Knowledge Base / Version 22 / System Admin Duties / Canary Historian

Using Diagnostics Tags and the Diagnostic Health System (version 22)

updated 2 yrs ago

Diagnostic Tags

Every Canary Historian includes a set of diagnostic tags that do not count towards the historian tag license. These tags can be found in the {Diagnostics} DataSet and are helpful for managing the historian. To browse these tags:

Open the Canary Admin. Select the 'Historian' tile.
In the 'Database' tab, double-click the DataSet titled '{Diagnostics}'.

Diagnostic tags can be added to Axiom trend charts or applications for monitoring and reporting purposes.

Diagnostics Table

Additional diagnostics information is available and displayed within the Canary Admin application. This is a combination of information from the diagnostic tags as well as additional information. To find this table follow these steps:

Open the Canary Admin. Select the 'Historian' tile.
Select the 'Diagnostics' tab.

The following information is available from the Diagnostic table:

GENERAL Window

CPU System Usage	This is a System counter connected to Processor(Total)\% Processor Time. This % Processor Time (_Total) performance counter under the Process performance object provides overall utilization of all processors.
CPU Historian Usage	CPU usage is calculated by getting the total amount of time the system has operated since the last measurement (made up of kernel + user) and the total amount of time the process has run (kernel + user). The Enterprise Historian is a multi-threaded application and with multi-core PC's, the Historian processing will be distributed across multiple CPUs.
CPU Historian Peak	Indicates the highest CPU usage, since the start of the Historian service.
Write Client Count	Indicated the number of clients currently writing data into the Historian. These clients are identified on the left under the Clients panel.
Write Handle Count	The number of tags that are being written to by clients (usually the SAF_RecieverService and Diagnostics) at the current time.
Write TVQ per Sec	The number of TVQs sent to the historian by write clients. It indicates the current writing throughput of the historian.
Write Request/Sec	A count of write requests made by external clients. One write request will contain multiple TVQs
Write Extension/Sec	Indicates the number of timestamp extensions per second. If an update is not received for a tag within 60 seconds and the SAF Receiver session is valid the Historian will extend the timestamp of the previous value.
Read Client Count	Clients making read requests to the Historian. Some clients remain connected while others (Excel Add-In) will disconnect as soon as request is satisfied.
Read Handle Count	The number of tags being read by clients at the current time.
Read TVQ/Sec	The total number of TVQs being read for external client applications.
Read/Request Per Sec (Historical)	A count of read requests for Historical data by external client applications. One read request will contain multiple TVQs.
Read/Request Per Sec (Live)	A count of read requests for Live data by external client applications. One read request will contain multiple TVQs.
Historian/Admin Request Per Sec	Requests for historian status information. For example, statistics running at the bottom of the Diagnostics (Up Time, DataSets, Total Tags, etc...).
Memory Physical Total	Total physical memory installed on the machine.
Memory Physical Usage	The historian calls the OS function GlobalMemoryStatusEx and from that information set the 3 Memory counters. This counter shows the percentage of Physical Memory currently being used.
Memory Physical Peak	Indicates the highest usage, since the start of the Historian service.
Memory Page Usage	The historian calls the OS function GlobalMemoryStatusEx and from that information set the 3 Memory counters. This counter shows the percentage of the Page File currently being used.
Memory Virtual Usage	The historian calls the OS function GlobalMemoryStatusEx and from that information sets the 3 Memory counters. This counter shows the percentage of the Virtual Memory current being used.
Historian Working Sec	This is a system counter connected to \Process(CLIHistorian)\Working Set.
Historian Thread Count	Amount of Operating System threads in the Historian.
Historian Handle Count	Amount of Operating System handles used by the Historian.

BACKGROUND Window

These parameters address the work being done in the background by the Historian based on DataSet properties.

Indexing	This field will show the current DataSet and files being indexed. If all files are up to date or indexing is disabled the field will show "idle". Should the state of indexing for a DataSet need changed it would require a direct edit of the historian.ini.
Roll-Up	This field will show the current DataSet and file being Rolled-Up as it progresses. The Roll-Up runs a few seconds after the Roll-Over of a DataSet or manually from the Arrow Down on the DataSet panel.
Validation	Checks each DataSet for files to be automatically validated. If a file needs validated this field will show the DataSet and filename as it progresses through the validation process.

ACTIVITY Window

The Historian activity loads over time.

Instant	An instantaneous count of TVQ writes and reads.
Minute	TVQ write and reads over the past minute.
Hour	TVQ write and reads over the past hour.
Day	TVQ write and reads for the past day.
Month	TVQ write and reads for the past month.
Total	TVQ write and reads since the Historian was installed on the machine.

CLIENTS Window

This panel allows the user to monitor all clients logging data and all clients reading data. The SaF Receiver Service is the primary logging client. Views clients vary depending on how the data is needed.

Writer	Displays the number of tags being written and the identity of the client. "HistDiagnostics" will always show as a writer.
Reader	Displays the number of tags requesting data and the identity of the client. For Axiom the identity will show "HWS:Axiom:AxiomTrend" and the machine information

Status Bar

These are additional Historian statistics.

Start Time:	Time when the Canary Enterprise Historian was last started.
Up Time:	Length of time the Canary Enterprise Historian has been running since the last start.
Run Time:	Cumulative amount of the time the Canary Enterprise Historian has run.
DataSets:	The total number of DataSets defined (includes {Diagnostics}).
Licensed Tags:	The total number of tags from all DataSets being counted against the Historian license (excludes the {Diagnostics} DataSet). The actual historian license, tag limit is shown in the Licenses tile.
Total Tags:	The total number of tags from all DataSets (includes {Diagnostics}).
Files:	Total number of files in all defined DataSets (excludes the {Diagnostics} DataSet).
Version:	The version of the Historian where the Canary Admin is connected.

Diagnostic Health System Settings

Diagnostic health system settings are useful for large enterprise solutions with multiple Canary Historians dispersed across their organization. Diagnostic Health system tags provide additional diagnostic information on specific Canary Services.

The health system diagnostic tags can be displayed in an Axiom application to view machine health over time and to troubleshoot problems.

How to Turn On Diagnostic Health System Tags

Open the Canary Admin. Select the 'Admin' tile.
Select the 'Settings' tab. Select the 'Enabled' checkbox.

Diagnostic Health System (DHS) Tags vs. Normal Diagnostic Tags

More metrics are measured with the DHS tags than with the standard diagnostic tags. These additional tags come from measuring metrics from Canary services, such as the Calculation Server, Virtual Views, and Axiom.
DHS settings allows users to send the diagnostic data to multiple historians, using the 'Destination Historian' feature.
Metadata properties can be added to DHS diagnostic tags.

The 'Historian Writers Target' Setting

The 'Historian Writers Target' setting displays a value that is automatically calculated as the DHS is running. The value represents the amount of hours that the number of historian tag writers have remained constant.
If the number of historian tag writers on a machine does not change for an hour, the Historian Writers target will be set to that number. This is used in the Calculation Server to create an alert when the number of tag writers falls below the desired amount.

Frequency

The frequency lets you specify how frequently you want the DHS to collect diagnostic information. The default (and minimum) value is 1 minute. This means that every DHS tag will get an update every one minute.