Data Store Configuration

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Data Stores

Historian Data stores are stored archive files that contain data gathered from all data sources during a specific period of time. You can write and read data from the archives available under the data stores. Using data stores, you can store, organize, and manage tags according to the data source and storage requirements.

You can define two types of data stores:

Historical Data Store Tags stored in a historical data store will store data as long as disk space is available. For more information, refer to Data Store Options Tab. The maximum number of Historical data stores supported depends on the license.
SCADA Buffer Data Store Tags stored under SCADA buffer data store will store data for a specific duration of time based on license. For more information, refer to Data Store Options Tab.

When you install Historian 6.0 or higher, the following two historical data stores are installed by default:

System Stores Historian messages and performance tags. This is only for internal usage within Historian, and you cannot add tags to this data store. Note that you cannot rename or delete a System data store. You cannot rename or delete a System data store.
User Stores data for the tags. This is a default data store. You can rename and delete this user data store as long as there is another data store available. Note that you cannot delete the last user data store.

Note: Additionally, based on your license, a SCADA Buffer data store is also installed. It stores short term tags and data in a SCADA Historian. Based on your license, you can create multiple historical data stores. The maximum number of Historical data stores supported depends on the license.

Adding a Data Store

Depending on your license, you can create or add multiple Historical Data Stores.

In the Data Store Maintenance screen, click the Add Data Store link.
The Add New Data Store dialog box appears.
In the Data Store Name field, enter the name of the data store.

Note: The following special characters cannot be used in the Data Store names: /\\ * ? < >|
In the Description field, enter the description of the data store.
Select the Default Data Store check box to set this data store as the default data store for adding tags. (optional)
Click OK to add the data store.
A message appears indicating that a Data Store has been added. When you add tags to the new data store, it will have its own set of .IHA (iHistorian Archive) files. Ensure that you back up the new data store archives periodically.

Renaming a Data Store

In the Data Store Maintenance screen, click Rename Data Store.
The Rename a Data Store dialog box appears.
In the New Data Store Name field, enter the new name. The Data Store Name field displays the existing name of the data store that you want to rename.

Note: The following special characters cannot be used in Data Store names: /\ \ * ? < > |
Click Rename.
When the process is complete, a message appears indicating that the data store is renamed successfully.

Deleting a Data Store

You can delete a data store when it is no longer needed.

Before deleting the data store, if there are any tags assigned to the data store, you must reassign these tags and manually move the data to another data store.

Note:

You can only delete User data stores. You cannot delete the System data store. The Delete button will not be available, if you select a System data store.
You cannot delete a data store if there are tags assigned to it. Reassign or delete the tags and then delete the data store.
If you have only one User Store and System, you cannot delete the User Store.

To delete a data store

In the Data Store Maintenance screen, click the Data Store Details Tab.
A login screen appears.
Select the data store to delete from the Data Stores drop-down list and then click Delete.
A message appears asking you to confirm deletion.
Click Yes to delete the Data Store.

Moving Tags Between Data Stores

You can move tags from one data store to another. However, moving a tag does not automatically move the data associated with it. If you want to retrieve the data stored before the tag was moved, you have to move the data manually using the migration utility tool.

To Move a tag between data stores

In the Tag Maintenance screen, select a tag.
Click the Advanced tab.
In the Data Store field, the existing data store that the tag belongs to is displayed.
From the Data Store drop-down list, select the data store you want to move the tag to.
A message appears asking you to confirm the change.
Click Yes.
The Data Store field is highlighted in Blue indicating that the change has been made.
Click the Update button.
A message appears indicating that the data store will change for the tag, but the old data has to be manually moved using the Migration Tool (MigrateIHA.exe for 32 bit or MigrateIHA_x64.exe for 64 bit).

Migrating Tag Data

When you move a tag from one Data Store to another, the incoming data for the moved tag, from that time on, will be stored under the new Data Store. The data residing in old Data Store can optionally be moved to the new store. This data cannot be retrieved unless it is moved to the new Data Store. You can move data using the Migration Tool. You can either move all the tags, or some tags. Before you migrate data, you have to back up the archive file(s) that contain the old data.

For more information, refer to Backing up an Archive Manually.

Migrating Tag Data using the IHA Migration Utility

To migrate tag data using the IHA Migration Utility, refer to the IHMigration Tool documentation. Ensure that you select the A Migration Tool section in the product IPI (Important Product Information). You can move all or some of the tags.

Note: When migrating tags, use the Migrate using the tag mask option and specify the tag name or wildcard mask to migrate only the tags you want to include.