This driver is a stand-alone driver. It provides additional functionality to enable Geo SCADA Expert to interface with specific supported systems or devices. To interact successfully with such systems or devices, you need to:
- Install and run the driver
- Ensure that the driver is licensed
- Configure the required database items and settings on the driver
- Ensure that the database items (and any database items on which they depend) have valid, saved, configuration and are 'In Service'.
If you intend using the driver to export historic data to AVEVA PI Server or CONNECT data services, you have to install and configure the AVEVA Adapter for Historic Data Export prerequisite on your Geo SCADA Expert server machines (see Install the AVEVA Adapter for Historic Data Export). You also have to install the AVEVA Operations Control Logger and the Microsoft .NET 8 prerequisites.
Intended Audience
This guide is designed to be used by engineer-level users who are responsible for configuring Geo SCADA Expert to export Geo SCADA Expert historic data to the historian in an AVEVA application, such as AVEVA Historian (formerly Wonderware Historian) or AVEVA Insight (formerly Wonderware Online).
The guide also contains information for:
- Operators and engineers who use the AVEVA Historic Data Export driver in Geo SCADA Expert to export data. (The driver was previously known as the Wonderware Historian driver.)
- Maintenance engineers.
On the Modules tab of the Geo SCADA Expert Server Status Tool, this particular driver is listed as the WonderwareHistorian driver.
Likewise, in the Geo SCADA Expert License Details window, this driver appears as the WonderwareHistorian driver in the listed of licensed drivers.
Although the name of the driver's database class is now AVEVA Historic Data Export in the Database Schema, some mentions of WonderwareHistorian might still remain.
Document Scope
This guide explains how to configure and operate your Geo SCADA Expert system so that it can export Geo SCADA Expert historic data to the historian in an AVEVA application such as AVEVA Historian (formerly Wonderware Historian) or AVEVA Insight (formerly Wonderware Online).
Prerequisite Reading
This guide contains technical information that is intended for users that are sufficiently familiar with Geo SCADA Expert configuration and operation. Before reading this driver guide, ensure that you are familiar with:
- Geo SCADA Expert configuration practices, procedures, and the configuration of properties that are common to many database items. For more information, see the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Core Configuration, and the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Core Point Configuration.
- Driver structure, components, and configuration properties, pick actions, and status attributes that are common to many drivers. For more information, see the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Drivers.
Some sections of this guide are intended for operator-level users. These sections are intended for users that are familiar with the navigational and operational aspects of Geo SCADA Expert. Before reading the operational sections in this guide, ensure that you are familiar with:
- The Geo SCADA Expert user interfaces (ViewX and Virtual ViewX), the various types of display, their navigation and operation. For more information, see the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to ViewX and Virtual ViewX Clients.
The AVEVA Historic Data Export driver enables you to export Geo SCADA Expert historic data to the historian in an AVEVA application, such as AVEVA Historian (formerly Wonderware Historian) or AVEVA Insight (formerly Wonderware Online).
The ability to export Geo SCADA Expert data is only supported by Wonderware Historian (AVEVA Historian) 2014 R2 SP1 Patch 02 and later.
Certain features and functionality are only available in later versions of AVEVA Historian (see Supported Versions of AVEVA Applications with Historians).
When you have installed the driver, you can then configure a Geo SCADA Expert point or accumulator so that Geo SCADA Expert can export its data to specific historians. Geo SCADA Expert will automatically start exporting new data for an enabled point or accumulator to the selected historians. It does this by using an API called HCAL (the Historian Client Access Layer).
HCAL is installed when you install the Geo SCADA Expert AVEVA Historic Data Export driver. Geo SCADA Expert sends historic data to HCAL, which then manages its onward transmission to the historian in the AVEVA application. Geo SCADA Expert exports historic data at the same time as it stores the data in the Geo SCADA Expert database. It only exports newly created historic data. It will not export data that was created before you place the AVEVA Historic Data Export item 'in service'. Geo SCADA Expert will not export data that it did not store due to historic compression or filtering (see Historic Data Compression in the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Core Point Configuration). HCAL applies no further filtering.
HCAL can store exported historic data in a store-and-forward cache. This is useful if the network connection to the historian is intermittent or unavailable. In such a situation, HCAL will cache the export data and when the link becomes available again, it will send it to the historian. For more information about HCAL, see the information about the historian in the documentation supplied with the relevant AVEVA application.
For each enabled point or accumulator, Geo SCADA Expert uses HCAL to create a new tag in the selected historians. It does this when it exports the first data to those historians (see Historian Tags).
To export historic data to the historian in an AVEVA application:
- Ensure that the required prerequisites are installed if the driver is to export historic data to AVEVA PI Server or CONNECT data services (see Install the AVEVA Adapter for Historic Data Export). To facilitate this, Geo SCADA Expert uses the AVEVA Adapter for Historic Data Export to connect to the historian application. The AVEVA Adapter is installed along with the selected prerequisites.
- Install the AVEVA Historic Data Export Driver.
- Configure the Server Settings for the AVEVA Historic Data Export Driver to set up the store-and-forward cache. If applicable, also use this section of the Server Configuration Tool to set up the server settings for the AVEVA Adapter, AVEVA PI Server and CONNECT data services. (These latter settings only apply if the driver is to export historic data to AVEVA PI Server or CONNECT data services.)
(CONNECT data services was formerly known as AVEVA Data Hub.)
- Add an AVEVA Historic Data Export Item to the Geo SCADA Expert database for each historian to which you want to export historic data. This database item holds the historian export settings.
- Configure each AVEVA Historic Data Export item (see Configure an AVEVA Historic Data Export Item). If you want to export data to AVEVA Insight (formerly Wonderware Online), you have to set the connection token (see Exporting Historical Data to AVEVA Insight).
- Place the AVEVA Historic Data Export items In Service. (You should only do this once you have configured the other settings on the form, especially the properties in the Tag Names section - see Specify the Properties that are Associated with Tag Names.)
- Configure the Historic details for each point or accumulator for which you want to export historic data (see Defining Historic Details for a Point in the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Core Point Configuration).
Historic data is only exported for points and accumulators for which an AVEVA Historic Data Export item is specified in Export section of the configuration Form. Data that is subsequently stored in the Geo SCADA Expert historian will be exported to the specified historian servers. For more information about both of these requirements, see Define the Historic Export Details in the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Core Point Configuration.
Policy of Continuous Development
To maintain Geo SCADA Expert's position as a leading SCADA solution, we operate a policy of continuous development. Each new version of our product supports additional features and functionality to previous releases. To use the new drivers, features, or functionality involving database items, your system has to be running the latest version of Geo SCADA Expert software. Additionally, if you have upgraded from an earlier version of the product, you have to deactivate any Database Emulation that was activated during the upgrade process. You should only deactivate the Database Emulation once you have successfully completed the upgrade process on all of the servers and clients in your system (see Deactivate Database Emulation after a Successful Upgrade).