Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue There is an error message on the LCD display of the old style Infinet controllers. What do these errors mean? Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Infinet Controller Cause Information on the error code received on the LCD display. Resolution Infinet controller is displaying error 1 on its LCD display. This message indicates that the controller received a bad packet of data on the Infinet. If the problem persists follow troubleshooting instructions. Verify Infinet cable connections, approved twisted shielded pair cable, less than 4000 feet of network cable between Infilink repeaters, no more than 31 controllers between Infilink repeaters. Verify proper grounding at the Infinet controller on the AC power terminals, poor grounding can cause erratic operation and communication problems. Easiest method to verify ground is to connect a digital voltmeter between the earth ground terminal on the power strip of the controller and the shield of the Infinet. this method will only work if you have connected your shields all through the network back to the Infilink and CX controller. Check the baud rate switch on the Infilink repeater module, although the Infinet controllers auto baud, the Infilink baud rate must be manually switched. Break down the network in segments to identify the bad controller or network segment. A binary search is recommended. (i.e. break the network in half, if this resolves the problem add half of the deleted back on, if it does not resolve the problem cut the remaining network in half, etc.). Once the offending segment has been identified, troubleshoot to the cable segment or controller level Infinet controller is displaying error 2 on its LCD display. This message means that it could not pass a token to another controller on the Infinet. If the problem persists follow troubleshooting instructions. (No response to the Infinet token pass) Verify Infinet cable connections, approved twisted shielded pair cable, less than 4000 feet of network cable between Infilink repeaters, no more than 31 controllers between Infilink repeaters. Verify proper grounding at the Infinet controller on the AC power terminals, poor grounding can cause erratic operation and communication problems. Easiest method to verify ground is to connect a digital voltmeter between the earth ground terminal on the power strip of the controller and the shield of the Infinet. this method will only work if you have connected your shields all through the network back to the Infilink and CX controller. Check the baud rate switch on the Infilink repeater module, although the Infinet controllers auto baud, the Infilink baud rate must be manually switched. Break down the network in segments to identify the bad controller or network segment. A binary search is recommended. (i.e. break the network in half, if this resolves the problem add half of the deleted back on, if it does not resolve the problem cut the remaining network in half, etc.). Once the offending segment has been identified, troubleshoot to the cable segment or controller level Infinet controller is displaying an error 3 on its LCD display. This means that the input reference voltage is out of range on the analog inputs. Verify that inputs coming from external transducers are not exceeding the voltage input range, either 5 or 10 volts depending on model, if so use a voltage divider on the input. Verify that any input wiring is not run in the same conduit as high voltage cable, or is properly shielded and grounded. If there is voltage getting coupled into the input wiring, separate the input wiring from the interference, or shield the cables. If the interference is being caused by the end device such as an auxiliary contact form an high voltage device, a cap between .01 and 1 microfarads across the input terminal to earth ground may alleviate the problem. Remove field I/O wiring from the controller and recheck operation. If the problem goes away determine which I/O wire is the culprit and correct it. Power down the Infinet controller and restart while connected to network. This will eliminate this unit having a duplicate ID on the network and it will also run the power up diags. Verify proper grounding at the Infinet controller on the AC power terminals, poor grounding can cause erratic operation and communication problems. Easiest method to verify ground is to connect a digital voltmeter between the earth ground terminal on the power strip of the controller and the shield of the Infinet. this method will only work if you have connected your shields all through the network back to the Infilink and CX controller. Remove field I/O wiring from the controller and recheck operation. If the problem goes away determine which I/O wire is the culprit and correct it. Infinet controller is displaying an error 4 on its LCD display. This means that the analog output reference voltage is out of range. Verify that inputs coming from external transducers are not exceeding the voltage input range, either 5 or 10 volts depending on model, if so use a voltage divider on the input. Verify that any input wiring is not run in the same conduit as high voltage cable, or is properly shielded and grounded. If there is voltage getting coupled into the input wiring, separate the input wiring from the interference, or shield the cables. If the interference is being caused by the end device such as an auxiliary contact form an high voltage device, a cap between .01 and 1 microfarads across the input terminal to earth ground may alleviate the problem. Remove field I/O wiring from the controller and recheck operation. If the problem goes away determine which I/O wire is the culprit and correct it. Power down the Infinet controller and restart while connected to network. This will eliminate this unit having a duplicate ID on the network and it will also run the power up diags. Verify proper grounding at the Infinet controller on the AC power terminals, poor grounding can cause erratic operation and communication problems. Easiest method to verify ground is to connect a digital voltmeter between the earth ground terminal on the power strip of the controller and the shield of the Infinet. this method will only work if you have connected your shields all through the network back to the Infilink and CX controller. Remove field I/O wiring from the controller and recheck operation. If the problem goes away determine which I/O wire is the culprit and correct it. Infinet controller is displaying an error 5 on its LCD display. This indicates the controller underwent a reset of power down and retained memory ( warm start). If there is not reason for this to occur power outages etc., then troubleshoot the problem. Verify proper grounding at the Infinet controller on the AC power terminals, poor grounding can cause erratic operation and communication problems. Easiest method to verify ground is to connect a digital voltmeter between the earth ground terminal on the power strip of the controller and the shield of the Infinet. this method will only work if you have connected your shields all through the network back to the Infilink and CX controller. Measure the AC power at the controller, Verify it is within specification (nominal +/- 20%). Typically 24 VAC power that is daisy chained will drop the voltage along the connections leaving the power below the acceptable level even if the transformer is sized correctly. Verify that any outputs that are driving inductive loads such as relays, actuators, or valves, have a varistor across the coil n the field device. Verify that any input wiring is not run in the same conduit as high voltage cable, or is properly shielded and grounded. If there is voltage getting coupled into the input wiring, separate the input wiring from the interference, or shield the cables. If the interference is being caused by the end device such as an auxiliary contact form an high voltage device, a cap between .01 and 1 microfarads across the input terminal to earth ground may alleviate the problem. Remove field I/O wiring from the controller and recheck operation. If the problem goes away determine which I/O wire is the culprit and correct it.

Issue How can you tell the difference between a I2/B3xxx -V and a I2/B3xxx controller through Continuum Explorer? Environment I2/B3xxx I2/B3xxx -V Cause Determine the version of a controller remotely through Continuum Explorer Resolution In Continuum Explorer, right click to edit a I2/B3xxx -V controller Select the runtime tab Looking at the version of the controller is the way to distinguish between the different Models. The I2/B3xxx -V will have a version number similar to 3.501027 A regular I2/B3xxx will have a number similar to 3.300006. Notice the location of the 1 in the -V version number. The -V models will have the 1 in the location as above while the non -V model will not.

Issue Continuum single user system database backup with SQL 2005 Express. Environment Continuum Cyberstation single user (SU) Cause Method to backup system database. Resolution Continuum single user system database backup with SQL 2005 Express. Using SQL Express Management tool Right Click on the Continuumdb> Tasks>Backup Add a Destination where you want the .bak file to be located Click Ok Using sqlcmd With the limited release version of Continuum 1.82 and future 1.9x releases SQL 2005 Express will be the database platform that is used for Single User configurations. Some of you may remember backing up databases in earlier versions of SQL from the windows command line and recall having to create a backup device in order to perform the backup operation. This is the case for backing up a database in the SQL 2005 Express version as well.  Open up the Windows command line and type in CD\ and press enter. This puts us at the root of the drive. Log on to the SQL 2005 server, by typing sqlcmd -Syourmachinename\sqlexpress and press enter. You should see 1> at this point. If you do not see the 1> prompt at this point, a few things could be going on. Make sure you type in your computer name without spaces following the -S switch. Another problem could be that your user logon doesn't have admin privileges. You need to have admin privileges to backup the database.  Once at the 1> create a backup device. Type EXEC sp_addumpdevice 'disk', 'MyDBbackup','c:\myTest.bak' and press enter, which should bring you to the 2> prompt At the 2> type in GO And press enter. This will create a device that we can now use to backup the database. The device should only need to be created once. Now that we have a device named MyDBbackup (you can name yours differently) and are at the 1> again, type in BACKUP database continuumdb TO MyDBbackup with init press enter and you should be at the 2> now type in GO You should have a backup of your database at the root of c:\ named mytest.bak It would be a wise idea to write down the name of the device you have created, since you can use the same device again.  Using the windows task scheduler, you can setup a task to backup your database automatically at the times you've specified in the task scheduler is an easy thing to do.

Issue LED on card reader on ACX57xx (ACX2) flickers when it supposed to be solid green Environment ACX57XX Some reader types from HID (such as I-class reader). Cause ACX57XX has new system variables added to get the status of reader connection to controller.(Rdr1Connected ~ Rdr8Connected). In order to check the Status, ACX57xx checks the voltage presence on the LED channel of each reader port. This function causes the LED of some reader types to flicker at a high frequency. Resolution Set the Rdr1Connected ~ Rdr8Connected system variables to Disabled to keep the LED from flickering.

Issue What should be considered when analyzing the performance of a Modbus TCP/IP implementation? Environment Modbus TCP/IP implementation Cause Check the performance level of Modbus TCP/IP implementation for possible improvement. Resolution Determining if a Netcontroller will handle the load of a specific Modbus TCP/IP implementation must take into account many different factors. A lot depends upon the 3rd party device, the network utilization of the IP network, the number of devices/points being polled and the speed/polling rate of the devices on the RS485 network. The Modbus TCP/IP xdriver behaves as a client and polls for information in a round robin basis. The more data it has to poll the longer it will take. The organization of the Modbus Addresses is also important. For example: If 12 registers are at consecutive address locations i.e. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, then 1 data packet is required to retrieve all this information. If only a few registers are at consecutive locations i.e. 1, 2, 3, 8, 21, 22, 23, 30, 40, 65, 66, 67 then 6 data packets are required to retrieve this information. If the registers are all in separate locations i.e. 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 then 10 data packets, one for each address is required. The third example would take 10 times longer than the 1st to poll the address information. If address locations in the 3rd party device cannot be altered then it may be more efficient to create additional xdriver points to effectively 'fill the gaps' so as to reduce the number of data packets. It is recommended to carry out a bench test with the devices in order to analyze the configuration. This would allow for adjustments of the requests or adding additional hardware to poll the amount of required information. Field Example: Using a Modbus TCP/IP xdriver to poll a number of Powerlogic metering devices. Considering 30 EGX's/ECC's involved, plus two Powerlink 3000 panels, using 33 IP addresses. Each EGX/ECC has from 10-20 Modbus devices attached on the RS485 side. Each metering device will be polled for about 12 registers. In this example, we would be polling about 4000-5000 register points via Modbus TCP/IP with a NetController2. In this particular scenario, it was determined that 2 Netcontroller IIs would be needed to handle the amount of polling required at the expected performance level.

Issue ACWPPServerProxy applet is constantly flashing on webClient Environment ACWPPServerProxy applet webClient Loopback Cause This typically happens on a Stand Alone configuration on Windows. Resolution The solution is to add the loopback address onto the IIS server by taking the following steps. Open IIS Manager Expand Web Sites> Right Click on Default Web Site and select Properties Click the Advanced button to the right of the IP address field Click the Add button and enter the IP: 127.0.0.1 and the port: 80, Click OK, OK Stop and Start IIS Launch Webclient and the ACWPPServerProxy applet will no longer flash. Restart the webclient PC If you are using Windows 7, Vista or Windows Server 2008 the IIS interface is different. Open IIS Manager (the non 6.0 version) from Administrative Tools Expand Sites> Left click on Default Web Site In the far right column called Actions, locate the Bindings link Select Bindings and click the Add button then enter 127.0.0.1 into the IP address field (leave other defaults) Click Ok, Close With Default Web site still selection select "Restart" Under the Actions column to restart IIS Launch Webclient and the ACWPPServerProxy applet will no longer flash. Restart the webclient PC

Issue Do 3rd party BACnet MSTP devices count as nodes on a BCX controller that is node limited? Environment BCX controller Third-party BACnet MSTP devices Cause Knowing the information will ensure there is not more node than the BCX controller specifies. Resolution Yes they do count as nodes. If you do go over the node count you will see operational problems with the BCX BACnet controller. The BCX controller will scan lock when it tries to perform a time sync to the MSTP network. Modbus nodes communicating via xDriver are not part of the node count.

Issue What Andover Continuum Controllers support the TCP protocol in lieu of UDP? Environment Continuum Controllers Cause Require the controller to support TCP protocol. Resolution The only Andover Continuum Controllers that support the TCP protocol in lieu of UDP is the CX9702,BCX9640 and the ACX II models 5720, 5740.

Issue Where can I find Cyberkeywriter2.exe to upgrade my CyberStation key. Environment Cyberkeywriter2.exe CyberStation Cause There are 3 locations from which you can obtain the Cyberkeywriter2 executable file. Resolution Download Cyberkeywriter2 on The Exchange Download Center Cyberstation CD Do a search of the CD for "Cyberkeywriter2.exe" Cyberstation Workstation From Windows Explorer, search for "Cyberkeywriter2.exe"

Issue Adding a BCX1-CR-32-INF controller into Cyberstation and the drop down list does not show this as an option Environment BCX1-CR-32-INF CyberStation Cause In CyberStation when adding a controller to the system the drop down list will only show Model numbers and will not show the part number. Resolution See below for examples: BCX1 Router Only Model Number = 4000 BCX1 Bacnet Version Model Number = 4040 BCX1 Onsite Version Model Number = 4020 BCX1 Infinet Version Model Number = 9640  8Meg Netcontroller Model Number = 9900 4Meg Netcontroller Model Number = 9940 2nd Gen Netcontroller Model Number = 9680 ACX2 (8 Door) Model Number = 5740 ACX2 (4 Door) Model Number = 5720

Issue Run to file fails after an upgrade to versions 1.74 and above. You no longer can write to file using the run command. Environment Cause Enable write to file Resolution Instructions to enable write to file: 1. Create a workstation program named "Test1": (Example) Line Here1 Print "Hello There" Print PowerUpTime Stop Open the configuration and make it a fall thru program IMPORTANT check the "Run on any workstation box" The Run on any workstation required is what was changed from prior versions 2.Create another workstation program (Sample Program) Line There2 Run test1 to "c:\TestPEOut.txt" Goto There3 Line There3 If TS > 9 then Goto There2 Line E Stop

Issue How do I change a CX-9200 or a CX-99xx to a CX-9680 (Netcontroller II) Environment Cyberstation CX-9200 CX-99xx CX-9680 Cause Controller has changed and need to change the controller model number in Cyberstation. Resolution If you are Using Cyberstation V1.74 with SP2, or Cyberstation V1.81 or greater, all you need to do to accomplish this change is to edit the existing controller (CX9200 or CX99xx). In the controller Type dropdown menu, select 9680 and OK the change. When you save the change you will be prompted with a warning that this change is not reversible. Once you OK that, the database will change all the appropriate system objects to be compatible with the Netcontroller II including system variables. The replacement CX9680 can then be reloaded from the Cyberstation and the conversion is complete.

Issue Can a LA-1 L-Bus adapter be used on the Netcontroller II? Environment Netcontroller II (9680) Cause In order to communication on a port other than Comm 4, an LA-1 must be added. Resolution The Netcontroller II (9680) comes with direct L-Bus option already on Comm4 without having to use the LA-1 adapter. However if you would like a different port to support L-Bus instead of Comm 4 the LA-1 can be added to Comm 1. Note: When using L-Bus you will not be able to connect IOU modules.

Issue Why the Netcontroller 9680 can't be connected via Hyperterminal. How to commission the NC2 and ACX2 (5720/5740) Environment Netcontroller 9680 Hyperterminal NC2 ACX2 5720 5740 Cause The Netcontroller 9680, usually called the NC2, does not have a Hyperterminal interface in which to commission the controller. Resolution To commission the NC2 and the ACX2 please follow the directions below. Note: Check with your system administrator for assistance. Disable the DHCP Services on your PC. Disconnect your computer from the network and set your IP address to 169.254.1.2 and your subnet mask to 255.255.0.0. Using a CAT5 cable (straight-through or crossover), connect the PC Ethernet port to the ACX 57xx Ethernet port.  Run your web browser, then go to URL: http://169.254.1.1 to display the Andover Continuum Embedded WebServer page in the ACX 57xx Series controller. Select Controller Configuration from the WebServer page. Log on using the default Andover Continuum user name and password. Enter relevant configuration parameters on the WebServer Configuration web pages. After entering the parameters, click the Commit Changes/Restart Controller button on the WebServer page. (Restore the PC, and connect the controller to the network when it reboots.)

Issue Epi-Builder display of expiration date workaround Environment Epi-Builder Cause The problem lies in the format of the expiration date in the Epi-Builder software. Resolution Epi-Builder display of expiration date workaround. Recently discovered was a minor issue with the display box of the expiration date field on print pre-view and while printing a card with this attribute. There are multiple formats to select from ie.. mm/dd/yyyy or mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss etc... but even though you may have selected just to display the mm/dd/yy. What would be displayed is the format mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss. A simple workaround is to resize the box that houses the attribute when editing the badge layout to only show the desired mm/dd/yyyy.  

Issue Bacnet Schedules stopped working due to "Effective To Date" Environment Bacnet Schedules Cause When creating a bacnet schedule on a bacnet controller the default "Effective To Date" is one year from the creation time. Bacnet schedules will stop working if the bacnet schedule exceeds the "Effective To Date." Resolution Always consider the "Effective To Date" when creating Bacnet schedules.

Issue Running reports on Extended Logs shows no data Environment Continuum system Cause Possible Causes: Other programs currently running extended logging (pre-1.7x style). Time sync errors Cyberstation preference is set to false Resolution Check that you do not have programs running that are performing extended logging the pre-1.7x style. Any programs that were used for extended logging should be disabled or removed. Check the Continuum Error Log listview and see if there are time sync errors. A difference of more than 5 minutes between the Master controller and the Cyberstation will stop extended logging from working properly. You will see an error indicating that the time difference has been exceeded. Ensure the Cyberstation preference is set to True Download Extended Log Data from Controllers on the LAN(RAS) If it was set to false, Stop/Restart Continuum Run List views of all points, (inputs, outputs, numerics) Example: In Explorer, Go to ListView> Listview_Infinity Inputs > Edit Click Columns> Add a Column Add ExtLogEnable Check Off Edit box Click Apply then the General Tab Run the listview Select Edit> Select All Select Object> Set Attributes Select ExtLogEnable, For Value type in True and Click OK, OK Select View> Refresh list and the attributes are set to true Repeat this for Outputs and Numerics Wait for awhile beyond how often you are logging your points. Run reports to verify data is being logged. NOTE: Occasionally, after an upgrade, you may need to set all the extended log enable attributes to FALSE FIRST and then to true again for inputs, outputs and numerics to get them working. Data may have been logging and then stopped. The data range requested in the report doesn’t have data, but there is data in the database. Here are some tips on verifying the data in the database. Using Enterprise Manager Use Query Analyzer against the Continuumdb Select * from extendedlog Using OSQL Go to a command prompt Enter in osql –Uandover97 –Ppyramid97 –S then enter (this assumes default user and pw, change if needed. –S needs to be followed by your server name Once you hit enter you’ll be brought to the 1> prompt At the 1> Prompt hit the Enter key 1> select * from ExtendedLog Type Go the Enter If values are returned, then extended logging is working. Type quit (to exit OSQL) Type Exit to close the DOS window

Issue This is a detailed explanation of extended logging gaps, performance and load balancing  Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Continuum Windows XP Windows Server 2000 Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008 Cause System overloads Slow server and/or server crashes Server CPU Usage running at high percentage rates Low Physical Memory Available Gaps in Extended logging data Resolution This article discusses factors that need to be considered when extended logging is being used to log a large number of points. There are too many variables involved in the Extended logging engine to place specifics on the number of extended logs that can be used. Performance will be contingent on many hardware, software and configuration variables. It is best practice to make one configuration change at a time and wait for the results prior to making an additional change. The SQL server version will affect extended logging performance There are limitations to different versions of SQL server.  For instance, MSDE has a 2 Gig limit and if this is exceeded, it will cause corruption in the database and the database may have to be rebuilt. SQL Standard and Enterprise versions allow a certain number of processors and RAM to be utilized by SQL. This is a link to Microsoft’s web site that compares the versions. http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/features/compare-features.mspx PC hardware such as hard drive access times, RAM amount and speed as well and CPU speed and quantity of processors will directly affect extended logging performance. While always at a minimum following the hardware requirements in the Continuum Cyberstation installation manual, there are times when more processing power and memory are needed. Sites that are performing large amounts of extended logging are definite candidates to consider going beyond the recommended hardware requirements. While 64-bit machines are not supported for running Cyberstation software [before v1.94], they can be used to increase performance on SQL server side. One benefit of using a 64-bit OS and SQL2005/2008 64-bit versions is increased memory capabilities and well as the ability to have several processors. Server hard drives with faster read/write capacities can also be improved. Sites that fall under some of the items discussed below should consider the benefits of faster servers to better handle their Lan site communications and data storage needs. How many Cyberstations are being used? As a general rule, we do not recommend using 1 Cyberstation for logging greater than 2000 points. This does not take into consideration the logging interval. 1 Cyberstation as a stand alone could be overwhelmed by 2000 points if the points are configured at small intervals with a large number of entries. In the case of a LAN site with several thousand extended log requests, more than 1 Cyberstation may be needed for load balancing. What is load balancing? Load balancing was implemented to divide extended logging work among Cyberstations based on the overall number of log entries per hour. Each Cyberstation will be logging on average approximately the same number of entries per hour, but the number of points logged by each workstation may be different. The algorithm looks at the timestamp of the log and if it’s not logged for a specific Cyberstation within a certain timeframe + the Global interval then it’s offered up to the rest of the Cyberstations (pool) to load balance equally. How to identify gaps in data: Run a report for extended log data and you notice that the regular interval for points do not show based on the timestamps. Run the following SQL query to verify the data in the database select * from extendedlog order by datetime desc --Selects all logs in descending order Select top 5000000 * from extendedlog --Selects the top 5 million rows (adjustable) When gaps are identified, a number of steps may be examined to eliminate the gaps. Offline controllers will buffer data as long as they can, but if left offline for long enough then data could be lost as it is first in first out. Normally extended log data will be requested from the controller by Cyberstation once it has come back online and the data will be filled in from the most recent to the oldest data. Check the Continuum error logs. If there is a large number of errors being processed, this can contribute to a draw on needed resources on the system. Resolve the issues in the Continuum error log to reduce the resource overhead. Run Acctrace.exe for a period of time. This can often give some additional information about extended logging that is not reported in the Continuum error logs. Determine how many Cyberstations are being used for load balancing for extended logging. This can be done by verifying in the Cyberstation preferences setting. ‘Download Extended Log data from controllers on the LAN is set to True   To verify the number of Cyberstations being utilized in the database Run a query against the database. Select * from ExtendedLogReservation Observe the ReservationWSLo column, points are evenly assigned to a unique id Any new Cyber added to the pool of workstations for extended logging should be assigned within a couple minutes. Examine the Hard drive I/O subsystem According to SQL server performance data, it is recommended to have multiple smaller drives on a hard drive array as opposed to fewer larger drives for better access times. SQL settings Are any governor settings enabled? (MSDE has one by default) Determine the number of processors that are enabled on the SQL server itself. These need to be selected to be used. Is Boost SQL Server priority selected? If not, enable it.   If a database has moved to another PC or an upgrade was done SP_CHANGEDBOWNER 'andover97' must be run or it can cause db problems including extended logging to no work at all or only partially. SQL profiler can be used to examine if there are issues within SQL that could use specific tuning. For example, certain queries or stored procedures could be isolated that have high CPU usage. Help for using SQL Profiler can be found on Microsoft’s web site or from SQL admin literature. Truncating tables Regular maintenance of removing extended logs can increase performance by reducing the number of rows that the need to be read and inserted into the database. Extended Log Automatic Purge Interval (days) This is the number of days to keep extended log data in the database before purging it. Extended log data is stored in a single internal table, so purging the data after a specified number of days prevents this table from becoming too large. A value of 0 ensures that the data is never purged.  If performance is so bad that it is affecting normal operations it may be desirable to directly purge records from the database. (It is best practice to perform a database backup prior to any delete query.) Also, ensure there is a database backup if the data needs to be saved at various points in time.  This query DELETES all records greater than 3/10/08 14:43:00 from extended log table delete from extendedlog where datetime >= ‘2008-03-10 14:43:00.000’  Increase the interval that extended logs are retrieved in points with small interval times. A listview with the ExtLogEnable and ExtLogInterval columns added can be run for numerics, inputs and outputs to indicate which logs have an interval of zero or a small number for the interval. Increase the interval and reduce the amount to reduce the number of requests. Increase the general preference Extended Log Database Check Interval The interval at which Continuum will check the database for points that are enabled for automatic extended logging. It checks the extended logging table, and uploads the point data. The default is 5 minutes. Increase this Database Check Interval if the system is unable to process all extended logs requested in this timeframe.  Extended Log Maximum LAN Buffer Interval (minutes) This is the maximum time interval, in minutes, that CyberStation may check each controller on a LAN network for new extended logging data. This determines how long Cyberstation will allow the controller log to accumulate new data before downloading it. This setting reduces a small amount of overhead when set to a higher value, and allows more up-to-date extended logs when set to a lower value.  Examples: If this is set to 1 minute and a point is logged every 10 seconds then Cyberstation will wait one minute and download 6 entries for that point. If this is set to 1 minutes and a point is logged every hour, Cyberstation will only try to download the data every hour.  Increase the Extended Log Database Check Interval and stagger Continuum startup When it is necessary, enable logging on several Cyberstations for load balancing. If additional Cyberstations have been added and the system is still having trouble keeping up with logging demand, implement the following procedure. Increase the Continuum General Preference Extended Log Database Check Interval to 60 minutes Stagger the start up times of the Cyberstations to 10 minutes apart. Staggering the startups as well as extending the time should allow the load balancing to level off by enabling the load balancing engine to utilize all of the Cyberstation’s resources and disperse the processing. Adding several Cyberstations at the same time could potentially cause the load balancing engine to get into a race condition where it’s trying to reassign all the points at the same time while still logging data.

Issue CFR and User configuration to avoid Environment Continuum Cause When setting up a machine for CFR there are 4 selections on the CFR preferences editor located by right-clicking the Continuum Icon in the lower right icon tray. One of selections is "Force Different User Signoff" which is false by default. If you want to turn this feature on make sure that you have more than one user and the user has the necessary rights to perform the Signoff. The mere mention of Different user should be an indication that you need more than one user to use this feature.  Resolution If you do get caught in this state where you only have one user and have selected true and apply for "Force Different User Signoff" you will not be able approve the activity event. You will then need to forcefully shut down the machine and either restore the DB to a backup previous to enabling the "Force Different User Signoff" feature or Contact Product Support Boston. 978-975-9508

Issue Export personnel pictures from the database and create a report Environment Personnel records in a database Cause Exporting data from the database can be used for auditing purposes. Resolution Exporting personnel pictures from the database Run the List_AllPersonnel listview Select the personnel of the pictures that are needed Right click and select Send to> Text File Create or select a folder on the hard drive and indicate a file name (*.dmp) Click OK on, Are you sure you want to save these objects to a dump file? This will create a dump file of the personnel AND send the personnel pictures to the same folder To get a report of the list of personnel with their pictures Run the same list view from above Select the personnel you want Right click and select Export Selected Create or select a folder on the hard drive and indicate a file name (*.csv) If you need a report all of this on the same page Highlight the cell you want the picture in Select Insert> Picture> From File and navigate to the appropriate file