Log historical alarms in InTouch HMI

The InTouch Alarm Logger is an Alarm Consumer, and the Application Server Platform component is an Alarm Provider. The InTouch Alarm Logger is a component that stores the alarms it receives in either a Microsoft SQL Server database or into the Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE). The Alarm Logger can either be local or remote to the Platform that is the Alarm Provider.

Best Practice

Typically, the Historian is used to store all time-series data. It is recommended that you install the Historian on a dedicated node. For consolidation purposes, the best practice is to store the alarm history in another database on the same node as the Historian.

The location of the InTouch Alarm DB Logger utility may greatly affect data loss prevention. The Alarm Logger utility automatically buffers the alarms it receives until they are successfully stored in the target database. Installing the Alarm Logger on the AutomationObject Server node ensures that the alarms are not lost if the connection to the Historian Node is lost.

To eliminate a single point of failure, install the Alarm DB Logger Manager utility on all Application Object Server nodes on which alarms are generated. The alarm query configured in the Alarm DB Logger Manager utility will then retrieve alarms that are generated only by objects hosted by the local platform.

This practice ensures that no network connection will be required to deliver the alarm to the Alarm Logger and prevents the loss of alarm records due to network instability.