Siemens Welding System ST PCS 7 User Manual

OS archiving

Siemens ST PCS 7 · November 2007

5

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Overview of short-term and long-term archiving

The operator system already includes a high-performance ar-

chiving system based on Microsoft SQL Server with cyclic ar-

chives for short-term saving of process values (typically 1 to 

4 weeks) and messages/events (typically 2 months). Data from 

the short-term archive as well as OS reports and batch data from 

SIMATIC BATCH can be exported time-controlled or event-con-

trolled for permanent archiving in a long-term archive. 

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Two alternatives with different features are available for the OS 

long-term archiving: 
• StoragePlus: 

More economical version for the lower performance range; for 

the archiving of about 1600 values/s from as many as four sin-

gle stations, servers or pairs of servers 

• Central archive server (CAS), for single or redundant configu-

ration:

High-performance version for archiving about 10000 values/s 

from as many as 11 servers or pairs of servers

During long-term archiving with StoragePlus, the archived data 

can be visualized by means of the StoragePlus viewer. Process 

values and messages exported to the central archive server can 

also be accessed from an OS client.
The data managed in StoragePlus and in the central archive 

server can be saved on commercially available storage media 

(e.g. DVD). This requires additional hardware and software 

which support the respectively used operating system, e.g. 

a DVD writer with appropriate writer software.

The StoragePlus computer and the central archive server are 

stations on the terminal bus, and are not connected to the plant 

bus. When using a SIMATIC PCS 7 Industrial Workstation (BCE 

version) as the hardware platform, the Ethernet interface 

(Ethernet RJ45 port) already onboard can be used for connect-

ing to the terminal bus.
Through a redundant design of the central archive server, the 

availability of long-term data is increased, and these can also be 

accessed by the OS clients or the OpenPCS 7 station. SIMATIC 

BATCH does not yet swap out the batch data to the two central 

archive servers. However, following automatic matching of the 

archives, the batch data are available on both central archive 

servers following swapping out.

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• There is only one type of archive variable for OS short-term ar-

chiving and CAS long-term archiving. SIMATIC PCS 7 Archive 

and SIMATIC PCS 7 Archive PowerPacks can be used univer-

sally - both for the operator system and for the CAS. 

• The "SIMATIC PCS 7 Archives" are Count Relevant Licenses, 

i.e. the archive variables of several licenses are cumulative. 

Starting with the smallest cumulative number of 

1500 variables, any combinations are possible with consider-

ation of the expansion limits of 10000 variables for OS short-

term archiving and 120000 variables for CAS long-term ar-

chiving, e.g. 2 x 1500 or 1 x 1500 with 1 x 5000 variables.

• The number of archive variables can also be increased using 

"SIMATIC PCS 7 Archive PowerPacks". Starting with 

1500 variables, increasing is possible in steps through 5000, 

10000, 30000 and 80000 variables up to 120000 variables.

• If a CAS is not used, the licenses of the SIMATIC PCS 7 Ar-

chive are installed on the OS single stations and OS servers of 

the system. Otherwise the installation is only on the CAS. 

OS single stations and OS servers then "book" their archive 

variables from the CAS’s stock of variables. It is therefore un-

necessary to carry out the complex installation of archive vari-

able licenses on all OS single stations and OS servers in the 

system.

• Operator systems (OS single stations and OS servers) are 

assigned 512 archive variables each by the OS software, the 

CAS is immediately provided with 1500 archive variables by 

the central archive server basic package. If the short-term ar-

chiving of the operator systems is combined with the CAS 

long-term archiving, the 512 archive variables of the OS single 

stations and OS servers are not cumulated with the 

1500 archive variables of the CAS. The 1500 archive variables 

of the CAS are then available universally for short-term and 

long-term archiving.

• In the case of redundant systems, two archives must be con-

figured with the corresponding number of archive variables.

Central archive server:
long-term archiving

Slow
archiving cycle
> 1 min

Fast
archiving cycle
≤ 1 min

Alarm archive

Backup
archiving
on DVD

Batch server

OS server:
short-term archiving (cyclic)

e.g.
2 months

e.g.
2 weeks

e.g.
7 days

30 byte/
value

Max.
30 byte/
value

172 byte/
event

XML
files

© Siemens AG 2007