Migrating iFix_Alarms and Events

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Migrating iFIX Alarms and Events

The following procedure describes how to migrate iFIX alarm and event data into your Historian database.
  1. Locate and double-click the ifixalmmig.exe file in the C:\Dynamics directory.
  2. Set up the alarm source options:
    1. From the Options menu, choose Alarm Source. The Alarm Source Options dialog box appears.
    2. Configure the ODBC Login information.
    3. Enter the table name for the database, and click on Fetch Columns.
      The table's associated columns appear in the SQL Column Name and iFIX Field Name table. For more information, refer to the Database Configuration .
    4. Configure Severity Mapping.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Set up the Alarm Destination options:
    1. From the Options menu, choose Alarm Destination. The Alarm Destination Options dialog box appears.
    2. Configure the Historian Server Options.
    3. Configure the Logfile.
    4. Configure the Time Options.
  5. Click OK.
  6. From the File menu, choose Migrate Alarms.
  7. Select a start and end time for the alarm migration.
    Note: If the ODBC driver does not support the CAST function, It is recommended that you create the DATETIME data type filed in your Alarm ODBC table and update the field by combining The ALM_DATELAST and the ALM_TIMELAST using a concatenation and cast or convert function. If the data source does not include a native time, the start and end times will be disabled, and the entire table will be queried. This may result in an "out of resources" state.

    See your Alarm ODBC backend Data Base documentation for more information.

  8. Click OK. The dialog box closes, and migration commences.
    Activity is logged to both the screen and the log file configured in the Alarm Destination Options dialog box.
  9. Update the datasource name of your migrated alarms to match collected alarms.

iFIX Alarm and Event Migration Options Configuration

Configuration of the iFIX Alarm and Event Migration tool is contained in two dialogs. The Alarm Source Options dialog contains configuration for the iFIX system you wish to migrate alarm and event data from. The Alarm Destination Options dialog contains configuration for the Historian archive you wish to migrate alarm and event data to.

In general, configuration of the alarm migration options should match the configuration of your iFIX Alarm and Event server. By doing this, your migrated and collected alarms are stored in the same format, easing the development of alarm analysis and reporting applications.

Alarm Source Options

The Alarm Source Options dialog box is split into four sections:
  • ODBC Login Information
  • Attribute Names
  • Severity Mapping
  • Database Configuration

ODBC Login Information

The following configuration fields are shown in the ODBC Login Information section of the Alarm Source Options dialog box. In general, the settings in this section should match the settings used in your iFIX Alarm ODBC Configuration in the iFIX SCU.

Option Description
Database Type The type of database your iFIX alarms are stored in. The following options are available:
  • Access
  • Oracle
  • SQL Server
  • Sybase
Note: If you are unsure of which database your iFIX alarms are stored in, contact your systems administrator
User Name The user name required to authenticate with your database.
Password The password required to authenticate with your database.
Database Identifier The name of the database your iFIX alarms are stored in. Click the Browse button to bring up the Database IDs Available dialog box.
Note: If you are migrating on a machine other than the machine running Alarm ODBC, you may have to configure a DSN in the control panel before entering it in the Database Identifier.

Attribute Names

Use this section only if you have logged alarm user and/or extension fields AND you want to control the name of the fields created in Historian. If you have changed the default names in the iFIX Real Time Alarm and Event Server, edit the configuration in this section to match.

Option Description
iFIX Field Name The iFIX Field name of the alarm.
Attribute Name The mapped attribute name of the alarm.

Severity Mapping

If you have changed the default severity settings in the real-time AE Server, edit the configuration in this section to match.

Option Description
Low The severity to assign to low priority alarms.
Medium The severity to assign to medium priority alarms.
High The severity to assign to high priority alarms.

Database Configuration

If you have set up custom column names in the iFIX Alarm ODBC configuration, you may need to map the SQL Column Names to iFIX Field Names. If you have kept the default column names in the iFIX Alarm ODBC configuration, you should not have to make any changes in this section.

Option Description
Table Name Enter the name of the database table in which iFIX alarm and event data is stored.
Fetch Columns Clicking this button will fetch all columns from the table.
SQL Column Name Identifies the name of the column within the database table.
iFIX Field Name Identifies which iFIX Field name the SQL Column name maps to.
Clear Column Settings Click to clear all column settings.
Save Column Settings Click to save all column settings in the dialog.

SQL columns and their iFIX meanings are automatically matched up when the columns are fetched. You only need to configure iFIX meanings if you have used a non-default column name. If you want to exclude columns from migration to save space in Historian, set the iFIX meaning to blank. For example, if you logged both Native Time Last and Time Last in Alarm ODBC, you only need to migrate the Native Time Last field. Set the iFIX meaning of Time Last to blank.

If you use the Save Column Settings option, iFIX meanings are saved to c:\dynamics\local\ifixalmmig.ini. When working with a different database table, you can erase the iFIX meanings by deleting the ifix-almmig.ini file or clicking the Clear Column Settings button.

Note: The Alarm and Event database version must match the SQL Server version that it is running on.

Alarm Destination Options

The Alarm Destination Options dialog box has three sections:
  • Historian Server Options
  • Logfile Options
  • Time Options

Historian Server Options

Option Description
Historian Server The server name of the Historian server you wish to migrate the iFIX alarm and event data to.
Historian Username The username required to authenticate with the Historian server.
Historian Password The password required to authenticate with the Historian server.

Logfile Options

Option Description
Logfile Location Modify the location of the iFIXAlmMigration.Log file.
Overwrite Logfile Set whether or not the log file gets overwritten with each migration. By default, there is one log file (iFIXAlmMigration.Log) that is appended each time you migrate alarms. Clearing this option causes the iFIX Alarm Migration Utility to overwrite the log file each time you migrate alarms.

Time Options

Option Description
Treat as DST timestamp If enabled, the migration utility will treat all timestamps as if they are Daylight Savings Time.

Refer to Manage Daylight Savings Time for more information.

Troubleshoot iFIX Alarms and Events

Wrong Data Source Name on Migrated alarms

The data source of an alarm starts as the interface name of the alarm and event collector that sent it. If the alarm and event collector is not associated with a data collector, then the data source is converted to match the data collector's interface name. When migrating alarms, however, the original data source name will be retained. This can cause a disconnect between migrated data and newly collected data, and cause problems when analyzing alarm and event data.

To resolve this issue:
  1. Select the File menu, then click Update Alarms.
  2. In the Old Datasource field, enter the original data source name.
  3. In the New Datasource field, enter the new data source name.
  4. Click OK.

Datetime Column Not Found

iFIX prior to v2.6 did not have a datetime column.

No Columns Returned

If no columns are returned after entering a table name and clicking Fetch Columns, you may have incorrectly entered the Alarm ODBC table name. Re-enter the Alarm ODBC table name and click Fetch Columns.