General settings
Interrupt source
The interrupt source determines the entire timing of the data acquisition in ibaPDA. From this drop-down list, select one card which should act as the interrupt source on the PCI-/PCIe-bus.
The iba cards are fitted with a very precise and stable timer chip. If iba cards are installed in the computer they are listed in the drop-down list for the interrupt source. If cards of the ibaFOB-D family are used they are preferred as interrupt source compared to older cards.
If no iba cards are used, the less stable Windows timer will be used instead.
Interrupt counter
The interrupt counter is incrementing with a rate of 1000 / sec when the drivers and ibaPDA server are started and the application time base is set to 1 ms.
Acquisition timebase
Enter the timebase here.
The acquisition timebase is the superior clock for the entire system and the fastest period for sampling data in running acquisition. Slower sampling can can be configured for the individual modules by the module’s timebase setting.
Excluded are data which are acquired over fiber optic connections with ibaNet 32Mbit Flex protocol, data from ibaInSpectra modules and ibaInCycle modules as well as virtual modules. In these cases timebases faster than the acquisition timebase can be configured.
Faster sampling induces higher load and data volume. Therefore, it is always a reasonable approach to set the sampling on an appropriate level , i.e. as low as required for the intended application .
The configured module timebases cannot be chosen arbitrarily and independently from each other in order to ensure the good performance of the system even with high amounts of data. An important quantity is the “driver period” which results from the module timebases. It is determined by the least common multiple of all module timebases.
The longest driver period should not exceed 1000 ms. The ratio of smallest module timebase and driver period must be limited. Bad or inadmissible configurations will be indicated during the validation on start of the acquisition by warning or error messages.
You will find an overview of all modules including their configured time bases in Module overview (see Module overview).
As the name implies, the acquisition timebase refers only to data acquisition (sampling) not recording. The timebase for the data recording which is used to write the measured values into the data file is configured in the data storage profiles.
Start acquisition on startup of server after ... s
If you check this option, the acquisition will be started automatically after a system restart of the server (equivalent of the GO button). You have to select this option if you need a full automatic startup sequence of the system, e.g. after a power failure. A prerequisite is, of course, that the ibaPDA server service starts automatically when the system is booting.
In the field next to it, you can set a delay time in seconds. A delay of >0 may be useful if other components, drivers or interfaces are involved, which are needed to correctly start the acquisition and that need some time to be available (e.g. remote OPC server).
Force reload of driver at next start of the acquisition
If you check this option, the drivers will be reloaded and restarted with the next change of the I/O configuration. The selection of this option will not be retained. The option will be disabled automatically after the driver has been loaded and started. You have to enable it again for the next repetition.
Selecting this option is recommended if ibaPDA does not experience any interrupts. The system always checks the interrupts when the acquisition starts. If no interrupts are detected, an error message is shown.
Restart acquisition on non-recoverable error
If you check this option, data acquisition will be stopped automatically in the event of an non-recoverable error.
The automatic restart is the attempt to fix the error. At the same time, faulty modules may eventually be disabled. For most of the applications it is vital, that the data acquisition with ibaPDA is running continuously. It is therefore more beneficial to have a running data acquisition, even with reduced signal count, than a stopped data acquisition.
License information
In the License information area you'll find important information about your current software license.
License container
The license container number is important for all service queries and upgrades. Please provide the license container number to our support team. It is linked to your license container, i.e. either MARX dongle, WIBU dongle or WIBU soft license and stored in our database.
Customer name
In this field, you will find the name of the customer for which this license has been approved. For projects, which were initially completed via system integrators, registration of the end user should have been requested from iba either from the outset or, at the latest, after the warranty period has expired. This makes it easier to assign the license in the case of later extensions or support cases.
License time limit
This field shows the validity time of the licenses. Depending on the container type there is either a remaining validity time given in days or hours or there is an expiration date.
Container type
This field indicates whether a MARX dongle, a WIBU dongle (WIBU CmStick) or a WIBU soft license (WIBU CmActLicense) is used.
Container host
This field shows the name of the computer where the license container is attached, which supplies the licenses obtained by the application.
Required EUP date and EUP date
The EUP date specifies the date until which the period of free software updates is valid. After the update period has expired you still can continue running the program as usual but only with the features which were already available until then.
For further information, please see Update policy
Licenses
This window displays all the available basic and additional licenses, such as clients, data storages, interfaces, plug-ins etc.
If multiple licenses are applicable, e.g. clients, Xplorer interfaces, data storages etc., the number of respective licenses is given in brackets.
Active signals
A bar on the scale and the value behind the scale show the number of currently active signals. The end value of the scale indicates the maximum permissible number of signals according to the license.
TCP and UDP protocols
Disconnect connection after… seconds without activity
Enabling of this option will activate a timeout for TCP/IP connections. If no messages are received over the TCP/IP connections within the specified time (to be entered in the entry field next to the checkbox), the corresponding connection will be disconnected. Disconnecting unused connections saves resources.
Set signal values to zero when a connection is lost
Enabling this option sets all measured signals of a connection to zero if the connection is interrupted. Otherwise the signal values would show the value at the time of the connection interruption.
Write connection events in Windows event log
Use this option to enter selected events from communication field in the Windows event log so that they are visible in the Windows event display "System". This refers to Ethernet-based interfaces which are incapable to generate their own log, e.g. because they are implemented in the driver. Most of the Ethernet-based interfaces which are supported by ibaPDA generate their own log files and write them to a dedicated subfolder in the server program path on the hard disk. You’ll find more information on this in the manuals of the interfaces.
Automatically open necessary ports in Windows firewall
The installer of ibaPDA only adds the application exceptions for ibaPDA client, server and S7-Xplorer proxy to the Windows firewall. Exceptions for network protocols which are handled by the ibaPDA driver can be added automatically or manually. If you enable this option (default) the required port exceptions are added automatically. If you disable this option then you can manually add the port exceptions to the firewall by clicking the button <Allow ports through firewall> on each interface that requires a listen port.
Interfaces for which packages must be confirmed immediately...
For TCP-based interfaces that are to receive data faster than 200 ms, a so-called "fast acknowledge” must occur. For this purpose, the parameter "TcpAckFrequency” must be changed in the Windows registry. So that the user does not need to edit the registry, this option can be used to select the network adapter(s) for which a quick response is required. The changes in the registry are then made automatically.
<Open log file> button
Via this button, you open the log file of the ibaPDA server in the standard text editor of the (Windows) system. All system-related events and processes from the perspective of the server acquire logged this log.
If you create a support file in the support case using the Save information for iba support... function in the Help menu then this log file is included.