Configure the General Options Setup Page

Data Directory

The directory where the Plant SCADA data files are located. The data files are the files that are generated at run time: trend files, disk PLC etc.

Backup project path

The backup directory that is used if a runtime database cannot be located (due to inoperative hardware or a file that has been moved, corrupted, or deleted).

Startup page

The Page Name of the graphics page to display when Plant SCADA starts up.

Page scan time

The delay (in milliseconds) between updating a graphics page and starting the next communications cycle. The Page Scan Time sets the default for how often your graphics pages are updated. When a page is updated, relevant data (variable tags etc. represented on the graphics page) is scanned to determine if field conditions have changed. This setting is overridden by the Scan Time value specified in Page Properties (if applied).

A value of 250 (the default value) indicates that Plant SCADA will try to update the page every 250 ms. However, if Plant SCADA cannot read the entire data from the I/O Device within 250 ms, the page is processed at a slower rate. For example, if it takes 800 ms to read the data from the relevant I/O Device, Plant SCADA processes the page every 800 ms.

Under some conditions, you might want to slow the update of your pages to reduce the load on the I/O Servers. By reducing the page scan time, you allow more communication bandwidth to other Plant SCADA tasks or Clients. For example, you might want fast response on your main operator computers, while slowing the response time on manager computers. You can enter any value from 0 to 60000 (milliseconds).

OPC Alarms and Events

Click the Register button to register an alarm server as a runtime OPC AE server that supports the OPC AE interface specification. This will allow the alarm data to be accessed by third-party OPC client applications.

The registration process requires administrative privileges.

Note: The OPC AE Server does not support DCOM for remote communications. It is recommended that you run any connecting OPC client applications on the computer that is registered as the OPC AE Server.