NOTE!
When running node/portal, the portal should have at least the same version of Web Port as the node, to avoid the system synchronizing functionality that the portal does not support.
NOTE!
The synchronization of data between node and portal is dependent on synchronization of system times. Make sure that Windows in both the node and the portal times are set to automatic sync and that they are in contact with the time servers.
A warning will appear in Node settings if the times differ more than 30 seconds.
Add a node
Log on to the installation that should be a node and go to System settings/Communication/Node setup. Click Connect portal in the toolbar menu. Enter what the node should be called in the Portal and the URL address of the Portal and then click SAVE.
Then log in to the installation that will act as the portal. Go to System settings/Communication/Node setup, select the node in the list that was recently connected, and verify/complete the settings as below.
| Setting: | Description: |
| Display Name (My Pages) | Name to Display under My Pages |
| Note | Free text comment on the node |
| Active Unit | Enables the node in the portal and begins synchronization |
| Alarms enabled | Indicates whether alarm handling is active for the node |
| Block alarm sender | Blocks alarm transmissions connected to the node |
| Memory mode | Enables memory mode and prevents reading / writing to the node |
| Debug mode | Logs events to the debug log |
| Tag Prefix | Prefix that is added before the tag name from the node. Can only be changed until the first time the node is activated |
| Read-cache | Indicates cache time that limits how often read operations are performed from the node |
| Status Tag | Indicates the tag to which IO-device status is written. (See Status tag under IO devices) |
| Basic directory | Indicates which directory the node's own directory structure should be added to |
| Show node icon | Indicates whether the node's pages / directories are to be added their own directory with the node icon |
| Synchronize trend from | Indicates how far back in time historical trend should be synchronized from |
| Trend synchronization interval | Time interval between trend synchronization |
| Current trend synchronization | <-Current position back in time for trend synchronization |
| Current trend synchronization | ->Current position in the future for trend synchronization |
| Synchronize alarms from | Indicates how far back in time alarm history should be synchronized from |
| Alarm synchronization interval | Time interval between alarm synchronization |
| Current alarm synchronization | <-Current position back in time for alarm synchronization |
| Current alarm synchronization | ->Current position in the future for alarm synchronization |
Data is synchronized to the portal when changes are made in the node. (System images, tag lists, schedules and alarm and trend history).
Directories that are synchronized (and adapted to handle node/portal solutions are):
- In assets: libs, upload
- In system: pages, backgrounds, docs
Information:
Trend and alarm synchronization is done 1 hour in the future and 1 hour in the past, based on the current position, at each synchronization time.
Information:
The portal will lock the connection for node to the license id that has previously been synchronized from the node or been configured under Web Port license id. If the license id on the node is changed, it can either be changed or cleared in the portal. In the latter case it will automatically be populated with the license id of the first node with the same GUID that connects to it.
Information:
Trend and alarm synchronization is done 1 hour in the future and 1 hour in the past, based on the current position, at each synchronization time (according to setting for Trend synchronization interval). Forwards the sync is run until it reaches current date/time, backwards until it reaches the date/time set in Synchronize trend from.
If any re-synchronization is needed, this can be performed by manually setting Current trend synchronization, which will make the cycle step through according to above.
Please note that the sync interval may affect system performance.
Edit node
From the node side it is possible to change some settings for the portal by clicking the name of the connection under node setup.
The following settings are available on the node:
| Setting: | Description: |
| Description | Description of the connection, e.g. address. Shown in the list |
| Note | Possibility to write a longer description/note |
| Active Unit | Enables the node in the portal and begins synchronization |
| Debug mode | Logs events to the debug log |
| Portal address (URL) | The address to the portal. Was configured when setting up connection |
| Allow remote admin | Currently has no function, but is prepared for coming remote administration of a node from a portal |
Remove a node
A node is removed by first clicking on the node, accessed in SYSTEM SETTINGS/COMMUNICATION/NODE SETTINGS and selecting the Portal connection and click delete. Then log in to the Portal and remove the connection to the Node.
Trend synchronization
There is often a misunderstanding about how trend synchronization works, and this will clarify how it works.
If you are missing trend data on the portal that exists on the node, you can refresh synchronization to retrieve this missing data. To determine what changes are needed in trend sync, we first need to understand the purpose of each different field.
- Sync trend from Functions as a filter. If there are 10 years' worth of data, you may not want to sync everything. Therefore, you can set a specific start date for the trend data synchronization you want. The default date and time for Sync trend from is when the node was connected to the portal.
- Trend sync interval [s] Defines the time between each synchronization in seconds. After every sync, it retrieves one hour's worth of data.
- Current trend sync <-- Displays the current date and time synchronized moving backwards to the date set in Sync trend from.
- Current trend sync --> Displays the current date and time synchronized moving towards the current time.
Info
If Current trend sync is not matched with Sync trend from or the current date, it will synchronize every set Trend sync interval. After every synchronization interval, it will retrieve one hour's worth of data from the node to the portal. You will also see the dates/time update in Current trend sync to display where it currently is in the synchronization progress until dates are met in Sync trend from or the current date, depending on what’s being synchronized.
Retrive missing trend data
Start to see if Sync trend from is the correct start date of trend data you want, if not change it to preferred start date. Then look at the two dates in Current trend sync, between these dates show the synchronized trend data. The dates could appear correct, yet some data is evidently missing. Before changing any Current trend sync dates, we need to know which data has already been synchronized to the portal.
There are different scenarios we could encounter when looking at a trend tag:
- If we have trend data between 2025-01-10 10:00 to current date 2025-01-14 15:00 In this case we would like to change Current trend sync <-- to the earliest trend data we have on portal: 2025-01-10 10:00. After saving you will see that the date and time will update in Current trend sync <-- every 120 second after synchronizing with one hour worth of data and working towards 2024-02-20 10:00.
- If we have data between 2024-02-20 10:00 to 2024-08-10 12:00. We want to change the date in Current trend sync --> to 2024-08-10 12:00. After saving it will continue to sync from that date moving forward one hour at the time every 120 second until it meets the current date.
- If we don’t have any data, we want to enter the date in the middle of the time frame of trend data we want. In this case we enter 2024-08-02 12:00 in both of Current trend sync. Then it will synchronize simultaneously to their end date. One moving backwards in time and the other moving forward in to retrieve all data.
NOTE!
Keep in mind that it takes time to synchronize a lot of data. To synchronize one year of date with default sync interval settings, it takes approximately 12 days.
Info
For a trend tag to work on the portal, its suffix must be listed in the portal's lib.conf file under the "trends": section. This is especially important if you're using custom suffixes beyond the standard trend suffixes.