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TN Hist100 Manually adding tags to Historian

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                           Tech Note                    

 

Description

Have an existing Historian and need to add a some new tags to be historized.

 

  • Author: Dillon Perera
  • Published: 09/27/2014
  • Applies to: Historian

 

How and When to Use this Guide

Have an existing Historian, but now want to manually add additional tags for historization.

The solution below is a set of summarized steps to give a quick overview of the process. Detailed information can be found in the Historian Admin PDF which is attached to this tech note, and also available on the installation DVD in the UserDocs folder.

Instructions

If you have only a few tags to add, or tags which are not being used anywhere else, you can add them into the Historian by manually entering the configuration.

For the steps below, I will use the example of wanting to historize an integer PLC value, from DASABCIP running on the local computer, with a PLC address of "EastTank101_LevelVal".

  1. Open the Wonderware System Managment Console (SMC) by going to Start > Programs > Wonderware > System Management Console.
  2. Expand the Configuration Settings by going to the Historian Branch (Called InSQL in older versions) > Historian Group > SERVERNAME > Configuration Editor.
  3. Expand System Configuration > Data Acquisition. This section will list the different data sources the Historian uses to gather data. In traditional installations most of the data acquisition will occur in the IDAS section.
  4. Expand the IDAS - SERVERNAME branch.
    HistAddTag_IDASBranch.JPG
  5. Branches will be shown for the previously defined IO Servers. The IO Servers will be listed in the format \\COMPUTER\IOSERVER (ex: \\OperatorPC\DASABCIP). Find the branch you need and expand it. If you need to define a new IO Server follow the steps below:
    1. Richt-click on your IDAS and select New I/O Server.
      HistAddTag_IDASBranch_AddIOServ.JPG
    2. In the I/O Server Location enter the Windows Computer Name or the Network IP Address of the PC that is running the IO Server.
    3. In the I/O Server Type select the name of the IO Server you would like to connect to.
    4. Leave the defaults for the rest of the entries and click Finish.
      HistAddTag_IDASBranch_AddIOServ_EnterInfo.JPG
  6. Left-click the IO Server that you will use and expand it to show the available topics. If you need to define a new topic for the IO Server follow the steps below:
    1. Right-click on your IO Server and select New Topic.
      HistAddTag_IDASBranch_AddTopic.JPG
    2. Enter the name of the Topic defined in the IO Server. For newer DAServers this will be listed as a "Device Group" in the DA Server's configuration.
      Example of Device Group in a DA Server. Note: The screen shot below is from a DAServer's configuration, and is not part of the Historian.
      HistAddTag_IDASBranch_AddTopic_NameOnDAS.JPG
    3. Leave the defaults for the rest of the settings and click Finish.
      HistAddTag_IDASBranch_AddTopic_EnterName.JPG
  7. Left-click the Topic so that it is highlighted. The previously defined tags will be listed on the right half of the screen. To add a new tag right-click on the topic and select the type of tag you would like to add. (Note: Before creating a new tag, it may be helpful to double-click an existing tag to see how it is configured.)
    HistAddTag_Topic_AddTag.JPG
  8. Enter the name of the tag, as it should be shown in the Historian. This is not related to the actual PLC address. Click Next.
    HistAddTag_Topic_AddTag_EnterName.JPG
  9. Enter the Engineering Units, and acceptable min and max values for the tag. Leave the other defaults and click Next.
    HistAddTag_Topic_AddTag_EnterMinMax.JPG
  10. In the Item Name field enter the actual PLC address which will be used to gather data. Adjust any other settings as necessary.
    HistAddTag_Topic_AddTag_EnterItem.JPG
  11. In the Storage Method section select how often a value should be stored. The default is Delta which will store only when the value changes. Other settings should be left at their defaults.
  12. Click Finish.
  13. The tag will now be listed in the Historian, but data will not be stored until the changes are committed.
    HistAddTag_TagListed.JPG
  14. At this point the tag is already created and saved, but committing must be done to make the changes take effect. If this is not done manually it will be done automatically when the Historian is restarted. To manually commit the changes, on the left side of the SMC left-click on the Configuration Editor branch. Right-click on the Configuration Editor and select Commit Pending Changes.
    HistAddTag_CommitChanges.JPG
  15. Click the Commit button. The commit may fail if the Historian is busy when you attempt the commit. If this occurs, try committing again in a few minutes.