Operating Instructions

Chapter 3 – Setting Up the OPC Data Manager
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Table 2. Icon Colors for Redundancy Status.
Color Message Meaning
Grey No redundancy Redundancy has not been enabled.
Yellow Waiting The Data Manager is in the initial “Wait time before detecting”
phase.
Green Alive time ago The sibling last sent a heartbeat time ago. This is less than the
preset failure time.
Red Down for time The sibling last sent a heartbeat time ago. This is greater than or
equal to the preset failure time.
Important Considerations
The redundancy feature for the OPC Data Manager requires that each OPC Data Manager is configured
properly. To ensure correct configuration, follow these guidelines:
• Each OPC Data Manager must run on its own machine. If two instances of OPC Data Manager are
created on the same computer, the second will fail and shut down.
• Configuring both OPC Data Managers as primary or backup will result in an error and both units will
shut down.
• Each OPC Data Manager should be configured so that the heartbeat transmission rate, plus an
adequate network transmission time, is noticeably less than the heartbeat detection time on the other
unit. For example, if the Primary OPC Data Manager sends its heartbeats every five seconds, the
Backup OPC Data Manager may be set to detect the heartbeats every seven seconds.
• Redundancy does not work with workgroups. All OPC Data Managers must be on a fully
implemented network.
• Files to be executed when an OPC Data Manager or sibling error occurs must be an executable batch
file or other program that can be launched within a system shell. If either a relative directory path or
no directory path is specified, the Data Manager directory is used as the default directory.
Both OPC Data Managers must run from the same security context (logon user ID) unless
Windows DCOM permissions are set to enable communications between the two user IDs on
those two hosts.
Entering Redundancy Settings
Through Redundancy settings, you can set up two OPC Data Managers: one as a primary, and the other as
a backup.
To enter Redundancy settings, do the following steps:
1. To open the Main Window, double-click
.
2. On the Manager menu, click Settings.
3. In the Data Manager Settings dialog box, click the Redundancy tab.