Using InTouch’s Distributed Name Manager to Read Historical Data from Other Machines.

Problem Statement

• Have multiple operator stations which run the same InTouch application or would like to view historical data from other systems. 
• Instead of logging historical data locally to each individual machine, would like to enable logging just on one. 
• When viewing the historical data, would like the data to be retrieved from the remote logging system.

Solution Details

InTouch can be configured to store and retrieve historical data on a different PC. This is a three-step process requiring specifying where the data will be stored and which PC will write it, specifying where remote applications will find the data, and finally retrieving and displaying the data.

For this example we will have three PCs:

1. StorageNode: This PC will have the historical data stored to its hard drive.
2. LoggingNode: This PC will write the actual data to the Storage Node’s hard drive.
3. RetrievalNode: This PC will read the historical data from the Storage Node PC.

Note: StorageNode and LoggingNode PCs can be the same computer.

Step #1 – Specifying which PC should log the data

• Open your InTouch application in WindowMaker.
• Go to the Special Menu, then to Configure > Historical Logging.

1. Make sure the Enable Historical Logging option is selected.
2. Specify a folder to log the historical data to.
   1. This path will need to be specified in UNC format. ie: \\STORAGENODE\FOLDER
   2. This will need to be a folder which has been already created on the hard drive, as the software will not create the folder for you.
   3. The folder should be shared in Windows.
   4. Ensure the folder path is under 50 characters, as InTouch will have problems if the path is too long.
3. In the Name of Logging Node, specify the name of the computer which should write the historical data to the folder on the Storage Node PC.
   
4. Click OK to exit.

Step #2 – Use the Distributed Name Manager to specify where the Retrieval Node will find the historical data

• Open your InTouch application in WindowMaker.
• Go to the Special Menu, then to Configure > Distributed Name Manager.
• Go to the Distributed History Tab.
• Enter a new Provider which represents the remote data provider.
  1. Enter a “Provider Name” to represent the other PC.
  2. Select “InTouch Provider” and enter the UNC path to the InTouch application on the LoggingNode PC. InTouch will connect to the InTouch application on the Logging Node to know where to find the historical data. 
     The InTouch application folder must be contained within a shared folder on the remote system. Note: This is the path to the InTouch application, not the historical log files.
     The UNC path will be in the format \\LOGGINGNODE\SHAREDFOLDER\INTOUCHAPP
  3. Click Add, to add the new Provider to the list.
  4. Click OK to exit.
     

Step #3 – View historical data.

• Open your InTouch application in WindowMaker.
• Open a window which has a Historical Trend on it.
• When selecting Pens, double click in the blank space. This normally brings up the Tag Browser, but will now bring up the List of Providers.
  
• Select the Provider which was created in the previous step.
• Select which tag from the remote application you would like to trend.
• Save and run WindowViewer.