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ID: QA36731 | Access Levels: TechConnect

Converting a Factorytalk View SE Local / Network Station to a

Network Distributed application
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Doc ument ID QA36731

Published Date 02/15/2020

Summary
Converting a Factorytalk View SE Local / Network Station to a Network Distributed
application

Question
Below are the steps necessary to convert a FactoryTalk View SE L ocal / Network Station to
a Network Distributed SE project. Before starting, please review the 32549 - FactoryTalk
View SE Distributed System Design Considerations and 909024 - FactoryTalk View Site
Edition (SE) Tips and B est Practices T OC .

Answer
Detailed instructions follow: Top

1. Backup existing application

2. Create new Factory Talk View SE Distributed application
3. Re-Create or add Areas to the new distributed application
4. Import the back up application into the new distributed application
5. Import any Factory Talk Alarms and Events recor ds
6. Re-create and configure RSLinx Enterprise and/or OPC data server s

In order to convert a Local / Network Station project to Network Distributed, we first need
a copy of the project itself that we can use to import into the HMI. For our purposes here,
the project that we will use for this will be called "LocalHMI"

(Note: If you are using version 5.0 or lower, please see article 30310 - Backup and Restor e
Utility for RSView 4.0 or FactoryTalk View 5.0 HMI Server for the back up utility. Also r efer to
article 450509 - FactoryTalk View: Legacy Tag Database Conversion Tool for tag database
conversion as well if you are moving to a 64-bit operating system.)

These are the steps to make a backup for Windows 7/Windows Server 2008:

1. Go to ClickStart->AlPrograms->RockwelS oftware->FactorytalkView->Tools-
->HMIServerbackupandrestore.

For Windows 8 /Server 2012, you will go to the Windows Tile screen, click the
magnifying glass in the top right corner and search for "HMIServer"without the
quotes:

2. Once the backup utility opens, you will see the following window, choose "Backup
HMIServer".

3. The following window will then present y ou with a source and destination. Next to the
Sourcesection, click Browse.

4. Once the next windows opens, it should take you right to the HMIProjectsfolder. If it
does not, the folder names are listed below:

For Windows 7/8 & Windows Server 2008/2012, the folder location is:

C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\RSView Enterprise\SE\HMI

Projects\<your project name here>

For Windows XP/2003, it is located here:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\RSView

Enterprise\SE\HMI Projects\<your project name here>
5. Browse into your project folder and select the .SEDfile at the bottom.

6. Once the source .SEDfile is chosen, we now need to set the destination folder w hich
for our purposes will be the Desktopfor ease of locating this backup once the import
begins.

7. Then, once the destination folder is set to the Desktop, place a check in the box that
reads ExcludeDatalogFileSetsand click StartBackup. The purpose of this is that if
you have a ton of data logging data, it could cause this utility to take quite some time
to copy and give the impression like it is locked up. The datalog files are not
necessary to do a conversion and if need be, can be copied after the conversion is
done.

8. You should now have a folder on your desktop that matches the name of the HMI
server we backed up.

This concludes the back up phase of this pr ocedure.

With the backup done, it is now time to import into a newNetworkDistributedproject.

Note: If you use Areasin the Local/NetworkStationproject, those areas will need to be
recreated in the new Network Distributed project. If you use areas for the data servers
(RSLinx Enterprise or other) in the Local / Network Station project and decide to change
those areas names in the new NetworkDistributedproject, please keep in mind that this
will affect the tags that are pointing to this data server and will have to be edited to reflect
the new area name or they will not be able to get data from the data server.
Import into Network Distributed procedure.

1. First, we need to setup a blank NetworkDistributedproject to import into. Open

Factorytalk View Studio by clicking Start -> All Programs -> Rockwell Software ->
Factorytalk View -> Factorytalk View Studio.

2. Once Studio is open, you will select NetworkDistributedas the application type.

3. Once the new window appears, enter a name for this new NetworkDistributed
project and click Continue.

4. Once the project is created, this w ould be the time to r emak e any ar eas you might
have had, you can do this by right clicking on the project name at the top of the
explorer tree on the left side of Studio.

5. Give the area a name and say ok. Now it is time to add the HMI server. If you have
areas, then you will right click on that area for the HMI server and go to AddNew
Serverand choose HMIServer.

6. On the following window, the HMI server wizard appears. You will choose Importa
project.

7. The following window is just a warning about RSLinx Enterprise and some legacy
apps, just click OKon this and it moves to the next window.

8. On the following window, you will choose a project type, w hich will be Factory talk
View Site Edition Pr oject (*.SED).

9. On the following window, you will choose which file to import. We will be dir ecting
this to the backup folder we made in the Step 6 of the back up procedure.

10. Once the backup folder is located, br owse into it and choose the pr oject.sed file and
click OK .

11. Once the project is selected and Open is clicked, verify that the project ty pe and .SED
file are the correct names.

12. After you click Next, you will be required to provide a new name for this HMI server.
Be sure this is a unique name and one not already in use. For our pur poses, I have
named this project "Netw orkH MI"

The import process will then begin and once done, y ou should see the Explorer Tr ee on the
left populate with the displays and all other components. Once that is done, try opening a
display for editing and check to ensur e all your components are there. If so, you have
successfully imported this Local / Network Station project into a Netw ork Distributed
project and can now setup a client to connect to it. However, if you use Factorytalk Alar ms
and Events, then you will need to go back to the source system and obtain an XL S export
of the alarms to import into this new pr oject.

Export and Import of alarms procedure

1. Open the source project in Studio and in the explorer tree on the left, locate y our
Factorytalk Alarms and Events server. It w ill be the silver tow er - r ed bell icon. (Not to
be confused with the HMI server icon w hich is a silver tower, r ed bell and yello w
clock.)

2. Once the Import/Export Wizard appears, choose ExportalarmconfigurationtoExcel

fileand click Next.

3. The next window will just be verifying that y ou have chosen messages and the proper
language. Take the defaults if you are not sure, this will just ensure that the language
will stay what the source has setup and all messages w ill come over.

Note:Languagescanvary,fourourpurposes,wewilluseEnglish(UnitedStates).

4. We will then need to provide a name for the XLS file we are creating and location to
save it. Like the HMI Server backup pr ocedure earlier in this document, we will save
this to the desktop.

5. Once you click Finish, it will then create a .XLS file on the desktop. Take this over to
the system with the new Network Distributed project either with flash drive, over the
network or whatever method is best suited for you. It doesn’t matter how you get the
XLS file to the new system, just as long as we can access without using a network
location like mapped network drive or UNC path name (e.g. \\servername\c$).
Generally, UNC and mapped drives don’t really give problems when importing but it
can, so for this reason you will want to copy it to the local hard drive of the system it is
being imported to. Once the file is there, we are going to repeat Step 1 in this process,
except this time we will choose to import an Excel file rather than export. Rightclick
on the FactorytalkAlarmsandEventserver icon in the explorer tree on the left and choose
ImportandExport.

6. SelectImportalarmconfigurationfromExcelFileandclick Next.

7. The next window will request the file being impor ted. Br owse to the XL S file we made
in steps 1 through 5 and click Next.

8. The next window will ask you whether you want to update existing alarms or import
only new, etc. However, since this is a newly created server, it has no alarms in it yet.
Leave this option on Updateexistingalarmdefinitionsandcreatenewalarm
definitionsfromtheimportfile.

9. If alarms completed the import successfully, you will see the following message:
Import completed successfully

This concludes the Alarm and Event Impor t procedure. Howev er, there is no data server
configured yet and importing the HMI will not r e-create that with the shortcuts
automatically. Because of this, y ou will need to re-create the RSLinx Enterprise or any
other OPC server connections manually. For RSLinx Enterprise, w e simply need to re-
create the data server and re-add the shor tcuts.

1. First, right click your project name from the explorer tree on the top left side. (Same
procedure as what we did from Step 1 of the alarm import procedure).

2. The RSLinx Enterprise proper ties window appears, y ou can take the defaults if you
are not sure what to select but if this data server is meant to run on a separate PC
that the HMI, then specify the system name in the provided area.

3. Click OKto add the RSLinx Enterprise server. You should now see this icon in the
explorer tree on the left. Click the plus sign next to it and you will see Communication
Setup. This is where you need to reconfigure your shor tcuts to the PLC. You will need
to make sure that these shortcut names mimic w hat they were called on the previous
project or the tags addresses won’t evaluate to the right tag addresses properly.

T h is s t u d y s o u r c e w a s d o w n lo a d e d b y 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 4 6 1 9 1 6 4
fr o m C o u r s e H e r o . c o m o n 0 5 - 0 3 - 2 0 2 3 0 0 :3 1 : 2 3 G M T - 0 5 :0 0

https://ww w.courseher o.com/file/ 87597428/ Converting-a- Factor ytal k-View- SE-Local-Netw ork- Stati on-to-a-Netw ork-Distri buted-a ppl icationpdf/

This concludes the addition of re-adding the RSLinx Enterprise setup and shor tcuts.

At this point, your project should be conv erted and it will be a matter of changing the CLI
client connecting to this new project.

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