Hardware Requirements

The minimum iFIX hardware requirements are described in the following sections.

Hardware Requirements – iFIX SCADA Server

For an iFIX server, the recommended minimum hardware requirements are:

IMPORTANT: The minimum requirements below assume that you are running a SCADA server without additional applications (such as EDA applications) and a minimal amount of tags. If you want to run more applications or increase your tag count, you will need to increase your hardware support for better performance. You should scale your system based on number of tags. For Enhanced Failover, the following requirements apply to both the primary and secondary computers.

  • A 3.0 GHz Intel® Core™ i5 Processor or equivalent with 8GB of memory. For better performance, please consider using a faster processor and more memory.
  • SpeedStep® technology is not supported and must not be enabled.
  • For time synchronization, the Windows Net Time and W32tm commands are both supported. However, if using the W32tm command, be sure to use the /nowait instruction when resynchronizing the clock. For example: W32tm /resync /nowait. The /nowait parameter instructs the operating system to make a stepping adjustment against the time server.

NOTE: With virtual machines, the host and guest operating system need to synchronize against an external physical Network Time Protocol (NTP) Server.

  • The power save settings on your computer must be disabled. Do not use any power setting features that affect CPU clock speed. For Enhanced Failover, the power save settings on both computers and dedicated network card (NIC) must be disabled.

  • For Enhanced Failover, Gigabit-Ethernet cards (or better) are required for Data Sync Transport communication. When using UDP, a dedicated card is required for Data Sync Transport communication. When using TCP, one card can be used for both iFIX and Data Sync Transport communication, although two are strongly recommended to avoid slower updates of data and alarms on clients. When using a network card dedicated for Data Sync Transport communication, it should be disabled as an available LAN Redundancy Path under the Advanced section of your Network Configuration. Additionally, the card dedicated for Data Sync Transport communication should be the only card enabled under SCADA Configuration's Data Sync Transport Options. Network cards must be of the same speed, and appear on the compatibility list for each card. It is strongly recommended that the cards be of the same make and model number, and use the same drivers.

  • For Enhanced Failover, when using UDP, you must use a direct connection via a Cat6 crossover cable, without going through any switches, hubs, or routers. Due to limited bandwidth and latency, wireless networking technology should not be considered.
  • For Enhanced Failover, when using UDP, the Primary and Secondary SCADA computers must be located physically next to each other, in the same location/room.
  • For Enhanced Failover, when using UDP, Jumbo Frames technology must be used on the dedicated network. Jumbo Frames technology allows for an Ethernet frame of 9000 MTU for the payload, compared to a frame of 1500 bytes without the Jumbo Frames.
  • A minimum of 40 GB of free hard drive space for iFIX pictures, databases, alarm files, and other data files, in addition to the free disk space required by the operating system for Windows Updates. It is strongly recommended that many GBs of additional free space exist on the hard drive to avoid performance issues.
  • Be aware that iFIX alarm and historical data files grow dynamically. If you plan to perform extensive alarm or data collection on a node, you may need more disk space on that particular node.
  • Other Proficy products, such as Proficy Plant Applications and Proficy Historian, impose additional requirements. Refer to the System Requirements in the associated product's electronic books for that product's specific system requirements.
  • 100 MBit or faster Full Duplex TCP/IP-compatible network interface adapter for iFIX network communication between SCADA and Client nodes.

    NOTE: iFIX does not support NetBIOS or IPv6.

  • One free direct-connect USB port. Some touch screens, pointing devices, and I/O drivers require a serial port. Additional ports for I/O hardware should be ordered with the computer.
  • For Enhanced Failover, ensure that the following ports are open on your firewall: UDP port 53014 needs to be open for the Sync Card and TCP 2010 needs to be open for the SCADA NIC.
  • SVGA or better color monitor with a 24-bit (16,777,216 colors) graphics card capable of at least 1024x768 resolution. For Configuration Hub, is recommended to use a display setting at 1920x1080 or better, with scaling set to 100%.
  • Two-button mouse or compatible pointing device (such as a touch screen) that is capable of opening a context menu.

Hardware Requirements – iFIX Client (iClient)

For iFIX client computers, the recommended minimum hardware requirements are:

  • A 3.0 GHz Intel® Core™ i3 Processor or equivalent with 4GB of memory. For better performance, please consider using a faster processor and more memory.

NOTE: To use more than 4 GB of memory on a 32-bit platform you need to use Physical Address Extension (PAE). For more information on PAE please reference http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366796%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

  • SpeedStep® technology is not supported and must not be enabled.
  • For time synchronization, the Windows Net Time and W32tm commands are both supported. However, if using the W32tm command, be sure to use the /nowait instruction when resynchronizing the clock. For example: W32tm /resync /nowait. The /nowait parameter instructs the operating system to make a stepping adjustment against the time server.

NOTE: With virtual machines, the host and guest operating system need to synchronize against an external physical Network Time Protocol (NTP) Server.

  • The power save settings on your computer must be disabled. Do not use any power setting features that affect CPU clock speed.
  • A minimum of 20 GB of free hard drive space for iFIX pictures, databases, alarm files, and other data files, in addition to the free disk space required by the operating system for Windows Updates. It is strongly recommended that many GBs of additional free space exist on the hard drive to avoid performance issues.

    Be aware that iFIX alarm and historical data files grow dynamically. If you plan to perform extensive alarm or data collection on a node, you may need more disk space on that particular node.

  • Other Proficy products, such as Proficy Plant Applications and Proficy Historian, impose additional requirements. Refer to the System Requirements in the associated product's electronic books for that product's specific system requirements.
  • 100 MBit or faster Full Duplex TCP/IP-compatible network interface adapter for iFIX network communication between SCADA and Client nodes.

NOTE: iFIX does not support NetBIOS or IPv6.

  • One free direct-connect USB port. Some touch screens, pointing devices, and I/O drivers require a serial port. Additional ports for I/O hardware should be ordered with the computer.
  • SVGA or better color monitor with a 24-bit (16,777,216 colors) graphics card capable of at least 1024x768 resolution. For Configuration Hub, is recommended to use a display setting at 1920x1080 or better, with scaling set to 100%.
  • Two-button mouse or compatible pointing device (such as a touch screen) that is capable of opening a context menu.

Wireless Devices and iFIX

It is strongly recommended that you do not run SCADA nodes on wireless devices. Running an iFIX SCADA on a wireless device may impact performance, as some wireless protocols fall below the recommended bandwidth requirements.

Virtual Machine Support

As part of our development testing and qualification, we make extensive use of virtualized environments. iFIX does not target any specific hardware or virtualized platform.

GE Digital will support the functional operation of the product that is running on a supported Operating System in a virtualized environment and will address any functional issues related to the software.

GE Digital cannot guarantee performance of the software in the virtualized environment due to the wide range of parameters associated to the hardware, configuration, memory settings, 3rd party software, and the number of virtual sessions running on the same hardware, all of which can affect performance.

It is the responsibility of you, the customer, to ensure that the performance of the GE HMI/SCADA software and application are adequate to meet the needs of their runtime environment. GE does not support issues related to functionality that is not available as a result of running in a virtual machine. Examples include the functionality of card level drivers such as Genius, RMX, SA85 and functions requiring direct video access, or functionality of other software running in the same environment. It is your responsibility to check with the vendor of those applications for their ability to run in a virtualized environment.

Each virtual machine instance that is using our software is required to have a valid license. The licensing in a virtualized environment will depend on the access to a hardware key or a license server depending on the selected license type.