System 800xa Information Management Technical Support Reference

SYSTEM VERSION 6.
ABB Ability™ System 800xA

Information Management
Technical Support Reference
SYSTEM VERSION 6.1
ABB Ability™ System 800xA

Information Management
Technical Support Reference
Document Number: 3BUF001147-610

Document Revision: A
Release: February 2019
Trace back information Main Publication:

Tool version: 5.2.025
Build date: 2019-02-05 at 12:06:11
Domain: ABBPA
Workspace, version, checked in: 800xA Main, a210, 2019-02-05
Master: ix-353425-Information Management Technical Support Reference.xml
Recipe: ix-363876-6.1_Information Management Technical Support Reference.rcp
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
About this User Manual

User Manual Conventions ................................................................................. 11
Warning, Caution, Information, and Tip Icons ...................................... 11
Terminology ....................................................................................................... 12
Released User Manuals and Release Notes .................................................... 12
1 First Response Guidelines

1.1 Where to Start ................................................................................................... 14
1.2 Getting Information for Support ......................................................................... 17
1.2.1 Version Information .............................................................................. 18
1.2.2 Windows Event Viewer ....................................................................... 18
1.2.3 Events Related 800xA Services .......................................................... 19
1.2.4 System Status ...................................................................................... 20
1.2.5 Checking What Other Software is Installed ......................................... 22
1.2.6 Services and Processes Related to Information Management ............ 22
1.2.7 PAS Service Account ........................................................................... 27
1.2.8 Diagnostic Log Files ............................................................................ 29
1.2.9 Generating Statistical Files for ABB Processes ................................... 35
1.2.10 Performance Counters ......................................................................... 36
1.3 SQL Queries ..................................................................................................... 37
1.4 Debug Files and Trace Monitors for Display and DataDirect ............................ 40
1.4.1 DataDirect Debug File .......................................................................... 40
1.4.2 Display Services Trace Log and Communication Statistics ................. 41
1.4.3 Trace Monitor ....................................................................................... 43
1.5 Debug Files for Excel and Crystal Report Generation ...................................... 47
1.6 Windows Installer Problems .............................................................................. 50
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1.7 Off-line Engineering .......................................................................................... 52

1.7.1 Engineering System Set-up Considerations ........................................ 54
1.7.2 Production System Set-up Considerations .......................................... 56
1.7.3 Methods for Moving Configurations Between Systems ....................... 56
1.7.4 Considerations When Adding an Information Management Server ..... 57
1.7.5 Considerations for Log Sets ................................................................ 63
1.7.6 Considerations for SoftPoints .............................................................. 65
1.7.7 Considerations for Scheduling Applications ........................................ 65
1.7.8 Considerations for Open Data Access ................................................. 66
1.7.9 Considerations for Report and Message Logs and Archive Objects .... 66
1.7.10 Changing Log and Log Template Configurations ................................. 66
1.7.11 Changes Not Propagated from Log Template to Actual Log ............... 67
2 History
2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 69
2.2 Checking Upstream for History Problems ......................................................... 70
2.3 What To Look For When Logs Do Not Collect Data ......................................... 70
2.3.1 Data Not Available in Basic History Trend Logs .................................. 70
2.3.2 Data Available in Basic History Trend Logs But Not IM History Logs ... 71
2.4 Logs Not Activating ........................................................................................... 73
2.5 Cannot Start History .......................................................................................... 73
2.6 Cannot Create Oracle Database Instance ........................................................ 74
2.7 Cannot Use History Configuration Displays ...................................................... 74
2.8 Insufficient Oracle Tablespace .......................................................................... 75
2.8.1 Extending Tablespace .......................................................................... 76
2.9 Insufficient Temp Tablespace and Rollback Segments ..................................... 77
2.10 Cannot Access History Database via SQL ........................................................ 78
2.11 Entry Tables and Error Reports for Numeric Logs ............................................ 79
2.12 Cannot View DataDirect Reports Stored In Report Log .................................... 81
2.13 Deleting Property Logs Via Bulk Configuration Tool is Slow ............................. 81
2.14 History Service Provider Does Not Start ........................................................... 82
2.15 Message Log API Error ..................................................................................... 82
2.16 Debugging Scheduled Archive Problems .......................................................... 84
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2.17 Debugging Event Collection Applications ......................................................... 87

2.18 Backfill Message Logs on Restore .................................................................... 91
2.19 Oracle Fails to Start .......................................................................................... 91
2.20 History Application Building Tips ....................................................................... 92
2.21 Oracle Users ..................................................................................................... 93
2.22 Planning Guidelines for Hard Disk Capacity ..................................................... 94
2.23 Running hsDBMaint Remotely .......................................................................... 95
2.24 Error Messages Related to Launch Permissions .............................................. 95
2.25 Looking Up Object_IDs for Numeric Logs ......................................................... 96
2.26 Retrieving IM Numeric Log Data on 800xA Plant Explorer and Workplace Client
Nodes ................................................................................................................ 97
2.27 hsDBMaint -checkDB Tool Indicates All Logs Need Deleted ............................ 98
2.28 Bad Logs or Bad Log References Cause Archives to Fail ................................ 98
2.29 Oracle TRC Files Fill C Drive ............................................................................ 98
2.30 Transfer of Batch Procedure Function Chart (PFC) Data to Information
Management ..................................................................................................... 98
2.31 Troubleshooting the Event Log Collector .......................................................... 100
2.32 Deleting Objects from IM without Corresponding Object in Aspect System ..... 102
2.33 Miscellaneous Archival Operation Information .................................................. 102
2.34 What is Read Raw Error and When is it Bad? .................................................. 106
2.35 Procedure for Finding and Removing Serious IM Read Raw Events ............... 108
2.36 Incorrect network binding in Windows 2012R2 ................................................. 117
3 SoftPoints, Calculations, and Open Data Access

3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 119
3.2 SoftPoint Setup and Configuration .................................................................... 120
3.3 Performance Statistics for Calculations ............................................................ 120
3.4 Difficulty Modifying SoftPoint Values ................................................................. 120
3.5 Copying Calculations to Object Instances .........................................................120
3.6 Generating Events ............................................................................................ 121
3.7 Deleting Calculations ........................................................................................ 121
3.8 Cannot View Calculations in the Calculation Status Viewer ............................. 121
3.9 Enabling Instantiated Calculations .................................................................... 121
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3.10 Calculations Update Status .............................................................................. 122

3.11 General Considerations .................................................................................... 122
3.12 Logging Status Information for Open Data Access .......................................... 122
3.13 Guidelines for Native Language Support .......................................................... 123
3.14 Calculation Registry Keys ................................................................................ 123
4 Data Access Applications

4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 125
4.2 General Troubleshooting Tips ........................................................................... 126
4.3 Exporting Problems ........................................................................................... 128
4.4 Crystal Reports and ODBC ............................................................................... 128
4.5 Fixing Large Reports (Long Execution Time) ....................................................129
4.6 DataDirect Add-in Not Installed for 800xA Service Account ............................. 129
4.7 DataServerLogin ............................................................................................... 129
4.8 DataDirect Functions Fail to Return Data ......................................................... 130
4.9 Date Formatting Problems in DataDirect .......................................................... 130
4.10 DataDirect Functions .........................................................................................130
4.11 EX Automation Error ......................................................................................... 130
4.12 Reading DataDirect (Excel) Reports from a FileViewer Aspect ........................ 131
4.13 Scheduler Service Group .................................................................................. 131
4.14 Restored Logs Not Available .............................................................................132
4.15 Launch Permissions .......................................................................................... 132
4.16 Excel DCOM Launch Permissions .................................................................... 134
4.17 Cannot Find XLQuery Error .............................................................................. 135
4.18 History Logs Not Available Through Network-wide EH_NET ............................135
4.19 Saving and Printing Desktop Trends .................................................................135
4.20 Batch Reports ................................................................................................... 136
4.21 Problems Running Crystal Reports Batch Template ......................................... 136
4.22 Opening Desktop Tools with ActiveX Controls on Windows XP ...................... 136
4.23 Desktop Trends ActiveX Components Not Registered During Upgrade ........... 138
4.24 Desktop Tools Fail to Connect to the Server ..................................................... 139
4.25 User Tag Management ...................................................................................... 140
4.26 Using MS Query within Excel Based Reports ................................................... 141
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4.27 Max Files per File Type, Per Directory .............................................................. 141
4.28 ODA Numericlog Queries using Access Name (Seamless) may Fail ............... 141
4.29 Entering Time Ranges in ODA Numericlog Queries from SQL or ODBC
Connections ...................................................................................................... 142
4.30 Debugging Commands Sent to ODA ................................................................ 143
4.31 Placing a Calculate Now Function on an Excel Spreadsheet ........................... 145
5 Installation Tips
5.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 147
5.2 Pre-Installation .................................................................................................. 147
5.2.1 Domain Setup ...................................................................................... 147
5.2.2 Time Synchronization and Network Connections ................................ 147
5.2.3 Disk Drives ...........................................................................................147
5.2.4 Virus Scanning Software ......................................................................148
5.2.5 Installing User ...................................................................................... 148
5.2.6 Reboots ................................................................................................148
5.2.7 Microsoft Windows ...............................................................................148
5.2.8 ASP.NET .............................................................................................. 148
5.2.9 Microsoft Excel and ODA ..................................................................... 149
5.2.10 Licensing Software ...............................................................................150
5.2.11 Internet Explorer Setup ........................................................................ 150
5.2.12 Checking the Information Management Installation .............................150
5.3 Set Up (Post Installation) .................................................................................. 151
5.3.1 Backups ............................................................................................... 151
5.3.2 Guidelines for Configuring the History Database Instance .................. 151
6 Sales & Pricing Issues

6.1 Adding Scheduling, Calculations, SoftPoints, and Excel Data Access
(DataDirect) ....................................................................................................... 155
6.2 Price Books ....................................................................................................... 155
6.3 What do I need to buy? ..................................................................................... 155
6.3.1 Base Software ......................................................................................155
6.3.2 Number of logs .....................................................................................156
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6.3.3 Options .................................................................................................156

6.3.4 License Keys ........................................................................................156
Revision History ..................................................................................................... 159
Index .......................................................................................................................... 161
3BUF001147-610 A 10
User Manual Conventions
The System 800xA Safety AC 800M High Integrity Safety Manual (3BNP004865*)
must be read completely by users of 800xA High Integrity. The recommendations
and requirements found in the safety manual must be considered and implemented
during all phases of the life cycle.
Any security measures described in this user manual, for example, for user access,
password security, network security, firewalls, virus protection, and so on, represent
possible steps that a user of an 800xA System may want to consider based on a risk
assessment for a particular application and installation. This risk assessment, as well
as the proper implementation, configuration, installation, operation, administration,
and maintenance of all relevant security related equipment, software, and procedures,
are the responsibility of the user of the system.
User Manual Conventions

Microsoft Windows conventions as defined in the Microsoft Manual of Style are normally
used for the standard presentation of material when entering text, key sequences,
prompts, messages, menu items, screen elements, and so on.
Warning, Caution, Information, and Tip Icons

This user manual includes Warning, Caution, and Information where appropriate to
point out safety related or other important information. It also includes Tip to point out
useful hints to the reader. The corresponding symbols should be interpreted as follows:
Electrical warning icon indicates the presence of a hazard that could result in electrical
shock.
Warning icon indicates the presence of a hazard that could result in personal injury.
Caution icon indicates important information or warning related to the concept

discussed in the text. It might indicate the presence of a hazard that could result in
corruption of software or damage to equipment/property.
3BUF001147-610 A 11
Terminology
Information icon alerts the reader to pertinent facts and conditions.
Tip icon indicates advice on, for example, how to design your project or how to use
a certain function.
Although Warning hazards are related to personal injury, and Caution hazards are
associated with equipment or property damage, it should be understood that operation
of damaged equipment could, under certain operational conditions, result in degraded
process performance leading to personal injury or death. Therefore, fully comply with
all Warning and Caution notices.
Terminology
A complete and comprehensive list of terms is included in System 800xA Terminology
and Acronyms (3BSE089190*). The listing includes terms and definitions that apply to
the 800xA System where the usage is different from commonly accepted industry standard
definitions.
Released User Manuals and Release Notes

A complete list of all User Manuals and Release Notes applicable to System 800xA is
provided in System 800xA Released User Documents (3BUA000263*).
System 800xA Released User Documents (3BUA000263*) is updated each time a
document is updated or a new document is released.
It is in pdf format and is provided in the following ways:
• Included on the documentation media provided with the system and published to
ABB Library and myABB/My Control System portal when released as part of a major
or minor release or System Revision.
• Published to ABB Library and myABB/My Control System portal when a User Manual
or Release Note is updated in between any of the release cycles listed in the first
bullet.
3BUF001147-610 A 12
Some procedures in this User Manual require you to edit the Windows Registry on
the Information Management server. Making a mistake in the registry may render the
computer inoperable. It is recommended that you make a backup of the computer
using an image backup application before you begin such a procedure. Also, take
care to follow the instructions closely, and change only the registry keys indicated in
the procedure.
This User Manual provides guidelines and reference information for diagnosing problems
and responding to inquiries related to Information Management software for the 800xA
System.
This User Manual is organized into the following sections:
• Section 1 First Response Guidelines - provides guidelines and tips for responding
quickly to client inquiries and diagnosing reported problems.
• Section 2 History
• Section 3 SoftPoints, Calculations, and Open Data Access
• Section 4 Data Access Applications - includes DataDirect, Desktop Trends, Display
Services, Reports, and Application Scheduler.
• Section 5 Installation Tips
• Section 6 Sales & Pricing Issues
• Appendix A, Miscellaneous Archival Operation Information - contains miscellaneous
information on archival operation.
This User Manual is intended for technical support and application engineers who are
responsible for configuring and maintaining these applications. This User Manual is not
the sole source of instruction for this functionality. It is recommended that you attend the
applicable training courses offered by ABB.
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1.1 Where to Start
1.1 Where to Start

This section describes the critical first steps when responding to client inquiries and
reported problems. Table 1.1 provides a list of items that you can check first. This may
save you from having to do a more comprehensive and time-consuming analysis.
If this quick check list does not solve your problem, Getting Information for Support on
page 17 describes the type of information that will help ABB technical support personnel
diagnose and solve problems related to Information Management software, and provides
guidelines on how to gather this information.
Table 1.1: Where to Start

Area Issue Where To Go
Operating For general Oracle problems, check the DNS See Oracle Fails to Start on page 91.
System & Server.
Third-party
Software
800xA Make sure all required software and extensions See Checking What Other Software is
System are loaded to support implemented system Installed on page 22.
functionality, particularly connectivity and
controllers. Not having the required software on
all nodes of your system may lead to such
problems as not being able to access certain
objects.
3BUF001147-610 A 14
1.1 Where to Start

(Continued)
History Cannot access history data. See What To Look For When Logs Do
Not Collect Data on page 70.
Check the PAS Service Account. If this account See PAS Service Account on page 27.
is not configured correctly, it may cause many
problems, including failure to start history.
Insufficient Oracle tablespaces may cause the See Insufficient Oracle Tablespace on
following problems: page 75 and Insufficient Temp
• can’t create OPC message log. Tablespace and Rollback Segments
on page 77.
• can’t restore database.
• can’t consolidate OPC or PDL messages or
PDL data.
History fails to start. See Cannot Start History on page 73.
Cannot create history database. See Cannot Create Oracle Database
Instance on page 74.
When working with history, make sure the user See Cannot Access History Database
(currently logged in as) belongs to the via SQL on page 78.
HistoryAdmin and ORA_DBA groups.
Make sure ORACLE_SID is included as part of
the local user’s environment settings.
Cannot access Information Manager history See Cannot Use History Configuration
aspects like the log status page or the tabs in the Displays on page 74.
template.
Desktop Cannot log in to DataDirect (server not found error Use the ADSS Config tool in the
Tools message). Windows Control Panel to check
whether or not COM data provider is
started, also check ABB Data Service
Supervision in the Windows Services
utility.
Cannot retrieve messages or PDL data. Use the ADSS Config tool in the
Windows Control Panel to check the
ADO data provider.
Some icons not available in DataDirect. Check the View tab in the Options
dialog.
3BUF001147-610 A 15
1.1 Where to Start

(Continued)
Open Data ODA on client nodes cannot access ODA tables Check whether or not the ODA client
Access on server. is installed, and check that the
configuration references the server’s
IP address.
Reports When Excel (DataDirect) reports don’t run: See:
• Make sure the DataDirect add-ins are added • DataDirect Add-in Not Installed for
for the 800xAService Account 800xA Service Account on page
• Check the DataServerLogin parameter 129
When reports take too long to complete, or seem • DataServerLogin on page 129
to hang, check the maximum time and timeout • Fixing Large Reports (Long
settings on the report action. Execution Time) on page 129
Install/ Following upgrade or re-installation of Information See Windows Installer Problems on
Upgrade Management software, the Windows Installer is page 50.
launched when you attempt to use an application.
The installer attempts to repair an Information
Management software installation and does not
allow any other applications to run.
3BUF001147-610 A 16
1.2 Getting Information for Support

This section describes the type of information that will help ABB technical support
personnel diagnose and solve problems related to Information Management software,
and provides guidelines on how to gather this information.
Table 1.2: Information for Diagnosing Problems

What information to gather How to gather
Version of software including Version Information on page 18
patches
Circumstances under which the Various sources, including:
problem occurs • Windows Event Viewer on page 18
Whether it is spurious or • Events Related 800xA Services on page 19
consistent
• System Status on page 20
The components and/or
• Generating Statistical Files for ABB Processes on page 35
applications that are affected
• Performance Counters on page 36
• SQL Queries on page 37
• Debug Files and Trace Monitors for Display and DataDirect on
page 40
• Debug Files for Excel and Crystal Report Generation on page
47
Log files Diagnostic Log Files on page 29
Windows and 800xA services, • Services and Processes Related to Information Management
including PAS Service Account on page 22
• PAS Service Account on page 27
Oracle tablespace • Insufficient Oracle Tablespace on page 75
• Insufficient Temp Tablespace and Rollback Segments on page
77
Screen shots if possible Windows Print Screen or equivalent utility
Installed software and system Checking What Other Software is Installed on page 22
extensions.
3BUF001147-610 A 17
1.2.1 Version Information

Get the version information for your Information Management installation from the Version
Information tool, Figure 1.1. From the Windows task bar, choose:
Start>Programs>ABBIndustrial IT 800xA> Information Mgmt> IM Version Info
Figure 1.1: Information Management Version Information
1.2.2 Windows Event Viewer

Check the application log of the Windows event viewer for messages related to Information
Management services or 800xA users. Figure 1.2. You may have to save the log to a
file and send it to the supportline. Check Microsoft documentation for the procedure to
save to a file.
3BUF001147-610 A 18
Figure 1.2: Example, Windows Event Viewer Application Log
1.2.3 Events Related 800xA Services

Events related to 800xA services are collected by an alarm/event list aspect on the
Services object in the Service structure, Figure 1.3. You may create a more refined list
by adding an aspect to a specific service, for example Industrial IT Archive Service, or
to a specific Service Group or Service Provider object. Set the Configuration Name to
Services: Service Event List Configuration and set the filter for Object and
descendents.
Figure 1.3: Alarm/Events List Aspect for 800xA Services
3BUF001147-610 A 19
1.2.4 System Status

Check the System Status Viewers in the Plant Explorer on the Node Administration and
Service structures, Figure 1.4. Add Alarm and Event Aspects at the Node and Service
Group level for system messages (Events Related 800xA Services on page 19).
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Figure 1.4: Status Viewer Example
3BUF001147-610 A 21
1.2.5 Checking What Other Software is Installed

The About Industrial IT icon on the Plant Explorer tool bar displays a window that lists
the 800xA software products installed on the system, Figure 1.5. Not having the required
software on all nodes of your system may lead to such problems as not being able to
access certain objects. For example, if the AC800 Connect product is not installed on
the Information Management server, you will not have access to AC800 objects on that
node. If Engineering Studio is installed in the system, the engineering studio client must
be installed on the Information Management server.
Figure 1.5: About Industrial IT
1.2.6 Services and Processes Related to Information Management

This section describes Windows and 800xA system services related to Information
Management. These services are a good starting point when investigating problems with
Information Management functionality:
• Windows Services on page 22 - accessible in Windows Services utility.
• 800xA Service Groups and Service Providers on page 24 - accessible via Plant
Explorer Service structure.
• Processes on page 26 - accessible via Windows Task Manager.
Windows Services
Access to the Windows services is via the Services utility under Administrative Tools in
the Windows Control Panel, Figure 1.6. Check whether the service is running, and verify
the start-up mode and log-in are set correctly, Table 1.3.
3BUF001147-610 A 22
Table 1.3: Windows Services

Start-up Mode and
Service Description
Log-in
ABB Process Starts all non-AFW processes including Display Data AUTOMATIC - starts with
Administration Server, OMF, and parts of history. Processes under Windows start-up
control of ABB Process Administration Service (PAS) Runs as 800xA service
may be started and stopped individually or as a group
by the PAS dialog.
ABB Data Supports data access for the Information Management MANUAL - is started by
Supervision Desktop Tools: Desktop Trends, Display Services, and PAS
DataDirect. Runs as 800xAService
History Starts Information Management History. MANUAL - is started by
Services PAS
Runs as 800xAService
IIS Admin Required for viewing reports stored in Information AUTOMATIC - starts with
Management report logs. Windows start-up
Runs as local system
Message Required for alarm/event and Production Data Log AUTOMATIC - starts with
Queuing storage. Windows start-up
NOTE: It is NOT required for system version 4.1 and Runs as local system
later.
OMF/OMO Used by History internally and for numeric log MANUAL - is started by
consolidation. PAS
Runs as 800xA service
account
ODA services ABB_ODA Manual [ started by PAS ] -
ABB_ODA_AGENT runs as 800xaService
account
Automatic - Runs as local
system
Oracle OracleServiceADVA AUTOMATIC - start with
Services OracleOraDB12c_ADVA64TNSListener Windows start-up
OracleVssWriterADVA Run as local system
3BUF001147-610 A 23
Figure 1.6: Windows Services
800xA Service Groups and Service Providers

The following Information Management functions are managed by service providers in
the 800xA system:
• Calculations
• Archive - Industrial IT Archive (under PAS supervision)
• History - Inform IT History (under PAS supervision)
• Open Data Access
• SoftPoint Server
The Service Provider represents the service running on a specific node. Service Providers
are located under their respective service categories in the Service structure, Figure 1.7.
The history and archive services are under the control of PAS and will be stopped and
started when PAS processes are stopped and started. In SV6.1, the Open Data Access
service is managed by PAS.
All services related to Information Management except the SoftPoint Server are
automatically created by the Process Administration Service after the PAS software has
been configured and the node has been rebooted.
Most Information Management components DO NOT support redundancy. For those
components, no service group should have more than one service provider. Two
exceptions are SoftPoint as of 800xA 6.1 and Calculations as of 800xA 6.1.
3BUF001147-610 A 24
Creating SoftPoint Service Providers

The SoftPoint Service Group/Service Provider must be manually created as part of the
SoftPoint configuration. Refer to the section on SoftPoints in System 800xA Post
Installation (3BUA000156*).
Calculation and Scheduler Services on Non-Information Management Server Nodes

Calculations and Application Scheduler may also be installed and run on other types of
server nodes in the 800xA system (not Information Management servers). In this case,
the service group/service provider objects for those services must be created manually
for each of those non-Information Management servers.
Figure 1.7: Service Structure
3BUF001147-610 A 25
Processes
Processes related to Information Management are listed in Table 1.4 and are accessible
via the Windows Task Manager, Figure 1.8.
Table 1.4: Processes

Service Related Processes
Display Services ADSdpADO ADSdpOPC
ADSdpDCS ADSdpOPDHDA
ADSdpDDR ADSS (Startup program for the rest of the
ADSdpLOG programs)
ADSspCOM
History EHOPAEServer hsHistoryService
hsAdmin hsHistSvcPASAdmin
hsAchiveService hsHistoryIcon
hsCollection hsProfileServer
hsEventLogCollector hsRetrieval
hsHDAServer hsServer
hsLogman hsStorage
hsMsgServer hsSuperIPC (Startup program)
hsPDLStorage msgApiSrv
PDLAPISRV
Supporting Services omfCleanup omoNameBroker
omfNameProc omoNodeBroker
omfPM omoService
omfService omoStorageDomain
omfTimer omoTypeDirectory
Calculation Service CalculationService
Open Data Access oaagent.exe
oasoa.exe
oastrtr.exe
Scheduler AfwScheduler
PAS (overall startup) PAS_Service
3BUF001147-610 A 26
Figure 1.8: Windows Task Manager
1.2.7 PAS Service Account

The PAS service account is configured via the Information Management Configuration
wizard as a post installation step (or during Information Management software installation
for 800xA 5.0 and higher). This establishes the user account under which most Information
Management services run including History and Display Services. The PAS service
account must be configured to match the ABB Service Manager (core services) account.
You can check this quickly via the Windows Services Manager. Check the Log On As
settings for the ABB ServiceManager, ABB Data Service Supervision, and History Service,
Figure 1.9. All three services should have the same log on setting.
Also, this user must be represented in the User structure under the Administrators User
Group, Figure 1.10.
3BUF001147-610 A 27
If you need to change the PAS Service account, be sure to use the PAS Password
Administration tool (Start>Administrative Tools>PAS>Password Administration). The
tool under the History menu only sets the History account, it does not set the other
services.
Figure 1.9: Verifying PAS Service Accounts
Figure 1.10: Checking the Service Account in the User Structure
3BUF001147-610 A 28
1.2.8 Diagnostic Log Files

This topic covers the following:
• Log Files for Facilitating Troubleshooting.
• Interpreting the Contents of %HS_LOG%
• Useful Log Files In %HS_LOG%
Log Files for Facilitating Troubleshooting

Some Information Management applications generate log files to facilitate troubleshooting,
Table 1.5.
Table 1.5: Log Files

Application Location of Log Files
Information Enter %HS_LOG% in the Windows Explorer, Figure 1.11. This points to
Management History C:\ProgramData\ABB\IM\History\log on the system drive (typically C:). An
example log file is shown in Figure 1.12.
Application Scheduler Go to C:\ProgramData\ABB\IM\Scheduler
Process Administration Go to C:\ProgramData\ABB\PAS\Pas0.log
Service
Open Data Access The ODA Server logging function records status information for each query
against the Numericlog table.
Logging is disabled by default. It is recommended that you leave logging
disabled unless you are having problems and need to provide ABB support
with a record of query activity. To enable logging, see the section on ODA in
System 800xA Information Management Configuration (3BUF001092*).
Calculations The Calculation server outputs diagnostic debugging messages to a series
of files named CalcsDebug*.log, located in the
C:\ProgramData\ABB\IM\Calculations.
3BUF001147-610 A 29
Table 1.5: Log Files

(Continued)
Application Location of Log Files
Installation C:\ProgramData\ABB\IM\Install\
Oracle Diagnostic Logs advaALRT.LOG in C:\oracle\diag\rdbms\adva\adva\trace\alert_adva.log
Find problems by searching for words like ERROR or ORA- (Be sure to
include the hyphen after the A in ORA-. Otherwise, the search will stop at
the word oracle which may occur thousands of times.)
ORA-1652: unable to extend temp segment by 128 in tablespace TEMP
ORA-000060: Deadlock detected. More info in file
C:\ORACLE\\admin\ADVA\udump\ORA04016.TRC.
This log may be lengthy. If it is difficult to read with notepad, try wordpad or
Microsoft Word. If this file gets too big (over years), stop PAS, stop Oracle,
then delete the file.
• Upon a reboot the current log is saved as the log.old log and a new log is started.
• In some cases you may need to zip up the complete contents of the log folder
and send it to a supportline center.
3BUF001147-610 A 30
Figure 1.11: Accessing History Log Files
3BUF001147-610 A 31
Figure 1.12: Example Log File
3BUF001147-610 A 32
Interpreting the Contents of %HS_LOG%

The IM History function will keep up to four log files for each process. The first log file is
always present. If the first file reaches approximately 655 KB, a new log file is created.
This continues until four log files exist for the process. To avoid runaway disk usage,
when the fourth file becomes full, the oldest of 1, 2, or 3 files is initialized and reused.
The naming convention for the files in %HS_LOG% includes both the process name and
a sequential file number (zero based). The following is an example of file names that
would be found for the hsCollection.exe process:
• hsCollection0.log
If hsCollection is generating a lot of prints, the files 1-3 are wrapped through as mentioned
earlier. The zero log file is always maintained to show the initialization process and when
a problem starts. Frequently, the 1-3 logs files show more of what is at the end of the
zero log file. However, this is not always true.
On the restart of an IM, all the zero log files are renamed to name.old. For
hsCollection.exe, after the IM is restarted, the file hsCollection0.log.old is created. The
.old files are helpful if a customer had a problem and did a subsequent restart in an
attempt to solve it. Some useful information still may be present in the .old file after the
restart.
The 1-3 files are not renamed to .old after a restart. Care must be taken to see the latest
modified dates when looking at the non-zero files to ensure that the higher numbered
files are really more current then the lower numbered files. As an example, the
hsCollection files in the previous example could have hsCollection0.log and
hsCollection1.log having data from the last few days while hsCollection2.log and
hsCollection3.log might have data from a year ago.
3BUF001147-610 A 33
Useful Log Files In %HS_LOG%

There are a lot of files in the %HS_LOG% directory. Some of these are used more
frequently than the others. The most accessed files are as follows:
• hsStartStop.log: This file is created when the IM is first started after installation. As
the file name suggests, the file records every start and stop command given to the
IM. Also, the hsStartStop.log file is different from other log files in %HS_LOG% in
that there is only ever one of them and a restart does not alter the contents.
Therefore, this file is frequently one of the first to look at to answer questions like
the following:
– How long an IM has been in operation?
– When did a problem first start happening?
– What process has been failing?
• hsSuperIPCn.log: The hsSuperIPC.exe process is responsible for the startup,
supervision, and shutdown of the IM History function. Other then
hsHistoryService.exe in 800xA 5.n and after, any process with a name that starts
with hs is under the control of this process. The hsSuperIPC.exe process is also
responsible for populating the Node Administration Structure with the default
objects/aspects for an IM. The hsSuperIPClog file should be reviewed when the IM
is either failing to start, or starts but then subsequently fails and restarts.
• hsCollectionn.log: The hsCollection.exe process is responsible for the collection,
using the OPC/HDA capability of the 800xA base system, of numeric log data from
Basic History on the Connectivity Servers for storage on the IM. This process is the
source of the read raw error that is frequently generated on an IM. The log file should
be reviewed any time there is an IM log that is not collecting, or a Process Portal
event from the IM that mentions OPC/HDA.
• hsEventLogCollectorn.log: The hsEventLogCollector.exe process is responsible for
the collection, using the OPC/AE capability of the 800xA base system, of events
from the Event Storage service on the Aspect Server for storage on the IM. The
process is also responsible for making sure the events make it into the correct
destination on the IM. Events collected by this process can end up in three places:
IMMSGLOG, PDLMSGLOG, or the PDL tables of an IM. This log file should be
reviewed any time a customer reports that there are either no events in, or events
missing from the IMMSGLOG or the PDLMSGLOG. The log file should also be
reviewed if data is not present or is missing from PDL.
3BUF001147-610 A 34
• hsHDAServern.log: The hsHDAServer.exe process is responsible for the processing

of OPC/HDA requests for numeric log data on the IM. The requests can come from
the Plant Explorer through the Trend aspect or Status tab of the Log Configuration
aspect, DataDirect and Desktop Trends, or ODA queries against NumericLog. This
log file should be reviewed any time a customer reports that they are having problems
retrieving numeric log data from the IM.
• hsHistoryServicen.log: The hsHistoryService.exe process is responsible for the
synchronization of the history configuration contained in the Aspect System with
that stored in Oracle on the IM. The process is implemented as an 800xA Service
and is the only IM history process that is not under the control of the hsSuperIPC
process. This log file should be reviewed any time a customer reports that logs have
not been created or are missing from the IM.
• ArchiveServicen.log: The ArchiveService.exe process is responsible for all activities
related to Archive Devices on an IM. This includes Archive Volume maintenance,
writing of data to Archive Volumes, Archive Volume Publishing, and reading from
Archive Volumes. This log file should be reviewed any time a customer reports a
problem with archival.
• alert_adva.log: The alter_adva.log in
C:\oracle\diag\rdbms\adva\adva\trace\alert_adva.log is written to by Oracle, not an
IM history process. It is included here because the Oracle Instance is so closely
linked to the IM history function. This log file is never truncated so it serves as a
useful history of Oracle on the IM. From the creation of the instance to any problems
with tablespace allocation, it is all in this file. This log file should be reviewed if the
IM is failing to start or messages are no longer being stored in the IMMSGLOG, or
PDL data is no longer current. An ORA-1122 signalled during: alter database open...
as the last line of the file indicates the files that make up of the Oracle Instance have
been corrupted. This can happen as the result of a hardware failure but is more
frequently associated with a restore of a partial ghost image. A partial ghost image
is one where the IM has an Oracle Instance that spans multiple volumes and only
one of the volumes was restored. In this situation, the internal sequence number
between the files of the Oracle Instance will not match and the ORA-1122 error is
generated.
1.2.9 Generating Statistical Files for ABB Processes

You can generate statistical (stats) files for history processes using the rtstest command.
These files provide important debugging information. The general syntax for producing
a stats file for a process is: rtstest -p process number
For example, for the collection process, enter: rtstest -p 3 The process number is an
integer as indicated in Table 1.6. rtstest -l provides a complete list.
3BUF001147-610 A 35
Table 1.6: Processes and Process Numbers

Process Number File Name Prefix
log manager 1 l
server 2 hs
collection 3 c
storage 5 st
hda server 17 hda
archive 28 ha
By default, the stats files are stored in the folder specified by the %HS_TMP%
environment variable (defaults to C:\ProgramData\ABB\IM\History\tmp). The file names
consist of a process-specific prefix as indicated in Table 1.6, a sequence number, and
file extension .stats, for example: c1.stats, c2.stats.
For collection, search for the heading: SOURCE ENTRIES WITH DIFFICULTY (Figure
1.13). This indicates history software cannot find these tags.
Figure 1.13: Stats File Example
1.2.10 Performance Counters

For calculations on performance statistics, see Performance Statistics for Calculations
on page 120.
3BUF001147-610 A 36
1.3 SQL Queries
1.3 SQL Queries

The SQL queries described in this section may be used to troubleshoot history
applications. Use the Windows command prompt and log in with SQLPLUS. From the
800xa Install or 800xa Service accounts, use SQLPLUS.@localhost to login to oracle.
An example is shown in Figure 1.14.
If you cannot log in to SQLPlus, see Cannot Access History Database via SQL on
page 78.
Figure 1.14: Example SQL Query
In this example, the first query is used to get the message IDs for all message logs on
this node. The second query gives you the number of messages in the log whose ID is
specified (in this case 213).
These and other queries are described in Table 1.7.
3BUF001147-610 A 37
1.3 SQL Queries
Table 1.7: SQL Queries

Query Description
select count(*) from ops$ocshis.object_table where Get number of Information Management History
object_type = 1; log configurations that exist in Oracle. This may
be useful if you suspect that log configurations
that exist in the aspect system are not being
created in Oracle.
select * from ops$ocshis.hda_table where This will provide the full text and guid names of
log_id=<nnnnn>; the PPA Item ID for the IM numeric log specified
by <nnnnn>.
select object_id, object_name from Get the ID for all message logs on the node. IDs
ops$ocshis.object_table where object_type = 2; are used in other queries to identify the message
log.
select count(*) from ops$ocshis.msgnnnn Get the number of messages stored in the
nnnn = message log ID specified log. This is useful when you are unable
to retrieve message from a data access
application such as the DataDirect message Log
dialog, and you want to determine whether the
problem is with the message log or the data
access application.
select to_char(sysdate,'DD-MON-YYYY HH:MI:SS') Get the message log size
time, m.idx, c.* from ops$ocshis.msgcount&1 c, Parameter 1 = log id
ops$ocshis.msg&1 m where m.idx = (select
max(idx) from ops$ocshis.msg&1)
select idx, to_char(ops$ocshis.localtime, Get last X messages stored
'dd-mon-yyyy hh24:mi:ss') || '.' || Parameter 1 = log id, Parameter 2 = number of
lpad(time_nano/10000,3,'0') localtime, message messages
from msg&1
where utc > (select max(utc)-&2 from
ops$ocshis.msg&1) order by utc, time_nano
select m.idx, rpad(a.str_value, 120) || Get vendor attributes for last x messages stored
rpad(a.nbr_value, 15) || rpad(to_char(a.date_value, Parameter 1 = log id, Parameter 2 = # of
'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS'), 30) Attribute_Value messages
from ops$ocshis.msg&1 m, msgattrs&1 a where
m.idx > (select max(idx)-&2 from
ops$ocshis.msg&1) and m.idx = a.idx
3BUF001147-610 A 38
1.3 SQL Queries
Table 1.7: SQL Queries

(Continued)
Query Description
select m.idx, to_char(m.localtime, 'mm-dd Get last X messages and the associated vendor
hh24:mi:ss') || '.' || lpad(m.time_nano/10000,3,'0') attributes with attribute names
localtime, Parameter 1 = log id, Parameter 2 = # messages
v.category_name,
v.attr_name,
rpad(a.str_value, 71) ||
rpad(a.nbr_value, 15) ||
rpad(to_char(a.date_value,
'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS'), 30)
Attribute_Value
from ops$ocshis.msg&1 m, msgattrs&1 a,
msgvendors v
where m.idx > (select max(idx)-&2 from
ops$ocshis.msg&1) and m.idx = a.idx and v.attr_id
= a.attr_id
order by a.attr_id
select * from ops$ocshis.msgvendors order by Get category definitions of vendors attributes
vendor_name,category_name,glb_category,
category,seq_nbr
select localtime as Time, time_nano/10000 as msec, Example query against the Information
source as Source, Management Message Log
SUBSTR(MSGATTRVAL('ObjDescription',idx),1,250)
as Description,
SUBSTR(MSGATTRVAL('Area',idx),1,250) as Area,
condition, sub_cond,
SUBSTR(MSGATTRVAL('State',idx),1,250) as State
from IMMSGLOG_IP
order by localtime
select name,variablevalue,occurrence,taskid from Gets batch variables directly from the lower level
ops$ocshis.task_variables_occurrences tables without having to use the views
where taskid in (select taskid from task connect by
parentid = prior taskid start with taskid =
(select taskid from ops$ocshis.task where name =
'P050006'))
3BUF001147-610 A 39
1.4 Debug Files and Trace Monitors for Display and DataDirect
1.4 Debug Files and Trace Monitors for Display and

DataDirect
Display Services and DataDirect provide several tools for troubleshooting data access
applications:
• DataDirect Debug File on page 40
• Display Services Trace Log and Communication Statistics on page 41
• Trace Monitor on page 43
1.4.1 DataDirect Debug File

This function is available via the Setup tab on the DataDirect Options dialog. When this
option is selected DataDirect writes status information to a text file that you can use for
troubleshooting. The option window for Inform IT is shown below.
Figure 1.15: Debug Option window for Inform IT
3BUF001147-610 A 40
The information will be stored in debug.txt. file and the file is located in
C:\Users\800xa\AppData\Roaming\ABB\DataDirect\tmp
Where 800xa is the current user.
For the report running on the Scheduler the debug information will be stored in the
Service account file location and not in login account. So to enable the debug option
for Schedule reports, user need to enable the options in Service account.
1.4.2 Display Services Trace Log and Communication Statistics

The Trace log displays system error messages and user defined messages with
timestamps, Figure 1.16. Messages are sent to the trace log via the trace script. To open
the trace window, choose Help > Diagnostics >Trace Log on the Display Client menu
bar.
Figure 1.16: Example Trace Log
Help > Diagnostics >Communication Statistics opens the Communication Statistics

dialog, Figure 1.17.
3BUF001147-610 A 41
Figure 1.17: Communication Statistics
For further information refer to the applicable sections in System 800xA Information
Management Display Services (3BUF001093*).
3BUF001147-610 A 42
1.4.3 Trace Monitor

The Display Services Trace Monitor lets you track problems related to the data providers.
To run Trace Monitor:
1. Launch the Run dialog (Windows key-R), enter "C:\Program Files (x86)\ABB
Industrial IT\Inform IT\Display Services\Server\Utils\ABBMon" and press OK.
This displays the Select Process dialog.
3BUF001147-610 A 43
2. Use this dialog to open the Trace Monitor. As an option, you can also use this dialog
to send the trace output to a log file (reference Figure 1.18):
a. Select All Processes.
b. Enter the path specification for the log file (optional and recommended).
c. Click OK when you are finished. This opens the Trace Monitor window, Figure
1.19. The window will be empty until you set up the monitor.
Check
All Processes
Send output
to a log file
Figure 1.18: Select Process Dialog
Figure 1.19: Trace Monitor Window
3BUF001147-610 A 44
3. To configure the Trace Monitor Settings, launch the Run dialog (Windows key-R),
enter "C:\Program Files (x86)\ABB Industrial IT\Inform IT\Display
Services\Server\Utils\ABBTrace" and press OK.
4. Use this dialog to set up the Trace Monitor (reference Figure 1.20):
a. Specify the server (typically localhost).
b. Use the Task drop-down menu to select Use name below.
c. Enter the name of the data provider for which this monitor is being set up. Enter
the name exactly as it is indicated in the Display Server Status dialog (ABB
Start Menu > ABB System 800xA >Information Mgmt>Display Services>
IM Display Server Status).
d. Select all traces in the Flags list.
e. Click OK. This activates the Trace Monitor which will begin displaying trace
information, Figure 1.21. The setup dialog will remain open. Do not close it at
this time. You’ll need to use it to stop the monitor when you are finished.
Figure 1.20: Trace Settings Dialog
3BUF001147-610 A 45
If you are sending the output to a log file, this same information will be available in the
specified log file. You can take a snapshot of the Trace Monitor as a further option
(View>Snapshot).
Turn the Trace Monitor off when you are finished. Select <No trace> in the Trace
Settings dialog, Figure 1.22, and click OK. Click Cancel to close the dialog.
Figure 1.21: Example Trace Monitor Output
3BUF001147-610 A 46
1.5 Debug Files for Excel and Crystal Report Generation
Figure 1.22: Turning the Monitor Off

The debug flags, ExDebugOutput and CRDebugOutput are automatically created the
first time the ExSingleAuto.exe and the CRSingleAuto.exe runs respectively. This
capability for Excel Debug Log file has been added in the following versions:
• 800xA 4.1 starting with Rollup 9.
• 800xA 5.0 Service Pack 1 starting with Rollup 1.
• 800xA 5.0 Service Pack 2 (and all subsequent versions).
The capability for Crystal Debug Log file was added in versions:
• 800xA 5.0 Service Pack 2 Rev D.
• 800xA 5.1.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ABB\Inform IT\Report Scheduling
Automation2:-ExDebugOutput and CRDebugOutput(Figure 1.23)
3BUF001147-610 A 47
Figure 1.23: Excel Report Generation Registry Key
The ExDebugOutput and CRDebugOutput are created with an initial value of 0 (logging
debug messages turned off). In order to start writing to the debug file, change
ExDebugOutput to 1 for Excel Reports and CRDebugOutput to 1 for Crystal Reports.
Logging will begin with the next Excel/Crystal Report. It can be turned off anytime and
should be if you are no longer collecting debug information. It can run for several days,
but the debug file size should be monitored.
The following files are located in C:\ProgramData\ABB\IM\Scheduler:
• ExSingleAutoDbg.log - file containing diagnostics if the new debug flag is turned
on.
• CRSingleAutoDbg.log - file containing diagnostics for Crystal Reports if the new
debug flag is turned on.
3BUF001147-610 A 48
• ExSingleAutoErrors.log - file always written to if an error occurs.

• CRSingleAutoErrors.log - file always written to if an error occurs, irrespective of the
registry keys being enabled or not.
The sample diagnostics shown in Figure 1.24 illustrate the type of information logged.
This figure is for Excel Reports. Similar diagnostics will be logged for Crystal Reports as
well. It begins with the parameters passed into the Excel Report Generator
(EXSingleAuto). The timestamps provided can be used to determine how long each step
takes. If the last line for a report is not End Run the report terminated abnormally.
Figure 1.24: Sample Excel Report Diagnostics Log
ExSingleAuto.exe no longer checks the original debug flag:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE\ABB\Inform IT\Report Scheduling
Automation\debugOutput
3BUF001147-610 A 49
1.6 Windows Installer Problems
Additional debug information that can be turned on in the .ini file is stored in:
C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Roaming\ABB Industrial
IT\Inform IT\DataDirect
Change the 0 to a 1 in the debug.txt file in that directory to enable the additional debug
information.

The Information Management upgrade wizard uninstall and then reinstall Information
Management software without rebooting in between the uninstall and reinstall phases.
If an application which is being reinstalled is allowed to remain open during the upgrade,
files related to the application will be locked and will not be deleted as they should be
during the uninstall phase. However, they are deleted when the node is rebooted following
the reinstall phase of the upgrade.
Consequently, when you attempt to use any application that causes the Windows Installer
to check the installed database (for example, Windows shortcuts), the Windows Installer
will detect that files are missing and will attempt to repair the installation, Figure 1.25.
Since the installer cannot make the necessary repairs the installer will get stuck in an
endless loop, and will prevent other programs from running.
Figure 1.25: Windows Installer
If you experience this behavior, look in the Event Viewer to confirm that the
aforementioned scenario is in fact the cause of the problem, Figure 1.26.
To fix the problem, you’ll need to remove and then reinstall the application. You will not
be able to remove the application until the current session of the Windows installer is
terminated. You can either use the Task Manager to stop the process, and then use the
Windows Add/Remove utility, or use the Windows Installer Cleaner.
3BUF001147-610 A 50
This utility is available on the Microsoft Help and Support web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301
1. Install the program.
2. Run the program:
Start->Programs_> Windows Install Clean Up
3. Select the application that needs to be cleaned up (removed) and click Remove.
Figure 1.26: Event Viewer - Event Properties
3BUF001147-610 A 51
1.7 Off-line Engineering

System 800xA supports off-line engineering so that applications may be configured and
tested before they are brought on line. This requires two 800xA systems - an engineering
system for application building and testing, and a production system for running the
applications.
There are several methods and system tools available to support off-line engineering.
It is recommended that you first determine how you want to implement off-line engineering
for your system, and then evaluate and choose the methods and tools that are best
suited to meet your off-line engineering requirements.
This section provides guidelines for the different methods and tools for off-line engineering,
and considerations specific to Information Management applications. Table 1.8 provides
a quick summary of off-line engineering rules, limitations, and recommendations for
Information Management. Other topics covered in this section are:
• Engineering System Set-up Considerations on page 54.
• System Restore Considerations on page 55.
• Production System Set-up Considerations on page 56.
• Methods for Moving Configurations Between Systems on page 56.
• Considerations When Adding an Information Management Server on page 57.
• Considerations for Log Sets on page 63.
• Considerations for SoftPoints on page 65.
• Considerations for Scheduling Applications on page 65.
• Considerations for Open Data Access on page 66.
• Changing Log and Log Template Configurations on page 66.
Off-line engineering is fully covered in the sections on Versioning and Life Cycle
Management in System 800xA Configuration (3BDS011222*).
3BUF001147-610 A 52
Table 1.8: Off-Line Engineering - Information Management Objects Summary

Category Considerations
Log Templates and • If the engineering system has an operational Information Management server
Log Configuration that does not exist in the production system, the service group IDs for logs
Aspects must be updated on the production system. See Establishing Log/Service
Group Links on the Production System on page 57.
This is NOT necessary when using a single node engineering system created
by restoring a backup of the production system.
• If a log or log template has already been synchronized (or imported) to the
production system, subsequent re-synchronization (or import) of that object
will not be possible until the object has been deleted from the Oracle
database. See Changing Log and Log Template Configurations on page 66.
Log Sets System synchronization does not support log sets (or any other objects in the
Node Administration structure). Use the export/import tool instead. Log sets must
exist in Oracle before the associated logs can be synchronized (or imported).
See Considerations for Log Sets on page 63. Log sets are not recommended for
new installations where numeric and messages logs are created.
Report Logs These objects may be configured for test purposes. The run-time versions should
Message Logs be created directly on the production system. See Considerations for Report and
Archive Objects Message Logs and Archive Objects on page 66.
Calculations No special considerations.
SoftPoints See Considerations for SoftPoints on page 65.
Open Data Access See Considerations for Open Data Access on page 66.
Scheduling Off-line engineering for scheduling is not practical for single node engineering
systems (except for calculations). A multiple node engineering system with an
operational Information Management server supports off-line engineering for most
scheduling applications including reports, event-driven data collection, and
calculations. See Considerations for Scheduling Applications on page 65.
Node Admin. & System Synchronization does not support objects in these structures. Use the
Service Structures export/import tool instead. See Methods for Moving Configurations Between
Systems on page 56.
3BUF001147-610 A 53
1.7.1 Engineering System Set-up Considerations

There are two basic ways to set up the engineering system:
• Single Node Engineering System which supports configuration only.
• Multiple Node Engineering System which supports testing of applications, based on
the connectivity and application servers included in the system.
This section describes the advantages and limitations of these two options, and provides
general guidelines on how to set them up.
Single Node Engineering System

This is the easiest and most straightforward way to implement an engineering system.
If your production system is already configured, you can create the engineering system
by making a backup of the production system and restoring it on the engineering system
(System Restore Considerations on page 55). This provides a complete and duplicate
aspect system that supports configuration of Information Management applications as
described in Table 1.8.
Multiple Node Engineering System

If additional hardware is available to support application and connectivity servers, you
can add such nodes in the engineering system to support application testing. You may
create the engineering system either by:
• restoring a backup of the production system, and then adding one or more Information
Management servers (and other nodes) as required System Restore Considerations
on page 55), or by
• manually building the entire engineering system.
The same node cannot physically exist in two systems. For example, the same
Information Management server (with the same computer name and IP address)
cannot be operational in two different systems. If you need to add operational servers
to the engineering system, you must add a new node (not present in the production
system). Certain adjustments will be required in order to account for the differences
between the node administration and service structures in the two systems.
3BUF001147-610 A 54
System Restore Considerations

When you create the aspect system on the engineering system by restoring a backup
of the production system, the two systems are nearly identical with two differences:
• The aspect systems must have different names.
• The two systems must have different primary aspect servers.
The restore function lets you make these adjustments:
1. Make a full backup of the production system.
2. Install 800xA system software on the engineering system aspect server. DO NOT
create a system or load system extensions.
3. Restore the production system backup on the engineering system aspect server.
a. In the System Directories Selection dialog, Figure 1.27 top, select
Generate a new system id and enter a name for the engineering system.
b. In the Node Configuration dialog, Figure 1.27 bottom, select the production
system’s aspect server, then right click and choose
Rename to current node. This maps the production system aspect server to
the engineering system aspect server.
Figure 1.27: System Restore Adjustments
3BUF001147-610 A 55
1.7.2 Production System Set-up Considerations

The production system may be built before, after, or in parallel with the engineering
system. There is little or no advantage to building the production system by restoring a
backup of the engineering system; therefore, the production system is generally built by
manually adding nodes.
The applications configured on the engineering system can then be replicated on the
production system using one or both of the methods described in Methods for Moving
Configurations Between Systems on page 56. Certain adjustments will be required,
depending on whether the applications were built on a single node or multiple node
engineering system. For details, refer to:
• Considerations When Adding an Information Management Server on page 57
• Considerations for Log Sets on page 63
• Considerations for SoftPoints on page 65
• Considerations for Scheduling Applications on page 65
• Considerations for Open Data Access on page 66
1.7.3 Methods for Moving Configurations Between Systems

There are two methods for moving configurations between the engineering and production
systems: System Synchronization and Export/Import. These methods are briefly described
in the following topics. For detailed instructions, refer to System 800xA Configuration
(3BDS011222*).
Export/Import
The Import/Export tool allows you to import and export data to and from any 800xA
system. The data is saved as objects and aspects in structured .afw files. The
Import/Export user interface is similar to the Plant Explorer. Exporting objects and aspects
are done by drag and drop from the Plant Explorer to the Export tool.
If you import node administration objects such as log sets, report and message logs,
and archive objects from an Information Management node in the engineering system
that does not exist in the production system, those objects will not have a place in
the production system node administration structure. Therefore you will be required
to specify a new location for those objects under a new Information Management
server node in the production system node administration structure. The Import dialog
will prompt you when this is necessary.
3BUF001147-610 A 56
1.7.4 Considerations When Adding an Information Management Server

If you add an Information Management server to the engineering system to support
testing of Information Management applications, you will be required to make two
adjustments after you move log configurations to the production system:
• Check the history source configuration for all logs. If the history source aspect on
the engineering system points to a connectivity server that does not exist in the
production system, that history source specification must be changed on the
production system.
• Use the procedure described below to ensure log configuration aspects created on
the engineering system maintain their linkage to their respective basic history service
groups once they are moved to the production system.
Establishing Log/Service Group Links on the Production System

Log configurations are linked to their respective basic history aspects via Global Unique
Identifiers (GUIDs). In the engineering system, logs are assigned to an actual (physically
present) Information Management application server so that they may be tested. The
log configuration aspects in the engineering system use the GUID of the basic history
service group on the Information Management server, and will carry that GUID
specification to the production system.
The engineering system Information Management server will not exist in the production
system. Consequently, the GUID specifications for log configuration aspects that have
been replicated from the engineering system to the production system must be updated.
This can be done easily by making a quick change on the applicable log template(s) as
described in the following procedure.
3BUF001147-610 A 57
To establish the correct linkage between a log configuration aspect and its respective
basic history service group:
1. Find the log template used to create the log configuration aspect. The log template
is indicated on the Log Configuration aspect, Figure 1.28.
Figure 1.28: Finding the Log Template for a Log Configuration Aspect
2. Go to the Log Definition tab for the Information Management log on the Log Template
configuration aspect, and select the applicable service group in the production
system, Figure 1.29.
Figure 1.29: Connecting Logs to the Production System Service Group
3BUF001147-610 A 58
3. When you see the Log Configuration update message, ignore the contents of the
message (...Partly Succeeded...), and click OK to acknowledge, Figure 1.30.
Figure 1.30: Log Configuration Update Message
To check GUID assignments between log configuration aspects and their respective
basic history service groups, refer to Comparing a Log Configuration GUID with its
Basic History Service Group on page 60.
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Comparing a Log Configuration GUID with its Basic History Service Group
If you are unable to read history data from an Information Management log after
synchronization (or importing), this procedure lets you confirm whether or not GUIDs for
log configuration aspects match their respective basic history service groups. The
procedure is as follows:
3BUF001147-610 A 60
1. To find the GUID for a log configuration aspect, use the Log Config Viewer as
described in the following:
a. Find the hsLogCgfView executable in the History\bin directory, Figure 1.31.
Use %hs_home%\bin in the Windows Explorer address bar as a shortcut to this

location.
Figure 1.31: Launching the Log Config Viewer
b. Use the Log Config Viewer to find the log configuration aspect. This viewer
provides a browser similar to the Plant Explorer, Figure 1.32.
Process
Object
Log
Config.
Aspect
Log
GUID
Figure 1.32: Browsing to the Log Configuration and Reading its GUID
3BUF001147-610 A 61
2. To find the GUID for a basic history service group:

a. Find the service group in the Plant Explorer Service structure, and then drag
the object into the Export/Import tool, Figure 1.33.
b. Right-click on the service group object in the Export/Import tool and choose
Show Details from the context menu, Figure 1.33.
c. Click the Advanced button in the Show Details dialog.
d. Read the ID in the top right pane of the Show Details Advanced view, Figure
1.34.
Figure 1.33: Dragging the Service Group Object Into the Export/Import Tool
3BUF001147-610 A 62
GUID for selected

Basic History
Service Group
Figure 1.34: Finding a Basic History Service Group and Reading its GUID
1.7.5 Considerations for Log Sets

The system synchronization tool does not support synchronization of objects in the node
administration structure. Therefore log set objects must be moved to the production
system using the Export/Import tool. Also, the log sets must exist in the Information
Management Oracle database BEFORE their corresponding log configurations can be
successfully synchronized or imported.
To do this:
1. Import the log set objects. If the engineering and production systems have different
Information Management nodes, you will be required to manually place the log set
objects under a new Information Management server in the production system.
At this point the log sets are still logically connected to the engineering system. This
is why logs are still listed in the log set’s log list.
2. Re-apply the log set configurations. To do this, make a small change, for example,
the log set description, then click Apply. This breaks the connection to the
engineering system and causes the log list in the log set to go empty. This is because
the logs do not exist yet in Oracle in the production system.
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3. Synchronize (or import) the log configurations. If the engineering and production
systems have different Information Management nodes, you will be required to
re-link the log configurations to their respective basic history service groups (see
Establishing Log/Service Group Links on the Production System on page 57).
4. Restart PAS. This launches the history synchronizer. Shortly after the synchronizer
is finished, the log set objects will exist in Oracle.
You can monitor the progress of the history synchronizer (hsHistorySync.exe) via the
Task Manager. The synchronizer is finished when the CPU time goes down to 0
(zero).
You can confirm the existence of the log sets in Oracle using the following query in
sqlplus: select object_name from object_table where object_type = 9;
5. Once the log sets exist in Oracle, restart PAS to run the history synchronizer again.
This is required to create the Information Management logs in Oracle. You can
confirm this by viewing the logs in the log set log list.
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1.7.6 Considerations for SoftPoints

You can use the engineering system to configure SoftPoints on several levels:
• Configure SoftPoint object types in the engineering system, then replicate and
instantiate the object types on the production system. When you synchronize or
export a SoftPoint object type, you also get any calculation and open data access
table definition aspects associated with the object type.
• Configure SoftPoint object types and instantiate them on the engineering system,
and then replicate the object types and instantiated objects on the production system.
To do this you only need to select instantiated objects to synchronize or export. This
will automatically include the applicable object type and associated aspects.
• Configure the entire SoftPoint application including object types, SoftPoint control
network, and instantiated objects on the engineering system, and then replicate the
complete application on the production system.
– If you are using a single node engineering system, before replicating the
SoftPoint network in the production system you will be required export service
group/service provider objects in the Service structure related to SoftPoints.
This includes the SoftPoint service group/provider, oda Connection for SoftPoints
service group/provider, and Event Collection for SoftPoints service
group/provider.
– If you are using a multiple node engineering system with a SoftPoint server
(Information Management server or Core Components), after replicating the
SoftPoint network in the production system you will be required to update the
service group specifications in the adapter data source definition, and source
definition aspects.
In both cases, you may be required to restart the SoftPoint and calculation
services.
– A redeploy of SoftPoints will be required.
1.7.7 Considerations for Scheduling Applications

When using a single node engineering system, the only scheduling application which
may be configured in the engineering system and then replicated in the production system
is a calculation schedule.
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When using a multiple node engineering system with a scheduling server (Information
Management or Core Components) you may configure scheduling applications for reports,
event-driven data collection, and calculations. In this case you will be required to update
the server specification in the scheduling definition aspect. Also copy any reports to the
production system, and maintain the same file structure as used on the engineering
system.
1.7.8 Considerations for Open Data Access

You can use the engineering system to configure table definition aspects and add the
tables to data base definitions.
Take care when replicating an engineering system database definition on the
production system. If the original database definition on the production system has
table definitions that are not included in the database definition on the engineering
system, those missing table definitions will have to be added to the database definition
on the production system.
For this reason, it may be easier and more reliable to replicate table definition aspects
only and leave the database definition on the production system intact. Then add the
replicated table definitions to the database definition on the production system.
1.7.9 Considerations for Report and Message Logs and Archive Objects
Report, message log, and archive objects may be configured on an off-line engineering
system when that system has an operational Information Management node. In this
case, the objects on the engineering system are for test purposes only. The run-time
versions of these objects should be created directly on the production system (not
transferred via export/import). These objects can be created efficiently directly on the
production system, so there is little or no advantage to importing them from the
engineering system.
1.7.10 Changing Log and Log Template Configurations

Once you have synchronized (or imported) log and log template configurations to create
them on the production system, you cannot simply re-synchronize those objects to
implement changes made on the engineering system. The related objects and aspects
will be replaced in the aspect system on the production system, but the Oracle database
will not be updated. The log templates and log objects must first be deleted from Oracle.
3BUF001147-610 A 66
Deleting a log configuration aspect from the aspect system will delete the corresponding
log(s) from Oracle.
If the Information Management History service is not running when you delete the
log configuration aspects, you must run the hsDBMaint Clean History Database
function to purge the logs from Oracle. Refer to the section on History Database
Maintenance in System 800xA Information Management Configuration (3BDS011222*).
Rather than deleting log configuration aspects manually (one-at-a-time), you can
delete them using the History Bulk Configuration tool. Refer to the section on Bulk
Configuration of Logs in System 800xA Information Management Configuration
(3BDS011222*).
Log templates cannot be deleted until their corresponding logs have been deleted.
Deleting a log template object from the aspect system will also delete any reference to
the template in Oracle.
1.7.11 Changes Not Propagated from Log Template to Actual Log

When a log template has IM logs defined and is referenced by a Log Configuration
aspect, it is not currently allowed to modify any parameters of the IM logs in that template.
Some parameters on the Log Configuration aspects can be modified.
If the log is configured incorrectly, for example a one week log was created instead of a
100 week log, the recommended procedure is to:
1. Delete the log from the template, which is necessary for the log to be deleted from
all instances of the log template.
2. Add the correct log back to the template.
This operation does NOT preserve any data in the log that was deleted.
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2.1 Introduction
2 History
2.1 Introduction
This section provides guidelines for the following:
• Checking Upstream for History Problems on page 70
• What To Look For When Logs Do Not Collect Data on page 70
• Logs Not Activating on page 73
• Cannot Start History on page 73
• Cannot Create Oracle Database Instance on page 74
• Cannot Use History Configuration Displays on page 74
• Insufficient Oracle Tablespace on page 75
• Insufficient Temp Tablespace and Rollback Segments on page 77
• Cannot Access History Database via SQL on page 78
• Entry Tables and Error Reports for Numeric Logs on page 79
• Cannot View DataDirect Reports Stored In Report Log on page 81
• Deleting Property Logs Via Bulk Configuration Tool is Slow on page 81
• Message Log API Error on page 82
• Debugging Scheduled Archive Problems on page 84
• Debugging Event Collection Applications on page 87
• Backfill Message Logs on Restore on page 91
• Oracle Fails to Start on page 91
• History Application Building Tips on page 92
• Oracle Users on page 93
• Planning Guidelines for Hard Disk Capacity on page 94
• Looking Up Object_IDs for Numeric Logs on page 96
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2.2 Checking Upstream for History Problems
• Retrieving IM Numeric Log Data on 800xA Plant Explorer and Workplace Client
Nodes on page 97
• hsDBMaint -checkDB Tool Indicates All Logs Need Deleted on page 98\
• Bad Logs or Bad Log References Cause Archives to Fail on page 98
• Oracle TRC Files Fill C Drive on page 98
• Oracle TRC Files Fill C Drive on page 98
• Transfer of Batch Procedure Function Chart (PFC) Data to Information Management
on page 98
• Troubleshooting the Event Log Collector on page 100
• Deleting Objects from IM without Corresponding Object in Aspect System on page
102
• Miscellaneous Archival Operation Information on page 102
• What is Read Raw Error and When is it Bad? on page 106
• Procedure for Finding and Removing Serious IM Read Raw Events on page 108
2.2 Checking Upstream for History Problems

Problems with numeric and/or message data collection in Information Management
history may actually be due to problems upstream in the 800xA system. Before spending
time and effort troubleshooting the Information Management history configuration check
the following upstream applications:
• related basic history trend logs.
• OPC DA data source - subscribe to live data via the Control Connection aspect.
• status of the System Message Service in the Service structure.
• verify that messages are available via alarm/event lists.
2.3 What To Look For When Logs Do Not Collect Data

2.3.1 Data Not Available in Basic History Trend Logs
If you cannot read data from the basic history trend logs, make sure you have added
history source aspects in the structures where those logs reside. Refer to the section on
configuring property logs in System 800xA Information Management Configuration
(3BUF001092*).
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2.3.2 Data Available in Basic History Trend Logs But Not IM History Logs
• Sample Blocking Rate - It is common when you first activate a log to see the
operator trend data, but no history (Information Management-based) data. This is
due to the sample blocking rate configured on the Data Collection tab of the Log
Template. The blocking rate controls the frequency at which data is collected by the
history log from the source trend log. If you experience this lag, check the blocking
rate to determine whether or not that is the cause.
• Restart Basic History - Sometimes it is necessary to restart Basic History on
Information Management and Connectivity servers after logs have been added.
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2 History
• Stagger - It is strongly recommended that you use the hsDBMaint stagger

function to evenly distribute collection from the basic history logs. Failure to stagger
the Information Management logs may result in excessive and unbalanced disk I/O
load on both the Connectivity and Information Management servers, and may result
in missing data in the Information Management logs.
To check whether or not the stagger function has been run, you can generate a
statistical file for the collection process as described in Generating Statistical Files
for ABB Processes on page 35. Search on the keyword secondary to find the
SECONDARY LOG QUEUE STATS section, Figure 2.1. If all logs having the same
blocking rate are grouped together (for example, 12,000 logs with 1-hour blocking
rate, and 3000 logs with 4-minute blocking rate), then stagger has not been run.
Also look for stale request messages in the hsCollection log file, Figure 2.2.
Run this function from the hsDBMaint main menu. History must be running when
you run the stagger function. Refer to the section on history database maintenance
in System 800xA Information Management Configuration (3BUF001092*).
Before
Stagger
After
Stagger
Figure 2.1: Checking Stats File for Stagger
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2.4 Logs Not Activating
Figure 2.2: Stale Requests Messages in hsCollection Log File
2.4 Logs Not Activating

When using the Bulk Configuration tool in Microsoft Excel to create a large number of
property logs, the logs will not activate. To start the logs use the Log List aspect on the
Inform IT History Objects object in the Node Administration structure. Refer to the section
on starting and stopping data collection in System 800xA Information Management
Configuration (3BUF001092*).
2.5 Cannot Start History

• PAS Service account not correctly specified. See PAS Service Account on page
27.
• Check the hsSuperIPC log file for errors or failures. See Diagnostic Log Files on
page 29.
• Invalid user/password for History Service Account. See History Service Provider
Does Not Start on page 82.
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2.6 Cannot Create Oracle Database Instance
2.6 Cannot Create Oracle Database Instance

• Domain controller and Information Management server may be out synch.
Check the time setting on both nodes. If they are off by 10 minutes or more the
wizard may fail to create the database. Also check Time Zone settings.
• Failure to create the Oracle Listener service. Re-run the Oracle Net Configuration
assistant and make sure to check the Perform Typical configuration check box.
• Current user not in HistoryAdmin group. Verify that the user you are currently
logged in with is a member of the HistoryAdmin group. If not, it is recommended
that you log in as the user that installed the software. This user is a member of the
HistoryAdmin group. As an alternative, you may add the current user to HistoryAdmin.
If you add a new user you must restart history via PAS.
2.7 Cannot Use History Configuration Displays

• For systems prior to 800xA 5.0 - Check the ASP.NET installation - If you have
problems using History configuration aspects such as the History Log List or Message
Log configuration (for example the log list does not show logs), it may be because
ASP.NET has not been installed, or not configured correctly after installation. See
ASP.NET on page 148.
• Check if another web service has been installed over and shut down the Internet
Information Service. Use the Windows Service utility in the Windows Control Panel
to make sure the Internet Information Service is enabled.
• Check the Oracle installation. If you install the Oracle Web Server (Apache), this
causes the Windows Default Website to remain stopped (they both share Port 80).
Without the default IIS Website running, History controls like Log List and Log Set
can not connect to the Information Management server. In this case you should
reinstall Oracle and pay close attention to the Information Management installation
instructions to install only what’s required.
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2.8 Insufficient Oracle Tablespace

Oracle tablespaces will be sized correctly if you made the correct choices for small,
medium, and large for each log type in Oracle Instance wizard. Also, putting Oracle and
file-based data on dedicated data drives rather than the system drive allows tablespaces
to autoextend up to the free space available on the drive where they reside. If you do
not make the correct selections based on your storage requirements, you may run out
of tablespace under the following conditions:
• Creating a OPC Message log that is larger than can be supported by the allotted
tablespace. For example, if you selected Small OPC message log (up to 500K
entries), then you attempt to create a 12-million entry message log, history will not
allow this. In this case, you must adjust the INFORM_HS_RUNTIME and HS_INDEX
tablespaces. See Table 2.1.
• If you attempt to configure more numeric logs than supported by the allotted
tablespace. Adjust the HS_CONFIG and HS_ICONFIG tablespaces. See Table
2.2.
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• If your PDL application grows larger than is supported by the allotted

tablespace. Adjust the HS_PDL and HS_IPDL tablespaces. See Table 2.3.
• Consolidation of OPC and PDL messages, and PDL data. If the
INFORM_HS_RUNTIME and HS_INDEX tablespaces run out of space, OPC and
PDL message consolidation will fail. If the HS_PDL and HS_IPDL (index) tablespaces
run out of space, PDL data consolidation will fail.
Table 2.1: OPC Message Logs (Includes PDLMSGLOG)

Tablespace Small - 500K Entries Medium - 3M Entries Large - 12M Entries
INFORM_HS_RUNTIME 214Mb 1287Mb 5224Mb
HS_INDEXES 190Mb 1144Mb 4589Mb
Temp 512Mb 3072Mb 8192Mb
Rollback (Undo) 512Mb 3072Mb 8192Mb
Table 2.2: Numeric File-based Logs

Tablespace Small - 10K Logs Medium - 25K Logs Large - 50K Logs
HS_CONFIG 40Mb 85Mb 171Mb
HS_ICONFIG 40Mb 94Mb 188Mb
Table 2.3: PDL Objects and PDL Data

Tablespace Small - 10K Objects Medium - 25K Objects Large - 50K Objects
HS_PDL 60Mb 355Mb 710Mb
HS_IPDL 50Mb 149Mb 298Mb
2.8.1 Extending Tablespace

The user interface for extending tablespace has changed as of 800xA 5.0. For details,
refer to the section on History database maintenance in the applicable version of the
Information Management History Configuration Guide.
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2.9 Insufficient Temp Tablespace and Rollback Segments
2.9 Insufficient Temp Tablespace and Rollback

Segments
The Oracle Temp tablespace and rollback segments are used during certain history
operations, including restore, archive, message and PDL consolidation, deletion of PDL
data, and reporting.
With Information Management version 4.0 and later (using Oracle 9) rollback segments
have been replaced with UNDO tables.
For installations at 800xA 3.1 SP2 with coordinated roll up and higher, the temporary
and rollback (or UNDO) tablespaces are sized based on the selections you make for
OPC message log size in the Oracle instance wizard, Table 2.4.
Table 2.4: Autosizing of Temp and Rollback Space

Log Size Temp Space Rollback (UNDO) Space
Small 512Mb 256Mb
Medium 1024Mb 512Mb
Large 2048Mb 1024Mb
Complex queries against PDL and PDL deletion operations may use a significant amount
of this tablespace. If you get an indication of insufficient temp or rollback space in these
situations, it is recommended that you adjust the query or delete the PDL data in smaller
increments.
Restoring a history database also uses the Oracle Temp tablespace and rollback
segments. If you run out of space during a restore operation, the restore will fail, and
you will be required to increase the temp and rollback space before retrying the restore.
Use the Oracle Instance Maintenance wizard to extend the applicable tablespace. The
recommended guideline is to double the current size.
You cannot decrease the temp or rollback size. Therefore, you should take care to
increase the size by a reasonable amount that will provide the space you need. The
only way to revert back to a smaller size is to make a backup of your database, drop
and recreate the Oracle instance, and then restore the database.
Generally, you should extend a tablespace by modifying (increasing) the existing file.
Use the Add function when you need to add tablespace on a different drive.
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2.10 Cannot Access History Database via SQL
2.10 Cannot Access History Database via SQL

Check the user account and environment variables as described below and shown in
Figure 2.3:
• Make sure the user (currently logged in as) belongs to these local groups:
– HistoryAdmin
– ORA_DBA
• Make sure the ORACLE_SID is included as part of the local user’s environment
settings
Figure 2.3: Checking User Groups and ORACLE_SID Environment Variable
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2.11 Entry Tables and Error Reports for Numeric Logs

The hsDBMaint Entry Tables Report provides good information for troubleshooting
numeric logs. This report will help you to determine whether the problem is with history
or another application such as the core system, or data access application.
To generate this report, open a Windows command prompt and enter:
hsDBMaint -report > report.txt 2> error.txt
This creates two text files in the location from which you ran the report. For example, in
Figure 2.4, the reports are created in C:\Documents and Settings\ptt.
Figure 2.4: Location of Table Entry and Error Reports
The entry table provides statistics that help you to verify whether or not numeric logs are
functioning properly. You can also look up the Log ID for a specific log name. Figure 2.5.
Log IDs are used in SQL queries against historical tables.
Rows marked with an asterisk (*) indicate logs with errors. A summary is provided at the
end of the report. An example error report is shown in Figure 2.6. This information is
useful for level-4 (development) support.
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Error Indication Entry Tables
Log IDs
Entry Tables Summary
Figure 2.5: Example Entry Tables Report
Figure 2.6: Error report
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2.12 Cannot View DataDirect Reports Stored In Report Log
2.12 Cannot View DataDirect Reports Stored In Report

Log
DataDirect Reports which include an ABB function, and are stored in the Report log can
not be viewed. In fact, on the first attempt to view, a report error message is displayed,
and after being acknowledged the report may be seen. But a second attempt to view the
report hangs Internet Explorer (IE is used to display report). Reports which do not include
an ABB function can be viewed without problem.
Change the file opening set-up for Microsoft Excel Worksheets as follows:
1. In Windows Explorer, choose Tools>Folder Options.
2. Select the File Types tab.
3. Select the XLS Microsoft Excel Worksheet file type.
4. Click Advanced.
5. Uncheck the browse in same window check box.
6. Click OK in the Advanced dialog.
7. Click OK in the Folder Options dialog.
2.13 Deleting Property Logs Via Bulk Configuration Tool

is Slow
When using the Bulk Configuration tool to delete a large quantity of property logs, if the
OPC server from which the logs are being deleted has an excessive CPU load, the delete
operation runs very slowly and ultimately times out. In this case the spreadsheet may
indicate incorrectly that the logs have been deleted.
If the delete operation appears to be running too slowly, refer to the Status and Errors
sheet on the spreadsheet. If this sheet indicates the Bulk Configuration tool failed to find
the property logs, first verify that the logs still exist, then check the CPU load on the OPC
server and retry the Delete Property Logs operation.
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2.14 History Service Provider Does Not Start
2.14 History Service Provider Does Not Start

The History Service Provider will not start if the PAS and IM service account is not
properly configured. This is a post installation step. To troubleshoot:
1. First check the configuration. See PAS Service Account on page 27.
2. If the account is properly configured, verify that the 800xA Service account belongs
to the HistoryAdmin and ORA_DBA user groups.
3. Next, go to the Task Manager Processes tab and check the User Name for the
hsHistorySync.exe process. If this process is running as SYSTEM, the problem may
be the afwServiceManager.
4. Check the Service Account configuration in the 800xA Configuration Wizard System
software user settings.
5. If that configuration is correct, check the user name for the afwServiceManager
process in the Task Manager. If the user name is SYSTEM, then the user account
configuration for this service must be fixed via DCOM (Identity tab).
2.15 Message Log API Error

When the memory and disk usage on an Information Management server is extensive,
history may have problems queueing a message into the Windows message queue.
This condition generates the following error message which may be viewed in an alarm
list (this problem is fixed in version 4.1):
Message Log API: QUEUE FAILURE (n times) where n is the number of times history
failed to write to the message queue.
When this happens, PDL messages will be lost. Alarm/event messages may or may not
be lost, depending on whether the problem can be fixed in time.
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2.15 Message Log API Error
Change the kernel memory threshold in the Windows Registry (see Figure 2.7):
1. Add the following registry key of data type DWORD:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\
Microsoft\MSMQ\Parameters\
KernelMemThreshold
2. Set the value to 95 decimal.
Notes: The default is 80. The value can range from 1 to 99. Anything else is
converted to 80.
Select the Decimal option when you create this value. Hexadecimal will cause the
default value of 80 to be used.
Figure 2.7: Setting the Kernel Memory Threshold
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2.16 Debugging Scheduled Archive Problems

You can enable print flags in the ArchiveAction.log and ArchiveHandler_nnn.log files to
facilitate debugging problems related to scheduled archives (nnn = process ID (PID)).
These files reside in the directory specified by %HS_LOG%.
• For 800xA 4.0 systems, this requires Information Management 4.0 Roll Up 1.
• For 800xA 3.1 SP2 systems, this requires Information Manager 3.6/2 Roll Up 1.
To enable print flags in these files, make the following changes to the Windows registry
(reference Figure 2.8):
• Turn on the Print Flag for the Debug Handler by changing the value for the
DebugHandler and HandlerPrintOn registry keys from 0 to 1. HandlerPrintOn
support values from 1 to 9, with 9 printing out all the information possible. 1 is
sufficient for most cases.
• Add a new registry key named HdlrConnectTimeout, and set the value of this key
to specify a new timeout (greater than one second).
Registry
Keys
Figure 2.8: Windows Registry
The Print Flag should be turned off (DebugHandler and HandlerPrintOn keys set back
to 0) when you are finished debugging.
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To modify the Windows Registry:

1. Open the Windows Registry Editor. From the Windows task bar, choose: Start>Run,
then enter regedit and click OK, Figure 2.9.
Figure 2.9: Opening the Windows Registry Editor
2. Browse to: My Computer>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ABB

\History\ArchiveService, then find the DebugHandler key. The default (disabled)
setting is 0.
3. Select DebugHandler, right-click and choose Modify from the Context menu. Then
enter 1 in the Value field and click OK. Figure 2.10.
Figure 2.10: Enabling the Print Flag
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4. Repeat this procedure to change the setting for HandlerPrintOn from 0 to 1.

5. To add the HdlrConnectTimeout key (reference Figure 2.11):
a. Right click in the registry and Choose New>DWord. This creates a new key
with the default name New Value #n.
b. Change the name to HdlrConnectTimeout, then double-click on the new key
(or right click and choose Modify). This opens the Edit DWORD Value dialog.
The value is entered as milliseconds. The default base is hexidecimal.
c. Change the base to decimal, and enter a new timeout value in milliseconds (for
example 2000 = 2 seconds).
d. Click OK.
You may be required to change this value several times until you find the correct
timeout value for your application. Generally you should not exceed 10 seconds.
Figure 2.11: Adding the HdlrConnectTimeout Key
Reset DebugHandler and HandlerPrintOn to 0 when you are finished debugging to

disable the print flag.
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2.17 Debugging Event Collection Applications

You can enable a print flag in the hsEventLogCollector to troubleshoot event collection
applications. Enabling this print flag writes additional information to the
hsEventLogCollector log file. The content is based on the value that you specify for the
print flag. For example, setting the value to 2 writes all messages with timestamps. If
you detect missing messages, you can review the log file for the time the messages
were missed. This will determine if the 800xA system message server is not sending the
message to the Information Management message log, or the event collector is not
saving the message to the Information Management message log. All available options
are described in the DebugDefinitions variable in the Windows registry.
The files where the prints are written are hsEventLogCollector.log and
hsEventLogCollector.log.old. These files reside in the directory specified by the
%HS_LOG% environment variable.
To enable the print flag you must modify the Debug Value variable in the Windows
registry. The print flag should be disabled for normal operation.
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To modify this setting:

1. Open the Windows Registry Editor. From the Windows task bar, choose: Start>Run,
then enter regedit and click OK, Figure 2.12.
Figure 2.12: Opening the Windows Registry Editor
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2. Browse to: My Computer>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ABB

\History\EventLogCollector, then find the DebugDefinitions and DebugValue keys,
Figure 2.13. The default setting for DebugValue is disabled (0).
Figure 2.13: Browsing in the Windows Registry
The DebugDefinitions variable is NOT available in systems prior to 800xA 4.1. Only
options 1 and 2 are available in earlier systems.
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3. To write additional debug information to the log file, first use the DebugDefinitions
key to get a listing of the available options, and then change the DebugValue
accordingly.
a. Double-click DebugDefinitions to view the options list, Figure 2.14. Some
useful options are listed in Table 2.5.
Figure 2.14: Definitions for DebugValue
The values are decimal-based. You can specify several options by adding the
corresponding values. For example, 33 specifies options 1 and 32.
Table 2.5: Useful DebugValue Settings

Value Purpose
2 Writes all messages with timestamps to troubleshoot missing events
33 (options 1&32) Logs message throughput
61 (1,4,8,16,32) Logs throughput by message type (Batch, MOD PDL, IMMSGLOG)
b. To enable the print flag, select DebugValue, right-click and choose Modify
from the Context menu.
c. Set the Base to Decimal, then enter in the applicable value and click OK. Figure
2.15.
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2.18 Backfill Message Logs on Restore
Figure 2.15: Enabling the Print Flag
Reset the DebugValue to 0 when you are finished debugging to disable the print flag.
2.18 Backfill Message Logs on Restore

When you restore a history database, the message log will not automatically backfill
messages that occurred between the time the backup was made and the time the
database was restored. Contact ABB technical Support for assistance.
2.19 Oracle Fails to Start

Problems with the DNS Server may in turn cause problems with Oracle. If you are having
problems with Oracle, check whether or not the DNS server is functioning properly by
testing the nslookup command. Run the command for the local node and an external
web site (for example www.cnn.com).
External sites can only be tested if the DNS server has forwarding enabled to resolve
non-ppa zones AND a route to the internet is available.
Also try using both IP address and computer name. Some examples are illustrated in
Figure 2.16.
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2.20 History Application Building Tips
Figure 2.16: Checking the DNS Server
During online update, dynamic IP needs to be disabled, otherwise Oracle update

takes long time or sometimes results in failure.
2.20 History Application Building Tips

• Object Naming - Do not create objects with names that match existing objects in
the system as this will hide the existing objects from the system. History does not
accept Object Names with a forward slash.
• Some objects created in the Plant Explorer are replicated in the Information
Management database. This includes message logs, report logs, log sets, and
archive groups. For these objects, the following characters are valid:
‘A’-’Z’, ‘a’-’z’, ‘0’-’9’, ‘.’, ‘-’, ‘_’ and ‘$’.
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2.21 Oracle Users
• Time Zone and Daylight Savings - It is very important that the clock and the Time
Zone are set up correctly and identically for all nodes in a network. For details, refer
to the System 800xA Automation System Network.
• Termination of TCP/IP - Always terminate the TCP/IP connection to avoid problems
such as not being able to display the View Logs Window. Also, it is recommended
that you disable extra network interface cards that are not in use.
• TCP/IP Address - Whether the software is installed on the client or server version
of the Windows operating system, the node should be considered a server. It is
recommended that the node be configured with a fixed TCP/IP address. DHCP is
not recommended and can cause problems when the node addresses change.
• Handling SCSI devices - Do not remove or attach SCSI devices without shutting
down the machine. Not shutting down may cause problems such as reboot and disk
crashes.
• The Data Source specification of the Information Management log cannot exceed
41 characters. The limit for the internally stored data source is 80 characters (this
includes the 39-character GUID which is not displayed externally). If this limit is
exceeded, you will not be permitted to save the log configuration.
During History configuration, limiting the length of the log template name may help
you to stay within this limit. If the combination of the object and property names plus
the colon and comma delimiters exceed 41 characters, then those names will have
to be changed.
2.21 Oracle Users

The default Oracle user configuration created by the Oracle and Information Management
software installations is described in Table 2.6.
Table 2.6: Oracle Users

User1 Description
SYS Created by Oracle.
SYSTEM Created by Oracle.
OUTLN Created by Oracle.
DBSNMP Created by Oracle.
HISTORY This user is created when the Oracle database instance is created. This user
has read access to Oracle tables and views.
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2.22 Planning Guidelines for Hard Disk Capacity
Table 2.6: Oracle Users

(Continued)
User1 Description
OPS$OCSHIS This is an Oracle user account created for the ocshis Windows user.
OPS$_____ This is an Oracle user account created for the Windows user that installed the
Information Management software. This user account is classified as EXTERNAL,
meaning it does not have an Oracle password. When you are logged in as the
Windows user that installed the Information Management software (for example,
tar238), to log into Oracle, you merely have to enter a slash(/) following the sqlplus
command, for example sqlplus /.
1. Since Information Management users are not licensed for write access to Oracle tables, the HISTORY
user account is the only Oracle user that operators should use.
Any new Oracle instance will force the user to select passwords for the administrative
Oracle users (sys, system and ops$ocshis) and optionally the history user. Users can
change these passwords at any time with the IM Oracle instance wizard. Users whose
password is indicated as EXTERNAL are authenticated by the Windows operating system.
This procedure is described in the section on securing your system in System 800xA
Information Management Configuration (3BUF001092*).
2.22 Planning Guidelines for Hard Disk Capacity

Plan the layout of the disk drives that will support the Information Management installation.
It is recommended that you use different disk drives for program files and data files.
Install all software, including Information Management software and Oracle program files
on your system drive (typically the C drive).
Use separate drives for historical data storage. Ideally, you should dedicate one disk (or
partition) to Oracle-based data (message and PDL logs, report logs, and Oracle-based
numeric logs), and a separate disk or partition for file-based numeric logs.
Archives can be kept on any drive with spare space. Consider RAID disks for key data
storage and backup.
One large disk (for example 80 gigabytes) is not equivalent to two smaller
(40 gigabyte) disks. Multiple disks are recommended for performance. This lets you
segregate program files from data files, and distribute the different types of data files
(oracle, HFSS and Archive) on different disks.
Use the guidelines in Table 2.7 to determine the recommended number of disks.
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2.23 Running hsDBMaint Remotely
Table 2.7: Disk Requirement Guidelines

Disk Type % of Maximum Load1 No. of Disks Recommended
SCSI (Recommended) Greater than 25% 2
Greater than 50% 3
Greater than 25% 4
SATA2 Greater than 20% 2
Greater than 40% 3
Greater than 60% 4
1. The maximum load is a combination of:
- total number of logs (including PDL, message, numeric, and profile)
- total amount of data stored (bytes written to disk per unit of time, different for each log type)
- Average amount of data retrieved (reports, user requests, archives, etc).
2. Based on estimate that the best SATA is about 80% slower than the best SCSI.
2.23 Running hsDBMaint Remotely

Any history database maintenance functions (hsDBMaint) should be done directly on
the Information Management server to guarantee that Oracle authentications are
performed properly.
DO NOT use a Remote Desktop to run the commands remotely from another computer.
According to Oracle, connections through a Terminal Server client or Remote Desktop
are not supported because the ORACLE_SID is not set properly in this client/server
relationship. This may result in Oracle error messages related to authentication issues
(ORA-12560).
2.24 Error Messages Related to Launch Permissions

Under certain circumstances, you may see error messages in the event log related to
launch permissions. For example:
The application specific permission settings do not grant Local Launch permission
for the COM Server application with CLSID {....
DO NOT change the local launch permission.
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2.25 Looking Up Object_IDs for Numeric Logs
IM history has several processes that do not allow COM clients to launch them. These
include the hsHDAServer and the EHOPCAEServer. When IM history is stopped, PPA
History service provider will try to re-connect to IM HDA and the Event Collector Provider
will attempt to reconnect to the EHOPCAEServer. Windows will generate Event Messages
for these attempts.
Under normal operations, these messages will not occur. They will occur when IM history
is restarted or stopped. If history constantly restarts, a period of time exists where these
processes are stopped and, if PPA attempts to connect to these processes, the Event
messages will be generated.
2.25 Looking Up Object_IDs for Numeric Logs

Object_IDs are often used in sql queries to get information on certain objects (for instance,
numeric logs). In 800xA 4.1 systems and earlier you can find the object_ID for any
numeric log using a SQLPlus query against the object_type table. In 800xA 5.0 object
names are stored as GUIDS in the object_type table, making it virtually impossible to
find the object_ID for a specific log. Therefore, a new Oracle view name ppa_table has
been created to support this. To learn the contents of this view, use the desc command
in sqlplus (desc ppa_table;). Enter the query shown below and as illustrated in Figure
2.17 to find the object_ID for a numeric log.
select object_id, object_path, prop_name from ppa_table where object_path
like ‘%objectpath%
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2.26 Retrieving IM Numeric Log Data on 800xA Plant Explorer and Workplace Client Nodes
Figure 2.17: Finding the object_ID for a Numeric Log in ppa_table
2.26 Retrieving IM Numeric Log Data on 800xA Plant

Explorer and Workplace Client Nodes
A customer recently reported the following behavior when retrieving IM Numeric Log
data on an 800xA Plant Explorer and Workplace client nodes.
The Status button of the IM Log on the Log Configuration Aspect was dimmed. As a
result, log data could not be retrieved. The Trend Display Aspect also could not retrieve
data from the IM log if it was selected. This was indicated by a flashing red box next to
the object name. Both of these requests worked when using the Plant Explorer on the
IM Server itself. Only clients failed.
Affinity had been added to the Basic History Service and each client had been directed
to a set of Connectivity Servers (where Basic History data resides). However, all nodes
or the IM Server node had been omitted from the list. The result was that requests for
Basic History data on a client node were never directed to the IM Server node (where
they get routed to the IM HDA server to get the IM numeric data). Adding all nodes to
the affinity configuration solved the problem.
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2.27 hsDBMaint -checkDB Tool Indicates All Logs Need Deleted
2.27 hsDBMaint -checkDB Tool Indicates All Logs Need

Deleted
The hsDBMaint -checkDB tool can report that all logs need to be deleted, but it gives no
reason. This is typically caused when, in an older system, the IM Node Definition aspect
was changed to use the IP address rather than the host name (default).
Review the IM Node Definition aspect in the Node Administration Structure if this behavior
is seen. If the entry under Address (Name) is the IP address of the Information
Management Server node, this is the cause. Change the entry to the hostname and run
the hsDBMaint -checkDB tool. It will no longer report that all logs need to be deleted.
2.28 Bad Logs or Bad Log References Cause Archives

to Fail
Archives can fail because of bad references to logs or bad logs themselves.
• Use hsDBMaint -report to isolate and remove the bad logs.
• Delete and recreate Archive Groups with two references to one log.
2.29 Oracle TRC Files Fill C Drive

Oracle TRC files can fill the C drive. If this occurs and if an IM backup can be made,
create a new instance and restore the backup. It the problem continues to occur, hardware
replacement is required.
2.30 Transfer of Batch Procedure Function Chart (PFC)

Data to Information Management
The following is an explanation of the transfer of Batch PFC date to Information
Management:
1. Set up the EH_Transfer shared folder in the Batch node (should have been done
automatically during installation) and HS_CLIENT_DATA shared folder in the IM
node. These will be used to transfer the PFC data.
2. When the Batch node determines it is time to store a PFC, it will send a system
message indicating to the PdlApiSrv.exe it has data to move. This message will not
be stored in either the IMMSGLOG or the PDLMSGLOG.
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2.30 Transfer of Batch Procedure Function Chart (PFC) Data to Information Management
3. The PdlApiSrv.exe will take the data from the EH_Transfer shared folder and move
it to the HS_CLIENT_DATA shared folder.
4. The PdlApiSrv.exe will then take the data from the HS-CLIENT_DATA shared folder
and store it in the User_Blob attribute of the Task_Variables table in the IM.
5. When this is complete, it will delete the data in both folders.
It should be possible to look at these messages in the Alarm and Event List by filtering
the presentation. Although the following has not been verified, the messages should be
visible by setting the filter as shown in Figure 2.18.
To access the view shown in Figure 2.18, select the View Configuration icon from the
Alarm and Event List aspect.
Figure 2.18: Setting Filter to View Batch PDL Data Transfer Messages
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2.31 Troubleshooting the Event Log Collector

The following registry entry can be set to allow for the troubleshooting of the
EventLogCollector (Figure 2.19):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\ABB\History\EventLogCollector
Figure 2.19: Registry Entry for Event Log Collector Troubleshooting
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The name of the variable that requires change is DebugValue. This can be modified
with the decimal values contained in the DebugDefinitions variable as shown in the
following:
0 No Debugging on.
Or any combination of the following:
1 Number events received in OnEvent msg, refresh flag values and any
wait time.
2 Timestamp and first 50 characters of Message text.
4 Number of events queued internally.
8 Number of IMMSGLOG, BatchPDL, and MODPDL events
received.
16 Number events sent to StoreMsgs and number events left in queue.
32 Total events stored to IMMSGLOG, rate stored per second, and time
behind.
64 Refresh flag values and timestamp of first event in an OnEvent msg.
128 When requesting more events from platform the timestamp values
are logged.
256 Timestamp of every event received.
512 When a msg pump command is done it is logged.
1024 undefined
Example: 1023 will turn on all options defined.
The results of the changes made to this variable can be found in the following file:
C:\ProgramData\ABB\IM\History\log\hsEventLogCollector.log
Be sure to turn this function off when troubleshooting is complete in order to avoid
filling up the log file.
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2.32 Deleting Objects from IM without Corresponding Object in Aspect System
2.32 Deleting Objects from IM without Corresponding

Object in Aspect System
Use the following procedure to delete Objects from the IM when there is no corresponding
Object in the Aspect System. This could cause a Logid error in the IM Backup/Restore
utility or from the hsDBMaint -checkDB command line prompt.
1. Stop all in PAS command line window to clear up the entries.
Running hsDBmaint -clean requires a Stop All in PAS.
2. Open an Administrator command prompt and run hsDBMaint -clean.

3. Restart PAS.
2.33 Miscellaneous Archival Operation Information

The following information pertains to archive operation:
• Manual archives performed from the Archive Group aspect will not affect the Last
Archive Time of either the individual logs or of the Archive Action aspect. Manual
archives are intended to be distinct activities from the automatically scheduled
archives. As a result, they do not rely on Last Archive Times. The user specifies
start and stop times for any data range. The user must ensure that the amount of
data selected will fit into a volume and stay under the 2-gigabyte limit of an individual
write to an Archive Volume.
• Any archive running from the Scheduling Structure uses the Last Archive Time
from the Action aspect as the starting point for log data to be archived. The first time
an Archive Action aspect is scheduled, or after the Last Archive Time is reset, all
logs will start archiving from the new time. To avoid gaps and duplication of data,
subsequently scheduled archives use the Last Archive Time stored for each log.
The Last Archive Time for individual logs in the group can be seen from the Archive
Group aspect > Action > List Group Items.
• When an archive is scheduled, the time range for each block of archived numeric
data written to an Archive Volume will be no bigger then the archive period (the time
difference between two scheduled archives). This allows archival to avoid both the
2-gigabyte limit on an individual archive write and exceeding the size of an Archive
Volume while performing automated archives of large amounts of data. These large
archives usually occur after a customer has configured archival for the first time and
desires to archive all log data. A system where archive has failed, allowing weeks
of data to back up, will use this mechanism to catch up without exceeding any limits.
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• To avoid exceeding the 2-gigabyte limit on an individual archive write, Message

Logs in an Archive Group are handled slightly different than Numeric Logs. Instead
of being broken up by the archive period, a fixed limit of 250,000 messages are
written in an individual write to an Archive Volume. Since each OPC-based message
has a variable number of vendor attributes, the number of Entries in an archive write
of a Message Log will never exactly match this number. There will always be more.
• The Last Archive Time for the Archive Action aspect and the individual logs can be
reset to facilitate moving the next scheduled archives start time. This is done by
setting the desired new archive start time from either the Action or Archive Group
aspects. After setting the time from either aspect, you can use the List Group Items
Action of the Archive Group aspect to verify the new setting.
• Once a new Last Archive Time has been set, the scheduler should be allowed to
dispatch the Archive job to take advantage of the blocking of Numeric Log writes to
the Archive Volume. If the Run Now feature of the Scheduling Definition aspect is
used, then blocking by period may not be used and archive limits may come into
play. This behavior has been reported to development and is under investigation.
Until this issue is resolved, using Run Now for large periods should be avoided.
Setting the Scheduling time window begins field on the Scheduling Definition aspect
to several minutes into the future provides a pseudo Run Now feature that will use
blocking for Numeric and Message Log data during writes to the Archive Volume.
• Archiving of a PDLMSGLOG on an Archive Group is not recommended. Setup of
PDL archiving is performed outside of Archive Group and the Scheduler by using
the InformIT History Admin aspect (in all versions prior to 800xA 5.0). If the PDLs
are not being archived, then the messages in the PDLMSGLOG are not useful as
they are represented as children of PDLs in all subsequent queries against this
production data. If PDLs are properly setup to for archival, then all related messages
in the PDLMSGLOG will be archived with the PDL at either Batch of Job end. This
results in a consistent set of production data being written to one Archive Volume.
Adding the PDLMSGLOG to an Archive Group will end up with the contents of the
PDLMSGLOG being written twice to Archive Volumes. This is not desirable.
In some scenarios; Published archive data when retrieved via Read button of the _rst
folder from the log configuration; might not be visible even when the "Archive" tab shows
the status as "Data Available".
One of the reason can be the following:
For multiple Redundant Basic history configuration as shown in the figure 2.20; In basic
history advanced configuration, Special Configuration tab, make sure that the archive
support check box is only checked on nodes with archive running. refer to the example
figure 2.21 . If it is checked on a node that doesn’t have archive, any client of an archive
ItemId will never see a reply from the PPA HDA interface .
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Figure 2.20: Redundant Basic History Configuration
In the figure 2.21 there are 3 basic history service groups configured. Basic history service
group where Archive is running ( i.e. IM node) there Archive Support will be enabled
automatically as part of IM installation and initializations. Users should make sure for
other service groups Archive support are NOT enabled and same has been highlighted
in the screen.
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Figure 2.21: Basic History Configuration issue
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2.34 What is Read Raw Error and When is it Bad?

A Read Raw Event from an IM indicates that an OPC/HDA read of numeric log data from
a Direct Log residing in Basic History on a Connectivity Server has failed. Most
occurrences of Read Raw Events are in response to the dynamic loads placed on an
800xA system and can safely be ignored as the next OPC/HDA Read Raw request for
the log that failed includes the period that was missed in the failed request. However,
some Read Raw requests can indicate a log that is not collecting and never will. How
can you tell an okay event from one that requires further action? This topic gives
information on making this determination and the steps needed for resolution once the
severity has been accessed.
The key tool for determining the severity of Read Raw Errors from an IM is the Event
List Aspect itself. The Read Raw Errors where the number of errors and their frequency
appear to be random can most likely be ignored. This type of event is caused by a
transient load on the system and does not affect the contents of an IM log as the next
request gets the missed data.
The hsCollectionX.log file in %HS_LOG% can also be used if too many events exist
in the 800xA Event List to get a good read on the frequency. Enter the string
%HS_LOG% in the address bar of a Windows Explorer. A window expands to the
correct folder. There will be up to four hsCollectionX.log files. The X will be between
0 and 3. The file with the most recent timestamp has the most current data. A line is
listed in this file with the same information contained in the 800xA event.
There can be many causes for transient load in an 800xA system. One common cause
is Basic History when Direct Logs in a redundant configuration are being synchronized
after a restart. The OPC/HDA read from one Basic History Provider to another is given
precedence over those coming from an IM. Operator display requests that have many
Trend Elements can also be a source of transient load as the request for all the trend
data is made. Another known source of Read Raw events is the restart of an IM where
the IM enters a catch up mode for the period it was down and temporarily generates a
higher volume of OPC/HDA requests.
While Read Raw Events that are generated sporadically can be ignored, those that occur
with repeating quantities over set time periods are indicative of either an overloaded
system or a discrepancy between the history configuration in the Aspect System and
that stored in Oracle. In either case, action is required to determine and remove the
cause of the events.
As of SV5.0 SP2 Rev D and SV5.1, the events that IM logs to document problems
collecting from OPC/HDA have been enhanced to include more pertinent information.
The event now includes text that allows for easy determination of Read Raw Errors that
are being caused by Basic History Service Provider synchronization after a restart. The
enhanced Read Raw Event reads:
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Collection received 189 ReadRaw (189 STILL_IN_SYNC) failures in last 5 minutes.

Of the Read Raw Errors that occurred in last 5 minutes, the number caused by attempting
to collect from a log that is still being synchronized is given. When trying to determine if
Red Raw Errors can safely be ignored, you must wait till after history synchronization
has been completed (when STILL_IN_SYNC is consistently 0). Any Read Raw Errors
that consistently occur with STILL_IN_SYNC equal to zero warrant further investigation.
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2.35 Procedure for Finding and Removing Serious IM Read Raw Events
2.35 Procedure for Finding and Removing Serious IM

Read Raw Events
To find and remove the serious IM Read Raw Events, perform the following steps:
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1. Check the Rate at which the IM is sending OPC/HDA requests.

To determine if IM is sending OPC/HDA requests to the Basic History at a reasonable
rate, the tool hsDBMaint -stagger is used. The tool reports the current number or
HDA requests each minute and allows the Blocking Rate of the IM logs to be adjusted
to reduce the frequency of the HDA requests. Figure 2.22 shows the execution of
the command and the information.
The key metric is the Average Requests Per Minute from OPC/HDA. In this example,
the rate is 125.3 requests each minute. This is a light load. A good target for the
number of HDA Requests each minute is 500. On optimum hardware, consistent
loads of 1000 requests each minute have been obtained without getting Read Raw
errors. If the IM is above 1000, then it is most likely to get Read Raw errors because
you have over configured the number of logs and/or the rate at which the data is
requested (based on the logs Blocking Rate).
Figure 2.22: Execution of the OPC/HDA Commands
For instructions on using the hsDBMaint -stagger, refer to the Stagger Collection
and Storage topic in the History Database Maintenance section of System 800xA
Information Management Configuration (3BUF001092*).
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This section is more concerned about reducing load on the IM disks by making fewer
larger writes than more frequent smaller ones. The larger, less frequent writes are
much more efficient and are still a valid reason for reducing the OPC/HDA rate.
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2. Check for Basic History logs that are disabled.

A Log Configuration Aspect that is not enabled (the Enabled check box is not
selected), will create Read Raw errors if the IM log is enabled, Figure 2.23.
Figure 2.23: Log Configuration
The Log Summary Aspect can be used to quickly look for disabled Log Configuration
Aspects and activate them. The Log Summary must be placed at the root level of
all structures containing Log Configuration Aspects to see them all. Figure 2.24
indicates the Log Summary Aspect showing a disabled Log Configuration Aspect.
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Figure 2.24: Disabled Log Configuration Aspect
3. Check for inconsistencies in Log Configuration Aspects.

Use the Process Portal Consistency Checker Tool available from the taskbar in the
Plant Explorer Workplace to check the objects and aspects containing the Log
Configuration aspects for inconsistencies between the instances and the templates.
Click the icon (Figure 2.25) to launch the tool. Refer to the Consistency Check
section of System 800xA Tools (2PAA101888*) for more information.
Figure 2.25: Consistency Check Tool Icon
4. Restart the Basic History Service.

When new logs have recently been created, it is possible that the Read Raw errors
are being caused by a setup error in Basic History Service Providers as it updates
its cache of all defined logs in the Aspect System. The result is a log that was not
added correctly to this cache and can cause Read Raw errors when the IM requests
data from it.
To remove the possibility of a log setup error in the log cache maintained by each
Basic History Service Provider, the Basic History Service must be disabled and then
enabled. On enable, the Basic History Service Providers read all the log data from
the Aspect System and rebuild their cached list of logs.
The History data is lost for the time that the Basic History Service Providers are
initializing. Also, for some period after the Service Providers in a redundant
configuration reach the service state, the IM experiences an increased rate of Read
Raw errors as the redundant service providers synchronize their logs.
The Service level is required to ensure redundant Basic History Service Providers
do not maintain a corrupt cache that could happen if one was left in the service state
while the other restarts.
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5. Check the IM for orphaned logs using hsDBMaint -checkDB.

Orphaned logs are left in the IM when history logs are deleted from the Aspect
System while the IM is either down or when the InformIT History Manager
Synchronization has been disabled. Orphaned logs are not automatically removed
from the IM when they are encountered as the data in these logs could be important
if the logs were orphaned by mistake. A tool was created to allow the user to make
a decision about deleting the data. The tool is hsDBMaint -clean and is run as follows:
At a windows command prompt type: hsDBMaint -checkDB. Errors stating that
logs need to be deleted because of non-existing sources in the Aspect System
indicate that orphaned logs are present and need to be deleted. Perform the following
to delete the orphaned logs:
a. Enter PASGUI at the windows Run prompt.
b. Stop the IM using the PAS Stop All command.
c. Remove the orphaned records by typing hsDBMaint -clean at a command
prompt.
d. Start the IM using the PAS Start All command.
3BUF001147-610 A 113
2 History
6. Find the offending Log Configuration Aspects and review them for errors.
If Read Raw errors are still occurring at this point, it is possible that something is
wrong with the contents of the Log Configuration Aspect that did not cause it to be
flagged as inconsistent in the Log Summary Aspect. An example of this is having
added a Log Configuration Aspect that has logs defined on a property that does not
exist on the object and its aspects. Perform the following to find these types of
configuration errors:
a. As of SV5.0 SP2 Rev D and SV5.1, new events have been added to document
problems the IM is having collecting from OPC/HDA. The following event has
been added when a Read Raw Error has occurred.
Collection: first 5 ReadRaw failures from Objects: GUID1, GUID2, GUID3,
GUID4, GUID5
If this event occurs consistently and History Synchronization is not the cause,
indicated by a non-zero value for STILL_IN_SYNC in the Read Raw Event,
then the event warrants further investigation. The GUIDs in the event can be
used in the Plant Explorers Find Tool to locate the object. Once located, follow
the last step in this section to investigate the Log Configuration Aspect. For
systems not at the mentioned versions, continue with the remaining steps.
b. Create a History Report on the IM. The history report is created by typing
hsDBMaint -report > c:\temp\HistRep.txt at a command prompt. The command
can take a lengthy period of time for systems with large numeric log
configurations as it reads all values for every log before making an entry in the
HistRep.txt file that is created when the report is run.
c. Review the history report for active logs that have not stored data in some time.
Each line in the history report represents one log on the IM. The first character
is either an A or I and denotes active or inactive. The next two entries represent
the time range covered by all the entries in the log. The first timestamp
represents the oldest point and the second timestamp indicates the newest.
The following is an example of a portion of a history report:
A 04 Dec 09 05:44:00 15 Dec 09 13:56:01 1.00:1 -1 16333 16332 1 0 32240
$HS{log guid}-6-o
A 04 Dec 09 05:44:00 04 Dec 09 05:44:00 1.00:1 -1 1 0 1 0 32242 $HS{log
guid}-6-o
A 04 Dec 09 05:44:00 15 Dec 09 14:00:58 1.00:1 -1 16338 0 16338 0 32244
$HS{log guid}-6-o
A 04 Dec 09 05:44:00 15 Dec 09 14:00:58 1.00:1 -1 16338 0 16338 0 32246
$HS log guid}-6-o
3BUF001147-610 A 114
2 History
A 04 Dec 09 05:44:00 15 Dec 09 13:55:01 1.00:1 -1 16332 16331 1 0 32248

$HS{log guid}-6-o
While this file can contain thousands of entries, a quick visual scan is needed.
The newest timestamp for logs that are not collecting because of Read Raw
errors will be obvious even with a quick visual inspection. From the example
history report output, the active log that has only data for 04 Dec 09 05:44:00
to 04 Dec 09 05:44:00 is an obvious candidate for further investigation.
3BUF001147-610 A 115
2 History
d. Find the Objects that contain logs that are causing Read Raw errors. If the
history report was made on a pre 800xA 5.x system, or an 800xA 5.x system
that was upgraded from 800xA 4.x, the object where the Log configuration
resides can be taken directly from the log name. That is the portion of the history
report shown as $HS{log guid} in the sample history report output used in this
topic.
If the history report was made on an 800xA 5.x system and new logs were
created at 800xA 5.x, then the object name, represented by the text {log guide}
in the sample history report output, is not discernable and another step is
needed. The Log ID, the value just to the left of the $HS, is used to look up the
800xA Item ID in Oracle as follows:
cmd> sqlplus /@localhost
SQL> select log_id, item_id from ops$ocshis.hda_table where log_id in
(32242,32246);
To the left of the > is the prompt. cmd represents a Windows command prompt
and sql represents a Sqlplus command prompt. To the right of the prompt is
what the user must enter. The command was written for the sample history
report in this topic. The Log IDs included are 32242 and 32246 for a second
log not included in the output. Any additional bad logs should be added to the
list separated by a comma. After the user runs the commands, a note of the
item_id returned for each log ID should be made. The item_id includes the
800xA path and object name.
3BUF001147-610 A 116
2 History
2.36 Incorrect network binding in Windows 2012R2
e. Inspect the Log Configuration Aspects on the objects found in previous steps.
Use the object name found in the history report and sql statements if they are
needed to find the Log Configuration Aspect in the Plant Explorer. Once found
determine the following:
i. Inspect the Log Configuration Aspects on the objects found in previous
steps.
ii. Can the user read data from the Status tab of each of the logs on the
aspect?
Given that no data was stored for the IM log, minimally the user should not
be able to see data in the IM log. Furthermore, the following can be
determined:
iii. Is there anything unusual about the object/aspect/property the log is on?
iv. Does the property exist on this object/aspect combination?
If the source of the Read Raw errors can not be determined at this point,
the user should contact ABB Technical Support to find out what other steps
can be performed. Include an attachment with the preceding information
when creating the support case.
2.36 Incorrect network binding in Windows 2012R2

Inform IT History Manager UI shows zero message logs even though there are some
message logs because of in correct network adaptor bindings in Windows Server 2012
R2. Ensure that message logs do not have any update references by cleaning the Oracle
database.
3BUF001147-610 A 117
3BUF001147-610 A 118
3.1 Introduction
3 SoftPoints, Calculations, and Open Data

Access
3.1 Introduction
This section provides guidelines for:
• SoftPoint Setup and Configuration on page 120
• Performance Statistics for Calculations on page 120
• Difficulty Modifying SoftPoint Values on page 120
• Copying Calculations to Object Instances on page 120
• Generating Events on page 121
• Deleting Calculations on page 121
• Cannot View Calculations in the Calculation Status Viewer on page 121
• Enabling Instantiated Calculations on page 121
• Calculations Update Status on page 122
• General Considerations on page 122
• Logging Status Information for Open Data Access on page 122
• Guidelines for Native Language Support on page 123
• Calculation Registry Keys on page 123
• Calculation Registry Keys on page 123
3BUF001147-610 A 119
3.2 SoftPoint Setup and Configuration
3.2 SoftPoint Setup and Configuration

Before you can configure SoftPoints, you must configure the control network structure,
and add service groups and providers. Refer to the section on SoftPoints in System
800xA Post Installation (3BUA000156*).
You must DEPLOY SoftPoints after any configuration changes to make the changes
active.
3.3 Performance Statistics for Calculations

The Calculation Server generates performance statistics that you can use to monitor
and adjust the load on the server. These statistics may be collected by a SoftPoint object
that you create in the Control structure. You can then employ a trend aspect to monitor
the performance over time, identify peaks during execution, and take corrective action
if necessary. Refer to the section on Calculations in System 800xA Information
Management Configuration (3BUF001092*).
3.4 Difficulty Modifying SoftPoint Values

When you are configuring SoftPoints via a SoftPoint client node, you may have difficulty
modifying values of SoftPoint signals for objects created using the SoftPoint client node.
This is not a problem for SoftPoint objects that were created using the SoftPoint server
node. Signal values for those objects can be modified either from the SoftPoint server
or a SoftPoint client. Close and then restart the Plant Explorer Workplace.
3.5 Copying Calculations to Object Instances

When you add a calculation to an object type, you can reuse the calculation each time
an object is created from the object type. To do this you MUST specify that the calculation
be copied when a new object is created. This is done via the object type’s Type Definition
aspect. This is described in the section on Calculations in System 800xA Information
3BUF001147-610 A 120
3.6 Generating Events
3.6 Generating Events

The Is Event check box on the Alarm Event Configuration aspect does not operate as
expected. If you check Is Event (without Is Alarm) and do not check either box for log
status change (On and Off), no events are generated.
First determine whether or not you want to generate alarms. If so, check both
Is Event and Is Alarm. This gives you alarms, and events for both status changes. In
this case you are not required to check the associated status change boxes. If you don’t
want to generate alarms, but you do want events, check Is Event. Then decide whether
you want events for On or Off or both status changes, and check the corresponding log
status check boxes.
3.7 Deleting Calculations

If you delete an object that has a calculation aspect, the calculation will continue to run.
Delete the calculation aspect before you delete the object.
3.8 Cannot View Calculations in the Calculation Status

Viewer
Following an upgrade calculation aspects that existed in the pre-upgrade system may
not be viewable via the Calculation Status Viewer. Delete and then recreate the
Calculation Status Viewer aspect.
3.9 Enabling Instantiated Calculations

You cannot enable a calculation until it has been assigned to a specific service group
or service provider. If a calculation is using a SoftPoint as an input or an output, it is
recommended to have the calculation aspect execute on the same computer.
The calculation aspect on the instantiated object is disabled by default. You must enable
it using either the Enable button on the calculation aspect’s tool bar, or via Calculation
Status Viewer.
3BUF001147-610 A 121
3.10 Calculations Update Status
3.10 Calculations Update Status

The Settings.UpdateStatus defaults to False for optimum performance. Certain properties,
mostly related to debugging, will not be updated when the calculation is run on line. You
may set the update status to true for debug purposes if necessary; however, it is generally
recommended not to run calculations in this mode.
If you are running relatively few calculations at a modest rate of execution, you may run
the calculations with Settings.UpdateStatus = True. This lets you use the Result property
to link calculations.
You may also have the calculation periodically set the update status true every n number
of executions to periodically update status-related parameters.
3.11 General Considerations

• Set scan rates to reasonable values, for example: 30 seconds.
• Consider using Event based Calculations instead of polling
• Consider using the Scheduler for event calculations which require more detailed
expression handling.
• Check the permissions on the signals that you need to write to
• Make sure the attribute has write permissions for the user class
3.12 Logging Status Information for Open Data Access

The ODA Server has a logging function to facilitate debugging. When this logging function
is enabled, status information for each query against the Numericlog table is recorded
in a log file. Logging is disabled by default. It is recommended that you leave logging
disabled unless you are having problems and need to provide ABB support with a record
of query activity.
3BUF001147-610 A 122
3.13 Guidelines for Native Language Support
3.13 Guidelines for Native Language Support

Starting at version 4.0, Calculation Services supports Windows Regional settings for
French, German, and Swedish languages. If you intend to use floating point values in
calculations you must include the SetLocale function in the calculation script in order for
the calculation to process the floating point values correctly. The syntax is:
SetLocale(“lang”)
where lang is the code for the native language:
• fr = French
• de = German
• sv = Swedish
An example is illustrated in Figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1: SetLocale Function for Floating Point Values in Native Language
3.14 Calculation Registry Keys

The registry keys exist under this location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\ABB\Inform IT\Calculations
3BUF001147-610 A 123
3.14 Calculation Registry Keys
These keys are:

debugValue If not existent, or set to zero, no additional diagnostic
messages will be written to the Calculation debugging log
file, other than the default messages such as 'thread
starting', etc. The Calculation debugging log file is in the
following location:
C:\ProgramData\ABB\IM\Calculations
debugDefinitions Lists the definitions for the various 'debugging' diagnostics
that the Calculation server can be told to output to the
Calculation debugging log files. The current definitions are
as follows:
• 0 - No Debugging on
or any combination of the following:
• 1 - Post Process
• 2 - Cache Sizes
• 4 - Writing to SoftPoints
• 8 - Writing to OPC and/or OPCHDA Servers
• 16 - undefined
• 32 - dump Cache (large)
debugDelay If not existent, will default to zero (0). Otherwise, it specifies the
amount of time (in seconds) that the Calculation server will delay at
startup so that a debugger can be attached to the process prior to
initialization or running of any calculations.
3BUF001147-610 A 124
4.1 Introduction
4.1 Introduction
This section provides guidelines for troubleshooting data access applications. This
includes DataDirect, Desktop Trends, Display Services, reports, and the Application
Scheduler. Topics covered include:
• General Troubleshooting Tips on page 126
• Exporting Problems on page 128
• Crystal Reports and ODBC on page 128
• Fixing Large Reports (Long Execution Time) on page 129
• DataDirect Add-in Not Installed for 800xA Service Account on page 129
• DataServerLogin on page 129
• DataDirect Functions Fail to Return Data on page 130
• Date Formatting Problems in DataDirect on page 130
• DataDirect Functions on page 130
• EX Automation Error on page 130
• Reading DataDirect (Excel) Reports from a FileViewer Aspect on page 131
• Scheduler Service Group on page 131
• Scheduler Service Group on page 131
• Restored Logs Not Available on page 132
• Launch Permissions on page 132
• Excel DCOM Launch Permissionson page 134
• Cannot Find XLQuery Error on page 135
• History Logs Not Available Through Network-wide EH_NET on page 135
• Saving and Printing Desktop Trends on page 135
3BUF001147-610 A 125
4.2 General Troubleshooting Tips
• Batch Reports on page 136

• Problems Running Crystal Reports Batch Template on page 136
• Opening Desktop Tools with ActiveX Controls on Windows XP on page 136
• Desktop Trends ActiveX Components Not Registered During Upgrade on page 138
• User Tag Management on page 140
• Using MS Query within Excel Based Reports on page 141
• Using MS Query within Excel Based Reports on page 141
• Max Files per File Type, Per Directory on page 141
• ODA Numericlog Queries using Access Name (Seamless) may Fail on page 141
• Entering Time Ranges in ODA Numericlog Queries from SQL or ODBC Connections
on page 142
• Debugging Commands Sent to ODA on page 143
• Placing a Calculate Now Function on an Excel Spreadsheet on page 145

• If reports fail in unusual ways, check the Windows system heap as described in
Table 1.1 in Section 1 First Response Guidelines.
• Using Run Now from the Scheduling Definition aspect - This creates a new
Green Running Jobs object, which will disappear upon successful completion, or
turn red on failure. The Running Jobs object has an aspect which will report the
error encountered.
3BUF001147-610 A 126
• Using the Test Action on the Action Aspect (Figure 127) - This runs the report via
the interactive or workplace user, instead of the Scheduler. This will help you
determine whether or not the scheduler is having problems. If you see dialogs asking
for userid/password or data source, this indicates the report will not run when
executed by the Scheduler. Also check the ODBC source Localhost to make sure
it was not configured with a userid (should be blank).
Figure 4.1: Test Action Function on the Action Aspect
• Macro Security and Pop-up Dialogs - Security issues often cause reports to hang
due to resulting pop-up messages. Any error causing a dialog to pop up in Excel
for a report template interactively will also do so for the 800xA service account
running the task in the background. Macro Security settings can cause this. If Visual
Basic macros are defined in a particular report, Excel Macro Security settings may
need to be set lower for the 800xA Service Account. If you are on the local computer,
listen for beeps. Beeps are an indication that a dialog is popping up in the
background.
Make sure that you are logged in with the 800xA Service Account when checking
security issues, as this is the account used for generating the report.
• Run Report Template manually in Excel - Use F9 with the Report Template opened
in Excel. Then Test functions separately. To pinpoint which function(s) are failing,
it helps to whittle the report down to individual function calls and testing individually
to identify the problematic one.
Try to run an empty report. Uncheck all Excel add-ins including DataDirect This
eliminates some situations where excel might pop up a dialog.
3BUF001147-610 A 127
4.3 Exporting Problems
• Test the function calls Interactively in Excel - The Microsoft Excel Function wizard
tries to execute functions each time a new parameter is entered. This may cause
Excel to crash. When using the function wizard, it is recommended that you disable
the functions from the option page.
• General support for Crystal Reports - Refer to the following web site:
http://support.businessobjects.com/search/
www.crystalkeen.com
www.crystalbook.com
www.mindconnection.com
www.tech-tips.com
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/crystlmn/html/crsamsamples.asp
www.hammerman.com
www.kenhamady.com
www.chelseatech.co.nz
4.3 Exporting Problems

The following conditions will result in reports not being exported according to the export
specification in the Action aspect:
• insufficient disk space
• printer not available
• windows file system security settings
• an incorrect path.
4.4 Crystal Reports and ODBC

When you install Crystal Reports, make sure that all components are loaded (Complete).
The Typical load does not include export formats to create PDF output (and other formats)
from Crystal Reports.
For systems prior to version 4.1, create an ODBC source for the Oracle Adva instance
called local. The post installation process will create an ODBC source called Localhost.
This is used by the Crystal Batch Templet in the obvious table references. However,
somewhere in the templet is a reference to a table under the ODBC source named local.
Without the data source local present, the report action will fail to execute with an error:
/FAILED: Unable to export report: Logon Failed. This problem is fixed in system version
4.1.
3BUF001147-610 A 128
4.5 Fixing Large Reports (Long Execution Time)
4.5 Fixing Large Reports (Long Execution Time)

If a report is taking much longer than it should to finish executing and no Time Limit was
configured for the action, other jobs in the queue may not run as scheduled. To fix this,
abort the job along with any Excel programs which may still be running. Set a maximum
time for Report Action Aspects, so the system will terminate the report instance if a report
hangs. This will give other working reports the chance to execute. Also, increase the
action time limit for large reports.
Jobs waiting in the queue are shown in blue, and their state in the Job Log will be Not
run. If software is not installed properly, the Scheduler service may need to be disabled
and re-enabled and running jobs queue be manually deleted.
4.6 DataDirect Add-in Not Installed for 800xA Service

Account
The DataDirect Add-in must be installed for each user account that will use DataDirect.
On the nodes where 800xA Application Scheduler is used to run reports created with
DataDirect (Excel Data Access), the user has to add the Data Direct Add-in in the Service
Account manually. This is required for Scheduled Excel reports functionality. For all other
users, the Add-ins must be added for the specific user who will be using the functionality.
Refer to the topic Manually Adding the Data-Direct Add-in, Section 2 - General
Information for DataDirect in System 800xA Information Management, Data Access
and Reports (3BUF001094*).
4.7 DataServerLogin
Check the DataServerLogin requirements for DataDirect and Crystal Reports.
DataServerLogin parameter may set improperly or not at all.
When using functions that require data providers, be sure to add the DataServerLogin
parameter to the Action aspect, and make sure that the parameters check box is checked,
(DataServerLogin=roc79,aid,aid).
3BUF001147-610 A 129
4.8 DataDirect Functions Fail to Return Data
4.8 DataDirect Functions Fail to Return Data

This may occur when an Aspect server fails to resolve an ItemID, or problems with Basic
History on a connectivity server. Restarting the basic history service and OPC DA
connector services for the connectivity server may resolve this problem.
Also, when report templates are moved from one location to another, the path to the
DataDirect Add-in can get misdirected in the template. An indication of this is when the
entire file path of the DataDirect Add-in is displayed in the Excel cell containing the
DataDirect function call. This is fixed by running the Update Function References function.
Refer to the section on DataDirect in System 800xA Information Management Data
Access and Reports (3BUF001094*).
4.9 Date Formatting Problems in DataDirect

Do not use the following options for short date style in the Regional Settings dialog
(Windows Control Panel function): yy-dd-mm or yyyy-dd-mm. This may result in some
date formatting problems.
4.10 DataDirect Functions

• Message Logs via ABBSql() - "No Data" returned when queries for large data sets
(often including one or more vendor attributes) times out at the ODBC layer. Errors
appear in Event viewer.
• Message Logs via ABBAeRetrieval() - "No Attributes Available" returned for some
fields in an event list. For every 800xA Object, function is limited to retrieval from a
single Alarm and Event Aspect. (fixed in version 4.0 and later)
• ABBSql() function returning single row of data - When a single data value is
returned in a data set, the value repeats in every row serviced by the function. This
is resolved by a Visual Basic workaround.
4.11 EX Automation Error

Both Excel and Crystal reports can abort with the following error message:
Error while run automation type EX: Automation error. The remote procedure call
failed.
The following exception failure is also generated: Exception occurred [0x80020009].
3BUF001147-610 A 130
4.12 Reading DataDirect (Excel) Reports from a FileViewer Aspect
Increase the timeout variable on the Action aspect under the Job Description object to
resolve the problem.
4.12 Reading DataDirect (Excel) Reports from a

FileViewer Aspect
This may cause both Excel and Plant Explorer windows to freeze. To fix this, change
the file opening set-up for Microsoft Excel Worksheets as follows:
1. In Windows Explorer, choose Tools>Folder Options.
2. Select the File Types tab.
3. Select the XLS Microsoft Excel Worksheet file type.
4. Click Advanced.
5. Uncheck the browse in same window check box.
6. Click OK in the Advanced dialog.
7. Click OK in the Folder Options dialog.
4.13 Scheduler Service Group

The Service Group selection field in the Application Scheduler lets you choose which
server will execute a given job in the case where there are multiple nodes running the
Scheduling services. Jobs that do not have a service group selected will display <default>
in this field and will be executed by the primary service group. The primary service group
is determined to be the first service group created, not necessarily the first one listed in
the Service structure.
It is recommended that you use this field to specify where (on which server node) the
scheduled job will run.
For systems having more then one Scheduler Service Group, make sure the default
Scheduler Service Group is pointing at the node where Crystal Reports is loaded. On
systems prior to 800xA 3.1/SP2 Batch overrides the Service Group configured on the
Scheduling Definition Aspect with default. If the default Service Group does not have
Crystal reports, the report will fail to execute with the following error:
/FAILED: Unable to open report into Crystal: Object variable of With block not set.
3BUF001147-610 A 131
4.14 Restored Logs Not Available
The default Service Group for a Service is the first one listed in the Service structure
under the Scheduler category (they are listed alphabetically). You can add a character
for example - x,y,z, etc can be added to the front of the names to get them in the desired
order.
4.14 Restored Logs Not Available

Archived numeric log data which is subsequently restored cannot be accessed by desktop
applications (DataDirect, Desktop Trends, Display Services, and so on). Use the
publishing method to view archived data for property logs.
4.15 Launch Permissions

The scheduler has 2 automation interfaces:
• EXSingleAuto.clsExcelAutomation – Excel Automation
• CRSingleAuto.clsAutoSingleCR – Crystal Reports Automation
Installing a security fix may change the behavior of Excel or Crystal Reports.
3BUF001147-610 A 132
4.15 Launch Permissions
If this occurs, use the following procedure to fix this problem:

1. Use the Windows Task Manager to terminate the EXSingleAuto.ex and EXCEL.EXE
processes, Figure 4.2. Multiple instances of the EXCEL.EXE process indicates there
are multiple instances of the report in the scheduling queue. In this case you may
want to disable the scheduling definition to prevent further report instances from
queuing.
Figure 4.2: Terminating the EXSingleAuto and EXCEL Processes
2. Locate the DataDirect.INI file under:

C:\Users\800xaservice\AppData\Roaming\ABB\DataDirect
where 800xaServiceAccount is the 800xa Service account as specified on the
Software and User Settings tab of the 800xA System Configuration Wizard.
3. Build an identical structure under Default User path in the same directory as follows:
C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\ABB\DataDirect
4. Copy the DataDirect.INI file into both of these new paths.
3BUF001147-610 A 133
4.16 Excel DCOM Launch Permissions
4.16 Excel DCOM Launch Permissions

For Excel based reports including batch reports, When ran via Scheduler, in some
scenarios, for given Excel version, updates and Domain settings, there is a possibility
to see errors like Permission Denied Or Open method of workbook class failed for
the Jobs run via Scheduler. Workaround for this issue is to Toggle the DCOM settings
for the Excel on the Node where scheduler is running.
Figure 4.3 shows the steps for Toggling of Excel DCOM settings.
Figure 4.3: Toggling of DCOM settings
Open Component services via Windows Run command -> MMC comexp.msc /32
Open Microsoft Excel Application properties as shown in the Figure 4.3
1. Default Setting will be The launching user,
2. Set it as The interactive user,
3. Apply the changes,
3BUF001147-610 A 134
4.17 Cannot Find XLQuery Error
4. Run the Job with Permission denied error manually via Scheduling Definition ->
Run Job
5. The job should complete without errors
6. Toggle the Identity Setting back to The launching user and Apply changes.
4.17 Cannot Find XLQuery Error

Reading Excel Reports produced using ODBC queries causes the following modal error
message on opening the file:
Cannot find XLQuery.XLA!Register.DClick, which has been assigned to run each time
[filename.xls]Sheet1 is opened. Continuing could cause errors. Cancel opening
[filename.xls]Sheet1?
There is Microsoft documentation on the causes of this error, and possible programmatic
workarounds (involves Excel 2002). See:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;277620
4.18 History Logs Not Available Through Network-wide

EH_NET
Information Management-based logs in the property log hierarchy that are created after
the IMHDA data provider has been started will not be available through network-wide
(EH_NET) access. To see these logs, restart the IMHDA data provider, or use local (EH)
access.
4.19 Saving and Printing Desktop Trends

The tool bar on the Trend Display provides buttons for saving displays as HTML files
and for printing displays. These buttons MUST be used rather than the File>Save and
File>Print functions available via the Internet Explorer user interface. For details regarding
the Trend Display save and print functions, refer to the section on Using Desktop Trends
in System 800xA Information Management Data Access and Reports (3BUF001094*).
3BUF001147-610 A 135
4.20 Batch Reports
4.20 Batch Reports

When a batch report runs, you may not see message data in the report that should
normally be displayed. In the application log file for the system you will see a
corresponding message around the time that the report was run: Description: DBA-Select,
Exception while processing SELECT *FROM Batch_AuditEvents Where BATCHID=test-4
(test-4 represents the name of the batch).
The ODBC driver that accesses Oracle times out, and sends an error back through
reports. The standard ODBC settings page for the oracle setup does not allow editing
of the time out fields, the only way to do this is to perform the following in the Registry
Editor:
• Find the Oracle ODBC settings in the registry (localhost) - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
> Software > ODBC > ODBC.ini > localhost
• Locate the QueryTimeout field and select it.
• Change the value to F.
• Restart the node.
4.21 Problems Running Crystal Reports Batch Template

Running a Crystal Reports batch template may fail with the following error which is
displayed on the Job Log tab on the job’s Scheduling Definition aspect: Failed, unable
to export report: Logon failed. This may occur when the report attempts to connect to
the data source that is defined using Microsoft's ODBC driver for oracle.
If this occurs, you will require an updated Oracle odbc driver. Contact ABB customer
support to request the new driver.
4.22 Opening Desktop Tools with ActiveX Controls on

Windows XP
When using desktop tools with ActiveX controls, if you do not change the default security
setting, you will be prompted whether or not to allow access of blocked controls every
time you attempt to use a tool that includes an activeX control, Figure 4.4.
3BUF001147-610 A 136
4.22 Opening Desktop Tools with ActiveX Controls on Windows XP
Figure 4.4: Prompt to Allow Blocked Content
To open the tool you will be required to click in the message bar, select Allow Blocked
Content from the context menu, Figure 4.5, and then respond to the security warning,
Figure 4.6.
Figure 4.5: Allowing Blocked Content on an Ad-hoc Basis
Figure 4.6: Security Warning
3BUF001147-610 A 137
4.23 Desktop Trends ActiveX Components Not Registered During Upgrade
To avoid having to perform these steps at each instance, change the default security in
Internet Explorer, Figure 4.7. On the IE menu bar select Tools>Internet Options. Click
the Advanced tab in the Internet Options dialog, then scroll to the Security section and
check:
• Allow active content from CDs to run on My Computer.
• Allow active content to run in files on My Computer.
Figure 4.7: Allowing Blocked Content Through Internet Options
4.23 Desktop Trends ActiveX Components Not

Registered During Upgrade
When upgrading from a previous version to 800xA 6.1, the Desktop Trends ActiveX
components does not get registered. This causes the web pages to fail.
To register the Desktop Trends ActiveX components, run the following:
C:\Program Files (x86)\ABB Industrial IT\Inform IT\
3BUF001147-610 A 138
4.24 Desktop Tools Fail to Connect to the Server
Desktop Trends\bin\RegisterTrendControls.bat
This file will properly register the controls silently (there are no confirmation dialog boxes).
This action only needs to be taken on nodes where the problem is seen and only needs
to be run once.
4.24 Desktop Tools Fail to Connect to the Server

If the client where the desktop tool (DataDirect, Desktop Trends, or Display Client) runs
is in a different domain than the Information Management server, the log-in attempt may
time out and display the following error:
Server could not be reached, license information not read
This problem may be related to the DNS server configuration. The work-around is to
configure the Display Services COM data provider to use DNS differently.
This procedure requires you to edit the Windows Registry on the Information
Management server. Making a mistake in the registry may render the computer
inoperable. It is recommended that you make a backup of the computer using an
image backup application before you proceed. Also, take care to follow the instructions
closely, and change only the registry key indicated below.
To configure the COM data provider:
1. Open the Windows registry editor on the server (Run -> regedit).
2. Browse to:
My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\
ABB\Wow6432Node\ADSS\Configuration\COM\Arguments
3. Add the String Value UseReverseDNS and set the value to 0.
4. Stop and then start the Display process via PAS.
You can confirm that the data provider has been added by checking the argument list
of the COM data provider in the ADSS Config utility in the Windows Control Panel.
3BUF001147-610 A 139
4.25 User Tag Management
4.25 User Tag Management

The User Tag Management functionality is used to find and organize log configuration
and trend tags for easier tag management. It is started as a separate Information
Management utility and is also accessible from Desktop Trends, DataDirect Inform IT
History Values and Process Values dialogs, Ticker and Tag Explorer.
Supporting tables for client groups (client_group) and client tags (client_all_tagnames)
are installed with and backed up with the History database. The tables are accessible
via sqlplus as shown in Figure 4.8. Use the describe statement in sqlplus to see the
contents of these tables.
Figure 4.8: User Tag Management Tables
3BUF001147-610 A 140
4.26 Using MS Query within Excel Based Reports
4.26 Using MS Query within Excel Based Reports

A customer recently discovered a problem when using MS Query to build reports in Excel
2003. This functionality uses the following licensing in the 800xA system:
• HIST_ODBC
• HIST_ODBC_SRVR
The situation is that a popup window may appear indicating the information contained
in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base bulletin:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/248204/en-us
Even if you turn ON the Automatic update for the spreadsheet, the message will still
appear. This will prevent the use of the Report Scheduler to generate the report.
To prevent this situation, follow the procedures contained the bulletin to add entries to
the Registry.
4.27 Max Files per File Type, Per Directory

Changes made to the Max Files Per File Type, Per Directory parameter are not applied
if they are not made on the Information Management node where the reports are
generated (the node where the Application Scheduler is running). This parameter is
accessed by double-clicking the export path in the report Action aspect view which opens
the Configure Export to a File Path window.
The Max Files Per File Type, Per Directory parameter must be configured on the
Information Management node where the reports are generated (the node where the
Application Scheduler is running).
4.28 ODA Numericlog Queries using Access Name

(Seamless) may Fail
Use the Find Tool in the Plant Explorer workplace to find the Object being queried. If
multiple Objects are found, try adding more of the path to the Object name in the Control
Structure. This should uniquely identify the Object and the query should work. It is also
possible to rename one of the Objects so that all Objects in the Aspect System are
unique.
3BUF001147-610 A 141
4.29 Entering Time Ranges in ODA Numericlog Queries from SQL or ODBC Connections
4.29 Entering Time Ranges in ODA Numericlog Queries

from SQL or ODBC Connections
ODA does not support the SQL TO_DATE command. They will not be interpreted by the
ODA unless they are preprocessed in the client application being used. For most client
applications where TO_DATE is not preprocessed, the default Oracle session date can
be modified to include a timestamp, and raw date strings can be entered in queries.
Perform the following procedure to change the default Oracle date format for all Oracle
client connections.
1. Use Windows Explorer to navigate to glogin.sql in the following locations:
c:\oracle\product\12.1.0\db_1\sqlplus\admin and
c:\oracle\product\12.1.0\client_1\sqlplus\admin
2. Open the glogin.sql file in WordPad.
3. Add the following to the end of the file.
-- Add time to default date format
ALTER SESSION SET NLS_DATE_FORMAT=’DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS’;
4. Save and close the file. After adding the command, any new connection to Oracle
will be able to use date strings that match the entered format to set a range on the
query. Figure 4.9 shows an example.
Figure 4.9: Query Using New Date Format
3BUF001147-610 A 142
4.30 Debugging Commands Sent to ODA

The EnableLogging.exe tool can be used to enable logging for ODA.
1. Use Windows Explorer to locate EnableLogging.exe in the following directory:
C:\Program Files (x86)\ABB Industrial IT\Inform IT\ODA\bin
2. Run EnableLogging.exe as Adminstrator to launch the tool.
EnableLogging.exe must run as an Administrator.
3. Select the Enable Logging check box in the Enable/Disable Error Logging dialog
shown in Figure 4.10.
Figure 4.10: Enable/Disable Error Logging Dialog
4. The log file (ODAProviderLog) will be stored in the following location:

c:\programData\ABB\IM\ODA
3BUF001147-610 A 143
5. Each request sent to ODA will cause a series of lines to be added to the log file.
The newest entries appear at the end of the file. A typical entry is shown in Figure
4.11.
Figure 4.11: ODA Provider Log
6. Review the dates for accuracy. If one or both of the dates shows a? (question mark),
that indicates something from the SQL command was misinterpreted by ODA.
3BUF001147-610 A 144
4.31 Placing a Calculate Now Function on an Excel Spreadsheet
4.31 Placing a Calculate Now Function on an Excel

Spreadsheet
Excel spreadsheets that contain embedded ABB Function Calls do not always respond
to the normal Recalculate function (F9). Follow the steps shown in Figure 4.12 and Figure
4.13 to place a Calculate Full function on the Excel spreadsheet.
Figure 4.12: More Commands Selection
3BUF001147-610 A 145
4.31 Placing a Calculate Now Function on an Excel Spreadsheet
Figure 4.13: Adding Calculate Now Function
3BUF001147-610 A 146
5 Installation Tips
5.1 Introduction
5 Installation Tips
5.1 Introduction
The Information Management software is installed as part of the 800xA system.
.
5.2 Pre-Installation
5.2.1 Domain Setup
The 800xA system uses a Windows domain topology. Set up a dedicated domain be set
up for the 800xA system (i.e. do not add the 800xA system to an existing domain). The
domain must be set up before you install the 800xA system software. It is strongly
recommended that this be done by a qualified domain administrator. Errors in the domain
set-up will result in time-consuming problems once the software is installed, and the
system is up and running.
A good source of information regarding domain setup is available in System 800xA
Network Configuration (3BSE034463*).
Use nslookup to test your connection to the domain controller/DNS server.
5.2.2 Time Synchronization and Network Connections

These functions should be planned before you begin installing software. Refer to System
800xA Network Configuration (3BSE034463*).
5.2.3 Disk Drives

Refer to Planning Guidelines for Hard Disk Capacity on page 94.
3BUF001147-610 A 147
5 Installation Tips
5.2.4 Virus Scanning Software

If you have virus scanning software installed, make sure this software is turned off while
installing all 800xA system software. Certain folders on the Information Management
server should not be scanned at all to improve performance. On Information Management
servers, do not scan all HsData and oradata folders.
• [<drive letter>]:\HsData - typically on more than one disk drive.
• [<drive letter>]:\oracle\oradata - typically on the drive that oracle was installed on
(default is the system drive).
5.2.5 Installing User

An 800xA Administration account is set up when users and groups are configured as
part of the prerequisite setup. Use the 800xA Administration user to install all 800xA
system software, including the Information Management software. This user must also
be used to install Microsoft Excel and Oracle software.
5.2.6 Reboots
Always reboot when instructed (or prompted) to do so. Certain services (windows), and
certain service groups/providers needed to be created and started.
5.2.7 Microsoft Windows

Refer to the 800xA Installation guide to verify, if the correct windows components are
installed.
5.2.8 ASP.NET
For SV6.1 systems, ASP.NET is installed as part of the .NET framework software. Internet
Information Services (IIS) must be installed BEFORE ASP.NET. If you install .NET
framework before IIS is installed, then the ASP.NET does not have a way to bind to the
IIS framework in order to use it. To fix a system where ASP.NET has been installed
before IIS, re-register the asp.net after installation:
%WindowsDir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\vx.y.zzzz\
And you should call it with the -i parameter: aspnet_regiis.exe -i
3BUF001147-610 A 148
5 Installation Tips
Once ASP.NET is installed, confirm that the ASP.NET and Active Server Pages Web
Service Extensions are enabled. To do this:
1. Right click on My Computer and choose Manage from the context menu. Refer to
Figure 5.1 for steps 2 and 3.
2. Open the Internet Information Services Manager branch in the Computer
Management window, and select Web Service Extensions.
3. Check the status of the ASP.NET and Active Server Pages extensions. The status
for both extensions should be set to Allowed. If the status for either extension is
set to Prohibited, select the extension then click Allow.
Figure 5.1: Checking Web Service Extensions
5.2.9 Microsoft Excel and ODA

To use Open Data Access (ODA) with Excel you need to Install Microsoft Query from
on the Office CD.
3BUF001147-610 A 149
5 Installation Tips
5.2.10 Licensing Software

The License server and client software is installed on the system’s primary aspect server.
All other nodes in the system (including Information Management servers) require the
license client. The one exception is the Information Management Consolidation node.
This node is set up as a one-node system (combined aspect/connectivity server. Therefore
this node requires the license server and client software.
The licensing extension must be installed on one node in the system (typically the node
where the license server is installed).
5.2.11 Internet Explorer Setup

Be sure to set up Internet Explorer to bypass the proxy server for local addresses. In
Internet Explorer, go to Tools>Internet Options>Connections>LAN Settings. Check
Bypass the proxy server for local addresses, then click Advanced and enter the local
addresses in the Exceptions box.
5.2.12 Checking the Information Management Installation

Use Windows Programs and Features to verify that all Information Management
components have been installed. These components are easy to recognize by the ABB
Inform IT prefix, Table 5.1.
Table 5.1: Information Management Components

IM History Server IM History Client Desktop Tools Desktop tools for IM
• ABB Inform IT - • ABB Inform IT - • ABB Inform IT - • ABB Inform IT -

Application Scheduler Application DataDirect Desktop Trends
• ABB Inform IT - Scheduler • ABB Inform IT - • ABB Inform IT -
DataDirect • ABB Inform IT - Display Services Display Services
• ABB Inform IT - History Client (Client only) • ABB Inform IT -
Desktop Trends • ABB Inform IT - • ABB Inform IT - Data Direct
• ABB Inform IT - Open Data Access Desktop Trends
Display Services • ABB 800xA Data • ABB Inform IT -
• ABB Inform IT - History Direct Open Data Access
Client
• ABB Inform IT - Open
Data Access
• ABB PAS - System
Services
• ABB 800xA DataDirect
3BUF001147-610 A 150
5 Installation Tips
5.3 Set Up (Post Installation)

5.3.1 Backups
It is recommended that you make two image back-ups. One back-up is for the base
system before Information Management software is installed. The second back-up is for
the system with Information Management software installed. You can use readily available
software such as Ghost, PowerQuest Drive Image, or an equivalent application.
Oracle for Information Management and numeric history flat files can be configured
to span multiple partitions. Any backup must contain all Oracle files from all partitions.
Any reboots between backups of partitions containing Oracle will corrupt the backup.
Oracle will not restart after the restore of the backup.
5.3.2 Guidelines for Configuring the History Database Instance

Take care to allocate sufficient disk space when you configure the History database
instance (post installation step). This will minimize the risk of having to re-allocate space
later, after historical data collection/storage has begun.
Be sure to configure the Oracle History table space for Index and Runtime large enough
to support your storage requirements. If these are not properly sized (when you create
the Oracle database instance), messages will be lost when these tables reach their
maximum size.
If your history application needs to support very large message logs, for example - OPC
message log: 12 million entries and PDL message log: 6 million entries - it is
recommended that you increase the Oracle temp space accordingly. Refer to the section
on extending tablespace for Oracle-based history files in System 800xA Information
For guidelines on sizing the history database, refer to the section on creating the History
database instance in System 800xA Information Management Configuration
(3BUF001092*)
For all systems, except very small (demonstration) systems:
1. Designate two separate disk drives for Oracle-based data storage and file-based
numeric logs. DO NOT use the drive where the Information Management software
and Oracle program files are installed.
2. Start with the option for OPC Message base installation. Use the database instance
wizard’s dialogs to refine your system sizing requirements.
Once you have made your selections, the wizard may take up to 30 minutes to create
the database instance, depending on the size of your application.
3BUF001147-610 A 151
5 Installation Tips
Small (Demo) System Example:

• OPC Messages 100,000
• DCS Messages 0, unless you need to consolidate from an Enterprise Historian
system
• Asynch/Synch Oracle Logs 100
• Report Log 100
• Flat File Logs 10,000
• PDL If you are using batch (small)
Adding a User for Oracle

For configuration/application building and runtime operations, it is recommended that
you log in as a different user (not the installing user).
To support Information Management applications such as historical database
maintenance, and other administrative procedures one or more Industrial IT users must
be added to the ora_dba and HistoryAdmin groups. Refer to the section on managing
users in System 800xA Information Management Configuration (3BUF001092*).
SQL*Plus
Refer to the guidelines for using SQL*Plus in System 800xA Information Management
Data Access and Reports (3BUF001094*). Check ORACLE_SID. Set to ADVA if not
already done.
Testing Oracle Connections

Oracle is accessed by different applications by different methods. Each method should
be tested:
• SQLPLUS - log into history ADVA database:
user name = history, password = <user password>
• ODBC - Test the ODBC connection using Control Panel > Administrative Tools >
ODBC Source. If you need further guidelines, refer to the procedure for adding an
ODBC data source in the post installation procedure for Information Management
in System 800xA Post Installation (3BUA000156*).
• Check the ADO data provider for Oracle. Go to Control Panel > ADSS Service
Configuration. Check that the ADO data provider has been started and is running.
• Verify ORACLE_SID is set to ADVA.
3BUF001147-610 A 152
5 Installation Tips
Service Names
Under normal circumstances, Oracle software is installed after the Information
Management application server has been added to a domain. Oracle detects that the
PC belongs to a domain, adds a line with the domain name to the sqlnet.ora file, and
appends the domain name to all service names defined in the tnsnames.ora file.
If for some reason Oracle is installed before the node is added to a domain, the domain
name will not be entered into the sqlnet.ora file. The HSEH service name (created during
Information Management software installation), and the LOCALHOST service name
(created as a post installation step) will have the domain name appended. This will create
a mismatch between these service names and sqlnet.ora file, and cause these service
names to fail.
To rectify this condition, enter the domain name in the sqlnet.ora file and update any
names in the tnsnames.ora file that do not have the domain name extension. Refer to
the procedure as described in the section on post installation for Information Management
in System 800xA Post Installation (3BUA000156*).
3BUF001147-610 A 153
3BUF001147-610 A 154
6.1 Adding Scheduling, Calculations, SoftPoints, and Excel Data Access (DataDirect)
6.1 Adding Scheduling, Calculations, SoftPoints, and

Excel Data Access (DataDirect)
The Application Scheduler, Calculations, SoftPoint Services, and DataDirect - Excel Data
Access are available as core components and may be installed on 800xA system nodes
that do not have Information Management software.
6.2 Price Books

• Which Price book do I need for 800xA Information Management? - System price
book 3BSE033851 - IIT System 800xA. Starting with System Version 3 Information
Manager is not a separate price book.
• I’m not building a System 800xA control system. All I want is to add 800xA Information
Manager to an existing system - Use the same system price book.
6.3 What do I need to buy?

6.3.1 Base Software
• The DCS Core must be purchased once for the 800xA system.
• Under the 800xA Information Management section, the Basic Historian Server
must be purchased once for each application server.
• Message collection and production data collection is included in this base.
• Do I get 800xA Information Management with the core System 800xA?
– Basic reporting and collection capabilities come with the System 800xA core.
Information Management options extend these capabilities.
3BUF001147-610 A 155
6.3.2 Number of logs

All initial data collection uses the System 800xA framework. This is true whether the
information is coming from a System 800xA “Connect” or a third party OPC Server.
• History Logs – Number of properties you plan to collect and store long term. Analog
and digital signals count the same. Remember you can have short term logs in the
connectivity server.
• Dual Logs – If you have two Information Managers then you may collect and store
the data into two Information Managers. Again, count the number of properties you
would collect.
• Consolidation Logs – If you have multiple 800xA Systems and Enterprise Historians
you can use consolidation logs to move information into a central long term servers.
Again, count the number of properties you wish to store.
6.3.3 Options
Desktop Trends, Display Services, Excel Data Access, Open data Access support data
access on non 800xA workplaces, they work as client/server.
• Why do I need Open Data Access? Open Data Access provides a Microsoft friendly
interface for integration to applications that understand ODBC and OLE/DB Provides
access to current value and historical data. Typical uses:
– Reporting with tools such as Crystal Reports
– Integration with other applications that only understand SQL type interfaces
6.3.4 License Keys

Table 6.1 describes the Information Management Licenses.
Table 6.1: Information Management Licenses

Application License Description
History HIST_SRVR Controls the number of History Servers in the
(History Server) system. It also tracks the number of Oracle licenses
sold.
HIST_LOGS, Control the total number of History, Dual and
HIST_DUAL_LOGS, Consolidation logs in the system (Information
HIST_CONS_LOGS Management logs only, not basic history).
3BUF001147-610 A 156
Table 6.1: Information Management Licenses

(Continued)
Application License Description
Display Services MDI_DISP_BLDR Controls the number of clients in the system that
can use the Display builder.
HIST_DISP Controls the number of clients in the system that
can use the History Displays.
Desktop Trends HIST_TREND Controls the number of clients in the system that
can use the History Trend displays.
DataDirect EXCEL_DA Controls the number of DataDirect clients in the
Excel Data Access system.
Open Data Access HIST_ODBC_SRVR Counts the use of the Open data Access server. A
(History ODBC Server) configuration setting is used to select what nodes
will run the ODBC server. When an ODBC server
starts up if will check out one count of the license
from the CLS.
HIST_ODBC Controls the number of clients in the system that
(History ODBC) can use the Historian ODBC Server.
Calculations CALC_SRVR Controls the number of Calculation Servers in the

system.
3BUF001147-610 A 157
3BUF001147-610 A 158
Revision History
Revision History
Revision History
This section provides information on the revision history of this User Manual.
The revision index of this User Manual is not related to the 800xA 6.1 System Revision.
Revision History
The following table lists the revision history of this User Manual.
Revision
Description Date
Index
A Published for 800xA System 6.1 release October 2018
3BUF001147-610 A 159
3BUF001147-610 A 160
Index
Index
Numerics add-ins, 129
800xA Administration account, 148 cannot log in, 15
800xA services cannot view reports in report log, 81
events, 19 data server login, 129
date formatting, 130
A debug file, 40
ActiveX controls, 136 functions, 130
all logs need deleted, 98 missing tools on toolbar, 15
archival operation, 13 data provider
archive debug flags, 17
print flags, 84 debug file
archives, 13 DataDirect, 40
failing, 98 Excel reports, 47
ASP.NET, 74, 148 debugging commands, 143
delete objects in IM, 102
B Desktop Trends
back-ups, 151 saving, 135
bad logs or log references, 98 disk drives, 94
Display Services
trace log, 41
C
trace monitor, 43
calculate full function, 145
domain set-up, 147
calculations
copying to object instances, 120
deleting, 121
E
enabling, 121 event collection, 87
events, 121 event log collector, 100
native language support, 123 events
performance tracking, 120 for 800xA services, 19
status update, 122 event viewer, 18
status viewer, 121 EX
Cannot find XLQuery, 135 Automation error, 130
CRSingleAuto, 132 Excel
calculate full function, 145
MS query, 141
D
Excel reports debug file, 47
data access
EXSingleAuto, 132
troubleshooting tips, 126
DataDirect
3BUF001147-610 A 161
Index
H O
history ODA
bulk configuration tool, 81 debugging commands, 143
cannot access aspects, 15, 74 logging status information, 122
cannot create or restore database, 74 ODA client
CPU load spikes, 72 cannot connect, 16
CPU spikes, 72 ODA numeric log queries
database instance, 151 access name, 141
data collection fails, 71 SQL and ODBC connections, 142
data source specification, 93 timestamp, 142
EH_NET, 135 Oracle
entry tables report, 79 connections, 152
history source aspect, 71 service names, 153
logs will not activate, 73 Table spaces, 15
object naming, 92 TRC files fill C drive, 98
restored logs, 132 users, 93
SQL access, 74 ORACLE_SID, 78
staggering logs, 72
troubleshooting tips, 69 P
history data PAS
cannot access, 15 service account, 15, 27
history database PDL data
cannot create or restore, 15 cannot retrieve, 15
hsDBMaint -check DB tool, 98 PFC, 98
hsDBMaint -report tool, 98 Price Books, 155
processes, 26
I
Installing User, 148 R
Internet Explorer, 150 reports
batch, 136
L Crystal Reports, 128, 136
Licensing, 150, 156 execution time, 129
log files, 29 export problems, 128
security issues, 127
M test action, 127
max files per file type, per directory, 141 restore database fails, 15
MS query, 141
S
N Sales & Pricing Issues, 155
network, 147 scheduler
numeric log, 97 launch permissions, 132
Scheduler
3BUF001147-610 A 162
Index
service, 131 index, 75

services Inform_HS_Runtime, 75
800xA, 24 time synchronization, 147
Windows, 22 transfer Batch PFC to IM, 98
SoftPoints troubleshooting tips
creating services, 25 calculations, 119
modify values, 120 data access, 126
setup, 120 history, 69
SQL*Plus, 152 SoftPoints, 119
SQL queries
for database maintenance, 37 V
stagger collection, 72 version information, 18
stale request messages, 72 Virus Scanning Software, 148
statistical files, 35
system status, 20 W
where to start, 14, 16
T
tablespace
3BUF001147-610 A 163
3BUF001147-610 A 164
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of ABB. All rights to other trademarks reside and the items and images it contains.
www.abb.com/controlsystems with their respective owners. The reproduction, disclosure to third parties
or the use of the content of this document
We reserve the right to make technical – including parts thereof – are prohibited
changes to the products or modify the without ABB’s prior written permission.
3BUF001147-610 A
contents of this document without prior

notice. With regard to purchase orders, Copyright © 2019 ABB.
the agreed particulars shall prevail. All rights reserved.
ABB does not assume any responsibility
for any errors or incomplete information in
this document.

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SYSTEM VERSION 6.

ABB Ability™ System 800xA

ABB Ability™ System 800xA

Document Number: 3BUF001147-610

Trace back information Main Publication:

Copyright © 2019 by ABB.

About this User Manual

1 First Response Guidelines

1.7 Off-line Engineering .......................................................................................... 52

2.17 Debugging Event Collection Applications ......................................................... 87

3 SoftPoints, Calculations, and Open Data Access

3.10 Calculations Update Status .............................................................................. 122

4 Data Access Applications

6 Sales & Pricing Issues

6.3.3 Options .................................................................................................156

Revision History ..................................................................................................... 159

Index .......................................................................................................................... 161

About this User Manual

User Manual Conventions

Warning, Caution, Information, and Tip Icons

Caution icon indicates important information or warning related to the concept

Information icon alerts the reader to pertinent facts and conditions.

Released User Manuals and Release Notes

1 First Response Guidelines

1.1 Where to Start

Table 1.1: Where to Start

Table 1.1: Where to Start

Table 1.1: Where to Start

1.2 Getting Information for Support

Table 1.2: Information for Diagnosing Problems

1.2.1 Version Information

Figure 1.1: Information Management Version Information

1.2.2 Windows Event Viewer

Figure 1.2: Example, Windows Event Viewer Application Log

1.2.3 Events Related 800xA Services

Figure 1.3: Alarm/Events List Aspect for 800xA Services

1.2.4 System Status

Figure 1.4: Status Viewer Example

1.2.5 Checking What Other Software is Installed

Figure 1.5: About Industrial IT

1.2.6 Services and Processes Related to Information Management

Table 1.3: Windows Services

Figure 1.6: Windows Services

800xA Service Groups and Service Providers

Creating SoftPoint Service Providers

Calculation and Scheduler Services on Non-Information Management Server Nodes

Figure 1.7: Service Structure

Table 1.4: Processes

Figure 1.8: Windows Task Manager

1.2.7 PAS Service Account

Figure 1.9: Verifying PAS Service Accounts

Figure 1.10: Checking the Service Account in the User Structure

1.2.8 Diagnostic Log Files

Log Files for Facilitating Troubleshooting

Table 1.5: Log Files

Table 1.5: Log Files

Figure 1.11: Accessing History Log Files

Figure 1.12: Example Log File