Geo SCADA 2025 Upgrade Notes

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Upgrading from Previous ClearSCADA and Geo SCADA Versions

• Legacy WebX may continue to be used on Geo SCADA 2025. This is the last version to support it.
• Virtual ViewX is the recommended replacement for Legacy WebX and IIS WebX. We recommend that you plan this upgrade carefully by reading the Release Notes and contacting the Licensing team to obtain the new licenses required when you are ready.

Upgrading from ClearSCADA 2017 R3

• IIS WebX may continue to be used but only on a separate physical or virtual server machine from the SCADA Server. IIS WebX may only be installed and upgraded from a ClearSCADA 2017 R3 installation DVD/ISO image.

Upgrading from ClearSCADA

• Although the product name has changed, the following are not changed to ensure the upgrade experience is smooth:
  • Installation folders
  • Registry locations
  • API files and calls

Upgrading from ClearSCADA 2017 R1 and R2 Prior to June 2018

• There are changes to the ViewX startup configuration XML. This is because alarm banner settings can apply individually, so you can now have the alarm banner on any or all monitors. No change is needed if you are not using a customized ViewX startup configuration XML. A summary of the changes is here:
  • WindowContainers - The AlarmBannerWindow and AlarmBannerMode settings have been removed.
  • PrimaryWindowContainer and SecondaryWindowContainer
  • AlarmBannerDisplayState (new setting) - can be one of 'DockedTop', 'DockedBottom' or 'Fill'. Omit this to remove the alarm banner from this container.
  • AlarmBannerPersistSettings (new setting) - a boolean. This can only be specified as true for one window container. This causes the container where the setting is "true" to be the master for saving column size and order settings.
  • The keyword "CanFloatWindows" has been added and the keywords "InterfaceMode" and "IsRestrictedWorkstation" have been removed.
  • An example XML file for the June 2018 update onwards is shown in this page.
• Security certificates for the web server -- please refer to the Release Notes for 2017 R2.

Upgrading ClearSCADA 2017 or earlier ClearSCADA Mobile

Between ClearSCADA 2017 and ClearSCADA 2017 R2 the location of the Mobile Settings database changed. Therefore upgrading from a version of ClearSCADA Mobile at or before ClearSCADA 2017 will require your action. You will need to move your database (.sdf file) from:

C:\ProgramData\Schneider Electric\ClearSCADA Mobile

to
C:\ProgramData\Schneider Electric\ClearSCADA

Upgrading from ClearSCADA 2015 R2.x or earlier

• To reinforce implementation of best practice security, the Super User now enforces a 12-character password to discourage extended use when a local Administrator User Account object should be used instead. If the existence of a Super User account is detected on upgrade to Geo SCADA Expert, you will be asked to enter new credentials to comply with increased password strength.
• New options have been added within Server Configuration Tool to control the state of the Wonderware Alarm Provider (WWAP). This new option defaults to False on upgrade to Geo SCADA Expert and therefore should be enabled (and then the server restarted) if the Alarm Provider is in use. Existing users that wish to continue to use the WWAP service, it is recommended that immediately after upgrade to Geo SCADA Expert the WWAP service is enabled via the Server Configuration Tool, and the Geo SCADA Expert server restarted to avoid loss of cached alarms.
• The ClearSCADA Mobile Companion installation was bundled with the new WebX installer for ClearSCADA 2015 R1 and 2015 R2. The bundling of the Mobile Companion and WebX installation has been reversed from ClearSCADA 2017 on, such that the Mobile Companion is now a separate feature that can be selected during installation of the Geo SCADA Expert Server.
• After these versions the License Server for client licensing (plus Port Server and AEPrinter services) use virtual accounts. The "NT SERVICE\ALL SERVICES" account should be assigned the "Log on as a service" user right, see https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794944(v=ws.10).aspx for details on how to do this. Virtual accounts will not work without this. If this is not configured, an error will be shown in the Windows system logs. This virtual user also will needs to be granted permissions to read the directory where the license file is stored, if applicable.

Upgrading from ClearSCADA 2015 R1.x

• Existing installations of ClearSCADA 2015 R1 Web and Mobile will first need to be uninstalled prior to installation of ClearSCADA 2015 R2. The re-installation of Virtual ViewX to replace WebX after installation of ClearSCADA 2015 R2 will need to manually re-configure any non-default ports, as these will not be remembered from the previous WebX installation. Mobile users running versions prior to ClearSCADA 2015 R1 should be able to upgrade to Geo SCADA Expert without first uninstalling ClearSCADA Mobile.
  
  

Upgrading from ClearSCADA 2014 R1.x

• The Sample Database now appears as two "Configuration Samples" options within a custom installation to allow users the choice of whether or not this is installed. At completion of the installation, there is no longer a Demonstration Modules installer to launch the Database and install the Configuration Samples. Instead, when the Configuration Samples are selected for installation (included within a "Full" installation) the Sample Database will automatically be loaded when the server is started if an existing database is not found.
• Prior to upgrading the user needs to stop the Geo SCADA Expert mobile companion service using the Geo SCADA Expert Service Manager tool.
• Creation of a Geo SCADA Expert Super User account is now mandatory during installation in order to provide administration access to configure new Example User Accounts. It is strongly recommended that this is subsequently disabled via the System Configuration utility once a replacement Administrator user account has been created within the database.
• The built-in Super User account, if enabled, is only valid on the local Geo SCADA Expert server machine, and will be denied access to the database if logon is attempted from a remote client machine.
• A new database table, called DBDictionary, has been created to store the translation strings for each dictionary language as required by the user. Each entry within this table specifies the Dictionary Name (or Language), a Search String, a Replacement String, and an optional Comment. When configured, users who have their Locale set to match one of the Dictionary Languages would see the Replacement String used in place of a Search String if it were to appear on a mimic.
• Enabling the dictionary functionality as described above will disable translation using any existing Dictionary Files. In this case, migration of these existing files to the new dictionary table is necessary to provide continued translation.
• Translation of strings using the string dictionary only works for whole strings. Strings on mimics cannot be built from multiple translated strings. A new "translate()" function has been created for use within server expressions, client expressions, scripting and SQL syntax to allow multiple separate strings to be translated and concatenated together. An example mimic text animation could include:Translate('@This section of string is translated') + ' but this section is not.'

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