If an alarm meets these criteria, the Auto Alarm Manager reassigns it to the alarm areas selected from the
Remote Alarm Areas dialog box. Once reassigned, the Auto Alarm Manager delivers the alarm to the
receiving node.

The Send Alarm Filters dialog box displays the following items:

Send Alarms from Area

Allows you to select an alarm area from areas A-P, select all areas, or select no areas.

Send Alarms of Priority

Allows you to select an alarm priority of Low, Medium, or High.

SQL Accounts Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to control the SQL account information for this node. The SQL Accounts dialog
box displays the following items:

Configured Accounts

Displays the names of SQL accounts that this node can access.

Add

Allows you to access the SQL Login Information dialog box and add a SQL account to the Configured
Accounts list box.

Delete

Allows you to remove a selected SQL account from the Configured Accounts list box.

Configure

Allows you to re-configure login information for the SQL account selected in the Configured Accounts list
box.

Configure SQL Task

Allows you to access the SQL Task Configuration dialog box, which lets you define how the SQL software
option executes SQL commands. Fields in this dialog box allow you to define how data is handled when
the SQL software option is operating.

SQL Login Information Dialog Box

54 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


This dialog box allows you to control how the iFIX SQL option communicates with a server containing a rela-
tional database. This dialog box lets you identify the:

l Type of database to which the SQL option connects (for example, Oracle, or Access).
l User name for the account to which you log into on the relational system.
l Password for the account.
l ODBC data source name.

The SQL Login Information dialog box displays the following items:

Database Type

Allows you to specify the type of relational database to which the SQL option can connect. Click the
browse (...) button to display a list of supported relational databases.

Database Type Browse (...) Button

Allows you to display a list of supported relational databases.

User Name

Allows you to specify the name of the user's account on the server. This name is usually the same one you
use to log onto the server. This field can be left blank or can contain a name with up to 31 characters.

Password

Allows you to specify the password used to log onto the server. This field can be left blank or can contain a
password with up to 31 characters.

If you enter a user name, then most likely you are required to enter a password. As each character is
entered, an asterisk appears in the Password field. This protects your password.

Database Identifier

Allows you to specify the ODBC data source name to which the SQL option can connect. Click the browse
(...) button to display a list of ODBC data sources.

Database Identifier Browse (...) Button

Allows you to display a list of ODBC data sources.

SQL Task Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to control how the SQL software option executes SQL commands. Fields in this
dialog box allow you to define how data is handled when the SQL software option is operating.

The SQL Task Configuration dialog box displays the following items:

Enable

Allows you to enable the SQL software option. You must enable the SQL software option before you can
enter information in the other configuration fields. When you change the SQL support state from disabled
to enabled, the SQL task is added to the Task Configuration dialog box.

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NOTE: The SQL software option does not check to see if the SCADA node is running. You must make sure your
SCADA node is running before you can transfer or receive data from a relational database.

Disable

Allows you to disable the SQL software option. When you change the SQL support state from enabled to
disabled, the SQL task is removed from the Task Configuration dialog box.

Primary Backup

Allows you to specify the primary back-up path and file name that the SQL software option uses when it
cannot write to the relational database. If the SQL software option cannot connect to the server, or loses a
connection with the relational database, it backs up data to the file identified in the Primary field. If the
SQL software option fails to write to this file, it backs up data to the file identified in the Secondary field.

If you set the primary path to a file server, consider setting the secondary path to a local drive. With this
setup, if the application cannot connect to the server because of a bad cable connection, the secondary
path can back-up data to the local drive. Once the system re-establishes a connection to the relational
database, the system first processes any backed up SQL commands and data and then deletes the back-
up file once the backup operation completes.
IMPORTANT: The SQL software option processes backed up SQL commands in the order in which they were
backed up. This means that the backed up SQL commands are processed in a first in, first out (FIFO) basis.

You can enter any valid path and back-up file name in this field. A sample path and file name are shown
below:
C:\Program Files\Proficy\Proficy iFIX\PDB\filename.SQL

NOTES:
The path that you enter does not have to be an iFIX path. If your path entry does not exist at runtime, no paths
are created. This means that the SQL software option generates an error message because it tries to send back-
up data to a file that is assigned no destination path.
For SQT blocks to log to the primary or secondary backup files, you must select the Enable BackUp checkbox
found on the Advanced tab. You must do this for each SQT block you want to utilize backup files.

Secondary Backup

Allows you to specify the secondary back-up path and file name that the SQL software option uses when it
cannot write to the relational database. If the SQL software option cannot connect to the server, or loses a
connection with the relational database, it backs up data to the file identified in the Primary field. If the
SQL software option fails to write to this file, it backs up data to the file identified in the Secondary field.

If you set the primary path to a file server, consider setting the secondary path to a local drive. With this
setup, if the application cannot connect to the server because of a bad cable connection, the secondary
path can back-up data to the local drive. Once the system re-establishes a connection to the relational
database, the system first processes any backed up SQL commands and data and then deletes the back-
up file once the backup operation completes.
IMPORTANT: The SQL software option processes backed up SQL commands in the order in which they were
backed up. This means that the backed up SQL commands are processed in a first in, first out (FIFO) basis.

You can enter any valid path and back-up file name in this field. A sample path and file name are shown
below:
C:\Program Files\Proficy\Proficy iFIX\PDB\filename.SQL

56 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


NOTES:
The path that you enter does not have to be an iFIX path. If your path entry does not exist at runtime, no paths
are created. This means that the SQL software option generates an error message because it tries to send back-
up data to a file that is assigned no destination path.
For SQT blocks to log to the primary or secondary backup files, you must select the Enable BackUp checkbox
found on the Advanced tab. You must do this for each SQT block you want to utilize backup files.

Error Msg Routing

Allows you to access the Configure Alarm Areas - SQL Error Messages dialog box, which lets you enable
the alarm areas that will receive error messages generated by the SQL software option.

Debug Msg Routing

Allows you to access the Configure Alarm Areas - SQL Debug Messages dialog box, which lets you enable
the alarm areas that will receive debug messages generated by the SQL software option.

Error Msg to Screen

Allows you to control whether error messages are sent to the SQL system task window while the SQL soft-
ware option is operating (enabled).
NOTE: If you enable the Debug Message to Screen option, the system automatically enables the Error Message to
Screen option even if the Error Message to Screen check box is disabled.

Debug Msg to Screen

Allows you to control whether debug messages are sent to the SQL system task window while the SQL
software option is operating (enabled).

Be aware that these messages are displayed in Mission Control, on the SQL tab.
NOTE: If you enable the Debug Message to Screen option, the system automatically enables the Error Message to
Screen option even if the Error Message to Screen check box is disabled.

Database ID

Displays the ODBC data source name specified during ODBC setup. Any database specific information
such as the server name or the database name is configured during the ODBC setup. Once the ODBC
data source has been configured, only the data source name needs to be specified to access that rela-
tional database.

Database ID Browse (...) Button

Allows you to access the Database IDs Available dialog box, which lets you select from a list of available
database identifiers.

SQL Cmd Table

Allows you to specify the name of the SQL Library Table that contains the SQL commands. The default
name is SQLLIB. Valid SQL Command Table names can include up to 31 characters.

Error Log Table

Allows you to specify the name of the SQL Error Log Table to which the SQL system task sends error mes-
sages. If a SQL transaction fails, an entry is made to this table. In isolating troublesome SQL transactions,
a maintained table becomes a useful debugging tool. Consider maintaining this log on an ongoing basis.

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The default name for the Error Log Table is SQLERR. Valid Error Log Table names can include up to 31 char-
acters. If no table name is entered in this field, the application records no error messages to the relational
database.
NOTE: Completing the ERROR LOG TABLE field is optional.

Task Sleep Interval

Allows you to specify how often the SQL system task is processed (that is, how often it checks the SQT
blocks in the node's database). You should enter a time that is sufficient to monitor your application. Valid
entries are 0 to 99 seconds. The default is 5 seconds.

Startup Queue Configuration Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to control the types of alarms a View node receives upon startup. By default, the
View node receives all the current SCADA node summary alarms that have occurred prior to the time the
View node started.

The Startup Queue Configuration dialog box displays the following items:

Enable Time Filter

Allows you to filter the alarms received by the View node by selecting the Enable Time Filter check box and
entering a time interval. When you do this, the View node receives all current SCADA node alarms upon
startup in addition to all previous alarms within the time interval you specify.

Filter Alarms Older Than – Hours

Allows you to specify the number of hours previous to startup in which you want to receive the SCADA
node's alarms. Valid entries are from 0 to 23. The default is 23.
NOTE: The default setting, 23 hours and 59 minutes, displays all of the SCADA node's alarms that occurred
between the time the View node started up and the previous day.

Filter Alarms Older Than – Minutes

Allows you to specify the number of minutes previous to startup in which you want to receive the SCADA
node's alarms. Valid entries are from 0 to 59. The default is 59.
NOTE: The default setting, 23 hours and 59 minutes, displays all of the SCADA node's alarms that occurred
between the time the View node started up and the previous day.

Summary Alarms Only

Allows you to receive only summary alarms on the View node. To display summary and operator alarms
on the View node, clear the Summary Alarms Only check box.
NOTE: If this check box is cleared when using the Alarm Startup Queue, duplicate alarms will be displayed on all
alarm destinations except alarm summary every time the connection to a SCADA node is established.

Task Configuration Dialog Box

58 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


This dialog box allows you to specify the tasks you want to automatically start when iFIX is started. iFIX
executes the tasks in the order that they are listed in the Configured Tasks list box.

The Task Configuration dialog box displays the following items:

Filename

Displays the name of the executable (.EXE) or dynamically linked library (.DLL) that you are adding to or
have selected from the Configured Tasks list box.

To add a new startup task, type a name in this field and click the Add button. You can also click the browse
(...) button to access the File Open dialog box and search for executable or dynamically linked library files.

Command Line

Allows you to add any command line parameters associated with an executable file specified in the File-
name field. For example, you can define command line parameters for SAC (WSACTASK.EXE), I/O Control
(IOCNTRL.EXE), and selected iFIX applications.

To add command line parameters to third-party executables, check the application's reference doc-
umentation for valid entries.

Configured Tasks

Displays the names of the iFIX tasks selected for automatic startup. An asterisk (*) next to a task indicates
that the task minimizes once it is started. A percent sign (%) next to a task indicates that the task is started
as a background task.

iFIX executes the tasks in the order that they are displayed in this list box. To change the order of a startup
task, select the task and use the up and down arrow buttons to move the task to the desired place in the
list.

Minimized

Allows you to start the task with its window minimized.

Normal

Allows you to start the task with its window open.

Background

Allows you to start the task as a background task.

Add

Allows you to add an executable file specified in the Filename field to the Configured Tasks list box.

Change

Allows you to change the start up mode of a task selected in the Configured Tasks list box. To change the
mode, select the task in the Configured Tasks list box, click the option button in the Start Up Mode area,
and click the Change button.

Delete

Allows you to delete a task from the Configured Tasks list box. To delete a task, select the task in the list
box and click the Delete button. This action removes the task from the list, but does not delete the files

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 59


from the disk.

Timers Dialog Box

This dialog box allows you to change the values of the network timers on the remote node. iFIX uses your
entries in this dialog box to tailor resources precisely for your configuration. Most users never need to
modify these defaults.
CAUTION: Modifying network resources can seriously affect the performance of a node. You should not use this
dialog box unless you have a thorough understanding of iFIX networking concepts. See the Understanding iFIX Ses-
sion Timers and Determining Session Timer Values sections in the Setting up the Environment electronic book for
more information on network timers.

The Timers dialog box displays the following items:

Use FIX Network Timers

Allows you to enable the use of network timers on the remote node.

Keep Alive

Allows you to specify the amount of time that, if no activity has occurred over an established connection,
the node waits before sending a heartbeat message. The default value for this field is 20 seconds.

Send

Allows you to specify the amount of time that the node waits for a request to the SCADA server to be
acknowledged. If this timer expires, the session ends. The default value for this field is 30 seconds.

Receive

Allows you to specify the amount of time that the node waits for a reply from the SCADA server. When
running iFIX over TCP/IP, the effective session timeout values is either the Send timer or the Receive timer,
whichever is greater. If this timer expires, the session ends. The default value for this field is 60 seconds.

Inactivity

Allows you to specify the amount of time that, if no data activity has occurred over an established con-
nection, the node waits before removing the dynamic connection from the list of outgoing connections. If
this timer expires, the session ends. The default value for this field is 300 seconds.

Reset to Defaults

Allows you to reset the remote node network timers to their default values.

How Do I...

The following sections explain how to use the System Configuration Utility (SCU) in iFIX:

l Working with SCU Files


l Working with SCADA Support

60 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


l Configuring Paths
l Using Alarms
l Working with Networks
l Using SQL
l Configuring Tasks
l Working with the Alarm Area Database
l Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager
l Defining Local Startup Settings

Click a section above for steps on how to use or configure this part of the SCU.

Working with SCU Files

In the SCU, you can perform the following steps with SCU Files:

l Adding a File Description to the SCU File


l Creating an SCU File Report
l Implementing the SCU in iFIX

Adding a File Description to the SCU File

To add a description to the SCU file:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. In the SCU, on the File menu, click Description, or double-click the file description area.
3. In the Enter Configuration File Description field, enter a description of up to 40 characters.

Creating a SCU File Report

To create a SCU file report:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the File menu, click Report.
3. In the File Name field, enter a file name and click the Save button.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 61


Implementing the SCU in iFIX

To implement the SCU in iFIX:

1. Before you open the iFIX WorkSpace, start the SCU from the Proficy iFIX 4.0 program folder in Win-
dows.
2. From the Configure menu, choose Local Startup. The Local Startup Definition dialog box appears.
3. Configure your local startup options, including the local server name, local logical name, and the
local SCU file name.
4. Configure the path in which to store the program and data files.
5. Make any start-up or configuration changes using the SCU toolbox and associated dialog boxes.
For more information, refer to the Configuring iFIX using the SCU section in the Setting up the Envir-
onment e-book.
6. Save any configuration changes to either a local disk or a remote file server.

Working with SCADA Support

In the SCU, you can perform the following steps with SCADA Support:

l Adding an I/O Driver to the Configured I/O Drivers List Box


l Configuring an I/O Driver
l Deleting an I/O Driver from the Configured I/O Drivers List Box
l Selecting a Process Database

Adding an I/O Driver to the Configured I/O Drivers List Box

To add an I/O Driver to the Configured I/O Drivers list box:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the SCADA button.
3. Next to the I/O Driver Name field, click the browse (...) button to display a list of I/O drivers installed
on the local node. The Drivers Available dialog box appears.
4. Select the driver you want and click OK. The driver appears in the I/O Driver Name field.
5. Click the Add button. The SCU adds the I/O driver to the Configured I/O Drivers list box. Only drivers
added to this list box are started during iFIX startup.
NOTE: During installation, the Simulation (SIM) driver is automatically installed for you. This driver
provides 2000 registers for simulating process data and testing your database. Refer to the Building a
SCADA System e-book for more information on using the SIM driver.

62 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Configuring an I/O Driver

To configure an I/O driver:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the SCADA button.
3. Select a driver in the Configured I/O Drivers list box and click the Configure button. This starts the
I/O Driver Configuration program.
4. Enter the required information.
NOTE: You do not need to set up a SIM driver; the installation program configures it for you. For more
information on the configuration program, refer to your driver documentation.

Deleting an I/O Driver from the Configured I/O Drivers List Box

To delete an I/O driver from the Configured I/O Drivers list box:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the SCADA button.
3. From the Configured I/O Drivers list, select the I/O driver.
4. Click the Delete button.

Enabling and Disabling SCADA Support

To enable and disable SCADA support:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the SCADA button.
3. In the SCADA Support area, select the Enable option.
4. To disable SCADA support, select the Disable option.

Selecting a Process Database

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To select a process database:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the SCADA button.
- Or -
On the SCU main screen, double-click the PDB:DATABASE row.
3. In the Database Name field, enter the desired process database. If you want to use an existing data-
base, click the browse (...) button to search for database files for your server using the Select the
File Name to Use dialog box.

Configuring Paths

In the SCU, you can perform the following steps with Paths:

l Changing the Base Path


l Changing the Project Path
l Defining the Alarm Areas Path

Changing the Base Path

To change the base path:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Paths button.
3. In the Base field, enter a new directory path or click the browse (...) button to browse for a directory.
4. Click the Change Base button to automatically update all of the directories in the Path Configuration
dialog box.
NOTE: All of the other directories must be subdirectories of the Base path in order for them to change auto-
matically.

Changing the Project Path

64 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


To change the project path:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Paths button.
3. In the Project field, enter a new path or click Browse to browse for a project path.
4. Click the Change Project button to automatically update all of the project file directories in the Path
Configuration dialog box.
NOTE: All of the other project file directories must be subdirectories of the Project path in order for them to
change automatically. The Base and Language paths are not updated when you change the project
path.

Defining the Alarm Areas Path

To define the Alarm Areas path:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Paths button.
3. Enter the file server path containing the alarm area database in the Alarm Areas path.

Using Alarms

In the SCU, you can perform the following steps with Alarms:

l Assigning Common Alarm Areas to an Alarm Service


l Assigning Every Alarm Area to an Alarm Service
l Assigning Every Alarm Area to Application Messages
l Assigning Specific Alarm Areas to an Alarm Service
l Assigning Specific Alarm Areas to Application Messages
l Configuring Alarm Areas
l Configuring an Alarm Printer Service
l Configuring the Alarm File Service
l Configuring the Alarm History Service
l Configuring the Alarm ODBC Service

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l Configuring the Alarm Startup Network Service
l Configuring the Alarm Startup Queue Service
l Configuring the Alarm Startup Summary Service
l Configuring the Message Format
l Configuring the Alarm Horn in the SCU
l Customizing the Common Message Format for an Alarm Service
l Defining a Common Message Format
l Disabling an Alarm Destination
l Enabling an Alarm Destination
l Entering the Retry, Pause, and Delay Intervals
l Entering the Alarm ODBC Queue Size
l Enabling an Alarm Queue's Size
l Selecting Common Alarm Areas
l Selecting Common Alarm Areas Not Listed in the Database
l Selecting the Common Message Format for and Alarm Service
l Viewing the Alarm History of the Local Node
l Selecting the Alarm Areas for Incoming and Outgoing Alarms

Assigning Common Alarm Areas to an Alarm Service

To assign the common alarm areas to an alarm service:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the alarm service you want to set up.
4. Click the Areas button.
5. Select the Use Areas Common to All Services option.

Assigning Every Alarm to an Alarm Service

To assign every alarm area to an alarm service:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-

66 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button..
3. Double-click the alarm service you want to set up.
4. Click the Areas button.
5. Select the Use ALL Alarm Areas option.

Assigning Every Alarm Area to Application Messages

To assign every alarm area to application messages:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Click the Advanced button.
4. Click the Recipe Messages button to assign alarm areas for recipe messages, or the Operator Mes-
sages button to assign alarm areas for any other type of application message. When you click
either button, the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box appears.
5. Select the Use ALL Alarm Areas option to assign the messages to every alarm area.

Assigning Specific Alarm Areas to an Alarm Service

To assign specific alarm area to an alarm service:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the alarm service you want to set up.
4. Click the Areas button.
5. Select the "Select from the Alarm Areas Database" option.
6. From the Available Areas list, double-click the alarm areas you want to assign.

Assigning Specific Alarm Areas to Application Messages

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To assign specific alarm areas to application messages:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Click the Advanced button.
4. Click the Recipe Messages button to assign alarm areas for recipe messages, or the Operator Mes-
sages button to assign alarm areas for any other type of application message. When you click
either button, the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box appears.
5. Select the "Select from the Alarm Areas Database" option.
6. From the Available Areas list, double-click the alarm areas you want.

Configuring an Alarm Printer Service

To configure an Alarm Printer Service:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the Alarm Printer Service.
4. In the Port Definition areas, click the option button for the printer port to which your printer is con-
nected. Each port can handle only one Alarm Printer Service. If a port selection is not selectable, it
is assigned to another printer.
5. In the Printer Name field, enter a printer name.
6. Select the printer's alarm areas.
7. Select the printer's message format.

Configuring the Alarm File Service

To configure the Alarm File Service:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.

68 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the Alarm File Service.
4. Click the Format button.
5. Click the Area button to display the Configure Alarm Areas dialog box, and select the service's
alarm areas.
6. Click the Format button to display the Alarm File Service Message Format Configuration dialog box,
and select the service's message format.

Configuring the Alarm History Service

To configure the Alarm History Service:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the Alarm History Service.
4. Click the Area button.
5. Select the service's alarm areas and click OK.
6. Click the Format button.
7. Configure the desired options for the service's message format and click OK.

Configuring the Alarm ODBC Service

To configure the Alarm ODBC Service:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the Alarm ODBC Service.
4. Click the Configure button.
5. Enter the SQL login information required to connect to your relational database. If you want to use
the existing SQL configuration, select the Use Login Information from SQL Configuration check box.
6. Configure the column and table names for the relational database. If you want to use your own
column and table names, enter them instead.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 69


7. Select the Allow Operator to Pause Alarm Logging check box to let operators temporarily stop writ-
ing to the relational database.
8. In the Update Interval field, enter the number of seconds the service should wait between writes to
the relational database. At each write, the service will check the iFIX AlarmQueue and the Lost Con-
nection File.
9. In the AlarmQueue Size field, enter the maximum number of records in the iFIX AlarmQueue.
10. In the Number of records to log from iFIX field, enter the number of records to write to the rela-
tional database at one time from the iFIX AlarmQueue.
11. In the Number of records to log from Backup File field, enter the number of records to write to the
relational database at one time from the Lost Connection File.
12. In the Lost Connection Options section, enter the path where you want to save your backup file and
the tag that will indicate a broken connection with the relational database. Alternatively, instead of
entering a tag here, you can create an Alarm ODBC watch dog using the Scheduler. For more
information, refer to the Creating an Alarm ODBC Watchdog Using the Scheduler section.
13. In the User Fields section, edit the ASCII format database blocks for any user defined iFIX field
names you selected.
14. Click OK.

Configuring the Alarm Startup Network Service

To configure the Alarm Network Service:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the Alarm Network Service.
NOTE: Networking must be enabled in the Network Configuration dialog box for the Alarm Network Ser-
vice to appear in this list.

3. Select the Send Startup Queue Alarms to Original Typers check box to distribute alarms from the
SCADA server to all the enabled alarm destinations on the View client. Clear the check box if you
want to send the alarms to the Alarm Summary and Alarm Startup Queue Services, or if the Alarm
Queue Service is disabled.
4. Click OK.

Configuring the Alarm Startup Queue Service

To configure the Alarm Startup Queue Service:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.

70 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the Alarm Startup Queue Service.
NOTE: The Alarm Startup Queue Service only appears in the alarm configuration list if networking is
enabled in the SCU. To enable networking from the SCU, close the Alarm Configuration dialog box, and on
the Configure menu, click Network. The Network Configuration dialog box appears. In the Network area,
select the network type. Once networking is enabled, you can try to configure the Alarm Startup Queue
Service again.

3. In the Startup Queue Configuration dialog box, clear the Summary alarms only check box to receive
alarms and messages. To receive only alarms from the Alarm Summary Service, leave the check
box selected.
4. If you want to filter alarms by time, select the Enable Time Filter check box and enter the maximum
age of the alarms and messages you want to receive in the Hours and Minutes fields.
5. Click OK.

Configuring the Alarm Startup Summary Service

To configure the Alarm Summary Service:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the Alarm Summary Service.
4. If you want to manually delete alarms from the Alarm Summary Service, select the Manual option.
Otherwise, select the Automatic option.
5. Select the service's alarm areas.
6. Click OK.

Configuring the Message Format

When working with message formats, you can:

l Select the common message format.


l Customize the message format.

Configuring the Alarm Horn in the SCU

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 71


To configure the Alarm Horn in the SCU:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the Alarm Summary Service.
NOTE: If it is disabled, select the Enable option in the upper right corner of the screen to enable the ser-
vice, and then double-click Alarm Summary Service

3. In the Horn Support section, select the Enable or Disable option.


4. Click OK to close the dialog box and return to the Alarm Configuration dialog box.
5. Click OK to close the dialog box and save the changes.

Customizing the Common Message Format for an Alarm Service

To customize the message format for an alarm service:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the alarm service you want to set up.
4. Click the Format button.
5. Select the check boxes in the Columns area to include the fields you want. To exclude a field, clear
its check box.
6. In the Length fields, enter the length of each field.
7. From the Column Order list, select a field name.
8. Click one of the arrow buttons to move the field up or down in the list.
9. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you arrange the fields in the order you require.
10. Click OK.

Defining a Common Message Format

To define a common message format:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-

72 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Click the Advanced button.
4. Click the Common Format button.
5. In the Columns area, select the check boxes of the necessary fields to include in the common
format. To exclude a field, clear its check box.
6. In the Length fields, enter the length of each field.
7. From the Column Order list, select a field name.
8. Click the up or down arrow buttons to move the field in the list.
9. Repeat steps 6 and 7 to arrange the fields in the order you require.
10. Click OK.

Disabling an Alarm Destination

To disable an alarm destination:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Select an alarm service and click Disable.
4. Click OK.

Enabling an Alarm Destination

To enable an alarm destination:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Select an alarm service and click Enable.
4. Click OK.

Entering the Retry, Pause, and Delay Intervals on the Sender Node

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 73


To enter the retry, pause, and delay intervals on the sender node:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the Configure menu, click Auto Alarm Manager.
3. Make sure the Enable button is selected, so that you can edit the fields.
4. In the Max Retries field, enter the maximum number of times you want the Auto Alarm Manager to
re-dial the primary or secondary contact.
5. In the Pause Time field, enter the number of seconds you want the Auto Alarm Manager to pause
between retries.
6. In the Delay After Send field, enter the number of seconds you want the Auto Alarm Manager to
wait between hanging up the modem and dialing the receiving node again.
7. Click OK.

Entering the Alarm ODBC Queue Size

To enter the Alarm ODBC queue size:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the Alarm ODBC service.
4. Click the Configure button.
5. In the Alarm Queue Size field, enter the alarm queue size.
6. Click OK.

Modifying an Alarm Queue's Size

To modify an alarm queue's size:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
The System Configuration Utility (SCU) window appears.

74 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button. The Alarm Configuration dialog box appears.
3. Select the Advanced button. The Advanced Alarm Configuration dialog box appears.
4. Click the Queue Configuration button and click Yes when prompted to continue. The Alarm Queues
Configuration dialog box appears.
5. In the Maximum field, enter the alarm queue size. If you are configuring the Alarm History queue,
enter the queue size In the Initial field.
6. Click OK.

Selecting Common Alarm Areas

To select common alarm areas:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Click the Advanced button.
4. Click the Common Areas button.
5. Select the Select from Alarm Area Database option.
6. In the Available Areas list, double-click the alarm areas you want to make common. This moves the
alarm area to the Configured Areas list.
7. Click OK.

Selecting Common Alarm Areas Not Listed in the Database

To select a common alarm area that is not listed in the alarm area database:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the alarm service you want to set up.
4. Click the Areas button.
5. Select the Select from Alarm Area Database option.
6. In the Add field, enter the area's name and click the Add button.
7. Click Yes when prompted to use the undefined name.

Selecting the Common Method Format for an Alarm Service

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 75


To select the common message format for an alarm service:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarms button.
3. Double-click the alarm service you want to set up.
4. Click the Format button.
5. Click the Use Common button.

Viewing the Alarm History of the Local Node

To view the alarm history of the local node:

From the system tree in the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace, double-click the Alarm History icon.

Selecting the Alarm Areas for Incoming and Outgoing Alarms

To select the alarm areas for incoming and outgoing alarms:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the Configure menu, click Auto Alarm Manager.
3. Make sure the Enable button is selected, so that you can edit the fields.
4. Click the Alarm Filters button.
5. Select the alarm areas and alarm priorities with which to filter the incoming alarms.
6. Click OK.
7. Click the Remote Alarms Areas button.
8. Select the alarm areas you want to assign to the outgoing alarms.
9. Click OK.

Working with Networks

In the SCU, you can perform the following steps with Networks:

76 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


l Activating Network Timers on a Per Node Basis
l Adding Remote Nodes to your Network Configuration
l Changing the Network Protocol
l Configuring iFIX Session Timers
l Adding or Removing Networking Support in iFIX
l Disabling a Network Path
l Enabling Dynamic Connections
l Enabling Trusted Computing
l Creating Site-Specific Certificates
l Modifying a Remote Node on the Network
l Re-enabling a Network Path
l Removing a Node from the Configured Remote Nodes List
l Modifying a Diagnostic Display to Reference a Local Node Name

Activating Network Timers on a Per Node Basis

To activate network timers on a per-node basis:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Network button.
3. From the Configured Remote Nodes list, select the node you want to configure.
4. Click the Configure button.
5. Click the Timers button. .
6. Click the Reset to Defaults button to use the default timer settings, or clear the Use FIX Network
Timers check box and enter values in the Seconds field for the network timers you want to activate.
7. Click OK to close the Timers dialog box.
8. Click OK again to close the Remote Node Configuration dialog box.
9. Click OK.

Adding Remote Nodes to your Network Configuration

To add remote nodes to your network configuration:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 77


In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Network button.
3. In the Remote Node Name field, enter the remote node name.
4. Click the Add button. The node name is added to the Configured Remote Nodes list. If there is more
than one node, the last entry is placed at the bottom of the list.

Adding or Removing Networking Support in iFIX

To add or remove networking support in iFIX:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Network button.
3. In the Network area, click the TCP/IP option to allow for TCP/IP networking, or click the No Net-
working Support option to remove the networking option.
4. Click OK.

Configuring iFIX Session Timers

To configure the iFIX session timers:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Network button.
3. Click the Advanced button and click Yes when prompted to continue.
4. Edit the Seconds field of the session timer that you want to change.
5. Click OK.

Configuring Network Protocols

To configure the network protocol:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.

78 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Network button.
3. In the Network area, click TCP/IP to configure the network protocol. If you do not want to be con-
nected to a network, click No Network Support. This option configures iFIX to operate as a stand-
alone server.
4. Click OK.

Disabling a Network Path

To disable a network path:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Network button.
3. Click the Advanced button and click Yes when prompted to continue.
4. From the Available Paths list, select the path that you want to disable.
5. Select the Disable option.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for all network paths that you want to disable.
7. Click OK.

Enabling Dynamic Connections

To enable dynamic connections:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Network button.
3. In the Options area, select the Dynamic Connections check box.
4. Click OK.

Enabling Trusted Computing

To enable trusted computing:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 79


In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Network button.
3. In the Options area, select the Enforce Trusted Computing check box to enable connection authen-
tication security for the network.
4. Click OK.

Creating Site-Specific Authentication

To create a site-specific authentication:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Network button.
3. In the Network Password field, enter a password to create a site-specific certificate for secure net-
working. Then, enter the same password in the Password Confirmation field.
4. Click OK.

Modifying a Remote Node on the Network

To modify a remote node on the network:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Network button.
3. From the Configured Remote Nodes list, select the node you want to modify.
4. Click the Modify button.

Re-enabling a Network Path

To re-enable a network path:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.

80 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Network button.
3. In the Network area, select TCP/IP.
4. Click the Advanced button and click Yes when prompted to continue.
5. From the Available Paths list, select the path that you want to re-enable.
6. Select the Enable option.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for all network paths that you want to re-enable.
8. Click OK.

Removing a Node from the Configured Remote Nodes List

To remove a node from the Configured Remote Nodes list:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Network button. The Network Configuration dialog box appears.
3. From the Configured Remote Nodes list, select the logical node name that you want to delete.
4. Click the Delete button.
5. Click OK to save your settings.

Modifying a Diagnostic Display to Reference a Local Node Name

To modify a diagnostic display to reference a local node name:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. Open the diagnostic display in the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace.
3. In the iFIX WorkSpace, on the Edit menu, click Select All.
4. In the iFIX WorkSpace, on the Edit menu, click Find and Replace. The Find and Replace dialog box
appears.
5. In the Find What field, enter *.* and click the Find button.
6. Click the Replace tab and enter local_nodename.* in the Replace With field, where local_nodename
is your local node name.
7. Click the Replace All button. To preview the results of Find and Replace beforehand, click the
Replace Preview button.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 81


Using SQL

In the SCU, you can perform the following steps with SQL:

l Adding Command Parameters for the SQL Task


l Configuring the SCU for an ODBC Data Source
l Configuring the SQL Task
l Displaying the Setup and Status of iFIX ODBC
l Setting the Reference to the Microsoft DAO Object Library
l Setting the Reference to the Microsoft Remote Data Object Library
l Entering Your Own Table and Column Names

Adding Command Parameters for the SQL Task

To add command parameters for the SQL task:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Tasks button.
3. In the Configured Tasks list, select the SQL task, WSQLODC.EXE. The SQL task appears in the file-
name field.
4. In the Command Line field, enter the command parameters.
5. Click the Change button.

Configuring the SCU for an ODBC Data Source

To configure an ODBC data source:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the SQL button.
3. Click the Add button.
4. In the Database Type field, enter the type of data source, or click the browse (...) button to display
the Database Types Available dialog box. Select the database type from the list in the dialog box,
and click OK.

82 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


5. In the Database Identifier field, enter a database ID, or click the browse (...) button next to the Data-
base Identifier field to display the Database IDs Available dialog box. Select a database ID from the
list in the dialog box, and click OK.
6. In the User Name and Password fields, enter a valid user name and password for the database you
want to access. If you are accessing a Microsoft Access data source and security is disabled, leave
the User Name and Password fields blank.
7. Click OK.

Configuring the SQL Task

To configure the SQL task:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the SQL button.
3. Click the Configure SQL Task button.
4. Complete the SQL Task Configuration dialog box, as desired.
NOTE: When using the confirm tag for an SQT block that is triggered by an event, make sure that you
define the security so that users do not have access to Mission Control to shut down the SQL task.

5. Click OK.

Displaying the Setup and Status of iFIX ODBC

To display the setup and status of iFIX ODBC:

1. In Classic view, from the Application toolbar in the iFIX WorkSpace, click the Mission Control icon.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the Utilities group, click Mission Control.
2. Click the SQL tab.
3. Click the Status button.

Setting the Reference to the Microsoft Remote Data Object Library

To set the reference to the Microsoft Remote Data Object library:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the Visual Basic Editor button on the toolbar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Home tab, in the WorkSpace group, click Visual Basic Editor.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 83


2. On the Tools menu, click References.
3. Select the Microsoft Remote Data Object 2.0 check box.
4. Click OK.

Entering Your Own Table and Column Names

To enter your own table and column names:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. Click the Alarm button on the SCU toolbox.
3. Select the Alarm ODBC Service and the Enabled option.
4. Click Modify.
5. Click Configure.
6. In the Database Configuration area, in the Table Name field, enter the name of the table to which
you want to archive your alarms and messages.
7. Select the Create Tables at Runtime If Not Found check box to create the table automatically when
it cannot be found.
8. From the Column Configuration area, select the alarm and message fields you want to archive.
l Click Select All to select all the iFIX Field Names and populate the SQL Column Names auto-
matically.
l Click Clear All to deselect all the iFIX Field Names. The SQL Column Names remain pop-
ulated.
l Click Restore Defaults to use the FIXALARMS table to select the iFIX Field Names and the cor-
responding SQL Column Names.
TIP: If you select any of UserField iFIX Field Names, you can edit the database blocks in the User Fields sec-
tion of the dialog box.

9. In the Database Configuration area, click Create Table Now to create the table when you configure
the service.
10. Optionally, enter the column name that will store each selected field's information in the second
column of the spreadsheet.
IMPORTANT: If you later change the table configuration through this dialog box, you must rename the
table and press the Create Table Now to create it again. You cannot modify an existing table through this
dialog box; you must create a new one to change the existing configuration.

11. Click OK.

Configuring Tasks

In the SCU, you can perform the following steps with Task Configuration:

84 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


l Configuring a Task to Run in the Background
l Configuring a Task to Start Automatically
l Configuring Drivers to Start Automatically
l Configuring SAC to Start Automatically

Configuring a Task to Run in the Background

To configure a task to run in the background:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Tasks button. .
3. Click the browse (...) button next to the Filename field.
4. Select the desired file and click the Open button. The selected file appears in the Filename field.
5. In the Startup Mode area, click the Background option button.
6. In the Command Line field, enter any command line parameters you may need.
7. Click the Add button to add the task to the Configured Tasks list box.
8. Click OK.

Configuring a Task to Start Automatically

To configure a task to start automatically:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Tasks button.
3. Click the browse (...) button next to the Filename field.
4. Select the desired file and click the Open button. The selected file appears in the Filename field.
5. In the Startup Mode area, click the Normal option button to start the task as an open window, the
Minimized option button to start the task as a minimized window, or the Background option button
to start the task in the background.
6. In the Command Line field, enter any command line parameters you may need.
7. Click the Add button to add the task to the Configured Tasks list box.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 85


8. Click the up or down arrow buttons to move the task in the list.
9. Click OK.

Configuring Drivers to Start Automatically

To configure I/O drivers to start automatically:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Tasks button.
3. In the Filename field, enter the full path of the I/O control task.
4. In the Command Line field, enter the appropriate command line parameters. If you enter more than
one parameter, separate each parameter with a space.
5. In the Start Up Mode area, click the Background option button.
6. Click the Add button.
7. Click OK.

Configuring SAC to Start Automatically

To configure SAC to start automatically:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Tasks button.
3. In the Filename field, enter the full path of the SAC task and click the Add button.
4. To modify how SAC operates, enter the appropriate command line parameters in the Command
Line field.
5. Click OK.

Working with the Alarm Area Database

In the SCU, you can perform the following steps with the Alarm Area Database:

l Creating an Alarm Area


l Deleting an Alarm Area

86 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


l Renaming an Alarm Areas
l Sharing an Alarm Area Database with a File Server
l Editing Alarm Areas in the Database

Creating an Alarm Area

To create an alarm area:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarm Area Database button.
3. In the Alarm Area field, enter the name you want to use and click the Add button.
4. Click OK.

Deleting an Alarm Area

To delete an alarm area:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarm Area Database button.
3. From the Configured Alarm Areas list, select the alarm area you want to delete.
4. Click the Delete button.
5. Click OK.

Renaming an Alarm Area

To rename an alarm area:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarm Area Database button.
3. From the Configured Alarm Areas list, select the alarm area you want to rename.

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4. In the Alarm Area field, enter the new name and click the Modify button.
5. Click OK.

Sharing an Alarm Area Database with a File Server

To share an alarm area database with a file server:

1. Create your own alarm areas:


a. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the
toolbar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
b. On the SCU toolbox, click the Alarm Area Database button.
c. In the Alarm Area field, enter the name you want to use and click the Add button.
d. Click OK.
2. In Windows, copy the ALARMAREAS.AAD file from the Alarm Areas path to your file server.
3. In the SCU, on the Configure menu, click Paths.
4. In the Alarm Areas (AAD) field, enter the file server path containing the alarm area database.
5. Repeat steps 3-4 on each iFIX node.

Editing Alarm Areas in the Database

When editing alarm areas in the database, you can:

l Create an alarm area.


l Rename an alarm area.
l Delete an alarm area.

Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager

In the SCU, you can perform the following steps with Auto Alarm Manager:

l Defining Security Rights for the Auto Alarm Manager


l Enabling TCP/IP Networking for the Auto Alarm Manager
l Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager on the Sending Node
l Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager on the Receiving Node
l Entering the Names of the Database Tags You Want to Use
l Setting Up the Auto Alarm Manager Timers
l Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager as a Service

88 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Defining Security Rights for the Auto Alarm Manager

To define security rights for the Auto Alarm Manager:

1. In the iFIX Security Configuration application, create a user account with the login name AALARM.
2. Assign a password to the account.
3. Assign all security areas to the account.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 on all nodes running the Auto Alarm Manager.
NOTE: For more information on creating user accounts and the iFIX Security Configuration application,
refer to the Configuring Security Features e-book.

Enabling TCP/IP Networking for the Auto Alarm Manager

To enable TCP/IP networking on the Sender and Receiver nodes:

1. Shut down iFIX if it is running.


2. On the Start menu, point to Programs, Proficy HMI SCADA - iFIX, and then System Configuration.
The SCU application appears.
3. On the Configure menu, click Network. The Network Configuration dialog box appears.
4. In the Network group box, select the TCP/IP option.
5. Click OK.
NOTE: It does not matter whether you have the Dynamic Connections check box selected or Remote Nodes
added to the list box. The Auto Alarm Manager will work with any settings here.

6. On the File menu, click Save.


7. Exit the SCU.
NOTE: Be sure to repeat steps 1-7 on both the Sender and Receiver nodes.

Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager on the Sending Node

To configure the Auto Alarm Manager on the Sending node:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the Configure menu, click Auto Alarm Manager.
3. Select the Enable option.

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4. Optionally, in the Disable Tagname field, enter the name of the database tag you that you want to
enable or disable the automatic sending of alarms during runtime. Typically, you would use a
Digital Output (DO) block type for this tag.
5. In the Primary and Secondary Contact fields, enter the name of the primary and secondary contacts
from your RAS phonebook. Use the browse (...) button to browse possible selections. The Secondary
Contact field is optional.
6. In the Emergency Tagname field, enter the name of the database tag you want to use. Typically, you
would use a Digital Output (DO) block type for this tag.
7. In the Max Retries field, enter the maximum number of times you want the Auto Alarm Manager to
re-dial the primary or secondary contact.
8. In the Pause Time field, enter the number of seconds you want the Auto Alarm Manager to pause
between retries.
9. In the Delay After Send field, enter the number of seconds you want the Auto Alarm Manager to
wait between hanging up the modem and dialing the Receiving node again with new alarms.
10. Configure alarm filters:
a. Click the Remote Alarm Areas button to specify the alarm areas assigned to the outgoing
alarms, enabling you to reassign the alarms selectively to new alarm areas before they are
sent to the Receiving node.
b. Click the Alarm Areas button to select one or more alarm areas and an alarm priority for
incoming alarms, for alarm filtering purposes.
11. In the Acknowledged Delivered Alarms area, click Yes to enable the Auto Alarm Manager to
acknowledge alarms automatically.
12. If iFIX is running as a service, click the Advanced button to specify a Windows account and pass-
word in the Advanced Send Alarm Settings dialog box. For more information, refer to the Con-
figuring the Auto Alarm Manager as a Service section.
13. If you want to configure more efficient communication intervals, click the Advanced button to spe-
cify a Sender and Receiver time-out in the Advanced Send Alarm Settings dialog box. For more
information, refer to the Configuring Auto Alarm Manager Timers section.
By specifying these time-out intervals, you can configure how long the Auto Alarm Manager has to
send alarms to the receiving server, and whether to flush alarm queues upon successful or unsuc-
cessful delivery.
14. Click OK.

Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager on the Receiving Node

To configure the Auto Alarm Manager on the Receiving node:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.

90 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


2. On the Configure menu, click Auto Alarm Manager.
3. In the Receive Alarms area, select the Enable option.
4. In the Receiving Tagname field, enter the name of the receiving tag. Typically, you would use a
Digital Output (DO) block type for this tag.
5. Click OK.
IMPORTANT: The Auto Alarm Manager TCP only communicates over TCP/IP, and requires that Microsoft
Remote Access Service (RAS) software be installed on each server running the Auto Alarm Manager. Refer
to your Microsoft manuals for more information on setting up RAS. You also need to have the TCP/IP pro-
tocol installed and correctly set up on every Sending and Receiving node.

NOTE: The AAMTCP.exe can only read from or write to an iFIX Database tag on the local iFIX node. You can-
not read or write to tags on remote nodes. This applies to the Emergency Tagname, Disable Tagname and
the Receiving Tagname. You cannot acknowledge an alarm that comes from a remote node. For the
alarm to be acknowledged, it has to be from the same (local) node that AAMTCP.exe is running on. If it is
not, the alarm will still be sent to the Receiver node, but it will not be acknowledged by the Sender node.

Entering the Names of the Database Tags You Want to Use

To enter the names of the database tags that you want to use:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the Configure menu, click Auto Alarm Manager.
3. Select the Enable option.
4. In the Disable Tagname field, enter the name of the disable tag.
5. In the Emergency Tagname field, enter the name of the emergency tag.
6. Click OK.

Setting Up the Auto Alarm Manager Timers

To set up the Auto Alarm Manager timers:

1. On the Sender node, in Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility
button on the toolbar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the Configure menu, click Auto Alarm Manager.
3. Select the Enable option.
4. Select the Advanced button.

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5. In the Send Timeout field, enter the number of seconds that the Sending node has to report alarms
to the Receiving node.
6. In the Receive Timeout field, enter the number of seconds that the Sending node waits for an
acknowledgement from the Receiving node that the alarms were delivered successfully.
7. Click OK.

Configuring the Auto Alarm Manager as a Service

To configure the Auto Alarm Manager as a service:

1. On the Sender node, in Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility
button on the toolbar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the Configure menu, click Auto Alarm Manager.
3. Click the Advanced button.
4. In the Username and Password fields on the Sending node, enter a Windows user account name
and password. The Windows user account you specify must reside on the RAS server and must
have dial-in permission.
5. In the Confirm Password field, re-enter the password.
6. Click OK.

Defining Local Startup Settings

In the SCU, you can perform the following steps with Local Startup:

l Disabling the Local Node Alias Feature


l Enabling the Local Node Alias Feature
l Running iFIX as a Service under Windows
l Specifying the Local Server, Local Logical, and SCU File Names

Disabling the Local Node Alias Feature

To disable the Local Node Alias feature:

1. Ensure that you are logged in as an Administrator.


2. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.

92 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


3. On the Configure menu, click Local Startup.
4. Clear the Local Node Alias check box.
5. Click OK.

Enabling the Local Node Alias Feature

To enable the Local Node Alias feature:

1. Ensure that you are logged in as an Administrator.


2. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
3. On the Configure menu, click Local Startup.
4. Select the Local Node Alias check box.
5. Click OK.

Running iFIX as a Service under Windows

To run iFIX as a service under Microsoft Windows:

1. Shut down iFIX.


2. Make sure that you are logged in as a user in the Administrators group. If not, log in as an Admin-
istrator now.
3. On the Start menu, point to Programs, Proficy HMI SCADA - iFIX, and then System Configuration.
The System Configuration Utility (SCU) window appears.
4. In the SCU, on the Configure menu, click Local Startup. The Local Startup Definition dialog box
appears.
5. In the Service area, select the Continue Running After Logoff check box.
NOTE: The check boxes in the Service area of this dialog box are unavailable while iFIX is running. You
need to shut down iFIX, as you did in step 1, to update them.

6. If you want iFIX to start automatically whenever the system reboots, select the Start FIX at System
Boot check box.
7. Click OK.
8. On the File menu, click Save.
9. Close the SCU.
10. Restart iFIX.

Specifying the Local Server, Local Logical, and SCU File Names

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To specify the local server, local logical, and SCU file names:

1. In Classic view, from the iFIX WorkSpace, click the System Configuration Utility button on the tool-
bar.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the System & Security group, click SCU.
2. On the Configure menu, click Local Startup.
3. In the Local Node Name field, enter a unique server name of up to eight alphanumeric characters.
You cannot use special characters, except for the underscore.
4. In the Local Logical Name field, enter a logical node name of up to eight alphanumeric characters.
You cannot use special characters, except for the underscore.
5. In the Configuration File field, enter the path of the local SCU file. For example: C:\Program
Files\Proficy\Proficy iFIX\LOCAL\SCADA01.SCU. To search for existing SCU files, click the browse
(...) button, select a file, and click the Open button.
NOTE: If you change the node name after you enable security, security will be effectively disabled. You
will need to save the security files again, and then enable security again.

6. Click OK to save your settings in the Local Startup Definition dialog box.

Using the Startup Profile Manager

The Startup Profile Manager is a utility that allows you to link users to iFIX projects or configurations, as
well as restrict the actions that these users can take when starting iFIX. With the Startup Profile Manager,
you create unique startup profiles for individual iFIX users, as well as a default profile for all other users.

The following figure shows an example of the main window of the Startup Profile Manager that appears
when you open the application.

94 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Startup Profile Manager

Overview of the Startup Profile Manager

The Startup Profile Manager allows you to associate a Windows user with a specific iFIX Project Con-
figuration. An iFIX Project Configuration is the SCU file and node name combination that you want the iFIX
Startup dialog box to display when the specified user starts iFIX. In the iFIX Project Configuration, you can
also define whether the user can modify these fields.

Since the Startup Profile Manager allows you to manage many users, you will find this application most
useful when you use terminal services. It is recommended that no more than 20 Terminal Server sessions
running iFIX on one computer.

The startup profiles that you create and modify in this application are not used by iFIX until a profiled user
attempts to start iFIX (by running Launch.exe).

What Exactly is a Startup Profile?

A startup profile is a group of settings that associate a Windows user name with a specific iFIX Project Con-
figuration. The iFIX Project Configuration includes:

l SCU path and file name that you want the specified Windows user to use when starting iFIX.
l Node name that you want the specified Windows user to use when starting iFIX.
l Restrictions on whether the user can modify these settings during iFIX startup.

When starting, iFIX checks the currently logged in Windows user name to determine if the user has a pro-
file listed in the Startup Profile Manager. If a profile is identified, iFIX loads that profile. Otherwise, the
default profile is used, if it is enabled. If a default profile does not exist, no profiles are loaded. In this case,
iFIX loads the node and SCU file defined in the Local Startup Definition dialog box of the SCU application
(which is the SCU file and node name defined in the Windows Registry), and there are no restrictions in the
iFIX Startup dialog box, unless you changed the default iFIX Startup options in the Default Startup Profile
dialog box of the Startup Profile Manager.

When Would You Use the Startup Profile Manager?

Use the Startup Profile Manager when you need to manage many iFIX users, such as when you use Ter-
minal Services. For instance, with the Startup Profile Manager, you can globally define a default profile for
all Windows users without profiles, and then create specific profiles for specific Windows users. Man-
agement of many user profiles is easily performed at a global level and an individual user level.

In the first iFIX release that included support for Terminal Services, iFIX 2.5, iFIX required that you generate
a complete application environment for each remote user. For example, if there are 50 iFIX users, there
must be 50 sets of SCU files, with each SCU file unique to that specific user. With the Startup Profile

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 95


Manager, all user profiles are stored in a master list, making it easy to maintain and modify profiles for use
with Terminal Services.

If you are upgrading from a previous iFIX release, the use of a default profile will help you in migrating
from the multiple SCU files to the easier configuration in the Startup Profile Manager.

For more details on best practices when configuring Terminal Services with the Startup Profile Manager,
refer to the Using Terminal Server manual.

Understanding Startup Profiles When Upgrading from a Previous iFIX Release

If you do not create startup profiles for your users, your existing startup configurations from previous iFIX
releases run unchanged. If you later choose to create new startup profiles, the Startup Profile Manager
includes an option that allows the new profile settings to override the pre-existing configurations. For
more information on the override setting, refer to the Configuring the Options for the Startup Profile Man-
ager section.

Startup Profile Manager Basics

There is certain basic information you should know before using the Startup Profile Manager. This section
contains information on the following:

l Configuring the Options for the Startup Profile Manager


l Configuring the Default Profile
l Security Considerations when Using the Startup Profile Manager
l Key Combinations Available in the Startup Profile Manager
l Working with Startup Profiles

Configuring the Options for the Startup Profile Manager

Before you begin working with the Startup Profile Manager, you should configure the options that you
want the Startup Profile Manager to use. The following figure shows the Options dialog box that appears in
the Startup Profile Manager.

96 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Options Dialog Box in Startup Profile Manager
To change the options for the Startup Profile Manager:

1. On the Settings menu, click Options. The Options dialog box appears.
2. Select the Startup Profiles defined in this application override iFIX Startup command line parameters
check box, if you want the profiles created in this application to override the ones used when you
start iFIX from the command line.
IMPORTANT: For the override to work, the user must be defined in the Startup Profile Manager, or if the
user is not defined, the default profile must be enabled. This override only applies to the /n, /s, and /l com-
mand line options.

3. Enter a string for the default iFIX node name prefix to use if the first 8 characters of the Windows
user name cannot be used to generate a valid iFIX node name.
The Windows user name is an invalid iFIX node name, for instance, when the name starts with a
number. Valid node names can be up to eight characters long. Node names can include alpha-
numeric characters, but must begin with a letter. Special characters, such as symbols and punc-
tuation marks, cannot be used.
For each startup profile using the default iFIX node name, a number is also added to the end of the
default node name, starting with the number 1. For example, if you enter NODE as the prefix, the
default iFIX node names used are: NODE1, NODE2, NODE3, and so on. Each default user who starts
iFIX receives a different node name.
NOTE: When you use the Nodename Prefix field, you cannot use the iFIX automatic login feature unless
you generate automatic login configurations for each of the possible node names for the defined prefix.

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For example: Node1, Node2, Node3, and so on. Since you will not know the name of the user logging in
under that node name (since the name is generated at iFIX startup), you should also associate the auto
logins with a guest or limited-access account. For more information on automatic login, refer to the iFIX
Automatic Login section.

4. Click OK.

Configuring the Default Profile

After configuring the application options for the Startup Profile Manager, you should define a default pro-
file, if your iFIX configuration requires it. For instance, when using Terminal Services with the Startup Pro-
file Manager, you will most likely want to configure a default profile.

If a user attempts to start iFIX and a profile does not exist for that user yet, iFIX starts with the default pro-
file information.

To configure the SCU and iFIX Startup options for the default profile, use the Default Startup Profile dialog
box, as shown in the following figure.

Default Startup Profile Dialog Box

98 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Additionally, if iFIX is running as a service, you can configure the default SCU for the service, as illustrated
in the previous graphic in the Default Service SCU area.

Security Considerations when Using the Startup Profile Manager

If you select the Enable the Default SCU option in the Startup Profile Manager, make sure you also enable
the global security paths (Use These Paths for All Startup Profiles) option in the Configuration dialog box in
the Security Configuration application. When you enable the global security paths, all iFIX user sessions on
a computer share the same security configuration.

If you do not enable global security paths, you will need to individually configure security within each Ter-
minal Services user session.

For more information on global security paths, refer to Configuring Global Security Paths in the Con-
figuring Security Features manual.

For information on how to enable the default startup profile, refer to the Configuring the Default Profile
section.

Key Combinations Available in the Startup Profile Manager

The following list summarizes the quick keys that you can enter from the keyboard and the actions that
they perform.

Startup Profile Manager Key Combinations


Enter this Key Combination... To...
Ctrl+D Open the Default Startup Profile dialog box.
Ctrl+O Open the Options dialog box.
Ctrl+A Open the Add Startup Profile dialog box.
Ctrl+S Save the current startup profiles that you created.

Working with Startup Profiles

iFIX must be running in order to use the Startup Profile Manager application. After you create your startup
profiles and configure the default profile (if required), you need to save your startup profiles if you want
iFIX to use them. If you do not save your startup profiles during the current session, a message box
reminds you to save when you exit the Startup Profile Manager.

A startup profile is not used by iFIX until the specified user attempts to start iFIX from the iFIX Startup dia-
log box or from the iFIX Startup command line (from a desktop shortcut or the Run dialog box, for
example). If no iFIX startup profile exists for the user and you do not define any settings in the Default User
Profile dialog box or provide command line settings to the iFIX Startup application, when you restart iFIX, it
displays the information from the last time iFIX was run.

General Overview of Steps for Using the Startup Profile Manager

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This section outlines the general steps for getting started with the Startup Profile Manager. To begin work-
ing with the Startup Profile Manager, follow these steps:

1. Configure the default profile in the Startup Profile Manager, if required.


2. Configure global security paths in the Security Configuration application, if you enable the default
profile.
3. Add startup profiles in the Startup Profile Manager.
4. Save your profiles.

Disabling or Hiding Options in the iFIX Startup Dialog Box

Using the Startup Profile Manager you can disable buttons or text edit fields that appear in the iFIX Startup
dialog box on a per-user basis. To do this, you must edit the iFIX Startup Options for the user's profile. To
cover users that do not have startup profiles, you should edit the Default iFIX Startup Options in the Default
Startup Profile dialog box.

The following table describes the options that you disable or hide in the iFIX Startup dialog box.

Disabling or Hiding Options in the iFIX Startup Dialog Box


To Disable or Hide the... Clear this check box...
Node Name and SCU text edit fields, as well as the SCU button Allow User to Modify Nodename and SCU
Entire iFIX Startup dialog box with startup options Allow User to Modify Nodename

For more information on the iFIX Startup dialog box, refer to iFIX Startup section in the Setting up the Envir-
onment manual.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Startup Profile Manager

The following list outlines some of the frequently asked questions about using the Startup Profile Manager.

When Does iFIX Use the Startup Profiles That You Create?
iFIX does not use the startup profiles that you create and modify in the Startup Profile Manager application
until a profiled user attempts to start iFIX. When starting, iFIX checks the currently logged in Windows user
name to determine if the user has a profile listed in the Startup Profile Manager.

The Override iFIX Startup Command Line Parameters Option in the Startup Profile Manager
Does Not Appear to Work... Why?
The check box in the Startup Profile Manager to override the iFIX startup command line parameters (the
Startup Profiles defined in this application override iFIX Startup command line parameters option in the
Options dialog box) only applies to the /n, /s, and /l command line options. In addition, for the override to
work, the user must be defined in the Startup Profile Manager, or if the user is not defined, the default pro-
file must be enabled.

100 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


How Do I Stop the iFIX Startup Dialog Box From Appearing?
If you clear both the Allow User to Run Sample System and the Allow User to Modify Nodename check
boxes for the iFIX Startup Options in the Startup Profile Manager, the iFIX Startup dialog box does not
appear for the specified user.
If I am Upgrading from a Previous Release, Do I Have to Use Startup Profiles?
No. Your existing startup configurations will run without changes. If you later choose to create new startup
profiles, the Startup Profile Manager includes an option that allows the new profile settings that you create
to override the pre-existing configurations. For more information on the override setting, refer to the Con-
figuring the Options for the Startup Profile Manager section.

Startup Profile Manager Dialog Boxes

The Startup Profile Manager includes the following dialog boxes (listed in alphabetical order):

l Add Startup Profile Dialog Box


l Default Startup Profile Dialog Box
l Edit Startup Profile Dialog Box
l Options Dialog Box
l Startup Profile Manager Main Window

Add Startup Profile Dialog Box

The Add Startup Profile dialog box displays the following items:

Domain

Select a domain from the drop-down list. The current login domain and local computer domain, if dif-
ferent, for the currently logged in Windows user, appear in this list.

Click the List Domain Members button to display list of domain members in the following list box. Depend-
ing on the size of your domain and speed of your network, this action could take a few moments or several
minutes.

List Domain Members

Click to list the members of the specified domain in the following list box. You may need to wait a few
moments or several minutes for this list to populate, depending on the size of the domain and speed of
your network.

Windows Users List

Displays a list of Windows users for the specified domain.

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To display Windows user names in this box, you must select a domain from the drop-down list and then
click List Domain Members button. Depending on the size of your domain and speed of your network, this
action could take a few moments or several minutes.

To specify a Windows user for a startup profile, select one from the list or enter one in the Windows User
field.

Windows User

Enter the name of the Windows user for which you want to create an iFIX startup profile. You do not have
to be connected to the domain from which the user is a member if you enter the name manually.

Optionally, instead of entering the Windows user name in this field, select a domain and click the List of
Domain Members button to list the available Windows users for you to select from.

iFIX Nodename

Leave the default name or enter another name for the iFIX node that you want to associate with this Win-
dows user. This name can up to eight characters long.

By default, the Windows user name appears in the iFIX Node Name field. If the Windows user name is
more than 8 characters, the characters after the eighth one are truncated.

If the Windows user name starts with anything other than a letter, such as a number, the Startup Profile
Manager uses the default node name prefix that you specified in the Options dialog box to generate a
unique, valid node name.

For each startup profile using the default iFIX node name, a number is also added to the end of the default
node name, starting with the number 1. For example, if the prefix is NODE, the default iFIX node names
used are: NODE1, NODE2, NODE3, and so on.
NOTE: If you manually entered a Windows user name, you must also manually enter an iFIX node name. The
default name is not used in this case.

SCU File

The location and name of the SCU file that you want the specified Windows user to use when starting iFIX.
Optionally, click the Browse (…) button to search for a file.

iFIX Startup Options

Item Description
Allow user to run Select this check box if you want to allow the specified Windows user to run the
Sample System iFIX Sample System. Uncheck this option if you want to deny the use of the
sample system to the specified user.

By default, this check box is selected.

NOTE: As of iFIX 5.8, the Sample System is no longer shipped with iFIX. Be
aware that the Sample System is not supported in iFIX 5.8 and greater.
Allow user to Select this check box to allow the specified Windows user to edit the SCU or
modify Nodename node name from the iFIX Startup dialog box. Uncheck this option if you want to
and SCU make these fields unavailable when the user starts iFIX.

By default, this check box is selected.

102 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Add Profile

Click to add your newly created startup profile to the list of profiles. The profile list updates when you exit
the Add Startup Profile dialog box.

Default Startup Profile Dialog Box

The Default Startup Profile dialog box displays the following items:

Default Client SCU

Item Description
Enable Default SCU Select this check box if you want to specify a default SCU file and node name
for iFIX users without a startup profile.

The SCU that you specify in this dialog box appears in the iFIX Startup dialog
box when you start iFIX on a computer whose Windows logged in user does
not have a startup profile.

The default node name that appears in this dialog box is the Windows user
name. Any more than 8 characters are truncated from the name.
Default SCU File Enter the location and name of the iFIX SCU file. Optionally, browse for an
SCU file by clicking the Browse (…) button.

This field is only available if you select the Enable Default SCU check box.

Default iFIX Startup Options

Item Description
Allow User to Run Select this check box if you want to grant users without a startup profile the
Sample System ability to run the iFIX Sample System. Clear this option if you want to deny the
use of the sample system to these users.

By default, this check box is selected.

NOTE: As of iFIX 5.8, the Sample System is no longer shipped with iFIX. Be
aware that the Sample System is not supported in iFIX 5.8 and greater.
Allow User to Select this check box if you want to allow users without a startup profile to edit
Modify Nodename the SCU or node name from the iFIX Startup dialog box. Uncheck this option if
and SCU you want to make these fields unavailable when the user starts iFIX.

By default, this check box is selected.

Default Service SCU

Item Description
Default Service Star- Click to enable a default startup profile when iFIX runs as a service.
tup Parameter
Service NodeName Enter the name of the node where iFIX runs as a service.
Service SCU File Enter the SCU name that you want to start when iFIX runs as a service.

Edit Startup Profile Dialog Box

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The Edit Startup Profile dialog box displays the following items:

iFIX Nodename

Enter the iFIX node name that you want to associate with this user. This name can up to eight characters
long.

SCU File

Enter the location and name of the SCU file that you want the specified Windows user to use when starting
iFIX. Optionally, click the Browse (…) button to search for a file.

iFIX Startup Options

Item Description
Allow User to Run Select this check box if you want to allow the specified Windows user to run
Sample System the iFIX Sample System. Uncheck this option if you want to deny the use of
the sample system to the specified user.

By default, this check box is selected.

NOTE: As of iFIX 5.8, the Sample System is no longer shipped with iFIX. Be
aware that the Sample System is not supported in iFIX 5.8 and greater.
Allow User to Modify Select this check box to allow the specified Windows user to edit the SCU or
Nodename and SCU node name from the iFIX Startup dialog box. Uncheck this option if you want
to make these fields unavailable when the user starts iFIX.

By default, this check box is selected.

Options Dialog Box

The Options dialog box displays the following items:

Startup Profiles defined in this application override iFIX Startup command line parameters

Select this check box if you want the profiles created in this application to override the ones used when
you start iFIX from the command line.

For the override to work, the user must be defined in the Startup Profile Manager, or if the user is not
defined, the default profile must be enabled.
NOTE: This override only applies to the /n, /s, and /l command line options.

Nodename Prefix String

Enter the default iFIX node name prefix to use if the first 8 characters of the Windows user name cannot
be used to generate a valid iFIX node name.

For each startup profile using the default iFIX node name, a number is also added to the end of the default
node name, starting with the number 1. For example, if the prefix is NODE, the default iFIX node names
used are: NODE1, NODE2, NODE3, and so on.

Startup Profile Manager Main Window

104 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


The Startup Profile Manager main window displays the following items:

iFIX Startup Profiles (spreadsheet)

Displays a list of iFIX startup profiles. Double-click an empty row to add a profile. Or, double-click a profile
in the list to modify it.

Add

Click to add a new profile.

Edit

Click to modify the selected profile.

Remove

Click to remove the selected profile.

Help

Click to display information on how to use the Startup Profile Manager.

Close

Click to close the Startup Profile Manager.

Default SCU

The location and name of the iFIX SCU file for the default profile, if enabled.

The default startup profile specifies the iFIX startup configuration to use for the Windows users who are
not configured within the Startup Profile Manager application.

How Do I...

Click on any of the links below for more information on this application.

l Working with Startup Profiles


l Adding a startup profile
l Editing a startup profile
l Removing a startup profile
l Removing all startup profiles
l Key combinations available in the Startup Profile Manager
l Backing up your startup profiles
l Saving the startup profiles
l Changing the default settings for the application
l Defining the defaults for startup profiles

Working with Startup Profiles

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From the Startup Profile Manager you can perform the following tasks:

l Add a startup profile


l Edit a startup profile
l Remove a startup profile

Adding a Startup Profile

To add a startup profile:

1. In Classic view, in the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace, on the toolbar, click the Startup Profile Manager but-
ton.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the Utilities group, click Utilities, and then click Startup
Profile Manager.
NOTE: The Startup Profile Manager can also be accessed from the Start menu by pointing to Programs,
Proficy HMI SCADA - iFIX, Tools, and then Startup Profile Manager.

2. Click the Add button, or double-click any empty column.


3. Select a domain from the drop-down list.
4. Optionally, click the List Domain Members button to view a list of users that you can pick from.
NOTE: Depending on the size of your domain and speed of your network, this action could take a few
moments or several minutes.

5. In the Windows User field, select a Windows user from the list, or enter one manually. You do not
have to be connected to the domain if you enter the name manually.
6. Accept the default iFIX Node Name, or enter another one.
NOTE: If you manually entered a Windows user name, you must also manually enter an iFIX node name.
The default name is not used in this case.

7. Enter the location and name of the iFIX SCU file that you want to associate with this user. For
example, you might enter C:\Program Files\Proficy\Proficy iFIX\LOCAL\FIX.SCU. If a default iFIX
SCU name is supplied, you can use it or enter another one.
Optionally, you can browse for an SCU file, by clicking the Browse (…) button.
8. Select the options that you want to make available for the specified user from the iFIX Startup dia-
log box.
l If you select the Allow User to Modify Nodename and SCU check box, these fields are avail-
able for editing when the specified user attempts to start iFIX.
l If you clear both the Allow User to Run Sample System and the Allow User to Modify Node-
name and SCU check boxes, the iFIX Startup dialog box does not appear for the specified
user.
9. Click Add Profile.

Editing a Startup Profile

106 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


To edit a startup profile:

1. In Classic view, in the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace, on the toolbar, click the Startup Profile Manager but-
ton.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the Utilities group, click Utilities, and then click Startup
Profile Manager.
NOTE: The Startup Profile Manager can also be accessed from the Start menu by pointing to Programs,
Proficy HMI SCADA - iFIX, Tools, and then Startup Profile Manager.

2. Select the profile that you want to edit.


3. Double-click the row for that startup profile, or click the Edit button.
4. Make the applicable changes to any of the following fields:
l iFIX Nodename field – the name of the iFIX node that you want to associate with this user.
l SCU File field – the location and name of the iFIX SCU file that you want to associate with
this user.
l Allow User to Run Sample System check box – if selected, the specified Windows user can
start the sample system from the iFIX Startup dialog box. The Sample System in no longer
supported in iFIX 5.8 and greater.
l Allow User to Modify Nodename and SCU check box – if selected, the specified Windows
user can edit these fields from the iFIX Startup dialog box.
NOTE: If you clear both the Allow User to Run Sample System and the Allow User to Modify Nodename and
SCU check boxes, the iFIX Startup dialog box does not appear for the specified user.

5. Click OK.

Removing a Startup Profile

To remove a startup profile:

1. In Classic view, in the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace, on the toolbar, click the Startup Profile Manager but-
ton.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the Utilities group, click Utilities, and then click Startup
Profile Manager.
NOTE: The Startup Profile Manager can also be accessed from the Start menu by pointing to Programs,
Proficy HMI SCADA - iFIX, Tools, and then Startup Profile Manager.

2. Select the profile that you want to delete.


3. Click Remove.
4. Click Yes to continue.
5. On the File menu, click Save.

Removing All Startup Profiles

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 107


To remove all startup profiles:

1. In Classic view, in the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace, on the toolbar, click the Startup Profile Manager but-
ton.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the Utilities group, click Utilities, and then click Startup
Profile Manager.
NOTE: The Startup Profile Manager can also be accessed from the Start menu by pointing to Programs,
Proficy HMI SCADA - iFIX, Tools, and then Startup Profile Manager.

2. On the File menu, click Remove All Profiles.


3. Click Yes to continue. The startup profile list in the main screen appears empty after the profiles are
removed.
NOTE: The settings defined in the Default Startup Profile dialog box are not removed. Only startup profiles
in the list that appears in the main window are removed.

4. On the File menu, click Save.

Key combinations in the Startup Profile Manager

The following list summarizes the quick keys that you can enter from the keyboard and the actions that
they perform:

l CTRL+D – Opens the Default Startup Profile dialog box.


l CTRL+O – Opens the Options dialog box.
l CTRL+A – Opens the Add Startup Profile dialog box.
l CTRL+S – Saves the current startup profiles that you created.

Backing Up Your Startup Profiles

To manually backup the configuration file that contains your startup profiles:

1. In Classic view, in the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace, on the toolbar, click the Startup Profile Manager but-
ton.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the Utilities group, click Utilities, and then click Startup
Profile Manager.
NOTE: The Startup Profile Manager can also be accessed from the Start menu by pointing to Programs,
Proficy HMI SCADA - iFIX, Tools, and then Startup Profile Manager.

2. On the File menu, click Save to save your current startup profiles.
3. Locate the Profiles.cfg file. Usually, this file is located in the main C:\Dyanmics folder.
NOTE: The Profiles.cfg file is an encrypted file. You cannot edit it in a text editor such as Notepad.

108 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


4. Copy this file to another location.

Saving the Startup Profiles

To save your startup profiles:

1. In Classic view, in the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace, on the toolbar, click the Startup Profile Manager but-
ton.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the Utilities group, click Utilities, and then click Startup
Profile Manager.
NOTE: The Startup Profile Manager can also be accessed from the Start menu by pointing to Programs,
Proficy HMI SCADA - iFIX, Tools, and then Startup Profile Manager.

2. Add or edit the required startup profiles.


3. On the File menu, click Save.
NOTE: If you do not save your startup profiles during the session, a message box prompts you to when you
exit the Startup Profile Manager.

The startup profile is not used by iFIX until the specified user attempts to start iFIX. If no iFIX startup profile
exists for the user and you do not define any settings in the Default User Profile dialog box or provide com-
mand line settings to the Launch application, when you restart iFIX, it displays the information from the last
time iFIX was run.

Changing the Default Settings

To change the default settings for the Startup Profile Manager:

1. In Classic view, in the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace, on the toolbar, click the Startup Profile Manager but-
ton.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the Utilities group, click Utilities, and then click Startup
Profile Manager.
NOTE: The Startup Profile Manager can also be accessed from the Start menu by pointing to Programs,
Proficy HMI SCADA - iFIX, Tools, and then Startup Profile Manager.

2. On the Settings menu, click Options.


3. Select the Startup Profiles defined in this application override iFIX Startup command line parameters
check box, if you want the profiles created in this application to override the ones used when you
start iFIX from the command line.
NOTE: For the override to work, the user must be defined in the Startup Profile Manager, or if the user is not
defined, the default profile must be enabled. In addition, this override only applies to the /n, /s, and /l com-
mand line options.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 109


4. Enter the iFIX node name prefix that you want the Startup Profile Manager to use when the Win-
dows user name is invalid as a default iFIX node name.
The Windows user name is an invalid iFIX node name, for instance, when the name starts with a
number. Valid node names can be up to eight characters long. Node names can include alpha-
numeric characters, but must begin with a letter. Special characters, such as symbols and punc-
tuation marks, cannot be used.
For each startup profile using the default iFIX node name, a number is also added to the end of the
default node name, starting with the number 1. For example, if you enter NODE as the prefix, the
default iFIX node names used are: NODE1, NODE2, NODE3, and so on.
5. Click OK.

Defining the Default Startup Profile

To define the default startup profile:

1. In Classic view, in the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace, on the toolbar, click the Startup Profile Manager but-
ton.
-Or-
In Ribbon view, on the Applications tab, in the Utilities group, click Utilities, and then click Startup
Profile Manager.
NOTE: The Startup Profile Manager can also be accessed from the Start menu by pointing to Programs,
Proficy HMI SCADA - iFIX, Tools, and then Startup Profile Manager.

2. On the Settings menu, click Default Startup Profile.


3. In the Default Client SCU area, select the Enable Default SCU check box and enter an SCU file
name.
4. In the Default iFIX Startup Options area, select the check boxes that you want to apply to all iFIX
users without a startup profile.
5. If you plan to run iFIX as a service, in the Default Service SCU area, enter or select the Default Ser-
vice Startup Parameter, and enter the node name and SCU file name of the service. This enables
you configure the startup profile that iFIX uses when it runs as a service.
6. Click OK.
NOTE: If you select the Enable the Default SCU option, make sure you also enable the global security
paths (Use These Paths for All Startup Profiles) option in the Configuration dialog box in the Security Con-
figuration application.

110 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


iFIX Startup

The iFIX Startup program reads the SCU file and runs the tasks that support your configuration. Except for
the SCU, individual iFIX applications cannot be run unless you start iFIX.

Before you start iFIX, you must make sure that you have set up the hardware, software, and network com-
ponents necessary to operate iFIX in your process environment. Refer to the appropriate chapters in this
manual to help you configure your environment.

When you start iFIX, the iFIX Startup dialog box appears, if you configured it to do so. From this dialog box,
you can launch iFIX, or change the iFIX node or SCU file used when iFIX starts, if you have privileges to do
so. The following figure shows an example of the iFIX Startup dialog box with all options enabled.

iFIX Startup Dialog Box

The privileges for your startup profile are defined in the Startup Profile Manager. For more information on
how to configure startup options in the Startup Profile Manager, refer to the Using the Startup Profile Man-
ager chapter in this manual. If you do not use the Startup Profile Manager, iFIX starts with the node name
and SCU file last specified in the SCU.

Once iFIX loads, a dialog box appears with a message such as: "iFIX Software is currently running!" or "iFIX
Demo System is currently running!"

Proficy iFIX Startup Dialog Box

The Proficy iFIX Startup dialog box displays the following items:

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 111


Start Proficy iFIX
Click to start iFIX with the specified SCU and node name. If you do not have privileges to start iFIX, this but-
ton launches the Demo version.

Item Description
Node Enter the iFIX node name that you want to start with. This name can up to eight char-
Name acters long.

If you do not have privileges to edit this field, the field is unavailable.
SCU Select an SCU from the drop-down list, or enter the location and name of the SCU file
File that you want to use when starting iFIX. Optionally, click the Browse (…) button to
Name search for a file.

If you do not have privileges to edit this field, the field is unavailable.
SCU Click to browse for an iFIX SCU file. A dialog box opens from which you can browse for
File a file.
Browse
By default, this dialog box lists the iFIX SCU files in the C:\Program Files\Proficy\Proficy
iFIX\Local folder, but you also can browse to another folder.

SCU
Click to open the SCU. If you do not have privileges to start the SCU, this button is unavailable.

Desktop Shortcut
Click to create a shortcut to the iFIX Startup dialog box (Launch.exe) using the settings listed above. A dia-
log box opens for you to enter a name for the desktop shortcut.

Hide Dialog Box


Select this check box if you want to hide this dialog box the next time the specified user starts iFIX.

iFIX Startup Options

Once iFIX starts, the Startup dialog box displays a message and the Options menu is available from this dia-
log box. The following figure shows the iFIX Startup dialog box after you start iFIX in normal mode.

112 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


iFIX Startup Dialog Box with Options Menu
NOTE: If you start the iFIX as a service, the title bar of this dialog box reads "iFIX Startup - SERVICE MODE." If you
start iFIX from a teminal server session on the iClientTS node, the title bar to this dialog box read "iFIX Startup -
iClentTS."

The Options menu on the iFIX Startup window lets you define startup window properties and view general
conditions. The sections below explain the commands available from the Options and Help menus.

Minimize After Startup


By default, the iFIX Startup window minimizes on your screen after iFIX loads the startup tasks. To choose
not to minimize the window at future startups, deselect Minimize after Startup from the Options menu.

Show History
To view a history of startup messages, select Show History from the Options menu. The Startup History dia-
log box appears.

Registered Tasks
To see a list of iFIX tasks currently running on this node, select Registered Tasks from the Options menu.
The Task List dialog box appears.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 113


Shutdown iFIX
To exit iFIX select Shutdown iFIX from the Options menu. iFIX automatically closes any remaining open
tasks before shutting itself down. If you have any open files, you are prompted to save changes before exit-
ing.

Version
To determine the version of iFIX you are running, on the Help menu, click About.

Running iFIX From the Command Line

You can run iFIX from the command line with the Launch.exe command. Launch.exe resides in your iFIX
base path. The following table describes the command line options available for the Launch.exe program.

Launch Command Line Options


Option Description
/s SCUfile Starts iFIX with the specified SCU file, if you have privileges to change the SCU. This
option prevents the Startup dialog box from displaying, unless the /g is also on the
command line.

If the SCU file path has spaces, you should use quotes around the path. For instance:
Launch /NSCUName /S"e:\Program Files\Proficy\Proficy iFIX\LOCAL\SCUName.SCU"

/n NodeName Starts iFIX with the specified node name, if you have privileges to change the node
name. This option prevents the Startup dialog box from displaying, unless the /g is
also on the command line.
/r Restarts iFIX, if you have privileges to do so. If the iFIX Startup dialog box displays, con-
tinue by clicking the start iFIX button. If there are other command line options that pre-
vent the Startup dialog box from displaying, then it is prevented and iFIX automatically
restarts.
/l Logic- Starts iFIX with the specified logical node name.
alNodeName
/e Shuts down the currently running iFIX application, if the user has privileges to do so.
iFIX does not display the iFIX Startup dialog box, nor does it try to restart iFIX. All other
command line options are ignored.

NOTE: The only way to prevent a user from shutting down iFIX with the /e command
line option is to uncheck the Allow User to Run Sample System check box for the
user's startup profile (or, if the user is not defined, for the default profile in the Startup
Profile Manager).
/t Starts iFIX in Demo mode.
/g Always displays the iFIX Startup dialog box, if the user has the privileges to do so. This
option overrides the Don't Show This Dialog Box Again check box settings in the iFIX
Startup dialog box.
/w NumSeconds Indicates the maximum amount of time that iFIX waits for a Terminal Server session
to start. If the Terminal Server session does not start, the connection times out.
/x Starts the DBASRV.exe program.

114 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


NOTE: The check box in the Startup Profile Manager to override the iFIX startup command line parameters (the
Startup Profiles defined in this application override iFIX Startup command line parameters option in the
Options dialog box) only applies to the /n, /s, and /l command line options. In addition, for the override to work, the
user must be defined in the Startup Profile Manager, or if the user is not defined, the default profile must be
enabled. For more information on the Startup Profile Manager, refer to the Using the Startup Profile Manager
chapter in this manual.

iFIX Background Tasks

iFIX starts and stops background tasks based on the configuration information in the SCU file. The table
below describes the function of each iFIX background task. Automatic tasks are started by iFIX if required
by your configuration. Tasks listed as optional require that you start them manually by adding them to the
configured task list in the Task Configuration dialog box in the SCU.
NOTE: If you want, you can configure certain tasks to start up automatically. Refer to the Configuring Startup
Tasks section for more information.

System Tasks
Program Executable File Function
Alarm File ALMFILE.EXE Receives alarm messages and stores them in files.
Task (Auto-
matic)
Alarm Printer ALMPRIN.EXE Receives alarm messages and sends them to printers.
Task (Auto-
matic)
Alarm Sum- ALMSUM.EXE Receives alarms for display in the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace
mary Task through the Alarm Summary object.
(Automatic)
Alarm Man- NAM.EXE Distributes alarm messages over the network. Alarm man-
ager (Auto- agers run on SCADA servers.
matic)
Alarm Client NAC.EXE Receives alarm messages over the network.
(Automatic)
Historical Col- HTC.EXE Collects data according to the Historical Assign configuration
lect (Optional) file.
I/O Control IOCNTRL.EXE Starts the I/O drivers, and displays the status of the installed
(Automatic, I/O drivers running on the SCADA server.
SCADA)
Summary SUMQDEL.EXE Removes the acknowledged, returned to normal, alarms from
Queue Delete the Alarm Summary queue.
(Automatic,
SCADA)
Scan Alarm WSACTASK.EXE Updates the database with data from the I/O driver, makes
and Control requested writes to the I/O Driver, generates alarms, and
(Automatic, executes the logic of the database chains.
SCADA)

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 115


Network Dia- NETDIAG.EXE Displays the status of sessions on the local node.
gnostics
(Optional)
TCP/IP Task TCPTASK.EXE Supports node-to-node communication over TCP/IP.
(Automatic)
Node Name NNTABLE.EXE Stores network information about the local and remote nodes.
Table (Auto-
matic)
Connection CONMGR.EXE During startup, establishes the sessions listed in the con-
Manager figuration file. Monitors the status of sessions on the local
(Automatic) node and generates alarm messages if sessions go down. It
also attempts to re-establish sessions that have gone down.
Alarm ODBC AlmODBC.EXE Reads alarms and messages generated by iFIX and logs them
Service (Auto- to an ODBC-compliant database.
matic)
Event Sched- FixBackgroundServer.EXE Runs time and event-based scripts, allowing you to schedule
uler (Optional) reports and monitor events.
Workspace Workspace.EXE Opens the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace where you can open, edit,
(Optional) or view pictures.

For information on command line parameters available for


starting the WorkSpace in run mode, refer to the Command
Line Parameters for Starting the iFIX WorkSpace section.

116 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Monitoring the Environment with Mission Control

Mission Control provides an easy-to-use interface for monitoring iFIX programs that run in the back-
ground. It provides you with a window into your system, helping you diagnose potential problems with
your iFIX system, and helping you improve performance on your server.

Mission Control monitors the following iFIX background tasks:

l I/O Control
l Historical Collect
l SQL task
l SAC processing
l Auto Alarm Manager
l Alarm ODBC services
NOTE: To run a iFIX task in the background you need to configure the program's startup task configuration in the
SCU. For more information, refer to the Configuring Startup Tasks section.

To start Mission Control, click the Mission Control button on the Application toolbar, or select Mission Con-
trol from the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace system tree. To access a particular background task, select its tab.

Each tabbed page is summarized below:

I/O Control — allows you to monitor I/O driver communications statistics and errors. For a description of
these fields, refer to your I/O driver manual.

HTC — allows you to start and stop the Historical Collect background task, and provides you with an Over-
run Counter. The Overrun counter increments by one every time a historical collection fails. By examin-
ing the number of HTC overruns, you can find out if there is a problem in your collection scheme. See
the Trending Historical Data manual for more information.

SQL — allows you to start and stop the SQL task, and also provides information to help you monitor your
SQL connections to ODBC relational databases. For more information on the SQL task, see the Using
SQL manual.

SAC — allows you to start and stop the SAC (Scan, Alarm, and Control) task, and also provides SAC stat-
istics that may help you troubleshoot your system. For example, the Blocks/Sec field can be used to
monitor the amount of blocks that are scanned per second. If the number fluctuates drastically, the
blocks in your iFIX database may not be properly phased. See the Building a SCADA System manual for
more information on SAC and phasing.

AAM — allows you to monitor the Auto Alarm Manager during setup and operation, and lets you view mes-
sages pertinent to its operation. For more information, refer to the Configuring the Auto Alarm Man-
ager section. Also refer to the Troubleshooting chapter for common messages displayed in Mission
Control and their meaning.

Alarm Synchronization — allows you to monitor alarm acknowledgments synchronized by iFIX in previous
versions. This tab does not apply to iFIX 5.1.

Alarm ODBC — allows you to send alarms and messages to an ODBC relational database. Once the rela-
tional database receives and stores the data, you can easily retrieve any information you want by

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 117


querying the database. For more information on the Alarm ODBC Service, refer to the Configuring the
Alarm ODBC Service section of the Implementing Alarms and Messages manual.

To close Mission Control, click the Close button at the bottom of the dialog box.
NOTE: Closing Mission Control does not terminate the tasks that it monitors; it only closes the dialog box itself.

Starting I/O Drivers Manually

Even if you have configured an I/O driver to automatically start, you may still want to manually start or stop
the I/O driver. For example, when troubleshooting, you may need to stop the driver temporarily and then
restart it.

To start I/O drivers manually in Mission Control, click the I/O Control tab. You can select a driver name
from the Drivers list box. To start the selected driver, click Start. To stop the driver, click Stop.

For a description of the fields on the I/O Control tabbed page, refer to the I/O Control Tabbed Page Fields
section.

Tuning the Driver's Message Rate

You can set an I/O driver's message rate to fine-tine your driver's configuration. To do this, click the Period
button and enter a driver period. Follow these guidelines for setting the driver period:

l Enter a value from 1 through 100 in the field. The timer cycle ranges from 1/100 to 100/100 of a
second. The default is 5.
l Enter 1 to get the fastest message time (100 messages per second).
l Enter 5 to get a slower message time (20 messages per second).

The driver period can also be specified in the Command Line of the Task Configuration dialog box. Refer to
the Configuring Startup Tasks section for more information.
CAUTION: Speeding up the message rate can adversely affect the overall performance of your system, including
SAC.

The Datascope Program

The Datascope program displays data that the I/O driver is reading. Refer to your specific I/O driver
manual, as well as your process hardware manuals, for more information about the data shown on the
Datascope screen.

Starting and Stopping Historical Collect

118 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


To start Historical Collect (HTC), click Start. To stop HTC, click Stop. The HTC tabbed page also displays the
number of overruns that have occurred while collecting data. For more information on how HTC works,
refer to the Trending Historical Data manual.

Viewing SQL Statistics

Mission Control allows you to view SQL statistics while you are connected to an ODBC-supported rela-
tional database. Click Start on the SQL tabbed page to load and display SQL data. The statistics displayed
correspond to the SQL account and database information you have configured in the SCU. The buttons on
the bottom of the tabbed page let you view specific configuration information relating to your ODBC con-
nection. For a description of the fields on the SQL tabbed page, refer to the SQL Tabbed Page Fields sec-
tion.

Refer to the Configuring iFIX for Relational Databases section for more information on SQL setup. For addi-
tional information on SQL, refer to the Using SQL manual.

Viewing SAC Information

You can use the SAC tabbed page of Mission Control to display real-time information on SAC performance.

For more information on SAC, refer to the Scan, Alarm, and Control Program section of the Understanding
iFIX manual.

Viewing Auto Alarm Manager Statistics

Using the AAM tabbed page in Mission Control, you can view run-time messages and troubleshooting stat-
istics in a scrollable window.

The lower portion of the tabbed page contains fields that the Auto Alarm Manager uses to display alarm
statistics. As alarms are received from the user queue, the number of the alarms is displayed, and errors
relating to the alarms are displayed in the remaining fields from top to bottom. These statistics can help
you troubleshoot the sending and receiving of alarms. To reset the displayed values, click Reset Statistics.

For a description of the fields on the AAM tabbed page, refer to the Auto Alarm Manager Tabbed Page
Fields section.

Refer to the Troubleshooting the Auto Alarm Manager section Implementing Alarming and Messages elec-
tronic book for an explanation of the messages that are displayed in the Auto Alarm Manager.

Viewing Alarm ODBC Information

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When enabled in the SCU, the Alarm ODBC service sends alarms and messages to an ODBC relational
database. The Alarm ODBC tabbed page allows you to view these alarms and messages by querying the
statistics using pre-defined fields.

To save and apply the performance tuning parameters to the local path, click Save. To change the logging
state, click Pause.

For a description of the fields on the Alarm ODBC tabbed page, refer to the Alarm ODBC Tabbed Page
Fields section.

For more information on the Alarm ODBC service, refer to the Configuring the Alarm ODBC Service sec-
tion in the Implementing Alarms and Messages manual.

Advanced Topics

This chapter provides you with additional information you can use to configure and tune the network for
iFIX. Refer to the following topics:

l Understanding Network Load


l Working with Configurable Session Timers
l Working with Wide Area Networks
l Providing Remote Access
l Network Paths
l Integrating iFIX into Your Network
l Disabling Connections from Unauthorized Nodes
l Disabling Database Write Access for Unauthorized Nodes

Understanding Network Load

You should consider optimizing iFIX to reduce network traffic when your network configuration contains
slow links. Slow links are communication links with speeds between 2400bps to 128Kbps. In networks
where the slowest link is greater than 256Kbps, the iFIX network load is generally low enough that it does
not need to be optimized.

Understanding network messaging is important when planning for network load over a wide area network
or other network configurations that contain slow links. To understand network messaging, let's review
iFIX architecture.

iFIX uses a client-server model for peer-to-peer communication to share data and alarms in real-time
between nodes on a network. For data access, you can consider a iClient node to be a client and a SCADA
node to be a server.

All iFIX network conversations are based on transactions. The iClient sends a request to a SCADA server.
After the SCADA server acts on the request, it sends a response to the iClient. Network messages are
either requests or responses.

120 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


The maximum length for a message sent by iFIX to the network interface is 16 kilobytes. One 16 kilobyte
message sent by iFIX may be represented on the wire by multiple network packets. The network transport
itself also sends network packets for managing the communications between the two nodes and to ensure
network messages arrive without errors.

Understanding Network Sessions

All iFIX network traffic is session-oriented. Transactions between two nodes occur over a session. Before a
View client can initiate a request, a session must be established with the SCADA server.

Only one socket is created when using iFIX on a TCP/IP network. However, two logical sessions are main-
tained. The session initiated by the iClient is used to retrieve data from the SCADA servers. Another ses-
sion is established from a SCADA server to an iClient to send alarms to the client. In this case, the request
portion of the transaction consists of the alarm data and is acknowledged by a response. These two logical
sessions are maintained over one physical connection.

To establish a connection, the address of the remote node must be obtained. The method of finding this
address, address resolution, is especially important for Wide Area Network (WAN) environments.

Understanding Data Transfer

iFIX applications retrieve real-time data from an OPC server through requests. The most important iFIX
application is the Proficy iFIX WorkSpace since it puts the most load on the network.

Objects in an operator display update by polling the OPC server. Each animated object has a configurable
refresh rate. This rate determines how often each link requests the current value from the OPC server.
When the OPC server is an iFIX SCADA server, object update rates are grouped together and sent as one
transaction, up to 16 kilobytes at a time. If the request or response for that group exceeds 16 kilobytes, it is
broken up into 16-kilobyte packets.

If more than one picture is open at the same time that has objects to the same SCADA server, there is a
separate group for each picture.

When animated objects communicate with a third-party OPC server, data is sent and received according
the server's requirements. Refer to your OPC documentation for more information.

Alternative Way of Changing the Refresh Rate

If you find that network traffic is too high with the existing refresh rates and changing them all individually
is too time consuming, it is possible to affect them all with one .INI setting. In the FixUserPreferences.ini
file in the iFIX Local folder, add the following lines to control the actual refresh times:
[OPCEDARefresh]
SetRefreshtoActual=TRUE

When set to TRUE, the OPC groups refresh the data at the specified refresh rate. Anything other than
TRUE will maintain the normal behavior which is to update the data at 2 times the refresh rate. Normally,
the update rate is twice the object refresh rate because under certain timing conditions, the refresh would
not reflect the updated data.

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WARNING: Be aware that alarms could be lost if you configure the OPCEDA refresh rate to equal the objects'
refresh rate.

Understanding Message Sizes

The actual message sizes transmitted by iFIX are dependent upon the type of objects in each picture.

Data links provide you with the option of requesting numeric or text data. Numeric data, the F_ fields, is
always transmitted as floating point data and is four bytes in length. Text data, the A_ fields, is transmitted
as the ASCII representation of the floating point value and is 12 bytes in length. One method to reduce the
iFIX network load is to use only numeric data links.

Some special link types use data that is much larger than 12 bytes. For example, for each chart object, iFIX
transmits approximately 180 bytes.

Alarm Summary objects have their own refresh rate which control how often they are updated. By increas-
ing the values for the alarm refresh and data refresh rates you can fine-tune when iFIX reads data from its
alarm queue and displays it.

Understanding Alarm Transfer

Alarm conditions are detected by the Scan Alarm and Control (SAC) program that runs on each SCADA
server. The SCADA server sends an alarm message to each node in the network when an alarm is detec-
ted. Each alarm is over 1024 bytes in length. The actual message size transmitted by the SCADA server is
slightly larger. If several alarms are detected in the same scan cycle, the SCADA server groups as many
alarms as possible into a 16 kilobyte message before distributing the alarms to each node.

Optimizing iFIX to Reduce Network Traffic

You can optimize iFIX and reduce network traffic by using the following techniques:

l Use only the objects you really need. If you need more information, create a hierarchy of pictures.
Put the objects that give conditional information in a separate picture and only open that picture
when those conditions occur.
l Use numeric values (F_) instead of text values (A_). In addition to putting more information on the
network, requests for ASCII values also increase the work that the SCADA server must do since the
floating point to ASCII conversion is done on the server.
l Minimize the number of different object refresh rates.
l Increase the object refresh rates to decrease the update frequency. For more information on chan-
ging the refresh rate, refer to the section Increasing the Refresh Rate.
l Minimize the use of chart objects.

122 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Working with Configurable Session Timers

The following conditions can cause iFIX to temporarily lose a session:

l Running iFIX over a network that contains slow communication links (less than 256Kbps).
l Opening a picture containing many objects on the SCADA server while other iFIX nodes are request-
ing data from the SCADA server. In this case, the iFIX network task does not get the CPU time that it
needs because other programs are competing for CPU resources.

Both of these cases can be solved by increasing the timer values that iFIX uses. These timer values are
referred to as configurable session timers.

For more information on session timers, refer to the following topics.

l Understanding iFIX Session Timers


l Determining Session Timer Values
l Configuring Session Timers

Understanding iFIX Session Timers

iFIX uses network session timers to determine that another node is no longer running. Time-out values for
every session-oriented message transfer are defined by iFIX when the session is established.

The four time-out values are described below:

Send — defines the amount of time that an iClient waits for a request to the SCADA server to be acknow-
ledged. If this timer expires, the session ends.

Receive — defines the amount of time that an iClient waits for a reply from the SCADA server. When run-
ning iFIX over TCP/IP, the effective session time-out value is either the Send timer or the Receive timer,
whichever is greater. If this timer expires, the session ends.

Keep Alive — defines the amount of time that, if no activity has occurred over an established connection,
an iClient waits before sending a heartbeat message.

Inactivity — defines the amount of time that, if no data activity has occurred over an established dynamic
connection, an iClient waits before removing the dynamic connection from the list of outgoing con-
nections. If this timer expires, the session ends.

Determining Session Timer Values

It is important to choose your session time-out values correctly for your application. Values that are too
low may cause sessions to be lost even though the remote node is running. Values that are too high may
delay session problem notification. When considering what timer values to use, note that the Proficy iFIX
WorkSpace may appear to be hung for up to the entire time-out period when sessions are lost. In pro-
duction facilities, this delay may not give operators sufficient time to react to emergency situations.

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For most applications, the default session time-out values are adequate. If you must modify the values to
correct transient session losses, use this section to determine the correct values for your application.

iFIX uses the same session time-out values for every session. Changing the session timers affects ses-
sions with every node in your iFIX network. In order to change the session timers, the changes must be
made to every iFIX node.

You can also define remote node connection timers for each remote node defined in the SCU. The con-
nection timers are identical to the session timers except that they affect communication with a particular
remote node. Typically, the connection timers are used in place of the system-wide session timers when
the connection to a remote node differs from the rest of the network. If you need to change these timers,
make sure that the computers on both sides of the connection use the same timers.

Configurable session timers can be increased to solve the problems described at the beginning of this sec-
tion. If you decide to change the values, it is recommended that you increase the Send and Receive values
by 10 seconds and test to see if the problem is solved. If the problem persists, repeat the process until the
problem is solved.

Configuring Session Timers

Session timers are configured in the SCU. You should only change session time-out values if you abso-
lutely must, and only when you have a complete understanding of the implications.

For more information using the SCU, refer to chapter Configuring iFIX Using the SCU.

Working with Wide Area Networks

iFIX works equally well in a wide area network environment as it does in a local area network. TCP/IP, the
iFIX supported network protocol, is especially suited to wide area networks.

Providing Remote Access

You have several choices for enabling computers at separate geographic locations to communicate with
each other. Among these choices are remote control and remote access programs.

Understanding Remote Control Programs


Remote control programs take total control of a remote computer and send the remote computer's entire
screen over a modem, which can result in slow performance. Note that the screen on both computers is
the same. Keystrokes and mouse movements that you make locally are mirrored at the remote computer.

124 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Understanding Remote Access Programs
Remote access programs, like Microsoft's Remote Access Service (RAS), treat a node that is located at a dif-
ferent geographic site as if it were on the local network. Only real-time process data is transferred over
the modem. Remote access is usually more appropriate for remote monitoring of iFIX systems.

Microsoft's RAS does not require a dedicated computer to act as a gateway. Many other remote access
products require some kind of dedicated computer to perform the gateway function between the LAN and
the asynchronous line.

For more information about Remote Access, refer to the following topics:

l Understanding Remote Access Service


l Increasing the Refresh Rate
NOTE: The iFIX SCADA allows all configured network paths to accept connections unless the paths are explicitly
disabled in the SCU. This was changed so that an existing RAS connection would still be recognized by an iClient.

Understanding Remote Access Service

Microsoft's Remote Access Service (RAS) provides TCP/IP over phone lines by treating your modem as a
network adapter. TCP/IP applications that run over a network can run over a serial connection. iFIX can use
the TCP/IP interface provided by RAS to communicate with other iFIX nodes over asynchronous lines.

RAS client and server software are standard with Windows. In general, a RAS client node dials into a RAS
server node. A RAS client can dial in and access resources on a Windows RAS server's network. The Win-
dows software allows multiple RAS clients to be connected simultaneously.

Although RAS allows up to 256 clients to dial into a server simultaneously, the practical limit when RAS is
used with the iFIX is significantly less. This is due to the additional resources that iFIX requires to com-
municate. Each simultaneous connection requires a separate modem on the server. Before you incor-
porate RAS into your production environment, it is strongly recommended that you test the configuration
using multiple connections.

Using iFIX in conjunction with a RAS server provides the following capabilities:

l Alarm Summary objects are available.


l Data and alarms are available with one pair of modems.
l Access to the Alarm Startup Queue is available.
l File transfer using Microsoft networking over RAS is available.
l Multiple remote nodes can dial into a server simultaneously.

Use the following guidelines when incorporating RAS into your iFIX network:

l Only use modems with a minimum speed of 9600 baud. Verify that when the RAS connection is
made that the modems are connected at a high speed. The faster the baud rate, the better per-
formance you can expect.
l Use the Port Status on both the RAS client and server to troubleshoot connection problems and
monitor ongoing communication. Refer to the RAS documentation for more information on using
Port Status to troubleshoot communication.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 125


l When browsing on the RAS client to access a remote SCADA server, you can improve performance
by copying the file, nodename.TAG, from the SCADA server's PDB path to the View client's PDB
path.

Increasing the Refresh Rate

The steps that follow explain how to increate the refresh rate of an object.
To increase the refresh rate of an object:

1. Double-click the object you want to modify.


2. Click the Browse button to the right of the Data Source field.
3. In the Refresh Rate field, click the drop down menu and choose a rate number that is smaller than
your current refresh rate.
4. Switch to the run-time environment, to make sure sessions are not lost and that alarms are
received in a timely manner.
If sessions are being lost or alarms are not received in a reasonable amount of time, increase the
refresh rate in 1 second increments until sessions are not lost and alarms are received without
delay.

Network Paths

As described in the chapter Getting Started, iFIX supports the TCP/IP network protocol. If an iClient should
lose its connection to another node, the local computer attempts to re-establish its connection over all
available network paths in parallel.

The computer's network protocol determines the specific network paths. When the computer's protocol is
TCP/IP, each IP address is a valid path. IP addresses bound to RAS are also valid but will not start a RAS con-
nection. If there is no RAS connection at the time the computer tries to connect, the attempt for that
address fails.

The first successful connection is the one that the iClient uses. Although you cannot specify which network
path to use, you can exclude network paths in the SCU. For more information about using network paths,
refer to the section Understanding LAN Redundancy in the Mastering iFIX manual.

By default, iFIX enables all available network paths. You can disable any network path you do not want to
use. If you subsequently discover you need the path, you can re-enable it later.

Integrating iFIX into Your Network

You may have communication requirements in addition to iFIX communications that must be considered.
These network and communication requirements fall into the following categories:

126 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


l Additional network software required by the I/O driver you are using.
l File server communication software to allow central storage of data files.
l Relational database communication software.

Integrating solutions to each of these requirements can be a difficult task. It is recommended that you
ensure that all the software required to address these requirements works together.

Disabling Connections from Unauthorized Nodes

By default, iFIX nodes accept connections from any remote node over TCP/IP, given adequate resources.
However, you may want to prevent unknown or unauthorized nodes from obtaining a connection to a
SCADA server by entering specific settings into a network initialization file called NETWORK.INI. This file
contains a parameter, accept_unknown_host, which controls whether the SCADA server accepts con-
nections from other computers.

When the parameter is set to ON, the SCADA node accepts connections from any computer. However,
when the parameter is set to OFF, access is restricted to the View clients you specify. The exact nodes that
can access the SCADA server are defined by listing them in the NETWORK.INI file using the following syn-
tax:
hostn=nodename

For example, to provide access for the iClients, View01 and View05, to a remote SCADA server, your
NETWORK.INI file on the SCADA server should be:
[TCPIP]
accept_unknown_host=OFF
host1=VIEW01
host2=VIEW05

Later, if you want to restrict access to only View01, you can remove the View05 line from the file. Likewise
if you want to provide View04 access to the SCADA server, you can add the following line to the file:
host2=VIEW04

Notice that View04 is given the same host number that View05 had. This is necessary because all host
numbers must be consecutive. For example, you cannot define host1 as View01 and host3 as View04
unless host2 is already defined in the file.

To restrict access to a SCADA server:

1. In a text editor, type the following:


[TCPIP]
accept_unknown_host=OFF

2. Add the View clients that can access the local SCADA node.
3. Save the file as NETWORK.INI. Make sure you save the file to the FIX Local path on the SCADA
server.

Disabling Database Write Access for Unauthorized Nodes

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 127


By default, iFIX SCADA servers accept database write requests from any remote node. However, you may
want to prevent unknown or unauthorized nodes from writing to a SCADA server by entering specific set-
tings into the server's network initialization file, NETWORK.INI. This file contains the parameter accept_
unauthorized_writes, which controls whether the SCADA server accepts database writes from iClients.

When the accept_unauthorized_writes parameter is not present in the NETWORK.INI file or set to ON, the
SCADA server accepts write requests from any computer. When the parameter is set to OFF, access is
restricted to the View clients you specify regardless of who is logged into the remote nodes. The exact
nodes that can access a SCADA server's database are defined by listing them in the NETWORK.INI file
using the following syntax:
writenode#=nodename

For example, to provide access for the View clients, VIEW01 and VIEW05, to a remote server, configure
your server's NETWORK.INI file as follows:
[WRITEACCESS]
accept_unauthorized_writes=OFF
writenode1=VIEW01
writenode2=VIEW05

If you subsequently want to restrict database access to VIEW01 only, you can remove VIEW05 from the file.
Likewise, if you want to provide VIEW10 access to the SCADA server's database, you can add the following
line to the file:
writenode2=VIEW10

Notice that VIEW10 is assigned the same number that VIEW05 had. This is necessary because all node
numbers must be consecutive. You cannot define writenode1 and writenode3 without also defining writen-
ode2.

Disabling the Logging of Unauthorized Writes

When the accept_unauthorized_writes parameter is OFF, the SCADA server treats all failed (unau-
thorized) write attempts as operator alarms and records these write attempts to all the alarm destinations
enabled on the SCADA server. Using the parameter log_unauthorized_writes, you can disable the logging
of failed writes by setting the parameter to OFF. When the parameter is not present in the NETWORK.INI
file or set to ON, the SCADA logs all unauthorized write attempts.

To disable logging of unauthorized writes, configure your NETWORK.INI file as follows:


[WRITEACCESS]
accept_unauthorized_writes=OFF
log_unauthorized_writes=OFF
writenode1=VIEW01
writenode2=VIEW10

Once you create or modify the NETWORK.INI file, you changes take effect immediately.

You can also restrict database write access by assigning security areas to specific groups and users. For
more information about security areas and how to use them with the accept_unauthorized_writes para-
meters, refer to the Configuring Security Features manual.

128 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


To restrict database write access to a SCADA server:

1. Open the NETWORK.INI on your SCADA server using a text editor. If available, this file resides in the
iFIX Local path. If the file does not exist, create it in the iFIX Local path with your text editor.
2. Enter the following text:
[WRITEACCESS]
accept_unauthorized_writes=OFF

3. Add the following text if you want to disable the logging of unauthorized writes:
log_unauthorized_writes=OFF

4. Add the View clients that can access the local SCADA server. Use the format:
writenode#=nodename

5. Save the file and make sure the file resides in the iFIX Local path.

Troubleshooting

iFIX provides an extremely secure software interface for controlling your process. Certain conditions, how-
ever, such as insufficient memory and computer failure, can cause problems when your system operates.
This chapter provides descriptions of these and other typical problems operators may experience. It also
lists potential courses of action that you can take to quickly resume normal operation.

l Overview
l Computer Failures
l Problems with Establishing or Losing Sessions
l Troubleshooting Networks
l Troubleshooting Microsoft Networking
l Troubleshooting TCP/IP
l Network Error Codes

Overview

Two key characteristics of your operating system that you must consider if problems occur while iFIX is
running include:

Multi-tasking — allowing the operating system to run several applications simultaneously.

Memory management — handling the usage of RAM and, in the case of virtual memory, hard disk space.

Your operating system provides the Control Panel to configure these characteristics. If components within
the Control Panel are not configured correctly, your computer may behave strangely or stop working. For
more information, refer to the following topics:

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 129


l Understanding the Control Panel
l Avoiding Problems

Understanding the Control Panel

Your operating system's Control Panel lets you set up the following computer components:

l Video driver
l Network card
l Mouse
l Keyboard
l System (used to set up virtual memory)
l Drivers (used to set up sound boards and the timer driver)
l Services

These configuration components are critical to troubleshooting insufficient memory and computer failure
problems. Instructions for accessing and implementing changes to these components are provided in your
operating system's documentation.

Avoiding Problems

You can avoid problems by configuring your system properly before operation. When troubleshooting,
always try to simplify your system and remove any unnecessary hardware or software.

The following list is the minimum recommended configuration you should adhere to while troubleshooting
problems:

l Use recommended computers, as described in the section Recommended Computers.


l Use recommended network hardware and software, as described in the chapter Networking iFIX
Nodes.
l Use standard video adapters and drivers.
l Avoid using the power-saving feature that can be configured on some computers.

Make sure that all iFIX nodes comply with these recommendations.

Computer Failures

Computers can sometimes stop working without warning. In these cases, the computer may or may not
display error messages to help you determine what happened. These failures can be caused by:

130 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


l Memory conflicts between two or more drivers.
l Wrong network driver versions.
l Incorrect operating system setup information.

Troubleshooting Computer Failures


If you experience computer failures, try to resolve them using the tips below:

l See what other boards may be in the machine, such as a video board or a memory-resident inter-
face card. Find out the memory addresses and interrupts that these boards are using and resolve
any conflicts.
l If you have a network card installed, make sure that it is listed in the Control Panel.

Problems with Establishing or Losing Sessions

You can lose communication sessions because your network times out. These time-outs usually occur on
the client side of a session. The primary reason for time-outs is that iFIX network tasks on the SCADA
server or iClient did not get enough CPU time to service a request.
NOTE: Network sessions may be lost when you open large pictures. iFIX re-establishes the session after the picture
finishes opening. To eliminate this problem, use the information in the section Working with Configurable Session
Timers.

The following factors prevent the network task on the SCADA server or iClient from getting enough CPU
time:

l Heavy disk activity.


l Large picture calculation time.
l SAC running to completion when database overruns occur.
l Database Manager sorting.
l Historical Collect closing and starting a new file.
l Other applications, such as iFIX WorkSpace, Historical Collect, and Database Manager, taking time-
slices before data can be processed.

Troubleshooting Networks

If you are experiencing network problems while trying to run iFIX, use the following steps to identify the
problem area.

To troubleshoot network problems:

1. Refer to the Networking iFIX Nodes section to ensure that the network hardware and software are
properly configured. Unless otherwise indicated, it is recommended that you use the latest version

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 131


of your chosen network software.
2. Verify that the network software itself is working properly prior to running any iFIX program using:
l the steps in the Troubleshooting Microsoft Networking section to test communications
between nodes,
l the PING program described in the Using PING section to verify a physical connection to a
remote computer, and
l the TCPTEST diagnostics tool described in the Working with TCPTEST section to verify that
the TCP socket layer works and that iFIX can communicate to it successfully.
3. Use the error codes in the Network Error Codes section to modify iFIX configuration if you continue
to have problems keeping iFIX sessions active.
4. Use the Network Diagnostics program, NETDIAG, by clicking the Start button, Run, and then typing
the following on the command line:
NETDIAG<Enter>

The NETDIAG program creates the file, NETDIAG.DAT, in the Application path. This file can be sent
to Technical Support for further assistance.

Troubleshooting Microsoft Networking

If you experience network problems with iFIX, verify that the network software is loaded and working prop-
erly. The test described in this section must work in order for iFIX networking to function properly. This test
uses the file sharing capabilities inherent in Microsoft networking to test the network. You do not need to
start iFIX in order to run this test.

To test communications between two nodes:

1. Start both computers.


2. Enable file sharing on each computer. See your operating system's documentation for more inform-
ation on how to configure file sharing.
3. Define a shared directory on each computer. See your operating system's documentation for
information on sharing a directory.
4. Configure a network drive, for example D:, on each node that points to the shared directory on the
other computer. Click the Map Network Drive button (available on the toolbar of any window) to
select the shared directory configured in step 3.

This test must run successfully. If it does not, refer to the chapter Networking iFIX Nodes and ensure that
the network is configured properly.

Troubleshooting TCP/IP

132 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


If you experience difficulty establishing network communications, your TCP/IP software and the iFIX TCP/IP
network software provide some utilities to help locate the cause of the problem. These utilities are
described in the following sections.

l Using PING
l Working with TCPTEST
l Working with NETDIAG

Using PING

PING is a TCP/IP diagnostic utility that helps to isolate network hardware problems and incompatible con-
figurations by allowing you to verify a physical connection to a remote computer. PING must run suc-
cessfully before iFIX can run properly. To run PING, type the following from the command line:
PING SCU_nodename<Enter>

For example, to test a connection from a View node to the local SCADA node, SCADA01, type the following:
PING SCADA01<Enter>

See your TCP/IP manuals for additional information on using PING.

Working with TCPTEST

Another utility, provided by GE Intelligent Platforms, is the TCPTEST diagnostic program. To run TCPTEST,
click the Start button, click Run, and then type the following into the command line:
TCPTEST parameters <Enter>

where parameters are one or more of the following command parameters in the table. To display a list of
parameters on the screen, type the following:
TCPTEST <Enter>

The program requires two nodes to run, one as a client and one as a server. Set up the server node first,
as follows:
TCPTEST /S <Enter>

The client node must use as a minimum the following TCPTEST parameters:
TCPTEST /C /Rnodename <Enter>

where nodename is the SCU node name of the server node. For example, to make VIEW01 a server, run
TCPTEST with the /S parameter, as shown above. To communicate with VIEW01, go to another node and
type the following:
TCPTEST /C /RVIEW01 <Enter>

TCPTEST Parameters
The para- Lets you...
meter...

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/Bx Set the receive and send buffer size to x. The default size is 1400 messages. If you specify
this parameter, make sure that both nodes have the same buffer size.
/C Set up a node as a client. This parameter requires you to provide the remote server node
name (see the /R parameter below).
/D Display run-time information (such as the data received).
/Fx Set to x milliseconds, how often to send messages. By default, messages are sent as fast as
possible.
/Pport- Use portnumber in place of the default ports for both the server node and the client node.
number
/Rserver Specify the name of the remote server node.
/S Set up this node as a server.
/Tx Set the TCP time-out value for sending and receiving data to x. This parameter is supported
only if your WINSOCK implementation supports changing the TCP time-out value. Most
implementations do not.
/W Test the WINSOCK interface and display WSAData (for example, vendor information).

It is recommended that you run TCPTEST without iFIX running. If you need to run both at the same time, be
sure to change the port number (/P) that TCPTEST uses. Otherwise, a conflict may occur with the data
being passed because, by default, TCPTEST uses the same port number as iFIX. Note that the client and
server must use identical port numbers when using TCPTEST.

Working with NETDIAG

NETDIAG provides comprehensive network diagnostic information and stores its information in the file
NETDIAG.DAT. This file resides in the Application path.

To run NETDIAG, click the Start button, click Run, and then type the following on the command line:
NETDIAG<Enter>

Network Error Codes

The following sections list the error codes, messages, and explanations for the network errors you can
encounter if you experience problems with your network.

l Startup Error Codes


l Run-time Error Codes

Startup Error Codes

134 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


If a network problem occurs during startup, one of the error codes or messages listed in the following
table may appear.

Startup Error Messages


Error Error Message Description
Code
1613 Duplicate name in local iFIX did not shut down properly prior to starting back up. Restart the
name table. computer and iFIX.
1622 Name in use on remote The node name assigned to the node is currently in use on another
node. node. Rename one of the nodes to correct this conflict.
8501 Underlying network sub-TCP/IP is not installed properly or is missing. Use PING or TCPTASK to
system not ready. verify that the underlying TCP/IP is set up before attempting to run
iFIX.
TCPTASK: Failed to ini-
8502 tialize network sub-
system.
8503 Windows Sockets API When attempting to initialize the Winsock TCP/IP interface, TCPTASK
version mismatch. detected that the Winsock version is less than 1.1.

Run-time Error Codes

If a network problem exists that prevents sessions from establishing or causes sessions to be terminated,
one of the error codes listed in the following table may appear in the NETDIAG program.

Run-time Error Codes


Error Error Mes- Description
Code sage
1605 Command These errors occur when the remote node is down. When the remote node is brought
timed out. back up, the Connection Manager re-establishes the session.
1608 Invalid Local
Session Num-
ber.
1610 Session
Closed.
1624 Session
Ended Abnor-
mally.
1620 Can't find The session cannot be established because either a remote node is not operating, a
name called. cabling problem exists between the nodes, or the remote node name is not registered
on the network. Verify both nodes are running compatible network software.
1914 Connection The Connection Manager has not yet established a connection with the remote node.
NOT estab- Wait for Connection Manager to establish the session.
lished with
node.
1960 FIX dynamic Connection Manager is in the process of establishing a dynamic connection with the
connection in remote node. Wait for Connection Manager to establish the session.
progress.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 135


1964 FIX has been Connection Manager has detected that iFIX has been shutdown on the remote node.
shut down on This error code shows up temporarily and then changes to 1914.
remote node.
8517 Node not The node name that you are trying to connect to be resolved to an IP address. The
found in TCP name is probably not in the local hosts file or on the WINS server. Obtain the remote
hosts data- node's IP address and add it to the HOSTS file.
base.

Mission Control Field Descriptions

The following sections describe the functions of dialog fields, diagnostics, and statistics found in the tabbed
pages of Mission Control. Refer to the Monitoring the Environment with Mission Control chapter for
detailed information on how Mission Control works.

l I/O Control Tabbed Page Fields


l HTC Tabbed Page Fields
l SQL Tabbed Page Fields
l SAC Tabbed Page Fields
l Auto Alarm Manager Tabbed Page Fields
l Alarm Synchronization Tabbed Page Fields
l Alarm ODBC Tabbed Page Fields

I/O Control Tabbed Page Fields

The table below lists the available options on the I/O Control tabbed page.

I/O Control Tabbed Page Options


Select this button... To...
Datascope Run the Datascope program for the selected I/O driver.
Stop/Start Stops or Starts the selected I/O driver, depending on the I/O driver's current
status.
Next Chan and Prev Select the COM port from which to display messages.
Chan
Pause/Update Temporarily stop and restart the Datascope program.
Close Close the dialog box.
Period Configure the driver's message rate.

HTC Tabbed Page Fields

The following fields are used on the HTC (Historical Collect) tab:

136 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Collector Status – displays the status of the Proficy Historian collector running on the local machine, if any.
The options are stopped, started, or paused. The collection status changes when you use the Stop and
Start buttons. This field is visible only if you have Proficy Historian running.

Overruns – displays the number of overruns that occurred while collecting data. The overrun counter
increments by one each time an historical collection is unable to collect data at the rate you configured.
You can determine if there is a problem in your collection scheme by examining the number of HTC
overruns. When Historical Collect cannot collect all of the data at the rate specified, a historical collect
overrun can occur. When an overrun occurs, values for some tagnames in the group are not collected
at the configured rate. Temporary conditions, such as heavy network traffic, network upsets or off-line
nodes, can cause overruns. However, a repeated number of overruns may indicate that the phase
value for the group needs adjustment. You can prevent overruns by phasing the data collection rate.
Refer to the Defining a Collection Group section of the Trending Historical Data manual for information
on phasing to prevent overruns.
NOTE: Preventing overruns by phasing applies only to Classic Historian; it does not apply to Proficy His-
torian.

Start – starts the historical collection.

Stop – terminates the historical collection.

For more information on how HTC works, refer to the Trending Historical Data manual.

For specific information on using data collection with Proficy Historian, refer to the Proficy Historian Admin-
istration Manual.

SQL Tabbed Page Fields

There are several buttons on the SQL tabbed page. These buttons are described as follows:

Status – displays the status of your SQL configuration. The statistics correspond to the SQL setup inform-
ation you configured in the SCU.

Acct. Status – re-queries your SQL account and displays the status of that account as configured in the
SCU. Lists how many SQL accounts are currently connected.

Cache – displays whether caching is enabled or disabled.

Login – displays your SQL login information.

Stop – terminates the current SQL query.

SAC Tabbed Page Fields

You can start and stop SAC from running using the Stop and Start toggle buttons on the SAC tab of Mission
Control. The Status field indicates if SAC is running or stopped. All other fields are used internally by Tech-
nical Support for debugging purposes.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 137


Auto Alarm Manager Tabbed Page Fields

The following fields on the AAM tab in Mission Control allow you to monitor and troubleshoot the Auto
Alarm Manager:

Send Alarm Statistics


Alarms from User Queue – the number of alarms retrieved from the Auto Alarm Manager's alarm queue.

Alarms failed Block Alarm Filter – the number of non-block alarms (for example, event messages and
operator messages) retrieved from the Auto Alarm Manager's alarm queue. The Auto Alarm Manager
only sends block alarms to the Receiving node.

Alarms failed Alarm Area Filter – the number of alarms that have been filtered out based on their alarm
area. You can control the alarm areas to filter on by selecting them from the Send Alarm Filters dialog
box.

Alarms failed Alarm Priority Filter – the number of alarms that have been filtered out based on their alarm
priority. You can control the alarm priority to filter on by selecting one from the Send Alarm Filters dia-
log box.

Alarms Packaged – the number of alarms the Auto Alarm Manager has prepared for delivery to the Receiv-
ing node.

Primary Delivery Attempts – the number of transmissions the Sending node has attempted to deliver to
the primary contact.

Secondary Delivery Attempts – the number of transmissions the Sending node has attempted to deliver
to the secondary contact.

Retries – the number of times the Sending node has redialed the primary or secondary contact.

Successful Deliveries – the number of transmissions the Sending node delivered to the Receiving node.

Failed Deliveries – the number of transmissions the Sending node failed to deliver to the Receiving node.
When a failure occurs, the Auto Alarm Manager sets the emergency tag.

Receive Alarm Statistics


Mgmt Pkt Received – the number of management packets that have been delivered to the Receiving node.
A management packet contains the protocol information to start and stop a transmission from the
Sending node to the Receiving node.

Alarm Pkt Received – the number of alarm packets that have been delivered to the Receiving node. An
alarm packet contains up to six alarms.

Alarms Received – the number of alarms the local node has received.

Alarm Synchronization Tabbed Page Fields

The fields on the Alarm Synchronization tabbed page are described below.

138 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


Alarm Packets From Sync Queue – the number of alarm packets that were presented to the alarm
acknowledgement synchronization task for processing.

Num Alarms Processed – the number of alarms that were processed by the alarm acknowledgement syn-
chronization task. An alarm packet contains more than one alarm.

Num Alarms Failed Tag Resolution – the number of times the alarm acknowledgement synchronization
task could not determine the tagname for an alarm.

Num Alarms Failed Local Status Read – the number of times the alarm acknowledgement syn-
chronization task could not determine whether the local tag was already acknowledged.

Num Not In Alarm – the number of times the alarm acknowledgement synchronization task detected that
the tag did not need to be acknowledged.

Num Alarms Failed Local Ack – the number of times the alarm acknowledgement synchronization task
failed to acknowledge an alarm.

Num Alarms Acknowledged – the number of alarms acknowledged by the alarm acknowledgement syn-
chronization task.

Alarm ODBC Tabbed Page Fields

The fields on the Alarm ODBC tabbed page are described below:

Database Id – the database ID as entered in the SCU.

Connection State – displays either CONNECTED to indicate a successful ODBC connection to the data-
base, or LOST CONNECTION to indicate that the connection was not successful or was lost.

Table Name – the table name in the database as entered in the SCU.

Logging State – Displays either Active, indicating that alarms are taken from the queue and logged to the
ODBC database, or Paused, indicating that alarms are taken from the queue and dropped (and thus
are not logged to the ODBC database).

Reconnections – the number of times you needed to reconnect to the database.

Alarms Pending – the number of alarms in the user queue waiting to be processed.

Alarms Logged – the number of alarms successfully logged to the ODBC database.

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 139


140 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.
Index configuring the Auto Alarm Manager 28

customizing services 25

editing alarm area database 27


A
enabling Alarm ODBC service 25
AAM 117
enabling services 24
tabbed page fields 138
queues modifying 27
adding a startup profile 106
transfer 122
advanced 27
Application messages 67
alarm configuration 27
authenticate connections 20
Advanced Send Alarm Settings dialog box 36
Automatically starting drivers 86
alarm area database 87
Automatically starting SAC 86
alarm areas 27
Automatically starting tasks 85
common configuring 27
Available Phonebook Entries dialog box 41
editing the database 27

Alarm areas 41 B

alarm areas path 65 background tasks 30

Alarm Configuration dialog box 36 iFIX functions 115

Alarm destinations 73 specifying 30

Alarm Horn 71 backing up startup profiles 108

Alarm ODBC 117 base directory 12

tabbed page fields 139 base path 64

viewing statistics 119


C
Alarm ODBC queue size 74
changing defaults 109
Alarm queue size 75
Command parameters 82
Alarm service 66
Common alarm areas 75
Alarm Service Configuration dialog box 38
Common message format 72
alarm services 24
Configuration file 3
customizing 25
Configure menu 52
enabling 24
configuring
alarms 122
alarms 24
configuring areas 25
Auto Alarm Manager 28
configuring common areas 27

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 141


common alarm areas 27 defaults 109

I/O drivers 29 deleting 107

iFIX running as a service 15 all startup profiles 107

iFIX to run as a service under Windows 14 single startup profile 107

LAN redundancy 18 DHCP/WINS

network connections 16 function 6

network protocols 17 TCP/IP name resolution 6

network security 18 disabling connections from unauthorized


nodes 127
network timers 18
disabling database write access for unauthorized
relational databases on iFIX 32
nodes 127
remote nodes 17
displays 121
SCADA servers 29
updates to links 121
security 16
DNS 2
startup tasks 30
DNS server
Configuring in SCU 71
function 6
configuring network connections 34
TCP/IP name resolution 6
connection authentication 20
drivers 3
connections 121
See I/O drivers 2
disabling from unauthorized nodes 127
Drivers 62
establishing network 121
dynamic connections 79
Control Panel 130
described 17
using to troubleshoot problems 130

Creating reports 61 E

customizing alarm services 25 editing a startup profile 106

editing alarm area database 27


D
enabling 29
data transfer 121
alarm services 24
database write access 127
SCADA support 29
disabling 127
encryption of packet data 22
Default Message Format Configuration dialog
environment setup 1
box 47
events 25
default startup profile 110

142 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


exiting SCU 10 configuring tasks to automatically start 30

implementing the SCU, list of general


F tasks 13

File description 61 integrating into networks 126

Files, specifying a location for 11 memory management 129

multi-tasking problems 129


H
nodes, disabling connections 127
HOSTS file, local 6
port assignments, verifying 6
function 6
running as a service under Windows 14
syntax 7
running tasks in the background 30
TCP/IP name resolution 6
session temporary loss 122
HTC 117
shutdown 114
starting and stopping 118
starting up 3
tabbed page fields 136
startup 111

I startup options 112

Startup program 111


I/O control 117
iFIX as a Windows service 93
datascope program 118
iFIX environment
options 136
setting up main tasks 2
tabbed page fields 136
tasks to complete prior to setup 4
tuning driver's message rate 118
increasing the refresh rate 126
tuning driver period 118

what it allows you to do 116


K
I/O driver 63
key combinations 108
I/O drivers 62, 118

starting automatically 31 L

starting manually 118 local 14

iFIX logical name specifying 14

background tasks 115 server name specifying 14

configuring nodes 8 startup options described 14

configuring relational databases 32 startup options specifying 14

configuring remote nodes 17

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 143


Local Node Alias feature 16 closing 118

described 16 Historical Collect 118

enabling 16 HTC tab 116

Local node name 93 I/O Control tab 116

Local Startup command 14 SAC tab 116

Configure menu 14 SQL tab 116

login information 54 modifying a startup profile 106

SQL 54 modifying alarm queues 27

multi-tasking 129
M
possible cause of problems 129
mapping IP addresses

using a TCP/IP network 6 N

memory management 129 name resolution 7

possible cause of problems 129 NETDIAG 134

Message format 71 using to troubleshoot TCP/IP 134

messages 122 Network Alarm Configuration dialog box 48

application routing 27 Network button 17

defining a format 27 SCU toolbox 17

sent by iFIX 121 network error codes 134

size 122 run-time error codes 135

messaging 120 network load 120

network 120 network protocols 6

Microsoft networking 2 TCP/IP 6

See networking 2 network security 18

Microsoft RAS 2 connection authentication 20

See RAS 2 non-listening clients 22

minimize after Startup 113 packet data encryption 22

Mission Control 136 site specific certificates 21

AAM tab 116 network timers 18

Alarm ODBC 119 activating on a per-node basis 17

Alarm ODBC tab 116 networking 132

background tasks monitored 116 Microsoft troubleshooting 132

144 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


networking with other iFIX and FIX nodes 8 planning 4

networks 131 tasks to complete prior to setup 4

establishing connections 121 ports 6

integrating iFIX into 126 verifying assignments 6

messaging 120 process database 29

session timers 123 defining the database to load when iFIX


starts 29
sessions 121
Process database 63
setting up a distributed processing system 2
project path 64
traffic, optimizing iFIX to reduce 122

nodes 127 Q
configuring remote 17
quick keys 108
disabling connections 127

disabling write access 127 R

non-listening clients 22 RAS 125

described 125
O
relational database 32
ODBC data sources 82
configuring iFIX 32
options 14
remote access 124
local startup 14
programs described 124
overview 95
providing 124

remote control programs described 124


P
Remote Access Service 2
packet data encryption 22
See RAS 2
path 11
remote nodes 17, 77
descriptions 12
removing 107
specifying for iFIX directories 11
all startup profiles 107
Path Configuration dialog box 50
single startup profile 107
Paths command 11
Report command 11
Configure menu 11
File menu 11
PING 133
restricting access to SCADA servers 127
using to troubleshoot TCP/IP 133
restricting database write access 127

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 145


run-time 135 specified file not found 11

running iFIX as a service 14 specifying name 14

Running tasks in the background 85 SCU toolbox 30

Network button 17
S
Security button 16
SAC 117
Task button 30
alarm condition detection 122
security 16
controlling startup status 30
Security button 16
tabbed page fields 137
SCU toolbox 16
viewing information 119
Security Configuration program 16
saving startup profiles 109
configuring security 16
SCADA servers 127
Send Alarm Filters dialog box 53
enabling support 29
service under Windows 14
grouping 14
running iFIX as 14
polled by objects in an operator display 121
session timers
restricting access to 127
configuring 124
SCU 3
determining values 123
advanced alarm configuration
function 123
functionality 27
sessions 122
configuring tips 9
problems establishing or losing 131
implementing in iFIX, list of general tasks 13
temporary loss 122
main window 9
working with configurable timers 122
opening a new file 11
setting default startup profile 110
report described 11
setup 6
starting 9
network overview 5
SCU file 14
sharing information among computers 16
adding a file description 11
Show History 113
creating a report 11
shutdown 114
described 3
site-specific authentication 21, 80
naming 11
SQL 117
operations 10
configuring service 32
read by iFIX Startup program 110

146 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.


tabbed page fields 137 required components 6

viewing statistics 119 using 6

SQL accounts 54 TCPTEST 133

SQL 54 using to troubleshoot TCP/IP 133

starting SCU 9 THISNODE placeholder 16

startup 46, 111 sharing information among computers 16

automatic, I/O drivers 31 timers 77, 123

configuring tasks 30 session configurable 122

controlling status of SAC 30 troubleshooting

error messages 135 avoiding problems 130

iFIX 111 computer components 130

Startup 111 computer failures 130

program iFIX 110 memory management 129

startup options 112 Microsoft networking 132

startup profiles 106 multi-tasking 129

adding 106 network error codes 134

backing up 108 networks 131

editing 106 possible causes of problems 129

removing 107 run-time error codes 135

removing all 107 startup error messages 135

saving 109 TCP/IP 132

Startup Queue Configuration dialog box 58 trusted computing 79

T U

Task button 30 updates to links in displays 121

SCU toolbox 30 user accounts 4

task configuration dialog box 55 for iFIX running as a service 15

SQL 55 required group membership 4

Task Configuration dialog box 58


V
TCP/IP 6
verifying port assignments 8
establishing communication using 17

interface provided by RAS 125

© 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 147


W

Wide Area Networks (WANs) 124

working with 124

Windows

running iFIX as a service under 15

Windows registry 14

specifying names 14

Windows service 93

running iFIX as one 14

148 © 2016 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

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