Security in FactoryTalk View ME

With the addition of

FactoryTalk

and RSAssetSecurity (now

FactoryTalk Security

) in RSView Studio Machine Edition v4.00, the way security is set up and applied changed.

As it was

In 3.20 and earlier versions of View Studio Machine Edition, security controlled access to the displays in an application. Displays were assigned one of 16 security codes (A - P) or the asterisk (*). Users were also assigned security codes. Users whose account codes matched the codes assigned to the displays were allowed access to those displays, and were able to make changes to the displays at design time and at runtime. User accounts applied only to the application in which they were created.

As it is

FactoryTalk Security

is a part of

FactoryTalk Directory

, which is installed with the

FactoryTalk Services Platform

. This means that security applies not only to the

FactoryTalk View ME

application, but to any other

FactoryTalk

-enabled software running on the same computer.

Instead of dealing with access to parts of the system,

FactoryTalk Security

is concerned first with authenticating users' identities, and then with verifying their authorization to perform specific actions within the system.

During Machine Edition installation, a

FactoryTalk Security

Windows-Linked group called Authenticated Users is added to the

FactoryTalk Directory

. This group permits any users who can log into Windows to be authenticated in the

FactoryTalk Directory

. By default, the desktop Windows user will be logged in when

FactoryTalk View Studio

opens, so

FactoryTalk View Studio

will not prompt a user to log on to

FactoryTalk

.

To limit access to the application or parts of the application, you must set up user accounts and passwords.

Users can still create applications that include runtime security when running on ME Station. However, authenticated users are not supported on

PanelView Plus 7

,

PanelView Plus 6

,

PanelView Plus

,

PanelView Plus Compact

, or

PanelView Plus CE

platforms. For that reason, applications that test satisfactorily on

Windows

computers may perform differently after being downloaded to the

PanelView Plus 7

,

PanelView Plus 6

,

PanelView Plus

,

PanelView Plus Compact

, or

PanelView Plus CE

terminals.

Once users are added to

FactoryTalk Security

, runtime security within

FactoryTalk View ME

uses the same 16 security codes in the same way as previous versions of View Studio.