Hardware Requirements

iFIX with Remote Desktop Services - Less than 5 Clients

The following minimum hardware recommendations apply when using the iFIX and Remote Desktop Services on a low-end machine supporting less than five iFIX Terminal sessions, and iFIX projects with pictures that have a small amount of animation, shapes, and bitmaps:

  • A 3.0 GHz Intel® Core™ i5 Processor or equivalent. For better performance, please consider using higher.

  • 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.
  • 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 16 GB RAM. For better performance, please consider using more.

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.aspxs

  • A minimum of 40 GB of free hard drive space. 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 Plant Applications and Proficy Historian, impose additional requirements. Refer to the Important Product Information (IPI) topic in the product's electronic books for specific system requirements. Click the System Req. tab in that product's IPI for details.
  • 100 MBit or faster Full Duplex TCP/IP-compatible network interface adapter for iFIX network communication between SCADA and Client nodes. Since the server bandwidth scales linearly with the number of clients connected, the speed of the network card on the server should be able to accommodate these connections.

NOTE:  iFIX does not support IPv6. If you disable IPv6 to use iFIX with Remote Desktop Services, make sure that your local HOSTS file does not contain any IPv6 references. For example, remove the "::1 localhost" lines from the HOSTS file, and replace them a line that references the IP address and the local host name (if necessary).

  • 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.
  • Two-button mouse or compatible pointing device (such as a touch screen) that is capable of opening a context menu.
  • For best performance using iFIX in the Remote Desktop Services environment, please refer to iFIX Electronic Books, Optimizing iFIX for use with Remote Desktop Services

iFIX with Remote Desktop Services - Up to 25 Clients

The following minimum hardware recommendations apply when using the iFIX on a high-end machine that can support up to 25 clients:

  • Intel® Xeon® Quad-Core Processor, running at 3.2 GHz or better. For better performance, please consider using higher. Be aware that the computer must be at least Quad-Core; a single core is not supported (with or without hyper-threading). Hyper-threading is also not supported on multiple core computers.
  • 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.
  • 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 64 GB RAM. For better performance, please consider using more.

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.aspxs

  • A minimum of 40 GB of free hard drive space. Even after allowing for an extra GB for iFIX, 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 Plant Applications and Proficy Historian, impose additional requirements. Refer to the Important Product Information (IPI) topic in the product's electronic books for specific system requirements. Click the System Req. tab in that product's IPI for details.
  • 100 MBit or faster Full Duplex TCP/IP-compatible network interface adapter for iFIX network communication between SCADA and Client nodes. Since the server bandwidth scales linearly with the number of clients connected, the speed of the network card on the server should be able to accommodate these connections.

NOTE: iFIX does not support IPv6. If you disable IPv6 to use iFIX Terminal, make sure that your local HOSTS file does not contain any IPv6 references. For example, remove the "::1 localhost" lines from the HOSTS file, and replace them a line that references the IP address and the local host name (if necessary).

  • 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.
  • Two-button mouse or compatible pointing device (such as a touch screen) that is capable of opening a context menu.
  • For best performance using iFIX in the Remote Desktop Services environment, please refer to iFIX Electronic Books, Optimizing iFIX for use with Remote Desktop Services

See Also