Q4380: Redundant servers with redundant Ethernet devices on a single LAN

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Redundant servers with redundant Ethernet devices on a single LAN

Article number: Q4380 Modified on: Thursday, 21 September 2006 Product: CitectHMI/SCADA Versions 5.xx 6.xx

Summary What are the fundamentals of configuring CitectSCADA communications if the project is to utilise redundant servers as well as redundant Ethernet IO devices? Solution Article Q2156 outlines how to configure redundant IO Servers to the same serial IO Device, however many control systems also utilise redundant IO devices and connect to them via Ethernet. For redundant servers connecting to redundant Modnet devices on a single network an illustrative configuration follows, extending on that suggested in article Q2156 and referring to the Driver Help for Modnet devices. This assumes you have two CitectSCADA machines - CitectP which runs IOserverP (primary), and CitectS which runs IOserverS (standby) - and real IO device Device1 (primary) at 192.168.0.11 and real IO device Device2 (standby) at 192.168.0.12. CitectP CitectS

IO Servers: Name: IOserverP IOserverS Boards Server IOserverP IOserverS Name: Board IOserverP_Board1 IOserverS_Board1 Name: Board TCPIP TCPIP Type: Address: 0 0 Ports: Server IOserverP IOserverP IOserverS IOserverS Name: Port Board1_Port1P Board1_Port2P Board1_Port1S Board1_Port2S Name: Board IOserverP_Board1IOserverP_Board1IOserverS_Board1IOserverS_Board1 Name: Port 1 2 1 2 Number: Special -I192.168.0.11 -I192.168.0.12 -I192.168.0.11 -I192.168.0.12 Options: IO Devices: Server IOserverP IOserverP IOserverS IOserverS Name: Name: Device1P Device2P Device1S Device2S Number: 1 1 1 1 Address: Protocol: MODNET MODNET MODNET MODNET

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Q4380: Redundant servers with redundant Ethernet devices on a single LAN

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Port Board1_Port1P Name: Startup Primary Mode:

Board1_Port2P Standby

Board1_Port1S Standby

Board1_Port2S Standby

As you can see, you will need to configure in your project two IO Servers, each with one Board, which is in turn referred to by two Ports and their associated IO Devices. Thus, you have four Ports and four IO Devices configured. Note that the IO Device Address field is left blank for Modnet devices. Note also that only one of these IO Devices has Startup Mode Primary and the other three have Startup Mode 'Standby, however the IO Device Number is the same for all. The IO Device Number is crucial since in the variable tag configuration you specify the device that is associated with that tag by its IO Device Name always select the IO Device which has a Startup Mode of 'Primary', in this case Device1P. CitectSCADA knows that this tag is also associated with the standby devices (Device2P, Device1S and Device2S) because these devices share a common IO Device Number with Device1P. This means that even though the IO Device is actually a pair of real devices, which are in turn configured as four IO Devices in CitectSCADA, you only need to define each variable tag once in your project. The order in which these devices appear in the units.dbf file will determine the order in which the standby devices are used in the event of a failure. It is recommended that the units.dbf file in your project folder is opened with a third party application such as Excel and you ensure the IO Devices appear in this order: Device1P Device2P Device1S Device2S (As always, do not modify the column widths of any dbf file opened in Excel, and always close the file using the Save/Close DBF option in the right-click menu enabled by running the SAVE_DBF.xls macro found in the Bin directory.) After completing this configuration and restoring the project to the two machines, ensure you run the Computer Setup Wizard on each machine and select the correct IO Server in each case.

Keywords: redundancy primary standby

Author: Simon Rooke

mk:@MSITStore:C:\KH\Citect\CitectSCADA7\options\Knowledge%20Base\CtKbase.c... 1/7/2008