Wonderware FS Gateway Release 1.0 ReadMe

Last revision: 7/16/2004

This document contains important information about WonderwareÒ FactorySuite Gateway Release 1.0. Please carefully review this document for known issues in this version.

System Requirements

Installation Information

Known Issues – FS Gateway

Known Issues – FS Gateway Documentation

FS Gateway Documentation

System Requirements

 

Hardware Requirements

PC with 2 GHz or higher processor clock speed

1 GB of RAM or higher recommended (512 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)

8 GB of available hard disk space

Super VGA (1024 × 768) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor

CD-ROM or DVD drive

Keyboard and Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device

 

Software Requirements

Windows NT 4.0 Workstation and Server SP 6 (only when a DDE server is on the node along with FS Gateway, being accessed by a remote client -- OPC or SuiteLink)

Windows 2000 Professional, Server, and Advanced Server SP4

Windows XP Professional SP1

Windows 2003 Server Standard and Enterprise Edition

Note: FS Gateway can be installed on computers running any of the following foreign operating systems: French, German, Japanese and Simplified Chinese.

 

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Installation Information

Detailed installation instructions are included in FS Gateway’s Installation Guide. It is recommended that you read that guide prior to beginning the installation process.

Installation Order Requirements

The installation for the DAServers/Gateway and other Wonderware products on the same computer must follow the order as outlined. A DAServer/Gateway must always be installed last.

This installation order will insure that any differences, which may exist in the common components included with individual product releases, will install and run without version conflicts. In case of any future patch on the installed Wonderware products, follow the particular installation instructions from the patch.

Uninstall Order Requirements

After installing a DAServer/Gateway on a computer with other Wonderware products, the following applies:

 

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Known Issues – FS Gateway

 

If FS Gateway fails to connect to a remote OPC server through both its ProgID and ClassID, then lower the DCOM Authentication Level of the OPC server to None. Do this by opening Control Panel on the remote computer, double-clicking Administrative Tools, double-clicking Component Services, and then expanding the hierarchy tree under the Console Root as follows: Component Services, Computers, My Computer and DCOM Config. Click DCOM Config. In the right pane, right-click on the OPC server you cannot connect to, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu. On the General page of the properties dialog box, select None for Authentication Level. Click OK.

 

CRL00020758: FS Gateway is shut down when installing MSI install product.

If FS Gateway is running as a service, installing Industrial Application Server causes FS Gateway to shut down without warning. This behavior applies to any product that uses Microsoft’s MSI install and installs a newer SuiteLink component.

 

CRL00021434: Flickering values in third-party OPC clients.

Some third-party OPC clients exhibit a flickering when you poke a value to any item. The value flickers between the poke value and the previous value, but then settles on the correct poke value.

 

CRL00022923: DAServer Manager displayed as an installable option under Windows NT 4.0.

During installation of FS Gateway on a computer running Windows NT 4.0, the DAServer Manager is displayed as an installable option in the Select Features dialog box. The DAServer Manager and other ArchestrA System Management Console (SMC) components are not installed on Windows NT 4.0 computers because that operating system does not support the hosting utility, which is the Microsoft Management Console. Installing FS Gateway on a Windows NT 4.0 computer requires remote configuration from a computer with an operating system that supports installation of SMC components.

 

CRL00023321: Invalid poke interpreted as data conversion problem.

When invalid or unavailable items are present in a write block, FS Gateway wrongly interprets the poke on these items as data conversion problem.

 

CRL00023414: Poked values not displayed in SMC's Transactions.

OPC Demand Writes and DDE/Suitelink cold pokes succeed in writing data to an ArchestrA data source, but no value is displayed in the Transactions node of Diagnostics in the SMC.

 

CRL00023779: Creating a Tag Browser filter requires addition of a device item.

When creating a filter in the Tag Browser utility, you must select at least one item before clicking OK to exit. Otherwise, the new filter is not saved.

 

CRL00023805: Tag Browser functionality for InTouch data source.

If you use the Tag Browser to view the tag database of an InTouch data source, the Tag Browser always opens with the first item selected by default. If you click OK on the Tag Browser to exit without making any changes, the first tag name in the Tag Browser list will automatically be inserted into the Device Items list. To avoid this problem, click Cancel to exit the Tag Browser.

 

CRL00024217: Case sensitivity and groups/topics in FS Gateway.

Each group or topic you configure in FS Gateway must be uniquely named for the data source associated with it. This includes uniqueness based on case sensitivity, even if you have left unchecked the Case Sensitive option in Global Parameters. In other words, do not depend on case to differentiate between two groups or topics. If you do, advising items will produce unreliable results.

 

CRL00024230: Poking a Boolean to an integer, SMC’s Transactions.

Poking a Boolean (True) to an ArchestrA data source integer results in “-1” being displayed in the Transactions node of Diagnostics in the SMC. The correct value (1) is received by ArchestrA.

 

CRL00025062: FS Gateway unable to communicate with remote Siemens OPC server.

In order for FS Gateway to communicate with a remote Siemens OPC server, authentication must be set none in the DCOM settings.

 

CRL00025613: No logger message to indicate a switch between DDE and SuiteLink protocol by InTouch data source object at runtime.

When using an InTouch data source object, there is no message in the Log Viewer to indicate whether DDE or SuiteLink protocol is actually being used. The InTouch data source object may internally switch its protocol at runtime when needed. NetDDE with remote nodes is not supported, so an InTouch object configured to use the DDE protocol would switch to SuiteLink in order to access a remote node. Log Viewer messages do not note such a switch between protocols.

 

CRL00025955:  Poking device items configured as “Read Only”.

Poking on device items from the DDE/SuiteLink Topic node which are configured as "Read Only" does not display any related messages from FS Gateway in the logger. In other words, it does not inform or remind the user that writing to these items are not permitted as they have been configured as "Read Only" from its related Topics in FS Gateway. If the Transaction Backlog has not been enabled, the client would show good VTQ on these items before and after the poke.

 

CRL00026049: Change Topic Name check box disabling Topic Name option.

Toggling more than once the Change Topic Name checkbox on the FS Gateway DDE/SuiteLink Topic configuration view results in the Topic Name option being disabled. Change focus from this configuration view to another to undo this problem.

 

CRL00026381: Data source object renaming issue.

If you renaming a data source object node name in a hierarchy that has child objects under the DAServer Manager SMC, the name change may not be populated to the Device Group Name fields in all of the child objects. To refresh the hierarchy, collapse the tree and re-expand it after the change.

 

CRL00027476: aaCALWrapperEx takes a long time to unadvise items.

When 10,000 or more items are unadvised at one time and/or the client is shut down, aaCALWrapper can take several minutes (typically 1 to 3 minutes) to unadvise the items. During this period, aaCALWrapper can cause the CPU usage to go to 100%.

 

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Known Issues - FS Gateway Documentation

The following table describes changes to the documentation.

 

Item

Location of Change

Existing Documentation

Change

1

FSGateway.PDF: “Configuring an ArchestrA Data Source Object,” pgs. 26-27.

FSGateway.PDF: “Configuring an OPC Group Object,” pgs. 40-41.

Default value for Read Only checkbox in the image and following text is selected.

Default value for Read Only checkbox in the image and following text should be unselected.

2

FSGateway.PDF: “Configuring an OPC Group Object,” pg. 41.

The example for OPC Item ID Prefix is inaccurate.

An accurate example for OPC Item ID Prefix is the following:

Assume a ModBus OPC Server with a fully qualified OPC Item Path of “ModBus.QT.402001”. In this example, the Item ID Prefix would be “ModBus.QT.” (the final period must be included in the Item ID Prefix).

 

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FS Gateway Documentation

The FS Gateway documentation set includes the following guides:

1.      FS Gateway User’s Guide. This guide describes how to configure and use FS Gateway.

2.      DAServer Manager User’s Guide. This guide describes how to use the DAServer Manager, which hosts FS Gateway.

3.      Log Viewer User’s Guide. This guide describes how to use the Log Viewer, a utility that provides troubleshooting information about the FS Gateway.

4.      Log Flag Editor User’s Guide. This guide describes how to use the Log Flag Editor, a utility through which you can control the types of messages displayed in the Log Viewer.

All of these guides are provided in PDF form and can be printed. Viewing these user's guides requires installation of Adobe's Acrobat Reader. This utility is not included on this CD, but you can download it for free from Adobe's website at the following web address:

www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

After downloading the file from Adobe, you must run the executable to install it on your PC. Follow the typical installation routine. After installation, you can either open the Acrobat Reader and open a user's guide from the File menu or double-click a user's guide on the CD in Windows Explorer.

Also, information included in these guides is provided in online Help, each of which can be accessed from FS Gateway or its associated utilities.

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© 2004 Invensys Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.