Using CitectSCADA > Compiling and Running a Project > Running the System > Server Side Online Changes

Server Side Online Changes

Previously in CitectSCADA v7.0 the display client supported online changes for graphic pages and tags, but the servers needed to be restarted if any changes were made to the configuration. This meant that simple changes such as removing an alarm or trend record necessary the large change of restarting the server. With CitectSCADAv7.20, records can be modified during runtime using the project editor, recompiled and the resulting database files updated. You can initiate a configuration reload for each server using the Runtime Manager or using Cicode functions.

Note: It is recommended that the ServerGetProperty cicode function be used with the LibRDBMemTime and LibRDBDiskTime properties to check if there is a change to the Cicode library before attempting a reload. Following a reload please check the corresponding server's syslog.dat file for any reload messages. The cicode changes will not be reloaded, therefore a restart may be more appropriate.

  

UNINTENDED EQUIPMENT OPERATION

Restart the server process if a "Cicode library timestamp differs" error is detected. The library mismatch is indicated on the server in either the hardware alarm or the server's syslog.dat file.

Failure to follow these instructions can result in death, serious injury, or equipment damage.

Note: A message in the Syslog.dat file and hardware alarm of "Cicode library timestamp differs" (error code 454) will be raised if the Cicode library used by one or more server runtime databases is different from the one in memory. The timestamps will be different if the project has been fully recompiled (with or without Cicode modification), or if the project has been incrementally recompiled after any Cicode has been modified.

The following fields are reloaded on their respective servers:

Alarms

The following Alarm Category fields are used by the server and will be reloaded:

Trends

The following data will be reloaded on a Trend Server when adding, removing and modifying the records of:

Modifying a record’s archive properties:

will put the record in an error state and no acquisition will be done for corresponding records. A hardware alarm, a syslog entry and a reload error message will be raised. The history files will not be deleted. For periodic to periodic Type changes, reload will not generate an error.

If you want to have a valid archive for the modified record, you need to delete the old history files (after archiving manually) and then trigger the reload again after forcibly compiling the Trend configuration. This is necessary because the trend system doesn’t reload the trend rdb file if the compile time of in-memory file is same to the on disk file. Therefore changes to an existing trend record’s archive properties is a two staged reload.

Due to reload the display clients will need to request the latest configuration data for trend records. The Process Analyst will periodically refresh configuration data from the trend server. The Trend server tag browsing is optimized to handle the more frequent requests.

For legacy trends including SPC, configuration data will be refreshed from the trend server when a page update is triggered.

Reports

Changes to devices will not be reloaded because the devices may be in use by other Cicode tasks. The following fields will be reloaded on a Report Server:

See Reference for more information.

See Also