Connect a Computer to a System Management Server

Computers running Plant SCADA need to connect to the System Management Server to use encrypted communication enabled by a certificate.

If you do not have a System Management Server configured, refer to the section Configure a System Management Server for instructions. AVEVA applications need to be configured to trust each other to use encrypted communications.

To connect a computer to the System Management Server, you use the System Management Server page in Configurator. You can launch Configurator at the completion of the installation procedure, or from the Windows™ Start menu.

To establish a connection, the current user on the remote computer needs to be a member of either the "aaAdministrators" or the "Administrators" group on the machine where the System Management Server is installed. This is necessary to establish a trust relationship, it is not a runtime requirement.

Note: For a Deployment Server, you need to authorize the connection to a System Management Server from Configurator's Deployment Server page. See Configure a Deployment Server.

To connect a computer to the System Management Server:

1. In the panel on the left side of the Configurator select Common Platform, System Management Server.

2. Select the option Connect to an existing System Management Server.

3. In the field below, select the name of the System Management Server you want to use from the drop-down list.

   The Configurator uses SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol) to detect a System Management Server on a remote computer. If SSDP has been blocked on your network, nothing will appear in the drop-down list.

   If the required computer name does not appear in the list, you can manually enter a hostname or Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) for the computer on which the System Management Server is installed. Connecting via an FQDN will require a connection to a domain server.

   Note: The Configurator interface refers to "redundant SSO servers". This feature is not supported by Plant SCADA, you cannot configure a computer as a redundant SSO server.

4. Click Configure. The root certificate is downloaded, and the following message is displayed.

   

5. Review the message carefully before you click Yes. If you select No, the configuration process will be canceled.

   A dialog box may appear prompting you to log on to the System Management Server. This will occur if the current user is not a member of either the "aaAdministrators" or the "Administrators" group on the machine where the System Management Server is installed. If this happens, enter the credentials for a member of one of these groups and click OK.

   The Configuration Messages area displays the steps in the configuration process and the progress.

   If the configuration is unsuccessful, view details of the error messages in the System Management Console. See the topic Troubleshooting - Certificate Error Messages.

   Alternatively, check the Log Viewer.

   You can access the Log Viewer by selecting AVEVA | Operations Control Management Console in the Windows Start menu.

6. Click Close to exit the Configurator.

   Note: After you have connected a computer to a System Management Server, it is recommended that you either sign out or reboot the computer to ensure all settings are applied correctly.

Once you have connected to a System Management Server, you can modify the configuration settings by selecting Advanced. Refer to the topic Advanced Configuration for a System Management Server in the Plant SCADA documentation for more information.

Note: If you need to connect a client computer that is not on the same domain as the System Management Server (for example, it is part of a Workgroup), you need to configure the Primary DNS Suffix on the client to identify the domain on which the System Management Server resides. Refer to the Windows documentation for instructions on how to specify a Primary DNS Suffix for a computer.