ClearSCADA 2009 R1 Release Notes

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New Major Features

Support for 64 Bit Operating Systems

ClearSCADA 2009 R1 has been enhanced to run on 64 bit operating systems such as 2003 Server, Vista 64 bit and 2008 Server. The ClearSCADA installer will auto detect the operating system on which it is being installed and install either the 32 or 64 bit version as required.

ClearSCADA versions are completely compatible, meaning that you can run a mixture clients and servers running on either 32 or 64 bit operating systems with no problems. A 32 bit server can have a 64 bit server as its partner (either main or standby), allowing a staged upgrade approach when the time comes to upgrade your server hardware to utilize 64 bit server architectures.

Integration of Kepware OPC Servers

The KEPServerEX OPC Server has been incorporated into ClearSCADA. The KEPServerEX OPC Server software is installed along with the ClearSCADA installation when the PLC driver option is selected from the installation options.
KEPServerEX is automatically launched when the "PLC Driver" starts running.

Licensing for KepServerEX is provided in the ClearSCADA license as a number of protocol drivers that can be run concurrently. For example, if you want to use KepServerEX to connect to a ControlLogix PLC, this requires on license. This can be changed to use a Siemens PLC using the same license provided only one driver runs concurrently.
KepServerEX is provided in a 2 hour demonstration mode with ClearSCADA so it can be used for testing and developing systems.

.Net API

ClearSCADA 2009 R1 includes a new .Net API for connecting to the ClearSCADA server. The API has full code browsing capabilities, including Intellisense for all functions.
The .Net API deprecates the existing automation interface. This interface will remain in the product and continue to be supported, however new developments should utilize the additional functionality and connectivity available through the new .Net API.

Firewall-Friendly, Read Only Standby Server

The DMZ (De-Militarized Zone) Permanent Standby Server is a new type of Permanent Standby server designed to allow use outside of corporate or SCADA firewalls. It is designed to provide read-only access to the server irrespective of the security level of the user accessing the server to ensure changes cannot be made to the system.
The main-standby communications mechanism has been modified to allow only one way communications to the DMZ server. This allows the DMZ Permanent standby server to be placed outside corporate firewalls with all communications being pushed out from the main, improving corporate security by blocking all inbound communications into the corporate network through the firewall.

Online Custom Database Field Creation (Dynamic Metadata)

The "Extra Database Field" configuration within the Server Configuration Tool has been moved into ViewX, and can be accessed by selecting "Edit Metadata..." on the root group.
Dynamic metadata allows custom database fields to be created "on the fly".
The field configuration is now stored in a XML file with the database and not in the Registry Key "Metadata". The metadata configuration is now transferred to the standby as part of the main-standby transfer.
If the metadata XML file is not present, the old registry configuration will be loaded from the Registry Key "Metadata" instead and converted to the new format. The old registry entry is then renamed to "MetadataOld".

Alarm Limit Time Profiles

Time Profiles can be added as alarm limits for simple analog points, DNP3 analog points, IEC 60870-5 analog points and SCADAPack Modbus/RealFLO analog points. This allows analog alarm limits to be configured with time dependent values, allowing the alarm limits to vary over the course of a day.
A new Time Zone field has been added to Time Profiles which can now be configured (UTC, Local with DST or Local without DST). Previously it was fixed as Local with DST.

Direct SMS and UCP Support for Pager Driver

The Pager Driver has been extended to support Direct SMS protocol. This allows alarms to be sent as SMS messages to Pagers by using a GSM modem connected directly to the ClearSCADA server.
The Pager Driver also now supports the Universal Computer Protocol which is a protocol similar to the existing TAP service. A PSTN modem can now be used to send a SMS message using UCP. For this, a new UCP Service object has been created.

Flocal Export for EFM Data

ClearSCADA now allows EFM data gathered from flow computers running RealFLO to be exported in the Common File Exchange Format (CFX) format. It can then be imported into the Flow-Cal application for analysis. A new CFX Export object has been created using which RealFlo data for a Flow Run can be exported into the CFX format.

Configuration Download for All E-Series RTUs

ClearSCADA 2009 R1 extends the DNP3 driver to provide support for the full range of E-Series devices, along with the majority of the more recent functionality. The range of devices supported includes:

• SCADAPack ES

• SCADAPack ER P600

• SCADAPack ER P620

• SCADAPack 350E

• SCADAPack 357E

• SCADAPack 5000 series I/O modules

• SCADAPack ER I/O cards

• SCADAPack ES used as remote I/O

• 386 eNET

Additional features now supported for configuration download include

• Data Concentrator

• Multi-master

• Modbus 32-bit mapping table.

• AGA-12 configuration on DNP3 route table.

New database objects to support configuration of IO modules and Remote DNP3 outstation on a SCADAPack E-Series Outstation have been created.

SQL Extensions

• New SQL scalar functions POWER and REPLACE have been added.

• New SQL function FORMATVALUE (Value USING Format), which returns a string formatted according to instructions contained in a format String expression.

• The De-reference Operator '>' has been added which returns a value from the target of a reference column. This can be used to simplify joins when retrieving data from multiple tables.

• Schema names have been implemented in the ODBC Driver. External applications that also support schema names, e.g. Crystal Reports, will now display a hierarchical list of table names rather than a flat list of several hundred.

• Improvements have been made to the ClearSCADA query processor to better support linking from SQLServer using a linked server and the OLEDB Provider for ODBC Drivers.

• Implemented asynchronous queries which can be cancelled and send progress notifications to the client. They are not subject to the standard query timeout. Each list display in ViewX will now show the progress of the query and update this progress every second until the result set is returned.

ClearSCADA Driver Development Kit (DDK)

The ClearSCADA Driver Development Kit (DDK) is a .NET 2.0 Assembly that allows drivers to be written for ClearSCADA in any .Net 2.0 compliant language. This tool can be used by end users and system integrators to develop custom database drivers to talk to particular devices.
The DDK provides the link between the ClearSCADA database and the code written in .Net.

Minor Features

• Storing Crystal Reports as Data Files

• The Crystal Reports database object has been changed to store the report definition and the latest report as data files. This reduces memory usage in both the server and driver. This provides significant benefit where multiple copies of reports within template instance were stored in the database and now sees no reduction in performance when reports are added to heavily instantiated templates.

• Viewing Crystal Reports in WebX

• The latest version of a Crystal Report can now be viewed using the web client. A new tab "Export to WebX" has been added to the Crystal Report properties which contains a flag that can be enabled/disabled. When this feature is enabled and the report is generated a PDF file is created which is then available via the web server using the database tree, object menu or user configured hyperlink.

• Trip Sequences in Crystal Reports

• Extended Crystal Reports trip sequences (for destination filename, email message etc.) to include parameters to the report and properties of the report object. An example of when this is useful is when exporting a report and ensuring that the filename of the exported file matches the date range for the data within that report. The new Trip Sequences supported and the format for them are as follows:

• Passing values to report parameters using '%P'

• Format

• %P[.][;]%

• Example

• %PTimeRange.Start;d MMMM yyyy%

• NOTE:

• The ':' should not be used when specifying the time format as this is only used to specify the drive or directory for the export and if used in the format, the Crystal Report export will fail.

• Passing object properties using '%O'

• Format

• %O[.][;]%

• Example

• %OParentGroupId.Name%

• The following new languages have been incorporated in ClearSCADA 2009 R1

• Bulgarian

• Portuguese

• Czech

• Drivers have been modified so that they only run if they have some configuration in the database. The status at other times shows "Stopped, no Config".

• A fixed aggregate has been added to the root group called EventJournal containing two methods, LoadRecord and LoadEncodedRecord. These allow new records to be added to the Event Journal.

• The Historian has been extended to store Unit information. This means that if the units on a device are changed, the historic data will reflect the units at any particular point in time.

Query Processor (New list features):

• Column headings can be made to span multiple lines by embedding '\n' in the column alias.

• Columns can be made right-justified by adding '>' before the column alias.

• Columns can be marked as special attribute columns that affect the color of the next column by using '{Foreground}', '{Background}' or '{Blink}' as the column alias.

• CurrentColIdx' property to embedded lists which can be used to retrieve the index of the last clicked column.

• New Logic features:

• Added a new option on the logic program properties to execute programs configured for "On Input Processed" when the quality of the inputs change as well as when the value is processed.

• A new configuration field available from the logic program properties controls whether the manual execution option appears in the standard object menu.

• A new "EXECUTE_SQL" function added to logic allows an entire SQL statement to be constructed at run time. The function EXECUTE_SQL does not execute the SQL statement immediately; instead each call to EXECUTE_SQL adds an SQL statement to an internal list. The entire list of SQL statements is executed at the end of the program execution during the write outputs phase. The function takes a single STRING argument, which is the SQL statement to execute. The function returns a BOOL, where TRUE indicates that the SQL statement was successfully queued.

• Implemented typed literals in logic. The type of a numeric literal is normally the smallest type the literal value can fit into. To specify the type of a literal, prefix the value with the required type followed by a # e.g. DINT#5.

• Separated logic execution and program time zones. The program time zone setting applies to time based calculations performed in the program itself.

• Changed the default execution interval for Structured Text programs to 10 seconds.

• Unique times can be specified in logic programs using an extension to OPC times. i.e. D[00:00 UTC], D[00:00 Local] or D[00:00 LocalNoDST].

• Enhancements to the Kingfisher Driver:

• Added PSTN Support to Kingfisher driver. This includes New PSTN Channel, PSTN Set and PSTN Outstation objects. Additionally fallback support has been added to direct outstations.

• The driver now supports and processes data from Kingfisher command 17 (Send Multi Data) and also support command 15 (Send RTU Update). Either command can be used to allow the RTU to indentify itself. The standard PSTN connection types have been added into the Kingfisher server configuration.

• Added heartbeating support into the driver (using Request RTU Status (command 34)).

• Added idle poll support into the driver (for fallback support when the MDRP link is being kept active during a PSTN dial in).

• Client Side Scripting:

• A new pick action type called "Execute Script on Top Level Mimic" has been added to mimics to allow embedded mimics to execute script in the context of the top-level containing mimic, without needing to enable script on the embedded mimics.

• A new script function has been added to the client that returns the server name of the system on which the script is running.

Mimics now display a busy cursor when a script is running. A SetBusy (bool) method has been added to mimic scripting to control busy cursor. Busy cursor is now not automatically displayed when script starts, but is removed is script ends without explicitly removing it.

• Access to methods on default pick actions can be limited by modifying the 'Standard pick menu denied permissions' section of the 'Permission Restrictions' page in the Server Configuration tool.

• A new menu item 'Locate in OPC Data Explorer' enables the navigation from a database object to the equivalent OPC data object.

• A new 'Locate In Navigator' option has been added to in the main 'View' pull down menu.

• New 'Hover' and 'Fast update' columns have been added to the animations dialog in ViewX to make it easier to see their state for each animation without needing to open all the separate dialogs.

• A new ViewX option in the Tools->Options menu called "Flash Rate" allows the user to control the application flash rate. This can be used to reduce high CPU usage for complex mimics where the graphics card is not able to render the mimic natively.

• Added a new SQL table CDBEventFile to provide detailed information about files in the event journal.

• A new historic aggregate called "End Last" gives the last known value in a period, with the timestamp set to the period's end.

Product Enhancements

• Query Processor:

• QPTest has been replaced with a new, improved application called QueryPad. This consists of two edit controls - queries are typed in the bottom pane and results appear in the top pane. Note: use Ctrl-Enter to execute queries.

• Lists in ViewX have been modified to use asynchronous queries.

• The size of the query's resultset has been set to 50MB for 32 bit ClearSCADA and 250MB for 64 bit versions. These settings can be changed through the registry if necessary for particular system configurations.

• Incremental Import:

• Incremental import splits an import up into phases so that progress information can be provided to the user, and to prevent locking the database for extended periods.

• During an incremental import, all new objects are created at the start of the import and will be visible in the tree, but will be marked as 'Import In Progress' and will always have invalid configuration until the import is complete.

• The number of events logged during an import has been reduced to just two, Import Started and Import Complete on the root of the import, instead of a Created event for every object. This reduces the bloat on the event journal when performing large import operations.

• The server now recalculates the snapshot interval from the registry value after every snapshot generation. This allows the snapshot interval to be reduced without requiring a ClearSCADA server restart.

• When items are dragged around the database sidebar and held over an unopened group, that group automatically opens after 2 seconds.

• The facility to copy single and multiple lines to the clipboard has been added to the View dialog of an object.

• Advanced PSTN Support:

• A new "Communications Availability" section has been added to PSTN outstations with the options - Always, Never, Incoming Only and Periodic.

• This allows support for outstations where only incoming calls (PSTN) or connections (network) are available (i.e. master-station can't call/connect to outstation, must instead wait for outstation to dial-in/connect to master-station).

• Also support for outstations where comms is only available periodically (e.g. battery powered device which only powers up at certain times of the day).

• Incorporated the existing 'no comms' feature into this new more generic comms availability feature. When only incoming or only outgoing comms is available this is now shown in the outstation's state description.

• New "Dial-In Line Settings"

• Some drivers support PSTN dial-in but do not allow any dial-in channels to be configured (as they do not support downloading dial-in phone numbers), however this meant the driver always treated these outstations as outgoing only. Appropriate database fields have been to these drivers' outstations to allow dial-in channels to be configured, and therefore the true state of the outstation to be determined.

• Added support for Phoenix IEC60870-5 RTU by creating an extension driver that supports PSTN communications to the Phoenix RTUs.

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