OPC Alarm and Event Collector

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About OPC Alarm and Event Collector

The OPC Alarm & Event Collector collects alarm and event data from an OPC Alarm & Event compliant server, and stores it alongside Historian process data. Like other collectors, the OPC Alarm & Event Collector is created when Historian is installed, based on the OPC Alarm & Event servers available.

For more information about configuring the OPC Alarm & Event Collector, refer to the topics in section.

The OPC Alarm & Event Collector does not support pre-processing raw data with Python Expression Tags during collection.

Installing an OPC Alarms & Events Collector

This procedure enables you to install an OPC A&E collector.

Select an OPC AE ProgId from the list. Click Next.
If you want to configure a remote OPC AE server, then follow the instructions given. Else, click Next.
1. Enter the Remote OPC Server details (Machine name or the IP address of the server).
2. Enter the ProgId.
Provide the name of the destination Historian server.
Click Next to proceed with the installation.

Configuring the OPC Alarm and Event Collector

Open the Historian Administrator.
Select the Collectors screen.
Select the OPC Alarm and Event collector instance you wish to configure.
Configure the OPC Alarm and Event Collector's General options. Refer to Modifying General Collector Options for more information.
Configure the OPC Alarm and Event Collector-specific options. Refer to Configuration of OPC Alarm and Event Collector-Specific Fields for more information.
1. Click the Configuration tab.
2. In the OPC Server PROGID field, enter the PROGID of your OPC Alarm and Event server.
3. In the Link to Data Collector list box, select a data collector to link the Alarm and Events collector to. Alternately, you can enter the name of the collector to link to manually by typing it in the field.
  
  Important: Although the collector will function properly with no associated data collector, alarm and event data will not be associated with tag data from the data collector if it is not specified in this field. As a result, queries through the Excel Add-in or the OLE DB Provider will not be able to join tag and alarm data.
4. If you want to filter your events, enable the Filtering option and click on the Filters... button. Refer to Alarm filters for more information.
Click Update to save your configuration.

Note: To install additional OPC Alarm and Event collectors, you must re-run the Historian install.

Configuration of OPC Alarm and Event Collector-Specific Fields

The following table outlines the OPC Alarm and Event Collector-specific configuration fields.

Field	Description
OPC Server PROGID	The PROGID of the OPC Alarm and Events Server.
Link to Data Collector	The data collector to link the alarm and events to. This allows you to join alarm and event data with tag data when querying the Historian database for data. This is usually located on the same server as the OPC alarm and event server.
Filtering	Enables or disables filtering of OPC Alarm and Event data. See Alarm Filters for more information.
Show Last Alarms	Clicking on this button will display the last 10 collected alarms and events.
Close Alarms	Opens the Close Alarm Dialog.

Event Types, Categories, and Conditions

The Historian alarm and event collector captures all event types, categories, sub-categories, and conditions supplied to it by the OPC Alarm and Event Server. Consult your OPC server documentation for more detail as to which categories, sub-categories, and conditions it provides.

Event Types

Three basic types of events are supplied by an OPC alarm and event server: Condition, Simple, and Tracking. Each of these types has its own categories, sub-categories, and conditions. For example, a Condition event may have a Level category, which itself may have several conditions, such as LO LO, LO, HI, and HI HI.

Condition: Condition events record the transition of states in an alarm. For example, a condition event could be recorded for an alarm when the level changes from LO to HI HI.
Tracking: Tracking events are not associated with conditions, but rather track activity between the OPC Alarm and Events Server and an OPC client. For example, if an operator acknowledges an alarm, a tracking event would be recorded.
Simple: Simple events record everything not covered by Condition or Tracking events. For example, if a device were to fail, a simple event would be recorded.

Event Categories

Event categories are used to group similar event types and are configured on the OPC alarm and events server. For example, you might set up categories for "System Events", "Process Events", and "Batch Events". You might likewise set up categories for different areas of your process, such as "Premix", "Dry Mix" or "Bake". Categories can hold multiple event types, and a given source can generate events for multiple categories.

Note: Category names must be unique within the OPC alarm and event server.

Event Conditions

Conditions are named states of alarms and events within the OPC alarm and event server. Conditions could include LO LO, LO, HI, and HI HI, as well as SYSTEM_FAILURE, LIMIT EXCEEDED, NORMAL STATE, and others. Conditions may also contain sub-conditions, which help to further granularize. Consult your OPC Server's documentation for a complete listing of its conditions.

Event Attributes

Events usually also include attributes, which give greater detail to the status of the event. Attributes vary from server to server; user-defined attributes as well as vendor-defined attributes may be configured on your OPC alarm and event server.

Some common attributes are:

Start time
End time
Acknowledgement status
Acknowledgement time
Operator name
Data Source
Quality
Severity

Historian archives all event attributes sent to it by the OPC alarm and event server. Consult your OPC alarm and event server documentation for more information.

Alarm Filters

By default, the OPC Alarm and Event collector will collect all alarm and event data sent to it, and archive it. This ensures that all your alarm and event data will be archived, without any special configuration. If you archive all of your alarm and event data, however, it can have an impact on the amount of storage required for Historian to operate. As a result, you may wish to specify which alarms and events you want the OPC Alarm and Event collector to collect. Alarm and Event filtering works on an inclusive model. If filtering is not enabled, all alarm and event data is collected. If filtering is enabled, then only the selected alarms and events are collected. The following filter options are available.

Filter Option	Description
Severity Range	Includes alarms between a low and high filter range. For example, filter alarms whose severity range is between 100 and 200.
Event Type	Filters by event type. See Event Types, Categories, and Conditions for more information.
Area	Filters by a user-defined process area. This is useful if you only want to collect alarms from specific process areas. This filter option is only useful if you have defined areas in the alarm and event server.
Source	Filters by the alarm source. This is useful if you only want to collect alarms from specific parts of your process.
Category	Filters by event category. See Event Types, Categories, and Conditions for more information.

Filtering Alarm and Event Data

Start the Historian Administrator.
Select the Collectors screen.
Select the OPC Alarm and Event Collector instance you want to configure.
Select the Configuration tab.
In the Filtering section, click Enabled.
Click the Filters... button.
Select your filter criteria.
Click Update to save your changes.

Filtering by Severity Range

Select the Filter by Severity Range checkbox.
Enter a range of values into the Collect From and To boxes.
Return to Filtering Alarm and Event Data.

Filtering by Event Type

Select the Filter by Event Type checkbox.
Select the type of event or events you want to filter.
Return to Filtering Alarm and Event Data.

Filtering by Area

Select the Filter by Area checkbox.
Click the Edit... button.
Navigate to the area you want to filter by.
Select the area you want to filter by and click Copy.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 to filter by additional areas.
To add an area manually, enter the area you want to filter by in the Area box and click Copy.
To remove areas from the Areas to Add list, select the area you want to delete and click Remove Selected.
Return to Filtering Alarm and Event Data.

Filtering by Source

Select the Filter by Source checkbox.
Click the Edit... button.
Navigate to the Area the source is found in.
Select the source you want to filter by and click Copy.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 to filter by additional sources.
To add a source manually, enter the source you want to filter by in the Source box and click Copy.
To remove sources from the Sources to Add list, select the source you want to delete and click Remove Selected.
Return to Filtering Alarm and Event Data.

Filtering by Event Category

This topic describes how to filter alarms and events by the event category. You can filter alarms and events by the event category only if the Filter by Event Type check box is selected for respective event category. For example, if you want to receive only alarms, enable the Collect Condition Events option in Event Type, and add the Event Category tag in the Filter by Event Category section. This is because alarms belong to the Event Category tag, and the Event Category tag belongs to the Event Type condition. For other mappings, refer to iFIX Message Mappings.

Select the Filter by Event Category checkbox.
Click the Edit... button.
In the Choose Event Category field, select an event category.
In the Categories Available field, select the category you want to filter by.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 to filter by additional categories.
To add a category manually, enter the category you want to filter by in the Category box and click Copy.
To remove categories from the Categories to Add list, select the category you want to delete and click Remove Selected.
Return to Filtering Alarm and Event Data.