Issue
What are the limitations of the Xenta 527 when used with TAC Vista and I/NET.
What do I need to consider when integrating I/NET with TAC Vista.
Product Line
TAC INET, TAC Vista
Environment
- TAC I/NET
- TAC Vista 5.1.6 and above
- TAC XBuilder
- TAC Xenta Server 527 5.1.6 and above
- I2V
Cause
Integrating I/NET into Vista.
Resolution
Below are a few considerations associated with the Xenta 527 Server that may assist when integrating existing I/NET systems with TAC Vista:
- As in all case the latest versions of both hardware and software should be used on any integration project.
- The attached datasheet indicates that the TAC Xenta 527 Web Server has been tested with up to 1000 I/NET points, if you require to integrate more points than this it is then recommended to add additional Xenta Servers to cater for this. You may also consider segregating your I/NET System to improve performance.
- Currently it is not possible to pick and choose which points are imported into the XBuilder project, it can only be limited to which SAV file (or controller) is imported .
Note: Each I/NET point type, as shown below, creates the following number of TAC Vista objects - these include; Alarm, State, Value, Control, Test, Manual, Alarm_ack etc, and vary according to the point type used.
| I/NET Point Type | Number of TAC Vista Objects created |
|---|---|
| DO | 14 |
| AO | 11 |
| AI | 10 |
| PI | 10 |
| DI | 11 |
| DA | 11 |
The impact to consider here is the time it takes when adding or modifying your Xbuilder Project. This usually means that importing a large number of SAV files will cause the Vista server to get extremely busy creating / importing all of these objects. It is best to let the process complete before selecting any other window. Note that the total number of objects created during the import of the I/NET points is not counted as part of the 'tested' 1000 point limit stated in the above datasheet. This is a separate consideration.
- Network performance can be affected when a large number of connection objects are in use (so direct transfers between I/NET and Vista). There is no documented limitation, but the recommendation is not to exceed 300 connection objects per Xenta 527 Server. For information on what the effects a connection object on the I/NET controller LAN has and how to calculate this, refer to Connection Objects in Xenta Server effect on I/NET system.
- Engineering of any I/NET feature apart from Point Control, Trends, Time Schedule and Alarm Configuration can only be done using the I/NET Host Tool or via an I/NET workstation. Access to these features are via the Xenta 527 web server feature, so pages appear as HTML pages within TAC Vista, this will have a different look and feel to both Vista and I/NET users.
Other Knowledge Base Articles as listed below are also available to assist on integrating I/NET and Vista:
- Unit conversions when integrating LON to I/NET
- Vista to I/NET Integration Tips
- Decoding the I/NET signal "flags" attribute
- Viewing I/NET Point Names in Vista Workstation instead of Addresses
- User Defined Units on I2V integration were accidentally set incorrectly
- SQL Host not passing data to Xenta 527 Web Server
