Views Tile (version 24)

Knowledge Base / Version 24 / System Admin Duties / Canary Admin

updated 4 wk ago

Clients - number of clients connected to the Views service consuming data from the Historian
Views - number of views within the Views service. By default, the Canary system comes with one view, the Local Historian view. Additional Virtual views can be built on top of the Local Historian.
CPU - the amount of CPU the Views service is consuming
License Expiration - date when license will expire if using a demo or subscription license. Perpetual licenses are set to never expire.
Version - versioning number of the Views service

The Views service acts as the single endpoint for consuming data out of the Historian. Whether clients are connecting via Axiom, the Excel Add-in, the ODBC Connector, or a 3rd party using the Read API, Views acts as the gateway to the Historian. Given this role, the Views tile allows the user to create Virtual Views on top of the raw data in order to restructure how the tag hierarchy is presented to the end user and define the assets that are found within that structure. For more information on the Views service see Views Service Overview.

Views Screen

The top level Views screen will display a tile for the Local (and/or Remote) Historian and any number of Virtual Views that have been created on top of the Local Historian. Double-clicking or selecting the right arrow on the tile will allow the user to drill down into the view. The structure presented here is the same structure that will appear to end-users consuming the data through some other client tool.

VIEWS

The VIEWS panel in the upper left displays current status information since the Views service was last started.

Current Connections - number of connections currently being held by clients
Total Connections - total number of connections made and released by clients
Request Count - total requests for information from client connections
Requests/Sec - number of requests to the Views service each second. A request for data is usually for a group of tags over a specified time period.
TVQ Count - total number of TVQs (Timestamp, Value, Quality) returned to clients
TVQ/Sec - number of TVQs being returned to clients each second

VIEWS OPTIONS

Selecting the white down arrow allows the user to CREATE NEW VIEW. (See Creating a Virtual View or Asset Model)

VIEW

The VIEW panel in the bottom left displays properties and settings for the selected view. Different properties will appear depending if the selected view is a Local/Remote Historian view...

Last Update - date/time of when the view was last built and cached to memory. (A view is triggered to rebuild when tags are added or removed from a DataSet(s) that is used to create the view.)
Server Address - name of the historian server
Started At - date/time when the view was started
Up Time - total amount of time the views service has been running since last start
Total Run Time - total amount of time the views service has been running since installed
Historian Version
License - the number of tags the historian is licensed for
DataSet Count - total number of DataSets in the historian including {Diagnostics}
Unique Tags Accessed (1/7/30 Days) - the number of unique tags accessed in the view over the last 1/7/30 days
Historical Requests (1/7/30 Days) - the number of historical requests over the last 1/7/30 days for the selected view
Last Access Time - the last date/time of when data was requested from the selected view
Analytics Last Update Time - the last date/time of when the Unique Tags Accessed, Historical Requests, and Last Access Time properties were updated

...or a Virtual View.

Last Update - date/time of when the view was last built and cached to memory. (A view is triggered to rebuild when tags are added or removed from a DataSet(s) that is used to create the view.)
Source Views - the DataSet(s) and/or Virtual Views on which the view is built. Virtual Views can be built on top of the raw data within the historian view or other Virtual Views.
Properties - any properties that were passed in to create the view
Tag Count - total number of tags within the view
Asset Types - one or more assets that are defined within the view and the number of those assets. A view does not necessarily need to have any assets defined in it, although that is one of the primary reasons for creating a Virtual View. In the screenshot above, the Water District Assets view contains 1 Company, 4 Districts, 46 Pumps, 18 Stations, and 18 Towers.
Unique Tags Accessed (1/7/30 Days) - the number of unique tags accessed in the view over the last 1/7/30 days
Historical Requests (1/7/30 Days) - the number of historical requests over the last 1/7/30 days for the selected view
Last Access Time - the last date/time of when data was requested from the selected view
Analytics Last Update Time - the last date/time of when the Unique Tags Accessed, Historical Requests, and Last Access Time properties were updated

VIEW OPTIONS

Selecting the yellow down-arrow in the VIEW panel displays a few options depending on the view selected. If a Local/Remote Historian View is selected, the user will be able to

IMPORT LINKED TAGS - allows the user to link distinct tags together and present them as one stream of data
REFRESH ANALYTICS - refreshes the views usage analytics displayed in the VIEW panel

If selecting a Virtual View, the user will be able to

EDIT - opens a new screen to modify the current view
REMOVE - removes the Virtual View. A new menu will appear asking the user to confirm the deletion.
RENAME - rename the Virtual View
REBUILD - forces the view to rebuild to pick up any new changes. (Note: A Virtual View will rebuild automatically when the underlying Source Views are updated. Once a view rebuilds, there is then a 5-minute cooldown before it will build again. Clicking the REBUILD button bypasses this cooldown. This time can be adjusted using the Delay Recache setting from Configuration>Settings screen.)

Views (Branch Levels) Screen

Double-clicking on a view tile or selecting the yellow right-arrow allows the user to navigate to deeper levels within the view itself. Tags that exist at that level appear in the TAGS list on the left. The asset or Model Type of the selected tile will be displayed in the PROPERTIES panel.

Users can navigate through the model using the arrows next to the view path at the top of the screen or by clicking on a branch name within the breadcrumb trail.

Views (Tag Level) Screen

Selecting a tag from the TAGS list will populate the right side of the screen with the TVQ's (Timestamp Value Quality) for that tag. The data is displayed using the time zone of the Admin client machine (as opposed to the Historian tile which always displays the data in the time zone of the server). The tag list can be filtered using keywords (not case-sensitive) separated by spaces in the search bar.

The down-arrow next to the search bar will export a csv list of the filtered tags.

Include parent path - prepends the tag names with the full view path
Include sub nodes - includes all tags that would fall under the current branch within the view

PROPERTIES

The PROPERTIES panel displays any metadata attached to the selected tag. This could include metadata that is stored in the Historian or in an external SQL database. Properties include, but are not limited to:

Data Type
First Timestamp
Historian ItemId - the full tagpath as it appears in the Local Historian view
ItemID - the full tagpath as it appears in the current Virtual View
Last Quality
Last Timestamp
Last Value
Source ItemID - the full tagpath as it appears in the Source View used to create the Virtual View. In most cases, this will match the Historian ItemId unless the Virtual View is built on top of another Virtual View.

NODES - the NODES button only appears when viewing tag records for a tag at a level where other branches still exist. Clicking the button switches back to displaying the branches instead of the tag records.
FILTER - allows the user to change the time range for displaying the tag records. Users can choose between Raw or Processed data. If Processed data is selected, users can specify the Aggregate and Interval.

TREND - displays a basic trend of the data currently loaded into the table
REFRESH - refreshes the tag records in the table if new data has arrived since opening the table

Diagnostics Screen

The Diagnostics screen displays license and usage information for connected clients.

ACTIVITY

Name - type of client license
License - count of each license type on the system
In Use - count of each license type currently being used
Maximum Used - maximum count of each license type used at one time since the Views service started
Total Issued - total count of each license type issued, released, and reused since the Views service started
Total Denied - count of license requests denied because no more licenses were available since the Views service started

CLIENTS

Application - client application connected to the Views service
User - username of the user the client is running under
Type - name of the license type being used
Active - True if the connection is actively making requests
From - timestamp when the connection was established
Thru - timestamp of the last request +5 minutes. If no requests are made within the next 5 minutes, the license will move to an inactive state.
Requests - total count of requests made since the connection was established

Configuration Screen

Endpoints

IPC - endpoint used by local Canary/third-party clients to read data from the Historian. Client identity is validated using either a Canary JWT or an API token in the message headers.
gRPC Admin (55324) - endpoint used specifically by the local Admin service for configuring settings and requesting status information
gRPC API (55321) - endpoint used by remote Canary/third-party clients to read data from the Historian. Client identity is validated using either a Canary JWT or an API token in the message headers.
Read API (55236) - endpoint used by remote third-party clients to read data from the Historian, specifically using the web Read API. Client identity is validated using either a Canary JWT or an API token in the message headers.

CERTIFICATE (Secure/Username)

By default, Canary generates a self-signed certificate for its services that require a secure connection. These can be reconfigured if wishing to use a different certificate that has been installed on the server. Clicking the INFO button will open a new window displaying the certificate's details.

Kind - the kind of certificate the Views service is configured to use
- SelfSignedCertificate - this is the default certificate that Canary uses. It is stored in the Local Computer\Personal store.
- Certificate - use this option if wishing to upload your own certificate. Doing so will present more options to configure.
  - Store Name - the local computer store name where the certificate is installed
  - Find Type - criteria by which the Views service searches for the certificate
    - FindBySubjectName
    - FindByThumbprint
    - FindByTemplateName
Subject Name - set to default if using the SelfSignedCertificate option. Otherwise, the value of the Subject, Thumbprint, or Template name if using the Certificate setting.

Historians

From the Historians screen a user can add a remote historian view into the Views service. By default, the Views service contains the Local Historian view. The user, however, may want to add a remote historian view if wishing to split up Canary services among different servers. (See How to Add a Remote Historian Views)

HISTORIANS

By default, the machine name of the local historian is included. Historians, whether local or remote, can be added or removed.

ADD - opens a dialogue box to add a remote historian. The Historian name can be anything the user specifies. The Historian server address must be the actual server name of the remote historian or its IP address.
REMOVE - removes the selected Historian from the list

Settings

Usage Analytics

These analytics are displayed for each view at the root level in the VIEW panel when a view is selected.

Enable Analytics - enables/disables the Views usage analytics
Retention Duration (Days) - the number of days the analytic data will be retained in the database before being rolled off

SERVICE CONNECTIONS

Identity API Token - token used to authenticate Views with a remote Historian. See Identity - API Tokens for more details on how tokens are used in the Canary system.

GRPC LIMITS

Max Tags Per Data Request – max number of tags sent went using a gRPC endpoint in a request
Max Return Tvq Count – max number of TVQs that will be returned per tag when using a gRPC endpoint in a request

WEB API LIMITS

Max Record Count Per Call – max number of records in a web API call
Max Tag Count Per Call – max number of tags in a web API call

GENERAL

Delay Recache (Minutes) – the delay in minutes before the Views service recaches its views. A view is triggered to recache whenever tags or tag properties are added or removed.
Delay Startup (Minutes) – the delay in minutes for how long the Views service waits for its views to build upon startup. If the views have not built within this time limit, the Views service will start regardless.

EXTERNAL PROPERTIES

Enable External Properties – enables the use of external properties which are stored in a separate database. See How to Configure External Property Storage for Populating Metadata in Virtual Views for more details.
Database Provider – the provider for the database. Can be MSSQL or SQLite. If MSSQL the following sub-fields open:
- Server – the sever name for the MSSQL server containing the database
- Database – the name of the database
- Is Domain User – is the specified user a domain user
- User/Password – credentials of the user being used for the connection
Is Read Only – checkbox to determine if properties should be written to the database or not. If checked, properties will not be written.

LINKED TAGS

If Linked Tags are configured, these settings control how often the data range of the individual tags are refreshed. When an automatic rebuild occurs the cached data ranges are removed and are not recached until data is requested for one of the tags in the linked group. Inputs can include relative (e.g. '1 day', '1d', '12hours') or absolute (e.g. '1.00:00:00', '12:00:00') times. For example, you could set the interval to '1 day' and start time to 'day + 8 hours'. This will cause the rebuild to occur at 8am every day.

Rebuild Interval - the frequency at which the automatic rebuild occurs. If left blank, an automatic rebuild will not occur.
Rebuild Start Time - controls the time at which the rebuild begins to occur. If left blank, rebuilds will begin to occur one Rebuild Interval after the Views service starts.

OTHER

Enable gRPC GZip Compression – enable gRPC requests and responses to be compressed so less data is transferred at the cost of higher CPU usage and potentially slower speed