opc desktop historian manual(1)

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian

User's Manual

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian v4.4.3.0 User’s Manual 2

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian User's Manual

This manual is a product of Matrikon Inc.

Matrikon Inc.

Suite 1800, 10405 Jasper Avenue

Edmonton, AB T5J 3N4

Canada

Phone: +1.780.448.1010

Fax: +1.780.448.9191

www.matrikonopc.com

Document Revision History:

Date Document

Version Description Author

2003-08-06 1.0 Initial Document. THN

2003-09-15 1.1 Updated for Distribution. THN

2003-09-30 1.2 Changes to User Interface. THN

2004-01-07 1.3 Excel Plug-in section added. THN

2004-04-10 1.4 Branding. SML

2004-08-24 1.5 Screenshots updated. IMF

2005-05-20 1.6 Updates to reflect new screenshots. EJM

2005-10-18 1.7

Updated with latest screenshots for tag attributes.

Updated with latest screenshots. Updated data

collection management. Added OPC Client

configuration.

EW

2006-03-30 2.0

Added section of “Refresh Tag List”. Added

section on how to configure array elements.

Added section on OPC2XL and OPC Trender

licensing.

EW

2006-10-04 2.1 Added information regarding implementation of

ReadProcessed INTERP method. CAV

2007-01-12 3.0 Applied new template. Updated procedures, and

screenshots to reflect ODH software v3.0.1.0. LB

2007-10-09 4.0

Added Tag Management toolbar functionality;

added Tag Lifetime and Timestamp processing

attribute descriptions; added Analyzer install

information to Installation section.

CGAP, LB

http://www.matrikonopc.com/


2007-11-29 4.1

Changed versions to 3.3.0.0 for next release,

corrected support website, removed references to

NT in the DCOM appendix, corrected screen shots,

and added items to terminology section.

CGAP

2008-01-03 4.2

Removed any mention of the lifetime check

multiplier, and updated screenshot for the OPC

client configuration screen.

CGAP

2008-01-30 4.3 OPC Compliance section updated per #8592. LB

2008-02-14 4.4

Added configuration for the storage engine, and a

note indicating where the documentation for

Trender and OPC2XL can be found. Updated the

FF7 file size limitation for clarity.

CGAP

2008-03-26 4.5 Updated to reflect changes to the lifetime feature

and GUI. CGAP

2008-03-31 4.6

Added Result Log Configuration tab information to

FileCollector section, added Advanced button and

Advanced Tag Options window to Data Collection

Management section, updated Version

screenshots.

LB

2008-04-07 4.7 Removed Enable Lifetime for these tags checkbox

description from Table 16. LB

2008-04-22 4.8 Corrections and clarifications for lifetime feature. CHB

2008-08-26 5.0 Added section about the backup tool, updated

installation section. CGAP

2008-12-16 6.0

Added content for the Backup GUI. Removed OPC

Compliance section. Updated screenshots to

reflect Backup Utility. Added Appendix H – HDA

Relative Time Format.

CGAP, LB

2009-01-14 6.1

Replaced the following figures in Backup Utility

section with updated screenshots: 21, 35, 36, 39,

41, 43-45.

CGAP

2009-01-15 7.0 Added information for FF7 Rolling Buffer mode. CHB

2009-02-11 7.1 Made corrections for UI changes. CGAP, LB

2009-02-18 8.0

Added information regarding MatrikonOPC ODBC

Server for OPC demo license in Installation and

Licensing section.

LB

2009-03-03 8.1 Added information for Maximum Return Values

and Aggregate Overread features. CHB

2009-03-17 8.2 Added additional password information for Backup

Utility. CHB


2009-04-28 9.0

Updated FF7 Configuration Options and FF4

Configuration Options sections. Added a note to

Backup Utility section. Replaced Figure 36 Create

New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Credentials and

Figure 45 Backup Now Wizard: Backup Operation

screenshots. Updated Command Line Options

section. Added item #8 to Limitations section.

TM

2009-06-03 9.1

Updated the following sections: Installed Files,

Contacting Support, FF7R Configuration Options,

OPC Server Configuration (Server Options page

components), Limitations. Added note to Data

Storage Management – File Format Selection

section. Updated note in Appendix A – File

Formats – High Resolution Rolling Buffer (FF4)

section.

TM, LB

2009-06-12 9.2 Updated Contacting Support section. Added Quick

Start Guide to Installed Files section. LB

2009-06-26 9.3

Updated Software Requirements. Updated

introductory notes in File Format Selection.

Updated FF7R Configuration Options. Updated FF4

Configuration Options. Added introductory

statement to ODBC Server section. Updated

Renaming a Tag procedure in Tag Manager –

Excel Plug-In section. Added Desktop Historian

instructional video to Installed Files section.

TM

2009-08-24 10.0

Updated backup utility command line and GUI

sections to include the restore feature. Removed

DEP settings note from Installation section.

Updated Installation section to include demo

install of Matrikon Analytics Excel Reporter.

Updated introduction in Appendix D – DCOM.

CGAP, LB

2009-09-03 11.0

Updated software version to 4.3.0.0. Updated the

OPC server configuration section to include new

settings.

CGAP

2009-10-14 12.0

Updated software version to 4.4.0.0. Updated

Installation and Un-Installation sections. Updated

Installed Files section. Updated Licensing section.

Removed Windows 2000 from Software

Requirements section.

CGAP, LB

2009-10-22 12.1 Limitations section updated to include a limitation

regarding restore functionality. LB

2010-02-03 13.0 Updated software version to 4.4.1.0. CB, LB


2010-02-12 13.1

Updated Software Requirements section,

OPC/data naming convention changed, replaced

the screenshots for the following figures: 50, 51,

60, 67.

CB, LB

2010-09-01 14.0

Updated software version to 4.4.2.0. Updated

Software Requirements, Licensing, Contacting

Support, Troubleshooting, and Limitations

sections. Updated note in Tag Manager – Excel

Plug-In section.

BP, LB

2010-09-03 14.1 Updated Software Requirements and Limitations

sections. BP, LB

2012-01-10 15.0 Updated software version to 4.4.3.0. Updated

Software Requirements and Limitations sections. MRP, LB


SOFTWARE VERSION

Version: 4.4.3.0

DOCUMENT VERSION

Version: 15.0

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

© Copyright 1997 - 2012, Matrikon Inc. All rights reserved. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act,

no part of this manual may be reproduced by any process without the written permission of Matrikon Inc.

CONFIDENTIAL

The information contained herein is confidential and proprietary to Matrikon Inc. It may not be disclosed or transferred, directly or indirectly, to any third party without the explicit written permission of Matrikon Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, translated, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission

of Matrikon Inc. Matrikon has made its best effort to prepare this manual. Matrikon makes no representation or warranties of any kind with regard to the completeness or accuracy of the contents herein and accepts no liability of any kind including without limitation warranties of merchantable quality, satisfactory quality, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose on those arising by law, statute, usage of trade, course of dealing or otherwise. Matrikon shall not be liable for any losses or damages of any kind caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly from this manual. Matrikon reserves the right to make any improvements and/or changes to product specifications at any time without notice.

LICENSE AGREEMENT

This document and the software described in this document are supplied under a license agreement and may only be used in accordance with the terms of that agreement.

TRADEMARK INFORMATION

The following are either trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective organizations: MatrikonOPC™ is a division of Matrikon™ Inc. Matrikon and MatrikonOPC are trademarks or registered trademarks of Matrikon Inc. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, the Adobe PDF logo, Distiller and Reader are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.


Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 13 Who Should Use This Manual ............................................................................................ 13 Overview of Manual ......................................................................................................... 13 References ..................................................................................................................... 14 Terminology ................................................................................................................... 15

Getting Started ............................................................................................................... 16 System Requirements ...................................................................................................... 16

Software Requirements ................................................................................................. 16 Hardware Requirements ................................................................................................ 16

Installation ..................................................................................................................... 17 Installed Files.................................................................................................................. 29 Licensing ........................................................................................................................ 34

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Licensing ........................................................................ 34 ODBC Server Licensing .................................................................................................. 35 Licensing OPC Trender .................................................................................................. 35 Licensing ODBC Server for OPC, Matrikon Analytics Excel Reporter, and Performance Monitor 35

Contacting Support .......................................................................................................... 35 Configuration ................................................................................................................. 37

Launching MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian .......................................................................... 37 Configuration Window ...................................................................................................... 37

File Menu ..................................................................................................................... 38 Window Menu .............................................................................................................. 39 Help Menu ................................................................................................................... 39

Starting and Stopping MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian ......................................................... 39 Generic Management ...................................................................................................... 41

Log Settings ................................................................................................................... 41 Version Information ......................................................................................................... 42

Data Storage Management ............................................................................................. 43 File Format Selection ....................................................................................................... 43 FF7 Configuration Options ................................................................................................ 44 FF7R Configuration Options .............................................................................................. 44 FF4 Configuration Options ................................................................................................ 45

Backup Utility ................................................................................................................. 47 Schedule Backup Operation .............................................................................................. 48 Modify Backup Operation .................................................................................................. 63 Remove Backup Operation ................................................................................................ 66 Perform Backup Now ........................................................................................................ 67 Restore Backup ............................................................................................................... 69 Backup Utility Logging Options .......................................................................................... 71

General Logging Tab ..................................................................................................... 72 Log Filtering Tab ........................................................................................................... 73

Version .......................................................................................................................... 74 Command Line Use .......................................................................................................... 74

Accessing the Command Line ......................................................................................... 75 Command Line Options ................................................................................................. 75

Data Collection Management .......................................................................................... 79 Tag Browser ................................................................................................................... 80 Tag Workspace ............................................................................................................... 83

Tag Management Toolbar .............................................................................................. 84 Tag Management Context Menu ..................................................................................... 84


Tag Status ................................................................................................................... 85 Adding a Tag .................................................................................................................. 86 Removing a Tag .............................................................................................................. 87 Changing a Tag Attribute .................................................................................................. 88 Renaming a Tag .............................................................................................................. 89 Turning Tags On or Off ..................................................................................................... 90 Changing the Update Rate ................................................................................................ 90 Changing the Node Name and Process Name ...................................................................... 90 Invalid Attributes ............................................................................................................. 91 Configuring Array Elements .............................................................................................. 92 Configuring Tag Lifetime and Timestamp Processing Attributes ............................................. 92 Refreshing the Tag List .................................................................................................... 94

Customizing the Display ................................................................................................. 96 Tag Browser Docking ....................................................................................................... 96

Visible Attributes .......................................................................................................... 97 Colour Legend ................................................................................................................. 99

OPC Server Configuration ............................................................................................. 100 Server Options .............................................................................................................. 100 Logging Options ............................................................................................................ 102

General Logging Tab ................................................................................................... 102 Log Filtering Tab ......................................................................................................... 104

Version ........................................................................................................................ 104 OPC Client Configuration .............................................................................................. 106

Client Settings Tab ........................................................................................................ 106 Logging Settings Tab ..................................................................................................... 107 Version ........................................................................................................................ 109

FileCollector ................................................................................................................. 110 ODBC Server ................................................................................................................. 111

Databases Tab .............................................................................................................. 111 Configuring a New Database ........................................................................................ 112 Removing a Database ................................................................................................. 114

General Tab .................................................................................................................. 114 Version ........................................................................................................................ 115

Tag Manager – Excel Plug-In ........................................................................................ 117 Installing Tag Manager Add-Ins ....................................................................................... 117 Connecting to Tag Manager ............................................................................................ 117 Loading Attributes ......................................................................................................... 118 Adding, Changing, and Deleting Tag Attributes .................................................................. 118 Renaming an Attribute ................................................................................................... 119 Loading Tags for Viewing ................................................................................................ 120 Filtering Tags ................................................................................................................ 120 Limiting Attribute Display ............................................................................................... 121 Adding OPC Tags ........................................................................................................... 121 Turning Tag Scanning On and Off .................................................................................... 122 Renaming a Tag ............................................................................................................ 123

Diagnostics .................................................................................................................. 124 Logging ........................................................................................................................ 124

Troubleshooting ........................................................................................................... 125 Problems and Solutions .................................................................................................. 125 Questions and Answers .................................................................................................. 127

Limitations ................................................................................................................... 128 Un-Installation ............................................................................................................. 130


Table of Appendices

Appendix A – File Formats ............................................................................................ 135 High Resolution Rolling Buffer (FF4) ................................................................................. 135 High Resolution Rolling Buffer (FF7R) ............................................................................... 135 Dynamic File Creation (FF7) ............................................................................................ 136

Appendix B – Attributes ............................................................................................... 137 Appendix C – Desktop Historian Data Types ................................................................. 139 Appendix D – Distributed COM (DCOM) ........................................................................ 140

DCOM Configuration Utility ............................................................................................. 140 Default Properties .......................................................................................................... 140 Security Permissions ...................................................................................................... 141 Server Identity .............................................................................................................. 144 Default Protocols ........................................................................................................... 144 Remote Program ID ....................................................................................................... 144

Appendix E – OPC Data Types ...................................................................................... 146 Appendix F – Third-Party Licensing .............................................................................. 147

Syncfusion Essential Studio 4.4.0.51 ................................................................................ 147 Appendix G – Sample Custom Script............................................................................. 148 Appendix H – HDA Relative Time Format ...................................................................... 149

Table of Figures

Figure 1 - InstallAware Wizard Verification Window ...................................................... 17 Figure 2 - License Agreement Screen ............................................................................. 18 Figure 3 - Product Registration Screen ........................................................................... 19 Figure 4 - Setup Type Screen ......................................................................................... 20 Figure 5 - Destination Folder Screen .............................................................................. 21 Figure 6 - Start Menu Screen .......................................................................................... 22 Figure 7 - Licensing Screen ............................................................................................ 23 Figure 8 - MatrikonOPC Performance Monitor Screen ..................................................... 24 Figure 9 - Matrikon Analytics Excel Reporter .................................................................. 25 Figure 10 - MatrikonOPC Trender Screen ....................................................................... 26 Figure 11 - Ready to Install Screen ................................................................................ 27 Figure 12 - Installing MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian ................................................... 28 Figure 13 - MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Setup Complete Screen .............................. 29 Figure 14 - Configuration Window .................................................................................. 38 Figure 15 - Windows Services Panel ............................................................................... 40 Figure 16 - Log Settings Tab .......................................................................................... 41 Figure 17 - Version Information Tab .............................................................................. 42 Figure 18 - Data Storage Management Page .................................................................. 43 Figure 19 - FF7R Configuration Options.......................................................................... 45 Figure 20 - FF4 Configuration Options ............................................................................ 46 Figure 21 - Backup Utility ............................................................................................... 48 Figure 22 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Backup Name .................................. 49 Figure 23 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Backup Operation ........................... 50 Figure 24 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Destination ..................................... 51 Figure 25 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Select Files ..................................... 52 Figure 26 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Select Files (Delete or Move Operation

Selected) ........................................................................................................................ 52


Figure 27 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Select Files By Date ........................ 53 Figure 28 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Select Files By Date (Move or Delete

Operation Selected) ....................................................................................................... 54 Figure 29 - Date Editor Window ..................................................................................... 55 Figure 30 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Schedule Type ................................ 56 Figure 31 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Daily Schedule ................................ 57 Figure 32 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Weekly Schedule ............................. 58 Figure 33 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Monthly Schedule ........................... 59 Figure 34 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: One Time Only Schedule ................. 60 Figure 35 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Credentials ..................................... 61 Figure 36 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Summary ........................................ 62 Figure 37 - Create New Scheduled Backup: Complete .................................................... 63 Figure 38 - Modify Scheduled Backup ............................................................................. 64 Figure 39 - Modify Scheduled Backup Wizard: Backup Name ......................................... 65 Figure 40 - Modify Scheduled Backup Wizard: Summary ................................................ 66 Figure 41 - Remove Scheduled Backup ........................................................................... 67 Figure 42 - Remove Scheduled Backup Confirmation ..................................................... 67 Figure 43 - Run Backup Now .......................................................................................... 68 Figure 44 - Backup Now Wizard: Backup Operation ....................................................... 69 Figure 45 - Restore Backup Wizard: Choose Source ....................................................... 70 Figure 46 - Restore Backup Wizard: Summary ............................................................... 71 Figure 47 - General Logging Tab .................................................................................... 72 Figure 48 - Log Filtering Tab .......................................................................................... 73 Figure 49 - Backup Utility Version .................................................................................. 74 Figure 50 - Data Collection Management Page ............................................................... 79 Figure 51 - Tag Browser (with and without Flat Browse enabled).................................. 80 Figure 52 - Advanced Tag Options Window .................................................................... 81 Figure 53 - Tag Workspace ............................................................................................. 83 Figure 54 - Tag Management Toolbar ............................................................................. 84 Figure 55 - Tag Management Context Menu ................................................................... 85 Figure 56 - Tag Status .................................................................................................... 86 Figure 57 - Data Collector State (showing Started and Stopped) ................................... 86 Figure 58 - Tag Workspace showing Tags Marked for Deletion ...................................... 88 Figure 59 - Tag Workspace showing Changed Attribute ................................................. 89 Figure 60 - Changing Node Name and Process Name ..................................................... 91 Figure 61 - Invalid Attributes ......................................................................................... 92 Figure 62 - Configuring Array Elements ......................................................................... 92 Figure 63 - Lifetime and Timestamp Processing Attributes (with Lifetime Update Rate

Field Options Displayed) ................................................................................................ 93 Figure 64 - Refresh Tag List ........................................................................................... 95 Figure 65 - Tag Browser Title Bar ................................................................................... 96 Figure 66 - Auto-Hide Tag Browser Window ................................................................... 96 Figure 67 - Floating Tag Browser Window ...................................................................... 97 Figure 68 - Set Visible Attributes (First Approach) ......................................................... 98 Figure 69 - Set Visible Attributes (Second Approach) .................................................... 99 Figure 70 - Colour Legend .............................................................................................. 99 Figure 71 - Server Options Page ................................................................................... 100 Figure 72 - General Logging Tab .................................................................................. 103 Figure 73 - Log Filtering Tab ........................................................................................ 104 Figure 74 - OPC Server Version Information Page ........................................................ 105 Figure 75 - Client Settings Tab (OPC Client) ................................................................. 106 Figure 76 - Logging Settings (OPC Client) .................................................................... 108 Figure 77 - OPC Client Version Information Page ......................................................... 109


Figure 78 - Databases Tab ............................................................................................ 111 Figure 79 - Database Configuration Wizard (Step 1) .................................................... 112 Figure 80 - Database Configuration Wizard (Step 2) .................................................... 113 Figure 81 - Database Configuration Wizard (Step 3) .................................................... 113 Figure 82 - New Database Created ............................................................................... 114 Figure 83 - General Tab ................................................................................................ 115 Figure 84 - ODBC Server Version Information Page ..................................................... 116 Figure 85 - Excel Title Bar ............................................................................................ 117 Figure 86 - Load Tags Window ..................................................................................... 120 Figure 87 - Add OPC Tags Window ............................................................................... 122 Figure 88 - Add or Remove Programs ........................................................................... 130 Figure 89 - Welcome to MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Maintenance Screen .............. 131 Figure 90 - Ready to Uninstall Screen .......................................................................... 132 Figure 91 - Uninstalling MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Screen .................................. 133 Figure 92 - MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Setup Complete Screen ............................ 134 Figure 93 - Distributed COM Configuration Properties Window .................................... 142 Figure 94 - Distributed COM Configuration Security Tab .............................................. 143

Table of Tables

Table 1 - Terms and Definitions...................................................................................... 15 Table 2 - Files Installed in “Desktop Historian” Folder ................................................... 30 Table 3 - Files Installed in "Core" Folder ........................................................................ 31 Table 4 - Files Installed in "OPC Client" Folder ............................................................... 31 Table 5 - Files Installed in "OPC Server" Folder ............................................................. 32 Table 6 - Files Installed in "Task Scheduler" Folder ....................................................... 32 Table 7 - Files Installed in "Util" Folder ......................................................................... 32 Table 8 - Files Installed in "Util" Folder ......................................................................... 32 Table 9 - Files Installed in Global Assembly Cache ......................................................... 33 Table 10 - Files Installed in "Common" Folder ............................................................... 34 Table 11 - Files Installed in "system32" Folder .............................................................. 34 Table 12 - MatrikonOPC Support Regional Contact Information ..................................... 35 Table 13 - After-Hours Support ...................................................................................... 36 Table 14 - Configuration Window Options ...................................................................... 38 Table 15 - File Menu Commands ..................................................................................... 39 Table 16 - Help Menu Command ..................................................................................... 39 Table 17 - General Logging Options Settings Tab ........................................................... 42 Table 18 - FF7 Configuration Options ............................................................................. 44 Table 19 - FF7R Configuration Options ........................................................................... 45 Table 20 - FF4 Configuration Options ............................................................................. 46 Table 21 - Select Files Options ....................................................................................... 53 Table 22 - Select Files By Date Options .......................................................................... 54 Table 23 - Daily Schedule Options .................................................................................. 57 Table 24 - Weekly Schedule Options .............................................................................. 58 Table 25 - Monthly Schedule Options ............................................................................. 59 Table 26 - One Time Only Schedule Options ................................................................... 60 Table 27 - General Logging Tab Components ................................................................. 73 Table 28 - Log Filtering Tab Components ....................................................................... 73 Table 29 - General Options ............................................................................................. 76 Table 30 - Commands ..................................................................................................... 77 Table 31 - Valid Selections ............................................................................................. 78


Table 32 - Tag Browser Components .............................................................................. 81 Table 33 - Advanced Tag Options Window Components ................................................. 83 Table 34 - Tag Management Toolbar Components .......................................................... 84 Table 35 - Tag Management Context Menu Options ........................................................ 85 Table 36 - Timestamp and Lifetime Processing Attributes Descriptions ......................... 94 Table 37 - Server Options Page Components ................................................................ 101 Table 38 - General Logging Tab Components ............................................................... 103 Table 39 - Log Filtering Tab Components ..................................................................... 104 Table 40 - Connection Settings ..................................................................................... 107 Table 41 - Data Buffer Settings .................................................................................... 107 Table 42 - Logging Settings .......................................................................................... 108 Table 43 - Databases Tab Components ......................................................................... 112 Table 44 - General Tab Components ............................................................................. 115 Table 45 - Attributes .................................................................................................... 138 Table 46 - Desktop Historian Data Types ...................................................................... 139 Table 47 - OPC Data Types ........................................................................................... 146 Table 48 - Keywords..................................................................................................... 149 Table 49 - Offset Units ................................................................................................. 149 Table 50 - Relative Time Examples ............................................................................... 150


Introduction MatrikonOPC™ Desktop Historian is an economical, easy to install, easy to configure, and easy to

administer data archiving tool. It focuses on data collection, not data presentation and processing.

It is a solution for time-based data storage that can stand alone, or become part of a total

enterprise data historian solution. Desktop Historian is designed to be a low-maintenance data

storage solution.

Built on MatrikonOPC Integrated Configuration (iC!) architecture, Desktop Historian enables total

MatrikonOPC configuration management. Multiple Desktop Historians can be combined to create a

true distributed historian solution.

Desktop Historian provides storage for OPC Data and has three components:

Core

OPC Server

OPC Client

The embedded OPC client allows data collection from any OPC DA server. The embedded OPC

server allows any software package containing an OPC Client, to be used to inspect the data

contained in Desktop Historian. The Core acts as a storage space within Desktop Historian from

which the OPC Server accesses the data.

Data is collected using OPC, and accessed using OPC. MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian is a

standards-based product that can be combined with any OPC product to create a best of breed

solution.

Who Should Use This Manual This manual is intended for all users of MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian. This manual explains how

to install, license, and configure the software, and how to perform common tasks. In addition,

technical information about OPC data items, diagnostics information, and a troubleshooting section

is included.

Overview of Manual This manual uses icons to highlight valuable information. Remember these icons and what they

mean, as they will assist you throughout the manual.

This symbol denotes important information that must be

acknowledged. Failure to do so may result in the software not

functioning properly.

BOLD

Font displayed in this colour and style indicates a hyperlink to the

applicable/associated information within this manual, or if applicable,

any external sources.

The User’s Manual has been designed as such so that you can click on references in the document

to jump to that referenced point without having to scroll through several pages (in some cases).

For example, if you were to see the sentence “Refer to Figure 1 for more information”, pressing the

CTRL key and clicking your mouse on the text “Figure 1” will automatically take you to the location

of Figure 1 within the document.


This manual consists of several chapters and is structured as follows:

Introduction – this introductory chapter.

Getting Started – provides instructions for installing the software, and MatrikonOPC

Support team contact information.

Configuration – shows how to start and configure the software, and describes each

component in detail.

Data Storage Management – shows how to customize historical data to be stored and

accessed.

Backup Utility – shows how to schedule and manage backups on data stored in Desktop

Historian.

Data Collection Management – shows how to customize data to be collected and

organized.

OPC Server Configuration – shows how to start and configure Desktop Historian’s OPC

server.

OPC Client Configuration – shows how to configure Desktop Historian’s OPC client.

FileCollector – information regarding the MatrikonOPC FileCollector component.

ODBC Server – shows how to configure the ODBC Server component.

Tag Manager Excel Plug-in – shows how Tag Manager is used to work with tags in

Desktop Historian.

Troubleshooting – provides solutions for common problems that may have been

encountered, and answers to frequently asked questions.

Limitations – provides information on specific performance and operational limitations of

the software.

Un-installation – provides instructions on un-installing the software.

Appendices:

o A – File Formats

o B – Attributes

o C – Desktop Historian Data Types

o D – Distributed COM (DCOM)

o E – OPC Data Types

o F – Third-Party Licensing

o G – Sample Custom Script

o H – HDA Relative Time Format

References This document references information contained in the following documents:

www.opcfoundation.org

www.matrikonopc.com

www.opcsupport.com

http://www.opcfoundation.org/

http://www.matrikonopc.com/

http://www.opcsupport.com/


OPC Data Access Custom Interface (Version 2.05) Specification

OPC Data Access Customer Interface (Version 1.0a) Specification

OPC Historical Data Access Custom Interface (Version 1.2) Specification

Matrikon Analytics Excel Reporter Add-In User’s Manual

MatrikonOPC Trender User’s Manual

MatrikonOPC Server for Performance Monitor User’s Manual

Terminology Table 1 provides a list of definitions for terms used throughout this document.

The terms screen and window are used interchangeably.

Term/Abbreviation Description

COM Component Object Model.

DA Data Access.

DCOM Distributed Component Object Model.

HDA Historical Data Access.

Matrikon Matrikon Inc.

MatrikonOPC Matrikon’s brand name for its OPC servers and clients.

ODBC

Open Database Connectivity – a set of interfaces that allow any ODBC client to

access any ODBC compatible database system using a consistent set of

commands.

ODH MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian.

OPC A communication standard. Refer to www.opcfoundation.org for more

information.

Table 1 - Terms and Definitions

http://www.opcfoundation.org/


Getting Started This section of the User’s Manual contains important information regarding software installation and

how to contact MatrikonOPC’s Support team.

The System Requirements section shows how to avoid future problems by ensuring that the

system meets the minimum software and hardware requirements. Detailed, step-by-step

instructions in the Installation section will guide you through the installation process and provide

a list of files that are installed during this process.

Once the software is installed, refer to the Licensing section for information on how to obtain the

appropriate license. The Contacting Support section will provide you with contact information for

the MatrikonOPC Support team, should you have any problems during the installation or licensing

of the software.

System Requirements The software has minimum Software and Hardware system requirements. These requirements

must be met for the software to function properly.

Note: To install and configure a MatrikonOPC server, you must be set

up as an administrative user account rather than a restricted user

account.

Software Requirements

At a minimum, the following software is required:

Microsoft Windows XP SP1, or

Microsoft Windows 2003 SP0, or

Microsoft Windows 2008 SP1, or

Microsoft Windows 7 SP1

Internet Explorer 6.0, Service Pack 1 (or better)

Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

Desktop Historian needs to be run as a Windows service.

Note: Changing the service to start as a specific user restricts access to Desktop Historian.

For Matrikon Analytics Excel Reporter:

Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2003, or 2007

For Tag Manager:

Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2003, 2007, or 2010

Note: Tag Manager works with Excel 2007 versions 12.0.6425.1000 and higher. Microsoft Office

Service Packs SP1 and SP2 have to be installed for Tag Manager to work correctly

Hardware Requirements

The following hardware is recommended:

Intel Pentium 4

1 GB RAM


The software requires the following additional hardware to make use of the corresponding

functionality:

IP compatible network – for remote OPC server access.

Free Hard Disk Space – at least 200 MB of free disk space is recommended for the Historical

Data files. See Appendix A – File Formats for specific size requirements, as most

installations will require more than 200 MB of free disk space.

Installation Once the system requirements have been met, you are ready to install the software.

Notes:

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian may not be installed on a

computer that has MatrikonOPC Buffer installed.

As part of the installation process, the MatrikonOPC Analyzer

tool is installed and used to detect the system settings that

affect the use of this software. No information is communicated

back to Matrikon. Information is stored on this system only for

future use by MatrikonOPC Support to assist with

troubleshooting, if required.

To install the software:

1. Insert the MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian CD into the CD drive.

2. If the MatrikonOPC Welcome screen does not automatically appear, double-click the

MatrikonOPCDesktopHistorian.exe file. The InstallAware Wizard verifies its contents

(Figure 1), and then the License Agreement screen (Figure 2) appears.

Figure 1 - InstallAware Wizard Verification Window


Figure 2 - License Agreement Screen

Notes:

If certain pre-requisites are required on your machine before you can install Desktop

Historian, you will be presented with a screen indicating the necessary pre-

requisites. Following the installation of any pre-requisites (if required), you are then

directed to the License Agreement screen.

The Version number located in the lower left corner indicates the version number of

the software that is being installed. The text “X.X.X.X” will be replaced with the

specific product version.

From the License Agreement screen, you have the option of selecting the I reject

the license agreement option. Selecting the I reject the license agreement

option button disables the Next button so your options are to cancel the install by

clicking on the Cancel button, or select the I accept the license agreement option

button enabling you to proceed through the install

3. Read the Software License Agreement, using the scroll bar to view the entire message.

4. Select the I accept the license agreement option button.


5. Click on the Next button. The Product Registration screen (Figure 3) appears.

Figure 3 - Product Registration Screen

6. Enter the required registration information.

Notes:

The Next button is not available until all fields have been

entered.

Ensure the E-mail Address is valid as that is the address to

which the license file is sent.

7. Click on the Next button. The Setup Type screen (Figure 4) appears.


Figure 4 - Setup Type Screen

8. Select the type of setup to be performed.

Note: Matrikon recommends that you select the Complete Setup option.

9. Click on the Next button. The Destination Folder screen (Figure 5) appears.


Figure 5 - Destination Folder Screen

10. Select the folder in which to install MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian, or accept the default

location displayed in the Folder path field.

11. Click on the Next button. The Start Menu screen (Figure 6) appears.


Figure 6 - Start Menu Screen

12. Select the Start Menu group and then specify whether you want shortcuts created only for

yourself, or for all users, by selecting the applicable option button.

13. Click on the Next button. The Licensing screen (Figure 7) appears.


Figure 7 - Licensing Screen

14. Select the applicable licensing option.

Notes:

A 30-day demo of MatrikonOPC ODBC Server for OPC is

installed with MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian. For more

information, refer to Licensing MatrikonOPC ODBC Server

for OPC.

MatrikonOPC Trender, Matrikon Analytics Excel Reporter, and

Performance Monitor are optional components that are installed

by the typical installation type, or if selected for a custom

installation. Please consult the User’s Manuals installed with

those programs separately for more information on how to use

those products. When these components are installed, those

User’s Manuals are available through the Start menu in the

following location:

Programs -> MatrikonOPC -> Desktop Historian -> Help -

> [Product Name] Manual

15. Click on the Next button. The MatrikonOPC Performance Monitor screen (Figure 8)

appears.


Figure 8 - MatrikonOPC Performance Monitor Screen

16. If you would like to install a demonstration (i.e., evaluation) version of MatrikonOPC Server

for Performance Monitor, select the Yes option button. If the product is not required, select

No.

Note: A permanent MatrikonOPC Server for Performance Monitor license is not included

with MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian and must be purchased separately. Contact your

Account Manager for assistance and more information.

17. Click on the Next button. The Matrikon Analytics Excel Reporter screen (Figure 9)

appears.


Figure 9 - Matrikon Analytics Excel Reporter

18. If you would like to install a demonstration version of Matrikon Analytics Excel Reporter,

select the Yes option button. If the product is not required, select No.

Notes:

If you do not have Microsoft Excel installed on your machine, this screen is not

displayed. Instead, you are notified that your machine does not meet the

requirements needed to install Excel Reporter. You will need to exit the install, install

Excel, and then re-start the Micro Historian installation. For assistance, contact

MatrikonOPC Support.

A permanent Matrikon Analytics Excel Reporter license is not included with

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian and must be purchased separately. Contact your

Account Manager for assistance and more information.

If you have OPC2XL installed on your machine, and you select the Yes option,

OPC2XL will be removed during the install of this demonstration version.

19. Click on the Next button. The MatrikonOPC Trender screen (Figure 10) appears.


Figure 10 - MatrikonOPC Trender Screen

20. If you would like to install a demonstration version of MatrikonOPC Trender, select the Yes

option button. If the product is not required, select No.

Notes:

If the Sun Java Virtual Machine option on your machine is enabled, this screen is not

displayed. Instead, you are notified that your machine does not meet the

requirements needed to install Trender. You will need to exit the install, clear the

option, and then re-start the Micro Historian installation. For assistance, contact


A permanent MatrikonOPC Trender license is not included with MatrikonOPC Micro

Historian and must be purchased separately. Contact your Account Manager for

assistance and more information.

21. Click on the Next button. The Ready to Install screen (Figure 11) appears.


Figure 11 - Ready to Install Screen

22. Click on the Next button. The Installing MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian screen (Figure

12) appears, installation begins, and the product files are copied to the computer.

Note: Prior to starting the installation, you have the option of clicking on the Back button

to change any of the installation information. Click on the Cancel button if you wish to stop

or cancel the installation.


Figure 12 - Installing MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian

23. When the installation has finished, the MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Setup Complete

screen (Figure 13) appears stating that MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian has been

successfully installed.


Figure 13 - MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Setup Complete Screen

24. At this point, you have the option of launching any or all of the following by selecting the

necessary checkbox or checkboxes:

Configuration panel

Release Notes

User’s Manual

25. Click on the Finish button to complete the installation and exit the Wizard.

26. The necessary files are copied to the target computer, the software components are

registered, and shortcut icons are created in the Start menu.

Note: At this point, it is recommended that you verify the DCOM

settings. Reference to the DCOM configuration can be found in the

DCOM Manual. This configuration varies for different operating

systems.

Installed Files The files listed in Table 2 are installed by default, in the following location:

http://www.matrikonopc.com/support/knowledge-base.aspx


C:\Program Files\Matrikon\OPC\Desktop Historian

File Name Description

Desktop Historian.wmv MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian instructional video.

ICUninstall.exe iC un-install program.

Licensing Procedures for Desktop Historian.pdf

Licensing Procedures for Desktop Historian.

Licensing Procedures for ODBC.pdf Licensing Procedures for ODBC Server and FileCollector.

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Quick Start.pdf Quick Start Guide for this product.

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Release Notes.pdf Release Notes document for this product.

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian User Manual.pdf

OPC Desktop Historian User’s Manual.

Project Info.log Build information for this server.

Table 2 - Files Installed in “Desktop Historian” Folder

The files listed in Table 3 are installed by default, in the following location:

C:\Program Files\Matrikon\OPC\Desktop Historian\Core


ArchiveDB.dll ODH Archive Database.

ArchiveDBps.dll ODH Archive Database.

Archiver.exe ODH Core Archive Executable.

Archiver.iC iC Configuration File.

ArchiverCoreNode.dll User Interface for System Settings.

Archiverps.dll ODH Core Archive Proxy Stub.

ArchiverStorageEngine.dll Storage Engine Library.

ArchiverStorageEngineNode.dll User Interface for Historical Data Settings.

ArchiverTagnode.dll User Interface for Data Collection Settings.

CodeTranslator.dll Error Code Translation Library.

CodeTranslatorps.dll Error Code Translation Library.

MocesInterfaces.dll iC Configuration Interface.

security.cfg Security Settings.

StorageEngine_FF4.dll Storage Engine File Format 4.

StorageEngine_FF7.dll Storage Engine File Format 7.

StorageEngineConfigps.dll Storage Engine Configuration Library.

StorageEngineps.dll Storage Engine Library.

SysMatLogEx.dll Log Library.

SysMatLogExps.dll Log Library file.



TagDB.dll Tag Database Library.

TagDBps.dll Tag Database Library.

UnLicensedNode.dll User Interface for Unlicensed Product.

UserDB.dll User Database Library.

UserDBps.dll User Database Library.

Table 3 - Files Installed in "Core" Folder


C:\Program Files\Matrikon\OPC\Desktop Historian\OPC Client


ArchiverOPC.exe ODH OPC Client Executable.

ArchiverOPCClientConfigControl.dll User Interface for ODH OPC Client.

ProductInfoChannelControl.dll User Interface for Product Information.

Project Info.log Build information.


Table 4 - Files Installed in "OPC Client" Folder


C:\Program Files\Matrikon\OPC\Desktop Historian\OPC Server


AliasCalculationLib.dll MatrikonOPC Calculation Engine wrapper.

Altova.dll

AltovaXML.dll

CalcEngine_u.dll

CalcEngineResource.dll

CalculationGraph.dll

clipsdll.dll

icudt36.dll

icuin36.dll

icuuc36.dll

js32.dll

log4cxx.dll

NTEventLogAppender.dll

ODHOPCServerConfigControl.dll

OpcDataDelivery_u.dll

ProcessNetDataDelivery_u.dll

Scheduleru_dll.dll

ScriptLibrary_u.dll

xerces-c_2_7.dll

Calculation Engine binary files.

LogOptions.dll User Interface for Logging Options.

OPCMatArc.exe ODH OPC Server Executable.



PreRegistration.LOG Installation Log File.



ServerOpts.ini OPC Server Option Files.

Table 5 - Files Installed in "OPC Server" Folder


C:\Program Files\Matrikon\OPC\Desktop Historian\Task Scheduler


LogOptions.dll User Interface for Logging Options.


Project Info.log Build information.


TaskScheduler.exe ODH Task Scheduler Service.

TaskScheduler.ic IC file for Task Scheduler.

TaskSchedulerControl.dll User Interface for the Backup Utility (Task Scheduler).

Table 6 - Files Installed in "Task Scheduler" Folder

The files listed in Table 7 are stored in the following directory:

C:\Program Files\Matrikon\OPC\Desktop Historian\Util


BackupTool.exe Command line tool for backing up stored data.

Table 7 - Files Installed in "Util" Folder

Note: If Microsoft Excel is present on the machine, the files listed in Table 8 are installed by

default in the following location:

C:\Program Files\Matrikon\OPC\Desktop Historian\Util


TagMgr.xll Tag Manager Excel Add-in.

xlauninst.vbs VBSScript script file.

Table 8 - Files Installed in "Util" Folder

The files listed in Table 9 are installed in the system’s Global Assembly Cache

(C:\WINDOWS\assembly):


Syncfusion.Core.dll Syncfusion Library, Version 4.401.0.51

Syncfusion.Grid.Base.dll Syncfusion Library, Version 4.401.0.51

Syncfusion.Grid.Windows.dll Syncfusion Library, Version 4.401.0.51



Syncfusion.Shared.Base.dll Syncfusion Library, Version 4.401.0.51

Syncfusion.Shared.Windows.dll Syncfusion Library, Version 4.401.0.51

Syncfusion.Tools.Windows.dll Syncfusion Library, Version 4.401.0.51

Table 9 - Files Installed in Global Assembly Cache


C:\Program Files\Common Files\MatrikonOPC\Common


ACLConfig MatrikonOPC Tag Security Configuration Utility that

configures tag-level security in MatrikonOPC servers.

EULA.pdf End-User License Agreement in PDF format.

IC.exe Matrikon Product Configuration Utility.

LicenseRemover Tool to remove a license.

LicenseWizard Licensing tool.

LogLibrary.dll Matrikon Product Configuration Library.

Marshal.exe Matrikon Product Configuration Utility.

Marshal.log Matrikon Product Configuration Utility log file.

MocesInterfaces.dll Matrikon Product Configuration Library.

MTKAuthorize.exe Matrikon Product Authorization Utility.

OEM_MATRIKON_OPC.dll MatrikonOPC OEM Badge Library.

OPCAuto.dll

MatrikonOPC Automation Component – enables

developers to access OPC data from client

applications developed using Automation tools.

opcda20_auto.doc MatrikonOPC Automation Component Interface

Standard.

OPCDAAuto.dll

MatrikonOPC Automation Component – enables

developers to access OPC data from client

applications developed using Automation tools such

as Visual Basic®, VBA, and VB Script.

opcda10_auto.doc MatrikonOPC Automation Component Interface

Standard.

opchda_ps.dll The proxy-stub file to allow OPC Clients to make

remote connections to an OPC HDA Server.

OPCHDAAuto.dll

MatrikonOPC HDA Automation Component – enables

developers to access OPC HDA data from client

applications developed using Automation tools.

PSTCFG.exe Matrikon Product Configuration Utility.

PSTCFGMatrikon.OPC.DesktopHistorian.1.log MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian default log file.



PSTCFGMatrikon.OPC.Simulation.1 MatrikonOPC Server for Simulation default log file.

PSTcfgps.dll Matrikon Product Configuration Marshalling Library.

security.cfg Security settings.

Table 10 - Files Installed in "Common" Folder

The files listed in Table 11 are installed in the WINDOWS\system32 folder:


ExpreVal.dll Expression Evaluation Library for Alias Equations

opc_aeps.dll OPC Alarms and Events 1.0 Interfaces Marshalling Library

Opcbc_ps.dll OPC Batch Custom 2.0 Proxy/Stub Library

opccomn_ps.dll OPC Common Interfaces and Marshalling Library

OpcDxPs.dll OPC Data eXchange 1.00 Proxy/Stub Library

Opcenum.exe OPC Server Enumerator 1.10

opcproxy.dll OPC Data Access 2.0 and 1.0a Interfaces and Marshalling Library

opcSec_PS.dll OPC Security Interfaces and Marshalling Library

actxprxy.dll ActiveX Interface Marshalling Library

Table 11 - Files Installed in "system32" Folder

Licensing Most MatrikonOPC products require some form of licensing criteria be met to ensure that it

functions successfully.

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian supports both hardware and software licensing.

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian requires the following licenses:

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Licensing

Note: The following Desktop Historian licensing information is

described in detail within the Licensing Procedures document which

accompanies the MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian User’s Manual:

Hardware and software key licensing information.

Information about the MatrikonOPC Licensing Utility that

is used to license driver software, and the variety of

ways in which licenses can be obtained (e.g., Internet

Connection, Web Page, Email).

Licensing Q&A and Troubleshooting.


ODBC Server Licensing

Note: The following ODBC Server licensing information is described in

detail within the Licensing Procedures document which accompanies

the MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian User’s Manual:

Requesting a software license.

Enabling a temporary software authorization.

Installing a permanent software license.

Generating a new AuthorizeRequest.MTK file.

De-licensing software.

Licensing Q&A and Troubleshooting.

Licensing OPC Trender

OPC Trender is automatically installed with MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian and requires software

licensing. You need to send an AuthorizeRequest.MTK file for this component to be licensed.

Licensing ODBC Server for OPC, Matrikon Analytics Excel Reporter, and

Performance Monitor

A 30-day demo license for MatrikonOPC ODBC Server for OPC is included in the MatrikonOPC

Desktop Historian installation.

Note: The demo license is a time-limited license. The product will be fully functioning until the

demo period has expired, after which it will cease to function. A permanent MatrikonOPC ODBC

Server for OPC license is not included with MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian and must be purchased

separately. Contact your Account Manager for assistance and more information.

During the installation of MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian, you are given the option of installing a

demonstration version of MatrikonOPC Performance Monitor and or Matrikon Analytics Excel

Reporter. If a permanent license is required, contact your Account Manager for more information.

Contacting Support The MatrikonOPC Customer Services department (www.opcsupport.com) is available 24 hours a

day, seven days a week.

Contact MatrikonOPC Support using the information below, or send an email

([email protected]).

For Monday to Friday daytime support requests, contact MatrikonOPC Support using the regional

phone numbers provided in Table 12.

Region Office Hours Contact Information

North America

UTC/GMT -7 hours (MST) 8:00am-5:00pm +1-877-OPC-4-ALL

Europe /Africa *

UTC/GMT +1 hours (CET) 9:00am-5:00pm

+49-221-969-77-0

(Request OPC Support)

Australia/Asia *

UTC/GMT +10 hours (AEST) 9:00am-5:00pm

+61-2-4908-2198

(Request OPC Support)

* Toll-free regional numbers coming soon!

Table 12 - MatrikonOPC Support Regional Contact Information


mailto:[email protected]


For after-hours support in all regions, please use either of the following numbers. There is no

extra charge from MatrikonOPC for calling their after-hours support numbers.

Region Contact Information

All +1-780-231-9480

+1-780-264-6714

Table 13 - After-Hours Support


Configuration The server’s Graphical User Interface (GUI) allows users to view and alter configuration parameters

at run time. When a user views a configuration parameter, the information is retrieved and

displayed. The updated parameters are sent as a group to the server when submitted.

Minimal configuration of the MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian is required for it to function properly,

but users can customize the tool’s behaviour as required.

This chapter shows users how to start and configure the tool and describes each component in

detail, including windows, panels, and menu commands.

The Launching MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian section of this manual shows users how to

start the software. Also described here, in detail, is the Configuration window.

Launching MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian To launch MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian, choose the appropriate shortcut from the Start menu.

To start MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian (and access the Data Storage configuration):

1. Click on the Windows Start button and select Programs -> MatrikonOPC -> Desktop

Historian, and choose MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian.

Configuration Window The Configuration window is used to configure the tool. It displays the current configuration and

allows users to change configuration parameters.

To view the Configuration window:

1. From the Windows Start button, access MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian (for assistance,

refer to Launching MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian.

2. The Configuration window appears and the Start Page is displayed (Figure 14).


Figure 14 - Configuration Window

Table 14 describes the options available in the Configuration window.

Command Description

Main Menu Provides access to the File, Window, and Help menus.

Navigation Panel

Displays a tree of configuration objects currently defined in the server.

Select an object to display its current settings in the right-hand panel. This

panel is also referred to as the tree-view pane.

Settings Panel Displays the current settings of the item presently selected in the tree-view

pane.

Table 14 - Configuration Window Options

The following sections describe the menus available from the Configuration window, and what

they are used for.

File Menu

Table 15 describes the File menu commands.


Command Description

Open

Clears the current configuration and loads a new one from an existing file.

Displays the Open window to prompt for the file name. If OPC clients are

still connected to the server, the user is prompted for confirmation before

continuing.

Save

Saves the current configuration to an XML file. Displays the Save As window

to prompt for a new file name if the configuration is new and has not yet

been saved.

Save As Saves the current configuration to an XML file. Displays the Save As window

to prompt for a new file name.

Exit Hides the main Configuration window. The server shuts down after a short

delay if no OPC clients are currently connected to the server.

Table 15 - File Menu Commands

Window Menu

The Window menu commands allow you to define how the settings pages/tabs are to appear on

the right side of the Configuration window: Cascade, Tile Horizontal, Tile Vertical, Start

Page.

Help Menu

Table 16 describes the Help menu command.

Command Description

About iC! Displays an About screen, which includes information about the Integrated

Configuration (iC!) configuration management system version.

Table 16 - Help Menu Command

Starting and Stopping MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian is installed as a 2000 service, and may be started using the Service

Control Manager applet (Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services).

The MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian service name refers to the historical data component. The

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian – OPC Client service name refers to the data collection

component. The MatrikonOPC Server for Desktop Historian service name refers to the data-

serving component. The MatrikonOPC Task Scheduler service name refers to the component

that interfaces the MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian configuration system with the task scheduler for

configuration of scheduled backups.

All services start automatically when the computer is turned on, and automatically restart if the

machine is reset (either manually or due to a system/power failure).

Figure 15 shows the MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian-specific services having been started. An item

entitled Matrikon Sauron Marshal must also appear in the list, with a status of Started.


Figure 15 - Windows Services Panel


Generic Management Generic settings, including log settings and version information, can be accessed on the Desktop

Historian Options screen panel.

To access the Desktop Historian Options page:

1. From the configuration window, in the tree-view pane (navigation pane on the left side of

the screen), select and expand the following nodes:

Desktop -> Localhost -> OPC Desktop Historian -> Options -> Desktop

Historian

2. Click on the Configure item displayed under the Options node. Figure 16 displays the

navigation pane and Desktop Historian Options page.

Log Settings The Log Settings screen allows for the editing of general logging options. The log files will be

contained within the following location ([ ] indicates the default installation path):

[C:\Program Files\Matrikon]\OPC\Desktop Historian\Core\Log

To view the General Logging Options:

1. From the Desktop Historian Options panel described above, select the Log Settings tab.

2. The Log Settings panel is displayed (Figure 16).

Figure 16 - Log Settings Tab


Table 17 describes the fields on the Log Settings tab.

Command Description

Log Detail Level

Diagnostic Log system activity at the specified detail level (High, Medium,

Low, or None). Higher log levels include lower-level activities

Configuration

Log configuration activity at the specified detail level (High,

Medium, Low, or None). Higher log levels include lower-level

activities.

Audit

Log actions committed by users at the specified detail level (Data

Operations, Tag Operations, System Operations, or None).

Higher log levels include lower-level activities. The Data Operations

level also records Tag and System operations. The Tag Operations

level also records System operations.

Maximum Log File Size

Limits the number of log-statements that may be entered into a log

file. Once this file size is reached, earlier log-statements will be

erased, thus making room for more recent log statements.

Disable Log Cache

Every log statement is immediately committed to the hard drive.

Selecting this option will disable the Maximum Log size settings and

should only be used for the purpose of debugging.

Table 17 - General Logging Options Settings Tab

Version Information Desktop Historian is composed of several components, each of which controls a different task. The

version number of each component used can be found under the Version Information tab (Figure

17) of the Desktop Historian Options panel. This information may be required when contacting


Figure 17 - Version Information Tab

Note: For the General Logging Options Settings to take effect, the Apply button

MUST be selected.


Data Storage Management Data Storage settings (including file type, location, size) can be accessed on the Data Storage

Management page.

To view the Data Storage Management configuration settings:



Desktop -> Localhost -> OPC Desktop Historian -> Options -> Data Storage

Management

2. Click on the Configure item displayed under the Data Storage Management node. Figure

18 displays the navigation pane and Data Storage Management page.

Figure 18 - Data Storage Management Page

The file format type (Desired file format field) and configuration settings (Configuration screen

section) for the selected file format can be selected on this tab.

File Format Selection File format defines how historical data is stored to disk. Different file formats provide different

features and may require different settings. Appendix A – File Formats describes the different

file formats in greater detail.


FF7 Configuration Options As seen in Figure 18, the FF7 file format has the following configurable items (Table 18):

Item Description

Historical data file directory The directory in which to store the files. Defaults to

c:\Matrikon Data.

Store no more than [count] [units] of

history in each file.

Indicates how much data should be stored in each

file. Select the count and the units (weeks, days,

hours or minutes). Defaults to 2880 minutes.

Close and finalize the active data file

When checked, and the Apply button is selected,

Desktop Historian will close all open file handles, and

ensure that the current file has an accurate header.

This item will automatically return to unchecked

when the operation is complete. After completion,

Desktop Historian opens a new file to store further

history.

Apply Applies the changes selected.

Cancel Cancel all changes that have been made to these

settings.

Table 18 - FF7 Configuration Options

FF7R Configuration Options If the FF7R file format is selected (Figure 20), the options listed in Table 19 are available.

Item Description

Historical data file directory The directory in which to store the files. The default

directory is c:\Matrikon Data.

Store the history in [count] 25MB files

Enter the number of 25 MB rolling history buffer files

to use. When all of the files have been used, the

oldest is erased and a new one is created.

Maximum value = 15000 25 MB files (assuming

sufficient hard drive space exists). Defaults to two 25

MB files.

Notes:

Data stored in FF4 format cannot be read when you switch to an FF7 or FF7R

format, and vice versa. If the file format is changed, all access to prior historical

data is not available. The FF7R and FF7 configurations are compatible. However,

switching from FF7 to FF7R may cause some data to be deleted so that it fits

within the requested number of files. It is recommended that the file format be

chosen once, and that is when the system is first installed.

FF7R will be replacing FF4 in future versions of Desktop Historian. Users are

advised to upgrade their configurations. Upgrading from FF4 will result in FF4

no longer being an available file format for data storage. If users wish to

retain their FF4 data prior to switching to another storage format, they may do so

by porting it to another storage location using a tool that moves HDA data.


Maximum number of files for available

space on hard drive

This field reports the amount of space available in 25

MB files. It is updated automatically when you change

the Historical data file directory.

Apply Select this button to apply any changes made.

Cancel Select this button to cancel all changes that have

been made to these settings.

Table 19 - FF7R Configuration Options

Figure 19 - FF7R Configuration Options

FF4 Configuration Options

If the FF4 file format is selected (Figure 20), the following options are available (Table 20):

Item Description

Historical data file directory The directory in which to store the files. Defaults to

c:\Matrikon Data.

Note: FF4 is not a file format option unless an upgrade of Desktop Historian is

performed over a previous version where FF4 is currently selected as the storage format.

Support for the FF4 format is going to be removed in future versions of Desktop

Historian, in favour of FF7R. It is recommended that users of FF4 consider upgrading

their configurations to FF7R. It should be noted, however, that switching from FF4 to

FF7R makes data collected in FF4 unavailable for reading. Once the switchover is

completed it will not be possible to revert to FF4.


Store the history in [count] 25MB files

Enter the number of 25 MB rolling history buffer files

to use. When all of the files have been used, the

oldest is erased and a new one is created.

Maximum value = 15000 25 MB files (assuming

sufficient hard drive space exists). Defaults to two 25

MB files.

Maximum number of files for available

space on hard drive

This field reports the amount of space available in 25

MB files. It is updated automatically when you change

the Historical data file directory.

Apply Applies the changes selected.

Cancel Cancel all changes that have been made to these

settings.

Table 20 - FF4 Configuration Options

Figure 20 - FF4 Configuration Options


Backup Utility MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian includes a utility to configure and schedule backup procedures.

WARNING: The Backup Utility can cause data loss to occur if used

incorrectly.

To prevent this from occurring, the backup command should be

written to only those backup files that are older than the possible

range of insertions, and should not include the active file.

The Backup Utility locks the data files, one at a time, while it is

copying them. While a file is locked, it cannot be written to, and

therefore writes will fail. This means that if data is being archived by

the ODH OPC client with timestamps that fall within the locked file, or

if an OPC HDA client is pushing data into the historian through the

OPC server for ODH with timestamps in the past, those data points

may not be written.

If you need assistance regarding these issues, please contact


Notes:

The Backup Utility requires the entry of a user and password

for use in executing backup tasks. It is recommended that the

user that is used (i.e., entered) does not change the password.

If the password is changed then each configured backup task

must be updated with the new password.

The Backup Utility can only be used with the FF7 storage

format. While FF7R or FF4 is selected in the Data Storage

Management configuration, backups cannot be scheduled. If

backups are scheduled, and the storage format is changed

from FF7 to FF7R or FF4, the configured backups will not be

executed.

Backups created by the Backup Utility require manual steps to

restore data into a running system. Contact OPC Support for

assistance.

The Backup Utility makes use of the Windows Task Scheduler built into the Microsoft Windows

operating system to schedule the tasks. Scheduled backup operations created by the Backup

Utility are visible in the Microsoft Windows Scheduled Tasks control panel, and can be edited

there as well. However, the Backup Utility provides an easier-to-use means of configuring the

options to the command-line tool that performs the backup operation.

To access the Backup Utility configuration settings:

1. From the Configuration window, in the tree-view pane (navigation pane on the left side of


Desktop -> Localhost -> OPC Desktop Historian -> Backup Utility

2. Click on the Configure item displayed under the Backup Utility node. Figure 21 displays

the navigation pane and the Backup Utility pane.


Figure 21 - Backup Utility

Four operations are available from the Backup Utility pane:

Schedule Backup Operation

Modify Backup Operation

Remove Backup Operation

Perform Backup Now

Restore Backup

Schedule Backup Operation The Schedule Backup Operation is used to create a new scheduled task that executes a backup

operation.

To create a new scheduled backup operation:

1. From the Backup Utility pane (Figure 21), click on the Schedule Backup Operation icon.

The Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard is displayed (Figure 22).

Note: The Back button may be used to return to an earlier step at any time to change

values entered. However, the Back button is not displayed unless there is a step to go back

to. The Next button takes you to the next pane, and is only be available if the values


entered in the current pane are valid selections. The Cancel button discards all changes

made so far return to the Backup Utility configuration panel.

Figure 22 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Backup Name

2. Enter a Backup Name and Comment to identify and describe the task being created.

3. Click on the Next button to go to the backup operation selection screen (Figure 23).


Figure 23 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Backup Operation

4. Select the required backup operation option.

5. Click on the Next button to go to the next screen. If either the Copy or Move options are

selected, the Destination screen (Figure 24) appears. If the Delete option is selected, and

the Select Files screen (Figure 25) is displayed.


Figure 24 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Destination

6. From the Destination screen, select the destination to which you want the backup files

sent. The backup can either place the files in a folder, or it can compress the files into a ZIP

file. In either case, a copy of the current tag database files will be included in the folder or

compressed file. The Overwrite existing file(s) option is selected by default. With that

option selected, the Backup Utility overwrites existing data files in the selected folder, or

overwrites the entire compressed backup file. If the Overwrite existing file(s) option is

not selected and the backup operation runs and determines that the files already exist in

the selected destination, the backup operation fails without backing up the data.

7. Click on the Next button to proceed to the Select Files screen (Figure 25).


Figure 25 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Select Files

Figure 26 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Select Files (Delete or Move Operation Selected)


8. The Select Files pane is used to set the criteria by which the Backup Utility will choose

which files are to be included in the backup. See Table 21 for a description of each of the

options. See Figure 27 and Table 22 for more details about the Select Files By Date

option.

Option Description

All Non-Active Files

Selecting this option instructs the Backup Utility to choose all of the data files

in the data directory, except for the one file that is considered the “active” file.

The active file is the file to which new data points are being written.

The Active File

Selecting his option selects just the active file.

Note: If the Move or Delete command is selected, this option is not available

(Figure 26).

All Files

Selecting this option includes all files in the directory.

Note: If the Move or Delete command was selected, this option is not

available (Figure 26).

Select Files By Date

Selecting this option allows for the selection of data files according to the date

range of data that they contain. Selecting this option causes the Select Files

screen to display the date selection options (Figure 27).

Table 21 - Select Files Options

Figure 27 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Select Files By Date


Figure 28 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Select Files By Date (Move or Delete Operation Selected)

Option Description

Date

Select which of the dates associated with each data file to use for the

selection. Each data file contains all the data between a Start and End date.

The Last Modified of a data file is maintained by the operating system, and

is the date and time to which the file was last written.

Comparison

Select the comparison to use. For the Before and After options, only one of

the two date expression fields will be available. The Between option requires

entries in both of the date expression fields.

[date expression]

and [date

expression]

Enter the date(s) or date expression(s) to set the range of files to be selected

by the backup utility for inclusion in the backup. HDA relative time

expressions may be used or specific dates can be entered. For more

information refer to Appendix H – HDA Relative Time Format in this

manual.

Each of the fields has an ellipsis button adjacent to it which displays a form to

simplify the entry of these fields (Figure 29).

Allow the active file

to be selected by

date

The active file is normally excluded from selections by date. If the Date,

Comparison, and date expression(s) include the active file, and this option is

checked, then the Backup Utility includes the active file in the backup.

Note: This option is not available if the Move or Delete operation is selected

(Figure 28).

Table 22 - Select Files By Date Options


9. If the ellipsis button for a time expression is selected, the Date Editor window (Figure 29)

appears. Select either a Fixed Date or a Relative Time Expression, and fill out the

associated fields. Click on the Ok button to return to the Select Files By Date screen of

the Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard, with the selected date or date expression in

the date expression field. Clicking on the Cancel button discards any changes made in the

form and returns you to the Select Files By Date screen.

Figure 29 - Date Editor Window

10. From the Select Files By Date screen, click on the Next button to continue to the schedule

type selection screen (Figure 30).


Figure 30 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Schedule Type

11. Select one of the scheduling options and click on the Next button to proceed to the specific

configuration panel for the selected schedule type (listed below). The When my computer

starts option does not have any additional configuration options. Clicking on the Next when

that option is selected will skip ahead to the applicable Credentials screen (Figure 35).

Daily Schedule

Weekly Schedule

Monthly Schedule

One Time Only Schedule

12. The Daily Schedule type (Figure 31) configuration screen has the options described in

Table 23.


Figure 31 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Daily Schedule

Option Description

Start Time

The time of day to run the backup. The time of day will be formatted

according to the computers configured regional settings. Seconds, if

displayed, are ignored in the schedule.

Every Day The default option. When selected, the backup is performed every day at the

selected Start time.

Weekdays When selected, the backup is performed only on weekdays (Monday through

Friday), at the selected Start time.

Every [x] days When selected, the numeric selection box is enabled. Enter the period in days

after each scheduled run before the next run should occur.

Start Date The date at which the schedule becomes active.

Table 23 - Daily Schedule Options

13. Click on the Next button to go to the Credentials screen (Figure 35).

14. The Weekly Schedule type configuration screen (Figure 32) has the options described in

Table 24.


Figure 32 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Weekly Schedule

Option Description

Start Time

The time of day to run the backup. The time of day

will be formatted according to the computers

configured regional settings. Seconds, if displayed,

are ignored in the schedule.

Every [x] Weeks Defines whether the backup should be run every

week, every other week, every third week, etc.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,

Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Select which day or days of the week on which the

backup should run.

Table 24 - Weekly Schedule Options


16. The Monthly Schedule type configuration screen (Figure 33) has the options described in

Table 25.


Figure 33 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Monthly Schedule

Option Description

Start Time

The time of day to run the backup. The time of day

will be formatted according to the computers

configured regional settings. Seconds, if displayed,

are ignored in the schedule.

Day The day of the month on which the backup should

run.

The [ordinal] [weekday]

Select which week of the month and day of that week

on which the backup should run. For example, the

First Sunday, or the Second Tuesday.

Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep,

Oct, Nov, Dec

Select which months in which the backup should run.

The Select All and Clear All buttons will check or

uncheck, respectively, all of the months.

Table 25 - Monthly Schedule Options


18. The One Time Only schedule type configuration screen (Figure 34) has the options

described in Table 26.


Figure 34 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: One Time Only Schedule

Option Description

Date The date on which the backup should be run.

Time

The time of day to run the backup. The time of day will be formatted according

to the computers configured regional settings. Seconds, if displayed, are

ignored in the schedule.

Table 26 - One Time Only Schedule Options


20. The Credentials Panel (Figure 35) requires the entry of a user name and password for a

Windows account that has privileges to connect to the Desktop Historian service, read

from the data and database directories, and write to the selected destination directory. If

the account selected does not have sufficient permissions for those tasks, the backup

operation is not able to execute or complete. Enter the full DOMAIN\Username and enter

the Password for the account. You need to enter the password a second time to confirm it

was typed correctly.


Figure 35 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Credentials

21. Click on the Next button to continue. The Wizard tests the user name and password to

ensure that it is a valid combination. If the user name and password combination do not

work, a warning is displayed and you are returned to the Credentials panel. If the user

name and password are valid, the Summary screen is shown.

Notes:

The check performed does not ensure the user has adequate permissions to perform

the operation, only that the password is correct for the provided user name.

It is recommended that the user that is used (i.e., entered) does not change the

password. If the password is changed then each configured backup task must be

updated with the new password.

22. The Summary screen (Figure 36) is displayed which provides a textual summary of the

scheduled backup item to create. If any of the settings need to be changed, the Back

button can be used to go backwards through the Wizard sequence to reach the appropriate

screen where the settings can be changed.


Figure 36 - Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard: Summary

23. Confirm that the settings are correct.

24. Click on the Finish button to create the scheduled task.

25. The scheduled task is created, and the Backup Utility configuration screen is displayed,

with a message appearing at the bottom indicating whether the backup creation was

successful (Figure 37).


Figure 37 - Create New Scheduled Backup: Complete

Modify Backup Operation The Modify Backup Operation task is used to modify the backup parameters or schedule of a

backup that was already scheduled.

To modify an existing operation:

1. Click on the Modify Backup Operation icon from the Backup Utility configuration panel

(Figure 21). The Modify Scheduled Backup screen (Figure 38) appears.


Figure 38 - Modify Scheduled Backup

2. The Modify Scheduled Backup screen lists all of the scheduled backup operations. Each

operation can be enabled or disabled by toggling the Enabled checkbox. A disabled backup

will not be run. Selecting the Back button returns you to the Backup Utility configuration

screen (Figure 21.) Selecting the Modify button on any of the listed backups opens the

Modify Scheduled Backup Wizard on the Backup Name panel (Figure 39.)

Note: The Backup Name cannot be changed when modifying a task.


Figure 39 - Modify Scheduled Backup Wizard: Backup Name

3. Modify the task as required. The Modify Scheduled Backup Wizard uses the same

sequence of panels as the Create New Scheduled Backup Wizard. Use the Next and

Back buttons to navigate through the Wizard screens. Use the Cancel button at any time

to discard any changes made and return to the Modify Scheduled Backup list (Figure 38).

When you reach the Summary panel (Figure 40), the Finish button is available. Click on

the Finish button to commit the changes and return to the Modify Scheduled Task list

(Figure 38).


Figure 40 - Modify Scheduled Backup Wizard: Summary

Remove Backup Operation The Remove Backup Operation task is used to modify the backup parameters or schedule of a

backup that was already scheduled.

To remove a scheduled backup:

1. Click on the Remove Backup Operation icon from the Backup Utility configuration

screen (Figure 21). The Remove Scheduled Backup list (Figure 41) appears.


Figure 41 - Remove Scheduled Backup

2. Click on the Remove button associated with the backup you wish to remove. A confirmation

message (Figure 42) appears. Click OK to confirm the task deletion, or click on Cancel to

return to the Remove Scheduled Backup list (Figure 41).

Figure 42 - Remove Scheduled Backup Confirmation

3. If the OK button was selected, the task is removed and the Remove Scheduled Backup

list is shown with a confirmation message. If the last task was removed, the Backup Utility

configuration screen (Figure 21) is displayed with a confirmation message.

Perform Backup Now The Perform Backup Now task is used to immediately run a backup operation.


To perform a backup operation immediately:

1. Click on the Perform Backup Now icon from the Backup Utility configuration screen

(Figure 21). The Perform Backup Now list is displayed (Figure 43).

Figure 43 - Run Backup Now

2. The Custom Backup entry on the list can be used to configure the backup and run it right

away. Select the Create and Execute button to build a backup operation. Each of the

configured scheduled backups is also listed. If you select the Execute button on one of the

scheduled backups, the settings for that scheduled backup are used to set the options for

the backup operation.

Note: Changing the settings for an existing backup for the Backup Now operation will not

change the settings for the scheduled backup. Those changes apply for the immediate

backup operation only.

3. If the Custom Backup item’s Create and Execute option was chosen, the Backup Now

Wizard is displayed showing the Backup Operation panel (Figure 44).


Figure 44 - Backup Now Wizard: Backup Operation

4. The Backup Now Wizard uses the Backup Operation, Destination, Select Files,

Credentials, and Summary screens in the same way as the Create New Scheduled

Backup Wizard and the Modify Scheduled Backup Wizard. Clicking on the Finish

button on the Summary screen executes the backup.

5. If the Execute button on one of the existing Scheduled Backup operations is selected, the

Backup Now Wizard will skip to the Summary screen. The Back button can be used to

access the other portions of the Wizard.

Note: The credentials stored for a scheduled task are lost if you click on the Back button

(from the Summary screen in this case). You are required to re-enter the password for the

account to execute the backup.

Restore Backup The Restore Backup Operation is used to get data files stored in a backup location and add them

to the live system.

To restore data files from a backup:

1. Click on the Restore Backup icon from the Backup Utility configuration panel (Figure 21).

2. The Restore Backup screen (Figure 45) appears.


Figure 45 - Restore Backup Wizard: Choose Source

3. Select the applicable option indicating either a folder source (Folder) or zip file

(Compressed ZIP file) from which the backup is to be restored.

4. Click on the Next button to proceed to the Select Files screen (Figure 25).

Note: The Select Files pane is used to set the criteria by which the Backup Utility

chooses which files from the backup set are to be restored to the live system. See Table 21

for a description of each of the options. See Figure 27 and Table 22 for more details about

the Select Files By Date option.

IMPORTANT: A backup can only be restored to the live system if the

following conditions are met:

The tag database file in the backup system must exactly match

the tag database in the live system.

The selected files from the backup source must not contain

time ranges that overlap or replace any files in the live system.

Use the Select Files screen on the Restore Backup Operation to

limit the files in the backup set which are to be considered for this

test. When the Restore Backup Operation in the GUI cannot restore

a backup to the live system, the Command Line Backup Utility can

be used to obtain more information.


6. The Credentials Panel (Figure 35) requires the entry of a user name and password for a

Windows account that has privileges to connect to the Desktop Historian service, read

from the data and database directories, and write to the selected destination directory. If


the account selected does not have sufficient permissions for those tasks, the backup

operation will not be able to execute or complete. Enter the full DOMAIN\Username and

enter the Password for the account. You will need to enter the password a second time to

confirm it was typed correctly and to enable the Next button.

7. Click on the Next button.

8. The Summary screen (Figure 46) is displayed which provides a textual summary of the

Restore Backup Operation to complete. If any of the settings need to be changed, the

Back button can be used to go backwards through the Wizard sequence to reach the

appropriate screen where the settings can be changed.

Figure 46 - Restore Backup Wizard: Summary

9. Confirm that the settings are correct.

10. Click on the Finish button to run the Restore Backup Operation.

11. The Backup Utility configuration screen is displayed, with a message appearing at the

bottom indicating whether the restore operation was successful (Figure 37). You may need

to wait several minutes depending on the size of the backup file for this to complete.

Backup Utility Logging Options Backup Utility settings, including logging, can be accessed via the Log Options tab. The Log

Options page includes two tabs:

General Logging

Log Filtering


General Logging Tab

To view logging settings:

1. On the navigation pane of the Configuration window, select and expand the following

nodes:


2. Click on the Logging Options item displayed under the Backup Utility node. Figure 47

displays the navigation pane and Log Options page with the General Logging tab

selected.

Figure 47 - General Logging Tab

Table 38 describes the components of the General Logging tab on the Log Options page.

Command Description

Enable activity logging Selecting this checkbox enables general activity logging at the

specified detail level (High, Medium, Low, or None).

Commit all log file writes Selecting this checkbox ensures that the file buffer is flushed after

each message logged, in case the server is crashing.

Overwrite old log

information

Selecting this checkbox ensures that the old log file is overwritten

each time the server starts up. Otherwise, the old log file is renamed

with an underscore (“_”) prefix.


Command Description

Filename

Allows you to enter a full path for the general activity log file. Log

files for individual backup jobs also appear in this same directory.

Individual job logs are named [JobName].log. The default path is:

C:\Program Files\Matrikon\OPC\Desktop Historian\Task

Scheduler\Log\TaskScheduler.log.

Table 27 - General Logging Tab Components

Note: General Logging options settings take effect only once the

Apply button is selected.

Log Filtering Tab

Figure 48 displays the Log Filtering tab on the Log Options page. Table 28 describes the

components of the Log Filtering tab.

Figure 48 - Log Filtering Tab

Command Description

Filter String Match string for filtered log.

Filename Full path for filtered log file.

Table 28 - Log Filtering Tab Components


Note: Log Filtering options settings take effect only once the Apply

button is selected.

Version This page is display only and shows OPC server version information.

To view Backup Utility version information:


nodes:


2. Click on the Version item displayed under the Backup Utility node. Figure 49 displays the

Version page.

Figure 49 - Backup Utility Version

Command Line Use The Backup Utility can also be accessed from the windows command line, or through any tool that

can execute command line programs.


Note: A command line utility is an executable program intended to

be run from the command line (also known as the DOS Prompt in

older versions of Microsoft Windows). This tool may be run manually,

incorporated into Batch Files, called from a third-party backup

program, or scheduled to run automatically through the Microsoft

Windows Scheduled Tasks system.

The backup tool is installed by default into the following location:

C:\Program Files\Matrikon\OPC\Desktop Historian\Util\BackupTool.exe

The backup utility has the following features:

Lists the data files and provides information about them including the time range of the data

stored within them. By default, all files that are part of the historical data storage are listed.

However, a subset of files may be listed as well.

Ability to copy or move data files to another folder while ensuring that those files cannot be

changed during the copy. Different subsets of data files can be selected based on the time

ranges, and current status of each data file. Data files may also be stored in a compressed

(ZIP) archive file.

Can close and finalize the active data file to allow that file to be included in a backup.

Read header information about a data file or backup zip file or directory.

Test if a restore operation could succeed

Restore a backup from a zip file, or directory.

Provides a synopsis of how to use the backup utility.

Accessing the Command Line

The command line can be accessed in several ways:

From the Start Menu, choose Run, and type in the full command line in the resulting box.

From the Start Menu, choose Run, and type in the command cmd and press the Enter

key. This will launch the command interpreter which can then be used to run the backup

tool.

From the Start Menu, choose All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt. This

launches the command interpreter which can then be used to run the backup tool.

Command Line Options

BackupTool [-?] [-H] [-V] [-F] [-S "selection"] [-M|-C] "destination path" [-L]

[--DELETE][--RESTORE] [-RH] [-RV] [--FORCE] [--OVERWRITE] [--CONTINUE] [--

NONINTERACTIVE]

[--OUT “output file”] [--CSV]

General Options

Option Description

-F

Closes and finalizes the active file. This will allow new data to go into a new

active file, and the current active file will become inactive. This is

recommended for any backup situation where the active file needs to be

backed up.


Option Description

-V Verbose logging. This will provide more detailed log messages on the console.

-S “selection” Select which files to act on. See Valid Selections for more information.

--FORCE Forces the move and deletes commands to take files offline without user input.

--OVERWRITE Allows the Move and Copy commands to overwrite existing files in the

destination folder, or to overwrite an existing zip file.

--CONTINUE

When there is an error moving or copying individual files, --CONTINUE will

cause the command to report the error, but continue to process other selected

files.

--NONINTERACTIVE

This option indicates that the backup utility is being run in the background (by

the task scheduler).

The backup command overwrites files only if --OVERWRITE was specified,

and deletes or move files offline only if the --FORCE option was specified.

--OUT “output file”

Specify a file to which to direct console text. Using the option forces the

--NONINTERACTIVE option to be applied as well. If the specified output file

already exists, it will be overwritten.

--CSV Causes the –L, -RH, -RV and --RESTORE commands to list the information

about each data file in a comma separated values format.

-?, -H Displays these usage directions.

Table 29 - General Options

Commands

Only one command may be used at a time.

Command Description

-L Lists selected files. If no selection is made, all files are listed.

-C "destination path" Copies selected files to the destination path.

-M "destination path" Moves selected files to the destination path. Selected files will not be

available in the historian following this command.

-CZ "destination file"

Copies selected files to the destination zip file. The destination file should

end in the extension .zip, If it does not, .zip will be added to the end of

the provided name.

-MZ "destination file"

Moves selected files to the destination zip file. Selected files will not be

available in the historian following this command. The destination file

should end in the extension .zip, If it does not, .zip will be added to the

end of the provided name.

-U Unlocks all files. The selection is ignored. This is intended to help recover

from a crash during the backup process.

--DELETE Deletes selected files. This takes the data off line. This will cause data

loss and is not recommended.

--RESTORE “source” Attempts to restore data from a backup. The source may be a single data

file, a backup zip file, or a backup folder. The restore command can only

complete a restore operation if data files do not overlap, and if the tag


Command Description

database in the backup source (n/a for single data files) matches the tag

database in the live system. A –S “SELECTION” option may be used to

specify which data files in the backup source to restore.

-RH “source”

Reads and lists the file information for a target zip file or directory. The –

S “SELECTION” option will allow a specific sub set of the files to be

listed. “source” may be a backup folder, zip file, or single data file.

-RV “source”

Tests if a target zip file or directory can be restored to the live system.

The –S “SELECTION” option will allow a specific sub set of the files to be

listed. “source” may be a backup folder, zip file, or single data file. If

the test passes, then the same command can be executed again replacing

–RV for --RESTORE to run a restore command that can be expected to

work (provided the live system has not changed in such a way to prevent

the restore from succeeding.)

Table 30 - Commands

Valid Selections

Only one selection command may be used.

Command Description

-S "NONACTIVE" Select all non active files (default).

-S "ALL" Select all files.

-S "ACTIVE" Select only the active file.

-S "<timetype> <timecomp>

<dateexpr>[ AND <dateexpr>][ ACTIVE]"

Select files by date or date range.

<timetype> is one of:

STARTS: The earliest possible timestamp in the file.

ENDS: The latest possible timestamp in the file.

MODIFIED: The system last modified time for the

file.

<timecomp> is one of:

BEFORE: Where the selected <timetype> comes

before the <dateexpr>.

AFTER: Where the selected <timetype> comes after

the <dateexpr>.

BETWEEN: Where the selected <timetype> falls

between the two date expressions. When BETWEEN is

used, two date expressions must be entered with AND

in between them. The date expressions may be in any

order.

<dateexpr> is either a date/time or an HDA relative

date/time expression.

The ACTIVE option, if specified after the date or date

range means that the active file will be included

provided that it also is selected by the date(s)


Command Description

entered. The active file will not be selected otherwise,

even if it meets the date requirement.

Table 31 - Valid Selections

Selection Examples

All files that start prior to one week before this week began.

-S "STARTS BEFORE WEEK-1W"

All files that start some time in the last month. Include the active file if it is in that time range.

-S "STARTS AFTER NOW-1MO ACTIVE"

All files that end more than three full calendar months ago.

-S "ENDS BEFORE MONTH-3MO"

All files last modified during January 2008.

-S "MODIFIED BETWEEN 2008-01-01 00:00 AND 2008-02-01 00:00"


Data Collection Management Data Collection settings (e.g., OPC Item selection, Tag update parameters) can be accessed on the

Data Collection Management page.

To view the Data Collection Management configuration settings:



Desktop -> Localhost -> OPC Desktop Historian -> Data Collection

Management

2. Click on the Configure item displayed under the Data Collection Management node.

Figure 50 displays the navigation pane and Data Collection Management page.

Figure 50 - Data Collection Management Page

The Data Collection Management tab consists of the following sections which are described in

more detail below:

Tag Browser

Tag Workspace

Data Collector


Tag Browser The Tag Browser (Figure 51) provides features for locating data servers and items. It provides

both hierarchical and flat browsing to the data server. This simplifies the process of adding tags to

the Tag Workspace. Refer to Adding a Tag for more information about adding tags to Desktop

Historian.

Figure 51 - Tag Browser (with and without Flat Browse enabled)

Table 32 describes the components of the Tag Browser screen section.

Component Description

Source Data Server

Enter the name of a data server in this field, or if required, use

the ellipsis button adjacent to this field to select a server from a

list of installed data servers.

Tag Name Filter If required, enter a server-specific filter string.

Flat Browse

Select this checkbox to enable flat browsing, or clear the

checkbox to use hierarchical browsing. If required, use flat

browsing mode to view all items on a server without the branch

structure.

Browse Use this button to return a list of branches and items available in

the server.

Item Display Displays the applicable items allowing you to select those to be



archived.

Enable Archiving of these Tags Select this checkbox to allow the selected tags to be archived.

Clear the checkbox if the selected tags are not to be archived.

Default Update Rate (ms)

Allows you to determine the default update rate for the selected

tag or tags (in milliseconds) by either manually entering a value

in this field, or by using the increase and decrease arrows

adjacent to the field to adjust the value.

Note: If the tags Update Rate is set to 0 then all item updates

are ignored including Lifetime updates.

Default Data Type

From the drop-down list, allows you to select a data type that will

be applied to the item if the source item’s data type cannot be

found, or is not supported by Data Storage.

Advanced

Select this button to access the Advanced Tag Options window

(Figure 52) where you can enable and define Timestamp

Processing and Tag Lifetime.

Add Selected Tags Select this button to create new OPC Desktop Historian tags in

the workspace.

Table 32 - Tag Browser Components

Figure 52 displays the Advanced Tag Options window which is accessed via the Advanced

button on the Tag Browser (Figure 51). The window components are described in Table 33.

Figure 52 - Advanced Tag Options Window



Timestamp Processing

Use System Timestamp

Select this checkbox to replace the server-provided timestamp

with one from the system clock on the Desktop Historian

computer, for the selected items.

If this checkbox is not selected, and the Enable Tag Lifetime

checkbox is selected, a warning is displayed stating: “The

lifetime feature will not record tag values correctly unless the

OPC server provides updated timestamps, or the Use System

Timestamp option is selected.”

Timestamp Bias

Enter or select a value (in milliseconds) to adjust the timestamp

for the selected tags before storing them. The Timestamp Bias

is added to the timestamp provided by the server, or if Use

System Timestamp is selected, then the bias is added to the

system timestamp for this value. The bias may be positive or

negative.

Tag Lifetime

Enable Tag Lifetime

Select this checkbox to enable the Tag Lifetime feature for the

selected tags. Tags using the feature are periodically polled

according to the Lifetime Update Rate when values have not

changed in that time period.

Selecting this checkbox enables the Lifetime Update Rate and

Units fields. If this checkbox is selected, and the Use System

Timestamp checkbox is not selected, a warning message is

displayed. See Use System Timestamp for message

information.

Note: If the tags Update Rate is set to 0 then this setting is

ignored and Lifetime updates will not occur.

Lifetime Update Rate

If available, this field allows you to enter a value defining the

update rate. The update rate unit of time (e.g., milliseconds,

seconds, minutes, etc.) is defined in the Units field.

If the Enable Tag Lifetime checkbox is not selected, this field is

not available.

The minimum acceptable Lifetime Update Rate is 100 ms. The

maximum acceptable Lifetime Update Rate is 42 days.

Units

If available, from the drop-down list, select an update rate unit

of time (e.g., milliseconds, seconds, minutes, etc.).

If the Enable Tag Lifetime checkbox is not selected, this field is

not available.

Lifetime Read Interface

Select the appropriate read interface option: AsyncIO, SyncIO.

If AsyncIO is selected, Desktop Historian data client will

attempt to perform an asynchronous command to obtain the

most recent value, quality, and timestamp for a lifetime read.

The SyncIO option will cause the data client to use a

synchronous command instead.

Accept Select this button to commit any changes made in the



Advanced Tag Options window. These changes apply to the

tags selected in the Tag Browser when the Add Selected Tags

button (in the Tag Browser) is selected.

Cancel Select this button to discard any changes made in the Advanced

Tag Options window.

Table 33 - Advanced Tag Options Window Components

Tag Workspace The Tag Workspace (identified as Tag Management screen section) contains all tags in Desktop

Historian. Each tag (row) represents a piece of data to be archived. Each tag consists of several

attributes (cells) that include a unique display name, matching data item, and several data update

parameters.

The Tag Workspace can be used to add new tags, remove tags, or modify the update behaviour

of a tag.

The Apply button (located in the bottom right corner of the tab) synchronizes Desktop Historian

with the workspace by adding, removing, and modifying tags to match the contents of the

Workspace.

The Cancel button (located in the bottom right corner of the tab) resets the workspace with the

last known configuration. This effectively ignores any changes to the Workspace since the last time

the Apply button was used, or since the tab was opened.

The workspace cells change colour based on the expected action to be performed, and the results

of an action. Refer to Colour Legend for more information.

Figure 53 - Tag Workspace


Tag Management Toolbar

The Tag Management toolbar (Figure 54) provides commonly-used commands to modify selected

tags and access to the display preferences tool.

Figure 54 - Tag Management Toolbar

Table 34 describes the components of the Tag Management toolbar.


Cut Cuts selected values/rows to clipboard.

Copy Copies selected values/rows to clipboard.

Paste Pastes values from clipboard into selected rows.

Mark Items for Deletion Marks all selected tags for deletion. Tags will be deleted with the

Commit button has been pressed.

Unmark Items for Deletion

Unmarks all selected tags for deletion. This may be used after

tags have been marked for deletion, but before the Commit

button has been pressed.

Visible Attributes

Opens the Preferences window which allows the user to select

which attributes should be displayed in the Tag Workspace. For

more information, refer to Visible Attributes.

Set Default Visible Attributes Resets the visible attributes to only those displayed by default.

Refresh Tags Refreshes the tag list from the tag database. This will cause all

pending changes to be lost.

Show Legend Shows/hides the Colour Legend window. Refer to Colour

Legend for more information.

Table 34 - Tag Management Toolbar Components

Tag Management Context Menu

The context menu (Figure 55) on the Tag Workspace provides options for selecting visible

attributes, and other for modifying selected tags. To display the context menu, right-click your

mouse anywhere in the Tag Workspace screen section.

Refer to Customizing the Display for more information about the Preferences window which

also allows you to define which attributes are visible in the workspace.


Figure 55 - Tag Management Context Menu

Table 35 describes the components of the Tag Workspace context menu.


Cut Cuts selected values/rows to clipboard.

Copy Copies selected values/rows to clipboard.

Paste Pastes values from clipboard into selected rows.

Mark Tag For Deletion Marks all selected tags for deletion.

Unmark Tag For Deletion Unmarks all selected tags for deletion.

Set Visible Attributes

(Shortcut)

Displays a list of visible attributes allowing you to select or

deselect those attributes you want shown in the Tag

Workspace. For more information, refer to Visible Attributes.

Set Visible Attributes

Opens the Preferences window which allows the user to select

which attributes should be displayed in the Tag Workspace. For

more information, refer to Visible Attributes.

Set to Default Visible

Attributes Resets the visible attributes to only those displayed by default.

Refresh Tag List Refreshes the tag list from the tag database. This will cause all

pending changes to be lost.

Legend Shows/hides the Colour Legend window. Refer to Colour

Legend for more information.

Table 35 - Tag Management Context Menu Options

Tag Status

The Tag Status (Figure 56) is found at the bottom of the Tag Workspace and displays the

following:

Total number of tags

Number of marked, deleted tags

Number of changed tags

Number of tags with invalid attributes


Figure 56 - Tag Status

Data Collector State

Desktop Historian uses an OPC Client to collect data related to each tag. The current state (i.e.,

status) of either Started or Stopped (Figure 57) is reported on the Data Collector screen

section. Refer to Turning Data Collection On or Off for more information.

Pressing the action button to the right of the status display will toggle the current Data Collector

state. When Data Collector is started, the action button will display Stop. When the Data Collector

is stopped, the action button will display Start.

Figure 57 - Data Collector State (showing Started and Stopped)

Note: When the Data Collector is stopped, the OPC client configuration node will go offline.

Adding a Tag Tags can be added using the Tag Browser (Figure 51). A data server may provide a list of item

IDs contained in the server. Retrieving this list is referred to as “browsing”. The Tag Browser can

be used to find and select data items to archive.

To add a tag:

1. In the Tag Browser, enter or select the source data server you want to browse in the

Source OPC Server field.

2. If required, enter a filter string in the Tag Name Filter field.

3. If required, select the Flat Browse checkbox.

Note: Leaving this checkbox cleared will mean that hierarchical browsing will occur rather

than flat browsing. Refer to Figure 51 which shows how the Tag Browser screen section

appears when the Flat Browse checkbox is cleared, and when it is selected.

4. Click on the Browse button. This will retrieve the list of OPC items available in the selected

OPC server.

5. Select the tag or tags you wish to add.

Note: Typical Windows functionality can be used to select multiple items. To select non-

adjacent items, select one item and then hold down the CTRL key and click on each

additional item. To select adjacent items, select the first item in the sequence and then hold

down the SHIFT key and click on the last item in the sequence.

6. If required, make changes to the following fields: Enable Archiving of these Tags,

Default Update Rate, Default Data Type.

7. If required, click on the Advanced button.

8. The Advanced Tag Options window (Figure 52) appears.

9. Enable and define the Timestamp Processing and Tag Lifetime options as necessary.

10. Click on the Accept button to close the Advanced Tag Options window and return to the

Tag Browser.


Note: Any changes you made in the Advanced Tag Options window and then accepted

will be reflected in field below the Advanced button in the Tag Browser.

11. Click on the Add Selected Tags button (which is now enabled) to create the new Desktop

Historian tags in the workspace.

Note: The tags are added to MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian immediately after the Add

Selected Tags button is pressed.

Removing a Tag

Notes:

Removing a tag from Desktop Historian is an irreversible

event. When a tag is removed, all access to the tag’s

historical data will be lost. Adding a new tag with the same

name as the previously removed tag will NOT allow access to

previously collected history.

All rows in the Tag Workspace can be selected (i.e.,

highlighted) by clicking in the top uppermost cell on the left

side of the grid. Click in the cell again to de-select all rows.

The Mark Tag For Deletion and Unmark Tag For Deletion

menu options are enabled only when rows have been selected.

The tags will not be removed from Desktop Historian until the

Commit button has been selected.

To remove/delete a tag:

1. In the Tag Workspace, highlight the tag or tags you want to remove. Clicking in the item

number column will highlight the required row/tag.

Note: Typical Windows functionality can be used to select multiple items. To select non-

adjacent items, select one item and then hold down the CTRL key and click on each

additional item. To select adjacent items, select the first item in the sequence and then hold

down the SHIFT key and click on the last item in the sequence.

2. Right-click your mouse and select the Mark Tag For Deletion option from the displayed

context menu. The tag is now highlighted in red to acknowledge the request.

Or,

Select the Mark Items for Deletion button on the Tag Management toolbar.

Notes:

The selected tag or tags will appear highlighted in red to acknowledge the request

(Figure 58).

If required, you can unmark those tags marked for deletion by selecting Unmark

Tag for Deletion from the context menu, or by selecting the Unmark Items for

Deletion button from the toolbar. For more information refer to Tag Management

Context Menu.

The Mark Tag For Deletion and Unmark Tag For Deletion context menu options

are enabled only when rows have been selected.


Figure 58 - Tag Workspace showing Tags Marked for Deletion

3. Click on the Commit button. The selected tag or tags are removed.

Changing a Tag Attribute Changes can be made to the tag attributes simply by entering a value in an attribute cell.

Note: A tag’s data type can modified only as it is being created. This

ensures that all historical data is stored in a consistent manner for a

specific tag.

To change an attribute for a tag:

1. In the Tag Workspace, click in the cell for which you want to change the value.

2. Make the required change.

3. Press Enter on your keyboard, or click anywhere outside of the changed cell.

4. The attribute is now highlighted in blue (Figure 59) to acknowledge the request.


Figure 59 - Tag Workspace showing Changed Attribute

5. Click on the Commit button.

6. The attribute change is displayed.

Renaming a Tag A tag’s display name can be modified just like any other attribute. For more information, refer to

Changing a Tag Attribute.

Note: Deleting a tag and then creating a new tag with the same name

will not recover old tag data.

To rename a tag:

1. In the Tag Workspace, click in Item Name field you want to change.

2. Make the required name change.

Note: A tag’s display name MUST be unique. If not, once the

Commit button is selected, the cell is highlighted in yellow to

acknowledge an invalid name and the change will not be applied. In

that case, click on the Cancel button and the cell value will revert back

to its original value.

3. Press Enter on your keyboard, or click your mouse anywhere outside of the changed cell.

4. The display name is now highlighted in blue to acknowledge the request.

5. Click on the Commit button.

6. The changed name is displayed in the workspace.


Turning Tags On or Off

Note: A tag that is turned “off” cannot be read from or written to. To

turn off only tag updates (but allow reads). Refer to Changing the

Update Rate.

A tag can be turned on or off by modifying the tag’s archiving attribute. Changes to this attribute

can be made by simply selecting True or False from the drop-down list in the Archiving field. The

display name is then highlighted in blue to acknowledge the request.

Changing the Update Rate A tag’s Update Rate can be modified just like any other attribute (for more information, refer to

Changing a Tag Attribute). The Update Rate can be changed by clicking the increase or

decrease buttons on the right side of the column to provide a new rate, and then press Enter or

click anywhere outside the cell. The display name is then highlighted in blue to acknowledge the

request.

Note: If a tag’s Update Rate is 0, the tag disables all point updates

including Lifetime updates. This setting does not prevent OPC clients

from writing to the tag via the OPC server.

Changing the Node Name and Process Name The Node Name and Process Name attributes can be changed manually by editing the cell

directly, or by browsing the Server Browser window (Figure 60). Click the button (outlined in red

in the diagram below) on the right side of the Process Name cell to access the Server Browser

window.


Figure 60 - Changing Node Name and Process Name

Invalid Attributes Invalid attributes are highlighted in yellow with a red triangle displayed in the top right corner of

the cell, as show in Figure 61. When your cursor is moved over the red triangle, a comment

window is displayed with a detailed explanation of why that particular attribute is invalid.

Note: Tags are updated only once all invalid attribute fields are

corrected.


Figure 61 - Invalid Attributes

Configuring Array Elements MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian does not support tags of array data type. However, it is possible to

store individual elements.

To store an element of an array tag, set the Array Index attribute for the tag. By default, the

Array Index attribute is not visible. Refer to Visible Attributes for information on how to set

visible tag attributes.

The Array Index is a zero-based index. For example, if you want to store the first element in the

array, set the Array Index to 0 (Figure 62).

Figure 62 - Configuring Array Elements

Configuring Tag Lifetime and Timestamp Processing Attributes In some cases, it is necessary to change how MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian handles tags that do

not change frequently (i.e., process set points and similar items). In previous versions of Desktop


Historian, those tags would only record a data point when they are changed. However, some

trending and analysis packages cannot properly display that item as a flat line if its value has not

been updated recently. To accommodate those situations, the following tag attributes have been

added to the application: Tag Lifetime Enabled, Lifetime Update Rate, Lifetime Read

Interface, Use System Timestamp, and Timestamp Bias (Figure 63).

Note: Timestamp Bias and Lifetime Read Interface are not visible by default. Refer to Visible

Attributes for more information.

Figure 63 - Lifetime and Timestamp Processing Attributes (with Lifetime Update Rate Field Options Displayed)

Table 36 describes the aforementioned attributes (displayed in Figure 63).

Attribute Description

Tag Lifetime Enabled

If this checkbox is selected, lifetime processing is enabled. A tag

with lifetime processing enabled will be demand-read from the

OPC server if the lifetime expires without an update from the

data server.

Note: If the tags Update Rate is set to 0 then this setting is

ignored and Lifetime updates will not occur.

Lifetime Update Rate

The amount of time to wait after the last updated value from the

data server before attempting a demand-read to refresh the tag

value and timestamp.

Clicking on the down arrow displayed on the right side of this

field displays two additional fields:

Lifetime Update Rate - this field allows you to enter a value

defining the update rate. The update rate unit of time (e.g.,

milliseconds, seconds, minutes, etc.) is defined in the Units field.

If this field is left blank or set to 0, MatrikonOPC Desktop

Historian will never attempt a demand-read to refresh the item.

Units - If available, from the drop-down list, select an update

rate unit of time (e.g., milliseconds, seconds, minutes, etc.).


Attribute Description

The minimum acceptable value is 100 ms. The maximum

acceptable value is 42 days.

Lifetime Read Interface

This is an advanced option, hidden by default. The attribute

selects which type of interface to use when requesting a demand

read to refresh an item with the Tag Lifetime Enabled checkbox

selected. The default method is to use ASYNC communications to

refresh the item. If SYNC is selected in this field, the item will

read using synchronous calls to the data server to read the item.

Note: MatrikonOPC does not recommend changing this option

unless it is necessary to address known issues and the data

server providing the data.

Use System Timestamp

If it is necessary to match the timestamp between lifetime and

non-lifetime-enabled tags, or when the server providing the data

is unable to provide a reliable or consistent timestamp, then this

checkbox may be selected. Selecting the checkbox causes all

values recorded for the item to use the system time of the

computer running MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian instead of the

timestamp provided by the data server.

For more details, refer to the Troubleshooting section.

Timestamp Bias

This attribute accepts a number of milliseconds to add to the

timestamp for the item (which may be positive or negative)

before recording it to MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian’s database.

If the Tag Lifetime Enabled or Use System Timestamp

checkboxes are selected, the timestamp will be recorded as the

local system time plus the Timestamp Bias. For all other items,

the recorded timestamp will be the timestamp provided by the

OPC server plus the Timestamp Bias. This can be used to

synchronize distant sources, or adjust for time zone configuration

issues.

Table 36 - Timestamp and Lifetime Processing Attributes Descriptions

Notes:

As per all other attributes, changes to those items listed in

Table 36 will take effect only once the Commit button is

selected.

If the configured tag does not have an external source

configured, then configuring Lifetime Processing will have no

effect.

Refreshing the Tag List Refreshing the tag list is useful if tags are changed through the Tag Workspace.

To refresh the tag list:

1. Right-click your mouse in the Tag Workspace.

2. From the displayed menu, select the Refresh Tag List option.

Or,


Select the Refresh Tag List button on the Tag Management toolbar.

Figure 64 - Refresh Tag List

3. A message appears asking you to confirm the action.

4. Click on the Yes button.

5. The Tag Workspace is refreshed.


Customizing the Display

Tag Browser Docking You can auto-hide the Tag Browser window by clicking on the push pin icon found in the right-

hand corner of the Tag Browser title bar (as shown in Figure 65). The Tag Browser window

“hides” itself toward the left edge of the panel. Once hidden, clicking on the vertical Tag Browser

button that appears on the left side of the window will once again, display the Tag Browser

window.

To disable the auto-hide feature, float your mouse over or click on the vertical Tag Browser

button that appears on the left side of the window to display the Tag Browser window. The push

pin icon is displayed horizontally. Click on the push pin icon to disable the auto-hide feature. The

icon is then displayed vertically and the Tag Browser window remains unhidden.

Figure 65 - Tag Browser Title Bar

Figure 66 - Auto-Hide Tag Browser Window

You also have the option of “floating” the Tag Browser window by clicking on the Tag Browser

screen section title bar, and dragging it anywhere on the screen (Figure 67). To return the Tag

Browser to its locked-in position, double-click your mouse on the Tag Browser title bar.


Figure 67 - Floating Tag Browser Window

Visible Attributes

Note: For a detailed list of all attributes, refer to Appendix B – Attributes.

When the Tag Workspace is initially displayed, only the attributes for an OPC tag are displayed.

There are two methods by which to display select attributes.

1. First Approach:

a. Right-click your mouse anywhere in the Tag Workspace.

b. From the displayed menu, select the Set Visible Attributes (Shortcut) menu

option (Figure 68).

c. A sub-menu is displayed listing the available attributes. The currently visible

attributes are checked.

d. Click on an attribute to make it visible (checked) or invisible (not checked).


Figure 68 - Set Visible Attributes (First Approach)

2. Second Approach:

The Preferences window can also be used to select which attributes are visible in the Tag

Workspace. This window provides detailed information (Name, Data Type, and Description) for

each attribute and allows you to perform multiple changes at once.

a. Right-click your mouse anywhere in the Tag Workspace.

b. From the displayed menu, select the Set Visible Attributes menu option.

c. The Preferences window (Figure 69) is displayed.

d. Click on an attribute to make it visible (checked) or invisible (not checked).

e. Click on the Apply button to accept the attribute selection, and to close the

Preferences window to return to the Tag Workspace.


Figure 69 - Set Visible Attributes (Second Approach)

Colour Legend The Legend window illustrates the different colours used for different information, including

deleted tags, changed attributes, invalid attributes, etc.

To display the Legend window:

1. Right-click your mouse anywhere in the Tag Workspace.

2. From the displayed menu, select the Legend menu option.

Or,

Click on the Show Legend button on the Tag Management toolbar.

3. The Legend window appears.

Figure 70 - Colour Legend


OPC Server Configuration Desktop Historian’s OPC server runs properly without any configuration, but you can customize the

server’s behaviour as required. This section instructs you on how to start and configure the OPC

server settings, log settings and also displays OPC server version information.

Server Options To view server settings:


nodes:

Desktop -> Localhost -> OPC Desktop Historian -> Options -> OPC Server ->

Server Options

2. Click on the Configure item displayed under the Server Options node. Figure 71 displays

the navigation pane and Server Options page.

Figure 71 - Server Options Page

Table 37 describes the components of the Server Options page.


Command Description

Maximum Return Values

Allows you to set a maximum number of values that can be returned

from an HDA ReadRaw request. If an HDA client makes a request

which exceeds this value, then no data is returned and the client

receives an error code indicating that they exceeded the server’s

limit. Setting this value to 0 means that no limit is enforced on the

number of items returned.

Default value = 0.

Notes:

This limit is not enforced for Browsing operations.

This limit is only enforced for the number of data points

returned to the OPC HDA Client making the read request. The

number of data points retrieved in internal Read Raw

operations (performed to gather the data needed to make

aggregate calculations) is not limited. Therefore, load issues

can still occur when a Maximum Return Values limit is in

place.

Apply Maximum Return

Values to Processed Reads

Applies the Maximum Return Values limit to the HDA

ReadProcessed requests. The limit is applied to the underlying

ReadRaw request that gathers the data necessary to calculate the

aggregate. If this limit is reached, the aggregate data returned will

not cover the entire requested time range.

Aggregate Overread

When an aggregate calculation is performed the server performs a

ReadRaw operation internally to gather the data needed to perform

the calculation. This option modifies the time span of this ReadRaw

call. If this option is 0, then the ReadRaw call uses the start and end

times from the ReadProcessed call. If this option is non-zero then the

time extends the start and end times of the ReadRaw call by the

number of intervals configured.

An interval is defined as the interval requested in the ReadProcessed

call. See the example below for further explanation.

Default value = 0.

Note: The maximum ReadRaw timespan is three times the original

ReadProcessed timespan, regardless of the number of intervals

configured in this field.

Table 37 - Server Options Page Components

Note: Server Options settings take effect only once the Apply

button is selected.

Aggregate Overread Example:

An OPC HDA client requests an aggregate:

Start Time: 9:00:00.000 AM

End Time: 10:00:00.000 AM

Interval: 5 minutes

Aggregate Overread is set to 0:


The OPC server will conduct a ReadRaw:

Start Time: 9:00:00.000 AM

End Time: 10:00:00.000 AM

Aggregate Overread is set to 2:

The OPC server will conduct a ReadRaw:

StartTime: 8:50:00.000 AM

End Time: 10:10:00.000 AM

Logging Options OPC server settings, including logging, can be accessed via the Log Options tab. The Log

Options page includes two tabs:

General Logging

Log Filtering

General Logging Tab

To view logging settings:


nodes:

Desktop -> Localhost -> OPC Desktop Historian -> Options -> OPC Server

2. Click on the Logging Options item displayed under the OPC Server node. Figure 72

displays the navigation pane and Log Options page with the General Logging tab

selected.


Figure 72 - General Logging Tab

Table 38 describes the components of the General Logging tab on the Log Options page.

Command Description

Enable activity logging Selecting this checkbox enables general activity logging at the

specified detail level (High, Medium, Low, or None).

Commit all log file writes Selecting this checkbox ensures that the file buffer is flushed after

each message logged, in case the server is crashing.

Overwrite old log

information

Selecting this checkbox ensures that the old log file is overwritten

each time the server starts up. Otherwise, the old log file is renamed

with an underscore (“_”) prefix.

Filename

Allows you to enter a full path for the general activity log file. The

default path is: C:\Program Files\Common

Files\MatrikonOPC\Common\ PSTCFGMatrikon.OPC.MatArc.1.LOG.

Table 38 - General Logging Tab Components

Note: General Logging options settings take effect only once the

Apply button is selected.


Log Filtering Tab

Figure 73 displays the Log Filtering tab on the Log Options page. Table 39 describes the

components of the Log Filtering tab.

Figure 73 - Log Filtering Tab

Command Description

Filter String Match string for filtered log.

Filename Full path for filtered log file.

Table 39 - Log Filtering Tab Components

Note: Log Filtering options settings take effect only once the Apply

button is selected.

Version This page is display only and shows OPC server version information.

To view OPC server version information:


nodes:


Desktop -> Localhost -> OPC Desktop Historian -> Options -> OPC Server

2. Click on the Version item displayed under the OPC Server node. Figure 74 displays the

Version page.

Figure 74 - OPC Server Version Information Page


OPC Client Configuration You can customize Desktop Historian’s OPC Client behaviour by changing the client’s settings

through the configuration panels. This section shows how to configure the OPC client and client

logging settings, and also displays OPC client version information.

There are two groups of settings that you can customize:

Client Settings (includes connection and data buffer settings)

Logging Settings

Client Settings Tab Connection Settings and Data Buffer Settings can be configured through the Client Settings

tab of the OPC Client Configuration page.

To view client settings:


nodes:

Desktop -> Localhost -> OPC Desktop Historian -> Options -> OPC Client

2. Click on the Configure item displayed under the OPC Client node. Figure 75 displays the

navigation pane and OPC Client Configuration page with the Client Settings tab

selected.

Figure 75 - Client Settings Tab (OPC Client)

Client Settings tab variables (i.e., fields) and functions are described in Table 40.


Command Description

Delay after connection

Allows you to enter a value (in milliseconds) indicating the time

to wait before adding any items after connecting to the OPC

server.

Delay to retry adding items Allows you to enter a value (in milliseconds) indicating the time

to wait before retrying to add the failed items.

Maximum retries during startup Allows you to enter a value defining the maximum number of

retries to add items during start up.

Table 40 - Connection Settings

The Data Buffer Settings manage how the OPC client will buffer the received data before sending

it to the core. The OPC client will first store data (buffer) in the memory. When the amount of

buffered data in memory exceeds certain limits, the OPC client will start buffering data in files. All

of these operations are transparent to the user, but you can customize how much data is to be

buffered in memory and in the data files.

The Data Buffer Settings variables and functions are described in Table 41.

Command Description

Data buffer directory

Allows you to enter the directory where the data files will be created.

By default, this directory is: C:\Program Files\Matrikon\OPC\Desktop

Historian\OPC Client\Data Buffer\.

Maximum number of data in

cache

Allows you to enter a value to define the maximum number of data to

be buffered in memory. By default, this value is 5,000,000. The OPC

client will make an intelligent judgement as to when to start buffering

data to files, based on the current number of data in cache and this

maximum value.

Maximum number of files Allows you to enter the maximum number of files to be created. By

default, this value is 20.

Maximum file size Allows you to enter the maximum file size (in MB) for each file. By

default, this value is 25 MB.

Apply Use this button to commit any changes made on the Client Settings

tab.

Cancel Use this button to discard any changes made on the Client Settings

tab.

Table 41 - Data Buffer Settings

Logging Settings Tab The Logging Settings tab (Figure 76) allows you to edit OPC client general logging options. The

log files will be contained in the following location ([ ] indicates the default installation path):

[C:\Program Files\Matrikon]\OPC\Desktop Historian\OPC Client\Log


Figure 76 - Logging Settings (OPC Client)

The Logging Settings tab variables (i.e., fields) and functions are described in Table 42.

Command Description

Log file directory Directory of the log file (read-only).

Log level

Allows you to define the amount of detail to provide in the log file:

Low – Errors (default setting)

Medium – Errors and Warnings

High – Errors, Warnings, and Information

Log file size

Allows you to define the maximum size of the log file (in MB). Once

this size is reached, the oldest data in the file is erased at the same

rate that new information is written to the log file. This value will be

ignored if Forced writing is activated.

Commit all log file writes

Indicates how often the log is to be written to. If the checkbox is

selected, statements must be written to the log file as soon as they

are reported. No caching may be used.

Apply Use this button to commit any changes made on the Logging

Settings tab.

Cancel Use this button to discard any changes made on the Logging

Settings tab.

Table 42 - Logging Settings


Note: If all of the configured data files have been used, the OPC

Client will not generate any new data files. If both data files and

configured cache are used up, the OPC Client will start to drop data.

This information is logged at a log level of Medium.

Version This page is display only and shows OPC client version information.

To view OPC client version information:


nodes:

Desktop -> Localhost -> OPC Desktop Historian -> Options -> OPC Client

2. Click on the Version item displayed under the OPC Client node. Figure 74 displays the

Version page.

Figure 77 - OPC Client Version Information Page


FileCollector FileCollector is an OPC client that transfers historical process data from a Comma Separated Value

(CSV) file to the MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian via OPC HDA. This product will monitor a specified

directory for the new CSV files. If a CSV file is found, this product will read the data and transfer it

to the Desktop Historian. Depending on the configuration, the process file will either be deleted, or

moved to a back-up directory.

For more information about the FileCollector component, refer to the MatrikonOPC FileCollector

User’s Manual.


ODBC Server The ODBC Server component allows ODBC clients to read data from Desktop Historian. You may

configure the ODBC server and view the applicable version information.

To access the Matrikon ODBC Server for OPC page:

1. From the main Configuration window, select and expand the following nodes:

Desktop -> Localhost -> ODBC Server

2. Click on the Configure item under the ODBC Server node.

3. The Matrikon ODBC Server for OPC page (Figure 78) is displayed.

The ODBC Server page consists of two tabs:

Databases

General

Databases Tab The Databases tab is shown in Figure 78 and the components are described in Table 43.

Figure 78 - Databases Tab

Command Description

Name Allows you to enter a name for the database.

Description If required, enter a description of the current database.

HDA Server Node Allows you to specify the OPC HDA server node for the database.

HDA Server ProdID Allows you to specify the OPC HDA server program ID for the database.

New Database Select this button to access the Database Configuration wizard

which guides you through the necessary steps in configuring a new

database. For more information, refer to Configuring a New


Command Description

Database.

Update Database

Select this button to accept any changes you make to an existing

database. Changing any of the Database Configuration panel field

values enables this button. You must update the database.

Apply Select this button to commit any changes made, to the system.

Refresh

Select this button to refresh the Databases tab, clearing the fields in

the Database Configuration panel.

Note: Although the fields are cleared, no saved information is lost.

Table 43 - Databases Tab Components

Configuring a New Database

To configure a new ODBC server database:



2. Select the Configure item under the ODBC Server node.

3. The Matrikon ODBC Server for OPC page appears.

4. If not already displayed, select the Databases tab (Figure 78).

5. Click on the New Database button.

6. Step 1 of the Database Configuration wizard (Figure 79) is displayed.

Figure 79 - Database Configuration Wizard (Step 1)

7. Enter a name for the new database, and if required, a description in the Database Name

and Description fields.


9. Step 2 of the wizard (Figure 80) is displayed.



10. Use the Browse (ellipsis) button adjacent to the ProgramID field to browse for and select

the necessary OPC HDA server for this database.


12. Step 3 of the wizard (Figure 81) is displayed summarizing the configuration.


13. Click on the Finish button to create the database.

14. The wizard closes and you are returned to the Databases tab. The newly created database

is now listed (Figure 82) in the pane on the left of the panel.


Figure 82 - New Database Created

Removing a Database

To remove/delete an existing database:



2. Select the Configure item under the ODBC Server node.

3. The Matrikon ODBC Server for OPC page appears with the Databases tab already

selected.

4. In the list of databases displayed in the left pane of the tab, right-click your mouse on the

database you want to remove.

5. Select the Remove option that is displayed.

6. A message is displayed asking you to confirm the action.

7. Click on the OK button.

8. The Databases tab is refreshed and the removed database no longer appears listed.

General Tab The General tab is shown in Figure 83 and the components are described in Table 44.


Figure 83 - General Tab

Command Description

Disconnect Delay Allows you to specify the amount of time (in seconds) the OPC server

remains running after all clients have disconnected.

Log File Directory Allows you to enter the directory of the log file, or accept the default

directory.

Log Level Allows you to specify the amount of detail to be provided in the log file:

None, Low, Medium, High, or Debug.

Log Size Allows you to specify the maximum size of the log file.

Force File Writes Select this checkbox to force the log to be written.

Apply Select this button to commit any changes made on this tab.

Refresh Select this button to refresh the General tab.

Table 44 - General Tab Components

Version This page is display only and shows ODBC server version information.

To view ODBC server version information:


nodes:


2. Click on the Version item displayed under the ODBC Server node. Figure 84 displays the

Version page.


Figure 84 - ODBC Server Version Information Page


Tag Manager – Excel Plug-In Tag Manager is used to work with tags in Desktop Historian and runs as an add-in to Microsoft

Excel. Tag Manager can be used to view, add, change, or delete tags, and to turn tag scans on

and off.

Note: Tag Manager works with Excel 2007 versions 12.0.6425.1000

and higher. Microsoft Office Service Packs SP1 and SP2 have to be

installed for Tag Manager to work correctly.

Installing Tag Manager Add-Ins To install the Tag Manager add-in:

1. The Tag Manager add-in is automatically installed and configured by the Desktop

Historian installation package.

2. When Microsoft Excel is opened, the Excel menu bar should include a Desktop Historian

menu item (outlined in red in Figure 85). If not, you can manually configure the Tag

Manager add-in for use (refer to steps 3 through 7).

Figure 85 - Excel Title Bar

3. From the Excel Tools menu, select the Add-Ins menu option. The Add-Ins window

appears.

4. From the Add-Ins window, click on the Browse button. The Browse window appears.

5. In the Browse window, navigate to [C:\Program Files\Matrikon\OPC\]Desktop

Historian\Utils.

Note: [ ] indicates the default installation path.

6. Click on the TagMgr.xll file.

7. The entry Matrikon Desktop Historian – Tag Manager should now appear selected in

the list of add-ins. Click on the OK button to close the dialog box.

Connecting to Tag Manager When started, Tag Manager will connect to the local Desktop Historian. If this initial connection

cannot be established, a warning message is displayed.

Manually connecting to Desktop Historian should be required only if the Tag Manager has been

disconnected manually, or if the initial connection could not be established.

To connect to Tag Manager:

Note: This procedure will guide you through the steps needed to connect to Tag Manager. You

are instructed to create a new workbook in Excel which will be used to complete other tasks

outlined in this manual.

1. From the Excel Desktop Historian menu, select the Connect menu option.

2. From the Excel File menu, select the New menu option.

3. Create a new workbook. You will use this file to view and manipulate tag information.


Loading Attributes To load tag attributes:

Note: Use the new Excel work book you created in the previous procedure (Connecting to Tag

Manager).

1. From the Excel Desktop Historian menu, select the Load Attributes menu option.

2. The default OPC tag attributes are loaded into the Excel worksheet and the following

columns are displayed: Action, Attr Name, Data Type, and Description.

Adding, Changing, and Deleting Tag Attributes The Tag Manager supports the standard OPC tag attributes. You can also add tag attributes to the

archive database. Only those tag attributes that you have added can be changed or deleted.

Default OPC attributes cannot be changed or deleted.

To add a tag attribute:

Note: Use the Excel worksheet complete with loaded default OPC tag attributes (Action, Attr

Name, Data Type, Description) from the previous procedure (Loading Attributes).

1. Click on an empty row in the Action column and type ADD.

2. Enter the necessary information in the new row under each of the following columns: Attr

Name, Data Type, Description.

3. Click your mouse anywhere outside of the new row.

4. From the Excel Desktop Historian menu, select the Commit Changes menu option.

5. A message appears stating that all changes were committed successfully.


To change a tag attribute:

CAUTION: You may NOT change any of the default OPC attributes.

Note: Use the existing Excel worksheet complete with loaded default OPC tag attributes and the

new attribute you added above.

1. Click in the Action column for the row you want to change, and type MOD.

2. Change the existing information in the same row under any of the following columns: Attr

Name, Data Type, Description.

3. Click your mouse anywhere outside of the changed row.





To delete a tag attribute:

CAUTION: You may NOT delete any of the default OPC attributes.

Note: Use the existing Excel worksheet complete with loaded default OPC tag attributes and the

new attribute you added and then changed, previously.

1. Click in the Action column for the row you want to delete, and type DEL.

2. Click your mouse anywhere outside of the row.




Renaming an Attribute To rename a tag attribute:

1. Using the Excel worksheet, in the Attr Name column, select the name you want to change.

2. In the Action column, type MOD next to the name to be changed.

3. In the Excel formula bar, type REN before the existing name, place quotation marks

around the existing name, add a space and type in the new name surrounded by quotation

marks. For example, REN “Existing Name” “New Name”.

4. Click your mouse anywhere outside of the row.




8. From the Excel Desktop Historian menu, select the Load Tags menu option.

9. The Load Tags window appears listing all selected tags (refer to Figure 86).


Figure 86 - Load Tags Window

10. Click on the OK button to add all tags and tag attributes.

11. The worksheet refreshes and the change is displayed.

Loading Tags for Viewing To load tags for viewing:

1. From the Excel Desktop Historian menu, select the Load Tags menu option.

2. The Load Tags window (see Figure 86) appears.

3. Click on the OK button to add all selected tags and tag attributes.

Note: You can also filter tags by Tag Name, Data Type, or limit the attributes to be

displayed. Refer to Filtering Tags and Limiting Attribute Display.

Filtering Tags Note: Data Type and Name filters may be combined.

To filter tags by name:

1. On the Load Tags window, in the Name Filter field, enter the tag name (or part of tag

name) that you want to match. Use an asterisk as a wildcard character.

And/or,


In the Data Type Filter field, from the drop-down list, select the data type to which you

want to match tags.


3. Those tags that meet the filter specification are loaded into an Excel worksheet.

Limiting Attribute Display To limit attribute display:

1. On the Load Tags window, in the Name column, clear the checkbox adjacent to the

attribute or attributes you do not want displayed.

Or,

Select the checkbox adjacent to the attribute or attributes you want displayed.

Adding OPC Tags Adding an OPC tag:

1. From the Desktop Historian menu, select the Add OPC tags menu option.

2. The Add OPC Tags window is displayed (Figure 87).

3. In the Host field, select a host from the drop-down list.

4. In the Server field, select a server from the drop-down list.

5. Click on the button adjacent to the Server field.

6. Expand the navigation tree in the left pane to display the available tags.


Figure 87 - Add OPC Tags Window

7. In the pane on the right side of the window, double-click your mouse on the tag you want to

add. The tag is added to the Excel worksheet.

Note: Tags can also be added by right-clicking your mouse on the tag you want to add and

selecting Add Selected from the menu that appears. This is particularly useful when adding

multiple tags.




Turning Tag Scanning On and Off To turn tag scanning on or off:

1. From the Excel spreadsheet, in the Archiving column for the tag you want to change, enter

either TRUE (scanning is on) or FALSE (scanning is off).





Renaming a Tag To rename a tag:

1. Using the Excel spreadsheet, load the tags present in Desktop Historian.

2. In the Action column, type MOD next to the name to be changed.

3. In the Tag Name column, type REN before the existing name, place quotation marks

around the existing name, add a space and type in the new name surrounded by quotation

marks. For example, REN “Existing Name” “New Name”.





Diagnostics The server supplies diagnostic information to assist operators and support personnel with

troubleshooting communication problems and software faults.

Logging All MatrikonOPC servers produce log files that record errors and debugging information. The log

files can be extremely valuable for troubleshooting. By default, the servers log very little

information.

General Activity Logging records information about the internal workings of the OPC server. It is

useful for troubleshooting problems with configuration and device communication. Interface

Activity Logging records information about the client/server OPC communication. It is useful for

troubleshooting compliance issues.

For General logging, the higher the log level, the more information that is recorded. However,

server performance may decrease at higher log levels. The recommended operating level is

Medium. More log levels are available for both types of logging which record more detailed

information, as well as the ability to output log statements to a console window at run time.

Contact MatrikonOPC Support for further instructions on how to enable the higher log levels and

console logging.

For Interface logging, the log level can be considered very high and therefore should never be used

during normal operation of the OPC server unless specifically working on problems related to

interfacing.

MatrikonOPC Sniffer is a useful tool for logging OPC client/server communication. It enhances

the Interface Activity Logging by recording the client-side transactions. It can also be used with

other OPC servers. MatrikonOPC Sniffer is a utility used to troubleshoot OPC client/server

interoperability issues. Contact the MatrikonOPC Sales department for further information about

this product, or use the following link to access the Matrikon Sniffer Download.

In general, the server logs all errors and other information of immediate importance to the user at

the low detail level, all warnings and other information of moderate importance to the user at a

medium detail level, and additional information concerning the normal functioning of the software

at a high detail level. The server also logs further information of concern to support personnel at

the debug log level.

Note: The higher the log level, the slower the performance of the

server. It is recommended that the log level be left at the default,

unless troubleshooting needs to be performed.

http://www.matrikonopc.com/downloads/179/productsoftware/index.aspx


Troubleshooting The following section addresses some of the most common problems encountered, and questions

asked, while using this OPC server. Please check the following Problems/Solutions and

Questions/Answers sections before contacting the MatrikonOPC Support team.

Problems and Solutions

OPC Server stops updating client after two hours

Problem: My OPC client stops receiving item values after two hours.

Solution: The OPC server is licensed with a hardware or software key, and the demonstration

period for the server has expired.

Cannot configure client access paths or item options

Problem: A third-party OPC client does not provide a means to configure access paths, making it

difficult to correctly specify the data acquisition options for the items.

Solution: The server provides a global parameter for configuring an escape character to allow

users to append communication options to the end of an Item ID to accommodate

those clients that do not support access paths.

Perform the following steps:

1. Create a string value named ItemIDEscapeCharacter in the following

location: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20DE4721-17CD-4912-AD78-

B3702370B733}\Options.

2. To create a new value, select the Options key and then choose New String

Value from the Edit menu.

3. Set the value of ItemIDEscapeCharacter entry a single character such as “|”

(pipe).

4. To edit the value, select the entry and choose Modify from the Edit menu.

5. Shut down the server and restart it for the change to take effect.

6. Configure the ItemIDEscapeCharacter Item ID in the OPC Client with the

access path appended to the end with the configured escape character (e.g.,

ITEMID|ACCESSPATH).

More than one HASP attached to parallel port, but only first one is recognized

Problem: There is more than one HASP hardware key from MatrikonOPC attached to the parallel

port, but the software only recognizes the first one.

Solution: HASP keys from the same vendor cannot be chained together. Contact your Account

Manager to obtain a HASP key containing the combined codes of all installed

MatrikonOPC servers.


OPC server does not show up as local program in OPC client application

Problem: The OPC server does not show up in a list of locally available program IDs in a third-

party OPC client application.

Solution: Make certain that a user with local administrative rights installs the OPC server so that

it can create the necessary entries in the registry.

Also, particularly for older OPC clients that do not use the OPC Server Browser, make

certain that the client is running as a user that has Read access to the registry.

In addition, make sure that Microsoft Execution Prevention (DEP) is not on during

installation.

Data is not being updated

Problem: The OPC server does not report any new data for tags that should be updating.

Solution: Check that the Data Collector (Desktop Historian OPC Client Service) has been started,

and that the Archiving attribute for the tags of interest is set to True, or

There may be a problem with either the tag configuration, or communication to the

OPC server. Both of these conditions will be reported in the OPC client log file. This

may include incorrect parameters (such as invalid Item IDs, or an unknown OPC

Server Program ID), as well as communication failure codes (such as a failure to

connect to a remote OPC server), or

If an OPC server is not active when the OPC client attempts to connect, the OPC server

may not have sufficient time to configure itself for proper use. To avoid this, the OPC

client has the ability to pause during the connection operation at several stages and

retry communication if a full or partial communication failure is encountered. Contact

MatrikonOPC Support for instructions on customizing the connection behaviour of

the OPC client.

“Unknown error” when applying FF4 file format settings

Problem: An “Unknown error” message appears when setting the FF4 file format in the Data

Storage Management window.

Solution: One of the possible reasons for getting this error message is because there is not

enough disk space for the number of files you specified. If you have specified the

history is to be stored in 1,000 25 MB files, make sure you have at least 25G of disk

space free.

ODH does not install on 64-bit Windows 2003 operating system

Problem: Installation stops and an error message indicating that a Microsoft update is not

present, is displayed.


Solution: The installation stops as it cannot find the necessary Microsoft hotfixes. Install the

KB973687-64 and msxml6_x64.msi updates from the Microsoft website and then

install ODH again.

Questions and Answers

Implementing ReadProcessed INTERP Aggregate function in MatrikonOPC Server for Desktop Historian

Question: How is the OPC HDA ReadProcessed INTERP Aggregate function implemented in the

MatrikonOPC Server for Desktop Historian?

Answer: This varies depending on whether the stepped attribute for a particular item is set to

True or False within Desktop Historian. In the case where the stepped attribute for

an item is set to True, stepped interpolation is used between data points. In the case

where the stepped attribute for an item is set to False, linear interpolation is used

between data points. In both cases, stepped extrapolation is used at end boundary

conditions.

Adding a large number of tags to Desktop Historian

Question: How can I add a large number of tags to Desktop Historian?

Answer: MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian includes a Tag Manager that allows you to add, change

or delete tags in Excel. Refer to the Tag Manager – Excel Plug-In section in this

manual for more information.

Lifetime Enabled tags do not receive new timestamps at every lifetime interval

Question: How can I configure lifetime tags to properly apply updated timestamps?

Answer: Tags that are configured to use the Lifetime feature must have the Use System

Timestamp option configured properly for the system that is being read from.

If Use System Timestamp is disabled then MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian will

always use the timestamp that is provided by the OPC Server that is providing the

data. This behaviour is desirable if the data source updates its timestamps frequently

but does not send new data to MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian unless the value

changes.

If Use System Timestamp is enabled then MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian will use

the current time from the computer on which it is installed to timestamp all data

points that are read for the configured tag. This is the desired setting when using

Lifetime configuration on tags that do not get updated timestamps on the OPC server.

Search the MatrikonOPC Support Knowledge Base at www.opcsupport.com to find the answers

to other commonly-asked Desktop Historian questions.



Limitations MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian has the following limitations:

1. Microsoft Windows NT is not supported – if running MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian on

the Windows NT operating system, users will experience problems while adding, changing,

and removing tags.

2. MatrikonOPC Performance Monitor, File Collector and ODBC server - currently not

supported on Windows 7 and Windows 2008.

3. Array data type is not supported – MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian does not support

storing tags of Array data type. However, it is possible to store individual elements. To store

an element of an array tag, please refer to Configuring Array Elements.

4. String data type is not supported in FF4 storage format.

5. Insert/Replace is not supported in FF7R and FF4 storage formats. All data insertions

must be done using the Insert method call.

6. Maximum string length supported in FF7 storage format is 2,033 – if the input string

length is longer than 2,033, the string will be truncated before being stored.

7. Storage format FF7 will not store data properly when the DAT file size exceeds 4

gigabytes (232 bytes). In the Data Storage Management window, the Store no more

than xxx minutes of history in each file option must be set to prevent the DAT file from

exceeding this size, and leave at least 10 percent for overhead. For example, with 5,000

tags at a 1 second update rate, this configuration setting should be set to no more than 420

minutes (7 hours) of history in all file.

Total file size = 15 [bytes/value] * 5000[values/second] * 60[seconds/minute] *

420[minutes] * 1.1 [overhead factor of 10%] < 232 [bytes]

Refer to Appendix A – File Formats of the User’s Manual for specific size requirement of

storage format FF7.

8. FF7R size limits not strictly enforced - the 25MB file size is not strictly enforced. If data

is written to Desktop Historian that is older than the latest data written (i.e., back filling),

then the data files may grow to exceed the target 25 MB.

9. Pasting large number of rows into tag configuration - the configuration tool’s Tag

Management screen does not work properly when pasting large number of rows into the

tag configuration.

Workaround: Paste the desired rows in smaller batches, or use the Excel plug-in to

configure large numbers of tags.

10. Scheduled backups with concurrent execution times – if multiple backups are

scheduled to run concurrently, it is possible that some of these backups will not execute.

11. Scheduled backups during Desktop Historian upgrade – if any backups are scheduled

to take place while an upgrade to a newer version of Desktop Historian is performed, it is

possible that some of these backups will not execute.

12. Maximum Return Values does not avoid all load issues - this limit is not enforced for

browsing operations. It is only enforced for the number of data points returned to the OPC

HDA client making the read request. The number of data points retrieved in internal Read

Raw operations (performed to gather the data needed to make aggregate calculations) is

not limited unless the Apply Maximum Return Values to Processed Reads option is

enabled. In that case, the limit applies to the underlying request for raw data necessary to


compute the requested aggregate. Therefore, load issues can still occur when a Maximum

Return Values limit is in place.

13. Restore functionality - a backup can only be restored to the live system if the following

conditions are met:

The tag database file in the backup system must exactly match the tag database in

the live system.

The selected files from the backup source must not contain time ranges that overlap

or replace any files in the live system.

Refer to the MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Release Notes for known issues.


Un-Installation To successfully un-install MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian, using the Add or Remove Programs

from the Microsoft Windows Control Panel is recommended.

Note: Matrikon strongly recommends that you back up all history and

configuration files prior to upgrading or re-installing the software.

To un-install Desktop Historian:

1. Click on the Start button and highlight the Control Panel item.

2. From the displayed menu, select Add or Remove Programs.

3. The Add or Remove Programs window (Figure 88) is displayed.

4. Scroll through the list of currently installed programs and updates to find and select

MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian.

Figure 88 - Add or Remove Programs

5. Click on the Remove button associated with the MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian program to

initiate the un-install process.

6. The MatrikonOPC Desktop Historiam – InstallAware Wizard appears, and the

Welcome to MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Maintenance screen (Figure 89) is

displayed.


Figure 89 - Welcome to MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Maintenance Screen

7. Ensure the Remove button is selected to un-install MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian entirely.

8. Click on the Next button. The Ready to Uninstall screen (Figure 90) is displayed.


Figure 90 - Ready to Uninstall Screen

9. Click on the Next button. The Uninstalling MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian screen

(Figure 91) appears and the un-install takes place.


Figure 91 - Uninstalling MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Screen

10. When the un-install has finished, the MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Setup Complete

screen (Figure 92) appears stating that Desktop Historian was successfully un-installed.


Figure 92 - MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian Setup Complete Screen

11. Click on the Finish button to complete the un-install and exit the Wizard.

12. The program no longer appears listed in the Add or Remove Programs window.


Appendix A – File Formats A file format defines how historical data is placed in a data file. Each file format offers trade-offs

between performance and space requirements.

Note: File formats are NOT interchangeable. Data stored in files that

do not conform to the current file format will not be available. It is

recommended that the file format be selected once and that is when

the product is installed. If you need to convert data from one file

format to another, contact MatrikonOPC Support.

High Resolution Rolling Buffer (FF4)

Note: FF4 is not a file format option unless an upgrade of Desktop

Historian is performed over a previous version where FF4 is currently

selected as the storage format. Support for the FF4 format is going to

be removed in future versions of Desktop Historian, in favour of FF7R.

It is recommended that users of FF4 consider upgrading their

configurations to FF7R. It should be noted, however, that switching

from FF4 to FF7R makes data collected in FF4 unavailable for reading.

Once the switchover is completed you cannot revert to FF4.

A Rolling Buffer file format uses a constant amount of disk space. The specific amount of disk

space used is defined by the user, and is allocated as 25 MB files when the system starts. Up to

15,000 rolling files can be configured.

The files of a rolling buffer are filled, one at a time. Once a specific file becomes full, it is closed,

and the next file will begin to fill. Once all files are filled, the oldest file is erased, and reused.

The High Resolution Rolling Buffer rounds the timestamp of historical data samples, to the nearest

millisecond. This would result in a historical data sample approximately 21 to 27 bytes in size (per

item). For example, 1,000 units would require 1,000 x 21 to 27 bytes in size.

Limitations:

The High Resolution Rolling Buffer file format does not support String data types. If String

data is required then MatrikonOPC Desktop Historian must be configured to use FF7.

The High Resolution Rolling Buffer file format only supports data insertion via the OPC Insert

method and will reject all calls to the OPC InsertReplace method.

High Resolution Rolling Buffer (FF7R) A Rolling Buffer file format uses a constant amount of disk space. The specific amount of disk

space used is defined by the user, and is allocated as 25 MB files when the system starts.

The files of a rolling buffer are filled one at a time. Once a specific file becomes full, it is closed and

the next file begins to fill. Once all files are filled, the oldest file is erased, and reused.

The High Resolution Rolling Buffer rounds the timestamp of historical data samples to the nearest


item). For example, 1,000 units would require 1,000 x 11 to 15 bytes in size. String data is larger

and can be calculated as 15 + (2 x string length) bytes.


Limitations:

The maximum string length supported in FF7 storage format is 2,033 characters. If the

input string length is longer than 2,033 characters, the string is truncated before being

stored.

The High Resolution Rolling Buffer file format supports only data insertion via the OPC Insert

method and will reject all calls to the OPC InsertReplace method.

The 25MB file size is not strictly enforced. If data is written to Desktop Historian that is

older than the latest data written (i.e., back filling), then the data files may grow to exceed

the target 25 MB.

Dynamic File Creation (FF7) A Dynamic File Creation file format does not consume any initial disk space. Disk space will be

allocated only when the Desktop Historian’s data collector (OPC Client) receives new data samples.

Each data file will contain a block of historical data sample that lies within a constant time range,

which has been defined by the user. If a data sample does not belong in any existing file, then a

new file is created.

The Dynamic File Creation format rounds the timestamp of historical data samples to the nearest


item). String values may be stored in an FF7 file and require 15 + (2 x string length) bytes for

storage.

The total file size can be calculated as follows:

Total file size (non-strings) = 15 [bytes/value] * (number of values per second) *

60[seconds/minute] * (number of minutes per file) * 1.1 [overhead factor of 10%]

Total file size (strings) = (15+2*string length) [bytes/value] * (number of values per second)

* 60[seconds/minute] * (number of minutes per file) * 1.1 [overhead factor of 10%]

For Example:

If the configuration is configured with 5000 integer tags with 1 second update rates and the

maximum file contents is 60 minutes then the total file size will be approximately 284MB.

297000000 bytes = 15 [bytes/value] * 5000[values/second] * 60[seconds/minute]

* 60[minutes] * 1.1 [overhead factor of 10%]

Limitations:

The maximum string length supported in FF7 storage format is 2,033 characters. If the

input string length is longer than 2,033 characters, the string will be truncated before being

stored.

The maximum file size must be configured to be less than 4 GB.


Appendix B – Attributes

Name Data Type Description

Description String Describes the tag.

Engineering Units String The tag’s units.

Stepped Boolean Determines whether historical data should be

displayed as stepped or interpolated.

Archiving Boolean Determines whether the system is currently recording

data for the tag.

Node Name String The source machine for this tag.

Process Name String The source process for this tag. If the source is OPC,

this represents an OPC Server.

Source Name String The source name of the tag. If the source is OPC, this

represents an Item ID.

Source Type String What sort of source provides data for this tag. The

default source is OPC.

Normal Maximum Floating Point

The upper limit for the tag’s normal value range.

Values collected that are above this value will be

replaced with the normal maximum

Normal Minimum Floating Point

The lower limit for the tag’s normal value range.

Values collected that are below this value will be

replaced with the normal minimum.

Exception Deviation Value Floating Point

The changed amount must be greater than the

exception deviation value for the new tag value to be

recorded. This is ignored if the Deviation Type is

disabled.

Exception Deviation Type Integer

Determines whether the Exception Deviation

Algorithm is:

An absolute change.

A percentage change of the High/Low span.

A percentage change from the previous value.

Ignored/disabled.

By default, Exception Deviation is disabled.

High Limit Floating Point

Highest valid value for a tag – top of span. Values

outside the range bound by the High and Low limit

will not be archived.

Low Limit Floating Point

Lowest valid value for a tag – bottom of span. Values

outside the range bound by the High and Low limit

will not be archived.

Array Index Integer Element of an array that this tag references (zero-


Name Data Type Description

based index).

Access Path String Provides additional item access details. Specific to

OPC.

Update Rate Integer The real-time update rate for the tag (in

milliseconds).

Use System Timestamp Boolean

Determines if the Desktop Historian computer system

clock time should be used instead of the OPC server-

provided time.

Timestamp Bias Integer

The number of milliseconds (positive or negative)

that should be added to the timestamp to adjust for

differences between clocks.

Tag Lifetime Enabled Boolean Determines if the Tag Lifetime feature is enabled for a

tag.

Lifetime Update Rate Integer

If the Tag Lifetime feature is enabled, and a tag has

not had an updated value sent to the Desktop

Historian OPC client for this amount of time in

milliseconds, a read command will be used to obtain

an updated value.

Lifetime Read Interface String

Selects that the OPC client should use either

Synchronous IO (SYNC) or Asynchronous (ASYNC)

IO to read a tag for a lifetime update.

Table 45 - Attributes


Appendix C – Desktop Historian Data Types

Data Type Description

NONE Default – empty

BOOL 1-byte Boolean (FF7 & FF7R storage formats only)

INT1 1-byte signed integer



UINT1 1-byte unsigned signed integer



FLT4 4-byte real

FLT8 8-byte real (FF7 & FF7R storage formats only)

STR Text (UNICODE) (FF7 & FF7R storage formats only)

Table 46 - Desktop Historian Data Types


Appendix D – Distributed COM (DCOM) DCOM is an object protocol that enables COM components (such as OPC clients and servers) to

communicate directly with each other across a network. A certain amount of configuration is

required on the system where the OPC server is installed to allow remote clients to connect to it

over the network.

Readers should be familiar with DCOM and with Windows 2000 security features and security

administration. Information regarding Distributed COM and various links to related sites, white

papers, specifications, and so on, can be found at

http://www.microsoft.com/com/default.mspx.

Notes:

The following steps are suggestions only. Ask your Windows

Network Administrator for more information about the settings

that you should use, especially between different domains.

The steps provided in this appendix apply to Windows NT

operating systems only. For information on how to configure

DCOM settings for newer Windows operating systems, please

refer to the MatrikonOPC Online Support page on DCOM

Settings.

DCOM Configuration Utility 1. Start the DCOM configuration utility from either the server configuration utility, or from the

command-line (DCOMCNFG).

2. Answer Yes to any messages that are displayed. This allows the utility to assign application

ID entries to those servers that do not already have them.

The DCOMCNFG main window allows you to either configure default settings for all COM servers,

or allows you to configure settings for a specific server chosen from the list. The former will affect

all servers configured to use the default settings, while the latter affects only the selected server.

Note: DCOM settings are stored in the registry and loaded by COM

(and OPC) servers at start-up. Therefore, server processes must be

shut down and restarted in order for these changes to take effect.

Default Properties The Default Properties tab contains settings that affect all DCOM communication on the machine:

Ensure that Enable Distributed DCOM on this computer is selected so that the machine

is available to others via DCOM.

Select Enable COM Internet Services on this computer to allow DCOM access to the

machine from the Internet (check with your administrator).

In general, the other settings do not need to be changed.

The Authentication Level specifies when COM should authenticate the identity of calling clients

(e.g., each call, each packet):

Normally, it should be set to Connect, indicating that COM should authenticate clients when

they first connect to a server. If it is set to None, then COM performs no authentication and

ignores any access permission settings.

http://www.microsoft.com/com/default.mspx

http://opcsupport.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4590&task=knowledge&questionID=71

http://opcsupport.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4590&task=knowledge&questionID=71


The Impersonation Level specifies whether servers can ascertain the identity of calling clients

and whether they can then perform operations on the client’s behalf (as if the server is the client):

Normally, it should be set to Identify, allowing the server to identify the calling client to

see if it is allowed access to a certain resource, but not to actually access any of these

resources as the client.

Select Provide additional security for reference tracking to make even the reference

counting on COM objects secure. Generally, this setting is not required.

Security Permissions The most important DCOM settings for an OPC server are the security permissions which can be set

in two ways:

1. Change the specific settings for the server (recommended).

2. Change the default settings (not recommended) and make sure that the OPC server will use

them.

Whichever method is used, be certain that the access and launch permissions are correct for the

server.

Setting Security Permissions

To set the security permissions for an OPC Server:

1. From the Start button, select Run.

2. The Run window appears.

3. In the Open field, enter dcomcnfg and click on the OK button.

4. The Component Services window appears.

5. In the navigation pane (i.e., left side pane), click on Component Services.

6. Expand the Computers node.

7. Expand the My Computers node.

8. Expand the DCOM Config node.

9. Scroll through the displayed list and select the required OPC server.

10. Either right-click on the server name and select Properties from the menu that appears, or

highlight the server and then select the Properties menu item from the Action menu.

11. The Distributed COM Configuration Properties window appears (Figure 93).


Figure 93 - Distributed COM Configuration Properties Window

12. Click on the Security tab.

13. The Distributed COM Configuration Security tab appears (Figure 94).


Figure 94 - Distributed COM Configuration Security Tab

14. Under Launch and Activation Permissions, select the Customize option button and click

on the Edit button.

15. The Launch Permission window appears.

16. Include the names of users or user groups from trusted domains that you wish to be able to

use OPC server on this machine. Include the Everyone group to allow access to all users on

a particular domain.

Note: To add a group or name, click on the Add button to access the Select Users,

Computers, or Groups window where you can add the missing group or name.

17. Set the permissions for each group or user as required.

18. Click on the OK button to close the Launch Permission window and return to the Security

tab.

19. Repeat steps 14 through 18 for Access Permissions and Configuration Permissions.

20. From the Security tab, click on the OK button to close the Properties window and return

to the Component Services window.

To connect to an OPC server from outside of the domain:

1. Create a local user on both the server and the client machine with identical user name and

password.

2. Add the local user on the OPC server to the DCOM permissions.


3. Use the local account on the client machine to connect to the OPC server.

Server Identity The Identity tab for a selected COM (or OPC) server specifies the user account that should be

used when COM starts up the process. The available settings are different for servers that run as

local executables, as opposed to those that run as Services.

Note: It is strongly recommended that the OPC server should be

installed to run as Services if they are going to be accessed by remote

clients via DCOM. This ensures that the server can always be accessed

even if no one is presently logged on to the machine, and only one

server process ever starts up. It also adds a greater degree of security

in terms of who is able to shut down the server process.

Servers that run a local executable have the option of running as the launching user (the calling

client [default]), the interactive user (the one currently logged on to the machine), or a specified

user. It is usually best to use the interactive user or a specified user. Otherwise, remote clients

might start up multiple separate server processes that are not accessible to others.

Servers that run as Services should generally run as the local System account. Alternatively, the

server can be set to run as a specified user, although this is usually done from the Service

Control Manager applet rather than DCOMCNFG. Access and Launch permissions are particularly

important when installing a server to run as an Service.

Default Protocols The Default Protocols tab specifies the communication protocols available to DCOM. The order

the protocols appear in the list indicates the priority in which they will be used (the top-most

having the highest priority).

The more protocols that appear in the list, the better the chance of connecting to an OPC server on

an unknown remote machine (such as at an OPC Interoperability Workshop). However, it may also

take longer for DCOM to time out if a server machine is not present since it has to try each protocol

in turn.

For most situations, it is best to remove all unused protocols from the list, and include only those

that are necessary for your network. For example, on a TCP\IP network, one would include the

Connection-oriented TCP/IP protocol. Contact your IT personnel for more information about

your network.

Note: Evidence indicates that there are problems with the datagram-

oriented protocols (such as UDP/IP) that can cause memory leaks in

DCOM. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that these protocols be

removed from the list of default protocols.

Remote Program ID Before the OPC Server Browser became available, OPC client applications had to search the

registry to generate a list of available OPC servers. Therefore, some older OPC clients need to have

a program ID in the local registry to connect to a particular OPC server.

The simplest solution is to install the OPC server software on the client machine even if it is not

used. Alternatively, use the following steps to copy a program ID to the client machine.


Note: This method may not work for every OPC client. Please check the client documentation for

more information.

WARNING: Any changes made to the registry must be made with

extreme caution!

To copy a program ID to the client machine:

1. Back up your registry.

2. On the server machine, run REGEDIT as a user that has access rights to the local registry.

3. Expand the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT key.

4. Find the program ID or IDs for the desired OPC server or servers.

Note: In the case of MatrikonOPC servers, the ID has the form Matrikon.OPC.Device. Typing

the first few letters of the required key should enable REGEDIT to jump to the location of

that key. Some servers have both a version-specific, as well as version-independent,

program ID. In this case, both IDs should be copied to the client machine.

5. For each program ID, select the key and choose Export Registry File from the Registry

menu.

6. Enter a file name and click on the Save button.

Note: Be careful not to overwrite other export files that you are creating.

7. Copy the exported REG files to the client machine.

8. Merge the REG files into the client machine’s registry.

Note: This should be a matter of simply double-clicking on the file from the desktop of the

client machine. Alternatively, run REGEDIT on the client machine and choose Import

Registry File from the Registry menu, selecting each file in turn. This must be done as a

user who has write access to the local registry.

9. Use REGEDIT to check that the program IDs have in fact, been copied.

10. Delete the REG files as they are no longer required.


Appendix E – OPC Data Types

Hex Dec Data Type Description

0000 0 VT_EMPTY Default, empty (nothing)

0002 2 VT_I2 2-byte signed integer


0004 4 VT_R4 4-byte (single-precision) real

0005 5 VT_R8 8-byte (single-precision) real

0006 6 VT_CY Currency

0007 7 VT_DATE Date

0008 8 VT_BSTR Text (UNICODE)

000A 10 VT_ERROR Error code

000B 11 VT_BOOL Boolean (TRUE = -1, FALSE = 0)


0012 18 VT_UI1 1-byte unsigned integer



2002 8194 VT_ARRAY|VT_I2 Array of 2-byte signed integers


2004 8196 VT_ARRAY|VT_R4 Array of 4-byte (single-precision) real

2005 8197 VT_ARRAY|VT_R8 Array of 8-byte (double-precision) real

2006 8198 VT_ARRAY|VT_CY Array of currency values

2007 8199 VT_ARRAY|VT_DATE Array of dates

2008 8200 VT_ARRAY|VT_BSTR Array of text values

200A 8202 VT_ARRAY|VT_ERROR Array of error codes

200B 8203 VT_ARRAY|VT_BOOL Array of Boolean values


2012 8210 VT_ARRAY|VT_UI1 Array of 1-byte unsigned integers



Table 47 - OPC Data Types


Appendix G – Sample Custom Script


Appendix H – HDA Relative Time Format Relative times are optionally used to specify the start and end times for a range of time that is of

interested for trending.

Relative times are specified using an optional keyword (Table 48) to indicate the starting point,

followed by one or more offsets that applied to that starting point. Relative times are always

applied with respect to the local time clock on the OPC HDA server providing the data. Uppercase

letters should be used, as per the HDA standard. However, the Backup Utility also accepts lower or

mixed case.

Keyword Description

NOW The current time. If no keyword is supplied, NOW is assumed.

SECOND The start of the current second. For example, if the time is now 08:54:20.999,

then SECOND would choose a time of 08:54:20.000.

MINUTE The start of the current minute.

HOUR The start of the current hour.

DAY The start of the current day.

WEEK The start of the current week.

MONTH The start of the current month.

YEAR The start of the current year.

Table 48 - Keywords

Relative time offsets consist of a sign (e.g., + or -), an integer count, and an offset unit (Table 49).

If no sign is used between offsets, then the last sign used in the offset will be used. If no sign has

been used in the relative time string yet, the assumed sign is +.

Offset Unit Description

S Second

M Minute

H Hour

D Day

W Week

MO Month

Y Year

Table 49 - Offset Units

Table 50 lists some sample relative times.

Relative Time

Example Description

If NOW is 2008-01-02

6:30:27.525 AM UTC, then…

NOW-1D Exactly one day ago from now. 2008-01-01 6:30:27.525 AM

DAY-1D Yesterday at 12:00 a.m. 2008-01-01 12:00:00.000 AM

DAY-1D+2H Yesterday at 2:00 a.m. 2008-01-01 2:00:00.000 AM


Relative Time

Example Description

If NOW is 2008-01-02

6:30:27.525 AM UTC, then…

DAY-1D+2h+30M Yesterday at 2:30 a.m. 2008-01-01 2:30:00.000 AM

DAY-1D+2H30M

Yesterday at 2:30 a.m. The second plus

sign (+) can be omitted because it is

assumed.

2008-01-01 2:30:00.000 AM

-1W Equivalent to NOW-1W which is one week

ago from the current time.

2007-12-26 6:30:27.525 AM

WEEK

Note that 2008-01-02 fell on a

Wednesday, and assuming the locale

starts the week on Sunday.

2007-12-30 12:00:00.000 AM

WEEK-1W

Note that 2008-01-02 fell on a

Wednesday, and assuming the locale

starts the week on Sunday.

2007-12-23 12:00:00.000 AM

-1H30M

One hour and 30 minutes ago from now.

Since no keyword was provided, NOW

was assumed. The sign on 30M is

assumed to be negative (-) because that

was the last sign used. This is equivalent

to NOW-1H-30M.

2008-01-02 5:00:27.525 AM

SECOND-30M Thirty minutes before the current second. 2008-01-02 6:00:27.525 AM

Table 50 - Relative Time Examples

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