The OPC Classic Alarms and Events Collector

About the OPC Classic Alarms and Events Collector

The OPC Classic Alarms and Events collector collects alarms and events data from an OPC Classic Alarms and Events server (such as CIMPLICITY), and stores it alongside Historian process data.

The OPC Classic Alarms and Events collector does not support pre-processing raw data with Python Expression Tags during collection.

About Event Types, Categories, and Conditions

The OPC Classic Alarms and Events collector captures all event types, categories, sub-categories, and conditions sent to it by the OPC Alarms and Events server.

Event Types

Three basic types of events are sent by an OPC Alarms and Events 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 Alarms and Events server and an OPC client. For example, if an operator acknowledges an alarm, a tracking event is 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 Alarms 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 Alarms and Events server.

Event Conditions

Conditions are named states of alarms and events within the OPC Alarms and Events server. Conditions can 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 narrow down the event conditions further. Refer to your OPC server documentation for a complete listing of its conditions.

For more information, refer to your OPC server documentation.

About 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 Alarms and Events 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 Alarms and Events server. Consult your OPC Alarms and Events server documentation for more information.

Workflow for Using the OPC Alarms and Events Collector

To use the OPC Classic Alarms and Events collector, you must perform the following tasks.
Number Task Notes
1 Install the collector. This step is required. This will place the collector binaries on the machines.
2 Add an instance of the OPC Classic Alarms and Events collector. This step is required.
3 Configure the general options of the OPC Classic Alarms and Events collector by accessing the collector using Historian Administrator. This step is required.
4 Configure the collector-specific options of the OPC Classic Alarms and Events collector. This step is required.
5 Specify the filtering options for the alarms and events data. This step is required.

Configure the OPC Alarms and Events Collector

About this task

The following table provides the OPC Classic Alarms and Events collector-specific configuration fields.

Procedure

  1. Access Historian Administrator.
  2. Access the OPC Classic Alarms and Events collector, and then select Configuration.
  3. Provide values as specified in the following table.
    Field Description
    OPC Server PROGID The PROGID of the OPC Alarms and Events server.
    Link to Data Collector The data collector to link to the alarms and events. This allows you to join alarms and events data with tag data when querying the Historian database for data. This is usually located on the same server as the OPC Alarms and Events server.
    Filtering Enables or disables filtering of the alarms and events data. For information, refer to Filter Alarms and Events Data.
    Show Last Alarms Displays the last 10 collected alarms and events data points.
    Close Alarms Opens the Close Alarms window.
    Important: Although the collector will function properly with no associated data collector, alarms and events 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.

Filter Alarms and Events Data

About this task

By default, the OPC Classic Alarms and Events collector collects all the alarms and events data sent to it, and archive it. This ensures that all your alarms and events data will be archived, without any special configuration. If you archive all of your alarms and events data, it can impact the amount of storage required for Historian to operate. Therefore, you may want to specify which alarms and events data you want the OPC Classic Alarms and Events collector to collect. Alarms and Events filtering works on an inclusive model. If filtering is not enabled, all the alarms and events data is collected. If filtering is enabled, then data for only the selected alarms and events is collected.

This topic describes how to apply the various types of filters.

Procedure

  1. Access Historian Administrator.
  2. Select Collectors.
  3. Select the OPC Classic Alarms and Events collector instance that you want to configure.
  4. Select Configuration.
  5. In the Filtering section, select Enabled.
  6. Select Filters.
  7. Select the filter criterion as described in the following table.
    Filtering Option Description Procedure
    Severity range Includes alarms between a low and high filter range. For example, filter alarms whose severity range is between 100 and 200.
    1. Select the Filter by Severity Range check box.
    2. Enter a range of values in the Collect From and To boxes.
    Event Type Include events based on a selected type.
    1. Select the Filter by Event Type check box.
    2. Select the type of events you want to filter.
    Area Includes alarms and events based a user-defined process area. This is useful if you only want to collect alarms from specific process areas. This option works only if you have defined areas in the alarms and events server.
    1. Select the Filter by Area check box.
    2. Select Edit.
    3. Select the areas by which you want to filter, and then select Copy. To add an area manually, enter the area you want to filter by in the Area box and select Copy.
    Source Includes alarms and events data based on the alarm source. This is useful if you only want to collect alarms from specific parts of your process.
    1. Select the Filter by Source check box.
    2. Select Edit.
    3. Select the sources using which you want to filter, and then select Copy. To add a source manually, enter the source you want to filter by in the Source box and select Copy.
    Event Category Includes events based on a selected category.
    1. Select the Filter by Event Category check box.
    2. Select Edit.
    3. In the Choose Event Category box, select an event category.
    4. In the Categories Available box, select the categories using which you want to filter data. To add a category manually, enter the category you want to filter by in the Category box, and then select Copy.
    Note: 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.
  8. Select Update.
    The filtering options you have specified are saved.