Finding your way around an MES environment

A typical Proficy Plant Applications install for medium sized MES environments will normally involve five or more servers and a number of client Workstations:

1. Application(s)

2. SQL

3. Visualization

4. Process Historian

5. OPC Server(s)

   Open

   

   Client Workstations

The above server topology is not a fixed requirement for a Plant Applications but reflects what we generally recommend and what we generally see within the industry. Variations can also be accommodated but require a discussion of pros and cons.

Application(s) Server

The application server holds Plant Applications main "engine" that runs Plant Applications. It houses some key Windows Services that provide for messaging to clients, to SQL server, to any process historians, and to any 3^rd party relevant applications such as an ERP, Controls (OPC servers), etc. Some these services deal with watching relevant models or calculations, etc. and executing the appropriate code (usually SQL code) to place the results of these executions in the SQL database and/or communicate to clients when scheduled or triggered.
Without this "engine" running and performing well, Plant Applications (MES) will not perform well and meet expectations.
Workflow and Plant Applications: The install of GE Plant Applications, as it relates to the Application(s) server, has at least two components Before PA 6, Workflow was not required. After PA 6.1 Workflow and Plant Applications are installed together.: The Workflow application and the Plant Applications application. While Workflow can be independent and run on its own, Plant Application's utilizes and requires the same database as Workflow the Unified Data Model or Unified Manufacturing Database (UMDB): It is often named SOADB (default db name for PA 6 and up) but can have custom names. For updated versions from PA 5 and before the name is often GBDB which is the old default db name. which it installs on the SQL server and without first installing Workflow, Plant Applications won't have a database in which to install its code. As mentioned, Workflow can be run independently and can be installed as a 32 or 64-bit application if running on its own but must be installed as a 32-bit application if installed in conjunction with Plant Applications Plant Applications is a 32-bit application and is installed under the main HKLM Wow6432Node of the registry..
Depending on the project or engagement but on a typical install, the Historian Proxy, and customer or solution specific library will be installed. This is code should be developed in a developer's environment with strong standards, attention to best practices, and testing. 

The Historian Proxy and WorkFlow have Windows based components associated to them and as such require Web Server "Roles" to be configured on the Application Server.
The Applications Server will have a separate License Client Current license model is "Advantage" licensing with a License Server and License Client. There can be a central License Server with several License Clients for those applications that require licensing or they can be paired: License Server and Client on each server that requires licensing. installed that will get its license (activation) from a License Server and will interface to a Windows service License Manager within the Plant Applications product itself. The PA windows service license manager's purpose will be to determine that valid licensing is in place by talking to the License Client and determine which modules are licensed as compared to which ones are being used and allow the use or not. (3 components: License Server -> License Client -> PA License Manager). The License Server can be installed on the Applications server or a central license server within the MES environment.
The Applications server will house some log and buffer files that support the Plant Applications "Engine". Currently (PA 6+) there are 22 associated windows services. While not all of these services will have a log or buffer file, the majority of them do. The Windows Services and associated log files are one of the key places that a troubleshooter examines when issues relating to Plant Applications arise. As a result, any MES trouble shooter/Support will require RDP access to this server. They will also need Administrator privileges on this server.
As a site matures from an MES standpoint, other Windows-based components will likely be installed on this server. i.e. Windows service to "connect to and execute the transfer of data to and from an ERP or outside "MES" source)
This is a server that needs to be "highly available" with regular performance and system health monitoring being advised. An outage or a degradation of this server will cause outages or poor performance in your MES environment. This server is critical and is usually spec'd out with an amount of CPU's, RAM and hard drive space that will allow it run comfortably under reasonable load.
Regarding hard drive free space usage, besides potential upgrades, this server houses log files which will grow moderately over time. Some of the older log files can be purged periodically.

SQL Server

The SQL server will "house" the Plant Applications/WorkFlow unified manufacturing database. Although the actual install will be physically performed on the Applications Server much of the "install.exe" involves it connecting to and installing the unified database on the SQL server. While the "engine" (windows services and a series of .dlls etc.) is on the Applications server almost all of the code that it will call and execute to do its work is within the unified database on the SQL server. The results/outputs of most of these executions (the data) will be stored in tables on the SQL server. The Application(s) Server and SQL server have to work hand in hand. While the SQL server can operate without the Applications server, the reverse is not true: Workflow/Plant Applications can't operate without being able to connect to a running and healthy SQL server.
Because an initial install involves installing a database with several SQL objects, the original install requires a user with sysadmin privileges. The "sa" user is such a user. A best practice, however, is not to use this user but to ask customers to set up another "local" SQL user (MESAdmin). The concept is for this user be elevated to the sysadmin role during installations, "refreshes" or CLR assembly installs, etc. where sysadmin is required and top lowered to db_owner in regular periods. This is all done by tying into any change management process that the customer has in place.
During the install, Plant Applications will install three primary users: comxclient, proficydbo, and proficyconnect with default passwords at the time of install.
During the install specifically for new installations, the name of the database can be chosen/customized. The default database (after PA 6) is SOADB. It is One practice to name it with SOADB followed by an underscore and an Acronym for the site. For example, if the plant was in Atlanta the DB name might be SOADB_Atl. The letters SOADB are not required however and it can be named anything that meets with SQL naming standards for databases. Most sites go with some version of the SOADB name, however. For older sites you will often find the default GBDB name and if upgrading to PA 6+ versions this name will likely be carried forward as renaming it can cause various issues.
If SSRS is part of the strategy for reporting, then SSRS will be installed on this server and will hold its database. There is an SSRS configuration tool (client) that can be installed on this server but we recommend that it be installed on a remote server so that those needing to use it don't have to log directly onto this SQL server to configure SSRS. Also, the server on which the SSRS configuration tool is installed will also be the server where the SSRS intranet URL will point to. This will isolate SSRS reporting from the SQL server itself which is a good practice.
Regarding troubleshooting and installation, "generally" there is not a requirement for RDP access by MES troubleshooters/Support or installers to the database server. There is a requirement for SSMS Client access, but this can be from a location remote to the SQL server itself. The roles and permissions assigned to users who use the SSMS client will determine how much of a troubleshooting role they can play. For example, can they install and execute SQL Agent jobs, access SQL management, and view SQL logs, run SQL Profiler, Kill SPIDs (kill jobs), etc.
While there is no requirement for SQL server to be on its own and can be installed on the same server as Applications, our best practices suggest that this is not a good idea. It can work for a small MES install or footprint, but for a mid to large system, it is not advisable.
This is a server that needs to be "highly available" with regular performance and system health monitoring being advised. An outage or a degradation of this server will cause outages or poor performance in your MES environment. This server is critical and is usually spec'd out with an amount of CPU's, RAM and hard drive space that will allow it run comfortably under reasonable load and provide for expansion

Visualization Server

This server is referred to as "visualization" because it is meant to house most applications that involve visualizing or reporting the MES data/information to those that need it. This includes reports, displays, scoreboards, websites, etc. The nature of the server is, that while it is very important, it is not critical to the collection, aggregation and calculation of data in SQL server. In other words, if this server were stopped critical aspects of the MES system would continue to operate. It would significantly hamper those that rely on reports and visualization, but the system would continue to run, and the plant would "stay up" from an MES point of view. It can be worked on in isolation without taking the entire system down. While important, it is not critical for short periods of time.
There are various options of what applications will be used by a site to fulfill their visualization and reporting needs. This can vary from customer to customer and may involve a mix of GE and other vendor's visualization products depending on the needs of the site.
Regardless of the applications chosen, there is a high likelihood that a web server or web services will be part of the solution. As such they will have Windows based components associated with them and will require Web Server "Roles" to be configured on the Visualization server.
As more web based applications are offered, one of the primary considerations for the Visualization server is the browsers that it will support. Browsers that support HTML the best are where applications appear to be headed at this time. Of course, its not as simple as what the Visualization server will support but involves coordination of the existing Operator and other User workstations that are installed at the site that will use these reports and need compatible browsers.
The Visualization server will house some log files that support the various visualization applications. As a result, any MES trouble shooter/Support will require RDP access to this server. They will also require Administrator privileges on this server.
This is a server that needs to be up most of the time with regular performance and system health monitoring being advised. An outage or a degradation of this server will cause outages or poor performance in "reporting" of your MES environment. This server is important to report performance and is usually spec'd out with an amount of CPU's, RAM and hard drive space that will allow it run comfortably under reasonable load.

Process Historian

This server will host the process historian that will have, at its heart, a database containing a history of raw data points that can come from various sources including PLC and DCS systems, lab instruments, and other databases (including Plant Applications) to name a few. These data points when aggregated, associated with context data, summarized, calculated, modeled, etc form the basis of MES and its ability model the manufacturing process that reflects accurately what is occurring on the plant floor in real time. Although the Application server and its services in conjunction with the SQL server are the main engines to the transformation of these raw data points into MES "information", this is accumulated real time, and historized source of data forms the large majority of necessary raw data to feed the MES system. Other key sources include users' manual entry, interfaces to remote systems such as an ERP system, Planning/scheduling system, time entry systems, etc.

There are various process historians available, and Plant Applications supports most of the major players. Of course, GE has its own historian which was previously known as the Proficy Historian but with the latest version 7 has been renamed the GE Digital Historian. Other historians are supported at various levels Include OSI Pi (latest 64-bit version not supported yet), AspenTech InfoPlus, WonderWare InSQL, Industrial SQL, OPC, and SQL Server..

These historians can connect to and collect data from any "standard" OPC server OPC DA (OPC Data Access) 2.05a, 3.0. OPC HDA (OPC Historical Data Access) 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 to offers file collection and parsing of .csv files, and collect data and messages from one source Historian Server to one destination Historian Server. If configured, they also offer redundancy services to OPC servers where it recognizes when one OPC goes down and transitions to another to prevent downtime.

These Process Historians store the raw data collected in various ways. The GE Historian saves its "archives" in files on the server itself. The size of these files are configurable, but all "live" archives reside on the Proficy Historian server. For example, if you have something like 3 years of data and depending on how many tags, the rate of collection, and the configured tag compression you could have something like 525 GB at a rate of increase of about 165 GB a year for a mature MES site.

This server will serve data needs for Plant Applications and also the visualization server applications. There has been an uptick in activity of visualization requirements to get its data from the Process Historian. Sometimes, the MES data from Plant Applications is normalized and aggregated and then written to the historian tags. At this point, it is within the historian and in a form that is useful to visualization applications and can serve the data up to the rapidly to them. This is done to take the load off of the data collecting process of PA and SQL server.

The process historian can serve three critical needs. Supply the raw data to Plant Applications and to visualization applications being used to trend raw data (like analog utility's data), and also to supply PA normalized and aggregated data from historian tags to visualization applications for presentation.

GE Digital Historian is licensed separately and requires its own license. It will have a separate License Client Current license model is "Advantage" licensing with a License Server and License Client. There can be a central License Server with several License Clients for those applications that require licensing or they can be paired: License Server and Client on each server that requires licensing. installed that will get its license (activation) from a License Server.

The Process Historian server will house a few windows services and some log files that support the historian. As a result, any MES trouble shooter/Support will require RDP access to this server. They will also require Administrator privileges on this server.

This is a server that needs to be "highly available" with regular performance and system health monitoring being advised. An outage or a degradation of this server will cause outages or poor performance in your MES environment. This server is critical and is usually spec'd out with an amount of CPU's, RAM and hard drive space that will allow it run comfortably under reasonable load and provide for expansion. Multiple threading provided by configuring a number of CPU's can be advantageous for this server.

OPC Servers

The OPC servers are the primary conduit between the Process Historian and the PLCs and/or DCS on the controls network. They provide the framework that connects to these devices by IP address and then by internal address to the tag.

An OPC Server application will be installed and configured on this server. It will also require a license to be installed. GE has its own OPC server named IGS but the historian collector supports any vendor that meets OPC DA and HDA standards.

On each OPC server, a Historian Collector is installed. This is a windows service which connects the Historian to the OPC server. This collector on the OPC server also has a local buffer file so if the collector loses connection to the Historian the tags will continue to collect data and the data will be kept in these buffer files. These files are text files and will grow and be populated with tag data. They can grow as large as there is hard drive space to allow for it. When the connection to the historian is restored these buffers will flush the data to the historian.

It is also possible for Plant Applications to write to PLC tags. To accomplish this a data service named the remote data service (RDS) needed to be installed on the OPC server and configured to connect directly to the Application Server (not through the Historian. The GE historian is read only and can't write to the OPC). This RDS connection will allow writes and reads directly to and from a PLC tag.

Best practice requires OPC servers to be redundant in an MES system where MES is a relatively critical piece to manufacturing and production uptime. This is less important, if MES is primarily a reporting system although data may still be lost without it. If Plant Applications loses connection with the Historian, the Historian will buffer the data and Plant Applications will process it once the connection is renewed. If the OPC server via the Historian Collector loses connection with the Historian, it will buffer the tag data and flush it to the historian when the connection is renewed. If however, the OPC server fails, the data will be lost and there will be a hole in the data for the period that the OPC server outage lasts.

While two OPC servers which are identically configured with devices and tags is required for redundancy, the redundancy itself is configured and managed in the Process Historian itself.

The OPC server(s) will house a few windows services and some log files that support the OPC server and Historian collector. As a result, any MES trouble shooter/Support will require RDP access to this server. They will also require Administrator privileges on this server.

This is a server that needs to be "highly available" with regular performance and system health monitoring being advised. An outage or a degradation of this server will potentially cause loss of data if redundancy in not in place. This server is critical and is usually spec'd out with an amount of CPU's, RAM and hard drive space that will allow it run comfortably under reasonable load and provide for expansion.

Client Workstations

As at Nov 2016: GE provides minimum requirements for Workstations and these include:
Operating Systems for Clients:
Windows 8 and 10 Operating Systems supported by:
Plant Applications 6+ Windows 7 is the formal client. Later versions are not tested yet.
Historian 6+ Some SIMs have to be applied that allow Windows 8 and Windows 10 and Office 2016 and Office 365 to work on client stations
WorkFlow 2.2+ Windows 7/8 clients only for V2.2 and 2.5 unless a later SIM has changed this
Plant Applications Excel / IE Support below:

• PDF Reader

Regarding the Internet Browser, reporting appears to be going in the direction of HTML5. As an HTML5 browser, I.E. 11 gets minimal to low grades. Currently, Chrome 42 and Microsoft Edge get good grades as HTML browsers.
If a site plans to use silent installs and push out Plant Applications installations remotely to workstations, a user account with Administration privileges on the workstation will be required.
In addition to the minimums stated above, a client workstation will usually have Plant Applications Client installed on it.

Open

Identify Versions

Plant Applications

When referring to Plant Applications versions, there are three methods of referencing them: Server Build, PA Windows Services Version, and the more commonly referred to Application Version.

Plant Applications Administrator Version 6.339.302 translated to 600339 (PA 6.2.3) with SIM .302 = SP3. Server build 00013.00000.00485.00000 refers to base version PA 6.2

If one has access to SQL another method to determine the version is to execute the following code:

If one has administrator privileges on the Applications server another method is look up the version in the Registry.
The current applied SIM number is also in the Data values of registry keys on the respective Servers or Client PCs:

PA 5.0 on 64-bit:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Proficy\Plant Applications\Proficy Server\PA50\CumulativeHotFix
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Proficy\Plant Applications\Web\PA50\CumulativeHotFix
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Proficy\Plant Applications\Plant Applications Client\PA50\CumulativeHotFix

PA 5.0 on 32-bit:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Proficy\Plant Applications\Proficy Server\PA50\CumulativeHotFix
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Proficy\Plant Applications\Web\PA50\CumulativeHotFix
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Proficy\Plant Applications\Plant Applications Client\PA50\CumulativeHotFix

PA 6.1 on 64-bit:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Proficy\Plant Applications\Proficy Server\PA61\CumulativeHotFix
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Proficy\Plant Applications\Web\PA61\CumulativeHotFix
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Proficy\Plant Applications\Plant Applications Client\PA61\CumulativeHotFix

PA 6.1 on 32-bit:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Proficy\Plant Applications\Proficy Server\PA61\CumulativeHotFix
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Proficy\Plant Applications\Web\PA61\CumulativeHotFix
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Proficy\Plant Applications\Plant Applications Client\PA61\CumulativeHotFix

PA 6.2 on 64-bit:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Proficy\Plant Applications\Proficy Server\PA62\CumulativeHotFix
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Proficy\Plant Applications\Web\PA62\CumulativeHotFix
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Proficy\Plant Applications\Plant Applications Client\PA62\CumulativeHotFix

PA 6.2 on 32-bit:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Proficy\Plant Applications\Proficy Server\PA62\CumulativeHotFix
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Proficy\Plant Applications\Web\PA62\CumulativeHotFix
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE \Proficy\Plant Applications\Plant Applications Client\PA62\CumulativeHotFix \

Historian

The version below would be Historian 5.5 with a SIM installed (referenced as 213)

Using Control Panel, install/uninstall programs is also another good source.

The information can also be found in the registry:
PA 5.0 on 64-bit:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, Inc\Proficy Historian\

Workflow

Using Control Panel, install/uninstall programs is also another good source.

The information can also be found in the registry:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Proficy\Proficy Workflow

I.G.S. OPC Server

Open IGS. Open Help and select Support Information.


The information can also be found in the registry:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GE Intelligent Platforms\Industrial Gateway OPC Server\V7\Install\Persisted_ProductVersion

Licensing

Advantage Licensing topologies

There are three basic ways to set up the Advantage Licensing for the GE products.
In two of the solutions, there is a Central License Server. This server doesn't need to be single purpose and could be the Visualization server.

1. GE Cloud -> Central License Server -> License Clients:

Install a central license server that is connected to the GE leased flexnetOperations.com where GE stores all of their customer licenses in the Cloud. Install License Clients in your environment on the GE applications servers where licenses are required. This is a central License Server to Client license relationship, and when configured on the Central license server, all licenses are automatically activated on the License Server via the online connection to GE Cloud via the internet. Look up the licenses from the License Clients to the License Server and activate them.

2. GE Cloud -> Work Station ->manually transferred -> Central License Server -> License Clients

Use an offline workstation which is connected to the internet to authenticate licenses for the site with the GE Cloud. Manually transfer this authentication text file to the Central License Server on the site and manually upload it. This server will have an intranet connection to the various License Clients. Look up the licenses from the License Clients to the License Server and activate them.

3. GE Cloud -> Work Station ->manually transferred -> Application (License Server/ License Client)

->manually transferred -> Historian (License Server/ License Client)
->manually transferred -> IGS OPC (License Server/ License Client)
No site "Central" License Server. Each client has its own License Server installed with it. They connect to the License Server installed on the same server as them.

Confirm installed licenses

Select and open the License Client
For the standard MES installations with GE products, there will be licenses wherever Plant Applications Windows Services (Application server), GE Digital Historian, and IGS OPC servers are installed. Other GE products may also require licenses if they are also installed. (Web server does not require a separate license.)

In addition to checking licenses using the License Client, for Plant Applications, one can check using the Administer Licensing in the Plant Applications Administrator: