Overcoming IIoT Data Challenges: Efficient Data Injection From PLCs to InfluxDB
Session Date: May 21, 2024
Time: 8:00am (PT) | 3:00pm (GMT)
Join us for an insightful webinar introducing how organizations use InfluxDB to overcome data challenges. Discover how to seamlessly integrate data from PLCs, FactoryTalk Optix, and FactoryTalk View SE 14 into InfluxDB for real-time monitoring and analysis. We will break down using Windows CMD and configuration for each tool. Learn valuable strategies to optimize data injection processes using the InfluxDB API and explore the next steps for enhancing your industrial data management capabilities.
You will learn:
- PLC to InfluxDB
- Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Optix to InfluxDB
- How FactoryTalk View SE 14 works with InfluxDB
- Data collection tips and tricks
Watch the Webinar
Watch the webinar “Overcoming IIoT Data Challenges: Efficient Data Injection From PLCs to InfluxDB” by filling out the form and clicking on the Watch Webinar button on the right. This will open the recording.
[et_pb_toggle _builder_version=”3.17.6” title=”Transcript” title_font_size=”26” border_width_all=”0px” border_width_bottom=”1px” module_class=”transcript-toggle” closed_toggle_background_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0)”]
Here is an unedited transcript of the webinar “Overcoming IIoT Data Challenges: Efficient Data Injection From PLCs to InfluxDB.” This is provided for those who prefer to read than watch the webinar. Please note that the transcript is raw. We apologize for any transcribing errors. Speakers:
- Jessica Wachtel: Developer Marketing Writer, InfluxData
- Xavier Florensa Berenguer: Telecommunications Engineer, InfluxData
JESSICA WACHTEL: 00:04
Hello, everybody. Welcome, welcome. We’ll just let everybody join the room, and we’ll get started in a few minutes or a minute or so. Anybody wants to say in the chat where they’re from? That’d be great. My name is Jess, and I am in New York, New York.
JESSICA WACHTEL: 00:36
Welcome to everybody just joining now. We will get started in about a minute or so. Give a few other people just a chance to trickle in. I just want to let everybody know that this training is being recorded, and the recording and slides will be made available after the training. And be sure to check out the events page on influxdata.com to learn about other upcoming trainings and other events. We have product webinars and webinars with fellow community members who share InfluxDB expertise. And we do have some people in the chat. So, it looks like we have a full global attendance, so that’s very exciting. So welcome, welcome. Don’t forget to check out the community forums and community Slack workspace. They’re both fantastic resources for people brand new to InfluxDB, and those who are looking for tips and tricks. At the end of this webinar, we’re going to have a Q&A. So, if you have any questions throughout the webinar, I will monitor the chat, but it would be preferable if you put the questions in the Q&A section so we can just handle all of them at the end of the presentation.
JESSICA WACHTEL: 01:42
And please post any questions that you may have in the Q&A, which you can find at the bottom of your Zoom screen. And don’t be shy. If you have a question, chances are somebody else also has that same question. So go ahead and ask it. Okay. So, we’ll give it a few more seconds so more people can come on in. Welcome, everybody. And yeah, I think it’s time to get started. So, it is my pleasure to introduce Xavier Florensa, the automation specialist from Risoul Iberica.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 02:18
Hi. Let me share my screen and open the presentation. So hi, everybody. I hope everybody can hear me. Thank you very much for this opportunity to share my thoughts and ideas and experiences. I’m impressed, seeing on the chat, that there are people from everywhere in the world. It’s impressive. So, let’s start. I will put presentation mode. And today we’ll talk about how to work with the InfluxDB database with Rockwell Automation, hardware, and software solutions. Hardware meaning the PLC, and software meaning FactoryTalk Optix and FactoryTalk View.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 03:25
Okay. So next slide is the agenda. I will start making an introduction about challenges for organizations. Then I will introduce the InfluxDB API. This is a tool that we’ll use along the session. I’ll show a little demo about Windows Command Line interface to interact with the database. Then we will show how to make a PLC, write data to an InfluxDB database. Next, we will show the new SCADA from Rockwell Automation called FactoryTalk Optix that has capability to write to InfluxDB. We will also show the classical FactoryTalk View site edition that now in version 14 is able to write to its native database or embedded database called InfluxDB. Okay. We will see a short session of tips and tricks. And finally, the next steps, what we will see in the future. And this will bring us to the questions section.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 05:00
So, let’s go to what’s the organization’s challenges nowadays. Now we have to deal in factories and companies that produces goods and machines, etc., etc. We deal with complexity. Now people are more demanding and want to have that product in that color, in that flower. For example, a beer. You like to have a beer with lemon flower, then another one with strawberry. And this makes the production process more complex. Also, for example, in automotive, each car is different from the next car in the production line. Each car is customized for each people, and even each motor has a serial number. Production is serialized. This means that if even a complete motor could not be marked with the serial number, you have to refuse, to throw all this motor.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 06:19
So, such important is the data and traceability nowadays that you need database to organize all this complexity. It’s not valid to work with paper sheets or with an Excel sheet. You need something more robust and professional like a database. Then you also have a big amount of data, not only for this complexity, but also with the introduction of industrial internet of things. You have sensors everywhere in the factory. And now with these IoT technologies, you’re able to get data from many, many sensors. This means big amount of data. And together with the quality control and traceability, you have each time more data to contextualize to make easy where the data comes from. You have to store the data. You have to visualize the data with dashboards, and then send the data to other tools for making analysis, etc., etc., for decision-taking, for productivity and better productivity, cost reduction, quality, etc., etc.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 07:49
Then you have, from time to time, more trend to have all your software on the cloud as a software as a service solution. So, you don’t have to worry about infrastructure and maintenance of your software. You also need standard integration. Today, we will talk a lot about integration. And of course, with this data, you have to analyze. So why InfluxDB? I have chosen InfluxDB because it’s easy to use. Also, talking to customers that they are already using. For instance, MTorres in Pamplona or Ventaler, they already use InfluxDB. And the customers, they say that it’s easy to use. So, you don’t need database knowledge, you don’t need to be a computer science technician to use InfluxDB, okay?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 08:57
It also has a nice graphical user interface, with those blue and cyan and violet colors. You will see it. It’s a popular database because it’s open source. Also, you have the professional edition. And it’s easy to install, even in Windows and in Linux. And you also have the cloud version. It’s powerful. It’s scalable, and it’s a time series database. This is another reason to choose this, because compared to relational databases like SQL, MySQL, this is faster for time series events that it’s typical in IoT world. And then we have also integrated dashboards for visualization inside the InfluxDB environment. So, you do not need another software tool for visualization. And InfluxDB is helping to storage data in a contextualized way. And it’s available for different teams because it’s easy to integrate.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 10:21
Okay. Now I will talk about the InfluxDB API, REST API. It’s an interface between two programs or between the user and the server, okay? Normally, you have the client. This is the user that can make a transaction to get data from a server. Normally, through an HTTP request, by means of a GET, if you want to get some information, by means of a POST, if you want to write to the server, and then you go to the service, different services on the server to point to, and then you get a response by means on JSON. The JSON format is very used today.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 11:25
Before, you used XML, but nowadays, the JSON format is more popular, more powerful. The advantage of JSON is that it can be understood by a machine or by humans because normally, you use a label and a value, comma, label, value, and so on. Semicolons with a complex structure. You can use it, okay? So, this is REST API. And also, why should I use a REST API to work with InfluxDB? Well, I remember some years before, I had an edge computer that I wanted to show to customers with some use cases. And this computer was closed operating systems, was Linux Yocto, so you cannot easily install whatever you want. It came with it already pre-installed. And of course, you have the command line interface and much, much more.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 12:40
And I wanted to get data from sensors from a PLC, and I wanted to store in a database. I was not able to install InfluxDB or other databases in this Linux machine because it was so closed. So, it was my first experience with InfluxDB in the cloud. That was a nice start because I discovered a great tool, but the difficulty was at the beginning to master the API. I had some help from InfluxDB technicians, and finally, we did it, okay? And once you master this API, then you get an open mind with ideas, and then you are able to do things that controlling the database from the PLC, thanks to the API, and so on, or even, as we will see later, with the SCADA software right into the InfluxDB API. Okay?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 13:46
And then this is a description, the Influx Data web page, about how to work with this API. Normally, you would specify the organization because you have an account. With your account, you’re being related to an organization. You also use a bucket. Bucket, normally, is the name we use for the data stream, or let’s say the database. When you use with other databases, you have your own database. Here is the bucket. Then we also have the tables here we call measurements, etc., etc. Okay? You also have the API token. Those are your credentials you use because only you access this database. And this is all. Here you have the link to this documentation. I was using this. And this is an example. If you want to write from the Linux command line interface or also in Windows from the command terminal, as we will do now, you just write this keyword, this URL, and then POST, and then the HTTP URL where the database is running, and then your organization, the bucket, and so on. Repeat token, and then you start typing your sensor data.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 15:40
Here there, sensors will be the table or the measurement, and the sensor ID, and the values of your sensor. You can build stream of data this way. Okay? Now, we’ll do a demo, just from my computer, writing from Windows CMD an HTTP POST to the InfluxDB that I have running on my computer, okay? Before doing this, well, first of all, I exit the presentation mode, and I will show you, first of all, my instance of InfluxDB running on localhost. Okay, so I log in. Okay, this is what you will see. Normally, you will see your buckets. This is the collection of databases you have, okay? You will also see your API tokens; these are your credentials.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 17:10
Once you create, you have to store somewhere else because you cannot see anymore. Just create a new one. For example, if I want to create a new one, I create it an all-access API token. You give a name, my token, and here you have it. I will not use this one, but you have to copy and store somewhere else because once I close, you will not see it anymore. And you have the collection of tokens, but you cannot see it. Okay, and here on the data explorer, you will see the collection of buckets and so on. Here you can start navigating, as we will do later on. Okay?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 18:10
For this demo on the command line or the Windows CMD, I will use this Xavier bucket. Okay? So, let’s go to make the demo. Let’s copy this comment, okay, and I go to my comment, Windows Command Terminal, Command Prompt, and I just paste. Already, the current return is executed, so the request is executed, okay? Here we have the URL, the POST with the URL, and the organization is Rockwell. Well, in this case, the bucket is Xavier, and the access token and the data. I will see this is the PLC data. This is the measurement, and the host is the sensor ID, and this is the data. Let’s go to the other database to see this data, two, three, two, four.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 19:26
Okay. And we go here. Here we can see. Let me do this, okay? And here we have the data. Let’s put it in a single stat. So here we have the number, okay? As soon as you change the number— excuse me. I have to copy here. I paste it and just change the number, like this one. Three, three, three, three. It said I get no errors here. And when I go to my database instance, I go to submit. Here we have the number, okay? You can also inject a data stream with more values. You have the graph in time, okay? And let’s try this. I want to copy again. But I want to introduce one more datum here, a string of data, also with— excuse me.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 21:05
Let me copy this and paste. Well, don’t worry. More data equals—I will say one, two, three, four, okay? Hit enter, and now we have two, label and value, okay? Let’s go to our database and see what happens here. If we select this, look, here we have the data, okay? More data. And we have here our two values. If we inject again— I can copy this one. I paste. I will change the numbers, okay? Two, two, two, two. And here, three, three, three, three. We see how easy it is. And now we take a look over at the weights. And yes, here we have also this value. Okay.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 22:46
We have the numbers here in violet and in light blue, okay? So, we are injecting the— here we have the past five minutes, as you can see here. One fancy feature of this database is that you can change the time period, okay? So here we have the values, okay? And this is all concerning this database injection from your command line. I go back to the presentation mode, okay? And next slide, we did this already. And now I’m going to change of chapter. Now, you will see how to use hardware like PLC, ControlLogix, or CompactLogix, PLC from Rockwell. They are running socket TCPs. So, then you use a library. You don’t have to type a lot of code. You just download. This is an open source library called Common Application Libraries.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 24:14
And you have one library about HTTP. You install on your PLC, and you’re able to do the same I did with my computer, but from the PLC and writing data to the same database. I will not do the demo here because I don’t have the PLC with me, but you can try. If you have a PLC with you, we’ll show you how. And this is what we call add-on instruction you get when you download the library, and you will use this black box. It’s a so-called function block. This AOI has some parameters that you have to introduce to make it work. And this is just the client, but you can perform a transaction by means of a POST or GET. We’ll use the POST to write to the database. And then you have to give some values here, as you will see now. Same values we did in the demo before. And those are the values.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 25:36
These are some tags. You have this parameter when you download this. And you just insert the payload. The payload is to specify in a string, which is the measurement, which is the sensor ID, and which is your data. Then you also have to specify the resource. This is the API and your organization and your bucket, okay? You also give the URL where the database is running with normally this port. And also, you have to give your authorization token here. And we will see the demo on a video. You can download the code for the PLC here in GitHub, and then you only have to change your credentials and your organization in your token, okay?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 26:43
Now I will play the video. Here at the left, you have the Studio 5000 PLC program with the AOI. Here you have your payload. I will change the number here. One, two, three, four. I will inject this number, this integer, just toggling to make this instruction run. And when I submit the query, I see this number. Let’s change the number to send again. For instance, nine, eight, seven, six, and just toggle the bit to inject in the database. Okay? And now you have the result here. So, this is the example. And now we will go to another chapter. FactoryTalk Optix is the new SCADA from Rockwell Automation. It’s a new platform that can run independent of the hardware. So, you can connect to different PLCs from Rockwell and from other brands. You can also use Modbus TCP and other IoT protocols, like, for example, MQTT, HTTP. We will use this one, HTTP. You can also use collaborative design with GitHub because you will have the version control in GitHub for your projects in order that several people work with your project and having always the last version.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 28:36
You can also work with .NET libraries, open source, your own libraries, and programming C# to make your own applications, even if it’s not on the, let’s say, native or embedded functions that you will find. It is not a must to program in C#. You can use the dashboards and all the recipes, dataloggers, and everything that is included in the suite. So, let’s go with this. Now we are in version 1.3 of FactoryTalk Optix. And here you need the HTTP script to be able to write to InfluxDB. But if you wait to version 1.4 that will be delivered soon, you will have an embedded connector to the InfluxDB. And you can write directly, okay? You can write to a locker or to a cloud, InfluxDB instance. Here, I will show you how to take data from the SCADA and make a HTTP transaction to your InfluxDB instance, okay?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 30:10
We have here on GitHub a tutorial on how to do this. And this is the video, but I will do it live. Let me go to open this application. It’s an Optix application. Now it’s starting. You can see the environment when you can create a default Ultra for Optix panel, HMIs. You can open an existing or create a new one. Okay? Now it’s starting. I will show you a live demo. Takes a little patience. You will see this environment once it’s open with all your project navigator. And here is your screen where you introduce some objects like buttons, pictures, logos, and some windows to interact with. That’s it. Yeah. This is open. Yeah, this is the environment where you have your user interface with the main window. I have it here. You also have some variables I used to interact with to get the response.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 32:05
You also have your NetLogic. This is the script that you will use for making an HTTP request. And it’s so easy. You just go to the library, and you just look for REST API, and we have it here. You just drag and drop to your project, anywhere in your project, and you can just use it. Once you have it, you’ll find some methods. For instance, if I introduce a button, so when you click the button on mouse click event, you find this method that it’s calling REST API and a POST with some parameters. The parameters are similar to what we have done before. You have to put the URL. You have to introduce organization and the bucket. We will use the Optix bucket here. You can use your measurement and your sensor ID and your data. You can put more than one data here, of course. You can use your token, and that’s all.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 33:32
And let’s test this. I’m going to write this data, okay, 2000. So, let’s go here. I execute and run this runtime. Let’s say that the environment is free of charge, and this runtime will stop after some time. So, you can practice and make tests with FactoryTalk Optix. You can download and do these tests with no cost. Let me inject. I click this button, and I have the response everything is okay. Okay, now I go to the database. I move to my bucket called Optix. Here we have the Optix bucket, okay? This one and this one, and I submit. But let me change to the single start and submit. Yeah, we have the number here, 2,000. Let me change I— first of all, I close this because it’s just changing here. We can change here, or you can make this window to change the number. Let’s write another number. Four, four, four, four, okay? For instance, let me execute this.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 35:22
And let’s see the result. Yeah. Let me inject. Nice response. And if we take a look at the database and submit, we have the number here, okay? So, as you can see, you could even go to the graph to see the changes in time, how easy it is to interact from FactoryTalk Optix to InfluxDB. Here you have the NetLogic. This a script. When you click, it will open Visual Studio Code or Visual Studio Community Edition graphical user interface, and you can interact with your code here in case you need to fine-tune something, okay? We’ll go back here again. Close this.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 36:36
Any change you make here, just saying save, and it will compile, like I do here. Let me introduce one space here or line. If you click save— excuse me. Save. And here you see how it’s compiling. And if you get no errors, then you’re ready to run. So, this is how this environment works. It’s a compiled executable. You can execute for Linux, for instance. You can run on a computer, industrial computer, and Windows or Linux. You can run on an Optix panel. It’s an HMI. You can run also on an Edge Compute Module on a PLC. It has a card in its computer, together with the inputs, outputs, and so on. Okay. So, this is all concerning this Optix, and I will go to the presentation again. Presentation mode.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 38:05
We have seen this. This is the video. I can play it. And this is the tutorial you can find in GitHub to make this demo exactly for your own so that you can learn how to work with a GET request. And then how to install InfluxDB on Windows in case you don’t have it installed and how to inject from NoThreat, for instance, or from command line. This is what I did before at the beginning. And then how to write a POST request to local InfluxDB, and also to a remote instance. So, you can find it here. You will have this presentation no problem. And well, we did locally. If you want to inject remotely on a InfluxDB instance on the cloud, you have to wait until the tips and tricks section. And if you use version 1.4 of FactoryTalk Optix, you can use a direct connection to create or declare a new database, InfluxDB database. And then you can configure where you have the database, the port, and also organization bucket, etc., etc., and the token. It will be easy to use.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 39:49
And now a change of theme. Now we will talk about the classical SCADA over from Rockwell Automation called FactoryTalk View that in the new version, version 14, it has new features like the integration with this database. Even when you install FactoryTalk View site edition, you get a running instance of InfluxDB installed for you. You don’t have to worry about installation. This is nice. So now you have a new Edge historian capability, this embedded database that you will find when you open your new FactoryTalk View. And here you see the screen, how to configure the data log feature that you can work with SQL, with InfluxDB. And also, you can work with the FactoryTalk Historian that you also have this possibility. Okay? This is the data stream that you will use. So, the measurement you have here, and also the tags, you will understand this structure when I make the demo. Okay?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 41:25
And normally, you have this predefined data structure when you navigate in the data explorer. So, we will get some data from a PLC in the demo I will do now. I will use a simulated PLC with FactoryTalk Echo, running a PLC program with three values that will make a time evolution in ways of sine wave. And using this Data Log Pro, you will be able to store this data in the integrated InfluxDB instance. Okay? This is the video. So now I go to the live demo. Let me open the FactoryTalk View Studio, and I will open a site edition planning instance.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 42:45
This one. The name of the [inaudible] will be the same name of the bucket. So, when I look for my data, first I have to look at this bucket on the database. Okay? When you create a new application, you give a name, and this is the name of your bucket. This is opening. While it’s opening, I will show you, first of all, the emulated PLC. This is Compact Core logics running in this IP address. This is my local host, and now it’s running. Okay? I will open the PLC. This is my PLC, but now it’s online, and it’s running. We have three signals, sine wave, this one, this one and this one that are changing in time. And as soon as the SCADA is opening, I will show you how this is working. We will show you the results on a different bucket. I will choose this bucket. This one.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 44:04
This is the application that will be starting to inject data. Let’s check if this is opening. Not yet. We could also choose to stop the PLC this running. We can make it stop when I move to program mode to verify that the data is not being injected in the database and so on. But let me put it in run mode, okay? I guess this has started or will start soon. Yeah. Yeah. As soon as I can move the bar, this will mean that I’m ready. Yeah. Here you have a display for your SCADA. And what is important here is the DataLog Pro. Here is where you specify which stacks you can navigate with FactoryTalk links network explorer to your tags. You can select the tags and make a collection populate here. And you can also configure that the stack from the PLC will be periodically sampled each second and the same with the other. Okay? This is how you configure your data transactions. You can close this window, and you can just— this is a service.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 45:59
I did not even start the screen, but the data is already going to the database. Let’s check it. If I go to— let me check. Let me start. Okay. This is the screen of the SCADA showing the values. If I go to the— I don’t see the data here. Something is not running here. Let me enter the database again. This is a demo effect. Now, we can choose tag name. Here you have the three values. Do you see? Here’s the data structure we have to use, and we can submit here and put this last minute. And we have here the sine wave, okay? Let me inject some values.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 47:39
Here we have the signals that are changing here, the three signals. And we also have it here. I can stop the PLC, making program mode. So, this stops. If we go to the database and submit, we see that no more data is evolving, changing from the PLC, but we are getting samples each second, but in a linear way, not in a sine wave. I can start the PLC again, okay? The run mode is also starting to evolve again. If I hit submit, you can see the sine wave again. And this is a service. This means that if I go to the— I can stop this screen. This will continue storing data, as you see here. But if I finally stop the SCADA system, the data transfer will be stopped. I stopped this SCADA, FactoryTalk View, site edition version 14. And as soon as it’s stopped, you will see that no more data is being stored.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 49:27
Here, there are no even periodic data storage. And this is all. Let me go back to the presentation mode. We have seen this video. Now let’s move to the tips and tricks section. Just to explain, if you want to use a remote InfluxDB database with FactoryTalk Optix, you have to make a little change. For instance, point the right URL, the right organization, and the right bucket, okay? And then you also use, as always— and you’re talking. But you have to go to the code on the screen in C#. And if you do a local ejection, you have this line. But if you make a remote injection, you have to change the word “error” to “token.” And this way, it will work, okay? And this is everything.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 50:40
Next, let’s talk about what we’ll be seeing next dates. You can install now InfluxDB on an industrial computer, like this one, this ASEM 3300B, where you can install Windows or Linux. You can use also each compute card that will be on your PLC together with your input and output cards. And this is also a computer in different ways. Here you have the Optix pre-installed, also with remote access for a VPN to access your machine on the other side of the world. So here, you will be able to write to your database as we did with FactoryTalk Optix. And here you can use Docker container to install your InfluxDB instance together with other services with a Docker orchestrator like our [inaudible], okay? This is what we will see in the next future. And finally, we arrived at the end, and this is the questions time. So, I stop sharing. Okay. And I go back here.
JESSICA WACHTEL: 52:13
Awesome. Thank you so much for the great presentation. It’s very engaging and informative. Okay. So, let’s start with how the security features in are communicating to the cloud?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 52:31
Yeah. First of all, if you use a PLC, I would not recommend connecting it to the cloud, sending data to a cloud-based database. I would use on-premise, okay? But of course, when you use FactoryTalk Optix, that we have remote-access technology from ASEM, it’s VPN using all the security standards from ASEM, then you are safe, and you can use all this technology to write to a cloud database. Yeah. In this case, no problem. Well, I did not test with factorial view, but sure, you could do in a safe way.
JESSICA WACHTEL: 53:32
Thank you. And then can you replicate on-prem to the cloud? I know InfluxDB has capabilities to replicate from an on-prem instance of InfluxDB to the cloud. That is definitely available in ours. Do you have any experience working with it, I guess, so I can share?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 53:53
Yeah. I have worked with both instances, on-premise and on the cloud. It’s practically the same. You can export your database, moving to the cloud. Normally, I don’t do it because I use small databases. But of course, in case you need it, it’s ready to make this migration, of course.
JESSICA WACHTEL: 54:24
Rockwell PLC must have direct TCP/IP connection with InfluxDB. Or is there any other architecture possible? Like PLC connects to Bridge, not directly to InfluxDB?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 54:38
Yeah. Normally, a PLC connects to a SCADA. And from the SCADA, you go to InfluxDB. Yeah. This is the normal way. But I wanted to push the boundaries of PLCs and test if it’s possible. And yes, nowadays, PLCs, like this one from Rockwell, are able to use HTTP and also MQTT when you need it. So powerful. But this will be for another webinar. Yes, of course.
JESSICA WACHTEL: 55:09 Is it better to use Node-RED or Prometheus or other orchestration software instead of the PLC? And then this individual has been working on research for digitization. Their company has some prototypes for data acquisition, and they move toward this approach, removing responsibility from the automation engineer and isolating responsibilities. And why do you consider better to move data storing responsibilities to the PLC?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 55:42
Well, digital is just a proof of concept. Normally, PLCs are designed for control. Each computer has the task to do data management. I would recommend leaving that data management to a computer and leave control on the PLC. It was just a proof of concept to test the boundaries of PLCs, okay?
JESSICA WACHTEL: 56:11
Thank you. Okay. Does Factory Optix talk only to Alan Bradley PLCs, or can they have the same project and make it talk to a Siemens S7/1200 PLC?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 56:27
I don’t know if the Siemens PLC is able to make HTTP requests, but we should investigate.
JESSICA WACHTEL: 56:39
Okay. Thank you. All right. And then this person likes the use of FactoryTalk Optix as an intermediary between the PLC and InfluxDB. They use a different method, but can you give a rough idea of the license costs for FactoryTalk Optix?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 57:00
Well, Factory Talk Optix, you pay only for the runtime because the development studio, you don’t pay. It’s free of cost. It is a nice advantage. And concerning the runtime, it’s organized in sizes, like a size of a t-shirt, XL and so on. And you should contact sales guide for this price information, but you will get a nice surprise that it’s a compact cost in comparison with other tools in the market. Yes.
JESSICA WACHTEL: 57:43
Thank you. You included in your PLC code only the case where you hard-coded a value into text. Can you briefly discuss or demonstrate how we can pipe data from the PLC tag into InfluxDB?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 57:59
From the PLC to InfluxDB. Yeah. The video I have shown you. You will have these slides, and you will have a link to the video with the GitHub code. So, then everything is explained there. When I have the chance, I will write a tutorial or a hang. Maybe it’s there on the GitHub. Probably you have a tutorial in PDF with a step-by-step to do this task.
JESSICA WACHTEL: 58:38
What kind of industrial computer did you show in the Edge computing slide?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 58:44
Yeah. The one was the ASEM 6300B. It’s a computer sold by Rockwell Automation that you have different styles with screen, without screen. It’s a black box. It’s a little box. And then you can also add another model you will have on the slides. It’s an Edge compute card that you insert on your PLC rack in the control logics PLC so you can access to all the PLC data through the backplane. And then you have a computer for your use in an Edge computing way you will see on the slides.
JESSICA WACHTEL: 59:32
Awesome. Thank you. We only have time for one more. Have you tested using InfluxDB to FactoryTalk DataMosaix as a cloud solution?
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 59:50
DataMosaix, I did not have the chance to test it. It’s a new tool from Rockwell Automation. It’s a nice tool because, as I can see, it’s a way to aggregate data from different sources, make data contextualization, and send the data to another destination, for example, in InfluxDB. And as soon as I have the chance, I will test the DataMosaix. Great tool, of course.
JESSICA WACHTEL: 01:00:22
Awesome. Perfect. Well, thank you so much for the great presentation. Thank you so much for everybody who attended. Don’t forget, the recording and slides will be sent to you in about 24 hours. So, you should have them before this time tomorrow. We hope you have a great day and thank you so much for attending.
XAVIER FLORENSA BERENGUER : 01:00:40
Thank you very much. Thank you very much, everybody. Have a nice day.
[/et_pb_toggle]
