Wonderware Historian/InSQL to TOP Server

Using TOP Server to Log Data in InSQL/Historian

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 3

Intended Audience 3

CONFIGURE AND TEST THE TOP SERVER 4

Installing Wonderware Common Components 4

The TOP Server Interface 4

Configure an Alias in the TOPServer 6

Test the Configuration with the OPC Quick Client 7

CONFIGURE HISTORIAN/HISTORIAN TO CONNECT TO TOP SERVER 9

Configure New I/O Server Type 9

Configure New I/O Server 11

Configure New Topic in Historian 13

Configure New Tag in Historian 15

Commit Pending Changes in Historian 18

Start Data Collection in Historian 20

Verify Connection in TOP Server 21

SUMMARY 23

Contact Us 23

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Introduction

The purpose of this guide is to demonstrate how to make a basic connection to the TOP Server with

Wonderware’s Historian. We will use Historian to refer to version 10.0 and all prior versions (formerly

known as Industrial SQL Server or Historian). This document will cover the connection from Historian 9.0 to

TOP Server V5.x. If you are still using TOP Server version 4.x, please refer to the document

Connecting the TOP Server to Wonderware Historian.

The TOP Server in this example will use the Simulator driver and the pre-configured simdemo.opf, both

included with TOP Server. The same basic steps can be used to make a connection using any of the 100+

drivers available for the TOP Server. If you do not already have TOP Server installed, the free two-hour

demonstration version can be downloaded at http://www.toolboxopc.com/html/free_trial.asp. This version

functions the same as a fully licensed version within the two-hour demo mode. Stop the TOP Server and

restart it for two more hours of runtime.

This guide will also demonstrate how to connect Historian tags to TOP Server tags and thus to points on

your controller. TOP Server does not need to have a tag database for Historian to log data from devices

using TOP Server. You can directly address the points on the controller to reduce the number of locations

that you must create a tag database. However, there are cases where you should create the TOP Server

tag database first.

Intended Audience

This guide is intended for Wonderware Historian users who are new to TOP Server. This document makes

the assumption that you have some familiarity with Historian (including having a working Historian setup),

know what data you want to store, and have configured a TOP Server project (for assistance read TOP

Server Quick Start). You can find a full list of documentation and training videos at our TOP Server Support

site. Driver specific help can be found either in this documentation or in the help files installed with the TOP

Server. The information provided here is not a substitute for your Historian documentation. This procedure

is being demonstrated in order to show a complete connection, not to provide comprehensive training on

how to use Historian.

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Configure and Test the TOP Server

In this example we will be using the TOP Server simulation driver configuration. This is not a

comprehensive guide for setting up the TOP Server for device connectivity. For more information on how to

setup TOP Server, see the Training Videos or Papers and Utilities links at the website below:

http://www.toolboxopc.com/html/support.asp.

You will need at least one Channel and one Device in the TOP Server in order to log data in Historian.

Tags can be entered into the TOP Server if desired, but these can also be added in the item field in

Historian to avoid duplicate tag database entries. This is the approach this paper follows and is shown later

in this paper.

Installing Wonderware Common Components

In order for the server to allow FastDDE/SuiteLink connections, the Wonderware components must be

installed. If within TOP Server under File | Project Properties you do NOT see the option tab for

FastDDE/SuiteLink, then you will need to install these components. The common components can be

installed from the Wonderware FactorySuite I/O Server installation CD by performing the following steps.

Run the setup.exe located under FS2K71\Common\ Run the setup.exe located under FS2K71\IOServer\Common\Win32

The TOP Server works with all Common components installs, but we always suggest using the newest you

have available. SuiteLink connections to the server will not function if these components are not installed.

The tab, File | Project Properties | FastDDE/SuiteLink will be shown or hidden based on proper installation

of these Wonderware components.

The TOP Server Interface

When you first launch the TOP Server, the pre-configured simulation project should. If it does not, open the

file as below.

• Click on the File Menu • Open and in the \Program Files\Software Toolbox\TOP Server 5\Projects folder • There is a file named "SIMDEMO.OPF" - this file is the saved configuration for our simulation demo.

Note: By default simdemo.opf is marked Read-Only. If you make changes to the simdemo.opf sample project, you should save it under a different file name.

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When the file is open, the TOP Server screen will appear as shown below. By default, the Configuration

Interface is connected to the Runtime so changes you make are committed to the runtime as soon as you

make them. If you want to work offline and then update the Runtime when ready, click Runtime-

>Disconnect on the TOP Server menu. If you later want to commit your changes to the Runtime, you can

click Runtime->Connect and TOP Server will ask you to save your changes and if you want to update the

Runtime with your changes. Click to learn more about offline configuration.

Figure 1: TOP Server Interface

You will see that there are 5 channels configured with a total of 10 devices.

In the TOP Server, a "Channel" corresponds to a communications port for serial connections or a single

thread of execution for Ethernet connections. Under each channel, provided the PLC protocol being used

supports multi-drop, you can have multiple Devices. A Device is a PLC or piece of hardware. If you then

click on the name of any given device in the configuration - for example "Device_6" under "Channel_4", you

will see that in the right hand window pane, a set of tags are shown. We have pre-configured some tags for

you in this example.

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Each Tag corresponds to a single memory location in the PLC or the device. You can add tags by right

clicking on the device name and selecting "New Tag" or by right clicking in the window where the tags are

shown and selecting new tag.

Configure an Alias in the TOPServer

Each time you add a channel, device, or group TOP Server generates a basic Alias for you. You may also

create your own alias mapped to a channel, device or group. Aliases are necessary in the Server since

Wonderware does not recognize the “ChannelName.DeviceName” syntax in the Topic Name because of

the dot “.” characters in the hierarchical structure when you setup the System Platform Access Name. If you

are used to setting up Topic Names in other DDE servers, setting up an Alias name in the TOP Server is

our equivalent of that step in the setup. To do this in the TOPServer, click on Edit|Alias Map. The dialog

shown below will appear and will already have topics made for you automatically that correspond to your

channel names, device names and group names, each separated by underscores. If you don’t have any

Aliases make sure you have configured your channel and device first or that the “show aliases” check box is

checked.

Figure 2: Alias Map

If you have the checkbox “Show aliases for system generated subgroups” unchecked, all you will see are

aliases you have entered or will be blank if you have created none. If you plan to use only aliases that you

create, it is recommended that you leave this unchecked for simplicity and ease of finding your aliases for

editing.

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To create your own alias, click on the Icon in the upper left corner of the Alias Map dialog and add an alias

in the dialog shown below that maps your ChannelName.DeviceName to a single word topic name

WITHOUT any spaces or punctuation - this Alias name will be used as the TOPIC NAME when configuring

the System Platform Access Name. In the example below we created an alias named “Device” that maps to

“Channel_1.Device_1” in the TOPServer.

Figure 3: Created Alias

Note that you can create as many aliases (also known as topic names in System Platform), as you like that

point to the same or different combinations of a Channel, Device, and Group name.

Test the Configuration with the OPC Quick Client

You can launch our OPC Quick Client at any time by clicking on the Quick Client button on the toolbar of

the TOP Server as shown here. When the Quick Client launches it will automatically connect to the TOP

Server, browse it for available tags, subscribe to them, and start displaying the live data.

Once you have launched the Quick Client, you will see it on your taskbar. The Quick Client is shown in

action below.

• Caution: Each time you click the icon shown above we will launch another instance of the Quick Client as there is no hard coded limit on the number of clients you can have simultaneously connected to the server. Quick Client automatically connects to TOP Server with a 1000 ms update rate. You can easily change the default group update rate in Quick Client by clicking Tools->Options.

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• Note: the Quick Client can also be started directly by clicking Start->Programs->Software Toolbox->TOP Server 5->Quick Client. Quick Client can connect to any OPC Sever, create a group and browse for particular tags - great for troubleshooting! Learn more in the OPC Quick Client Users Guide.

Figure 4: OPC Quick Client

Once you have the quick client launched you can right click on any tag name to write different values to the

tags. Remember though that tags that reference R registers are over-written by the simulated data as soon

as you write a new value - you will see your write though. For example, if the tag has a value of 2359 when

you write a 0 to it, you'll see our simulator automatically keep counting up from 0 after your write.

If you right click on the folders on the left and choose properties you can control how fast the client will

request tag reads. This can be a key adjustment when you are actually connecting to a physical device.

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Configure Historian/Historian to Connect To TOP Server

You will now need to create the connection to TOP Server from Historian. This is a simple three step

process.

Configure New I/O Server Type

The first step is to create a new I/O Server Type. Open Historian and go to the Configuration Editor in the

console tree as shown below.

Figure 5: SMC Configuration Editor

Expand the Configuration tree then navigate to the I/O Server Types as shown below. Right click on the I/O

Server Types to show the context menu as shown in Figure 7 below.

Figure 6: IO Server Type

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Select New I/O Server Type as shown below.

Figure 7: Add New I/O Server Type

The New I/O Server Type window will open and should be filled out as the figure below shows. It is

important that the Application name is Server_Runtime and the Exe Name is server_runtime.exe. You can

set the Platform type as needed for your application.

Figure 8: New I/O Server Type Creation Dialogue

Once the New I/O Server Type is added you can add the TOP Server as an I/O Server to your Historian

Node. Once this is complete you can click Finish.

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Configure New I/O Server

To begin this second step, in the Configuration Editor branch of the SMC tree, browse to the IDAS -

<Server Name> entry in the tree.

Figure 9: New I/O Server

When you right click the entry as shown above in Figure 9, it will open the context menu as shown below.

Click the New I/O Server entry as highlighted in Figure 10.

Figure 10: Select New I/O Server

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When the New I/O Server Window opens you will be able to enter the I/O Server Location where the TOP

Server is installed. Use localhost as the I/O Server Location if Historian and the TOP Server are on the

same PC. Select the I/O Server “Server_Runtime” and use SuiteLink as the protocol. Description and Alt.

Server Location can be added as needed.

If the TOP Server is not on the same PC as Historian (or any other Wonderware application) you must

make sure that the Wonderware or Factory Suite Common Components are installed on the PC where TOP

Server is located for SuiteLink to work. These components can be found on your Wonderware installation

CDs. Contact your local Wonderware support if you need help installing the Factory Suite Common

Components. Once this is complete you can click Finish.

Figure 11: Create New I/O Server Properties

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Configure New Topic in Historian

You will now see the I/O Server you just created in the Console tree view. Highlight the new I/O server you

just created as shown below.

Figure 12: I/O Server Created in Console Tree

Right Click and choose New Topic from the Context Menu as shown below.

Figure 13: New Topic Selection

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The New Topic window is shown above. The Topic Name entered needs to be in the format of the Channel

name followed by the Device Name you have in the TOP Server, separated with an underscore (_). After

you verify your Topic name and set your Scan rate override for the Topic in the TOP Server Alias Map,

make any other changes to the New Topic dialog in Historian and click Finish. The Time Out setting is for

the connection to TOP Server from Historian and does not affect TOP Server to device timeouts. Consult

your Historian documentation on advice on the Time Out setting.

Figure 14: New Topic Creation Dialogue

Once the new topic is created you can now click Finish and start adding tags.

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Configure New Tag in Historian

You will now see your new topic created under the I/O Server in the Console Tree. To create a tag use the

steps below. Start by highlighting the topic as shown below.

Figure 15: Topic Added in Console Tree

Right click on the Topic then choose the tag type that you want to create. Select the type of tag you wish to

create. In this example we will create an Analog Tag.

Figure 16: New Tag Selection

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The Unique Tag Name is the name you want shown in Historian and can be any meaningful name. In this

example we have used testtag1. Click the next button to proceed.

Figure 17: Unique Tag Name

The General Window is for the tag description, Engineering Units type and max value inside of Historian.

Figure 18: Tag Configuration – General

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Click on the Next button once you have this filled out as needed. The example shown does not set any

scaling or Engineering Units. You will then move to the Acquisition dialogue. Select the appropriate type,

server and topic from the drop-down menus if these do not default to what you have configured.

The Item Name field can be the PLC address for the data you want to read through TOP Server into

Historian, or a tag name in the TOP Server that you have configured. If the PLC address is being used then

refer to the Addressing section in the TOP Server driver help file for the particular driver you are using to

verify that the default data type is the same as the data type you want returned as set in the Raw Type

setting. In this example we want a 16 bit unsigned integer. Once complete, click Next to Continue

Figure 19: Tag Configuration – Acquisition

In the TOP Server simulation driver, the address R0001 defaults to a 16-bit signed Integer data type. This

will require the Item name to have an “@datatype” suffix added to the name to tell TOP Server to send back

the data in the datatype to match the setting in the Raw Type area in Historian. For example;

R0001@WORD will return a 16 bit unsigned integer. In a Modbus driver you may want to read holding

register 400001 as a real. This would require the Item Name to be 400001@FLOAT. If you wanted to read

this as an unsigned integer you would use simply 400001 in the item name because the Modbus driver by

default treats all “4” registers as 16 bit unsigned integers or Words.

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Once the Acquisition dialog is complete, fill out the Storage dialog as needed and click the Finish button.

Figure 20: Tag Configuration - Storage

Commit Pending Changes in Historian

It’s now time to commit the configuration changes in Historian. Now, highlight the Configuration Editor.

Figure 21: Tag Added to Console Tree

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Right click then select Commit Pending Changes. Historian must be stopped to commit changes.

Figure 22: Commit Pending Changes

Once Commit Pending Changes is selected the Confirmation dialog below will open. Once the

Confirmation dialog appears choose Commit to commit the changes or Display to check the changes make

then Commit them after you have verified them.

Figure 23: Commit or Display Changes

You will then get a confirmation that the changes have finished and now it’s time to start collecting data.

Figure 24: Change Commit Confirmation

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Start Data Collection in Historian

You will first need to start Historian. Highlight the Status or Management Console item in the Console tree.

Figure 25: Historian Status

Right click on this and choose “Start Historian” from the context menu that appears.

Figure 26: Start Historian

Click on the OK button. You can see the data collection engines starting in the Status Window.

Figure 27: Start Historian Confirmation

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When the data collection items move to green you can then highlight Data Acquisition in the Console Tree

as shown below.

Figure 28: Data Acquistion Monitor

If the connection has been made correctly you will see the item as highlighted below.

Figure 29: Data Monitoring

If the item with ServerMain does not turn green, completely stop Historian and start it again. If you continue

to have problems go to Step 8 to check the TOP Server.

Verify Connection in TOP Server

The first thing to check is if a connection has been made from Historian to TOP Server and the number of

active tags in TOP Server. This should be done first with the OPC Quick Client shut down. Verifying the

connection is done by looking and the bottom right of the TOP Server as shown below.

Figure 30: Active Client and Tag Verification

The image on the left above shows the server without a connection, the image on the right above shows the

connection completed from Step 4. The number of Active tags should match the number of tags that are

configured in the Historian project. This is a good way to verify all your tags are connected.

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If there is any difference or there is no connection made check the TOP Server Event Log as shown below.

Figure 31: Event Log

The Event Log shown in this example has no errors. If there is a syntax error in the Topic or the Item field

in the Historian configuration errors will be shown in this log. These need to be resolved in order to get

consistent quality data from all tags. If the error was in the syntax of the Topic or the item field has an

invalid address for the device type the error will say, “Failed to add FastDDE/SuiteLink item…” This could

prevent the connection from being made if there are not correct items. This will need to be resolved before

you will be able to get the green icon in the Data Acquisitions section from Step7.

if there are no errors in the TOP Server Event Log and no connection to the server is made, the problem is

either in the Historian configuration or with the installation of the Wonderware common components. First

verify all the steps in this document.

If the configuration seems correct, then you may want to consider a reinstallation of Historian if that is

feasible. You may also want to involve your local Wonderware distributor support staff and ask them to

contact us and work with us on any TOP Server questions. We can work with your local Wonderware

support team to help get things working.

Also, once you have reached this point please contact us at support@softwaretoolbox.com for additional

help in checking your configuration. Please send the following files in a zip file along with any other

information that would help us to understand your configuration and application requirements.

- Servermain.log - found at \Program Files\Software Toolbox\TOP Server

- Servermain.ini - also found at \Program Files\Software Toolbox\TOP Server

- Your TOP Server project *.opf file

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Summary

This guide has demonstrated the basic steps for configuring a SuiteLink connection from System Platform to the TOP Server using the Simulator driver. This guide is also applicable in configuring SuiteLink

connections from System Platform to all of TOP Server’s other 90+ available device drivers.

If you do not have TOP Server but would like to evaluate what TOP Server can offer in terms of robust,

reliable device data acquisition, you can download a free two hour demonstration of TOP Server at

http://www.toolboxopc.com/wonderware. This demonstration version is fully functional, only requiring that

you restart it at the end of the two-hour demonstration period.

TOP Server also fully supports OPC and DDE client connections in addition to SuiteLink. For tutorials

demonstrating connecting InTouch or InSQL to TOP Server please refer to our Wonderware Users

Resource website by clicking or copying the following URL into your Internet browser:

http://www.toolboxopc.com/support/more_downloads/wonderware_downloads/wonderware_downloads.htm

l.

If you have further questions or need assistance, our experienced staff is here to assist you. We can be

contacted in the methods outlined below.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or are seeking further information and help:

Online Support: http://support.softwaretoolbox.com/

Email Support: support@softwaretoolbox.com

Phone Support: +1 (704) 849-2773

Fax: +1 (704) 849-6388

Mailing Address: Software Toolbox, Inc. 148A East Charles Street, Matthews, NC, 28105 USA