General Reference | On-Premises APM

OT Connect System Requirements

License Requirements

The APM OT Connect license is required to take full advantage of the OT Connect functionality.

Note: If you are upgrading from a 4.x version which is running PDI to use OT Connect, you must also activate the OPC Interfaces licenses.

Additional Components Required

In addition to the basic GE Digital APM system architecture, your system must also contain the following components:

OT Connect Conductor service must be installed on the GE Digital APM Server.
OT Connect Process Data Server: A machine on which the OPC compliant software is installed. The software requirements of this server are determined by the third-party distributor of the software. OT Connect Adapter must be installed on the OT Connect Process Data Server.
Process Historian: A machine on which the process historian software is installed. The software requirements of this machine are determined by the third-party distributor of the software.

Important: OT Connect supports the OPC Foundation Historical Data Access (OPC-HDA) specification version 1.20. To support direct consumption of readings by Asset Health indicators and triggered policies, the server must implement the End aggregate or preferably use the OT Connect OPC DA Protocol Adapter for the Data Access data.

Refer to the supported software and devices documentation for information about OT Connect Process Data Servers and Process Historians that are tested for the OT Connect feature. The OT Connect Adapter can be installed and run on the OT Connect Process Data Server in OT Source Capability Utility mode to validate the capabilities of specific OT Connect Process Data Servers and process historians on a case-by-case basis. Refer to the deployment section for more information on the OT Connect Adapter.

System Architecture

The following image shows the basic system architecture for deploying OT Connect with one GE Digital APM Server.

Note: While this image shows only a single, dedicated GE Digital APM Server along with all the list of the components, your implementation may contain one or more of these machines. The purpose of this image is to depict the interaction of the OT Connect Process Data Server with the basic GE Digital APM components, not to provide details on the basic components themselves. While your GE Digital APM system may contain multiple dedicated GE Digital APMGE Digital APM Servers, it can interact with multiple OT Connect Process Data servers for different historians.

Deploying OT Connect

After you have installed and configured the basic GE Digital APM system architecture, you must perform some configuration steps specifically for OT Connect.

If you want to use OT Connect with Asset Health Manager and Policy Designer, you must also configure the services associated with these modules.

OT Connect System Architecture

The following image shows how these machines should be incorporated into the basic GE Digital APM system architecture:

The Conductor requires access to the GE Digital APM Datasource(s), so it should be installed on the GE Digital APM Server with the other services.

Each OT Connect Adapter Service can connect a single Process Historian or OPC Server to a single GE Digital APM Datasource, so your solution may require multiple OT Connect Adapter Services, installed on the same or different servers.

Important: Do not configure more than one Adapter with the same OT Source Name.

The OT Connect Adapter Service does not require any inbound connections, only outbound connections to the Message Broker and Cache services, allowing the OT Connect Process Data Server to be deployed within a DMZ or OT Network without compromising security.

Required Server Ports

To ensure successful communications between GE Digital APM and OT Connect, make sure the listed ports are open.


Feature	Firewall Port	From	To
Tag and Subscription Synchronization	Configurable; 1433 for a default SQL Server. Additional ports as required by the chosen Authentication scheme	OT Connect Conductor	APM Database
Tag and Subscription Synchronization	Configurable; 6379 by default	OT Connect Conductor	Redis Server
Tag and Subscription Synchronization	Configurable; 61616 by default	OT Connect Conductor	ActiveMQ Server
All connectivity for that OT Source	Configurable; 6379 by default	OT Connect Adapter	Redis Server
All connectivity for that OT Source	Configurable; 61616 by default	OT Connect Adapter	ActiveMQ Server

Note: For the network requirements for each protocol, refer to the About the Protocol Adapters topic.

Data Model

The following image represents the Data Model for OT Connect.

OT Source: Source of Tags and Tag Value from the Edge

The following table provides a list and description of the fields that exist in the OT Source family and are available on the baseline OT Source datasheet. The information in the table reflects the baseline state and behavior of these fields. If your implementation has been customized, these fields may behave differently, and fields in addition to those listed here may be available.

This family is enabled for site filtering, which means that records in this family can be assigned to a specific site and will then only be accessible to users who are assigned to the same site and have the appropriate license and family privileges. For more information, refer to the Site Filtering section of the documentation.


Field Caption/ID	Data Type	Description	Behavior and Usage
MI_OTSRC_ID_C	Character	Unique Identifier	None
MI_OTSRC_CONN_DEF_T	Text	Connection Configuration	Reserved for future use
MI_OTSRC_TYPE_C	Type	Text	This field is a selection from a predefined list. Options include OPC HDA and Simulation
MI_OTSRC_NAME_C	Character	Name	None
MI_OTSRC_LAST_UPDT_D	Date	Last Update Time	None
MI_OTSRC_LAST_SYNC_D	Date	Last Sync Time	None
MI_OTSRC_SYNC_RATE_N	Numeric	Minutes between Tag Synchronizations	None
MI_OTSRC_CAPABILITY_N	Numeric	Capability	Bit Flags
MI_OTSRC_SYNC_DEF_T	Text	Synchronization Configuration	JSON
MI_OTSRC_SUB_RATE_N	Numeric	Default Subscription Rate	None

Source Tag: Tag definition from Source on the Edge

The following table provides a list and description of the fields that exist in the Source Tag family and are available on the baseline Source Tag datasheet. The information in the table reflects the baseline state and behavior of these fields. If your implementation has been customized, these fields may behave differently, and fields in addition to those listed here may be available.

This family is enabled for site filtering, which means that records in this family can be assigned to a specific site and will then only be accessible to users who are assigned to the same site and have the appropriate license and family privileges. For more information, refer to the Site Filtering section of the documentation.


Field Caption/ID	Data Type	Description	Behavior and Usage
MI_SRCTAG_ID_C	Character	Unique Identifier	None
MI_SRCTAG_NAME_C	Character	Name	Unique name in Process Historian
MI_SRCTAG_DESC_C	Character	Description
MI_SRCTAG_ITEM_C	Character	-	Reserved for future use
MI_SRCTAG_COMMENTS_T	Text	Comments
MI_SRCTAG_UOM_C	Character	UoM	Reserved for future use
MI_SRCTAG_RAW_UOM_C	Character	Raw UoM	UoM string reported by Process historian
MI_SRCTAG_EXT_PROPS_T	Text	Extended Properties
MI_SRCTAG_DELETED_B	Boolean	This Tag was deleted from the OT Source
MI_SRCTAG_DATA_TYPE_C	Character	Data Type	This field is a selection from a predefined list. Options include Boolean, Integer, Decimal, String, Timespan, DateTime
MI_SRCTAG_HS_OTSRC_FK_N	Numeric	OT Source Entity Key	Foreign Key to OT Source Records family
MI_SRCTAG_MIGR_FMLY_KEY_C	Character	Migrated Tag Family Key	Used for upgrade from MI_TAG based families (OPC Tag, GE Tag, AMS Tag)
MI_SRCTAG_MIGR_ENTY_KEY_C	Character	Migrated Tag Entity Key	Used for upgrade from MI_TAG based families (OPC Tag, GE Tag, AMS Tag)

Content Map: The relationships between content and sources

The following table provides a list and description of the fields that exist in the Content Map family and are available on the baseline Content Map datasheet. The information in the table reflects the baseline state and behavior of these fields. If your implementation has been customized, these fields may behave differently, and fields in addition to those listed here may be available.


Field Caption/ID	Data Type	Description	Behavior and Usage
MI_CONTMAP_ID_C	Character	Unique Identifier	None
MI_CONTMAP_TMPLT_NAME_C	Character	-	Reserved for future use
MI_CONTMAP_UOM_C	Character	UoM	Reserved for future use
MI_CONTMAP_LMT_DEFS_T	Text	Limit Definitions	JSON
MI_CONTMAP_TRIGGER_B	Boolean	-	Reserved for future use
MI_CONTMAP_REQ_CAP_N	Numeric	OT Source Capabilities Required by this Content	Bit flags
MI_CONTMAP_EQUIP_FK_N	Numeric	Equipment Key	Foreign Key to Equipment Record
MI_CONTMAP_FLOC_FK_N	Numeric	Functional Location Key	Foreign Key to Functional Location Record
MI_CONTMAP_SRCTAG_FK_N	Numeric	Source Tag Key	Foreign key to Source Tag record
MI_CONTMAP_PLCY_INST_FK_N	Numeric	Policy Instance Key	Foreign Key

Security Groups and Roles

The following table lists the baseline Security Groups available for users within this module, as well as the baseline Roles to which those Security Groups are assigned.

Important: Assigning a Security User to a Role grants that user the privileges associated with all of the Security Groups that are assigned to that Role. To avoid granting a Security User unintended privileges, before assigning a Security User to a Role, be sure to review all the privileges associated with the Security Groups assigned to that Role. Also, be aware that additional Roles, as well as Security Groups assigned to existing Roles, can be added via Security Manager.


Security Group	Roles
MI OT Connect Administrator	MI OT Connect Admin MI Health Admin
MI OT Connect Viewer	MI Health User MI Health Power MI OT Connect User
MI Content Template User	MI Health Admin MI OT Connect Admin
MI Content Template Viewer	MI Health User MI Health Power MI OT Connect User

The baseline family-level privileges that exist for these Security Groups are summarized in the following table.


Family	MI OT Connect Administrator	MI OT Connect Viewer
OT Source	View, Update, Insert, Delete	View
Source Tag	View, Update, Insert, Delete	View


Family	MI Content Template User	MI Content Template Viewer
Content Map	VIEW, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE	View

Site Filtering

The OT Source family uses the GE Digital APM Site Filter Control. When an OT Source record is created, it is assigned as Global. If the record is not reassigned to a specific site, then the user will always see the global record. For more information, refer to the Site Filtering section of the documentation.

Note: Only a Super User can modify the site assigned to an OT Source record. A user can modify the site assignment to a newly created connection record. However, once the user saves the system, it is no longer modifiable by a non-super user.

The OT Source is used to facilitate the transfer of records from your Process Historian server into GE Digital APM. Specifically, Source Tags are transferred into GE Digital APM. The records that are associated with the data source are assigned to Global when they are initially transferred into GE Digital APM.

The content Maps are foundational records that are used to map Source Tags to Equipment, Functional Locations, Health Indicators, and/or Policy Instances. The content Maps will inherit the site of the asset within the record.