FactoryTalk Alarms and Events components

This diagram shows a high-level view of the components of the
FactoryTalk Alarms and Events
 system.
FTAE diagram v6.30
1_CIR_navyDevice-based alarm monitoring
With device-based alarm monitoring that is available with the Studio 5000 Logix Designer application, pre-built alarms or alarm instructions are configured and then downloaded into a
Studio 5000
 controller. The controller detects alarm conditions and notifies alarms and events services of alarm states. Software components publish this information to a device server. From the device server, the information can be logged to a database and monitored from FactoryTalk View graphic displays.
Use device-based alarm monitoring with
Studio 5000
 controllers, programmed with the
Logix Designer
 application, communicating through
Rockwell Automation
 Device Servers (
FactoryTalk Linx
).
2_CIR_navy Server tag-based alarm monitoring
If you are not using
Studio 5000
 controllers, or if you do not want to use the pre-built alarming available with the Logix Designer application, use server tag-based alarm monitoring. The server tag-based Alarm and Event servers monitor controllers for alarm conditions through data servers and publish event information for display and logging. These data servers serve tags, or data items, contained in OPC DA (Data Access) servers. Clients that need access to data items, such as
FactoryTalk View Studio
 and
FactoryTalk Transaction Manager
, use data server application elements referenced from the
FactoryTalk Directory
 to locate the computers that are hosting OPC DA 2.0 compliant data servers.
Use the server tag-based alarm monitoring for
Studio 5000
 controllers, PLC-5 devices, and SLC 500 devices communicating through
Rockwell Automation
 Device Servers (
FactoryTalk Linx
), or for third-party controllers communicating through OPC DA data servers.
3_CIR_navy OPC UA alarm monitoring
OPC UA alarm monitoring captures alarm information originated from third-party OPC UA servers.
FactoryTalk Linx
 OPC UA Connector routes the alarm information to
FactoryTalk Alarms and Events
 for display and logging.
4_CIR_navy
FactoryTalk Alarms and Events
 services
Device-based alarms, tag-based alarms and events, and OPC UA alarms are published to
FactoryTalk Alarms and Events
 services, which then route the information to
FactoryTalk Alarms and Events
 objects hosted in
FactoryTalk View
, the alarm and event history log, and to diagnostic logs and audit logs.
5_CIR_navy Alarm and Event Historian
The Alarm and Event Historian is a logging component that installs silently as part of the
FactoryTalk Alarms and Events
 software. It manages connections between alarm servers and databases and logs data from each alarm server to an alarm history database. An Alarm and Event Log Viewer allows viewing and printing data from alarm history databases. Third-party database tools can also retrieve, view, analyze, and print alarm history information.
To use alarm and event logging, install
SQL Server
 separately, or use an existing
SQL Server
 database. See the release notes for
FactoryTalk Alarms and Events
 for the latest qualified versions of
SQL Server
.
6_CIR_navy Diagnostic and audit logs
FactoryTalk Diagnostics
 routes messages generated by
FactoryTalk Alarms and Events
 to Local logs on the computers hosting FactoryTalk components, and optionally to a centralized database log. Audit messages are routed to the Local log as well and to the FactoryTalk Audit Log if
FactoryTalk
 AssetCentre is installed.
7_CIR_navy Alarm and event setup and monitoring
These components define alarm conditions, set up alarm servers, view and interact with alarm conditions, and view and run reports on historical alarm information:
  • Alarm and Event Banner
    Use the Alarm and Event Banner object, embedded in a
    FactoryTalk View
     graphic display, to monitor and respond to the most serious alarms requiring immediate attention.
  • Alarm and Event Log Viewer
    Use the Alarm and Event Log Viewer object, embedded in a
    FactoryTalk View
     graphic display, to view, filter, and print historical alarm information stored in
    SQL Server
     databases.
  • Alarm and Event Summary
    Use the Alarm and Event Summary object, embedded in a
    FactoryTalk View
     graphic display, to acknowledge, disable, suppress, filter, and sort alarms during runtime.
  • Alarm Status Explorer
    Use the Alarm Status Explorer object, embedded in a
    FactoryTalk View
     graphic display, to enable or disable alarms, suppress or unsuppress alarms, shelve or unshelve alarms, and view operator comments.
  • Automatic Diagnostic Event Summary
    Use the Automatic Diagnostic Event Summary object, embedded in a
    FactoryTalk View
     graphic display, to suppress, unsuppress, filter, and sort diagnostic events during runtime.
  • Alarm Server Setup
    Use either
    FactoryTalk View Studio
     or
    FactoryTalk Administration Console
     to add
    Rockwell Automation
     Device Servers (as part of configuring
    FactoryTalk Linx
     data servers) and Tag Alarm and Event Servers to a
    FactoryTalk
     application.
  • Database definitions
    Use database definitions to define logging options from an alarm server to a
    SQL Server
     database.
  • Diagnostics Viewer
    Use the Diagnostics Viewer to view, filter, and export system-generated diagnostic messages. Run the Diagnostics Viewer from either
    FactoryTalk View Studio
     or
    FactoryTalk Administration Console
    .
  • FactoryTalk
     Audit Log
    Use the
    FactoryTalk
     Audit Log to view and manage audit messages routed by
    FactoryTalk Diagnostics
    . To access the Audit Log, use
    FactoryTalk
     AssetCentre software.
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