Configuring the Alarm ODBC Service

You can save alarms and messages for subsequent analysis or historical reference by enabling the Alarm ODBC Service. This service sends alarms and messages to an ODBC-compliant relational database, allowing you to retrieve any information you want by querying the database. You can use the iFIX ODBC Alarm Service Configuration dialog box to configure the Alarm ODBC Service.

TIP: For the most reliable performance, run the Alarm ODBC Service on the SCADA nodes in your application, and not on the iClients.

To access the iFIX ODBC Alarm Service Configuration dialog box:

  1. Click the Alarm button on the SCU toolbox. The Alarm Configuration dialog box appears.
  2. Double-click Alarm ODBC Service.
  3. Click Configure. The iFIX ODBC Alarm Service Configuration dialog box appears. You can enter the following information to configure the Alarm ODBC Service:
    • SQL Login Information:
      • The relational database type (for example, Oracle or SQL Server).
      • The user name and password required to connect to the relational database.
      • The ODBC data source name.

      NOTE: If your relational database is a Microsoft Access database, the database and the Alarm ODBC Service must be on the same machine.

    • Database Configuration:
      • The table name in which you want to save alarms and messages.
      • The alarm and message fields you want to archive.
      • The column names in the table you want to use.
    • Options
      • The number of seconds between writes to the relational database.
      • The maximum number of records in the alarm queue.
      • The number of records to write to the relational database at one time from the AlarmQueue or the backup file.
    • Lost Connection Options:
      • A path where you want to save your backup file in case of a lost connection.
      • A tag to indicate a lost connection.
    • User fields for the table.

When configuring the ODBC Alarm Service, you can create your own table where you want to archive your alarms and messages. Although many databases allow table names of up to 250 characters, we recommend that you limit the table name to 100 characters or less. Using table names longer than 100 characters may cause unpredictable results.

If you have installed and configured the iFIX SQL option, you can use your existing SQL setup to specify the first three required items.

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