Using the Collector

Workflow for Using the Server-to-Server Collector

To use the Server-to-Server collector, you must perform the following tasks:
Number Task Notes
1 Install the collectors on the machine on which you want to run the collector. This step is required. This will place the collector binaries on the machine.
2 Install Remote Management Agents. This step is required to manage collectors installed on a remote machine.
3 Add an instance of the Server-to-Server collector using Configuration Hub. This step is required.
4 Configure the Server-to-Server collector using Historian Administrator. This step is required only if you want to change the default values.
5 Create a destination tag. You can do so by browsing for the tag, adding it manually, or copying a tag. This step is required. If configured, the tag will contain a prefix.
6 Assign a trigger to the tag that you have created, similar to assigning a trigger for the Calculation collector. This step is optional. The trigger can be scheduled (polled) or unsolicited (event-based). When you use an event-based trigger, you must also set up a dependency list of one or more tags. For more information, refer to Create a Polled Trigger and Create an Unsolicited Trigger.
7 Create a formula similar to creating a formula for the Calculation collector. For instructions, refer to About Calculation Formulas. This step is optional.

You can expect thousands of tags per second to be processed, depending on your calculation formula. However, the destination server has a limited number of incoming events per second, which is shared by all the collectors.

For instance, for a polled collection, you can expect to perform hundreds of calculations per second. Polled calculations, using calculated data functions, are slower than unsolicited calculations using the CurrentValue() function.

Configure the Server-to-Server Collector Instance

Procedure

  1. Access Historian Administrator.
  2. Select the Server-to-Server collector from the list of collectors, and then select Configuration.
    The Collector Specific Configuration (ServerToServer) section appears.

  3. Provide values as specified in the following table, and then select Update.
    Field Description
    Alarm Replication Indicates whether you want to enable or disable alarm replication. If you enable alarm replication, all collected alarm data will be transferred from the source server to the destination server. If you enable alarm replication, you also enable alarm recovery. However, if you set the Max Recovery Time value to zero, alarm recovery does not happen.
    Message Replication Indicates whether you to want to enable or disable message replication. If you enable message replication, messages will be transferred from the source server to the destination server. You can use this data for audits. If you enable message replication, you also enable message recovery. However, if you set the Max Recovery Time value to zero, message recovery does not happen.
    Calculation Timeout (sec) The maximum time allowed for a tag's calculation formula to execute before being terminated. The default value is 10 seconds.
    Max Recovery Time (hr) The maximum duration, in hours, for which the collector will attempt to restore data during recovery logic. The default value is 4 hours.
    Add Prefix to Messages The prefix to identify replicated messages on the destination.
    Alarms and events data will automatically have a prefix added to it with the following syntax:
    MachineName_Datasource

    For example, if your alarm is forwarded from the server Almserver12 with a data source named OPCAE, the prefix will be Almserver12_OPCAE.
    The Server-to-Server collector is configured.