The Configure iFIX OPC A&E Server dialog box contains the following
information:
- OPC Attributes
- User Field Data Source
- Advanced
- Alarm Acknowledgement Security
OPC Attributes
This table lists the attributes that the server can send to OPC A&E
clients for the alarms and events it handles. Select the check marks ( ) next to the attributes that you want to make available
to the OPC A&E client.
You can edit attribute names of User Fields and Alarm Extension Fields.
Names of attributes that appear in grey cannot be changed.
The table that follows describes the attributes passed to the collector.
iFIX Field Name
|
Attribute Description
|
Source Tag
|
The tag name. For example: AI-1.
|
Message Type
|
The iFIX message type. For example: ALARM, OPERATOR,
ESIGNATURE, DELETE, and so on. Message types less than 11 characters in
length use hard-coded trailing spaces to make up the difference. For
instance, the "ESIGNATURE " message type includes a space at
the end, and the "DELETE "
message type includes five trailing spaces. For more information on message
types, refer to the Selecting Specific Alarm and Message Fields section.
|
Alarm Priority
|
Priority value before it is translated to a severity
number. For example: INFO, LOLO, LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH, HIHI, or CRITICAL.
|
Areas
|
The iFIX alarm area to which the source belongs. iFIX
provides 16 default alarm areas, named A through P; however, you can rename
the default areas or add new ones. Each alarm area name is unique and
can be up to 30 alphanumeric characters.
|
Node
|
The node where this event occurred. This value is
the logical node name.
|
Physical Node Name
|
The physical node where this event occurred. This
value is the local node name.
|
Application
|
The application responsible for this event (iFIX).
|
ApplicationVersion
|
The version of the application responsible for this
event. For example: 3.5.5717.0.
|
Message ID
|
Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) that uniquely identifies
the message.
This field does not contain a value for messages manufactured
by the server such as acknowledgements or bad data quality notifications.
|
Alarm Status
|
The iFIX status, such as OK, LO, LOLO, and so on,
before it is translated to the sub-condition name.
|
CV
|
The current value of the source when the condition
occurred.
|
EngUnitLabel
|
The engineering unit label for the current value (CV).
|
Tag Description
|
The tag's description field as entered in the process
database.
|
User Field1–4
|
User-configurable field names. Spaces are allowed
in this name.
NOTE: Only text
data (the A_ fields) are supported as user-configurable fields. Numeric
data (the F_ fields) are not currently supported.
|
Alm Ext Field1–2
|
The text entered in the block's alarm extension field.
Typically, the first extension field contains the name of the picture
that shows alarms from the current block. Spaces are allowed in this name.
|
Operator Name
|
When security is enabled, this field represents the
name of the currently logged in user.
NOTE: This value
may be different than the Perform_Name value.
|
Operator Full Name
|
When security is enabled, this field represents the
full name of the currently logged in user.
NOTE: This value
may be different than the Perform_FullName value.
|
User Full Name
|
The full name of the user associated with the event.
|
Operator Node Name
|
The name of the SCADA node where the operator acknowledged
the event.
|
Ack_By_FullName
|
The full name of the user who acknowledged the alarm.
|
Perform_Name
|
The first signature for this event.
|
Perform_FullName
|
The full name of the user who signed the first signature.
|
Perform_Comment
|
The comment associated with the first signature.
|
Verify_Name
|
The second signature for this event.
|
Verify_FullName
|
The full name of the user who signed the second signature.
|
Verify_Comment
|
The comment associated with the second signature.
|
Ack_Comment
|
The comment entered when acknowledging an alarm in
the Alarm Viewer. This comment goes into Historian SQL tables
where the alarm and events are stored.
|
Select All and Restore Defaults Buttons
The Select All button enables the check mark next to all items in the
OPC Attributes list.
The Restore Defaults button clears all user entries
and restores the check marks for the default attributes:
- SourceTag
- Message Type
- Node
- Alarm Status
- CV
- EngUnitLabel
User Field Data Source
If you select User Field 1, 2, 3, or 4 from the Attribute list, the
fields become available in this group box. Enter the iFIX data source
tag name.
NOTE: Only text data
(the A_ fields) are supported as user-configurable fields. Numeric data
(the F_ fields) are not supported.
User Fields are implemented in the same manner as they are in the Alarm
ODBC. If you configured user fields in the Alarm ODBC, you need to configure
them here as well. The values listed for the User Fields are available
in the iFIX ODBC Alarm Service Configuration dialog box. Access this dialog
box if you need to obtain User Field values for the iFIX OPC A&E Server
configuration. Refer to the "Configuring the Alarm ODBC Service"
section in the iFIX Implementing Alarms and Messages electronic book for
more on how to access this dialog box.
Advanced
The following table describes the fields in the Advanced group box.
NOTE: For the Priority Rankings in the following table, the Severity for the Alarm must conform to the OPC A&E specification guidelines. OPC Severity ranges from 1-1000, where 1000 is the most severe alarm. If you are using Web HMI with iFIX, be sure to read the "Alarm Microservice" topic or search for "alarm severity" in the Web HMI documentation. It's important to configure this severity correctly so that you get the results that you want to see in Web HMI. For example, events of high urgency can be mapped into the OPC severity range of 667-1000, events of medium urgency can be mapped into the OPC severity range of 334 to 666, and events of low urgency can be mapped into the OPC severity of 1 to 333.
Field
|
Description
|
Priority Rank –
INFO
|
By default, the INFO (Informational) priority alarms
for iFIX tags map to an OPC severity number of 40.
This number is configurable. OPC Severity ranges from
1-1000, where 1000 is the most severe alarm or event.
The iFIX alarm priority tag that this field maps to
is the ALM_PRIORITY_INFO tag.
|
Priority Rank –
LOLO
|
By default, the LOLO (Low Low) priority alarms for
iFIX tags map to an OPC severity number of 80.
This number is configurable. OPC Severity ranges from
1-1000, where 1000 is the most severe alarm or event.
The iFIX alarm priority tag that this field maps to
is the ALM_PRIORITY_LOLO tag.
|
Priority Rank –
LOW
|
By default, the LOW priority alarms for iFIX tags
map to an OPC severity number of 150.
This number is configurable. OPC Severity ranges from
1-1000, where 1000 is the most severe alarm or event.
The iFIX alarm priority tag that this field maps to
is the ALM_PRIORITY_LOW tag.
|
Priority Rank –
MEDIUM
|
By default, the MEDIUM priority alarm for iFIX tags
map to an OPC severity number of 500.
This number is configurable. OPC Severity ranges from
1-1000, where 1000 is the most severe alarm or event.
The iFIX alarm priority tag that this field maps to
is the ALM_PRIORITY_MEDIUM tag.
|
Priority Rank –
HIGH
|
By default, the HIGH priority alarms for iFIX tags
map to an OPC severity number of 850.
This number is configurable. OPC Severity ranges from
1-1000, where 1000 is the most severe alarm or event.
The iFIX alarm priority tag that this field maps to
is the ALM_PRIORITY_HIGH tag.
|
Priority Rank –
HIHI
|
By default, the HIHI (High High) priority alarms for
iFIX tags map to an OPC severity number of 900.
This number is configurable. OPC Severity ranges from
1-1000, where 1000 is the most severe alarm or event.
The iFIX alarm priority tag that this field maps to
is the ALM_PRIORITY_HIHI tag.
|
Priority Rank –
CRITICAL
|
By default, the CRITICAL priority alarms for iFIX
tags map to an OPC severity number of 950.
This number is configurable. OPC Severity ranges from
1-1000, where 1000 is the most severe alarm or event.
The iFIX alarm priority tag that this field maps to
is the ALM_PRIORITY_CRITICAL tag.
|
Queue Size
|
The maximum number of records that can be stored in
the alarm queue.
You must restart iFIX for Queue Size changes to be
applied. The iFIX Queue design requires restart of iFIX if there is a
change in queue size.
For tips on how to deal with issues with the alarm
queue, refer to the Troubleshooting
section.
|
Only get alarms on node
|
Select this option to filter the alarm by a the specified
node name. Enter the logical node name in the field next to this check
box.
|
This section contains the settings that determine how security is enforced for alarm acknowledgement requests received from the OPC A&E clients.