Installing Plant Applications Universal Client Without Using Docker

About Installing Plant Applications Universal Client Without Using Docker

Installing Plant Applications Universal Client without using a docker container installs only the process applications. You must perform this type of installation if you want to upgrade from a previous version of Plant Applications. You can choose this method for a first-time installation as well. However, the discrete applications are not installed using this method.

About Preinstallation Requirements

Review the following preinstallation requirements before you run the Plant Applications Universal Client installer:

System Requirements

Ensure that your computer meets the system requirements as described in the following table. For more information, refer to the System Requirements section in the Plant Applications Important Product Information document for the latest Plant Applications release.

ItemVersion
GE OpHub UAAUAA 3.0.209.0
Web browsersChrome 65.0 or later
Operating system64-bit Windows 7, Windows 10, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016, or Windows Server 2019
FrameworkMicrosoft® .NET Framework 4.7 or later
SQL serverSQL server 2012, 2014, 2016 (64-bit), or 2017 (64-bit)
Note: Ensure that you have configured the SQL server database as the Plant Applications database. For more information, refer to the Plant Applications Getting Started Guide for the latest release.
Hard drive80 GB (minimum)
Processor2.4 GHz clock-speed Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 CPU or equivalent AMD Phenom CPU with 16 GB RAM
Note: It is recommended to use a quad core (4-cores) processor for better performance.
Memory16 GB (recommended)
Note: You must have 32 GB if you plan to install Plant Applications, Historian, OpHub UAA, Universal Client (UC), Message Bridge on the same node. However, it is recommended to install them in a distributed environment.

Port Requirements

Ensure that the ports described in the following table are opened before you install Plant Applications Universal Client.
PortDescription
5672The default port for the RabbitMQ Message bridge required to communicate with the Plant Applications server for retrieving data updates.
8444The default port for the Tomcat server.
1433The default port for the Microsoft SQL server.

Software Requirements

The installer identifies all available and missing software packages required before installing the Plant Applications Universal Client.

You must install the following software packages before you run the installer:

If you do not install Microsoft OLE DB Driver 18 for SQL Server, the following screen appears, and the installation is stopped.

If any of the following required software packages are not already installed on your computer, the installer installs them automatically:
  • Apache Tomcat version 9.0.1
  • Ruby 2.3.3
  • Ruby DevKit version 4.65.0.0
    Note:

    Ruby is required because the UAA Command Line Interface (UAAC) is dependent on Ruby.

  • NodeJS 8.12
  • Python 2.7
  • OpenJDK 1.8

Plant Applications Server Requirements

Ensure that the Plant Applications Server 8.0 is installed. For more information, refer to the Plant Applications Getting Started Guide for the latest release.

Install Operations Hub UAA

For instructions, refer to the UAA installation Guide provided along with the Operations Hub UAA installation package.

Plant Applications Message Bridge Requirements

GE recommends that you configure the RabbitMQ Message Bridge in the Plant Applications server before installing the Plant Applications Universal Client. For more information, refer to the Installing the Plant Applications Message Bridge section in the Plant Applications Getting Started Guide.

Install the Plant Applications Universal Client Without Using Docker

About This Task

Perform the preinstallation tasks.

Procedure

  1. Mount the ISO file for the Plant Applications Universal Client or load the DVD if you created one from the ISO file on the application server for Plant Applications.
  2. Run the installfrontend.exe file as an Administrator.
    The installation menu appears, displaying the Install Proficy Plant Applications 8.0 screen.

    Tip: You can hover over each task that appears in the installation menu to refer to the tooltip associated with that task.
  3. Select Plant Applications Universal Client 8.0.
    The Plant Applications Universal Client installation wizard appears, displaying the Welcome to Plant Applications Universal Client 8.0 screen.

  4. In the Welcome to Plant Applications Universal Client 8.0 screen, select Next.
    The Prerequisites screen appears.
    Note: If Microsoft OLE DB Driver 18 for SQL Server or later is not installed, the Missing Prerequisites screen appears informing you to install the required version of the missing software before you run the installer. You must exit the installation, and first install the required software.
  5. In the Prerequisites screen, select Next to view all installed prerequisites and install any missing prerequisites.
    The Read and accept the license agreement to continue screen appears.

  6. Read the license agreement, select Accept, and then select Next to continue the installation.
    The Installation Directory screen appears with the default installation directory selected as C:\Program Files\GE Digital\PlantApplicationsUniversalClient.

  7. Optional: In the Destination Folder box, select Change to browse and select the directory where you want to install the Plant Applications Universal Client.
  8. In the Installation Directory screen, select Next.
    The UAA Credentials screen appears.

  9. In the UAA Credentials screen, enter the credentials to access the UAA server as described in the following table.
    CredentialDescription
    Server NameEnter the host name of the UAA server.
    Note: Instead of IP address, it is recommended to use the UAA host name (computer name).
    PortEnter the UAA port number.
    Admin Client IDEnter the admin Client ID to access the UAA server instance.
    Note: The default user name is admin.
    Admin Client SecretEnter the Client Secret for the user name you entered in the Admin Client ID box.
    UAA CertificateSelect Browse to locate the UAA server certificate and upload it.
    Note: Copy the certificate from the UAA installed node’s location (C:\Program Files (x86)\GE_Digital\nginx\conf\cert to UC node).
    ValidateSelect Validate to validate the UAA server connection.
    Note: The following table describes each icon indicating a validation status that might appear during the validation process.
    IconDescription
    Indicates that the validation is in progress.
    Indicates that the validation was successful.
    Indicates that the validation was unsuccessful. In this case, make sure you enter the correct password.
    If all the options are entered correctly, the Next button is enabled.
  10. Select Next.

    The Plant Applications Database Credentials screen appears.

  11. In the Plant Applications Database Credentials screen, enter the Plant Applications database credentials as described in the following table.
    CredentialDescription
    Server nameEnter the server name where the Plant Applications database is installed in the format HOST_NAME\INSTANCE. Where HOST_NAME is the host name (either a fully qualified domain name or IP address, of the server) and INSTANCE is the instance of the server used by the database.
    Note: If there is no instance for the server, you can enter HOSTNAME as the server name. Localhost is not an acceptable value for HOSTNAME.
    DatabaseEnter the name of the Plant Applications database that you want to connect with the Plant Applications Universal Client.
    UsernameEnter the user name that has permissions to access the database you entered in the Database box. By default, the user name appears as sa.
    PasswordEnter the password for the user name you entered in the Username box.
    PortOptional: Enter the number of the port that the instance uses to listen for client connections.
    Note: The default port is 1433.
  12. Select Validate Connection to validate the database connection.
    Note: The validation process takes some time to check whether a compatible version of the Plant Applications server is installed.
    The following table describes each icon indicating a validation status that might appear during the validation process.
    IconDescription
    Indicates that the validation is in progress.
    Indicates that the validation was successful.
    Indicates that the validation was unsuccessful. In this case, make sure you enter the correct password.
    If the database connection is successfully validated, the Next button is enabled.
  13. Select Next.
    The Tomcat Installation screen appears.

  14. In the Tomcat Installation screen, enter the Tomcat installation details for a new or existing installation as described in the following table. The installer prompts you to enter details for an existing Tomcat if the Tomcat installation details are available in the registry settings for the Plant Applications Universal Client on your computer. Else, the installer prompts you to enter details for a new installation of Tomcat.
    Installation DetailDescription
    PortEnter the HTTP port that Tomcat uses to listen for client connections.
    Note: The default port is 8081.
    Redirect PortEnter the HTTPS port that Tomcat uses to redirect all HTTP requests to this port.
    Note: The default redirect port is 8444.
    UsernameEnter the user name to access Tomcat.
    Note: The default user name is admin.
    RolesSkip this box because it is automatically populated.
    PasswordEnter the password for the user name you entered in the Username box.
    Re-enter PasswordReenter the password for the user name entered in the Username box.
    Note: This box appears only when a new installation of Tomcat is initiated by the installer.
  15. Select Next.
    The RabbitMQ Credentials screen appears.

  16. In the RabbitMQ Credentials screen, perform one of the following steps:
    • Enter the RabbitMQ credentials for the machine that hosts your Plant Applications message bridge as described in the following table, and then select Validate Connection.
      CredentialDescription
      Server nameEnter the computer name or IP address that hosts your Plant Applications Message Bridge.
      UsernameEnter the Administrator's user name that you set during Plant Applications Message Bridge installation.
      PasswordEnter the password for the Administrator's user name you entered in the Username box.
      The following table describes each icon indicating a validation status that might appear during the validation process.
      IconDescription
      Indicates that the validation is in progress.
      Indicates that the validation was successful.
      Indicates that the validation was unsuccessful. In this case, make sure you enter the correct password.
  17. Select Next.
    The You are ready to install screen appears.

  18. Select Install, and then wait for the installation to complete.
    Depending on the options selected, the installation process may take some time. On successful installation, the Installation Successful screen appears.

  19. Optional: Select View Logs to see the installation details.
  20. In the Installation Successful screen, select Exit to close the wizard.

Results

The Plant Applications Universal Client is successfully installed on your computer.
Remember: If you upgrade JAVA later, it might create some issues in using the Plant Applications Universal Client. To resolve this issue, refer to the Community article 000020691 in the support site http://support.ge-ip.com.

What To Do Next

Perform the post-installation steps.

Add a UAA User

About This Task

You must add User Authentication Service (UAA) users to access the Plant Applications Universal Client.

Before You Begin

Ensure that you modify the uaac-create-clients-and-users.bat file to add the user details.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the computer where you installed the Plant Applications Universal Client.
  2. Select Start, and then search for the Command Prompt application.
  3. In the search results, right-click Command Prompt, and then select Run as administrator.
  4. In the command prompt, modify the directory path to the path where the uaac-create-clients-and-users.bat file is located.
    Note: By default, the uaac-create-clients-and-users.bat file is located in the Plant Applications Universal Client installation directory.
  5. In the command prompt, enter uaac-create-clients-and-users.bat.
  6. Press Enter to run the uaac-create-clients-and-users.bat file.

Results

The user is added as a UAA user to the Operations Hub UAA with an access level you set for the user in the uaac-create-clients-and-users.bat file.

Modify the Batch File to Add the User Details

About This Task

You can use the uaac-create-clients-and-users.bat file located in the Plant Applications Universal Client installation directory to add a Universal Client user as a User Authentication Service (UAA) user and set the access level as bm-line-leader or bm-operator. The access levels bm-line-leader and bm-operator are defined in the Plant Applications Administrator. The uaac-create-clients-and-users.bat file associates a default user for the access levels as described in the following table.
Access LevelsDefault User
bm-operatorbm_operator_1
bm-line-leaderbm_lineleader_1

Procedure

  1. In the Plant Applications Universal Client installation directory, open the uaac-create-clients-and-users.bat file using a text editor.
  2. Depending on the access level, identify each instance of the default user, and then replace the default user with the required user name.
    For example, if the user name is john and you want to define bm_operator as the access level, replace the instances of bm_operator_1 with john as shown in the following table.
    Original Code SnippetModified Code Snippet
    call uaac user add bm_operator_1 -p test --emails [email protected]call uaac user add john -p test --emails [email protected]
    call uaac member add trend_client.read bm_operator_1call uaac member add trend_client.read john
    call uaac member add trend_client.write bm_operator_1call uaac member add trend_client.write john
    call uaac member add bm-operator bm_operator_1call uaac member add bm-operator john
    call uaac member add historian_rest_api.read bm_operator_1call uaac member add historian_rest_api.read john
    call uaac member add historian_rest_api.write bm_operator_1call uaac member add historian_rest_api.write john
    Similarly, if the user name is lisa and you want to define bm_lineleader as the access level, replace the instances of bm_lineleader_1 with lisa as shown in the following table.
    Original Code SnippetModified Code Snippet
    call uaac user add bm_lineleader_1 -p test --emails [email protected]call uaac user add lisa -p test --emails [email protected]
    call uaac member add bm-line-leader bm_lineleader_1call uaac member add bm-line-leader lisa
  3. Save your changes to the uaac-create-clients-and-users.bat file.

Results

The uaac-create-clients-and-users.bat file is modified with the required user details.

Configure a GE Proficy Historian Server for the Analysis Application

About This Task

The Analysis application supports plotting of Historian tags from a GE Proficy Historian Server SP5 or later versions only. You can configure a maximum of 10 remote or native GE Proficy Historian Servers in the application.properties file for the Analysis application.

To configure one or more GE Proficy Historian Servers for the Analysis application, follow these steps:

Procedure

  1. In the directory <tomcat_home>/Apache Software Foundation/Tomcat 9.0/webapps/mes-dataservice-impl-<version>/WEB-INF/classes, access the application.properties file by using a text editor. Where:
    • <tomcat_home>: Is the directory where you installed Apache Tomcat. For example, C:/Program Files.
    • <version>: Is the version of the mes-dataservice-impl microservice created during the installation of the Plant Applications Universal Client. For example, 0.6.7.
  2. Enter the properties and their details for each GE Proficy Historian Server as described in the following table.
    PropertyDescription
    hist<n>.service.originEnter the IP address of the GE Proficy Historian Server. For example, 10.181.213.204.
    hist<n>.service.portEnter the port number on which the GE Proficy Historian Server is installed.
    Tip: You can leave this property blank if the GE Proficy Historian Server is installed on the default port 8443.
    hist<n>.service.hostnameEnter the host name of the GE Proficy Historian Server as configured in the Plant Applications Administrator. For example, GESERVER.
    hist<n>.service.client_secretEnter the client secret of the Historian Administrator.
    hist<n>.uaa.originEnter the Historian UAA origin.
    hist<n>.uaa.portEnter the Historian UAA port.
    Note: In the Property column, in each entered property, <n> represents a numeric value between 1 and 10 indicating the count of the Historian Server configured in the file. For example, hist1.service.origin, hist2.service.origin, and so on.
  3. Save changes to the application.properties file.
  4. Restart mes-dataservice-impl-0.6.7 and processanalyzer-service-impl-0.6.7 to apply the changes.

Results

The configured GE Proficy Historian Servers appear in the Analysis application.

Configure the Cache Settings for the Historian Tags

About This Task

The Analysis application supports the caching and refreshing of the cached Historian tags after certain time interval. You configure the duration of the saved cached Historian tags in the application.properties file of the mes-dataservice-impl and processanalyzer-service-impl microservices for the Analysis application. After the set duration, the Historian tags are cached again.

Procedure

  1. In the directory <tomcat_home>/Apache Software Foundation/Tomcat 9.0/webapps/mes-dataservice-impl-<version>/WEB-INF/classes, access the application.properties file by using a text editor. Where:
    • <tomcat_home>: Is the directory where you installed Apache Tomcat. For example, C:/Program Files.
    • <version>: Is the version of the mes-dataservice-impl microservice created during the installation of the Plant Applications Universal Client. For example, 0.6.2.
  2. Enter the properties and their details as described in the following table.
    PropertyDescription
    historianTagMaxCacheSizeEnter the maximum cache size in KB. The default value is 50000.

    Example: historianTagMaxCacheSize=50000

    historianTagCacheTimeOutEnter the duration in the format duration<timeformat> after which the cached Historian tags are cleared by the mes-dataservice-impl microservice. Where: <timeformat> is h, m, or s to indicate time in hours, minutes, or seconds, respectively. The default value is 6h.

    Example: historianTagCacheTimeOut=6h

    scheduler.tagcaching.secondsEnter the duration in seconds after which the Historian tags are cached again by the mes-dataservice-impl microservice. The default value is 21600.

    Example: scheduler.tagcaching.seconds=21600

    Note: The value you enter for the historianTagCacheTimeOut and scheduler.tagcaching.seconds properties must of the same duration you enter for the tagVariableCacheTimeOut property in the processanalyzer-service-impl microservice.
  3. Save the changes to your file.
  4. In the directory <tomcat_home>/Apache Software Foundation/Tomcat 9.0/webapps/processanalyzer-service-impl-<version>/WEB-INF/classes, access the application.properties file by using a text editor. Where:
    • <tomcat_home>: Is the directory where you installed Apache Tomcat. For example, C:/Program Files.
    • <version>: Is the version of the processanalyzer-service-impl microservice created during the installation of the Plant Applications Universal Client. For example, 0.6.2.
  5. For the tagVariableCacheTimeOut property, enter the duration in the format duration<timeformat> after which the tags are cached again. Where: <timeformat> is h, m, or s to indicate time in hours, minutes, or seconds, respectively. The default value is 6h. Example: tagVariableCacheTimeOut=6h
    Note: The value you enter for the tagVariableCacheTimeOut property must be of the same duration you enter for the historianTagCacheTimeOut and scheduler.tagcaching.seconds properties in the mes-dataservice-impl microservice.
  6. Save the changes to your file.
  7. Restart Tomcat to apply the changes.

Results

The cached tags are refreshed after the duration you set in the application.properties file of the mes-dataservice-impl and processanalyzer-service-impl microservices for the Analysis application.

Performance Tuning Settings

About This Task

Here are the recommended performance tuning settings for your environment to achieve optimal performance.

Procedure

  1. Update Tomcat default threads.
    1. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 8.0\conf
    2. Open the Server.xml file in Notepad. In Server.xml, search for the line 102 or <Connector protocol="org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11NioProtocol" maxThreads="150"
    3. Change the max thread count to 800 (maxThreads=”800”).
    4. Save the file.
  2. Update JVM memory settings.
    1. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 8.0\bin and then run Tomcat8w.exe.
    2. Select the Java tab.
    3. Enter the following recommended values:
      • Initial memory pool: 4096 MB
      • Maximum memory pool: 4096 MB
      • Thread stack size: Leave this field empty
    4. Select OK.
    5. Stop and Start Tomcat.
  3. Update database settings:
    1. Update the Cost Threshold for Parallelism value:
      1. Open SSMS connect to the instance, where SOA db is deployed.
      2. Select the instance. Now, right-click on the instance and then select Properties.

      3. Select the Advanced tab. In the Parallelism section, in the Cost Threshold for Parallelism box, change the default value from 5 to 25.

    2. Ensure that statistics (sp_updatestats) is updated in the database.
    3. It is recommended to move the transaction logs to a different drive to optimize disk I/O performance.

Node Application Manager Utility

About This Task

Node Application Manager is a simple utility that displays the health of the UI micro applications in a dashboard. You can use this utility to stop or restart the applications if you are not able to access them in the universal client from the browser.

Procedure

  1. Launch this utility using the desktop shortcut icon where you have installed the Plant Applications Universal Client. Alternatively, you can also launch this by directly entering the following URL in the browser from any computer that has access to the Plant Application.
    https://<PlantAppComputerHostname>:<TomcatPortNo>/node-manager-app
  2. Enter the credentials that has the manager-ui role of Tomcat assigned to log in. The Node Application Manager appears displaying the health of the individual applications in a dashboard.
  3. You can either Start, Stop, or Restart an individual application by selecting corresponding button. You can also use Start All or Stop All buttons either to start or stop all applications respectively.
  4. You can select to reload the dashboard or refresh the browser.
  5. You can select to logout from Node Application Manager.