The CygNet Collector | Historian 9.1 Documentation

Overview of CygNet Data Collector

The Historian CygNet Data Collector gathers data samples from a CygNet Server and stores the corresponding data entries into the Historian Server. This collector supports collecting of Analog, Digital and String type of data from CygNet Server. This collector supports a distributed model, where the CygNet Server, the Collector, and Historian are installed on different machines. Typically, however, the collector is installed on the same computer as the CygNet Server and sends data to a remote Historian server.

The Cygnet collector consists of System API as well as the Collector Toolkit components.

The Cygnet collector uses unsolicited collection, whereby changes to the CygNet tags are detected, and are forwarded to the Historian server. The collector is intended to duplicate raw samples from the CygNet into the Historian data archive.

At the time of collector browse, CygNet-Collector connects with CygNet using CxScript64.dll API component and queries the CygNet FAC (Facility Service) and PNT (Point Service) services associated with the CVS (Current Value Service).

The CygNet Point Value is mapped to the GE Historian server as a Collector tag for data collection. Cygnet collector stores VHS (Value History Service) points UDCs(Uniform Data Codes) as Tag source address.

Once all CygNet Points associated with the selected CVS/VHS have been mapped to Historian tags, the collector begins querying from VHS service to pull data from CygNet to Historian.

Note: The CygNet ODBC Driver (Client Tools) is required for the Cygnet collector service to start, however, the CygNet ODBC Driver does not ship with Historian. If the CygNet ODBC Driver for CygNet is not installed, the Cygnet collector will not connect to the CygNet server. If you install the Cygnet collector on a machine that does not contain your CygNet Server, be sure to install the CygNet ODBC Driver for CygNet on the machine with the Cygnet collector.

Refer to the following topics for more information:

Summary of Cygnet Collector Features

The following table outlines the features of the Cygnet collector.


Feature	Capability
Browse Source for Tags	Yes (on CygNet Server that supports browsing)
Browse Source for Tag Attributes	Yes
Polled Collection	Yes
Unsolicited Collection	Yes
Timestamp Resolution	100ms
Floating Point Data	Yes
Integer Data	Yes
String Data	Yes
Python Expression Tags	No

Note: You must set Time Assigned by field to Source as Cygnet collector prefers to support unsolicited tags.

The Configuration Section for Cygnet Collectors

To access the Configuration section for a Cygnet collector, select the Cygnet collector from the list on the left of the Administrator Tool Collectors section and select the Configuration. The following page appears:

Collector Specific Configuration for Cygnet Collector

Enter the value for the Cygnet collector-specific field parameters through the Cygnet Collector Maintenance - Configuration section of Historian Administrator.

Configuring a recovery time

To configure a recovery time, perform the following:

Procedure

Access Historian Administrator.
Select the Collectors page.
Select Cygent Collector.
Select Configuration.
In the Recovery Time (hr) field, enter a recovery time, in hours.

Results

Descriptions for collector specific fields are listed in the following table.

Note: Changes to any of these parameter require a restart of the Cygnet collector.


Field	Description
Recovery Time(hours)	Maximum recovery time, data collector should collect from server, at the time of collector startup. Recovery logic is activated when the Cygnet collector and CygNet Server reestablish a connection after a connection loss, or when the Cygnet collector is started. The Cygnet collector will attempt to recover all data samples between the current time and the last known write time, up to a maximum number of hours configured for the collector. Continuous collection resumes only after the previous data has been recovered. Note: The default recovery time available is 0 hours and maximum value is 7 days.
Thread Count	Maximum number of threads span for reading data from CygNet server. That is, number of threads to be used by collector for querying data from cygnet. Collector must be restarted for change to take effect.
CygNet Debug Mode	Debug Mode for Cygnet collector. This will enable verbose logging to the Cygnet collector log. Details of CygNet query transactions can be enabled by setting the value to 255. A value of 0 turns off the Cygnet Debug Mode. Note: Do not leave Cygnet Debug Mode on for an extended period. a maximum of 10 minutes is recommended. Leaving it on will create very large log files and could use up a great deal of disk space.
General Optimized	Whether to apply optimization on the tag data reads.
ServiceSite	Identifies the Cygnet site or data source from which the Cygnet collector fetches data. A value is required.

Cygnet collector parameters can be modified in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GE Digital\iHistorian\Services\CygnetCollector. For a list of the general parameters, refer to General Parameters of a Collector.

Tag Attributes Available on a Browse (Cygnet Collector)

Following table outlines the tag attributes available when browsing.


Attribute	Capability
Tagname	Yes
Source Address	Yes
Engineering Unit Description	Yes
Data Type	Yes. See Selecting Data Types.
Hi Engineering Units	Yes, applicable for Analog, Discrete not for String type
Lo Engineering Units	Yes, applicable for Analog, Discrete not for String type
Hi Scale	No
Lo Scale	No
Is Array Tag	No

Note: While some of these attributes are queried on a browse, they are not shown in the browse interface. These attributes are used when adding a tag, but are not visible to you, regardless of attributes available from the server.

Selecting Data Types

The following table lists the data types recommended for use with Historian.


CygNet Data Types	Recommended Data Type in Historian
Analog	Float
Enumeration	Integer
Digital	Bool
String	Variable String

Hierarchical Cygnet Collector Browsing

CygNet Server supports hierarchical organization of your tags in a tree structure, then Historian will use the server's hierarchy when browsing Cygnet collector in the Non-Web Administrator.

About this task

To browse for Cygnet collector tags in a hierarchy:

Procedure

Open the Non-Web Administrator and select Add Tags From Collector. The Add Multiple Tags from Collector window opens.
From the Collector drop-down, select the Cygnet collector associated with the Cygnet Server you wish to browse. A hierarchical tree appears in the Browse Results window.
Browse your CygNet data source for new tags.
To limit the displayed tags to only those that are not collected, from the Show Only list, select Source Tags Not Collected.
To limit the displayed tags to match a tag name or tag description, enter the value to match in the Source Tag Name or Description text boxes.
Navigate to the node in the tree you want to browse, and then select Browse. The tags within the selected portion of the CygNet tag hierarchy will be displayed.
- To browse automatically, select the Auto Browse check box. The available tags display in the Browse Results window whenever a node is selected in the tree.
- To show all child elements within a hierarchy, enable the Show All Children check box. All tags at, or below the hierarchical level of the selected node in the tree display in the Browse Results window.
Select the tag(s) you want to add to Historian, and select Add Selected Tags. Collected tags appear in black text in the tag list.

Manual Recalculation and Bad Offline Values

Cygnet collector supports Manual recalculation of tags. The Cygnet collector by default will add a bad offline value when the collector is started. To disable this feature, add the following registry key to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Intellution, Inc.\iHistorian\Services\CygnetCollector\<entry>

WriteBadOfflineAtStartup (DWORD) set this to ???0 to disable adding the bad offline at startup.
DeleteBeforeRecalc (DWORD) By default, before performing a recalculation on an interval, the collector will delete any previously stored values in Proficy Historian. To disable this feature, set this key to ???0???

The Cygnet collector also inserts a bad offline while a tag is modified. It may stay as the current value until new values are read from cygnet the by collector.

Modification of the Cygnet Collector Parameters

Cygnet collector parameters can be modified in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GE Digital\iHistorian\Services\CygnetCollector.

General2 = Recovery Time(hours)
General3 = Thread Count
General4 = Cygnet Debug Mode
General5 = General Optimized

Troubleshooting the Cygnet Collector

The CygNet Data Collector generates logs during initialization, configuration, and general operation. These can be found in the general logging folder C:\Proficy Historian Data\LogFiles.

Troubleshooting Tips

Troubleshoot the collector using one or more of the following:

Examining the log files for information.
Examining the Windows Event Viewer for error/warnings.
Be sure to run the CygNet Server before the CygNet Data Collector starts up.
Be sure CygNet ODBC Client Tools are installed.

Additional log information can be gathered by using the Cygnet Debug Mode described above for debugging the CygNet to Collector interface.

To turn on debug mode for the Collector:

From the Start menu, select Run and enter Regedit.
Open the following key folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GE Digital\iHistorian\Services\CygnetCollector\<entry>
Double-click DebugMode DWORD .
Set Base as Decimal.
In the Value data field, type 255.
Select OK.
Restart the Cygnet collector service for the Historian debug mode to take effect.
Close the Registry Editor and open the Proficy OPC Classic HDA server trace log file.
Note: Do not turn on both Cygnet Debug Mode and DebugMode at the same time!

The following error is reported by the collector if the Cygnet 64 Bit APIs are not installed:

Error Setting Cygnet GlobalFunctions object: 'Class not registered' Follow the step below to manually install the CxScript64.dll required by Cygnet collector: regsvr32 "C:\...\8.1.2 Install\CygNet 812\Support64\CxScript64.dll"

Note: Do not turn on CygNet Debug Mode or the DebugMode key for an extended period, 10 minutes should be more than sufficient. Leaving it on will create very large log files and that could use up a great deal of disk space.