NextGen Archiver (NGA) Importer - Expert Panel

Importers

• The importer is activated with the check box Automatic import on project start in the panel NGA Migration. With the activation, a list of importers for the previous configuration is created and the import is automatically started. One importer is added for each Value Archive and one is added for the alert history of RAIMA DB. The internal data points for the Value Archives still have to exist for this purpose (they are not deleted by project upgrade). Also the conversion of the archive configs from Value Archive to NGA has to be performed before (see chapter Conversion Settings). The Load from project button can be used when a project has already been converted from HDB to NGA project but the historical data has not been imported yet.
  Note: Note that the configuration data of the value archives (names, segment duration, retention) will also be taken over to the configuration of the newly created NGA groups.
  Select an importer (archive) from the table on the left side. The configuration is applied to the selected importer. Data shown on the right of the panel always applies to the importer selected on the left side of the panel.
• With the + sign you can add new importers.

  

  You can select your data source from the following options:
  • HDB (importing values from Value Archive): For a new importer you need to add the path to the data under Importer specific configuration. For HDB you have to set the option hdbDataPath in the importer-specific section (see further below) to refer to the location of the value archive files, e.g. WinCC OA_proj/db/wincc_oa/VA_[number].
  • Raima (Importing alerts from the Raima database): For Raima you have to set the option raimaDataPath in the importer-specific section (see further below) to refer to the location of the Raima alerts, e.g. - WinCC OA_proj/db/wincc_oa/.
  • NextGenArchiver (for the NextGenArchiver you must configure from which backend you want to read the data.): For NextGenArchiver you have to select the backend the data should be read from using the option backendDpName in the importer-specific section (see further below).
    Note: With the basic license, you can still use one backend as a read data source as long as this backend is configured as the Execution Type In-Proc (Backend as plugin) only for "direct read". The backend must be read-only.
• Completion shows how much data was imported.
  Note: You can run several importers (archives) concurrently but you must select and start the importers individually, one after the other.

Configuration

• The name of the selected archive is shown and you can change it.
• Identifier shows the unique identifier of an archive. When you create an importer, you must specify a unique identifier.
• Type of reader (importer) can be either HDB (value archive) or Raima for alerts.
• You can import data from...until. By default, everything is imported (all available data of the selected value archive / RAIMA alert DB). You can limit the amount of data by selecting a date. If you select a point in time when data is not available, data will not be returned until the point in time when data is available. You can reset the time by using the button. The time is reset to the first value in the archive.

Importer-specific configuration

For a new importer you need to add the path to the data under Importer specific configuration. Select an Importer (see the beginning of this chapter) and add the path to the location of the data.

• hdbDataPath: value archive data - WinCC OA_proj/db/wincc_oa/VA_[number]
• raimaDataPath: alert data - WinCC OA_proj/db/wincc_oa/
• backendDpName: NextGenArchiver backend - select an _NGA_Backend datapoint. The importer will read data from this backend represented by this internal datapoint:

  

  Note: We recommend selecting a read-only backend to avoid unnecessary write operations.
  Note: ETM recommends specifying the start and end time for the NextGenArchiver backend Importer as precisely as possible. The import from 1970 to today takes a very long time due to a current technical limitation, as the data must be retrieved from the source backend until the start time.
• useHeaderSize: Valarch has a different file structure (different header sizes) under Linux than under Windows. As WinCC OA projects can be moved from one platform to another, the config entry [valarch] useHeaderSize = ["windows"|"linux"] is available.
  • If the config entry [valarch] useHeaderSize = ["windows"|"linux"] is not used and an importer-specific parameter useHeaderSize = ["windows"|"linux"] is not set, then the header size is selected according to the platform.
  • If the config entry [valarch] useHeaderSize = ["windows"|"linux"] is set, then this setting is used.
  • If the importer-specific parameter useHeaderSize = ["windows"|"linux"] is set, this setting is used and it overwrites the config entry.
• Select a debug option to add a logger level to the import-specific configuration:

  

  • loggerLevel =
    • info corresponds to the default setting - only the most important information about the importer is logged.
    • debug adds debug output to the project log.
    • debugData adds debug output and the imported data is included in the project log.
    Note: The log file can become very large - in this case there is the entry "*** step over 151143 bytes of WCCOAtoolNGAImporter_ValueArchive1.log *** in the log viewer. If you want to see all information, open the log from the project/log directory.

    

• useDpNames = "true"|"false" default "true". Specifies whether the import is done on DP name basis ("true") or on DP ID basis ("false"). The option can be used like loggerLevel above.

Controlling

• Start - Start the data import.
• Pause - Interrupt the data import with the option to resume the data import. If you restart the import later, it will resume from the point where it was paused.
• Stop and reset - Interrupt the data import without the possibility of resuming the data import . It resets the whole import and if you restart the import later, it starts from the beginning.

Monitor

• Progress shows how much data is imported.
• Import started at shows the time when the current importer was started.
• Oldest imported timestamp - The data is imported from the oldest data to the newest data. For example, while you are importing data, you can already query the oldest data. You must filter data using a data point name. This entry gives the oldest timestamp when the data for this data point was imported (one data point is archived per archive).

  

  You can either filter by data points by selecting a data point, or show the oldest imported timestamp if you do not select a data point.

Statistics

• Total importing time specifies the cumulative total time how long it takes to import the data.
• Remaining time is the estimated time left of the selected import time.
• Rate of speed that the data is written. The rate is specified via the option Max Values/Alerts per second.
• Imported Values/Alerts contains the number of the values and alerts imported to the database.