Redundancy setup for Nimbus Alarm Server

Nimbus Replicator is for redundant systems only. However, for Citect systems, the CiCode in this folder could be used to speed up alarm handling and/or sending messages.

Nimbus settings

Install Nimbus Alarm Server on both servers. Enter similar settings on both systems for everything but profiles and receivers (server settings, receiver types etc). Do not create any CiT Citect entry in SCADA Import.

Install the Nimbus Replicator program on the secondary server.

Share the Nimbus Project folder (ex 'C:\Program Files\Nimbus Alarm Server\Project' ) on the primary server so the secondary server have full access to it (share name ex 'NimbusProject$' where '$' ensure the share is hidden). There is no need to map a drive to the share.

Edit the NimReplicator.INI-file and enter the primary servers' UNC, ex '\\PrimarySCADA\NimbusProject$' as the SourcePath parameter. Ensure the DestinationPath parameter points to the local Nimbus Alarm Server Project folder, ex 'C:\Program Files\Nimbus Alarm Server\Project'.

NimReplicator.EXE may be run as a service or as a normal application. If running as a normal application a shortcut should be placed in the Startup folder. If the start parameter /h is used, the application will run hidden.

To setup NimReplicator.EXE as a service, use Start-Run 'NimReplicator.EXE /i'. Open the Service Control Manager (Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Services) and enter a user name and password in the LogOn tab. The user that is entered must have full access to the share on the primary server.

Start the Nimbus Replicator program/service. It will continously watch the Project folder on the primary server (using the share) and if any profiles or receivers are updated (using Nimbus Explorer on the primary server) then Nimbus Replicator will fetch the updates. Nimbus Replicator should always be running.

Nimbus Explorer must only be run on the primary server when changing profiles and receivers.

Citect settings

Copy the NimbusAlarmExport() CiCode function into your Citect project. It is located in the NimbusRedundancy.ci file. The NimbusRedundancy sample project contains some test tags for evaluation. The project is backed up using Citect 6.00.

The function is running in an infinite loop and must be started by the StartupCiCode setting.

The loop will read the AlarmEventQue and export any alarm to Nimbus using the Nimbus2.DLL and DLL Calls from CiCode. The loop will for each new alarm event determine if it is run on an active Alarm server.

No Nimbus Log Device should be set up in Alarm Categories. No device for Nimbus should be created in Devices.

Set the parameters [Alarm]EventQue=1 and [Code]Queue=4096. If they does not exist, add them

(If the Alarm Event Queue is used for something else, an extra queue have to be set up and some extra CiCode have to be constructed)

Set the variable iRedundantSystem=TRUE in the NimbusAlarmExport () CiCode.

Both the primary and the standby server must have this code loop running.