Renaming devices and groups

You can change the display names of devices and groups without losing any of the real-time or historical data associated with them.

In the Devices pane in Management Console:

  • Group and Name are separate columns.
    • The Name column is always displayed.
    • The Group column is displayed by default, but you can use the Column Selector to remove it from the display area. You can now drag and drop the Group column to the Group By Box area to show the devices organized within each group.
  • Use the Data Availability column for inclusion in the display area.
    • Data Availability indicates All for devices that are active and have real-time and historical data, and Historical only for devices that have been deleted and only provide historical data. Historical devices are included in the devices displayed when you select the Show historical devices checkbox.
  • The Show historical devices option displays devices that have been deleted. Since the data for these devices still exists in the system, they can be displayed when you select this option.

Renaming a device

Complete the following steps to change the display name of a device. The system (internal) name is not affected by this name change.

  1. Right-click the device name in the Devices pane of Management Console and select Rename in the menu to open the Rename Device dialog.

  2. Enter the new name for the device.

    The appearance of the exclamation icon to the right of the field indicates that there are instructions or errors associated with the device name. Hover over the icon to display the text and take appropriate action.

  3. Click OK to rename the device.

Changing a group name

Change a group name as follows:

  1. Right-click a single group name or select multiple group names (Ctrl + left mouse click) in the Devices pane of Management Console and select Change Group in the menu to open the Change Group dialog. (You can also select the devices and click the Change Group option in the Edit menu.)

  2. Enter a new group name or select a group name from the list of group names currently used in the system.

    The appearance of the exclamation icon to the right of the field indicates that there are instructions or errors associated with the group name. Hover over the icon to display the text and take appropriate action.

  3. Click OK to change the group name.

Considerations when renaming devices or groups

Note the following when you rename a device or a group:

  • Complete any configuration tasks in progress, such as working in Designer, before changing names.
  • Restart any open components such as Vista, Designer, or Web Applications after the name or group change has been completed to refresh the names that appear in them.
  • Regenerate network diagrams in Vista to update the top-level grouping objects with the changed Group name.
  • Update OPC data mapping after device renaming by selecting the Update OPC Server option in Management Console's Tools > System menu. You can then update the OPC clients with the new data.
  • System (internal) names, not display names, continue to appear in System Log Events in Management Console. You can view the system name of a device, in Device Manager, by selecting Unique System ID in the Column Selector.