How to Configure the Ignition Collector (version 23)

Knowledge Base / Version 23 / System Admin Duties / Data Collection

updated 10 mths ago

Latest tested and supported version of Ignition: 8.1.36

If using 8.1.31 or 8.1.32, the provider name must match the collector name. A bug was introduced in 8.1.31 (and fixed in 8.1.33) that prevented the module from working properly without the names being the same.

Begin Logging Ignition Data

Created by Inductive Automation, Ignition is a software platform that acts as an HMI, SCADA System, and MES. The Canary Module for Ignition can be used to both write data from Ignition 8 projects to the Canary System as well as read historic and last known values from Canary and publish them to Ignition 8 Vision/Perspectives projects.

Install Canary's Module for Ignition

Download the free module from here.
Launch the the Ignition Gateway web application, select 'Config' from the left menu, then select 'Modules'.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page. Select 'Install or Upgrade a Module...', then select 'Choose File' and upload Canary's module for Ignition.
Select 'Install'.

Install The Sender Service

Use the received download link from a Canary representative to download the Canary Installer.
Run the file 'CanaryInstaller-*.*.*.exe' with elevated privileges.
Deselect all items and choose only the 'Canary Admin Service', and 'Store & Forward'.
Select 'Install' and complete the installation.
When the status bar is solid green and the 'Success' message appears, the installation is complete.

Configure Canary's Module for Ignition

Towards the bottom of the left menu, select 'Configure Collectors' under the 'CANARY' subheading.
Select 'Create new Collector' and configure Canary as a Tag Storage Provider within Ignition by completing the following fields:

Name:	The displayed name of the collector.
Sender Service:	Assuming you are following best practices and your Ignition Gateway is running on a Windows platform, this should be 'localhost', otherwise enter the machine name or IP address of where the Sender Service is located
Sender Service Port:	55253 by default
Anonymous:	Enabled by default
Username, Change Password, and Password:	All unnecessary if Anonymous is enabled. Leave blank.
HIstorian:	The machine name or IP address of your Canary Historian. It is recommended this not be the same machine as your Ignition Gateway. You can send to multiple historians by using a comma as a separator...'Historian1, Historian2'
DataSet:	The name of the DataSet you wish to log all tags from this Storage Provider to. As a best practice, keep each DataSet to less than 25,000 tags. Additionally, the DataSet is part of a tag's name. Logging the same tag to more than one DataSet will result in more than one historical record. The DataSet will automatically be created for you within Canary as soon as you begin logging.
Lower Case Tag Paths:	By default Canary will copy the case structure of your Ignition tag names. If you enable this field you will force all upper case to lower case and will result in your Canary tag names being entirely lower case. Note, Canary is case sensitive and will create separate historical tags if case does not match.

Create additional 'Collectors' to enable additional logging to other DataSets. Keep a 'one-to-one' relationship for your Collector sessions to DataSets, meaning do not create multiple Collectors logging to the same DataSet. While this will work, it is not recommended as you may later wish to individually manage a single Collector without interrupting data logging from the other Collectors.

Redundant Ignition Servers

Additionally, if using a 'cold standby' Ignition server as your redundant server, duplicate the exact same configuration on that server as above. If the server should engage, the same tag name will be used and write data to the Canary Historian without any issue.

Configure the Sender Service from within the Canary Admin

Open the Canary Admin application on your Ignition Gateway and navigate to the Sender tile.
Use the 'Configuration' menu at the bottom and then open the 'Endpoints' menu at left. Ensure port 55253 is enabled for http - Anonymous (Web API). Select 'Apply'.
Select 'Access' from left menu and add 'ANONYMOUS LOGON' to the 'ALLOW' window and select 'Apply'.

Begin Logging Data

Open your Ignition Project, and navigate to a tag you wish to enable history for. Right-click on the tag and select 'Edit tag'.
Enable history for your tag and select your newly created Canary Collector as the Storage Provider. Since the module is built on top of Ignition's Tag History Module you can take advantage of all history settings including deadbands, tag groups, and min/max times between samples.