You can save alarms and messages for historical reference by enabling the Alarm Printer, Alarm File, and Alarm ODBC services. The Alarm Printer and Alarm Files services are particularly well-suited for this task because they both generate output that you can conveniently review with minimum effort. The Alarm Printer Service sends alarms and messages to a printer, while the Alarm File Service, by comparison, generates a text file.
For more information on enabling these services, refer to the sections Configuring an Alarm Printer Service and Configuring the Alarm File and Alarm History Services.
Working with the Alarm ODBC Service
Another way to save and analyze iFIX alarms and messages is to enable the Alarm ODBC Service. This service sends alarms and messages to an ODBC relational database, allowing you to retrieve any information you want by querying the database.
You can send alarms and messages to Microsoft® SQL Server and Oracle® relational databases. For supported versions, refer to the Software Requirements section of the Getting Started with iFIX e-book. Other ODBC databases, while not tested by GE, may also work.
For more information on enabling the Alarm ODBC Service, refer to the section Configuring the Alarm ODBC Service. For more information on setting up your relational database, refer to your ODBC manuals and the Using SQL manual.
