Plant SCADA runtime communications and Application Server

The Plant SCADA runtime system delivers live data to Application Server through the Connectivity Server, a component of Plant SCADA that provides redundant access to the runtime data model. You can specify which clusters the Connectivity Server will expose using Plant SCADA's Connectivity Service Manager.

The connections to Plant SCADA are defined in the I/O attributes created in Application Server by the Integration Assistant. A Connectivity Scope Name is prefixed to Plant SCADA tag addresses. This represents the source Plant SCADA project name and any included clusters.

<ProjectName>_<ClusterName>

The Read from/Write to property of an attribute's I/O feature uses the Connectivity Scope Name as part of the address format:

<ProjectName>_<ClusterName>:<ClusterName>.<TagName>

For example, the following diagram shows the results of the Integration Assistant importing a Plant SCADA project named "Demo".

The Connectivity Service Manager has been configured to expose two clusters, resulting in two scope names.

Demo_Cluster1

Demo_Cluster2

Two Plant SCADA pumps are represented in Application Server as the attributes "Pump1" and "Pump2". The Read from/Write to properties for the associated I/O features are defined as follows:

Demo_Cluster1:Cluster1.Pump1.Running

Demo_Cluster2:Cluster2.Pump2.Running

These addresses are passed through the Connectivity Server to Plant SCADA's runtime system, enabling communication with Application Server's App Engine.

If you attempt to modify this architecture, consider the role the Connectivity Scope Name plays in enabling communication with Plant SCADA runtime.

For example, if you create a reduced version of a Plant SCADA project for communication testing, the project name must match the original project name before the backup is created. This ensures that the generated Connectivity Scope Names remain unchanged and existing Application Server references continue to resolve correctly.

Note: To establish a connection with System Platform, Plant SCADA's runtime computers need to have encryption enabled and must use the same System Management Server (SMS) as the Galaxy Repository. It is recommended that the Trust Boundary Mode for the SMS is set to Universal Mode so the Plant SCADA is considered part of the same trust boundary. Open Configurator, go to the System Management Server page and select Universal Mode on the Trust Boundaries tab.