FactoryTalk Historian Machine Edition Series B Configuration Guide

FactoryTalk Historian Machine

Edition Series B Conﬁguration

Guide

Catalog Number 1756-HIST2G Series B

User Manual

Original Instructions

Important User Information

Read this document and the documents listed in the additional resources section about installation, conﬁguration, and operation of this equipment before you install,

conﬁgure, operate, or maintain this product. Users are required to familiarize themselves with installation and wiring instructions in addition to requirements of all

applicable codes, laws, and standards.

Activities including installation, adjustments, putting into service, use, assembly, disassembly, and maintenance are required to be carried out by suitably trained

personnel in accordance with applicable code of practice.

If this equipment is used in a manner not speciﬁed by the manufacturer, the protection provided by the equipment may be impaired.

In no event will Rockwell Automation, Inc. be responsible or liable for indirect or consequential damages resulting from the use or application of this equipment.

The examples and diagrams in this manual are included solely for illustrative purposes. Because of the many variables and requirements associated with any particular

installation, Rockwell Automation, Inc. cannot assume responsibility or liability for actual use based on the examples and diagrams.

No patent liability is assumed by Rockwell Automation, Inc. with respect to use of information, circuits, equipment, or software described in this manual.

Reproduction of the contents of this manual, in whole or in part, without written permission of Rockwell Automation, Inc., is prohibited.

Throughout this manual, when necessary, we use notes to make you aware of safety considerations.

WARNING: Identiﬁes information about practices or circumstances that can cause an explosion in a hazardous environment, which may lead to personal

injury or death, property damage, or economic loss.

ATTENTION: Identiﬁes information about practices or circumstances that can lead to personal injury or death, property damage, or economic loss.

Attentions help you identify a hazard, avoid a hazard, and recognize the consequence.

IMPORTANT: Identiﬁes information that is critical for successful application and understanding of the product.

These labels may also be on or inside the equipment to provide speciﬁc precautions.

SHOCK HAZARD: Labels may be on or inside the equipment, for example, a drive or motor, to alert people that dangerous voltage may be present.

BURN HAZARD: Labels may be on or inside the equipment, for example, a drive or motor, to alert people that surfaces may reach dangerous temperatures.

ARC FLASH HAZARD: Labels may be on or inside the equipment, for example, a motor control center, to alert people to potential Arc Flash. Arc Flash

will cause severe injury or death. Wear proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Follow ALL Regulatory requirements for safe work practices and for

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The following icon may appear in the text of this document.

Tip: Identiﬁes information that is useful and can help to make a process easier to do or easier to understand.

Rockwell Automation recognizes that some of the terms that are currently used in our industry and in this publication are not in alignment with the movement toward

inclusive language in technology. We are proactively collaborating with industry peers to ﬁnd alternatives to such terms and making changes to our products and content.

Please excuse the use of such terms in our content while we implement these changes.

2 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Contents

Overview................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 13

Features...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................13

Beneﬁts....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................14

Distributed FactoryTalk Historian architecture................................................................................................................................................................................................................14

FactoryTalk and Logix integration......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................15

FactoryTalk licensing............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 15

License points for the data transfer.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................16

FactoryTalk Historian ME product number....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16

Hard disk................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 16

Before you begin....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................16

Additional resources..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................17

Get started..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................18

System connectivity.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 18

Software and hardware requirements for FactoryTalk Historian ME...........................................................................................................................................................................19

Upgrade or reinstall the ﬁrmware......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................19

Differences between upgrade and reinstallation.................................................................................................................................................................................................20

Collect the module-related information.................................................................................................................................................................................................................20

Back up the module...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................20

Prepare the module for the upgrade or reinstallation........................................................................................................................................................................................20

Upgrade or reinstall the ﬁrmware of your Historian module............................................................................................................................................................................. 21

(Optional) Download ControlFLASH or ControlFLASH Plus......................................................................................................................................................................... 21

(Optional) Install ControlFLASH or ControlFLASH Plus................................................................................................................................................................................21

Download the module ﬁrmware kit..............................................................................................................................................................................................................22

Upgrade or reinstall the module ﬁrmware..................................................................................................................................................................................................22

Updates and application notes................................................................................................................................................................................................................................23

Set up your ControlLogix environment.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................24

Install the module in the chassis...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 24

Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools...................................................................................................................................................................................................................25

Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Management......................................................................................................................................................................................................25

Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27

Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Logix Designer Module Proﬁle........................................................................................................................................................................27

(Optional) Install FactoryTalk Historian SE patch.................................................................................................................................................................................................28

EDS ﬁles....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 28

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 3

Access the FactoryTalk Historian ME webpage...............................................................................................................................................................................................................28

Log on to FactoryTalk Historian ME........................................................................................................................................................................................................................28

Log out of FactoryTalk Historian ME...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 29

View the module information................................................................................................................................................................................................................30

System status........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................30

Status....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 31

Module information..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 31

System utilization.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................32

Point statistics............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................32

Module identity...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33

Network settings.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................34

Security conﬁguration...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................34

Client connections......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................35

System statistics...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................36

Network manager....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 37

Snapshot and archive................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................38

Snapshot and archive counters....................................................................................................................................................................................................................38

Archive ﬁles.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................42

View data............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 45

Deﬁne search criteria.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 45

Export data.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................47

View current data..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................47

View archive data................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 47

View trends............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 48

Display points on the trend......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................49

Display the vertical bar on the trend.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................49

Zoomthetrend............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................50

Reset the trend............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................51

Remove points from the trend................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 51

Change views..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................51

Filter search results data......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 52

Arrange columns.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................52

4 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Refresh views..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................52

Set start and end times............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................53

Bad quality data....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................53

Manage points........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................54

Recommendations related to managing points..............................................................................................................................................................................................................54

Add points using the Add Points Wizard page................................................................................................................................................................................................................54

Discover tags...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................54

Create points...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................56

Review results............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 57

Add points using the Add Individual Points page...........................................................................................................................................................................................................58

Manage individual points using the Edit Points page....................................................................................................................................................................................................59

Edit points....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................60

Rename points............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 60

Delete points............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 60

Deﬁne point attributes......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 61

General...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................61

Exception ﬁltering......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................64

Compression ﬁltering.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................64

Snapshot value............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................65

Conﬁgure scan types........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 66

Conﬁgure Trigger Input and Output points......................................................................................................................................................................................................................67

Conﬁgure Trigger Input points.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................67

Conﬁguration example: Trigger Input points..............................................................................................................................................................................................69

Conﬁgure Output points............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................70

Conﬁguration example: Output points..........................................................................................................................................................................................................71

Manage shortcuts..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................72

Create shortcuts to the local chassis.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................72

Create shortcuts to a remote controller................................................................................................................................................................................................................73

Edit shortcuts..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................74

Delete shortcuts..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................75

Tag naming conventions...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................75

Use scan classes...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................75

Create scan classes................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 76

Edit scan classes........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................76

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 5

Delete scan classes....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................76

Collect and store data........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 77

Collect data.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................77

Access the data collection information..................................................................................................................................................................................................................77

Start and stop the data collection..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................78

View the data storage information................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 78

FactoryTalk Historian ME storage capacity...........................................................................................................................................................................................................80

Filter data................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................81

Transfer data to FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI servers.....................................................................................................................................................................88

Data transfer prerequisites................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 88

Conﬁgure the data transfer................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................89

Start the data transfer........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 90

Stop the data transfer.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................90

View data transfer statistics..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................90

Add points to the data transfer..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................91

Remove points from data transfer.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................91

View the data transfer information...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................92

Check the data transfer status in the system log......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 93

Data transfer considerations..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................93

Administer the module.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 95

Manage users.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................95

Create users................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 95

Modify users................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 96

Remove users..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................96

Change user passwords............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 96

Reset passwords......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 97

Reset the default admin password......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 97

View groups............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................97

Manage time...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................98

View and edit the current time............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 99

Considerations for using an NTP server as the time source................................................................................................................................................................ 100

Verify time synchronization.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................101

Set the time zone...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 101

6 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Clock drifts.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................102

Battery clock..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................102

Conﬁgure system settings.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................102

Change the module name....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 102

Conﬁgure network settings.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................103

Upload ﬁles to the module................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................105

File types.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 106

Manage the uploaded ﬁles...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 107

Back up and restore conﬁguration ﬁles.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................107

View the backup status and perform backup.....................................................................................................................................................................................................108

Download the backup ﬁle to a client computer................................................................................................................................................................................................. 108

Upload the backup ﬁle to the module..................................................................................................................................................................................................................109

Restore the module from the backup ﬁle............................................................................................................................................................................................................109

Why restoring PI Server ID?..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................110

Check and restore the module name.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................111

Use the system log............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 111

System log related issues........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 112

Repair archives using safe mode..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 112

Repair the time setting.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................113

Restore and reset module-related settings.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................113

Restore the module's defaults.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................114

Reset the security mode.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 114

Reset the Web Diagnostics password....................................................................................................................................................................................................................115

Close and start the module................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................115

Shut down the module..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................115

Reboot the module.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 116

Restart the module....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................116

Manage security.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 117

Conﬁgure security................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 117

Conﬁgure system timeout........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 117

Conﬁgure how to log on to the module.................................................................................................................................................................................................................117

Log on using the FactoryTalk Directory with FactoryTalk Historian ME...............................................................................................................................................118

Understand privileges for user groups....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 119

Conﬁgure where to use the secure communication protocol (HTTPS)............................................................................................................................................................121

Manage security trusts.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................123

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 7

Default trusts............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 124

User-deﬁned trusts...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................124

Create trusts for the data transfer.............................................................................................................................................................................................................124

Create trusts for FactoryTalk Historian clients........................................................................................................................................................................................ 125

Edit trusts...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................126

Delete trusts...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................126

Integrate the module into a FactoryTalk environment with FactoryTalk Directory................................................................................................................................................ 126

Integration prerequisites.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................126

Register the module in the FactoryTalk Directory..............................................................................................................................................................................................127

Add the Historian ME module in the PI SDK Utility...................................................................................................................................................................................127

Register the Historian ME module in the FactoryTalk Administration Console...................................................................................................................................127

Create users in the FactoryTalk Administration Console..................................................................................................................................................................................128

Conﬁgure secure groups in the FactoryTalk Administration Console.............................................................................................................................................................129

SNMP community strings................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 129

Enable SNMP...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................129

Create SNMP community strings............................................................................................................................................................................................................................130

Delete SNMP community strings............................................................................................................................................................................................................................130

Use the Rule Editor............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 131

View the default point discovery rule ﬁle.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................131

Create point discovery rule ﬁles.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................131

Deﬁne point discovery rules..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................132

Change the point discovery limit...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................134

Edit point discovery rule ﬁles...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................134

Remove point discovery rule ﬁles....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................134

Create tag attribute ﬁles................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 135

Edit tag attribute ﬁles........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 139

Remove tag attribute ﬁles.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................139

Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer Module Proﬁle................................................................................................................................................................................. 140

Conﬁgure your Historian module in the Module Proﬁle...............................................................................................................................................................................................140

Conﬁgure the module properties..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 140

Example: Use the Module Proﬁle......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................142

Add an Ethernet driver.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................142

Add the module to Studio 5000 Logix Designer................................................................................................................................................................................................. 143

Use output tags to start and stop the data collection......................................................................................................................................................................................144

Use the input and output tags to read the Historian ME status................................................................................................................................................................................145

8 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Create trends with the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink Add-in..........................................................................................................................................................148

Deﬁne the server connection............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................148

Insert trends in a Microsoft Excel workbook.................................................................................................................................................................................................................149

Create trends visualizing the data transfer...................................................................................................................................................................................................................150

Use Web Diagnostics............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 152

Home...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 153

Hardware............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 153

CPU, RAM..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 154

NAND............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 155

Controller statistics...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................157

ControlBus statistics.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................158

EtherNet/IP.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................159

Display LED.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................160

Time management.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................161

Firmware................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................162

Historian server.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................162

CIP................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 163

Data server.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................163

Data collection...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................164

Data transfer..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................165

Data storage...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................165

Web conﬁguration server........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 167

Web diagnostics server............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................167

Startup log..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................168

Admin..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 168

Hosts............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................169

Restart service...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................169

Core dump directory.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................169

PI commands............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 170

Download logs............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................170

Change password......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................170

Troubleshoot......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 172

Provide issue information.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 172

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 9

Work in the safe mode.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................173

Hardware issues...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................173

Web client issues.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................174

Data collection issues.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................175

Data storage issues.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................177

Data transfer issues............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................177

Data export issues...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................179

Auto recovery issues...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................179

Time management issues..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................180

Client computer issues.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................180

Point server issues.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 181

Related FactoryTalk product issues..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................181

FactoryTalk Directory................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................181

FactoryTalk Historian DataLink............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 181

Conﬁgure Internet Explorer for FactoryTalk Historian ME..................................................................................................................................................................182

Internet Explorer conﬁguration checklist.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................182

Add the module site to Local intranet or Trusted sites...............................................................................................................................................................................................182

Add the module website to the Local intranet security zone.......................................................................................................................................................................... 183

Add the module website to the Trusted sites security zone............................................................................................................................................................................184

Enable Active X controls.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 184

Enable Compatibility View..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................185

Disable Pop-up Blocker......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................185

Disable ActiveX Filtering.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................185

Enable the XML DOM Document add-on..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................186

Enable TLS.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................186

Verify the browser conﬁguration using the F12 developer tools................................................................................................................................................................................187

Install the module certiﬁcate in Internet Explorer........................................................................................................................................................................................................187

Install the certiﬁcate using the Certiﬁcate Import Wizard...............................................................................................................................................................................188

Verify the certiﬁcate...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................188

Verify the certiﬁcate on the security report.......................................................................................................................................................................................................188

Verify the certiﬁcate on the System Security page...........................................................................................................................................................................................189

Clear the browser cache....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................189

Clear the browser cache manually........................................................................................................................................................................................................................189

Clear the browser cache automatically................................................................................................................................................................................................................190

10 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Add a registry entry for exporting ﬁles to Excel.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 190

Conﬁgure Internet Explorer on Windows Server...........................................................................................................................................................................................................190

Internet Explorer security zone settings......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 191

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 11

Preface

About This Publication

Rockwell Automation recognizes that some of the terms that are currently used in our industry and in this publication are not in alignment with the movement toward

inclusive language in technology. We are proactively collaborating with industry peers to ﬁnd alternatives to such terms and making changes to our products and content.

Please excuse the use of such terms in our content while we implement these changes.

About this manual

This manual provides procedural instructions for the FactoryTalk® Historian Machine Edition (ME). It is one of a set of related manuals that describe installing,

programming, and operating the FactoryTalk system.

To review FactoryTalk Historian release notes and the latest information regarding product compatibility, refer to the Product Compatibility and Download Center.

Legal Notices

Rockwell Automation publishes legal notices, such as privacy policies, license agreements, trademark disclosures, and other terms and conditions on the Legal Notices

page of the Rockwell Automation website.

Software and Cloud Services Agreement

Review and accept the Rockwell Automation Software and Cloud Services Agreement here.

Open Source Software Licenses

The software included in this product contains copyrighted software that is licensed under one or more open source licenses.

You can view a full list of all open source software used in this product and their corresponding licenses by opening the oss_licenses.txt ﬁle located in your product's

OPENSOURCE folder on your hard drive. This ﬁle is divided into these sections:

•

Components

Includes the name of the open source component, its version number, and the type of license.

•

Includes the name of the open source component, its version number, and the copyright declaration.

•

Licenses

Includes the name of the license, the list of open source components citing the license, and the terms of the license.

You may obtain Corresponding Source code for open source packages included in this product from their respective project web site(s). Alternatively, you may obtain

complete Corresponding Source code by contacting Rockwell Automation via the Contact form on the Rockwell Automation website: http://www.rockwellautomation.com/

global/about-us/contact/contact.page. Please include "Open Source" as part of the request text.

Additional resources

These documents contain additional information concerning related products from Rockwell Automation.

Resource Description

FactoryTalk Historian Machine Edition Module Installation Instructions (publication 1756-in106) Installation instructions for FactoryTalk Historian Machine Edition.

12 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 1

Overview

The FactoryTalk Historian Machine Edition (ME) Module is a fully embedded historian in a ControlLogix® module

that you can insert into a Rockwell ControlLogix chassis to utilize backplane communications and collect data from

multiple controllers. It collects data at very high speeds as well as runs calculations and statistics on the data inside

its storage archive, utilizing exception and compression ﬁltering to signiﬁcantly reduce the data archive space.

You can view system and data information through the FactoryTalk Historian ME web interface and all standard

FactoryTalk Historian web clients.

In this document, you will ﬁnd information on both hardware and software of FactoryTalk Historian ME.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME Module's web interface allows you to do the following:

•

View module information, including status, system utilization, and system statistic information.

•

View current, archive, and trend data.

•

Create, edit, and delete points.

•

Start and stop the data collection.

•

Conﬁgure, start, and stop the data transfer.

•

Manage users and groups.

•

Conﬁgure time synchronization.

•

Conﬁgure the system settings.

•

Upload ﬁles to the FactoryTalk Historian ME Module.

•

Back up and restore conﬁguration ﬁles.

•

Restore the default settings.

•

Shut down or reboot the FactoryTalk Historian ME Module.

•

Manage security.

Rockwell Automation recognizes that some of the terms that are currently used in our industry and in this publication

are not in alignment with the movement toward inclusive language in technology. We are proactively collaborating

with industry peers to ﬁnd alternatives to such terms and making changes to our products and content. Please

excuse the use of such terms in our content while we implement these changes.

Features

Key advantages of FactoryTalk Historian ME include:

•

Easy, automated installation and conﬁguration as well as interactive browser experience.

As an embedded historian in a ControlLogix chassis connected to the backplane, FactoryTalk Historian ME

is easily installed and conﬁgured. It communicates at high speeds with the controllers in its backplane,

reducing implementation time from hours, days, or months to minutes. It quickly auto-detects ControlLogix

controllers and conﬁgures all relevant tags to be historized. The web interface provides easy conﬁguration,

administration, and reporting.

• High-speed data collection rates that are ten times (or more) faster than traditional historian collection rates.

•

FactoryTalk Historian ME is not limited by network bandwidth. It leverages backplane communication to

increase the speed of data collection and, with down to a 10-millisecond scan rate, the unit provides more

granular data than is possible on a traditional, network-connected plant historian.

•

Reliable and robust hardened, embedded appliance with a low total cost of ownership. Only a client computer

is needed to install and conﬁgure your FactoryTalk Historian ME.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 13

Chapter 1Overview

FactoryTalk Historian ME records data safely and accurately with solid-state data capture. It has no moving

parts and requires no operating system or computer maintenance. It is not subject to downtime due to

network outage or the need to perform maintenance on any subsequent ﬁrmware updates. It can be pre-

qualiﬁed from an OEM in a Factory Acceptance Test (FAT), thereby signiﬁcantly reducing overall validation

efforts for end users.

•

Scalable data collection from the machine through enterprise.

FactoryTalk Historian ME is modular. It is rack-ready to standalone, or can easily be rolled up and conﬁgured

into a plant-wide historian for full-resolution data collection and data transfer. It can capture data from up to

ﬁve local controllers and ﬁve remote controllers.

Beneﬁts

FactoryTalk Historian ME provides these beneﬁts:

•

Reduces time-to-market by monitoring and analyzing operational and product quality in accord with

speciﬁcations, operations, and product constraints.

• Helps reduce time to execute product changes by:

◦

Assisting with product waste reduction, recycling, and blending.

◦ Increasing effective equipment capacity and positively impacting materials cost management.

◦ Improving product development as it collects and evaluates data related to new operation actions,

materials, equipment, equipment capabilities, and procedures.

◦

Identifying operational or production bottlenecks and improving operating eciency to avoid

unnecessary capital spending.

•

Increases compliance by:

◦

Facilitating, validating, and documenting performance within regulatory or permitted boundaries.

◦ Increasing management effectiveness.

◦ Reducing validation by including OEM delivery and testing.

•

Enhances performance by:

◦

Monitoring or calculating effective equipment usage and performance.

◦ Detecting degradation of performance and initiating alerts or requests for operations and maintenance

actions.

◦

Providing real-time, time-stamped operational and production data.

•

Maximizes delivery, quality, and continuous process improvement by:

◦

Documenting actual versus model production and identifying deviations.

◦ Analyzing for new process and operational boundaries when throughput, material, or equipment

changes occur.

Distributed FactoryTalk Historian architecture

Data or process historians are software applications that log data from process equipment, manufacturing devices,

and other main data sources that are important and relevant for the overall manufacturing process and product

quality. The FactoryTalk Historian collects time series data. It collects data points at given intervals whether the data

points are changing. This allows customers to see how these data points are trending and allows them to look at

correlations of data points.

Because the FactoryTalk Historian continuously collects data, it allows customers to review past data, and view what

occurred at a speciﬁc past point(s) in time. This means that if a speciﬁc event such as a downtime event, a bad

batch, or an alarm occurs, an operator can look at any process variable in the FactoryTalk Historian for the same

14 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 1Overview

time frame as the event, and search for correlations that might explain the event. This allows the user to improve

production and operational processes, reducing the anomaly in the future.

The FactoryTalk Historian distributed architecture is multi-tiered. It redeﬁnes the available options for manufacturers

who want to maximize their ability to collect and analyze process data. It introduces a scalable, modular,

synchronized methodology for collecting, maintaining, and analyzing process data at each level of manufacturing

operations - machine or line, plant and enterprise (multi-plant). Speciﬁcally, FactoryTalk Historian ME:

•

Provides an engine of unmatched performance and scalability, tightly integrated with the FactoryTalk

Services Platform to provide data accuracy and availability across the Rockwell Automation® Integrated

Architecture.

•

Introduces a historian appliance that offers scalable connectivity to Rockwell Automation controllers.

•

Offers Rockwell customers a feature-rich set of commercially proven, industry-focused applications that are

widely regarded as the de-facto standard for plant and enterprise historian capabilities.

The following diagram depicts the three levels of distributed architecture.

FactoryTalk and Logix integration

FactoryTalk Historian ME works with the FactoryTalk product suite and Rockwell ControlLogix and CompactLogix™

devices. The Logix hardware and software provide easy and secure access to resources (data, status, and

conﬁguration) within these.

For up-to-date information on product compatibility, see FactoryTalk Historian ME Release Notes.

FactoryTalk licensing

FactoryTalk Historian ME limits the clients that can access it. Client connections are limited to Rockwell Automation

preferred clients. This means that no anonymous connections will be accepted. The following applications can access

FactoryTalk Historian ME:

• FactoryTalk® Historian DataLink

•

FactoryTalk® Historian ProcessBook

•

FactoryTalk® View Site Edition (SE) Trending

•

FactoryTalk® Administration Console

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 15

Chapter 1Overview

• PI System Management Tools (SMT)

• PI SMT Tag Conﬁgurator and PI Builder

• FactoryTalk® VantagePoint® and FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI

License points for the data transfer

The data transfer subsystem works with the data storage and the data collection services to transfer historical and

real-time data to a FactoryTalk® Historian Site Edition (SE) or PI server. Before you can transfer data to FactoryTalk

Historian SE, you must ﬁrst purchase a point license for FactoryTalk Historian SE. The point license determines the

number of points that can be transferred to FactoryTalk Historian SE. For each FactoryTalk Historian ME, the licensed

limit is 2500 points.

Tip: FactoryTalk Historian ME is compatible with FactoryTalk Historian SE version 6.00.00 or later.

FactoryTalk Historian ME product number

FactoryTalk Historian ME has the following product number: 1756-HIST2G.

Hard disk

FactoryTalk Historian ME ﬁrmware is stored on the mSATA 8 GB SLC hard disk along with the historized data.

A minimal amount of data is lost if the module suddenly loses power and the ﬁle system remains intact. Archived and

snapshot data interruption occurs only during the ﬁrst minute of downtime.

In addition, power loss may help prevent the data collection from restarting, the data transfer from reconnecting if

it was running, and other processes from restarting. If power loss occurs, the module may need to be started in the

Studio 5000 Logix Designer® Module Proﬁle. For details, see Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer Module Proﬁle on page

140.

Before you begin

Before using FactoryTalk Historian ME Series B modules, keep the following considerations in mind.

• We recommend updating series B modules to FRN 5.202 to support more modern browsers.

◦ We recommend using Google® Chrome™ browser and Microsoft® Edge™ web browsers.

◦ After the ﬁrst time you sign in to Web Conﬁguration and Web Diagnostics, you must change the default

password.

◦ FactoryTalk Historian ME Series B module has been tested with and compatible with:

▪ Add-on Proﬁle: version 1.10.05 or later

▪ FactoryTalk Historian SE: version 6.00.00 or later

▪ FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools: version 5.00.00 or later

▪ FactoryTalk Services: version 6.30.00 or later

16 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 1Overview

Additional resources

These documents contain additional information for FactoryTalk Historian ME. You can view or download publications

from the Product Compatibility and Download Center and Literature Library.

• FactoryTalk Historian ME Release Notes

• FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools Release Notes

•

ControlFLASH Firmware Upgrade Kit User Manual

•

ControlFLASH Plus Quick Start Guide

•

FactoryTalk Historian Machine Edition Module Installation Instructions (publication 1756-in106)

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 17

Chapter 2

Get started

In this section you will learn about the following:

System connectivity on page 18

Software and hardware requirements for FactoryTalk Historian ME on page 19

Upgrade or reinstall the ﬁrmware on page 19

Set up your ControlLogix environment on page 24

Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools on page 25

Access the FactoryTalk Historian ME webpage on page 28

System connectivity

While setting up the FactoryTalk Historian ME environment, pay attention to the following guidelines:

This value: Is the maximum number of:

2 Modules per chassis.

10 Controllers that can transfer data to a single module.

There can be a maximum of 5 controllers in the local chassis

and a maximum of 5 controllers in the remote chassis.

50 Modules that can be used to transfer data simultaneously from

the ME to a single SE server.

5 Clients that can have simultaneous access to the module.

This number includes a web browser, the FactoryTalk Historian

SE or PI server, and any other client tool. After the limit is

reached, any client will be denied access to the module based

on the total number of connections exceeded.

18 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 2Get started

Software and hardware requirements for FactoryTalk Historian ME

The hardware and software required for FactoryTalk Historian ME depend on the demands an application places on

the system. The following shows a simple standalone architecture.

The greater the demand, the more powerful a system must be to support this demand. For large or complex

applications, use computers with faster CPUs and more RAM. In addition, there should always be sucient disk space

to provide virtual memory that is at least twice the size of the physical RAM.

For up-to-date information on the software and hardware requirements, see FactoryTalk Historian ME Release Notes.

Upgrade or reinstall the ﬁrmware

You can upgrade or reinstall the ﬁrmware of your Historian ME module using ControlFLASH™ or ControlFLASH Plus® .

For details on the differences between upgrade and reinstallation, see Differences between upgrade and

reinstallation on page 20.

The process consists of the following steps:

Prepare the module for the upgrade or reinstallation.

Collect the module-related information on page 20

b. Back up the module on page 20

c. Prepare the module for the upgrade or reinstallation on page 20

Upgrade or reinstall the ﬁrmware of your Historian module on page 21.

IMPORTANT: If you click Restore Defaults or Reset Security from the FactoryTalk Historian

ME Logix Designer Module Proﬁle, the module goes into a pending state. The pending state

blocks you from upgrading or reinstalling the ﬁrmware before one of the following occurs:

◦ The ﬁve (5) minute window expires.

◦

The module is physically reset in the chassis.

◦

You power-cycle the module.

Therefore, you can only upgrade or reinstall the ﬁrmware when the module is not in a

pending state.

For details, see Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer Module Proﬁle on page 140.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 19

Chapter 2Get started

Differences between upgrade and reinstallation

There are the following differences between upgrading and reinstalling the ﬁrmware:

Upgrade

• Updated binary ﬁles are installed.

•

All log ﬁles are deleted.

•

The module's conﬁguration data and the archive ﬁles are preserved.

Reinstallation

•

Updated binary ﬁles are installed.

•

All log ﬁles, module conﬁguration data, and archive ﬁles are deleted

•

The module's factory settings are restored.

Collect the module-related information

Collect the following information:

•

The catalog number of the Historian ME module: 1756-HIST2G.

• The network conﬁguration information.

• The network path to the Historian ME module.

•

The ﬁrmware version number, which is listed on the Historian ME module's home page.

Back up the module

As a best practice, we suggest that you back up your module conﬁguration and download the backup conﬁguration

ﬁle to your client computer before performing an upgrade.

For details, see Back up and restore conﬁguration ﬁles on page 107.

Prepare the module for the upgrade or reinstallation

To prepare the module for the upgrade or reinstallation

In the module web interface, stop the following services:

◦

The data collection (Conﬁgure Historian > Data Collection).

◦ The data transfer (Conﬁgure Historian > Data Transfer).

Open the web browser, and type https://<ModuleIP_address>:8443. The module Web Diagnostics

interface appears.

Record the ﬁrmware revision number from the Home page.

4. (Optional) Click Admin > Download Logs to download all log ﬁles.

Identify the network path across the backplane in the local chassis from the network module to FactoryTalk

Historian ME as deﬁned in RSLinx Classic. This is not the path through the front port of the module. To view

the network path across the backplane, see the image in step 4 in Upgrade or reinstall the module's ﬁrmware

on page 21.

Log out and disconnect all clients (including web clients).

20 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 2Get started

Upgrade or reinstall the ﬁrmware of your Historian module

FactoryTalk Historian ME modules' ﬁrmware kits are delivered as individual Device Management Kit (DMK) ﬁles. They

are compatible with:

• ControlFLASH version 15.07.00

• ControlFLASH Plus version 6.00.00

The installation of ControlFLASH or ControlFLASH Plus is separate from the ﬁrmware kits, and you must install it only

once.

A DMK is a single, digitally signed ﬁle that contains the ﬁrmware binaries. ControlFLASH authenticates DMK’s origin

and validates its contents, providing enhanced protection against malicious threats. You can download and use

it, no need to install or extract it. The ﬁle is named for easy identiﬁcation and management, for example, 1756-

HIST2G_5.202 (Install).dmk.

To ﬂash the module ﬁrmware, you must have FactoryTalk Linx or RSLinx Classic installed.

The process consists of the following steps:

(Optional) Download ControlFLASH on page 21

Perform this step if you don't have the recommended version already installed.

(Optional) Install ControlFLASH on page 21

Perform this step if you don't have the recommended version already installed.

Download the module ﬁrmware kit on page 22

Upgrade or reinstall the module ﬁrmware on page 22

(Optional) Download ControlFLASH or ControlFLASH Plus

Tip: We recommend that you use:

•

ControlFLASH version 15.07.00.

• ControlFLASH Plus version 6.00.00.

To download ControlFLASH or ControlFLASH Plus

Open the PCDC page in your web browser:

https://compatibility.rockwellautomation.com/Pages/home.aspx

To use this site, you must register and log in.

Under Downloads, click Downloads by Product.

In the search ﬁeld, type ControlFLASH or ControlFLASH Plus, and then click the search button.

The search results appear.

Click ControlFLASH Firmware Upgrade Tool (Accessories/Software) or ControlFLASH Plus.

The package appears in the right pane.

Select the package, and then click DOWNLOADS.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.

(Optional) Install ControlFLASH or ControlFLASH Plus

Starting from ControlFLASH version 13.00, when the installation completes, FactoryTalk Security is enabled by default.

When launched, ControlFLASH logins to the FactoryTalk Network Directory.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 21

Chapter 2Get started

Tip: For details on using ControlFLASH or ControlFLASH Plus, see its documentation.

To install ControlFLASH or ControlFLASH Plus

1. Extract the installation package and double-click setup.exe.

The Rockwell Automation Installer appears.

Follow the instructions to complete the installation process.

Download the module ﬁrmware kit

To download the module's ﬁrmware kit

Open the PCDC page in your web browser:

http://compatibility.rockwellautomation.com/Pages/home.aspx

To use this site, you must register and log in.

Under Download, click Downloads by Product.

In the search ﬁeld, type 1756-HIST.

The product name is displayed.

4. Click the product name and choose a version number on the right.

Click DOWNLOADS.

Under Downloads, click Select Files.

The Available Downloads window appears.

Choose a ﬁle that matches the operation that you want to perform on the module (Install or Upgrade).

For example, click 1756-HIST2G_5.202(Upgrade).dmk.

Click Downloads in the upper right corner of the window.

In the window that appears, click DOWNLOAD NOW.

10.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.

Upgrade or reinstall the module ﬁrmware

Tip: Before you upgrade or reinstall your module, stop Data Transfer and Data Collection.

To upgrade or reinstall the module's ﬁrmware

1. In the Start menu, ﬁnd and open ControlFLASH.

The Welcome to ControlFlash window appears.

The In use information points you to the version of RSLinx that you currently use. If you have both RSLinx

Classic and FactoryTalk Linx installed on your computer, the Change RSLinx Edition button will be available,

and you may choose the edition that you want to use to perform the steps.

Click Next.

The Catalog Number window appears.

If you don't see the catalog number of your Historian module, click Browse.

22 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 2Get started

Tip: When you download DMK ﬁrmware kits from Rockwell Automation PCDC, ControlFLASH

automatically saves the folder location where the DMK ﬁles were downloaded to. By default,

ControlFLASH monitors two folders:

◦ C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlFLASH for 64-bit operating systems or C:\Program Files

\ControlFLASH for 32-bit operating systems

◦

C:\Users\<user name>\Downloads\RA

For best performance, we recommend you not using shared folders on a network, disk root

folders, or a large number of folders.

The Firmware Kit Locations window appears.

Click Add.

The Browse for Folder window appears.

Select the location to which you saved the module's ﬁrmware kits, and then click OK.

The location is added to the Firmware Kit Locations window.

Click OK.

In the Catalog Number window, select your module's type, and then click Next.

The Select the device to update and click OK window appears.

Choose the device that you want to update with the ﬁrmware, and then click OK.

The Firmware Revision window appears.

The window lists the ﬁrmware kits that you have downloaded. The list may differ from what you see in the

previous image.

Choose the revision of the ﬁrmware kit and the operation type that you want to use, and then click Next.

Tip: To learn about the differences between upgrade and reinstallation, see Differences between

upgrade and reinstallation on page 20.

The Summary window appears.

Click Finish.

10.

In the conﬁrmation message, click Yes.

11.

In the warning message, click OK.

The process of upgrading or reinstalling the module begins.

When the process completes, an update status message appears.

It will take the module a couple of minutes to fully initialize. Once the middle LED (STS) is either ﬂashing or

solid color, you can log in to the module.

12.

Start Data Transfer and Data Collection.

Updates and application notes

Rockwell Automation provides technical information on the web to assist you in using its products. Refer to our

extensive online Knowledgebase for the most current information about FactoryTalk Historian ME. Visit https://

rockwellautomation.custhelp.com/ to:

• View technical and application notes.

•

Obtain software patches and ﬁrmware updates.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 23

Chapter 2Get started

• Subscribe to product and service email notiﬁcations.

•

Ask questions.

For an additional level of technical phone support for installation, conﬁguration, and troubleshooting, we offer

TechConnect support programs. For more information, contact your local distributor or Rockwell Automation

representative, or visit the Rockwell Automation Technical Support site https://www.rockwellautomation.com/en-

us/support.html.

Set up your ControlLogix environment

To set up your ControlLogix environment

Set up the ControlLogix chassis.

2. Insert the ControlLogix controllers into the chassis.

You can connect to ﬁve controllers in a single ControlLogix chassis.

Power on the system.

Conﬁgure the ControlLogix devices.

For details, refer to the ControlLogix Chassis and ControlLogix Controller documentation.

FactoryTalk Historian ME can connect to:

•

The controllers in the same chassis in which it is placed.

•

The controllers placed in a remote chassis (ControlLogix and controllers from the CompactLogix 5370 family).

Tip: For more information about the supported controllers refer to FactoryTalk Historian ME

Release Notes.

If FactoryTalk Historian ME must connect to data in other chassis hardware such as non-ControlLogix or third-party

controllers, you can conﬁgure a ControlLogix controller to act as a data concentrator in the same chassis. This

controller can then be conﬁgured to expose the data from the remote controllers to the FactoryTalk Historian ME.

However, it is critical to consider the increased load that an extra data server will introduce in a ControlLogix system

when conﬁguring the data collection.

FactoryTalk Historian ME’s data gathering and trending impact on a Logix controller is dependent on the ControlLogix

system conﬁguration. This includes the available Logix controller bandwidth as well as the number of tags being

trended and the sample period. The Logix controller bandwidth is determined by the controller type, free memory, the

system overhead time slice, and user application programs.

Trending is a higher priority task in the Logix controller than in user application programs. Trending too many tags at

a too low sample period can impact the Logix controller’s ability to execute user application programs and cause task

overlaps. When using FactoryTalk Historian ME, you must ensure that there is sucient Logix controller bandwidth to

service trending without negatively impacting user application programs.

Install the module in the chassis

FactoryTalk Historian ME has the following product number: 1756-HIST2G.

To install the module, follow the FactoryTalk Historian Machine Edition Module Installation Instructions (Publication 1756-

IN106).

24 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 2Get started

FactoryTalk Historian ME receives data from the ControlLogix data collection interface and stores it locally in the

module. The module data and system information can be viewed and managed through the FactoryTalk Historian ME

webpage.

After you install the module, you can log on to the FactoryTalk Historian ME webpage. See Log on to FactoryTalk

Historian ME on page 28 for details.

Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools

The FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools are a set of the following tools:

•

FactoryTalk Historian ME Management

See Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Management on page 25.

• FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor

See Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor on page 27.

•

FactoryTalk Historian ME Logix Designer Module Proﬁle

See Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Logix Designer Module Proﬁle on page 27.

The Client Tools are available on the FactoryTalk Historian ME installation DVD and as a download package on the

Rockwell Automation Product Compatibility and Download Center website.

Tip: If you download the Client Tools from the Rockwell Automation Product Compatibility and Download

Center website and cannot extract the content of the package, check the length of the path to the

directory to which you want to extract the package. If the length of the path to the directory is longer

than 116 characters, you will not be able to extract the package to this location.

Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Management

The FactoryTalk Historian ME Management is available on the FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools installation DVD.

Tip: The FactoryTalk Historian ME Management requires FactoryTalk Services Platform version 2.50 (FTSP

SR5) or newer to be installed. Refer to FactoryTalk Services Platform documentation for more information.

The package is installed with the following FactoryTalk Historian components:

•

PI Software Development Kit (PI SDK)

•

FactoryTalk Historian SE RA Components

•

MS Runtime Redistributables

For details on the component versions and supported systems, see the FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools Release

Notes.

To install FactoryTalk Historian ME Management

Run the FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools DVD.

On the welcome page of the installation wizard, click Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools > Install

FactoryTalk Historian ME Management.

The installation wizard appears.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 25

Chapter 2Get started

If there are any software prerequisites missing from the computer or services that must be stopped, they are

listed in red at the bottom of the installation wizard Welcome page.

Click Cancel, and then click Finish to exit the wizard, install the prerequisites and/or stop the services, and

then start the installation wizard again.

On the Welcome... page, click Next.

On the License Agreement page, read and accept the terms of the license agreement, selecting the I

accept... option.

5. Click Next.

On the Review Component Installation page, review the list of the components that are already installed

and those that will be installed during the installation process.

Click Next.

On the Destination Drive page, select the drive on which you want to install the product.

If the space available on the drive is not sucient for the installation, a warning message will appear below

the Installation drive list. In such a case, select another drive or increase the available space on the drive

you have originally selected. After you have increased the available space on the selected drive, you can

continue with the installation without restarting the installation wizard.

Tip: You can choose the destination drive only if you install a FactoryTalk Historian component on

the selected machine for the ﬁrst time. If there have been any FactoryTalk Historian components

installed on the machine before, the Installation drive list will not be available.

Click Next.

The Installation Progress page appears. It lists the components that are going to be installed. The status of

the installation is displayed in the Status column of the component table.

10.

Click Install to start the installation.

If there are any applications, interfaces, and/or services that are currently running on the computer and

must be stopped so that you can continue with the installation, a message will appear to list the items to be

stopped.

11.

Stop the items, and then click Install again.

The following message appears:

12.

Click Yes to continue with the installation.

13.

Wait until the components are installed.

The installation time will vary depending on the number of components being installed and the computer's

performance. Depending on your security settings, you may be prompted to conﬁrm the installation of

individual components.

The installation status is displayed below the component table.

14.

Identify the computer that hosts the FactoryTalk Directory server.

- If it is the current computer (localhost), click OK.

- If it is a remote computer, point to the proper FactoryTalk Directory computer:

a. In the User name box, type the account username with which you will log on to the FactoryTalk

Directory computer.

In the Password box, type the password to the account with which you will log on to the FactoryTalk

Directory computer.

c. Click OK.

The Browse for Computer dialog box appears.

26 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 2Get started

d. Select the machine that hosts the FactoryTalk Directory, and then click OK.

The name of the machine appears in the FactoryTalk Directory Server Location Utility dialog box.

e. Click OK.

f. In the message box informing you that you must restart the computer, click OK.

In the Log On to FactoryTalk (New Server) dialog box, type the user name and password to the newly

selected FactoryTalk Directory machine.

Click OK. The system connects to the FactoryTalk Directory server.

i. In the message box prompting you to restart the computer, click No.

15.

On the Installation Wizard Completed page, click Show the installation log, if you want to view the

installation log after the installation wizard closes.

Tip: The installation log, fth_installer.log, is available in the following location:

C:\Program Files\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Historian\Installation Manager\<Name of the

Historian suite>\FTHInstallerLogs\<Date and Time of the Installation>.

If any of the installed components requires rebooting the computer, a relevant message will appear on the

installation wizard page, and you will be prompted to restart the machine after the installation wizard closes.

16.

Click Finish to exit the installation wizard.

17.

Restart the computer.

Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor

The Rule Editor allows you to create and edit user-deﬁned rules for the point discovery process. The selections

you make in the dialog box are automatically written to this ﬁle. The data points matching these rules are found

and added to the FactoryTalk Historian server. You can upload the rule ﬁle to FactoryTalk Historian ME using the

FactoryTalk Historian ME Upload Manager feature.

To install the Rule Editor

Run the FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools DVD.

The installation wizard appears.

Click Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools > Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor installation wizard appears.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.

Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Logix Designer Module Proﬁle

FactoryTalk Historian ME can be conﬁgured to communicate with a ControlLogix controller through the FactoryTalk

Historian ME Logix Designer Module Proﬁle.

Tip: Install the Module Proﬁle on the computer with RSLogix 5000® or Studio 5000 installed.

To install the Module Proﬁle

Run the FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools DVD.

The installation wizard appears.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 27

Chapter 2Get started

2. Click Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools > Install FactoryTalk Historian ME Logix Designer

Module Proﬁle.

The Logix Designer Module Proﬁle installation wizard appears.

3. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.

(Optional) Install FactoryTalk Historian SE patch

If you want to integrate your FactoryTalk Historian ME with FactoryTalk Historian SE 2.1, you need to install the

FactoryTalk Historian SE patch. Once installed, FactoryTalk Historian ME can work with FactoryTalk Historian SE to

collect, store, analyze, and visualize data using reporting tools such as time-series trends, bar charts, pie charts,

pareto, and tabular trends.

The FactoryTalk Historian SE patch must be installed on the FactoryTalk Directory and any other computer that will be

administering the FactoryTalk Historian ME module through the FactoryTalk Administration Console.

The patch is not necessary for machines with FactoryTalk Historian SE 2.2 or newer.

You can download the FactoryTalk Historian SE patch from the Rockwell Automation Knowledgebase page.

EDS ﬁles

Electronic Data Sheet (EDS) ﬁles are simple text ﬁles used by network conﬁguration tools to help you identify

products, and easily commission them on a network.

The EDS ﬁles for the Historian series A module are located on the FactoryTalk Historian ME installation DVD in the

\3.xx.xx-FTHistorianME\EDS folder. The ﬁles are currently a part of the RSLinx Classic product installation.

The EDS ﬁles for the Historian series B and series C module can be downloaded directly from the device. The ﬁles will

be a part of the RSLinx Classic product installation for newer versions of RSLinx Classic.

Access the FactoryTalk Historian ME webpage

FactoryTalk Historian ME receives data from ControlLogix through the data collection interface and stores it locally in

the module. The module data and system information can be viewed and managed through the FactoryTalk Historian

ME webpage. The web interface supports multiple layers of ﬁrmware applications that are designed to collect data, as

well as provide system and module status and statistics.

You can access the FactoryTalk Historian ME webpage through a web browser after the installation of the module.

Log on to FactoryTalk Historian ME

Tip: If a large number of tags are being transferred from the controller to the module when the module

is going through the initial booting up, wait about ﬁve to ten minutes before trying to access the web

interface.

To log on to FactoryTalk Historian ME

Open a web browser (for example, Chrome™ browser or Edge™ ).

In the address bar, type the IP address of FactoryTalk Historian ME, and then press Enter.

The IP address scrolls across the LED display on the front panel of FactoryTalk Historian ME.

28 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 2Get started

The logon page appears.

Tip:

◦

The default network conﬁguration type is DHCP. If a DHCP server is not available, then the

IP address will not be displayed. You will either need to conﬁgure a DHCP server or use

RSLinx Classic or the FactoryTalk Historian ME Logix Designer Module Proﬁle to set the IP

address. For details, see Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer Module Proﬁle on page 140.

◦

You can also type the Fully Qualiﬁed Domain Name (FQDN) of the FactoryTalk Historian ME

module in the address bar to access the logon page. Type the FQDN in the following format:

For example, module1.mycompany.com

Type the default user name piadmin and leave the password text box blank.

The ﬁrst time you log on, the default user name is piadmin and the password is blank (no password).

Tip: For details on the user and group security, see Manage security on page 117.

Click Login.

Change the password for the default piadmin user.

Tip: For more details, see Change user passwords on page 96.

Log out of FactoryTalk Historian ME

The reason for this is that after the initial login, when another FactoryTalk-enabled product is started, FactoryTalk

Security checks the credentials of the logged-in user at the FactoryTalk Directory, and authorizes access to the next

product without requiring another log in.

• Click Logout in the upper-right corner of the Historian webpage.

If you close your browser without logging out, a cookie will retain the session for twenty minutes, and another user

may access FactoryTalk Historian ME without logging into the module.

It is recommended that every user should log out after every session to help prevent unauthorized users from

accessing the module without logging into the module.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 29

Chapter 3

View the module information

The module information is displayed on the following pages of the Home tab:

•

Status

This page is open by default.

See Status on page 31.

•

Module Identity

See Module identity on page 33.

•

System Utilization

See System utilization on page 35.

•

System Statistics

See System statistics on page 36.

Additionally, there is also the System status on page 30 section in the lower-left corner of every page of the web

client.

System status

The system status information appears when you log on to FactoryTalk Historian ME. It is located in the left bottom

corner of every page and provides the system status information detailed in the following table.

The information is refreshed automatically every 30 seconds.

This item: Displays:

CPU usage Percentage of the module’s CPU that is being used.

Note: The CPU usage percent listed under the System

Status section on the left-hand side may display a different

percent than what is listed under CPU and Processes on the

System Utilization page (see System utilization on page 35)

because the CPU usage listed under System Status is updated

periodically while the CPU usage listed in the main window is

static. It does not change once the page is loaded.

Memory usage Percentage of the module’s system memory that is being used.

Collection rate Current collection rate from the data collection service in

events per minute.

Transfer rate Current transfer rate from the data transfer service in events

per minute.

Archive rate Current archiving rate from the Archive subsystem through the

server variant table in events per minute.

Archive usage Percentage of used archive files remaining on FactoryTalk

Historian ME. It is calculated based on the type of data being

collected and the rate of the data collection.

Archive capacity The number of days/hours/minutes (dd:hh:mm) until the

storage space on FactoryTalk Historian ME is used. This

30 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 3View the module information

This item: Displays:

calculation is based on the module’s data collection and data

transfer rates.

Status

To open the Status page, click the Home tab.

The page displays the following information:

• Module information

See Module information on page 31.

•

System status

See System status on page 31.

•

System utilization

See System utilization on page 32.

•

Point statistics

See Point statistics on page 32.

Module information

In the ControlLogix chassis ﬁgure, the location of the Historian module in the chassis slot is marked with green, while

the location of the controller with grey.

The Module Information section displays the following information:

This item: Displays:

Name The name of the module.

Firmware Version The version of the firmware.

Current Time The current time of the module.

Up Time The total time the module has been running.

System status

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 31

Chapter 3View the module information

The System Status section displays the following information:

This item: Displays:

Point Server FactoryTalk Historian ME server that manages the archives and

provides access to historical data. The status may be Running

or Error.

Data Collection Service FactoryTalk Historian ME data collection subsystem. The status

may be Running, Stopped, or Error.

Data Transfer Service FactoryTalk Historian ME data transfer subsystem. The status

may be Running, Stopped, or Error.

System utilization

The System Utilization section displays the current CPU usage, memory information, and storage information, along

with a graphical representation of this information. The red portion indicates a critical stage for each component.

Point statistics

The Point Statistics section displays information about points conﬁgured on the module in the form of statistics and

a pie chart.

Review the following for additional information.

Item Description

Total Points The number of total points on the module.

Total Active Points The number of points actively receiving data.

Incl. Bad Points The number of points out of the Total Active Points that are

configured for collecting data but are not actively receiving it

because the point is being rejected by the data server with an

error.

The pie chart rounds the percentage to the nearest whole percent. For instance, if there are 1000 total points in the

system and 995 active points, the pie chart will still display 100%, but if there are 994 active points, the pie chart will

display 99% and 1%.

32 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 3View the module information

Module identity

To open the Module Identity page, click Module Identity on the Home tab.

The page displays the following information:

• Module information

See Module information on page 33.

•

Network settings

See Network settings on page 34.

•

Security conﬁguration

See Security conﬁguration on page 34.

•

Client connections

See Client connections on page 35.

Module information

The Module Information section displays the following information:

This item: Displays:

Name The name of the module.

To change your module name, click the Advanced tab, and then

click System Settings.

For details on the module name and information on the impact

of changing the module name, see Change the module name on

page 102.

Firmware Version The version of the firmware.

Current Time The current time of the module.

To configure time settings, click the Advanced tab, and then

click Time Management.

Up Time The total time the module has been running.

Module Slot Location The location of the module in a slot in the ControlLogix chassis.

Serial Number The serial number of the module.

This number cannot be changed.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 33

Chapter 3View the module information

Network settings

The Network Settings section displays the following information:

This item: Displays:

MAC Address The Unique Media Access Control (MAC) address of the module.

This number cannot be changed.

IP Address The Internet Protocol (IP) address of the module.

IP Configuration The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or static IP

address will display. DHCP is the default configuration.

Link Status The current connection status of the module's front Ethernet

port.

Tip: To change the network settings, click the Advanced tab, and then click System Settings. For details,

see Conﬁgure system settings on page 102.

Security conﬁguration

The Security Conﬁguration section displays the following information:

This item: Displays:

Security Mode The security mode used.

Browser Protocol The browser protocol used.

Tip: For details on changing the security settings, see Manage security on page 117.

34 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 3View the module information

Client connections

The Client Connections section displays the number of clients currently connected to FactoryTalk Historian ME.

There may be up to ﬁve clients connected simultaneously to the Historian module.

The following client applications are supported:

•

FactoryTalk Historian DataLink

•

FactoryTalk Historian ProcessBook

• FactoryTalk View SE Trending

•

FactoryTalk Administration Console

•

PI System Management Tools (SMT)

•

FactoryTalk VantagePoint

•

FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI

System utilization

To open the System Utilization page, click System Utilization on the Home tab.

The page displays the following information:

This item: Displays:

CPU and Processes The current percent of the CPU in use and the processes

currently running.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 35

Chapter 3View the module information

This item: Displays:

Note: The CPU usage percent listed in the System status

section (see System status on page 30) may display a

different percent than the percentage listed in the CPU and

Processes section in the main window. This is because the

CPU usage listed in the System Status section is updated

periodically while the CPU Usage information displayed in the

main window is static. It does not change once the page is

loaded.

RAM The memory usage of the module.

Ethernet Statistics The total amount of data sent and received by the module

through the network.

Storage (NAND) The total storage space used and available on the installed flash

drive. This section also displays the total number of archive

files and how many of them are free, as well as the archive file

size.

System statistics

To open the System Statistics page, click System Statistics on the Home tab.

Choose this option: To display:

Network Manager The network management statistics.

See Network manager on page 37.

Snapshot and Archive The snapshot and archive statistics.

See Snapshot and archive on page 38.

Archive Files The archive file statistics.

See Archive files on page 42.

The information available on this page may be helpful when troubleshooting any issues with your module.

Tip: For details on sorting and viewing information in tables, see Change views on page 51.

36 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 3View the module information

Network manager

Click the Network Manager option to view the current network manager connection statistics.

The Network Manager section displays the following information:

Item Description

ID The connection ID. This is the primary key.

Path The root directory on the server. This directory is the same for

all connections.

Name The connection name.

ID The process ID number.

Reg App Name The registered application name.

Reg App Type The registered application type.

Protocol Version The protocol version of the connecting application.

Peer Name The host name of the connecting machine.

Peer Address The IP address of the connecting machine.

Peer Port The port number of the connecting machine.

ConType The connection type.

Net Type The network type.

ConStatus The connection status.

ConTime The time of the connection.

Last Call The time of the last call.

Elapsed Time The amount of time passed.

Bytes Sent The number of bytes sent.

Bytes Recv The number of bytes received.

Msg Sent The number of messages sent.

Msg Recv The number of messages received.

Errors Recv The number of errors received.

Errors Sent The number of errors sent.

API Count The number of APIs.

SDK Count The number of SDKs.

Server ID The identification number of the server.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 37

Chapter 3View the module information

Item Description

NetMgr Version The number of the network manager version.

OS Sys Name The operating system name.

OS Node Name The operating system node name.

OS Release The operating system release number.

OS Version The operating system version number.

Machine The system name.

User The user name.

OS User The operating system user name.

Trust The name of the trust connection.

Snapshot and archive

Click the Snapshot and Archive option to view the current FactoryTalk Historian ME snapshot and archive statistics.

The Snapshot And Archive section displays the following information:

Item Description

Type The snapshot or archive file type.

Counter The performance counter. For details, see Snapshot and archive

counters on page 38.

Value The current snapshot and/or archive value.

Change The value change between updates.

Snapshot and archive counters

The following table presents information on the snapshot and archive counters.

Counter name Description

Point Count The Point Count is the number of points that are currently

defined in the Point Database. It is incremented when a point is

created and decremented when a point is deleted.

Snapshot Events An "r;event" is the fundamental Historian data element. It

represents a value or status of a unique data source at a

38 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 3View the module information

Counter name Description

specific time. Specifically an event is a Value, Timestamp,

and PointID. Most events come from Historian API- or

Historian SDK-based interfaces. The Historian subsystems

("r;Applications" Historian Batch, Historian Performance

Equations, Historian Total, and Historian Alarm), as well as

manual input and laboratory systems are also event sources.

Every Snapshot event increments the Snapshot Events Counter.

The Snapshot Subsystem applies a compression algorithm

to every event. The compression algorithm determines if the

previous Snapshot event is passed on to the archive.

Out of Order Snapshot Events Events older than the current Snapshot event are out-of-order

events. These events bypass compression and are sent directly

to the archive. This counter shows the number of times this has

occurred.

Snapshots Events Reads Count of all Snapshot reads. This is a simple measurement of

how many Snapshot values are read by all applications.

Events Sent to Queue Events that pass compression, or are out of order, are sent to

the Event Queue, and thus increment this counter. Under normal

operating conditions, this count indicates the number of events

that passed the compression test (that is, the events were

different from existing events and could not be eliminated) and

are being sent to the archive.

The ratio of Snapshot events to Events Sent to Queue is

the system aggregate compression ratio. This ratio gives

a quick view of overall system compression tuning. Ratios

less than 2:1 indicate low compression; a compression tuning

evaluation should be performed. Ratios greater than 10:1

indicate over-compression; a compression tuning evaluation

should also be performed.

Three Point Database attributes affect compression: CompDev,

CompMin, and CompMax. These are known as the compression

specifications.

If a point has its Compressing point attribute set to FALSE, all

new events are sent to the Archive Subsystem.

Events in Queue Events passed to the EventQueue are put in the

First-In-First-Out order. The Events in Queue

Counter is incremented when the event is put in the Queue; it is

decremented when the

Archive Subsystem successfully retrieves and processes the

event.

When the system is shut down, the Event Queue is preserved in

the file PI\dat\pimapevq.dat.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 39

Chapter 3View the module information

Counter name Description

This assures no data loss when the system shuts down, or when

the archive subsystem is not processing events at the same

rate as they come in.

Number of Overflow Queues If the queue PI\dat\pimapevq.dat becomes completely full,

a new queue is created. This should not occur under normal

circumstances and this number will be 0. However, if the

archive is not processing events, a number of such queues (up

to 65536) can be created. This counter shows how many queues

were created. These additional queues are automatically

deleted after the archive subsystem processes them.

Note: When multiple Event Queues exist, the file pimapevq.dat

is renamed to pimq0000.dat, and additional queues are named

pimq<id>.dat where id is the queue number in the hexadecimal

representation (from 0000 to FFFF). The piartool &endash;qs

command always shows information from the queue to which

the Snapshot Subsystem is writing (primary queue).

Total Overflow Events This is the total number of events in all Overflow Queues. The

sum of this counter and the Events in Queue counter are all the

events not yet processed by the archive.

Estimated Remaining Capacity Estimated maximum number of events with the current queue

file.

Archived Events The Archived Events counter is incremented for every new

event written to the archive (via the archive cache). This count

includes delete and edit events.

Out of Order Events The Archive Subsystem receives events from the Snapshot

Subsystem. If the timestamp of the event is older than the last

event in the target record, it is considered an out-of-order

event and is added to this counter.

Excessive out-of-order events might lead to system problems

such as excess processor consumption, excessive disk I/O, and

archives filling faster than expected.

Events Cascade Count Out-of-order events are inserted into the target record. The

insert requires moving other events within the record. If the

record is full, one or more events are forced out of the record

into the adjacent record. This counter is incremented each time

an insertion forces an event out of a record. This counter is an

indication of the impact of out-of-order events on the archive.

Events Read Number of events read by all applications. For example,

a trending application requests an array of events over a

specified time period. This counter is incremented for each

event returned.

40 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 3View the module information

Counter name Description

Read Operations Number of archive read requests. Each archive read request

increments this counter once, regardless of the number of

events returned.

Cache Record Count Archive cache records in memory.

Cache Records Created Rate at which archive cache records are created in seconds.

Cache Record Memory Reads Rate of archive cache memory hits in seconds.

Cache Clean Count Rate at which archive cache records are removed from

memory.

Archive Record Disc Reads Rate of archive record disc reads in seconds.

Archive Record Disc Writes Rate of archive record disc writes in seconds.

Unflushed Events Indicates the total number of events not yet flushed to disk.

Unflushed Points Indicates the number of points with any number of events not

yet flushed.

Point Flush Count Number of points flushed to disk. Busy points might get flushed

several times per cycle.

Primary Archive Number The archive receiving current data is called the Primary Archive.

When the Primary Archive becomes full, an Archive Shift occurs

and the next available archive becomes the new Primary

Archive.

The primary number is the internal index number of archive

currently assigned to the primary position.

Archive Shift Prediction (min) Archive Shift (hr) estimates the predicted time to the next

archive shift. Use piartool -al to list the target archive file for

shift. The target archive will be initialized on shift; if it contains

data, make sure it is backed up. If this data is required to

remain online, a new archive of adequate size should be created

and registered.

When the current archive is less than 20% full, the estimate

is 0. In order to determine whether a zero estimate means the

archive is nearly full or not, run piartool -al. The message will

tell you if there is not enough data for a prediction.

Shift Time: Not enough information for prediction

The shift prediction in piartool -as differs slightly from the

one in piartool -al. The piartool -al figure is calculated when

called. The piartool -as command shows the latest 10

minutes average. The latter number is available as a Windows

Performance Counter.

Archiving Flag Indicates whether events may be written to the archive.

A value of 1 indicates that events may be written. A value of 0

indicates that events may not be written.

The Archiving Flag is set to 1 when there is a mounted Primary

Archive. A Primary Archive may be registered but not mounted,

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 41

Chapter 3View the module information

Counter name Description

for example during an archive shift. In this case, the Archiving

Flag would be set to 0. This flag is also set to 0 when in backup

mode.

All registered archives may be viewed using piartool -al. The

Archive Flag is set to 0 if the

Primary Archive becomes full and there is no other archive file

available into which to shift.

Note that the Primary Archive will never overwrite itself.

Archive Backup Flag This flag is set to 1 when the archive is in the backup mode. The

value is 0 when the archive is available for normal access.

To enter the backup mode, run the piartool -bs command.

To exist the backup mode, run the piartool -be command.

Archive Loaded Flag This flag is 1 when a valid primary archive is mounted. It is 0 if

the primary archive is not mounted.

Shift or System Backup Flag This flag is 1 when the archive is in the shift mode or the

Archive Subsystem has been placed in the backup mode. The

shifts occur automatically or can be forced via the piartool

-fs command. System backup mode is entered with the

piartool -systembackup command.

Failed Archive Shift Flag Set to 1 when a shift should occur but no shiftable archive

exists. Under normal conditions, this flag is 0.

Overflow Index Record Count Number of index records. Index records speed up access to

overflow records. Index records are created when two overflow

records for a point are full, and the third one is being created.

This counter is a measurement of archive file consumption.

Overflow Data Record Count Number of non-primary data records. Each archive has

a primary record for each point. When this record is full,

data is written to overflow the records. This counter gives a

measurement of archive consumption.

Archive ﬁles

Click the Archive Files option to view archived system statistics.

42 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 3View the module information

FactoryTalk Historian ME stores your data in archives, which are the ﬁles that hold FactoryTalk Historian ME data.

Archive ﬁles are ﬁxed which means that they are always the same size, regardless of how much data they contain.

The archive receiving current data is called the primary archive. When the primary archive becomes full, an

archive shift occurs, and the next available archive becomes the new primary archive. When the primary archive is

being backed up, you cannot modify that archive or the Point database.

Each archive ﬁle contains events for a time period speciﬁed by the archive start time and end time. The archive ﬁles

on each FactoryTalk Historian ME server should cover all-time ranges, without overlapping time ranges or gaps in

time. A list of archive ﬁles stored on FactoryTalk Historian ME is displayed by default when you select the Archive

Files option.

The Archive Files section displays the following information:

Item Description

Archive File The archive file name, which includes the full path.

Status The archive status displays one of the following:

• Primary - the archive file that is currently receiving data.

•

Has Data - indicates that the archive file contains data and

is full.

•

Empty - indicates that the archive has no data.

Size (MB) The archive file size in megabytes.

Start Time The time that data was first written to the archive file.

End Time The time that data was last written to the archive file.

Lifetime The archive file age in days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

Last Modified Time The last time and date the archive file was modified.

Backup Time The last time and date the archive file was backed up. Never

indicates that the file has never been backed up.

State The state of the file:

• Created

•

Initialized

• Dismounted

•

Mounted

Type Indicates the type of file, which is always Fixed size.

Write Flag Specifies if a file is writable or read-only.

Shift Flag Specifies if a file is shiftable or not shiftable.

Add Rate/Hour The rate at which files are added to the archive per hour.

% Full The percentage of the archive that is being used.

Annotations The size in bytes of the annotation file associated with the

archive file.

Annotation File Size The size in megabytes of the annotation file associated with the

archive file.

Shift Prediction The target archive or the predicted shift time.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 43

Chapter 3View the module information

Item Description

Primary Offset The number that indicates the number of primary archive

records in use.

Overflow Offset The number that indicates the number of overflow records in

use.

Record Size The record size for each archive record.

Version The version of the archive header.

# The archive number used by FactoryTalk Historian ME.

44 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 4

View data

You can view the following types of data on the pages of the View Data tab:

•

Current data

See View current data on page 47.

• Archive data

See View archive data on page 47.

•

Trends

See View trends on page 48.

To display data, deﬁne your search criteria ﬁrst. For details, see Deﬁne search criteria on page 45.

To export data, see Export data on page 47.

To change how the data is displayed, see Change views on page 51.

Deﬁne search criteria

The following search rules apply to all the pages on the View Data tab.

To search data

1. Deﬁne your search criteria in the boxes at the top of the page.

Click Search.

The information speciﬁed in the search criteria is displayed.

Using the asterisk ("*") in the search boxes

The asterisk that appears in the search boxes functions as a wildcard value. You can use it to:

•

Represent a contiguous series of characters (for example: *xxx*, *xxx, or xxx*).

•

Return data that meet all conditions for the given search box.

•

Return ALL points in the system. To do so, leave the asterisk in all the search boxes.

To deﬁne search criteria

In the Point Name box, type the point name criteria such as the full name, partial name, or wildcard value for

the data you would like to search.

In the Point Source box, type the point source for the current data.

The point source is the base attribute that identiﬁes the interface or other scanning software responsible for

providing data for the associated point. Common point sources depend upon your environment. They include

the following:

Point source Description

FTME The default point source for FactoryTalk Historian ME.

T The Totalizer utility subsystem.

C The Performance Equation subsystem.

In the Point Type list, select the point type.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 45

Chapter 4View data

Point types include:

Point type Description

Int16 A 16-bit integer value.

Int32 A 32-bit integer value.

Float16 A 16-bit floating point value.

Float32 A 32-bit floating point value.

Float64 A 64-bit floating point value.

String A string value.

Digital A digital value.

Timestamp A timestamp value.

In the Scan Rate list, select a scan rate.

The scan rate is the rate (in seconds) at which the data is collected.

In the Archiving list, select one of the following options to display points with a speciﬁc archive bit setting:

Option Description

On Returns points where the archive is set to On.

Off Returns points where the archive is set to Off.

Asterisk (*) Returns points that meet either condition (On or Off) and

meet the other search conditions.

In the Scan list, select one of the following options to search for points with a speciﬁc scan bit setting:

Option Description

On Returns points where the scan bit is set to On.

Off Returns points where the scan bit is set to Off.

Asterisk (*) Returns points that meet either condition (On or Off) and

meet the other search conditions.

Click Search to initiate the tag search.

The search populates the Points table with the following information for each data point:

Item Description

Select column checkbox To create a specific list of points to view, check the box

in the Select column for a specific tag or set of tags, then

mark the Selected Rows option.

Name The name of the data point.

Value The most recently returned value of the data point.

Timestamp The time that the last value was returned for the specified

data point.

Type The data type for the listed point. If the point is of Boolean

or String type, no checkbox will be displayed in the Select

column.

46 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 4View data

To clear all your search criteria, click Reset.

Tip: For information on ﬁltering the search results, see Filter search results data on page 52.

Export data

You can export all points that are listed in your search results. The data is exported to a CSV (comma-separated

values) document that you can open in Microsoft Excel.

To export data

Find the data that you want to export by deﬁning your search criteria.

For details, see Deﬁne search criteria on page 45.

Export data.

To export all the data displayed in the search results

◦ Click Export.

To export speciﬁc data

◦

Select a checkbox in the Select column next to the data row that you want to export.

◦

Click Export.

The Save HTML Document dialog box appears.

Navigate to the place in which you want to save the ﬁle.

If you change the name of the ﬁle, make sure to leave the .csv ﬁle extension in the File name box.

Leave the default settings in the Save as type and Language boxes.

Click Save.

Tip: The FactoryTalk Historian DataLink Excel Reporting Tool provides a Historian Add-In for

Microsoft Excel. If you export more than 65,535 rows of FactoryTalk Historian ME events to

FactoryTalk Historian DataLink using the Compressed Data (Start Time/End Time) conﬁguration

page, Excel generates an "r;Output exceeds dimension" message.

View current data

To view data that is currently being collected by FactoryTalk Historian ME, click the View Data tab, and then click

Current Data.

To view current data

Under Current Data, deﬁne your search criteria.

For details, see Deﬁne search criteria on page 45.

Click Search.

The data is displayed in the search results table.

View archive data

To view archive data in FactoryTalk Historian ME, click the View Data tab, and then click Archive Data.

The page displays a list of points and the latest value collected for each point.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 47

Chapter 4View data

To view archive data

Under Select Points For Archive Data, deﬁne your search criteria.

For details, see Deﬁne search criteria on page 45.

Click Search.

The data is displayed in the Points table.

Under Points, click a point for which you want to view data.

Tip: You can view archive data only for one point at a time.

In the Start Time and End Time boxes, type the start and end time for which you want to view the data.

For details, see Set start and end times on page 53.

Click View.

View trends

To view data in trends, click the View Data tab, and then click Trends.

The page allows you to select multiple points and draw a trend chart to view data. Each trend chart provides a visual

representation of the data collected over a speciﬁc time.

To view a trend

Under Select Points For Trend Chart, deﬁne your search criteria.

For details, see Deﬁne search criteria on page 45.

Click Search.

The data is displayed in the Points table.

Select checkboxes in the Select column next to the points that you want to present on the trend.

(Optional) In the Start Time and End Time boxes, type the start and end times for the selected points.

For details, see Set start and end times on page 53.

(Optional) Using the Auto Refresh list, deﬁne the frequency with which the data in the trend will be refreshed

(in seconds).

48 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 4View data

The default value is 1 second.

Click .

The button color changes to grey ( ). The trend is drawn. The data in the trend is being refreshed with

the frequency speciﬁed in the Auto Refresh list.

The trend chart displays trends for selected points using colored variants to distinguish between the

different points. You will not be able to select the point for viewing in the trend chart until data has been

collected for the new point.

The numbers on the horizontal axis at the bottom of the chart represent the point timestamps. The numbers

on the vertical axis on the left of the chart represent the point values.

The small window next to the trend displays the chart in the total time period set by the time parameters.

Display points on the trend

Use the Show Points option to display individual points on the trend.

To display points on the trend

1. Click .

The button color changes to grey ( ). The data on the trend is no longer refreshed.

Select the Show Points option next to the trend.

Individual points are displayed on the trend as small circles.

Click .

Tip: If you want to draw a trend chart that consists of high-speed points, avoid selecting the

Show Points option due to the large number of points that will be displayed.

Display the vertical bar on the trend

Use the Show Vertical Bar option to display a vertical bar across all points on the X-axis. At the bottom of the trend,

timestamps will be adjusted when you click inside the trend and drag the vertical bar across it.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 49

Chapter 4View data

To display the vertical bar on the trend

Click .

The button color changes to grey ( ). The data on the trend is no longer refreshed.

Select the Show Vertical Bar option next to the trend.

When you move the mouse pointer over the trend, a vertical bar moves along with the pointer.

Click .

Tip: When Daylight Savings Time (DST) occurs, the timestamps displayed will be automatically

updated to reﬂect the time change. If you adjust the start time to an earlier start time, the

timestamps reﬂected will coincide with DST even if the DST transfer did not occur until later.

Zoomthetrend

To zoom in on a speciﬁc time span for a set of data

Click .

The button color changes to grey ( ). The data on the trend is no longer refreshed.

Click and drag the mouse pointer to draw a grey box over the time span on which you want to zoom in.

Release the mouse pointer.

The point data from the time span that you marked with the box appears in the trend. The selected time span

is highlighted in the total time period window next to the trend.

50 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 4View data

Reset the trend

To reset the zoomed-in trend to the regular view, click Reset or .

Remove points from the trend

To remove a point from the trend

•

In the point list below the trend, clear the checkbox next to the point name that you want to remove.

Change views

You can modify how the data is displayed on the Current Data, Archive Data, and Trends pages by:

•

Filtering search results data.

See Filter search results data on page 52.

• Arranging columns.

See Arranging columns on page 52.

•

Refreshing views.

See Refreshing views on page 52.

• Setting start and end times.

See Set start and end times on page 53.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 51

Chapter 4View data

Filter search results data

To ﬁlter search results, select either the All Rows or the Selected Rows option. Your ﬁlter selection will apply to all

the pages on the View Data tab.

If you select the Selected Rows option, all the data that you have searched and selected with checkboxes on any of

the View Data tab pages will be listed in the search results table.

For example, if you have selected the MonitorTag point on the Current Data page, and then the int32tag999

point on the Trends page, both points will be listed in the search results table when you click the All Rows option on

any page on the View Data tab.

To reset the search boxes to their default settings and clear the row selection checkboxes, click Reset.

Arrange columns

Use the following options to arrange columns and their content.

To change the sorting order in a column

1. Move the mouse pointer over a column heading.

An arrow at the top of the column heading indicates its current sorting order:

The sorting order is ascending.

The sorting order is descending.

Click the column heading to change the sorting order.

Tip: To reduce the load on the FactoryTalk Historian ME processor, sorting occurs on the

client computer. If you are monitoring your processor through the task manager, you may see

increased processor usage due to the sorting.

To select columns to display

Move the mouse pointer over a column heading.

A down arrow appears next to the heading.

Click the arrow to list available table columns.

◦

To add a column to the table, select the checkbox next to the column that you want to add.

◦ To remove a column from the table, clear the checkbox next to the column that you want to remove.

Refresh views

You can refresh the content of the search results table either manually or automatically.

To refresh the search results table manually

• Click Search.

52 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 4View data

To refresh the search results table automatically

•

Below the table, in the Auto Refresh box, type a refresh interval in seconds.

When using the Auto Refresh option, note the following:

•

It is recommended that you turn off the option if you do not need it.

•

Display the minimum amount of data necessary to reduce memory consumption.

•

Choose the refresh rate prudently. The faster the auto-refresh frequency is, the more memory it consumes.

•

Turn the auto refresh option off before closing the web browser or opening another page to release the

memory that was being used.

Set start and end times

The start and end times are set with relation to the time on the client computer.

The default start time is two minutes before the current time on the client computer. The default end time is the

current time on the client computer.

You can use the following expressions to set time:

This expression: Means:

* The current time.

t Today at midnight (00:00:00).

y Yesterday at midnight (00:00:00).

t 15:00:00 Today at 3:00:00 pm.

y 15:00:00 Yesterday at 3:00:00 pm.

-60s The past 60 seconds.

+45m The future 45 minutes.

-5h The past 5 hours.

-3d The past 3 days.

sun The most recent Sunday at midnight (00:00:00).

25 8 08:00 on the 25th of the current month.

25 8:10 08:10 on the 25th of the current month.

06-dec-08 15:00:00 3:00:00 p.m. on December 6, 2008.

mon+14.5h 2:30:00 p.m. last Monday.

sat-1m 11:59:00 p.m. last Friday.

Bad quality data

FactoryTalk Historian ME tracks data quality during the data collection and the data transfer. It may happen that data

is of bad quality (for example, if the controller loses its connection to the FactoryTalk Historian ME, or if a running tag

is removed from the controller but not from FactoryTalk Historian ME).

Bad quality data is displayed in the point list with the Bad_Quality value.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 53

Chapter 5

Manage points

In this section you will learn about the following:

•

Recommendations related to managing points on page 54

• Add points using the Add Points Wizard page on page 54

• Add points using the Add Individual Points page on page 58

•

Manage individual points using the Edit Points page on page 59

•

Deﬁne point attributes on page 61

•

Conﬁgure scan types on page 66

• Conﬁgure Trigger Input and Output points on page 67

•

Manage shortcuts on page 72

•

Use scan classes on page 75

Recommendations related to managing points

When managing points, pay attention to the following recommendations:

•

Always stop the data collection before you intend to change the Historian conﬁguration or manage points

either in the Historian web client or the System Management Tools of FactoryTalk Historian SE.

• Make sure that you never delete the FTHMEScanRateDeﬁnition tag or other system-generated tags

with names such as bae9cf24-c8b3-46c0-ad5d-a64df2174ed9 and values such as No data. The

FTMEScanRateDeﬁnition tag is a system-generated tag that contains scan class deﬁnitions. If it is deleted,

all scan class deﬁnitions will be removed. Deleting other system-generated tags will cause the system log to

overﬂow with error messages.

•

Every time the point conﬁguration is changed you should expect data interruption.

Add points using the Add Points Wizard page

You can use the Add Points Wizard page to add multiple points to your Historian module.

The process consists of the following steps:

1. Discover tags on page 54.

Create points on page 56.

Review results on page 57.

Discover tags

This is step 1 of adding points using the Add Points Wizard

IMPORTANT: Stop the data collection before adding and creating points to ensure minimal impact on

the Logix controller memory.

To discover tags

Click Manage Points.

The Add Points Wizard page appears.

54 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 5Manage points

2. In the Rule File list, do either of the following:

◦

To discover speciﬁc tags, select a ﬁle with tag discovery rules. The default is ADDefault.xml.

To view the content of the ﬁle, click next to the list.

For details on deﬁning rules, see Deﬁne point discovery rules on page 132.

◦

To discover all tags from Logix controllers, select None.

Rule ﬁles are managed through the Rule Editor. For details, see Use the Rule Editor on page 131.

Since the search only applies to the cached information of the web client, it is limited to the ﬁrst 2000

tags from a single controller. If you want to browse for more tags, change the tag point discovery limit

in the point discovery rule ﬁle. For details, see Deﬁne point discovery rules on page 132.

In the Tag File list, select a tag attribute ﬁle. The default is FTHMETagDefault.xml.

The tag attribute ﬁle deﬁnes the attributes of the points to be created.

To view the content of the ﬁle, click next to the list.

Rule ﬁles are managed through the Rule Editor. For details, see Use the Rule Editor on page 131.

In the Scan Rate list, do either of the following:

◦

The scan rate deﬁnes how frequently the data is collected.

If you want to set a global scan rate, select a value in seconds.

Points with invalid scan rates will not be created.

The valid scan rates are the following:

For this scan type: Use this scan rate:

▪ Advised

▪ Polled

Equal to or greater than 0.5 seconds.

▪ High-speed Equal to or greater than 0.01 seconds, and equal to or

less than 0.5 seconds.

The maximum number of events per second is 2500. For the data collection rates slower than 500 ms,

use Polled and Advised tags.

◦

If you use multiple tag attribute ﬁles that deﬁne different scan rates, and you want to use these scan

rates rather than a global one, select default.

In the Start Search In list, select a checkbox next to each controller that you want to search.

The list contains all online controllers from the same chassis.

FactoryTalk Historian ME supports the data collection from a maximum of four controllers.

Click Show Tags in the right bottom corner of the page.

If the button is disabled, check whether:

◦ The selected rule ﬁle is valid.

◦ The selected tag ﬁle is valid.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 55

Chapter 5Manage points

◦ You have selected at least one connector to search.

Tip: For details on creating and editing rule and tag ﬁles, see Use the Rule Editor on page

131.

▪ For details on uploading the ﬁles, see Upload ﬁles to the module on page 105.

The discovered tags are listed on the Create Points wizard page.

The process of retrieving data from a controller is indicated with a message similar to

the following:

INFO: Retrieving data from JCWStandard2500_1_6

If the number of available points has exceeded the discovery tag limit deﬁned in the

rule ﬁle, the following message appears:

WARNING: You have reached the maximum number of points that

can be created.

The search results are displayed in the table below the search boxes.

By default, all the points displayed in the table are selected.

The number of selected points is provided in the Selected Points box below the table.

Create points

This is step 2 of adding points using the Add Points Wizard

Tip: You can create a maximum of 2500 data points per Historian module.

To create points

Among the discovered tags, search for those that you want to use to create points:

In the Name box, type the name of the tag.

The * symbol displays all the tags.

b. In the Controller list, select the controller from which you want to ﬁlter tags.

In the Type list, select the type of the tag.

The * symbol displays all the tag types.

Click Search.

The search results are reﬁned based on the search criteria that you have selected.

Select the tags that you want to use to create points.

◦

To select all the tags in the search results table, select the All/None checkbox below the table.

◦ To select no tags from the search results table, clear the All/None checkbox below the table.

(Optional). Change the scan rate of the selected tags:

In the list, select a new scan rate.

b. Click Change Scan Rate.

Tip: This setting will override the scan rate setting that you have deﬁned on the Discover

tags wizard page (See Discover tags on page 54).

Click Create, and conﬁrm your action in the message box that appears.

The result of the point creation process is displayed on the Review Result wizard page.

56 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 5Manage points

If you have selected more than 2500 tags, the Create button will not be available. To make it available again,

reduce the number of selected tags to less than 2501.

Tip: If you want to restart creating points with theAdd Points Wizard, click Restart Wizard, and

conﬁrm your action in the message box that appears. You will return to the Discover Tags wizard

page.

Review results

This is step 3 of adding points using the Add Points Wizard

The Review Result wizard page contains information on the points that have been processed.

The page contains the following information on points:

•

The number of points that were created is based on the tags that you have selected on the Create points

wizard page (See Create points on page 56).

•

The number of points that were not created because of either of the following reasons:

◦

A speciﬁc point already exists in the archive.

◦ An error occurred.

For details, see System log related issues on page 112.

•

The total number of points in the module, including the newly created ones.

The points that have not been created are listed in the Points Not Created table, along with an explanation for the

point creation failure.

Once you ﬁnalize the data point creation, restart the data collection by clicking Restart Data Collection. The process

may take several minutes.

Tip: If the FactoryTalk Historian ME Module receives an event with a timestamp 10 minutes or more into

the future, it will discard that event and log an error message in the system log as follows:

[ERROR] TagProcessingForPolledAndAdvised() dropped future event for

point<ID> with <timestamp> with timeDelta=<number of seconds into future>

For example:

6-Oct-09 15:54:29 Data Collection [ERROR] TagPr

ocessingForPolledAndAdvised() dropped future event for point 450 with

timestamp 13-Oct-09 00:37:03.89001 with timeDelta=549754

Note that if the data transfer service is in the auto transfer mode, it may continue running. If the auto transfer mode

is not enabled, you must manually select points to transfer, and then restart the data transfer service.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 57

Chapter 5Manage points

Add points using the Add Individual Points page

To add points using the Add Individual Points page

Click Manage Points, and then click Add Individual Points.

The Add Individual Points page appears.

In the Tag File list, select a tag attribute ﬁle. The default is FTHMETagDefault.xml.

The tag attribute ﬁle deﬁnes the attributes of the points to be created.

To view the content of the ﬁle, click next to the list.

Rule ﬁles are managed through the Rule Editor. For details, see Use the rule editor on page 131.

3. In the Scan Rate list, do either of the following:

◦

If you want to set a global scan rate, select a value in seconds.

The scan rate deﬁnes how frequently the data is collected.

Points with invalid scan rates will not be created.

For tags, the maximum number of events per second is 2500. For the data collection rates slower than

500 ms, use the Polled and Advised tags.

The valid scan rates are the following:

For this scan type: Use this scan rate:

▪ Advised

▪ Polled

Equal to or greater than 0.5 seconds.

▪ High-speed Equal to or greater than 0.01 seconds, and equal to or

less than 0.5 seconds.

◦

If you use multiple tag attribute ﬁles that deﬁne different scan rates and you want to use these scan

rates rather than a global one, select default.

Under Folders, expand the tree, and then select the controller from which you want to use tags.

The controller's tags are displayed under Contents.

To refresh the list of controllers, click Refresh.

(Optional) To further ﬁlter the tag search results, ﬁlter the tags using the Tag Filter box under Folders:

◦

In the Tag Filter box, type a tag name or a part of a tag name with *, and then press Enter.

The tags that are displayed under Contents are ﬁltered using the ﬁlter criteria that you have speciﬁed

in the Tag Filter box.

To display all the tags again with no ﬁlter applied, type * in the Tag Filter box, and then press Enter.

Under Contents, select the tags that you want to use to create points.

To select all the tags, select the All/None checkbox under Contents.

Click Add Tag(s) to List.

The tags that you have selected are listed in the Selected Tags table.

Click Create, and conﬁrm the action in the message box that appears.

The points are created.

58 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 5Manage points

The following information is displayed:

◦

The number of points that were created based on the tags that you have selected.

◦ The number of points that were not created because of either of the following reasons:

▪

A speciﬁc point already exists in the archive.

▪ An error occurred.

For details, see System log related issues on page 112.

◦

The total number of points in the module, including the newly created ones.

The points that have not been created are listed in the Points Not Created table, along with an explanation for the

point creation failure.

Once you ﬁnalize the data point creation, restart the data collection by clicking Restart Data Collection. The process

may take several minutes.

Manage individual points using the Edit Points page

You can perform the following actions on individual points using the Edit Points page:

•

Create points on page 59

• Edit points on page 60

• Rename points on page 60

•

Delete points on page 60

Create points

To create points

Click Manage Points, and then click Edit Points.

The Edit Points page appears.

At the bottom of the page, click New.

The Point Property page appears.

Fill in the point attributes.

For details, see Deﬁne point attributes on page 61.

5. Click Save.

If the data transfer service is set to the auto transfer mode, the new points will be created with the new tag names

automatically. Otherwise, you need to add the new points to the data transfer manually.

To add new points to the data transfer

Click Conﬁgure Historian, and then click Data Transfer Points.

The Data Transfer Points page appears.

Using the search boxes, ﬁnd the points that you want to add to the data transfer.

In the search results table, select the points that you want to add to the data transfer.

Click Save.

In the left pane of the window, click Data Transfer.

Restart the data transfer service.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 59

Chapter 5Manage points

Edit points

To edit points

Click Manage Points, and then click Edit Points.

The Edit Points page appears.

Using the search boxes, set your point search criteria, and then click Search.

In the search results table, click the point that you want to edit, and then click Edit.

The Point Property page appears.

Change the point attributes.

For details, see Deﬁne point attributes on page 61.

If you want to cancel your changes and bring back the original attributes of the point, click Reset.

Tip: Resetting will not work after you save the changes using the Save button.

Click Save.

Rename points

To rename points

Click Manage Points, and then click Edit Points.

The Edit Points page appears.

Using the search boxes, set your point search criteria, and then click Search.

In the search results table, click the point that you want to edit, and then click Rename.

The Point Property page appears.

Change the point name.

If you want to cancel your changes and bring back the original attributes of the point, click Reset.

Tip: Resetting will not work after you save the changes using the Save button.

Click Save.

Delete points

To delete points

Click Manage Points, and then click Edit Points.

The Edit Points page appears.

Using the search boxes, set your point search criteria, and then click Search.

In the search results table, click the point that you want to edit, and then click Delete.

The Point Property page appears.

Conﬁrm the message.

60 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 5Manage points

Deﬁne point attributes

Point attributes tell FactoryTalk Historian ME how and when the server should collect data from a particular data

source. They contain the following information:

• The location of the data source.

• The frequency with which the server should get new values from the data source.

•

The value that the server can ignore.

•

The data that is valid.

In the Historian web client, the point attributes are presented in the following groups:

•

General on page 61

•

Exception ﬁltering on page 64

•

Compression ﬁltering on page 64

•

Snapshot value on page 65

General

The General group contains the following point attributes:

Use this attribute: To:

Name Name the point, following these rules:

• The name must be unique.

•

The first character must be alphanumeric or the percent

sign (%).

•

The name must not contain:

◦ Control characters (such as line feeds or tabs).

◦

The following characters: * ' ? ; : { } [ ] | \ / ( ) ` "

Descriptor Type a basic description of the point. The description will be

displayed in client applications and user reports.

Extended Description Specify a relevant expression or a tag name. For details, see

Configure Trigger Input and Output points on page 67.

Use this attribute only with trigger input and output points.

Instrument Tag Provide a full path to the controller and the tag from which the

data is coming. If you replace the controller with a different

one that measures the same process value, it is usually best

to continue using the same point. Edit the point as required so

that it will collect the new data.

Use the following format of the path:

[<controllerprojectname>_1_<controllerslotnum

ber>][<controllertagname>]

When a source tag receives events from the controller, the tag

that you set in this attribute reads (or writes back) events from

the controller.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 61

Chapter 5Manage points

Use this attribute: To:

Notes:

• It is recommended that you do not change the tag name in

the attribute, since it may make the tag invalid, and make

it stop collecting data.

•

If the full path points to a controller in a remote chassis,

and the tag from which data is coming is a high-speed or

an output tag, the configuration will not be supported.

Source Tag Type the trigger tag name. If you type a tag name, the source

tag referenced must not be high-speed or have a scan rate of

faster than 1 second. Otherwise, the module will generate an

error and you will not be able to save the point.

Use this attribute only with the Trigger Input or Output tags.

Type Set the data type of the point values. When you change the

point type, the archive subsystem closes the current archive

record, and starts a new one with the new type information in

the header. For points collected automatically, use the point

type that most closely matches the point type in the source

system.

Choose from the following:

•

Int16

For points whose values are 16-bit integers.

•

Int32

For points whose values are 32-bit integers.

•

Float16

For points whose values are 16-bit floating point values.

•

Float32

For points whose values are 32-bit floating point values.

• Float64

For points whose values are 64-bit floating point values.

•

String

Used to store string data up to 1000 characters.

Note: Strings are not supported for high-speed data

collection.

•

Digital

For points whose values can only be one of several

discrete states, such as ON/OFF. You can define digital set

contents.

•

Timestamp

For points whose values are timestamps.

Digital Set Select the type of digital set for the point.

Choose from the following:

•

SYSTEM

• BatchAct

•

Phases

62 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 5Manage points

Use this attribute: To:

• Modes

• RABoolean

Use the System Management Tools of FactoryTalk

Historian SE to create additional digital sets. For

more information, refer to the PI Data Archive 2015 R2

Introduction to System Management Guide.pdf.

This attribute only appears if the point is of type digital.

Scan Type Determine the scan type for the point.

Choose from the following:

•

Polled

• Advised

•

Trigger Input

• Output

•

High-speed

Note: For details, see Configure scan types on page 66.

Scan On Identify active tags. The active tags are updated. If you want

a point to be the active point, set this attribute to On and the

point source to FHTME.

Typical Value Type a reasonable value for a point.

For a numeric tag, it must be greater than or equal to the value

of the Zero attribute, and lower than or equal to the sum of the

Zero and Span attribute values.

The typical value range is between 0 and 100.

The typical value range for the points of type Digital is between

0 and 1.

Point Source Identify the interface to which the point belongs.

When you configure an interface, you specify a point source for

the interface. All the points that belong to the interface must

use that point source code as the value for the Point Source

attribute.

The default point source is FTME. Other options include:

•

T, for the Totalizer utility subsystem in PI.

•

C, for the Performance Equation tags.

Scan Rate Set the time in seconds, which tells FactoryTalk Historian ME

how often to collect the data.

For the Trigger Input and Output scan types, it is recommended

that the scan rate is defined as two seconds or longer.

For details, see Use scan classes on page 75.

Span Value Set the difference between the top and the bottom of the range.

This attribute is required for all numeric data type points.

For Float16 point types, the Span value is used with the Zero

value for scaling values in the archive. The Span property

must be a positive value. If the value for a Float16 point type is

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 63

Chapter 5Manage points

Use this attribute: To:

greater than the top of the range, it is recorded in the archive

as Over Range.

For other point types, the Zero and Span values do not affect

the values recorded in the archive. The Span property is also

used when defining a FactoryTalk Historian ProcessBook trend

with a vertical scale of the database. This attribute is not used

for non-numeric points.

Zero Value Type the lowest value possible.

This attribute is required for all numeric data type points. It

does not have to be the same as the instrument zero, but that is

usually a logical choice.

The zero value range is between 0 and 100.

Exception ﬁltering

The exception reporting information determines when to send data to the snapshot subsystem.

The Exception Filtering group contains the following point attributes:

• Exception Min

This value speciﬁes the minimum time span between the exceptions.

The default value is 0 seconds.

•

Exception Max

This value speciﬁes the maximum time span between the exceptions.

The default value is 10 minutes.

•

Exception Deviation

This value speciﬁes how much a point value must change before a new value is reported.

The default value is 0.25 engineering units.

The following are value ranges that you can use to specify parameter values:

•

The range of Exception Min Day and Exception Max Day is between 0 and 100.

•

The range of Exception Min Hr and Exception Max Hr is between 0 and 15.

•

The range of Exception Min Min and Exception Max Min is between 0 and 59.

•

The range of Exception Min Sec and Exception Max Sec is between 0 and 59.

•

The Exception Deviation range is between 0 and 100.

Tip: For details on the exception ﬁltering conﬁguration, see Exception ﬁltering on page 83.

Compression ﬁltering

When a new snapshot arrives, the previous one is evaluated according to the compression information to check

whether it is a signiﬁcant event. If so, it is sent to the event queue. Otherwise, it is discarded. The result is that only

signiﬁcant data is written to the archive. This process is called compression.

The Compression ﬁltering group contains the following point attributes:

64 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 5Manage points

Use this attribute: To:

Compression On Activate the compression for the point.

The compression should be activated for all real-time points in

the system.

If the compression is deactivated, all values sent to the

snapshot subsystem are saved in the archive.

Compression Min Set a value indicating that events are archived when the

elapsed time since the previous event is greater than or equal

to the minimum time, and the event value has changed by more

than the deviation.

Compression Minimum sets a minimum limit on the time

between events in the archive. Typically, the minimal

compression should equal 0.

Compression Max Set a value indicating that events are archived when the

elapsed time is greater than the maximum time.

Compression Maximum sets a maximum limit on the time

between events in the archive. The recommended maximum

time specification is one work shift (such as, eight hours).

Duplicate values will be archived if the elapsed time exceeds

the Compression Max value. Under no circumstances does this

cause the FactoryTalk Historian ME server to generate events; it

only filters events that are externally generated.

Compression Deviation Set a value for the compression deviation.

If you set the value too low, too little compression is imposed on

the data and much space is wasted in the archive.

If you set the value too high, you may lose important data.

For most flows, pressures, and levels, use a deviation of 1% or

2% span. For temperatures, the deviation should usually be one

degree or two degrees.

The following are value ranges that you can use to specify parameter values:

•

The Compression Deviation range is between 0 and 100.

•

The range of Compression Min Day and Compression Max Day is between 0 and 100.

•

The range of Compression Min Hr and Compression Max Hr is between 0 and 23.

•

The range of Compression Min Min and Compression Max Min is between 0 and 59.

•

The range of Compression Min Sec and Compression Max Sec is between 0 and 59.

Snapshot value

The Snapshot value group contains the following point attributes:

Use this attribute: To:

Value View the current value of the tag, which is based on the tag

type.

Timestamp View the current time and date of the current tag value.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 65

Chapter 5Manage points

These attributes do not contain any data when you are creating a point.

Conﬁgure scan types

The points are collected based on the scan type and scan rate. You must ensure that the scan types and scan rates

are correctly conﬁgured for the data collection service.

When you add points using the Add Points Wizard page (see Add points using the Add Points Wizard page on page

54), make sure to set the correct scan type in the rule ﬁle.

When you create individual points manually (see Create points on page 56), make sure to set the correct scan type

in the point attributes.

The following scan types are available:

Scan type Description

Polled Polled tags are scanned and the data event (with a value and a

timestamp) is sent to the local FactoryTalk Historian ME server

at the specified scan time interval.

Usually, polled tags are intended for scan rates greater than 0.5

seconds.

Advised Advised tags are scanned for new values at timed intervals that

are defined by the scan class. However, a new event happens

(becomes available) only if the value has changed from the

previous event.

Usually, advised tags are intended for scan rates greater than

0.5 seconds. A point will not be put on scan if it is configured at

a rate faster than 0.5 seconds.

If you need data collection rates faster than 0.5 seconds, use

high-speed tags.

Trigger Input Triggered input tags are used to collect a data point after a

particular triggering event has occurred.

Use this scan type for trigger input tags.

For details, see Configuration example: Trigger Input points on

page 69.

Output Triggered output tags are used to output (write-back) a data

point to a controller after a particular triggering event has

occurred.

Output scan types are not supported for tags created from

shortcuts pointing to remote controllers.

For details, see Configuration example: Output points on page

71.

High-speed High-speed tags are scanned and the data event (with a value

and a timestamp) is logged at the specified scan time interval.

Usually, high-speed tags are intended for fast data collection

speeds with scan rates of 10 ms. A point will not be put on scan

if it is configured at a rate slower than 0.5 seconds.

66 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 5Manage points

Scan type Description

The module will not allow high-speed tags to be created with a

scan rate slower than 500 ms, or advised or polled tags to be

created with a scan rate faster than 500 ms.

Conﬁgure Trigger Input and Output points

Trigger Input points (tags) are points for which data ﬂows from a controller to the FactoryTalk Historian ME archive.

For Trigger Input points, you need to conﬁgure separate trigger points.

Output points (tags) are points for which data ﬂows from the FactoryTalk Historian ME archive to a controller. For

Output points, the timestamp of the trigger value must be greater than the timestamp of the previous value.

IMPORTANT: Since the output tag values reach the controller with variable latency, they cannot be

used for applications requiring real-time update. The output tags are meant for monitoring purposes

only.

The following diagram illustrates the data ﬂow of the trigger mechanism for Trigger Input and Output points:

When you conﬁgure the Trigger Input or Output points, pay attention to the following:

•

The scan rate is not applicable to the Trigger Input point.

• Set the Scan On attribute to On.

•

Put trigger names in single quotes.

Conﬁgure Trigger Input points

You can associate an Input point with a trigger point by deﬁning the Extended Description attribute of the Input

point using the following expression:

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 67

Chapter 5Manage points

Where:

This variable: Is:

<keyword> Either of the following:

• TRIG

•

EVENT

Note: The keywords must be written in uppercase.

<trigger_tag_name> The name of the trigger point.

<condition> Any of the following:

• Any

•

Anychange

• Nonzero

•

Decrement

• Increment

Note: The condition names are case-sensitive.

Any scan tag that is referenced in the Extended Description or Scan Tag point attributes must not be high-speed or

have a scan rate higher than 1 second. Otherwise, the module will generate an error and you will not be able to save

your point.

If you provide an expression in the Extended Description point attribute, the point for which you have deﬁned it is

considered by the system to be trigger-based rather than scan-based. As a result, an input is triggered when a new

value is sent to the snapshot of the trigger point.

The TRIG keyword in the expression does not require any condition. Its default condition is Any and you cannot

change it.

The EVENT keyword requires a trigger condition to function properly. If you use multiple trigger deﬁnitions, you can

separate them with a space, a comma, or a semicolon.

The following table lists the two keywords and their possible values.

Keyword Trigger condition

This condition triggers an

event on:

Example

TRIG Any - -

Any - -

Nonzero Any non-zero value. An event is triggered on a

value change from "Pt Created"

to 1 but it is not triggered on

a value change from 1 to "bad

Input".

EVENT

Anychange Any change as long as the

value of the current event is

different from the value of the

previous event.

An event is triggered on a

value change from 0 to "bad

Input" or from "bad Input" to 0.

68 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 5Manage points

Keyword Trigger condition

This condition triggers an

event on:

Example

Increment Any increase in the value. An event is triggered on a

value change from 0 to 1.

Decrement Any decrease in the value. An event is triggered on a

value change from 1 to 0.

Conﬁguration example: Trigger Input points

Trigger Input point

Trigger Input point with the TRIG keyword

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 69

Chapter 5Manage points

Trigger Input point with the EVENT keyword and the Increment condition

Conﬁgure Output points

IMPORTANT: Since the output tag values reach the controller with variable latency, they cannot be

used for applications requiring real-time update. The output tags are meant for monitoring purposes

only.

You can trigger Output points in the following ways:

•

By conﬁguring a separate trigger point.

The Output point must have the same point source as the interface, FTME. The trigger point can be

associated with any point source. The point type of the trigger point and the point type of the Output point

may differ.

You can associate an Output point with a trigger point by setting the Source Tag attribute of the Output point

to be the same as the tag name of the trigger point.

Any scan tag that is referenced in the Extended Description or Scan Tag attributes must not be high-speed

or have a scan rate higher than 1 second. Otherwise, the module will generate an error and you will not be

able to save your point.

An output is triggered when a new value is sent to the snapshot of the trigger point. The new value does

not need to be different than the previous one that was sent to the snapshot to trigger an output, but the

timestamp of the new value needs to be more recent than the previous value.

•

By writing a new value to the snapshot of the output point itself.

The new value does not need to be different from the previous one to trigger an output, but the timestamp of

the new value must be more recent than the previous value.

70 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 5Manage points

Conﬁguration example: Output points

Output point

Triggered Output point with the TRIG keyword

Triggered Output point with the EVENT keyword and the Anychange condition

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 71

Chapter 5Manage points

Manage shortcuts

Shortcuts are user-deﬁned names for connections with controllers located in a local or remote chassis. A shortcut

additionally contains the CIP path to a controller in a chassis.

You can use shortcuts to:

•

Assign meaningful names to controller connections.

•

Search for data points in the Add Points Wizard and on the Add Individual Points page.

In FactoryTalk Historian ME, you can perform the following actions on shortcuts:

•

Create shortcuts to the local chassis on page 72

•

Create shortcuts to a remote controller on page 73

•

Edit shortcuts on page 74

•

Delete shortcuts on page 75

Tip: All actions performed on shortcuts are logged. You can view the logged information under

Advanced > System Log.

Create shortcuts to the local chassis

When creating local shortcuts, consider the following points:

•

You can create up to ﬁve shortcuts to the local chassis.

• The shortcut paths must be unique. This means that each shortcut must point to a different controller or

have a different CIP path.

•

If you create a shortcut to a controller that is used for time synchronization, the time will no longer be

synchronized with this controller after you save your changes.

This is because adding a shortcut to a controller changes the name structure of the tags from the controller,

which means previously deﬁned tags will be disabled. For details, see Tag naming conventions on page 75.

•

If you create a shortcut to a controller that is used for collecting data, the data will no longer be collected

from this controller after you save your changes.

This is because adding a shortcut to a controller changes the name structure of the tags from the controller,

which means previously deﬁned tags will be disabled. For details, see Tag naming conventions on page 75.

•

Creating shortcuts to local controllers is optional.

To create a shortcut to the local chassis

Click Manage Points, and then click Manage Shortcuts.

Click Add.

Select the controller to which you want to create a shortcut.

Alternatively, select the Add the shortcut using a CIP path instead option, and type the CIP path to the

controller.

Type the name of the shortcut.

72 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 5Manage points

When typing the name, consider the following points:

◦

The name can contain only the characters a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and an underscore.

Tip: To learn about the convention of naming tags added to the Historian module using the

shortcuts, see Tag naming conventions on page 75.

◦

The maximum length of the name is 40 characters.

Tip: To minimize the complexity of tag names, we recommend that you keep the shortcut

names short.

◦

The name must start with a letter or an underscore.

◦

The name cannot contain two underscores side by side, or an underscore with a number at the end of

the name (for example, shortcut_12).

◦

The shortcut name must be unique.

Click Save.

The shortcut is added to the shortcut table.

Tip: If any error occurs when creating the shortcut, it is indicated with a message displayed at

the top of the page.

Create shortcuts to a remote controller

When creating shortcuts to remote controllers, consider the following points:

•

The remote controller should be located in a local area network (LAN) rather than a wide area network (WAN)

or a low-speed network.

• You can create up to ﬁve shortcuts to remote controllers.

•

The shortcut paths must be unique. This means that each shortcut must point to a different controller or

have a different CIP path.

To create a shortcut to a remote controller

Click Manage Points, and then click Manage Shortcuts.

Click Add.

Under Add New Shortcut, click Remote controller.

Select a local communication module.

Type the IP address of a remote communication module, and then click Load Controllers.

Controllers will not be loaded if:

◦ The IP address is incorrect.

◦ There are no supported controllers detected in the remote chassis.

Tip: For a list of supported controllers, refer to the FactoryTalk Historian ME Release Notes.

Select the remote controller to which you want to create the shortcut.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 73

Chapter 5Manage points

Alternatively, select the Add the shortcut using a CIP path instead option, and type the CIP path to the

controller.

7. Type the name of the shortcut.

When typing the name, consider the following points:

◦ The name can contain only the characters a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and an underscore.

Tip: To learn about the convention of naming tags added to the Historian module using the

shortcuts, see Tag naming conventions on page 75.

◦

The maximum length of the name is 40 characters.

Tip: To minimize the complexity of tag names, we recommend that you keep the shortcut

names short.

◦

The name must start with a letter or an underscore.

◦

The name cannot contain two underscores side by side, or an underscore with a number at the end of

the name (for example, shortcut_12).

◦

The shortcut name must be unique.

Click Save.

The shortcut is added to the shortcut table.

Tip: If any error occurs when creating the shortcut, it is indicated with a message displayed at

the top of the page.

Edit shortcuts

To edit a shortcut

Click Manage Points, and then click Manage Shortcuts.

2. In the table, click the shortcut that you want to edit, and then click Edit.

Under Edit Shortcut, make your changes to the shortcut.

Tip:

◦

You can make all the changes to the shortcut except for changing its name.

◦ If any change to the shortcut might result in a change in the functionality of time

synchronization or data collection, you will be prompted for conﬁrmation.

Click Save.

When editing shortcuts, consider the following points:

•

If you select a new controller from the list and that controller is already used for time synchronization, the

time will no longer be synchronized with this controller after you save your changes to the shortcut.

This is because adding a shortcut to a controller changes the name structure of the tags from the controller,

which means previously deﬁned tags will be disabled. For details, see Tag naming conventions on page 75.

74 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 5Manage points

• If you select a new controller from the list and that controller is used for collecting data, the data will no

longer be collected from this controller after you save your changes to the shortcut.

This is because adding a shortcut to a controller changes the name structure of the tags from the controller,

which means previously deﬁned tags will be disabled. For details, see Tag naming conventions on page 75.

•

If you change the type of a local shortcut used for time synchronization to remote, the time will no longer be

synchronized after you save your changes.

•

If you edit a shortcut used for time synchronization and change the controller to a different one, the time

synchronization may be broken. To correct the time synchronization, you may have to restart the module.

Delete shortcuts

To delete a shortcut

Click Manage Points, and then click Manage Shortcuts.

2. In the table, click the shortcut that you want to delete, and then click Delete.

If you want to delete the shortcut, click OK.

Otherwise, click Cancel.

Tip: If deleting the shortcut might result in a change in the functionality of time synchronization

or data collection, you will be prompted for conﬁrmation.

When deleting shortcuts, consider the following points:

•

If you delete a shortcut used for time synchronization, the time will no longer be synchronized after you save

your changes.

•

If you delete a shortcut used for collecting data, the data will no longer be collected from this shortcut after

you save your changes. However, the data will be collected from the controller used in this shortcut if data

points were deﬁned for the controller before the shortcut was created.

Tag naming conventions

Tag names are created following certain conventions that depend on whether a tag has been added to the Historian

module from a controller for which there exists or does not exist a controller shortcut:

• The names of the tags from controllers for which no shortcuts exist on the Historian module have the

following structure:

Example: Standard2500_1_2.booltag1

•

The names of the tags from controllers for which shortcuts exist on the Historian module have the following

structure:

Example: ShortcutToStandard2500.booltag1

Use scan classes

FactoryTalk Historian ME uses scan classes to schedule the data collection. A scan class provides a time in seconds,

which tells FactoryTalk Historian ME how often to collect the data.

You must have administrator privileges to create, edit, or delete scan classes.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 75

Chapter 5Manage points

Create scan classes

Tip: You must have administrator privileges to create scan classes.

To create a scan class

1. Click Manage Points, and then click Edit Scan Class(es).

At the bottom of the page, click New.

The new consecutive name of the scan class appears in the Scan Point box.

At the top of the page, in the Time text box, type a time value in seconds.

Click Save.

Click OK to close the dialog box, and then click Restart.

Edit scan classes

Tip: You must have administrator privileges to edit scan classes.

To edit a scan class

1. Click Manage Points, and then click Edit Scan Class(es).

In the table, select the scan class that you want to edit.

At the bottom of the page, click Edit.

At the top of the page, in the Time text box, change the scan rate value.

Click Save.

Click OK to close the dialog box, and then click Restart.

Delete scan classes

Tip: You must have administrator privileges to delete scan classes.

To delete a scan class

1. Click Manage Points, and then click Edit Scan Class(es).

In the table, select the scan class that you want to edit.

At the bottom of the page, click Delete.

Click OK to close the dialog box, and then click Restart.

76 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 6

Collect and store data

In this section you will learn about the following:

Collect data on page 77

View the data storage information on page 78

Filter data on page 81

Collect data

The FactoryTalk Historian ME server collects data from the Logix controller through the chassis backplane. The data

collection service then optionally performs a series of deadband tests on the data (exception and compression tests)

and stores the data in the FactoryTalk Historian ME archive.

When started, the data collection service performs the following actions:

•

Identiﬁes all points listed as active, based on the value of the Scan property in the points deﬁnition.

•

Identiﬁes (or registers) all controllers in the same Logix chassis by logical names, device IDs, and location

(slot numbers).

FactoryTalk Historian ME supports up to ten controllers. There is a maximum of ﬁve controllers in the local

chassis and a maximum of ﬁve controllers in the remote chassis.

•

Begins collecting data for all points based on the speciﬁed scan rate associated with each point.

Access the data collection information

To access the information on the data collection

•

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab.

The Data Collection page appears.

The page provides the following information:

This item: Displays:

Status The status of the data collection:

• Stopped

The data is not being collected or archived.

• Running

The data is being collected and archived.

Collection Rate The number of events per second that the data collection

receives for configured ports.

Archive Rate The number of events per second that pass exception and

compression tests and are committed to the archive.

Archive Capacity The number of days, hours, and minutes until all available

archive files are full.

This number is an estimate. When all archive files are full, data

interruption may occur.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 77

Chapter 6Collect and store data

This item: Displays:

Note: For details on long-term storage on a FactoryTalk

Historian SE or PI server, see Transfer data to FactoryTalk

Historian SE or PI servers on page 88.

Total Archive Files The total number of archive files residing in the archive. The

size of each archive file is 10 MB.

Approximately 130 archive files are preallocated as data

containers.

Total Archive Files Used The number of archive files currently being used to store data

in the archive subsystem.

Total Archive Files Free The number of archive files in the archive subsystem that

neither store data nor contain data to be overwritten once it is

transferred by the data transfer service.

If the data transfer service is configured and it is transferring

events to the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server, the module

frees the archive disk space once the events are successfully

transferred. It results in increasing the number of total archive

files free and reducing the number of total archive files used.

Start and stop the data collection

Tip: You must have administrator privileges to start and stop the data collection.

To start the data collection

1. Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab.

The Data Collection page appears.

Click Start.

To stop the data collection

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab.

The Data Collection page appears.

Click Stop.

Make sure that that data collection is fully stopped before you start it again.

Tip: You can also start and stop the data collection using:

◦

Controller programming languages (the Ladder logic).

◦ FactoryTalk Historian ME Logix Designer Module Proﬁle.

For details, see Conﬁgure the module properties on page 140.

View the data storage information

Tip: You must have administrator privileges to modify the data storage information.

78 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 6Collect and store data

The data storage service in FactoryTalk Historian ME monitors the NAND ﬂash-based storage used in the module.

To view the data storage information

1. Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Data Storage.

The Data Storage page appears.

Review the following for additional information.

Use this section: To:

Archive Statistics View the information on the current usage of the disk space

allocated to the archive.

Archive Information View the following information on the archive:

• Total Archive Files

The number of archive files.

• Transferred Archives

The number of archive files transferred to a Historian SE

or PI server.

•

Available Archives

The number of archive files that do not have any data

stored in them. These files are available before they are

overwritten.

• Archive File Size

The size of a single archive file. It is fixed and it equals 10

MB.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME module has 130 preallocated

archive files.

Event Queue View the number of temporary files in a transient state. The

module processes the files as soon as it archives events in the

files. Usually, the event queue count should be less than 3.

Note: When the count gets bigger, it may cause the archive disk

to reach its threshold. In such case, the data collection will be

automatically stopped, and data interruption will occur.

You may set a warning level for the archive disk usage in the

Archive Disk Threshold Configuration box to help prevent this

situation.

Log Threshold Configuration Set a threshold for the log files disk usage. The default setting

is 95%.

When the log storage reaches its threshold, FactoryTalk

Historian ME deletes older log files and logs the following

message on the System Log page:

<Log file name and path> has been removed

because the /mnt/log partition is full.

Archive Disk Threshold Configuration Set a threshold for the archive disk usage. The default setting is

95%.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 79

Chapter 6Collect and store data

Use this section: To:

When the archive disk reaches its threshold, FactoryTalk

Historian ME performs the following actions:

•

Stops the data collection and logs the following message

on the System Log page:

Stopping Data Collection because one or

more partitions are full.

Stopping the data collection allows the module to process

events from transient event files to archive storage and

make more storage space available.

•

Deletes a message log file located under

/mnt/appdata/dat, and logs the following message on

the System Log page:

<File name and path> has been removed

because the /mnt/appdata partition is

full.

Active Usage Threshold Configuration Set a warning and critical thresholds for the data disk usage,

with the following default settings:

•

50% for the warning.

• 75% for the critical level.

For the critical level setting, choose either of the following

options:

•

Select the Stop Data Collection checkbox, if you want

the data collection to be automatically stopped when the

critical level is reached.

With this setting, you may lose data, because it is no

longer being collected.

•

Clear the Stop Data Collection checkbox, if you do not

want the data collection to be automatically stopped when

the critical level is reached.

With this setting, you may risk data interruption, because

the data collection service will start overwriting the oldest

data, once all archive files are filled.

This is the default setting.

FactoryTalk Historian ME storage capacity

The FactoryTalk Historian ME module has 2 GB of total storage. It has an effective archive storage capacity of 1.5 GB.

There are the archive ﬁle size limits:

• File size: 10 MB

•

Number of ﬁles: 130

•

Disk space for archives: 1.3 GB

The onboard data storage for FactoryTalk Historian ME is limited. When you use a data collection rate of 2500 events

per second (that is, the maximum collection rate available) without compression or exception ﬁltering, the onboard

80 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 6Collect and store data

storage capacity is approximately 14 hours. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you include the FactoryTalk

Historian SE or PI server for data aggregation when long-term storage is required. By applying compression and

exception ﬁltering, you can signiﬁcantly increase the archive space from approximately two to ten times, depending

on variables (for example, how much the data varies between scans). To estimate the archive performance with

and without compression and exception ﬁltering, you can use a typical factor of ﬁve. For more information on

compression and exception ﬁltering, see Filter data on page 81.

Use the following table to estimate the performance impact. Note that the data storage information in this table is an

estimate. The actual compressed data storage ranges will vary depending on the volatility of the data collected.

Sample Application Estimate

2500 events per second without Compression or Exception

Filtering

14 hours

2500 events per second with Compression and Exception

Filtering

3 days

500 events per second with Compression and Exception

Filtering

2 weeks

100 events per second with Compression and Exception

Filtering

3 months

2500 events per minute without Compression or Exception

Filtering

1 month

2500 events per minute with Compression and Exception

Filtering

6 months

500 events per minute with Compression and Exception

Filtering

2.5 years

100 events per minute with Compression and Exception Filtering 10+ years

To calculate the total events per second, the tags divided by the scan rate have to be summed up per scan class for

the module:

For example, if the data collection conﬁguration is based on two scan classes (one with 200 tags at a 250 ms scan

rate, and one with 600 tags at a 2 s scan rate), the total events per second are 1100.

200/250ms + 600/2sec <-> 200/.25sec + 600/2sec <-> 800 + 300 events/sec = 1100

events/sec

Filter data

FactoryTalk Historian ME provides two functionalities that let you decide which data collected by controllers you want

to display in the module and then archive:

• Exception ﬁltering

The exception tests determine which events are sent to the Historian ME module from the data source.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 81

Chapter 6Collect and store data

Exception ﬁltering contributes to relieving your network trac by sending only the important data to the

module.

See Exception ﬁltering on page 83.

• Compression ﬁltering

The compression tests determine which of the events sent to the Historian ME module are archived on the

Historian server.

Compression ﬁltering helps you ﬁnd a balance between the archive size and the data complexity.

See Compression ﬁltering on page 85.

Through exception and compression ﬁltering, the number of data points stored in order to represent actual data

trends is signiﬁcantly reduced.

The two processes are illustrated in the following diagram:

The process starts with collecting all data from the data source for all the points that you have deﬁned in your

Historian ME, based on their scan class deﬁnitions.

On the Interface node, the collected data undergoes the exception tests. The tests result in sending signiﬁcant data

to the Historian server and discarding all other data.

82 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 6Collect and store data

On the Historian server, the signiﬁcant data undergoes compression tests. The tests result in archiving the

signiﬁcant data that match the compression speciﬁcations and discarding all other data.

The following point types are excluded from both the exception and compression tests:

•

Digital

•

String

Exception ﬁltering

Exception ﬁltering uses a deadband algorithm to determinewhether to collect data and store it in the FactoryTalk

Historian ME archive. For each point, you can set the exception reporting speciﬁcations that create the deadband.

The data collection service throws out values that fall inside the deadband and does not pass it to the archive.

In the previous ﬁgure, values A, D, and C are reported to the FactoryTalk Historian ME server. The value A is the

last reported value, and values B and C fall within the exception deadband. However, the value D falls outside the

deadband, so the data collection service reports the value D as well as the previous value (in this case, the value C).

The data collection service uses the following point attributes to choose the values that will be reported to the

Historian ME server:

•

Exception Deviation (ExcDev)

It determines in engineering units how much a point value needs to change before the data collection service

sends it to the Historian ME server.

The exception deviation should be less than the compression deviation by at least a factor of 2.

For example, a 12-bit A/D converter can never be more precise than 1 part in 4096.

This attribute is used with the ExcDevPercent value.

You can set either the ExcDev or the ExcDevPercent attribute. If you change one, the other is automatically

adjusted. If you change both at once, the value of the ExcDevPercent attribute takes precedence.

•

Exception Max (ExcMax)

It sets a limit on how long the data collection service can go without reporting a value to the Historian ME

server.

Once the value of the attribute is exceeded, the data collection service sends the next new value to the

Historian ME server, regardless of whether the value is different from the last reported value.

The time between exception reports might be greater than the exception maximum time if no new values are

received by the data collection service for a point.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 83

Chapter 6Collect and store data

• Exception Min (ExcMin)

It sets a limit in seconds on how frequently the data collection service reports values.

For example, if you want the data collection service to wait full ten minutes before reporting a new value to

the Historian ME server, set the ExcMin attribute to ten minutes.

A new data value that is received before the end of the ExcMin interval is discarded.

The exception algorithm relies on the following parameters:

This parameter: Defines:

Exception Maximum The maximum time span between exceptions, expressed in

seconds. This value is configured for each point in the ExcMax

attribute.

Exception Minimum The minimum time span between exceptions, expressed in

seconds.

This value is configured for each point in the ExcMin attribute.

ExcDev

(Exception Deviation)

The deadband that causes an exception when it is exceeded.

This value is configured for each point in either the ExcDev or

ExcDevPercent attribute.

OldEvent The value/status/timestamp of the last event sent to the

snapshot subsystem. This is the last event that passed the

exception report.

PrevEvent The value/status/timestamp of the last event used for the

comparison of the event value to determine whether the new

value should be sent to the snapshot subsystem.

NewEvent The value/status/timestamp of the event that is to be tested for

the exception.

In the exception reporting the new event (NewEvent) is sent to the snapshot subsystem, provided that:

•

The time between the timestamps of the new and old event is greater than or equal to the ExcMax value.

•

For digital points, the new value differs from the old value. The ExcMin value is disregarded.

•

For numeric points, the status changes from good to bad, or bad to good.

•

For numeric points, the following conditions are met:

◦

The time between the old event and the new event is greater than or equal to the ExcMin value.

◦ The absolute value of the difference between the new value and the old value is greater than the

ExcDev value.

The new event sent to the snapshot subsystem replaced the old event.

The previous event (PrevEvent) is sent to the snapshot subsystem, provided that:

•

The PrevEvent value does not equal the original OldEvent value.

The only time the previous event is not sent to the snapshot subsystem is when two consecutive exception reports

send there the new event. The PrevEvent value is used to indicate what really happened to the value. Without it, a

step change would look like a ramp change. Basically, if a measurement holds steady for hours, then makes a step

change, just sending the new value to the snapshot subsystem, results in interpolating between the old value and the

new value. By also sending the PrevEvent value, the step change is stored.

84 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 6Collect and store data

Compression ﬁltering

The compression ﬁltering, called the swinging door compression, is used by the snapshot subsystem to determine

which events should be archived. The idea behind the compression ﬁltering is to store enough data to reproduce the

original signal.

The compression method used by FactoryTalk Historian ME allows it to keep more data online than conventional

scanned systems. The data is also much more detailed than in an archiving system based on averages or periodic

samples.

The following ﬁgure shows events that fall on the same straight line. In this case, in order to recreate any point along

the line, it is enough to archive just two values - the ﬁrst and the last one (A and B). The other point values can be

interpolated from the values that have been stored.

In practice, the subsequent changes in the point values form curves rather than straight lines, so the compression

speciﬁcations for each point must be properly conﬁgured to achieve a balance between the storage eciency and

accuracy.

FactoryTalk Historian ME uses a compression algorithm to determine which events should be archived in order to

provide an accurate data history. The compression attributes allow you to control the granularity of the compression

algorithm.

During the compression process, when a new snapshot arrives, the previous one is evaluated according to the

compression speciﬁcations to verify whether it is a signiﬁcant event. If it is, the event is sent to the event queue.

Otherwise, it is discarded.

An event is sent to the event queue disregarding the compression process, provided that:

•

The Compression On attribute of the point is set to Off.

•

The timestamp is older than the timestamp of the current snapshot. An event with such as timestamp is

considered out of order.

•

The status of the point has changed.

The swinging door compression discards values that fall on a line connecting the values that are recorded in the

archive. When a new value is received by the snapshot subsystem, the previous value is recorded only if any of the

values since the last recorded value do not fall within the compression deviation blanket. The deviation blanket

is a parallelogram extending between the last recorded value and the new value with the width equal to twice the

compression deviation speciﬁcation.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 85

Chapter 6Collect and store data

Each point has three attributes that comprise the compression speciﬁcations:

•

Compression Deviation (CompDev)

The CompDev attribute is the half-width of the deviation blanket. It is provided in engineering units.

The CompDevPercent attribute is similar to the CompDev attribute, but it speciﬁes the compression deviation

in percent of the span.

•

Compression Minimum time (CompMin)

•

Compression Maximum time (CompMax)

The compression speciﬁcations work similarly to the exception speciﬁcations. Just like the exception reporting,

the compression is a ﬁlter. While the exception speciﬁcations determine which events are sent to FactoryTalk

Historian ME, the compression speciﬁcations determine which of the events sent to FactoryTalk Historian ME should

go archived.

The Compression Min and Compression Max attributes are limits that refer to the time between events in the

archive. A new event is always recorded if the time since the last recorded event is greater than or equal to the

compression maximum time.

You can adjust the compression parameters to maintain signiﬁcant data and keep a reasonable archive space at the

same time. The compression maximum time is set to one value for all points in the system. It should be large enough

that a point that does not change at all uses very little archive space. The compression maximum time of one work

shift (for example, 8 hours) is often a good choice.

Use the Compression Min attribute with points that produce frequent value changes to ensure that they do not

occupy too much archive space. Set the attribute value to 0 for any point coming from the data collection that does

the exception reporting. For a data acquisition system with slow scan time, this attribute is not important. There are

few cases where you want to use non-zero compression minimum time.

For the Compression Deviation attribute, a reasonable starting point is one or two percent of span for transmitters

and 0.5 degrees to 1.0 degree for thermocouples. Look at trend displays to ﬁnd points for which the reproduction of

the data is not acceptable. The goal is to ﬁlter out instrument and process noise and still record signiﬁcant process

changes. The effect of changing the compression deviation is not predictable.

86 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 6Collect and store data

For digital points, any change is a signiﬁcant change. That is why only the values of the compression maximum and

minimum attributes are taken into account, while the compression deviation value is disregarded.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 87

Chapter 7

Transfer data to FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI servers

Use the data transfer to transfer the data collected by your FactoryTalk Historian ME to a FactoryTalk Historian SE or

PI server. You can transfer data to a single FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server. Server collectives are not supported.

Once you have started the data transfer and selected the data points to be transferred to your FactoryTalk Historian

SE or PI server, you can check the transferred points in the System Management Tools.

To visualize the data transfer, you can create a trend in Microsoft Excel using the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink Add-

in. For details, see Create trends visualizing the data transfer on page 150.

Data transfer prerequisites

You can use the data transfer functionality to copy the FactoryTalk Historian ME data to a single FactoryTalk Historian

SE or PI server.

Tip: To transfer FactoryTalk Historian ME data to a FactoryTalk Historian Server Collective, use the FTH

H2H Interface. To transfer FactoryTalk Historian ME data to an OSI PI Collective, use a PItoPI Interface

from OSI Soft.

Before transferring data, you must ensure that:

•

You have administrator privileges and other necessary security settings conﬁgured to enable the data

transfer service in FactoryTalk Historian ME.

For details, see Manage security on page 117.

•

Your system has time synchronization set up and conﬁgured for FactoryTalk Historian ME, controllers, the

FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server, and clients.

For details, see Manage time on page 98.

•

The licenses for FTMS point sources are installed and conﬁgured on FactoryTalk Historian SE, and there are

enough licensed points available for the data transfer.

For details, see the FactoryTalk Activation Manager and the FactoryTalk Historian SE user documentation.

For details on enabling the data transfer to FactoryTalk Historian SE 2.1 or 2.2, see (Optional) Install

FactoryTalk Historian SE patch.

•

Trust connections between FactoryTalk Historian ME and the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server are set up

and conﬁgured properly before you begin transferring data.

For details, see Create trusts for the data transfer on page 124.

•

The archive ﬁle time frames on FactoryTalk Historian ME and the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server are

synchronized.

When setting up the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server for the data transfer, you must ensure that

the archive ﬁle time frame covers the archive time frame of FactoryTalk Historian ME. For example, if

FactoryTalk Historian ME has been collecting data from 07/01/2014 to 07/05/2014, the FactoryTalk Historian

SE or PI server archive time period must also cover the same time range. Otherwise, event data will be

discarded during the data transfer from FactoryTalk Historian ME to the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server.

88 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 7Transfer data to FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI servers

Conﬁgure the data transfer

To conﬁgure the data transfer

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Data Transfer.

The Data Transfer section of the page displays the following information:

Item Description

Host Server The host name or IP address of the FactoryTalk Historian

SE or PI server.

Current Time The FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server time. It is

read-only.

Time Offset The time difference in seconds between the FactoryTalk

Historian SE or PI server and the FactoryTalk Historian ME

times.

FactoryTalk Historian SE Licensed Points (FactoryTalk Historian SE) The number of points that have

been assigned to the FTMS point source on FactoryTalk

Historian SE. It is based on the currently active license for

FactoryTalk Historian SE and is an indication of the number

of FactoryTalk Historian ME points that can be transferred

to FactoryTalk Historian SE.

"FTMS" Points Available The total number of points assigned by the license minus

the number of points that are already being transferred to

the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server.

Under Data Transfer, in the Host Server text box, type the host name or IP address of the FactoryTalk

Historian SE or PI server.

Tip: FactoryTalk Historian SE server collectives are not supported.

Click Test Connection.

A successful connection to the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server is indicated with a green check mark

next to the Test Connection button, and a message displayed at the top of the page.

Under Data Transfer Parameters, in the Maximum Events Per Transfer text box, type the value for the

maximum number of events that can be transferred to the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server per transfer

session.

The range is 5000 to 150000. The default setting is 50000. The best number of events to transfer per session

varies based on your network bandwidth and the volume of data being collected.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 89

Chapter 7Transfer data to FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI servers

Tip: If you change the Maximum Events Per Transfer value, click Save, and then stop and

restart the data transfer.

5. Select the Enable Auto Transfer checkbox.

With this option selected, any point conﬁgured for the data collection will be automatically transferred to the

FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server.

If you clear the Enable Auto Transfer checkbox, the points that were previously transferred will continue to

be transferred, but you will have to add new points to the data transfer, and then restart the data transfer

service.

If you attempt to transfer points and the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server is not licensed to receive the

points, a message will be sent to the system log:

The new points number is greater than what is allowed by the SE license. Please change to NonAutoTransfer mode.

The conﬁguration then switches to the non-auto transfer mode, and you must manually transfer the points

by selecting them one by one.

Tip: The status of the auto-transfer mode is also displayed on the Data Transfer Points page.

For details, see View the data transfer information on page 92.

Now you are ready to start the data transfer.

For details, see Start the data transfer on page 90.

Start the data transfer

To start the data transfer

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Data Transfer.

2. Conﬁgure the data transfer on page 89.

Under Data Transfer Parameters, click Start.

The status changes from Stopped to Running.

If the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server becomes unavailable, the data will continue to be stored on the

module. When the server becomes available again, it will automatically reconnect, and the data transfer will

continue.

Stop the data transfer

To stop the data transfer

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Data Transfer.

2. Under Data Transfer Parameters, click Stop.

The status changes from Running to Stopped.

View data transfer statistics

The data transfer service records performance statistics that determine the connection reliability. You can use the

statistics to reﬁne the data transfer conﬁguration.

90 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 7Transfer data to FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI servers

The Data Transfer Statistics section of the page displays the following information:

Item Description

Transfer Rate The number of retrieved events divided by the number of

minutes spent on retrieving events sent to the FactoryTalk

Historian SE or PI server.

Successful Attempt Rate The number of attempts to transfer data to the FactoryTalk

Historian SE or PI server per hour.

Add points to the data transfer

To add points to the data transfer

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Data Transfer Points.

2. Under Data Transfer Points, type the search criteria, and then click Search.

The search results are displayed in the table.

The table lists all points that ﬁt the search criteria, with the following information:

Item Description

Selected A checkbox that indicates whether a data point has been

added to the data transfer.

Name The name of the data point in FactoryTalk Historian ME.

Type The type of the data point.

Source The source of the data point.

Created in SE/PI Server ◦ Y - indicates a data point that has already been

transferred to the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI

server.

◦ N - indicates a data point that has not been

transferred to the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI

server yet.

Select the checkbox next to each data point that you want to add to the data transfer.

If you want to add all the data points listed, select the All/None checkbox at the bottom of the table.

Click Save.

Click OK.

The outcome of the operation is indicated with a message displayed at the top of the page:

INFO: Save operation successful.

Remove points from data transfer

To remove points from the data transfer

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Data Transfer Points.

2. Under Data Transfer Points, type the search criteria, and then click Search.

The search results are displayed in the table.

Clear the checkbox next to each data point that you want to remove from the data transfer.

If you want to remove all the data points listed, clear the All/None checkbox at the bottom of the table.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 91

Chapter 7Transfer data to FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI servers

4. Click Save.

Click OK.

The outcome of the operation is indicated with a message displayed at the top of the page:

INFO: Save operation successful.

Tip: This way you only remove the data points from the data transfer service. If you want to

remove the data points from the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server (for example, in order to

free some licenses), you must delete the points on the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server.

View the data transfer information

To view the data transfer information

•

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Data Transfer Points.

The Data Transfer Points page provides the following information related to the data transfer service on both the

FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server and the Historian module:

Information on the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server

FactoryTalk Historian SE server item PI server item Description

Current Time The time on the FactoryTalk Historian SE

or PI server.

Time Offset The time difference in seconds between

the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server

and the FactoryTalk Historian ME times.

FTHSE Licensed Points - The number of points that have been

assigned to the FTMS point source on

FactoryTalk Historian SE. It is based

on the currently active license for

FactoryTalk Historian SE and is an

indication of the number of FactoryTalk

Historian ME points that can be

transferred to FactoryTalk Historian SE.

- Total Licensed Points The number of points that have been

assigned to the PI server. It is an

indication of the number of FactoryTalk

Historian ME points that can be

transferred to the PI server.

"FTMS" Points Available Available License Points The total number of points assigned by

the license minus the number of points

that are already being transferred to the

FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server.

The value may not get updated

immediately because it takes

92 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 7Transfer data to FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI servers

FactoryTalk Historian SE server item PI server item Description

approximately fifteen minutes to update

the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server.

Information on the FactoryTalk Historian ME module

The section on the Historian module provides the following information:

•

The number of data points selected.

•

The number of data points newly added to the data transfer.

•

The status of the auto transfer mode.

Check the data transfer status in the system log

To check the data transfer status

Click the Advanced tab, and then click System Log.

2. In the Time boxes, set the time range in which you want to view the messages.

In the Source box, type DataTransfer, and then click Search.

The search results table is populated with messages related to the data transfer.

For details on the system log, see Use the system log on page 111.

Data transfer considerations

When using the data transfer functionality, pay attention to the following considerations:

Monitoring connections

The data transfer continuously monitors the connection to the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server. If the connection

is lost, the data transfer service sends an error message to the system log (see System log related issues on page

112), and records the timestamp in the point ID mapping table as a reference for transferring data when the

connection is restored.

The data transfer service may not restart if the Ethernet connection is lost or if there is a power loss. When power

is restored, the data transfer may not reconnect to the server. In such cases, it may be required to restart the data

transfer manually.

Transferring data to a new FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server

If the data is to be transferred to a new FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server, the data transfer service needs to build

a new point ID mapping table using the tag information in the data storage service.

Processing tag data

FactoryTalk Historian ME processes new and existing point data:

•

New points

For new event data from the data storage service, if the point ID is not in the point ID mapping table, the

data transfer service gets the point ID from FactoryTalk Historian ME, and sends a request to the FactoryTalk

Historian SE or the PI server to add a new point. The server responds with a unique point ID. This information

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 93

Chapter 7Transfer data to FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI servers

is added to the point ID mapping table. After the entry has been created, the data transfer uploads the data to

the server.

• Existing points

For new event data from the data storage service, if the point ID is found in the point ID mapping table, the

data transfer uploads the data to the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server. The timestamp is recorded in the

point ID mapping table.

Stopping the data transfer service

When the data transfer receives a shutdown signal from the FactoryTalk Historian ME system, the signal is recorded

in the system log, and the status of the service on the Data Transfer page is changed from Running to Stopped.

94 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 8

Administer the module

In this section you will learn about the following:

Manage users on page 95

View groups on page 97

Manage time on page 98

Conﬁgure system settings on page 102

Upload ﬁles to the module on page 105

Back up and restore conﬁguration ﬁles on page 107

Use the system log on page 111

Repair archives using safe mode on page 112

Restore and reset module-related settings on page 113

Close and start the module on page 115

Manage users

This section describes how to manage user accounts (that is, add, modify, and remove users) in FactoryTalk Historian

ME using the User Management page.

To access the User Management page, click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click User Management.

Tip:

•

You must have administrator privileges to manage user accounts.

• The User Management page is intended primarily to manage user credentials used for logging on

to the module in the FactoryTalk Historian ME Local Security mode.

However, in some cases you may want to recreate on the module the user credentials conﬁgured

on the FactoryTalk Directory server in the FactoryTalk Administration Console. For more

information, refer to the FactoryTalk Directory and FactoryTalk Security documentation.

Create users

To create a user

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click User Management.

The User Management page appears.

Click New.

The Create User page appears.

In the User Name box, type the user name.

The user name must be any combination of lowercase and uppercase characters (a-z, A-Z) and digits (0-9).

4. (Optional) In the Description box, type a description.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 95

Chapter 8Administer the module

5. In the Password box, enter the user password.

The password must be any combination of lowercase and uppercase characters (a-z, A-Z) and digits (0-9).

6. In the Conﬁrm Password box, conﬁrm the password.

7. (Optional) In the Groups box, select the groups that you want the user to belong to. For details, see View

groups on page 97.

Click Save to create the user.

Click Back to return to the User Management page.

The newly created user is displayed in the user list.

Modify users

To modify a user

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click User Management.

The User Management page appears.

Select the name of the user that you want to modify, and then click Edit.

The Edit User page appears.

Modify the user settings according to your needs. You can change the user name, description, and group

membership.

4. Click Save.

Tip: For details on changing user passwords, see Change user passwords on page 96.

Remove users

To remove a user

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click User Management.

The User Management page appears.

Select the name of the user that you want to remove, and then click Delete.

A message appears asking you to conﬁrm that you want to remove the user.

Click OK.

The user is removed and is no longer visible in the user list.

Change user passwords

Any user can change their own password, but only members of the piadmin group can reset passwords for other

users.

To change the user password

On the User Management page, highlight the user whose password you want to change.

Click Change Password.

Do one of the following:

◦

If you are changing your own password, type the old password in the Old Password text box.

◦ If you are changing another user’s password, type "!" in the Old Password text box.

Type a new password or leave the text box blank.

The password must be any combination of lowercase and uppercase characters (a-z, A-Z) and digits (0-9).

96 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 8Administer the module

5. Conﬁrm the new password.

Click Save.

Reset passwords

Members of the piadmin group can reset passwords for other users.

To reset the password

1. On the User Management page, click the user whose password you want to reset.

Click Change Password. The Change Password page appears.

Type "!" in the Old Password text box.

Type a new password or leave the text box blank.

The password must be any combination of lowercase and uppercase characters (a-z, A-Z) and digits (0-9).

Conﬁrm the new password.

Click Save.

Reset the default admin password

If the default administrator (piadmin) password is lost or forgotten and you cannot make administrator-level changes

to FactoryTalk Historian ME, you must reset the piadmin user password and security settings.

To reset the default admin password

Click the Advanced tab and then click Restore Defaults.

The Restore Defaults page appears.

Click Reset Security.

A message appears asking you to conﬁrm the action.

Click OK.

You can now access default administrator functions. The default password for the piadmin user is empty. It is

important to change the default piadmin password after you log in.

Tip: You can also reset the password from the Logix Designer interface. For details, see Conﬁgure the

module properties on page 140.

View groups

To view groups

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab.

2. Click Group Management.

The Group Management page appears.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 97

Chapter 8Administer the module

Depending on the way you choose to log on to the module, there will be different users and user groups listed:

•

If you log on to the module using the FactoryTalk Historian ME Local Security credentials, the following groups

are listed in FactoryTalk Historian ME:

Group Description

piadmin The default administrative group for FactoryTalk Historian

ME.

Initially, the group contains only the default piadmin user.

For details on adding users to the group, see Manage users

on page 95.

The piadmin group membership does not automatically

give you special privileges. However, the piadmin user

account has unlimited access to all functions available

on the module. The users added to the piadmin group can

perform all functions, with the exception of deleting the

piadmin user and group.

piuser The group that can contain users without administrative

privileges.

Initially, the group contains only the default pidemo user.

See Manage users on page 95 for more information on

adding users to the group.

•

If you log on to the module using the FactoryTalk Directory security credentials, the available groups will

correspond to groups set in the FactoryTalk Administration Console on the FactoryTalk Directory server

computer. For details, see Conﬁgure secure groups in the FactoryTalk Administration Console on page 129.

For details on logon options, see Conﬁgure how to log on to the module on page 117.

For details on privileges and access for each group, see Understand privileges for user groups on page 119.

Manage time

Precise timing is critical for most module services including data collection, data transfer, and data storage because

all events are time-stamped and their order is important. To provide accurate time for these services, you can

conﬁgure the module to synchronize time with a variety of time sources.

FactoryTalk Historian ME can periodically check external time sources to synchronize its time settings. The

synchronization is based on a single selected time source that coordinates time accuracy among different devices in

your FactoryTalk environment. You can synchronize the module’s Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) with a controller

(preferred solution) or a network NTP time server computer. Alternatively, you can set the time manually.

Changing the module time may affect its performance and services. If you change the module time to a past time

compared to the current module time, the module will reboot into safe mode if the time change results in either of

the following:

•

The new time is in the past compared to the timestamps of the archive ﬁles.

•

There are archive ﬁles with overlapping time ranges.

If the module enters safe mode, repair the archive ﬁles and get the module out of safe mode.

98 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 8Administer the module

For details, see Repair archives using safe mode on page 112.

View and edit the current time

To view and edit the current time in FactoryTalk Historian ME

Click the Advanced tab, and then click Time Management.

The Time Management page appears.

You can view the module's current time in the Module's Current Time box.

Select one of the time synchronization options:

◦

Controller Time

In the list, select a controller or a shortcut to a local controller that will be used for time

synchronization.

Tip: The Logix Designer installation DVD contains the Logix Designer Clock Update Tool.

The tool lets you view and synchronize the system time of the controllers and devices on

a network, using any computer with a Microsoft Windows operating system and RSLinx

Classic installed. For details, see the Logix Designer Clock Update Tool online help.

If you use a shortcut to a local controller as the time source, and this shortcut or the controller to which

the shortcut is pointing is removed, an error message appears informing you that this time source is no

longer available.

◦

NTP Server

In the box, type the IP address or the hostname of the NTP server computer that will be used for the

time synchronization.

For details on using this option, see Considerations for using an NTP server as the time source on page

100.

◦

Manual Set

In the box, type the new time in the same format as the one displayed in the Module's Current Time

box. The time is kept by the module’s real-time clock.

Tip: With this option selected, the module's time is not synchronized with any time source.

As it may result in a potential drift of the real-time clock over time, the Manual Set option

should only be used in rare cases such as demonstrations or troubleshooting associated

with maintenance.

For details, see Clock drifts on page 102.

Click Save.

The module is automatically rebooted, and the updated time is displayed in the Module's Current Time box.

Tip: The time on the selected time source may be in the past compared to the current module

time. Using such a time source will cause the module time to be in the past, and will cause the

module to reboot into safe mode. In such a case, you need to repair the archive ﬁles and get the

module out of safe mode.

For details, see Repair archives using safe mode on page 112.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 99

Chapter 8Administer the module

Considerations for using an NTP server as the time source

When you set the time synchronization with an NTP server computer, keep the following in mind:

Conﬁguration requirements

• You can type up to seven IP addresses or hostnames of NTP server computers, separated by a semicolon.

•

The server name can only contain letters A-Z, a-z, numbers, and the "-" and "." characters.

•

The server name cannot be longer than 99 characters.

•

The servers you provide will be validated to check if the conﬁguration is correct.

•

It is critical to have good network connectivity to properly synchronize the module time with the NTP server.

The module behavior

•

Every 15 minutes, and each time that you access the Time Management page on the module and the Time

Management page on the FactoryTalk Historian ME Web Diagnostics client, the system checks if:

◦ The time synchronization with the NTP server computer is correct.

◦ The data packets are transferred from and to the NTP server computer correctly.

•

If data packets are lost, a message appears on the Time Management page on the Historian website and

the Time Management page on the FactoryTalk Historian ME Web Diagnostics client, as well as in the

FactoryTalk Historian ME log. The packets may be lost due to the following reasons:

◦ Problems with the network connection.

◦

Start of the background computer program monitoring the NTP synchronization.

In such a case, you should check the log and/or the Time Management page on the FactoryTalk

Historian ME Web Diagnostics client for any error messages that may have occurred before this

situation.

•

If there occurs a clock drift of 500 ppm or the NTP server cannot be reached to synchronize the time, an

error message appears:

◦ On the Time Management page on the Historian website.

◦ On the Time Management page on the FactoryTalk Historian ME Web Diagnostics client.

◦

In the FactoryTalk Historian ME log.

•

If you used a FactoryTalk Historian SE server for time synchronization, and you upgrade your system to the

current FactoryTalk Historian ME version, your setting will be visible under the NTP Server option, and the

time will be synchronized with the server automatically, provided that it had been conﬁgured correctly.

•

If you restore a conﬁguration that used a FactoryTalk Historian SE server for time synchronization, your

setting will be visible under the NTP Server option, and the time will be synchronized with the server

automatically, provided that it had been conﬁgured correctly.

The NTP server-related information

•

NTP server computers are typically maintained by a corporate IT department and are often used as the

Windows Active Directory server computer on the network.

100 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 8Administer the module

Verify time synchronization

To verify time synchronization

Open the web browser and type https://<Module IP_address>:8443.

Tip: For details, see Conﬁgure where to use the secure communication protocol (HTTPS) on page

121.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME Web Diagnostics client appears.

Click the Hardware tab, and then click Time Management.

The Time Management page appears.

Under Time Management, verify the settings for the NTP server computer.

If there are any problems with the synchronization, an error message appears next to the Time Source box.

The time synchronization status is additionally indicated by:

•

Messages on the Time Management page on the Historian client page.

•

Messages in the FactoryTalk Historian ME log.

• The Fault tag in the FactoryTalk Historian ME Logix Designer Module Proﬁle. For details, see Use the input and

output tags to read the Historian ME status on page 145.

You can ﬁnd additional details about the synchronization under NTP Logs.

Set the time zone

To set the time zone

Click the Advanced tab, and then click Time Management.

The Time Management page appears.

The current time zone is displayed under Time Zone Setting.

The default time zone is US/Eastern (Eastern Standard Time).

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 101

Chapter 8Administer the module

2. In the Region list, select the region.

In the Time Zone list, select the time zone.

4. Click Save.

Tip: Time zone settings for the module affect the time displayed on the Home page and on the

system log message timestamps.

Event timestamps receive the time zone settings from the client.

If you have moved your module to a different time zone, updating only the time will not

automatically update the time zone in the module information. To have the correct time after the

reboot of the module, you need to update both the time zone and the time.

Clock drifts

It is recommended to synchronize all devices with a single reliable time source. You should try to minimize the clock

drifts that may occur among the module, the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server, and any controllers. To adjust for

any time variations caused by clock drifts, the module will slew or step as needed.

You can ﬁnd any time-related information and warnings in the module's log ﬁles.

If you have conﬁgured your points to have a high-speed scan type and the controller time drifts more than 30

seconds (either forwards or backwards), a message similar to the following appears in the system log:

27-Nov-09 13:24:09 logixd [WARNING] Logixd detected a controller time shift

greater than thirty seconds on High Speed Trend instance 7 running on Data Source

All_Type_Combination_07072009_v17_1_1.

Battery clock

The Historian module's real-time clock is maintained by the replaceable lithium battery.

The battery is non-rechargeable and ﬁeld-replaceable. It powers the real-time clock for two years when the module is

not powered on and for twelve years with power to the module on.

For information on replacing the battery, see the FactoryTalk Historian Machine Edition Module Installation Instructions

(Publication 1756-IN106).

Conﬁgure system settings

In this section you will learn about the following:

•

Change the module name on page 102

• Conﬁgure network settings on page 103

Change the module name

The default module name consists of the FactoryTalk Historian ME module serial number prepended to "-FTHME", (for

example, A0003027-FTHME).

102 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 8Administer the module

This guarantees a unique name, which is important when the module transfers data to a FactoryTalk Historian SE

or PI server. The FactoryTalk Historian ME module name is prepended to the FactoryTalk Historian ME tag name to

create the FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server tag name. This provides the tag with uniqueness and context.

Changing the module name may result in duplicate tags being transferred. When tags are transferred to FactoryTalk

Historian SE or PI server, they are appended with the module name. If the module name has changed, the tags will be

transferred again with a different name, for example:

•

Tags from the module FTHME1 are being transferred to the server. When transferred, the module name is

added to the tag name (for example, FTHME1.<tag_name>).

•

The module name is changed from FTHME1 to FTHME2. Consequently, the tags that have already been

transferred will be transferred again because now their tag name is FTHME2.<tag_name>. These duplicate

tags will be counted against your allotted number of points.

Tip: You must have administrator privileges to change the module name.

To change the module name

Click Advanced, and then click System Settings.

The System Settings page appears.

In the Module Name text box, enter a new name.

The name should be descriptive enough to make it easily identiﬁable. This is especially useful when

transferring data to a FactoryTalk Historian SE server. The name is limited by the following rules:

◦ The name must not contain:

▪

More than 64 alphanumeric characters,

▪ Any special characters (such as !, @, #, $, %, ^,&,*).

▪ Only digits.

▪

Only the following expression:00000000-FTHME.

◦

The name must be unique in relation to other FactoryTalk Historian MEs on the same network.

Click Save.

A message appears asking you to conﬁrm that you want to proceed with the changes.

Click OK.

The module name is changed and the following message appears:

INFO: The module name has been configured successfully. Please stop and start

Data Transfer.

Tip: The module name is also used as the DNS host name of the module and should be unique on

the network. The FactoryTalk Historian ME Module is not able to check the network for naming

conﬂicts. You need to use the DNS Server to check for such conﬂicts. Contact your local IT

administrator for more information.

Conﬁgure network settings

Tip: You must have administrator privileges to conﬁgure network settings.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 103

Chapter 8Administer the module

To conﬁgure network settings

Click Advanced, and then click System Settings.

The System Settings page appears.

Review the following for additional information.

Item Description

Configuration SelectDynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)or

StaticIP.

DHCP isselected by default.

DHCP Leave this option selected to automate the network

parameter assignment to network devices from one or

more DHCP servers.

A DHCP server is required to assign the module its initial IP

address. Note that the Logix Designer DHCP Server tool can

be used to set the IP address.

Static IP Address Select this option to use the same IP address every time

the module powers up.

If you type an IP address that is already in use, and

then reboot the module, you will not be able to access

the module through the web interface. To repair this,

access the module through FactoryTalk Historian ME

Logix Designer Module Profile and reset the network

configuration. For details, see Use Studio 5000 Logix

Designer module profile on page 140.

IP Address The module’s IP address.

Make sure that the IP address that you use is not assigned

to another device in your network.

This field is enabled when you select Static IP Address.

MAC Address The module’s Media Access Control (MAC) address.

The address comes from the module and cannot be

changed.

Subnet Mask The module’s subnet mask.

The value is unique to your location. To get the correct

value, consult your IT department.

This field is enabled when you select Static IP Address.

Default Gateway The network default gateway.

This allows data to be passed from one subnet to another

in a network.

This field is enabled when you select Static IP Address.

Search Domain The DNS search domain.

This field is enabled when you select Static IP Address.

Primary DNS Server The first Domain Name System (DNS) server.

This field is enabled when you select Static IP Address.

104 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 8Administer the module

Item Description

Secondary DNS Server (Optional) The secondary DNS server.

This field is enabled when you select Static IP Address.

Auto-Negotiate Select this checkbox if you want the Autonegotiation to

determine the speed and duplex parameters. The speed

and duplex parameters must match the parameters on the

router switch.

Speed The network speed. Ensure that this setting matches the

speed set on the switch port that your module is connected

to.

This field is enabled when the Auto-Negotiate checkbox is

not selected.

Duplex The duplex parameter determines how communication is

sent and received.

◦

In the list, select Full if you want both communication

ends to be able to send and receive signals at the

same time.

◦ In the list, select Half if you want the communication

to be bidirectional. However, note that the signals can

only flow in one direction at a time.

Ensure that this setting matches the speed set on the

switch port that your module is connected to.

This field is enabled when the Auto-Negotiate checkbox is

not selected.

Click Save.

A message appears asking you to conﬁrm that you want to change the settings.

Click OK.

Tip: If you change the default IP address conﬁguration from DHCP to Static IP Address, or if you

use BootP through Logix Designer and a BOOTP/DHCP server, you cannot access the module

using its host name. The new IP address is not associated with the module host name on the DNS

server, and the host name does not resolve. To avoid this issue, consult your local IT department

to register the new IP address with the DNS server.

Upload ﬁles to the module

To upload a ﬁle to the FactoryTalk Historian ME Module

Click the Advanced tab, and then click Upload Management.

The Upload Management page appears.

In the File Type list, select the ﬁle type.

For details on the ﬁle types you can select, see File types on page 106.

In the Please Select File box, type the ﬁle name, or click Browse to locate the ﬁle.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 105

Chapter 8Administer the module

The ﬁle name may only contain the following characters: @, ., -, _, a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and must not

contain any spaces.

4. Click Upload To Module to upload the selected ﬁle to the module.

The uploaded ﬁle is displayed in the table. The table includes the name, type, and size of the ﬁle, as well as

the time the ﬁle was last modiﬁed.

Tip: Files of type Ca Certicate, Server Certicate, and Private Key must have the .pem extension.

Files of type AutoDiscoveryRuleFile, TagAttributeFile, and User-dened Timeouts must have the

.xml extension.

The maximum size of the ﬁle you want to upload may not exceed 500 KB.

If you use HTTPS, do not delete ﬁles of the type CA Certicate, Server Certicate, and Private Key

after uploading them.

For details on security settings, see Manage security on page 117.

File types

The following table lists the ﬁle types that you can select in the File Type list:

File type Description

Auto Discovery Rule File The Add Points Wizard uses these files when discovering tags.

Tag Attribute File The Add Points Wizard uses these files when creating tags.

CA Certificate This file is necessary if you have the protocol set to HTTPS.

Server Certificate This file is necessary if you have the protocol set to HTTPS.

Private Key This file is necessary if you have the protocol set to HTTPS.

User-defined Timeouts Use this file to modify the default timeout settings if your

internet connection is slow.

The UserDefinedTimeouts.xml file includes a set of default

timeouts that you can customize. The timeouts are classified

into several groups based on the system areas in which they

occur. The file contains the following information:

• info: the location of the timeout group in the module's web

interface.

• name: the unique name of the timeout group.

• value: the timeout value provided in seconds.

To customize the file, open this help topic on the Upload

Management page in your module. Right-click "this link", and

then click Save Link As to save the file on your computer.

106 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 8Administer the module

File type Description

Modify the content in a text editor. When modifying the file,

consider the following:

•

If you change the default value of the timeout, the system

will compare the default value and the new one, and use

the greater one for the timeout. If you do not change the

default value, the value will still be used by the system.

•

If you do not modify all the entries, you can delete the

unchanged ones, or leave them with the default values.

Once you have modified the file, save it, and then upload it

to the module. Even if you have changed the name of the

file, it will revert to UserDefinedTimeouts during the upload.

If you have changed the timeout settings only for one

location in the module's web interface (for example, on the

Add Points Wizard page) press Ctrl+F5 for the changes to

take effect.

If you have changed the timeout settings in several

locations in the module's web interface, clear the cache

of the browser. For detailed information on clearing the

browser's cache, refer to the browser documentation.

Note: Please note that modifying timeout settings is not

recommended, and you should use this feature carefully

as it directly influences the behavior of the ME module.

Manage the uploaded ﬁles

Once you have uploaded the ﬁles to the FactoryTalk Historian ME Module (see Upload ﬁles to the module on page

105), you can manage them on the Upload Management page. Managing the uploaded ﬁles includes:

• Viewing the ﬁles

To view a ﬁle in a new browser window, select a ﬁle in the list, and then click View.

•

Deleting the ﬁles

To delete a ﬁle from the module, select a ﬁle in the list, and then click Delete. Click OK to conﬁrm the action.

•

Checking the format of XML ﬁles

To check if an XML ﬁle is formatted properly, select an XML ﬁle in the list, and then click Check Format. This

does not check the format of other ﬁle types.

Back up and restore conﬁguration ﬁles

It is recommended that you periodically back up the module conﬁguration. You should also back up the conﬁguration

whenever changes are made to it. In case you need to reset the module, you will be able to restore the conﬁguration

after the module resets.

This table describes the backup conﬁguration that can be restored on which Historian module series.

Backup configuration Can be restored on

Series A Series A, B, or C

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 107

Chapter 8Administer the module

Backup configuration Can be restored on

Series B Series B or C

Series C Series C

Tip: You must have administrator privileges to back up or restore the module's conﬁguration ﬁles.

View the backup status and perform backup

To view the backup status

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Backup And Restore.

The Backup and Restore page appears.

Under Backup Status, view the details of the most recent backup of the system conﬁguration:

◦

The status of the backup.

◦ The date of the backup.

◦ The name of the backup ﬁle.

◦

The size of the backup ﬁle.

The backup ﬁle contains conﬁguration information for the following:

◦

Data collection.

◦ Data storage.

◦

Data transfer.

◦

Security.

◦

Data server.

◦

Point server.

◦

Web server.

Tip: If any changes have been made to the system conﬁguration since the last backup, it is

recommended to perform another backup.

Click Backup to perform the system backup.

Download the backup ﬁle to a client computer

To download the backup ﬁle to a client computer

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Backup And Restore.

The Backup and Restore page appears.

Under Download to Client, the details of the last download are displayed:

◦ The time the backup conﬁguration ﬁle was last downloaded to the client computer.

◦

The name of the last downloaded backup conﬁguration ﬁle.

The name is based on the date and time that the ﬁle was created.

2. Click Download.

The button is inactive if no backup of the module has occurred.

IMPORTANT: Editing the xml ﬁles is not recommended.

108 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 8Administer the module

After downloading the ﬁle from the module, you can use an XML parser to modify the conﬁguration. However, you

should not change the following ﬁles:

• datacollection/dconf.xml

• datastorage/dsconf.xml

•

datatransfer/dtconf.xml

Upload the backup ﬁle to the module

To upload the backup ﬁle from the client computer to the module

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Backup And Restore.

The Backup and Restore page appears.

Under Upload to Module, the details of the last upload are displayed:

◦ The time the backup ﬁle was last uploaded to the module.

◦

The name of the last uploaded backup ﬁle.

Click Browse.

3. Locate the ﬁle that you want to upload, and then click Open.

Click Upload.

Tip:

◦

You can also upload the backup ﬁle downloaded from one FactoryTalk Historian ME Module

to quickly conﬁgure another FactoryTalk Historian ME Module.

◦ Please take the following into consideration:

▪

You can only have one backup conﬁguration ﬁle at a time on the FactoryTalk

Historian ME Module.

Only the last version of the backup conﬁguration is stored.

▪

The name of the backup ﬁle may not exceed 80 characters.

▪

The backup ﬁle must contain the .tar.gz extension in its ﬁle name.

▪

If you upload an older backup ﬁle, it will overwrite any newer backup ﬁle.

▪ The backup ﬁle cannot contain a space in its name.

Restore the module from the backup ﬁle

To restore the module from the backup ﬁle

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Backup And Restore.

The Backup and Restore page appears.

Under Restore Module From File, the details of the last restoration process are displayed:

◦ The status of the last restore.

◦

The date of the last restore.

◦

The ﬁle used in the last restore.

2. Click Restore Wizard.

Tip: If there is no backup ﬁle stored on the module, the Restore Wizard button is inactive.

For details on uploading backup ﬁles, see Upload the backup ﬁle to the module on page 109.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 109

Chapter 8Administer the module

The Stop Module step of the wizard appears.

Click Continue.

The Conﬁrm File step of the wizard appears.

4. Check if the name of the backup ﬁle is correct, and then click Conﬁrm.

A list of parameters appears, displaying their current and restore values.

Select the checkboxes for the parameters that you want to restore.

Tip: Tips:

◦

For details on restoring the name of the module, see Check and restore the module name

on page 111.

◦ For details on restoring PI Server ID (ServerID), see Why restoring PI Server ID? on page

110.

Click Continue.

The Restore Progress step of the wizard appears.

Wait until the key services stop and the module reboots automatically.

Tip: The key services are stopped within a predeﬁned time period. However, stopping the

subsystems may sometimes take longer than the predeﬁned time. To make sure that the

subsystems are stopped accordingly, the timeout value for stopping the subsystems is extended

1.5 times.

If you are using a custom timeout deﬁned in the AllPagesTimeout xml key in the

UserDeﬁnedTimeouts.xml ﬁle and stopping the subsystems fails, extend the AllPagesTimeout

value. For details on user-deﬁned timeouts, see File types on page 106.

Why restoring PI Server ID?

Before restoring an ME module conﬁguration from a backup ﬁle, you should decide whether you want to restore its PI

Server ID (ServerID) or not.

Tip:

•

If different modules have the same ServerID, client applications such as DataLink may connect to

other modules than expected.

• On the Backup and Restore page, Current Value and Restore Value are always set to N/A.

Whether the ServerID is restored or not depends on the setting of the ServerID checkbox.

Consider the following use cases:

Use case 1

You have created a backup of the conﬁguration of an ME module. The module gets damaged. You take out the broken

module and replace it with a new one. You restore the backup ﬁles of the broken module on the new module. While

conﬁguring the restore process, you leave the ServerID checkbox selected, because you want the new module to

have the ServerID of the original module. PI Server ID will be restored with the conﬁguration.

110 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 8Administer the module

Use case 2

You want to copy the conﬁguration of one of your ME modules (Module 1) to other ME modules that will function

simultaneously along with Module 1. You create a backup of the Module 1 conﬁguration and restore it on the other

modules. While conﬁguring the restore process, you clear the ServerID checkbox, because you don't want to replace

PI Server IDs of these modules with the Module 1 ID. PI Server ID won't be restored with the conﬁguration.

Check and restore the module name

Tip: The name of the module is automatically restored when you use a backup ﬁle in the restore wizard.

When restoring a module, make sure that the restored module’s name is the same as the original module’s

name. When the tags are transferred to FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server, the tags are appended with

the module name. If the restored module’s name is different, the same tags will be transferred again with

a different name. For example:

•

Tags from the module FTHME1 are being transferred to FactoryTalk Historian SE or PI server.

When transferred, the module name is added to the tag name (for example, FTHME1.<tag_name>).

•

FTHME1 is backed up and restored. However, the module name is now FTHME2. The same

tags that were already transferred will be transferred again because now their tag name is

FTHME2.<tag_name>. These duplicate tags will be counted against your allotted number of

points.

To avoid this issue, ensure that the restored module’s name is correct after the restoration

process.

To check the module name and restore it from the backup ﬁle

Click the Advanced tab, and then click System Settings.

The System Settings page appears.

The name of the module is displayed under System Settings in the Module Name box.

Perform steps 1-4 listed in Restore the module from the backup ﬁle on page 109.

Make sure that the Module Name checkbox is selected under Restore Parameter.

Verify that the correct module name is displayed under Restore Value.

Click Continue.

The Restore Progress step of the wizard appears.

Wait until the key services stop and the module reboots automatically.

Use the system log

To search for messages reported to the system log, and export the search results

Click the Advanced tab.

The System Log page appears.

Review the following for additional information.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 111

Chapter 8Administer the module

Item Description

Time Use the Time box to specify time search criteria. The table

uses m for minutes and d for days. The default value is

*-5m.

Source Use the Source box to filter by source.

The default value is "*", which means that no filtering is

used and messages from all sources are displayed.

Message Use the Message box to filter by message text.

The default value is "*", which means that no filtering is

used and all messages are displayed.

Count Use the Count box to limit the maximum number of log

messages that will be searched out.

The default value is 1000. The maximum value that you can

enter is 5000.

Specify the search criteria.

Click Search to display the messages using the criteria speciﬁed.

The messages are displayed in a table. By default, the messages are displayed sorted by time, from oldest to

newest. You can sort the messages by heading. For example, click the Source heading to sort the messages

by source alphabetically, in ascending order.

Click Export to export all search results to a ﬁle.

System log related issues

Keep in mind the following system log related issues:

•

If you are using IE 7.0 and want to export to Excel, you must install Windows hotﬁx 929863. This ﬁx addresses

an Excel ﬁle export issue on the System Log page. You need to add the [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.csv]

"PerceivedType"="document" registry value for the .csv document type.

•

If you use the Auto Refresh feature, new messages will appear in the System Log table each time data is

refreshed. When multiple clients perform the refresh action, the System Log table will grow quickly.

•

When the FactoryTalk Historian ME systems are up and running, and the connection to the data source is lost,

a message similar to the following will be logged:

0 DataCollection 28-Dec-09 19:00:47 [ERROR] HandleNotification() detected

erroneous return condition from notify_on_event API.

This message is logged every 300 errors to help prevent the log disk space from being ﬁlled with too many

error messages.

Repair archives using safe mode

Each time you reboot the system, the system checks to see if your archive ﬁles contain any data that has a

timestamp for a time in the future. If future timestamps are found upon rebooting, the module's STS light is

solid red and the LED displays either SAFE MODE LAN OK <IP_address> or SAFE MODE LAN LOST

<MAC_address>. Both messages indicate that the module is in safe mode. When this happens, the module web

interface is inaccessible and you must go to the Web Diagnostic page to repair the archive ﬁles. When the module is

in safe mode, PI commands cannot be executed.

112 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 8Administer the module

When the module is in safe mode, the following error message appears on the Web Diagnostics page:

ERROR: Archives are in inaccessible state. Please navigate to "Safe Mode" or click

on "Repair" to continue.

To access the bad archives information, follow the message instructions.

The bad archives are listed and selected by default.

You can repair the bad archives by repairing the time setting. For details, see Repair the time setting on page 113.

Repair the time setting

To repair the time setting

On the Safe Mode page, select the Repair Time option.

2. In the Time text box, type the correct time.

Choose the time zone and the region from the provided lists.

Click Change Time. A message appears:

INFO: The time sync is successful. Please wait while system reboots...

Wait for the module to reboot. The archives have been repaired.

IMPORTANT: If you choose to repair time, be aware that if you have previously synchronized

your ME module to an external time source such as a controller or an NTP server, clicking

Repair Time will reset your time source to manual. We recommend, therefore, that before

you perform this step, you attempt to ﬁx the problem with your original time source ﬁrst. For

details, see Manage time on page 98.

Tip: If you do not want to repair the time, you can wait until the time listed in the timestamp is no

longer in the future. Once that occurs, click Reboot to reboot the module. When the archives are

checked again, no future timestamps will be found in the archive ﬁles and no repair is needed.

Restore and reset module-related settings

You can reset or restore the following module-related settings:

•

The module's defaults.

See The module's defaults on page 114.

• The security mode.

See Reset the security mode on page 114.

•

The Web Diagnostics password.

See Reset the Web Diagnostics password on page 115.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 113

Chapter 8Administer the module

Restore the module's defaults

Tip: You must have administrator privileges to restore the module.

When you restore the module, all data stored on FactoryTalk Historian ME is deleted, including any backed

up conﬁguration ﬁle. Make sure that you download the backup conﬁguration ﬁles before restoring

FactoryTalk Historian ME. For details, see Restore the module from the backup ﬁle on page 109.

To restore FactoryTalk Historian ME to its original conﬁguration

Click the Advanced tab, and then click Restore Defaults.

The Restore Defaults page appears.

Click Restore Defaults.

FactoryTalk Historian ME is restored to its default settings.

When you restore the module to the default conﬁguration, you must also restart all module clients (for example,

FactoryTalk Historian DataLink, FactoryTalk Historian ProcessBook, FactoryTalk View SE Trending, PI System

Management Tools (SMT), or PI SMT Tag Conﬁgurator).

Tip:

•

Alternatively, you can perform the Restore Defaults and Reset Security actions on your Historian

module in the Logix Designer Module Proﬁle.

If the Restore Defaults or Reset Security actions are being executed in the Module Proﬁle, you will

not be able to restore the default settings, reset the security conﬁguration, or reboot the module

from the web client.

For details, see Conﬁgure the module properties on page 140.

• After restoring the module to the default conﬁguration, change the password for the default

piadmin user.

For more details, see Change user passwords on page 96.

Reset the security mode

If the module has been conﬁgured for FactoryTalk Security, resetting the security mode results in the following:

•

The data collection stops immediately.

• The module is shut down and then restarted using the FactoryTalk Historian ME Local Security.

• The administrative piadmin user, and the users that were created in the FactoryTalk Historian ME Local

Security mode are retained.

•

The piadmin user password becomes empty.

If the module has been conﬁgured for the FactoryTalk Historian ME Local Security, resetting the security mode results

in the following:

•

The piadmin user password becomes empty.

•

The user is prompted to log on to the FactoryTalk Historian ME web interface.

Regardless of which security mode has been conﬁgured, resetting security always results in resetting the Web

Diagnostics administrator password. For details, see Reset the Web Diagnostics password on page 115.

114 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 8Administer the module

Resetting the FactoryTalk Historian ME Local Security mode does not require rebooting the module.

To reset the security mode

1. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Restore Defaults.

The Restore Defaults page appears.

Click Reset Security.

A message appears asking you to conﬁrm the action.

Click OK.

Tip:

◦

Alternatively, you can perform the Restore Defaults and Reset Security actions on your

Historian module in the Logix Designer Module Proﬁle.

If the Restore Defaults or Reset Security actions are being executed in the Module Proﬁle,

you will not be able to restore the default settings, reset the security conﬁguration, or

reboot the module from the web client.

For details, see Conﬁgure the module properties on page 140.

◦ After resetting the security mode, change the password for the default piadmin user.

For more details, see Change user passwords on page 96.

Reset the Web Diagnostics password

To reset the Web Diagnostics administrator (admin) password to the default one

(admin)

1. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Restore Defaults.

The Restore Defaults page appears.

Click Reset Web Diagnostics Password.

A message appears asking you to conﬁrm the action.

Click OK.

Close and start the module

You can perform the following actions on the module using the Module Shutdown page:

•

Shut down the module on page 115

• Reboot the module on page 116

• Restart the module on page 116

Shut down the module

The module shutdown allows you to stop all FactoryTalk Historian ME-related services (including the point server,

the data collection, the data transfer, and the web conﬁguration server). It is recommended that you shut down the

module if you plan to remove it from the chassis or if you are going to power down the chassis.

To shut down the module

Click the Advanced tab, and then click Module Shutdown.

A message appears asking you to conﬁrm the action.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 115

Chapter 8Administer the module

2. Click OK.

The module shutdown is complete when the scrolling message on the module displays the module’s IP

address followed by SHUTDOWN.

Tip: Alternatively, you can shut down the module using the FactoryTalk Historian ME Logix

Designer Module Proﬁle.

For details, see Conﬁgure the module properties on page 140.

Reboot the module

To reboot the module

Click the Advanced tab, and then click Module Shutdown.

2. Under Module Reboot, click Module Reboot.

A message appears asking you to conﬁrm the action.

Click OK.

Tip: Alternatively, you can reboot the module using the FactoryTalk Historian ME Logix Designer

Module Proﬁle.

If the Restore Defaults or Reset Security actions are being executed on your Historian module in

the Logix Designer Module Proﬁle, you will not be able to restore the default settings, reset the

security conﬁguration, or reboot the module from the web client.

For details, see Conﬁgure the module properties on page 140.

Restart the module

To restart the module

Shut down the module.

See Shut down the module on page 115.

Click the Advanced tab, and then click Module Shutdown.

Go to the module, and do either of the following:

◦

Cut off and restore the power to the module by turning off and on the power switch on the chassis.

◦ Unplug and insert the module into the chassis.

116 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 9

Manage security

Security of the FactoryTalk Historian ME module is managed on the System Security page. To access the System

Security page, click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click System Security.

Any changes to module security settings will automatically log out the current user because the users and user

groups available depend on the security mode selected. Changing the security mode will also cause the module to

reboot. This process may take a few minutes.

Conﬁgure security

Tip:

•

You must have administrator-level privileges to make any changes to security.

• All clients should be logged out before making any changes to the security settings.

You can conﬁgure the following security areas:

Conﬁgure how to log on to the module on page 117

Conﬁgure where to use the secure communication protocol (HTTPS) on page 121

Conﬁgure system timeout

If the administrator session expires, you will be automatically logged out and taken to the Home tab. The default

expiration time is 20 minutes. Conﬁgure the value in the Conﬁgure Historian tab as needed.

To conﬁgure system timeout

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click System Security.

Under System Security, enter the value in the System Timeout box.

Conﬁgure how to log on to the module

FactoryTalk Historian ME requires secure credentials (user logon and password) to access the system. You can log on

to FactoryTalk Historian ME in two ways:

Use: If you want to:

FactoryTalk Historian ME Local Security Log on to the module with the credentials configured directly on

the Historian module. For more information, see Manage users

on page 95.

With this option the module can function as a standalone

device, and its security settings are managed on the

FactoryTalk Historian ME client page.

The FactoryTalk Directory Log on to the module with the credentials configured on the

FactoryTalk Directory server in the FactoryTalk Administration

Console.

With this option, the module can be integrated into a complex

FactoryTalk environment, and its security settings are managed

in the FactoryTalk Administration Console. For details, see Log

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 117

Chapter 9Manage security

Use: If you want to:

on using the FactoryTalk Directory with FactoryTalk Historian

ME on page 118 and Integrate the module into a FactoryTalk

environment with the FactoryTalk Directory on page 126.

The logon method inﬂuences the list of available users and user groups:

•

If you are using the FactoryTalk Historian ME Local Security option to log on, the available users will be the

ones created on the module and added to the default piadmin or piuser group.

•

If you are using the FactoryTalk Directory option to log on, the available users and groups correspond to the

ones set on the FactoryTalk Directory server computer in the FactoryTalk Administration Console.

For details, see View groups on page 97 and Understand privileges for user groups on page 119.

To log on with the FactoryTalk Historian ME Local Security credentials

•

On the System Security page, under System Security, click FactoryTalk Historian ME Local Security.

To log on with the FactoryTalk Directory security credentials

On the System Security page, under System Security, click FactoryTalk Directory.

Type the IP address or hostname, and the port number for the FactoryTalk Directory server.

The port for HTTPS communication is 443.

(Optional). Type the IP address or hostname, and the port number for the secondary server.

For details on using a secondary server, see Log on using the FactoryTalk Directory with FactoryTalk

Historian ME on page 118.

Log on using the FactoryTalk Directory with FactoryTalk Historian ME

The FactoryTalk Directory is a centerpiece component of the FactoryTalk Services Platform. It uses integrated

FactoryTalk Security services that are installed with the FactoryTalk Services Platform and managed from the

FactoryTalk Administration Console.

Tip: Refer to the FactoryTalk Security documentation for details about FactoryTalk Security.

The FactoryTalk Directory provides a central lookup service for tags and other system elements from multiple data

sources, and makes the information available to clients in a FactoryTalk environment.

If you use the FactoryTalk Directory server, you can enable a primary and a secondary server.

If the connection between FactoryTalk Historian ME and the FactoryTalk Directory server is lost or becomes

unavailable, FactoryTalk Historian ME will attempt to locate a secondary security server. It is recommended that you

use a system that is always up and running to avoid possible failure at logon. The secondary server must have the

same conﬁguration as the FactoryTalk Directory server.

118 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 9Manage security

Before using the FactoryTalk Directory for logging on to the module, ensure that:

•

The FactoryTalk Services Platform is installed on the FactoryTalk Directory server computer using the

Custom option.

Tip: Refer to the FactoryTalk Services Platform Release Notes for more information.

•

FactoryTalk Web Services is installed and conﬁgured on the FactoryTalk Directory server computer to

authenticate the security calls from the module.

•

FactoryTalk Security services are running on the network.

•

Internet Information Services (IIS) are installed and conﬁgured on the FactoryTalk Directory server computer

so that FactoryTalk Historian ME can establish a connection to it.

Understand privileges for user groups

The following table displays the privileges for user groups conﬁgured in the FactoryTalk Historian ME Module or on the

FactoryTalk Directory server in the FactoryTalk Administration Console.

Depending on the way you log on to the module, you will have different user groups at your disposal, and you will

manage them differently:

•

If you are using FactoryTalk Historian ME Local Security credentials, you can manage the user groups on the

Group Management page.

For details, see View groups on page 97.

•

If you are using the FactoryTalk Directory security credentials, you can manage the user groups in the

FactoryTalk Administration Console on the FactoryTalk Directory server computer.

For details, see Log on using the FactoryTalk Directory with FactoryTalk Historian ME on page 118 and

Conﬁgure secure groups in the FactoryTalk Administration Console on page 129.

If the logon mode is changed, all groups and users associated with the previous logon mode are lost.

Operation The FactoryTalk Directory security groups

The FactoryTalk Historian ME

Local Security groups

FTHAdministrat

ors

FTHEngineers FTHSupervisors FTHOperators piadmin piuser

Manage SNMP Yes No No No Yes No

Create tag Yes Yes No No Yes No

Read status Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Start data

collection

Yes Yes Yes No Yes No

Stop data

collection

Yes Yes Yes No Yes No

Read point

definition

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Modify point

properties

Yes Yes No No Yes No

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 119

Chapter 9Manage security

Operation The FactoryTalk Directory security groups

The FactoryTalk Historian ME

Local Security groups

Read point

historical data

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Export point

historical data

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Read system log Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Read user

information

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Create/modify/d

elete user

Yes No No No Yes No

Change

password (self)

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Change

password (other

users)

Yes No No No Yes No

Read group

information

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Create/modify/d

elete group

No No No No Yes No

Create/modify/d

elete trust

Yes No No No Yes No

Save NTP server Yes Yes No No Yes No

Synchronize

time

Yes Yes No No Yes No

Read backup

status

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Backup

configuration

Yes Yes No No Yes No

Download

backup file

Yes Yes No No Yes No

Upload backup

file

Yes Yes No No Yes No

Restore

configuration

Yes Yes No No Yes No

Reset module Yes Yes No No Yes No

Reset security Yes Yes No No Yes No

Read security

mode

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Change security

mode

Yes Yes No No Yes No

120 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 9Manage security

Operation The FactoryTalk Directory security groups

The FactoryTalk Historian ME

Local Security groups

Change protocol Yes Yes No No Yes No

Manage

shortcuts

Yes Yes No No Yes No

Conﬁgure where to use the secure communication protocol (HTTPS)

The secure communication protocol HTTPS is a combination of the HTTP and a cryptographic protocol. If you choose

to use HTTPS, communication through the web interface will be encrypted for security purposes.

The following items will use the HTTPS protocol. The list of options depends on the way that you chose to log on to the

model under System Security. For details, see Conﬁgure how to log on to the module on page 117.

Is available when you choose this logon method:

This option:

FactoryTalk Historian ME Local

Security

The FactoryTalk Directory

The FactoryTalk Historian webpages x x

The FactoryTalk Directory - x

Tip: The FactoryTalk Historian web pages include the client page and the Web Diagnostics page.

To conﬁgure where to use the secure communication protocol (HTTPS)

On the System Security page, under HTTPS Settings, select the type of HTTPS certiﬁcate:

Certificate type Description

Self-signed certificate A certificate issued by the module, which holds its own

private key. This type is chosen by default to provide a

secure connection out of the box. The certificate is valid

for 5 years.

CA certificate A certificate issued by a trusted third party, for example,

the IT security department in your organization. To use

the CA certificate, you have to manually upload the CA

certificate, server certificate, and private key files to the

module. For details, see Upload files to the module on page

105.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 121

Chapter 9Manage security

2. Depending on the type of certiﬁcate, do either of the following:

◦

For the Self-signed certiﬁcate type, complete the following:

Item Description

Issued to Choose the method with which you access the Historian

webpages:

▪

IP address.

The certificate will be issued to the IP address

of the module. This is the default setting. The IP

address is provided by the system automatically.

▪

Module name.

The certificate will be issued to the module name.

The module name is provided by the system

automatically.

▪ Domain name.

The certificate will be issued to the fully qualified

domain name of the module.

Type the domain name in the following format:

For example, module1.mycompany.com

Renew Certificate Use this button if:

▪ You change the method with which you access the

Historian webpages. In this way, a new certificate

will be issued.

▪

Your certificate has expired, and you want to issue

a new one.

Tip: If you renew the certiﬁcate for your module, you have to install it in the browser. To

install the certiﬁcate in the browser, consult your network administrator.

◦

For the CA certiﬁcate type, complete the following:

Item Description

CA certificate file Select the certificate authority. This is necessary for

using HTTPS.

Server certificate file Select the file that contains the digital certificate that

has been issued to a server and contains information

about the server.

Private key file Select the file that contains the private key for the web

server.

Private key password Type the encryption password used to secure the

private key file.

Verify the FactoryTalk Directory certificate Select the checkbox to verify if the FactoryTalk

Directory certificate is valid. The module will check

122 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 9Manage security

Item Description

if there is a certificate for the FactoryTalk Directory

issued by a certificate authority. This option is only

available if you set HTTPS for communication with the

FactoryTalk Directory.

Click Save.

If the conﬁguration is incomplete, an error message appears prompting you to provide the missing

information.

If the conﬁguration is complete, a message appears.

Click OK.

The conﬁguration will be validated.

If the conﬁguration is successful, you will be logged out and taken to the logon page.

Otherwise, an error message appears.

Tip: If the conﬁguration of the module is restored from a backup ﬁle, the communication is

automatically set to HTTPS for connections with the Historian webpages.

If the backup ﬁle contains security certiﬁcates, they will be used in the restored conﬁguration.

Otherwise, a default self-signed certiﬁcate will be generated and used.

For more information on restoring conﬁgurations, see Backup and restore conﬁguration ﬁles on

page 107.

Manage security trusts

Trusts authorize connections between computers.

FactoryTalk Historian ME uses the following types of trusts:

• Default trusts on page 124

•

User-deﬁned trusts on page 124

To view trusts deﬁned on the Historian ME module

•

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Trust Management.

The Trust Management page appears.

The page displays both the default and the user-deﬁned trusts.

Tip: If the IP Address and NetMask boxes are left blank in trust deﬁnitions, they appear as

0.0.0.0.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME server compares incoming connection credentials with every trust login record. Each

setting in a trust conﬁguration is compared to the corresponding credential setting. Every setting that is not blank

in the trust conﬁguration must exactly match the passed credentials. Otherwise, authorization is not granted. When

authorization is refused for one trust, the FactoryTalk Historian ME server continues to search the other records until

it has exhausted the possibilities.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 123

Chapter 9Manage security

Default trusts

The default trusts are recreated or edited every time FactoryTalk Historian ME starts. This guarantees access to all

applications running on the local machine, even if:

• The system network conﬁguration changes.

• The IP address changes as a result of a new network card.

User-deﬁned trusts

If you have conﬁgured to log on to your Historian module using the FactoryTalk Historian ME Local Security

credentials (see Conﬁgure how to log on to the module on page 117), you will need to conﬁgure trusts for:

• Transferring data from FactoryTalk Historian ME to FactoryTalk Historian SE.

The trust conﬁguration is performed on FactoryTalk Historian SE.

For details, see Create trusts for the data transfer on page 124.

For other data transfer prerequisites, see Data transfer prerequisites on page 88.

•

Using data from FactoryTalk Historian ME in FactoryTalk Historian clients.

The trust conﬁguration is performed on FactoryTalk Historian ME.

For details, see Create trusts for FactoryTalk Historian clients on page 125.

If you have conﬁgured to log on to your Historian module using the Conﬁgure how to log on to the module on page

117, the authorization is handled by FactoryTalk Security.

Create trusts for the data transfer

To ensure a secure connection between FactoryTalk Historian ME and FactoryTalk Historian SE, you need to create the

following trusts in System Management Tools on the FactoryTalk Historian SE server:

1. A trust for webs.

This trust is required so that you can select points for the data transfer on your Historian ME webpage.

When conﬁguring the trust, provide the following information:

◦ The IP address of your Historian ME module.

◦

The trust name: webs.

◦

The trust type: PI-API application.

◦

The application name: webs.

◦ A PI user as the PI Identity.

A trust for datatransfer.

This trust is required so that the selected points are transferred to FactoryTalk Historian SE.

When conﬁguring the trust, provide the following information:

◦ The IP address of your Historian ME module.

◦

The trust name: datatransfer.

◦

The trust type: PI-API application.

◦

The application name: datatransfer.

◦ A PI user as the PI Identity.

For other data transfer prerequisites, see Data transfer prerequisites on page 88.

For details on creating trusts in System Management Tools, refer to the System Management Tools and FactoryTalk

Historian SE user documentation.

124 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 9Manage security

Create trusts for FactoryTalk Historian clients

To create a trust between FactoryTalk Historian ME and a FactoryTalk Historian

client

1. Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Trust Management.

The Trust Management page appears.

At the bottom of the page, click New.

In the Trust text box, type the name of the trust.

To create a trust name, use English alphabet letters and numbers from zero through nine.

4. From the PI User list, select a FactoryTalk Historian ME user.

The privileges of the selected user will be assigned to the incoming connection when the connection

credentials match the speciﬁcations in the trust.

In the Domain box, type the name of the domain.

A Windows Domain name may be used only for trusts for SDK client applications running on Windows. The

domain must be the same for the FactoryTalk Historian ME server and the connecting application.

In the OS User text box, type the operating system user.

This text box is used only for SDK applications running within a Windows domain.

In the Application Name box, type the application name.

The format of the application name depends on the application type:

◦ If the application is an API application, its name consists of the ﬁrst four characters of the executable

ﬁle name of the application. The last character in the name must be a capital "E".

For example, FT-PE (for the Historian to Historian interface).

◦

If the application is an SDK application, its name is the full executable ﬁle name of the application

(including the ﬁle extension):

For this FactoryTalk Historian ME client: Use this application name:

FactoryTalk Historian ProcessBook Procbook.exe

FactoryTalk Historian DataLink EXCEL.exe

FactoryTalk VantagePoint ▪ w3wp.exe,

if you are running Internet Information Services

(IIS) 6.0 or 7.0.

▪ aspnet_wp.exe,

if you are running an earlier version of the IIS.

TrendX FTHRdCli.exe

FactoryTalk Administration Console/FactoryTalk View

Studio

VStudio.exe

ActiveX acview.exe

System Management Tools SMTHost.exe

PI-SDK PI-SDK Utitliy.exe

In the Network Path box, type the name of the network path.

(Optional) In the IP Address box, type an IP address.

10.

(Optional) In the Net Mask box, type a subnet mask address.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 125

Chapter 9Manage security

Tip: The IP Address and Net Mask text boxes are optional and may be used for either API or SDK

applications. You can ﬁll these boxes to point to exact IP addresses or speciﬁc subnets.

11. Click Save.

The new trust is displayed in the table.

Edit trusts

To edit a trust

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Trust Management.

The Trust Management page appears.

In the table, click the trust that you want to edit.

At the bottom of the page, click Edit.

The trust settings are displayed in the boxes at the top of the screen.

Make the changes, and then click Save.

5. Click OK.

Delete trusts

To delete a trust

Click the Conﬁgure Historian tab, and then click Trust Management.

The Trust Management page appears.

In the table, click the trust that you want to delete.

At the bottom of the page, click Delete.

A message appears prompting you to conﬁrm the action.

Click OK.

Integrate the module into a FactoryTalk environment with FactoryTalk Directory

In this section, you will learn how to integrate a standalone FactoryTalk Historian ME module into an existing

FactoryTalk system using FactoryTalk Directory. Integrating a standalone module into an existing FactoryTalk system

allows:

• Centralized administration of security credentials, performed in FactoryTalk Administration Console.

•

FactoryTalk clients (for example, FactoryTalk View SE or FactoryTalk Batch) to connect to the FactoryTalk

Historian ME module.

Integration prerequisites

Before you register the module in FactoryTalk Directory from a client computer, ensure that:

•

The FactoryTalk Services Platform is installed and conﬁgured on the client computer.

• FactoryTalk Historian ME Management is installed on the client computer.

• You are using the FactoryTalk Directory security credentials to log on to the module. For details, see

Conﬁgure how to log on to the module on page 117.

126 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 9Manage security

You can register the FactoryTalk Historian ME module in the FactoryTalk Directory using the FactoryTalk

Administration Console. To register the module, you must create an initial server connection.

Tip: For a list of prerequisites needed to use the FactoryTalk Directory, see Log on using the FactoryTalk

Directory with FactoryTalk Historian ME on page 118.

Add the Historian ME module in the PI SDK Utility

To add the Historian ME module in the PI SDK Utility

Go to Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Historian SE > FactoryTalk Historian SE

System > About PI-SDK.

The PI SDK Utility window appears.

On the File menu, click Connections.

The PI Connection Manager dialog box appears.

On the Server menu, click Add server.

The Add PI Server dialog box appears.

In the Network Path/FQDN box, type the IP address of the Historian module.

Click OK.

If a connection was successfully established, the IP address will appear in the PI Connection Manager dialog

box. If an error occurs, the module might be restarting. Ensure that the middle STS LED is ﬂashing green on

the module. This indicates that the module has fully initialized and a connection can be established.

If you want to add your Historian ME module to the FactoryTalk Directory, you need to register it in the FactoryTalk

Administration Console.

To register the Historian ME module in the FactoryTalk Administration Console

Go to Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Administration Console.

The FactoryTalk Administration Console window appears.

In the Select FactoryTalk Directory dialog box, click Network, and then click OK.

Tip: FactoryTalk Historian ME and FactoryTalk Historian SE support only the Network option in

the FactoryTalk Directory.

In the Explorer pane, expand System > Connections.

Right-click Historical Data ME, and then click New Historian ME Server Connection.

The Historian ME Server dialog box appears.

In the Name text box, type a name for the new server connection.

We suggest that you match the server connection name to your module name. The server connection name

must begin with a letter or a number and contain only letters, numbers, underscores, and spaces.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 127

Chapter 9Manage security

6. Under Server or Collective Name, do either of the following:

◦

Select your FactoryTalk Historian ME IP address from the list.

◦ Type a new server name or IP address.

7. Click Test Server Connection.

You should receive a Server found message. If you do not receive this message within a few minutes, the

module may still be restarting. Wait a few more minutes, verify the server name or IP address, and try again.

Click OK.

After the module is registered with the FactoryTalk Directory, its name appears under Historical Data ME in

the Explorer pane.

Create users in the FactoryTalk Administration Console

You can add users to preconﬁgured user groups in the FactoryTalk Administration Console. Each user group

is created automatically when the FactoryTalk Historian ME Management is installed. The FTHAdministrators,

FTHEngineers, FTHOperators, and FTHSupervisors user groups represent different levels of user security. For details,

see Understand privileges for user groups on page 119.

Tip: For more information on FactoryTalk Security users and groups, see the FactoryTalk Security User

Guide.

To create a FactoryTalk Historian ME user in the FactoryTalk Administration

Console

Go to Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Administration Console.

The FactoryTalk Administration Console window appears.

In the Select FactoryTalk Directory dialog box, click Network, and then click OK.

Tip: FactoryTalk Historian ME and FactoryTalk Historian SE support only the Network option in

the FactoryTalk Directory.

In the Explorer pane, expand User and Groups.

Right-click Users, and then click New > User.

The New User dialog box appears.

Complete the user information.

Click the Group Membership tab, and then click Add.

The Select User Group dialog box appears.

Select the group to which you want the user to belong, and then click OK.

In the New User dialog box, click OK.

In the Explorer pane, expand User Groups, and then double-click the group to which you added the new

user.

The new user is listed under Members.

128 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 9Manage security

Conﬁgure secure groups in the FactoryTalk Administration Console

To use the FactoryTalk Directory with FactoryTalk Historian ME, you need to conﬁgure speciﬁc user groups in the

FactoryTalk Administration Console. If you have FactoryTalk Historian SE installed in your environment, the secure

groups should already exist in the FactoryTalk Administration Console. Otherwise, you need to create them.

There are the following secure user groups conﬁgured in the FactoryTalk Administration Console:

•

FTHAdministrators

•

FTHEngineers

•

FTHSupervisors

•

FTHOperators

IMPORTANT: If your user belongs to a different security group than the groups listed above,

you will not be able to log on to the FactoryTalk Historian ME client website. To manage your

group access, contact the administrator.

If you plan to use the auditing features of FactoryTalk Historian ME while using FactoryTalk Security, you must

create user IDs on the User Management page that exactly match the user IDs in the FactoryTalk Directory. This

will allow you to track changes through a speciﬁc user and not a user group. An admin user who is a part of the

FTHAdministrators group in the FactoryTalk Administration Console must also belong to the FTHAdministrators,

FTHSupervisors, and FTHEngineers groups on FactoryTalk Historian ME. In addition, a user who belongs to the

FTHEngineers group must also belong to the FTHSupervisors group to change events on FactoryTalk Historian ME.

SNMP community strings

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a protocol for communication between devices connected in a

network. SNMP uses community strings as passwords that allow a get-request to access the statistics of a module.

Tip:

•

The Backup and Restore function does not include the SNMP community strings.

• Restoring FactoryTalk Historian ME defaults disables SNMP and deletes the existing community

strings. The system creates the default community string: public.

Enable SNMP

Enable SNMP to allow the devices to use community strings for communication.

Prerequisites

Enable HTTPS protocol. See: Conﬁgure where to use the secure communication protocol (HTTPS) on page 121.

To enable SNMP

Select the Advanced tab, then select SNMP Management.

Select the Enable SNMP checkbox.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 129

Chapter 9Manage security

Create SNMP community strings

Create SNMP community strings to use them as passwords to enable access to a device's statistics.

Tip:

•

Only accounts with piadmin or FTHAdministrators privileges can modify the contents of SNMP

Management page.

• While SNMP is enabled, it is not possible to add or delete community strings.

•

The string can contain up to 35 alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9).

•

FactoryTalk Historian ME supports a maximum of 5 community strings.

To create SNMP community strings

Select the Advanced tab, then select SNMP Management.

Uncheck the Enable SNMP checkbox.

Select Create.

In the next screen, enter the community string.

Select Save.

Repeat steps 3-5 as needed.

Recheck the Enable SNMP checkbox.

Delete SNMP community strings

Delete SNMP community strings that you no longer need.

To delete SNMP community strings

1. Select the Advanced tab, then select SNMP Management.

Uncheck the Enable SNMP checkbox.

In the table, select a string to delete.

Select Delete and conﬁrm.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 as needed.

Recheck the Enable SNMP checkbox.

130 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 10

Use the Rule Editor

FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor is a component of the FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools suite. You can use it

to create, edit, and delete custom rules for the point discovery process. The selections you make in the dialog box are

automatically written to the point discovery rule ﬁle. After you create rule ﬁles, you can upload them to the module

with the upload manager (see Upload ﬁles to the module on page 105). Tags that match the rules that you create will

be found and added to the FactoryTalk Historian ME server as part of the tag discovery process (see Add points using

the Add Points Wizard page on page 54).

With the Rule Editor, you can perform the following:

•

View the default point discovery rule ﬁle on page 131

•

Create point discovery rule ﬁles on page 131

•

Deﬁne point discovery rules on page 132

•

Edit point discovery rule ﬁles on page 134

•

Remove point discovery rule ﬁles on page 134

•

Create tag attribute ﬁles on page 135

•

Edit tag attribute ﬁles on page 139

•

Remove tag attribute ﬁles on page 139

View the default point discovery rule ﬁle

By default, FactoryTalk Historian ME provides a point discovery rule ﬁle named ADDefault.xml. It contains search

criteria with which you ﬁnd tags for the point creation process.

The path to the ADDefault.xml ﬁle is the following:

<Program Files (x86)>\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Historian ME\ME Rule Editor\ADDefault.xml

You can open the ﬁle from the Rule Editor, or in an XML editor.

To view the default rule ﬁle in the Rule Editor

Go to Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor > Launch Rule

Editor.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor window appears.

Under File Management, click View XML ﬁle.

The ﬁle is displayed in your web browser.

Create point discovery rule ﬁles

Instead of using the default point discovery rule ﬁle, you can create your own.

To create a point discovery rule ﬁle

1. Go to Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor > Launch Rule

Editor.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor window appears.

Under File Management, click Rule File Management.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME User Deﬁned Rule File List dialog box appears.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 131

Chapter 10Use the Rule Editor

3. Click New.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME User Deﬁned Rule File dialog box appears.

4. Under Rule File Name, type a name for the rule.

When typing the name, keep in mind the following points:

◦ The ﬁle name may only contain the following characters: @, ., -, _, a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and must not contain

any spaces.

◦

You may include the "Rule_" phrase at the beginning of the name, however, only once.

◦

You cannot include the "Rule_" phrase inside the rule name.

Adding it will cause problems with creating and viewing the rule ﬁle.

(Optional) Under Description, enter a description for the rule.

Click OK.

The rule appears in the FactoryTalk Historian ME User Deﬁned Rule File List dialog box.

Select the rule, and then click Open.

The rule ﬁle is listed under Current Rule File in the FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor window.

The following information is provided in the current rule ﬁle:

◦ The ﬁle name.

The name of the rule ﬁle that you have typed when creating the ﬁle is prepended with the Rule_

preﬁx, unless you have already included it while naming the rule.

◦

The description.

The point discovery rule ﬁles are stored in the following location:

C:\Users\<User Name>\Documents\Rockwell Automation\RuleEditor\

The names of the custom point discovery rule ﬁles are preceded with a Rule_ preﬁx.

Now you can add components to your rule ﬁle. For details, see:

•

Deﬁne point discovery rules on page 132

•

Create tag attribute ﬁles on page 135

Deﬁne point discovery rules

Use the rules to deﬁne which tags from the data source should be listed for the point discovery process so that you

can create points for them in your Historian module.

To deﬁne a rule

In the FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor window, click Rule File Management.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME User Deﬁned Rule File List dialog box appears.

Select the rule ﬁle for which you want to add rules, and then click Open.

In the FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor window, click New.

The Deﬁne Discovery Rule dialog box appears.

Under Description, type a description for the rule.

The description will be listed in the FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor list.

Deﬁne the data source:

◦

Under From, leave the default settings for the data source: LinxEnterprise and LogixControllers.

Deﬁne the type of the rule:

◦

If you are creating an inclusion rule, choose include tags.

◦ If you are creating an exclusion rule, choose exclude tags.

132 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 10Use the Rule Editor

7. Under Where, deﬁne the condition with tag search criteria:

Choose one of the following:

Choose this item: To discover tags that match:

name A tag name.

member A member name.

A member is an element of a user-defined tag (UDT).

data type A data type.

Choose one of the following:

Choose this item: If you want your: To:

starts with Start with a specific string.

contains Contain a specific string.

ends with

▪ name

End with a specific string.

is ▪ name

▪ member

▪

data type

Be a specific string.

Provide the string:

For this item: Do the following:

name

member

Type the string in the box.

data type Choose the data type from the list.

If you have chosen member, under Add these historian points, select an element within the member

with which you want to perform the search.

Click to add another search criterion to the condition.

Tip: To remove a search criterion, click .

From the list, choose either of the following to deﬁne the relation between the search criteria:

Choose this item: If you want that:

and All the search criteria from the condition are met in the

point discovery process.

or Any search criterion from the condition is met in the

point discovery process.

Under Use this conﬁguration, choose the tag attribute ﬁle that you want to use with the rule.

If there are no ﬁles available, choose <New Conﬁguration> to create one.

For details, see Create tag attribute ﬁles on page 135.

If you do not choose any ﬁle, the default tag attribute ﬁle, FTHMETagDefault.xml, will be used.

Click OK.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 133

Chapter 10Use the Rule Editor

The rule appears in the FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor window.

10.

Upload your ﬁle to the Historian module. See Upload ﬁles to the module on page 105.

Change the point discovery limit

By default, FactoryTalk Historian ME limits the point discovery to 2000 tags because it is the item count set in the

default rule ﬁle (ADDefault.xml) for the data source deﬁned as LogixController.

To change the point discover limit in the rule ﬁle

Open the rule ﬁle in an XML editor.

Find the following rule:

Change the value in the brackets to a higher value.

Save the ﬁle.

If you use the default rule ﬁle, change the value in this ﬁle:

<Program Files (x86)>\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Historian ME\ME Rule Editor\ADDefault.xml

If you create your custom rule ﬁle, add the rule with the higher item count.

Edit point discovery rule ﬁles

To edit a point discovery rule ﬁle

In the FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor window, click Rule File Management.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME User Deﬁned Rule File List dialog box appears.

Select the rule ﬁle that you want to edit, and then click Open.

The rule ﬁle appears in the FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor window.

The rules deﬁned in the ﬁle appear in the table.

Make your changes to the rule ﬁle:

◦

To change the ﬁle description, type a new one in the Description box.

◦ To add a rule, click New.

For details, see Deﬁne point discovery rules on page 132.

◦

To edit a rule, select the rule, and then click Edit.

For details, see Deﬁne point discovery rules on page 132.

◦

To remove a rule, select the rule, and then click Delete.

In the message box that appears, click Yes.

Click Save.

Remove point discovery rule ﬁles

To remove a point discovery rule ﬁle

In the FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor window, click Rule File Management.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME User Deﬁned Rule File List dialog box appears.

Select the rule ﬁle that you want to remove, and then click Remove.

In the message box that appears, click Yes.

134 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 10Use the Rule Editor

Create tag attribute ﬁles

Tip: To perform these steps, you need to run the Rule Editor with administrative privileges.

By default, FactoryTalk Historian ME uses a tag attribute ﬁle named FTHMETagDefault.xml. It deﬁnes point attributes

that will be assigned to the new points in the point creation process.

When you associate the tag attribute ﬁle with a rule ﬁle and use them to create points, all the points discovered with

the rules from the rule ﬁle will take on the attributes deﬁned in the tag attribute ﬁle.

Instead of using the default tag attribute ﬁle, you may create your own.

To create a tag attribute ﬁle

Go to Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor > Launch Rule

Editor.

Tip: If you have logged on to the computer without administrative privileges, hold down

Shift while clicking Launch Rule Editor with the right mouse button, and then click Run as

administrator. Follow the on-screen instructions to run the program with administrative

privileges.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor window appears.

Click Tag Attributes File Management.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME Tag Attribute File List dialog box appears.

Click New.

The FactoryTalk Historian Tag Attribute dialog box appears.

In the File Name box, type a name for the ﬁle.

The ﬁle name may only contain the following characters: @, ., -, _, a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and must not contain any

spaces.

In the Description box, type a description for the ﬁle.

You can use up to 80 characters.

In the Scan class list, select a scan class, and the scan type.

For details on scan classes, see Use scan classes on page 75.

For details on scan types, see Conﬁgure scan types on page 66.

In the Descriptor box, type a basic description of the point.

The description will be displayed in client applications and user reports.

The descriptor deﬁned here will be listed in the Extended Description attribute of the point. For example,

you can use this text as a basis for a tag search or in a trend display. It may be up to 65,535 characters long.

When this value is read, it is truncated to the ﬁrst 26 characters. Some interfaces use the descriptor for tag

conﬁguration in an external system. For those cases, do not use quotes or wildcards.

In the Eng Units box, specify the unit of measure in the string format.

The string may be of any length. However, when it is read, it is truncated to the ﬁrst 12 characters.

Engineering unit strings are case-preserving and case-insensitive. The system trims leading and trailing

blank spaces during the input.

If you use a single quote (‘) in a string, precede it with a double quote ("). Similarly, if you use a double quote

in a string, precede it with a single quote.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 135

Chapter 10Use the Rule Editor

9. In the Display digits box, specify the format of numeric values in the Historian web client and in reports.

A value equal to or greater than zero indicates the number of digits to display to the right of the decimal

point.

A value lower than zero indicates the number of signiﬁcant digits to display. The number of signiﬁcant digits

that will be used is determined by calculating the absolute value of the value set in the Display digits box.

The following table shows how 23.45 would appear on the screen depending on the value format set in the

Display digits box:

When Display digits is set to: The value on the screen appears as:

3 23.450

2 23.45

1 23.5

0 23.

-1 2E+001

10.

Click the Archive tab.

11.

In the Typical value box, type a reasonable value for a point.

For a numeric tag, it must be greater than or equal to the value of the Zero attribute, and lower than or equal

to the sum of the Zero and Span attribute values.

The typical value range is between 0 and 100.

The typical value range for the points of type Digital is between 0 and 1.

12.

In the Zero box, type the lowest value possible.

This attribute is required for all numeric data type points. It does not have to be the same as the instrument

zero, but that is usually a logical choice.

The zero value range is between 0 and 100.

13.

In the Span box, set the difference between the top and the bottom of the range.

This attribute is required for all numeric data type points.

For Float16 point types, the Span value is used with the Zero value for scaling values in the archive. The

Span property must be a positive value. If the value for a Float16 point type is greater than the top of the

range, it is recorded in the archive as Over Range.

For other point types, the Zero and Span values do not affect the values recorded in the archive. The Span

property is also used when deﬁning a FactoryTalk Historian ProcessBook trend with a vertical scale of the

database. This attribute is not used for non-numeric points.

14.

Under Step, choose either of the following to deﬁne the interpolation of numeric archived values:

The value of the Step attribute also affects the compression calculation. When it is set to On, a linear change

of a value greater than or equal to the value of the Compression Deviation attribute passes compression.

This is essentially the same as the exception reporting. When the value of the Step attribute is set to Off, the

complete swinging door algorithm is applied.

Choose this item: To treat the archived value as:

On A discrete value.

Adjacent archived values are not interpolated and an

archived value is assumed constant until the next archived

value.

136 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 10Use the Rule Editor

Choose this item: To treat the archived value as:

For example:

◦ At 12:00:00, the value 101.0 is archived.

◦

At 12:01:00, the value 102.0 is archived.

A request for the value at 12:00:30 would return 101.0.

In general, data coming from discrete measurements,

such as sampled laboratory data, batch charge

weight, etc., should be archived in points with the

Step attribute set to On.

Off A continuous signal.

Adjacent archived values are linearly interpolated.

For example:

◦ At 12:00:00, the value 101.0 is archived.

◦

At 12:01:00, the value 102.0 is archived.

A request for the archive value at 12:00:30 would

return 101.5.

In general, data coming from continuous signals, such

as signals from thermocouples, flow meters, etc.,

should be archived in points with the Step attribute

set to Off.

This is the default setting.

15.

Under Shutdown, choose either of the following to conﬁgure shutdown events for a point:

Choose this item: To do the following:

On Record shutdown events for a data point.

FactoryTalk Historian ME will automatically add a shutdown

event with the timestamp of the Historian ME server

shutdown to a point. In some cases, it is useful to record to

FactoryTalk Historian ME points when the archive was shut

down to indicate a gap in the data collection.

This is the default setting.

Off Leave a data point without recording the shutdown events.

16.

Under Compressing, set the data compression conﬁguration.

FactoryTalk Historian ME uses compression speciﬁcations to ﬁlter the data passed from the snapshot

subsystem to the archive subsystem. The snapshot subsystem stores the most recent value for each

data point. This most recent value is called the snapshot for that point. The snapshot subsystem uses

compression speciﬁcations to determine which of the values that it has received get saved in the archive

subsystem. By ﬁltering out data that you do not need, your archive storage gets more ecient.

The compression affects Digital point types, since a new value is recorded only when the current value

changes. For String point types, new points pass compression only when the value changes.

Choose either of the following:

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 137

Chapter 10Use the Rule Editor

Choose this item: To:

On Turn the data compression on for all real-time points in the

system.

This is the default setting,

Off Turn the data compression off for the laboratory and

manually entered points so that all values are archived.

When the Compressing attribute is set to Off, all points are

archived.

17.

Under Exception Deviation, conﬁgure which point values are sent to the server:

FactoryTalk Historian ME uses exception speciﬁcations so that the interface sends the data you are

interested in to the server, rather than sending a lot of data that is not meaningful. The process of using

exception speciﬁcation to control the ﬂow of data from the interface to the server is called exception

reporting. It takes place on the interface before the data is sent to the server.

In the ﬁrst text box, type a value for the exception deviation.

The value deﬁnes how much a value of a point must change before it is considered a signiﬁcant value

and sent to the server.

As a general rule, set the exception deviation slightly smaller than the precision of the instrument

system.

You can set the value in engineering units or as a percentage of the Span value.

In the list, choose either of the following:

▪

If you have set the Exception Deviation value in engineering units, choose Eng. Units.

▪ If you have set the Exception Deviation value as a percentage, choose % of Span.

In the Min Time boxes, specify how frequently the interface can report values to the server.

For example, if you want the interface to wait full 10 minutes before reporting a new value to the server,

set the attribute to 10 minutes.

Usually, this attribute is set to 0.

In the Max Time boxes, specify how long the interface can go without reporting a value to the server.

As soon as the time limit set in this attribute elapses, the interface sends the next new value to the

server regardless of whether the new value is different from the last reported value. This may result in

sending duplicated data.

For Digital or String point types, only the exception maximum and exception minimum attributes are

important. The exception deviation value is ignored by the Historian module.

See also Exception ﬁltering on page 64.

18.

Under Compression Deviation, conﬁgure which point values are sent to the archive.

FactoryTalk Historian ME uses the compression conﬁguration to specify which data is archived.

a. In the ﬁrst text box, type a value for the compression deviation.

The value deﬁnes how much a value of a point must change before it is considered a signiﬁcant value

and sent to the archive.

As a general rule, set the compression deviation to the precision of the data source or hardware

(instrument). After collecting data for a while, go back and check the data for your most important tags

and adjust the value of the attribute, if necessary.

Set the value with care. If you set the value too low, too little compression is imposed on data and a lot

of space is wasted in the archive. If you set the value too high, you may lose important data.

You can set the value in engineering units or as a percentage of the Span value.

138 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 10Use the Rule Editor

For regular ﬂows, pressures, and levels, you can set the compression deviation to 1% or 2% of the Span

attribute value. For temperatures, use 1 or 2 degrees.

b. In the list, choose either of the following:

▪

If you have set the Compression Deviation value in engineering units, choose Eng. Units.

▪ If you have set the Compression Deviation value as a percentage, choose % of Span.

In the Min Time boxes, specify how frequently the data is archived.

A point is archived if the time that elapsed since the last archiving equals to or is greater than the Min

Time value, and the value of the point has changed by more than the value of the Exception Deviation

attribute.

For data points associated with interfaces that send exception reports, set this value to 0.

In the Max Time boxes, specify the time break without archiving the data.

A point is archived if the time that elapsed since the last archiving is greater than the Max Time value.

As soon as the time limit set in this attribute elapses, the data is archived regardless of whether the

new value is different from the last archived value. This may result in archiving duplicated data.

The recommended value is one work shift (for example, 8 hours). Typically, you should set the same

Max Time value to all the points in the system.

For Digital or String point types, only the compression maximum and compression minimum attributes

are important. The compression deviation value is ignored by the Historian module.

See also Compression ﬁltering on page 64.

19.

Click OK.

20.

The ﬁle is listed in the FactoryTalk Historian Tag Attribute File List dialog box.

Tag attribute ﬁles are stored in the same location as the point discovery rule ﬁles:

C:\Users\<User Name>\Documents\Rockwell Automation\RuleEditor\

The names of the custom tag attribute ﬁles are preceded with a TCFG_ preﬁx.

21.

After the tag attribute ﬁle has been created, you must upload the ﬁle to FactoryTalk Historian ME. You must

have administrator privileges to upload ﬁles.

Now you can upload your ﬁle to the Historian module. For details, see Upload ﬁles to the module on page 105.

Edit tag attribute ﬁles

To edit a tag attribute ﬁle

In the FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor window, click Tag Attributes File Management.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME Tag Attribute File List dialog box appears.

Select the ﬁle that you want to edit, and then click Edit.

For details, see Create tag attribute ﬁles on page 135.

Click OK.

Remove tag attribute ﬁles

To remove a tag attribute ﬁle

In the FactoryTalk Historian ME Rule Editor window, click Tag Attributes File Management.

The FactoryTalk Historian ME Tag Attribute File List dialog box appears.

Select the ﬁle that you want to remove, and then click Remove.

In the message box that appears, click Yes.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 139

Chapter 11

Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer Module Proﬁle

The FactoryTalk Historian ME Logix Designer Module Proﬁle allows you to integrate a ControlLogix controller with the

FactoryTalk Historian ME module.

The Module Proﬁle is available on the FactoryTalk Historian ME Client Tools DVD.

You can use the Module Proﬁle with either RSLogix 5000 or Logix Designer, depending on your ﬁrmware version:

•

For the ﬁrmware revision 20 and earlier, use RSLogix 5000.

•

For the ﬁrmware revision 21 and later, use Studio 5000 Logix Designer.

The instructions presented in this chapter are based on RSLogix 5000. You may reuse them for Studio 5000 Logix

Designer.

Conﬁgure your Historian module in the Module Proﬁle

To conﬁgure the Historian module in the Module Proﬁle

Add the Historian module to a project in Logix Designer.

2. Add the Ladder logic to the controller.

For details, see Example: Use the module proﬁle on page 142.

Conﬁgure the module properties

Use the Module Properties dialog box to perform the following actions on your Historian module:

•

Restore the default settings.

• Reset the security conﬁguration.

• Shut down the module.

•

Start up the module.

•

Refresh data about the module.

•

Reset the module.

Tip: Before you modify the module properties, back up your current module conﬁguration.

To conﬁgure the module properties

In RSLogix 5000 or Logix Designer, in the Controller Organizer, expand I/O Conﬁguration.

Right-click your Historian module, and then click Properties.

The Module Properties dialog box appears.

Click the Conﬁguration tab.

Tip: The blue arrows next to the buttons indicate that the given action will be immediately

committed, without pressing the Apply button ﬁrst.

Choose any of the following options:

◦

Restore Defaults

Click this button to restore the module back to its original conﬁguration.

140 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 11Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer Module Proﬁle

All conﬁguration data, archives, and logs are deleted and reset.

This process may take some time. While restoring the default settings, the Historian webpage will not

be available.

After you click Restore Defaults, a message appears:

Click To

Yes Perform the restore defaults action.

You will have 5 minutes to do either of the following:

▪

Cut off and restore the power to the module

by turning off and on the power switch on the

chassis.

▪ Unplug and insert the module to the chassis.

Otherwise, the action will be canceled.

No Cancel the restore defaults action.

◦

Reset Security

Resets the module security back to the FactoryTalk Historian ME Local Security mode and makes the

piadmin user the password empty.

If the Historian module is in safe mode, clicking Reset Security will have no effect. For details, see

Repair archives using safe mode on page 112.

After you click Reset Security, a message appears:

Click To

Yes Perform the reset security action.

You will have 5 minutes to do either of the following:

▪

Cut off and restore the power to the module

by turning off and on the power switch on the

chassis.

▪ Unplug and insert the module into the chassis.

Otherwise, the action will be canceled.

No Cancel the reset security action.

◦

Shutdown

Shut down the module. This process may take some time.

The module shutdown allows you to stop all FactoryTalk Historian ME related services (including

the point server, the data collection, the data transfer, and the web conﬁguration server). It is

recommended that you shut down the module if you plan to remove it from the chassis or if you are

going to power down the chassis.

Before you perform any other operations in the Conﬁguration tab, wait until the shutdown is complete.

◦

Startup

Start the module after it was shut down.

When you click the Startup button, the module is rebooted, and the data collection service is restarted.

The button is available only when the module is shut down.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 141

Chapter 11Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer Module Proﬁle

If Logix Designer Module Proﬁle loses communication with the module at the startup time, the message

"Requested message timed out" appears. Click OK and retry.

Tip: Alternatively, you can execute the Restore Defaults, Reset Security, and Shutdown

actions using the FactoryTalk Historian ME web client.

For details, see Restore and reset module-related settings on page 114, Reset the security

mode on page 114, and Close and start the module on page 115.

Click the Module Info tab.

Choose any of the following options:

◦

Refresh

Click this button to refresh the tab with new data from the module.

◦ Reset Module

Click this button to reset the module.

Tip: After restoring the module defaults conﬁguration or resetting the security mode,

change the password for the default admin user.

Example: Use the Module Proﬁle

In this example you will learn about the following:

•

Setting up a controller in the local chassis to monitor key FactoryTalk Historian ME statistics, and control the

data collection service using the Module Proﬁle.

• Writing the controller logic for:

◦

Monitoring key statistics of the Historian module with input tags.

◦ Making control decisions using output tags.

You can use the output tags to control the status of the data collection (running or stopped) and the

status of the Historian module (running or shut down).

Add an Ethernet driver

After installing the Module Proﬁle, make sure that you install and conﬁgure an Ethernet driver using RSLinx Classic.

You will use the driver to connect to your processor and download the Ladder logic to the controller.

For details, see the RSLinx Classic user documentation.

To add the Ethernet driver

Go to Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > RSLinx > RSLinx Classic.

RSLinx Classic appears.

On the Communications menu, click Conﬁgure Drivers.

The Conﬁgure Drivers dialog box appears.

In the Available Driver Types list, click Ethernet devices.

Click Add New.

The Add New RSLinx Classic Driver dialog box appears.

In the text box, type the name of the Ethernet module (ENBT or EN2T) from your chassis.

142 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 11Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer Module Proﬁle

6. Click OK.

The Conﬁgure driver dialog box appears.

7. Next to the 0 station, type the IP address of the Ethernet module (the leftmost module).

8. Click OK.

The new driver appears under Conﬁgured Drivers.

Add the module to Studio 5000 Logix Designer

Before you add your Historian module, make sure that the following prerequisites are met:

•

The project ﬁle that contains the controller programming and conﬁguration information (the .ACD ﬁle)

already exists in Logix Designer.

• Communication devices are added to the I/O Conﬁguration folder.

•

Logic, tags, and communication path are deﬁned.

•

The controller is manually set to the remote run mode.

To add the module to Logix Designer

Tip: The following steps may vary depending on your version of Logix Designer.

Go to Start > Programs > Rockwell Software > Studio 5000.

Studio 5000 Logix Designer appears.

Tip: Alternatively, double-click the .ACD ﬁle to open Logix Designer.

On the File menu, click Open, and then browse for the Logix Designer project ﬁle.

Click Open.

The project is loaded.

In the Controller Organizer, right-click the I/O Conﬁguration folder, and then click New Module.

The Select Module Type dialog box appears.

Select the Historian module that you want to add to the Logix Designer project.

Click Create.

The New Module dialog box appears.

In the Name box, type the name of the module.

The name will appear in the Controller Organizer.

For information on naming conventions, see the Logix Designer user documentation.

Under Ethernet Address, click IP Address, and then type the IP address of the module.

10.

In the Slot list, select the number of the slot in which the module is located.

11.

(Optional.) Click Change, to conﬁgure the electronic keying, the connection type, and/or the revision number.

The Module Deﬁnition dialog box appears.

12.

In the Series list, select the series of the Historian module.

13.

In the Revision lists, select the revision numbers of the ﬁrmware installed on the module.

14.

In the Electronic Keying list, select the desired option.

For details, see the Logix Designer user documentation.

15.

In the Connection list, select the connection type, and then click OK.

The New Module dialog box appears.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 143

Chapter 11Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer Module Proﬁle

16. Click OK.

The module appears in the Controller Organizer, under I/O Conﬁguration.

17. On the Communications menu, click Who Active.

The Who Active dialog box appears.

18.

Select the controller to which you will download the Logix Designer project.

19.

Click Set Project Path to provide the path to the controller in the project.

The path in the projects points now to the location of the controller.

20. Click Download to download the project to the controller.

21.

Verify the controller information.

22.

Click Download.

The Logix Designer project is downloaded to the controller.

23.

Click Yes.

Use output tags to start and stop the data collection

To stop the data collection

In the Controller Organizer, under the folder of the controller to which you have downloaded the project,

double-click Controller Tags.

The list of tags appears.

Expand input tags (Local: <Slot number> I) and output tags (Local: <Slot number > O).

For details on input tags and their values, see Use the input and output tags to read the Historian ME status

on page 145.

Under output tags, next to the StopDataCollection tag, change its value from 0 to 1, and then press Enter.

144 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 11Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer Module Proﬁle

The following actions take place:

◦

The value of the DataCollectionActive input tag changes from 1 to 0.

◦ The value of the TagsActive input tag changes from its current value to 0, because the scanning of all

the points is stopped.

To start the data collection

Under output tags, next to the StartDataCollection tag, change its value from 0 to 1, and then press Enter.

The following actions take place:

◦ The value of the DataCollectionActive input tag changes from 0 to 1.

◦ The value of the TagsActive input tag changes from 0 to its current value.

◦

The values of the DataCollectionRate, DataTransferRate, and ArchiveRate input tags are updated,

provided that these services are conﬁgured on your module.

You can write Ladder logic programs to monitor these statistics and programmatically start and stop the data

collection and/or stop and start batches depending on the status of the module.

To reset the output tags back to 0, write the Ladder logic or manually set them to 0.

Use the input and output tags to read the Historian ME status

With the Module Proﬁle, you can view the current status of your Historian ME module directly in Logix Designer. The

status is presented with input and output tags. Each tag corresponds with a speciﬁc functionality of FactoryTalk

Historian ME.

Tip: The bits referenced in this section are indexed from right to left, with the least signiﬁcant bit

indexed as a0, and the adjoining bits indexed as a1, a2, etc.

The Fault tag may indicate the following activities of the module:

•

The module has entered safe mode.

The safe mode is indicated with the least signiﬁcant bit (a0) in the Fault word set to 1.

•

There is at least one bad point on the module.

The bad points are indicated with the a1 bit in the Fault word set to 1.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 145

Chapter 11Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer Module Proﬁle

This reﬂects the information available on the Home tab of FactoryTalk Historian ME module page under Point

Statistics.

•

The time synchronization with the NTP server does not work correctly.

The time synchronization error is indicated with the a2 bit in the Fault word set to 1.

The update of the time synchronization status in the tag value may be delayed by several minutes after the

actual status change.

The indication of the NTP time synchronization status is correlated with the following message:

There is a clock drift of 500 ppm or the NTP server cannot be reached to

synchronize the time.

The message appears on the Time Management page in the following locations in the Historian module web

interface:

◦

On the Advanced tab in the Historian web client.

◦

On the Hardware tab in the Web Diagnostics client.

146 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 11Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer Module Proﬁle

• At least one required PI process and/or FactoryTalk Historian ME-speciﬁc process is not running.

This is indicated with the a3 bit in the Fault word set to 1.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 147

Chapter 12

Create trends with the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink Add-in

FactoryTalk Historian DataLink is a client application that you can use with your FactoryTalk Historian ME. It is a

Microsoft Excel Add-in for exchanging information directly with FactoryTalk Historian ME. It provides powerful tools

for gathering, visualizing, monitoring, analyzing, and reporting data from FactoryTalk Historian ME and FactoryTalk

Historian SE.

For more information on FactoryTalk Historian DataLink, refer to the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink User Guide.

In this chapter you will learn about the following:

•

Deﬁne the server connection on page 148

•

Insert trends in a Microsoft Excel workbook on page 149

•

Create trends visualizing the data transfer on page 150

Prerequisites

In order to use the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink Add-in, you should have:

Installed Microsoft Excel in a version compatible with your version of FactoryTalk Historian DataLink.

For details, see the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink Release Notes.

Installed FactoryTalk Historian DataLink Add-in.

For details, see the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink user documentation.

Enabled the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink Add-in tab in Microsoft Excel.

For details, see the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink user documentation.

Tip: If you cannot see the tab, refer to the FactoryTalk Historian SE Installation and Conguration

Guide, section "Enable Excel add-ins for FactoryTalk Historian DataLink" and to "Activate Excel

COM add-ins for FactoryTalk Historian DataLink" to learn how to enable it manually.

Deﬁne the server connection

Before you begin using an Excel Add-in, you need to conﬁgure a connection to each FactoryTalk Historian ME and

FactoryTalk Historian SE server that you are going to use with the Add-in.

To deﬁne a server connection to FactoryTalk Historian SE or FactoryTalk Historian

Go to Start > Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Historian SE > FactoryTalk Historian SE

System > About PI-SDK.

The PI SDK Utility window appears.

On the Connections menu, click Add server.

The Add PI Server dialog box appears.

In the Network Path/FQDN box, type the IP address of your FactoryTalk Historian SE or FactoryTalk Historian

ME.

Click OK.

The server is added to the server list.

Select the checkbox next to the server.

148 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 12Create trends with the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink Add-in

The connection details appear in the right pane of the PI SDK Utility window.

The connection status appears at the bottom of the window.

6. Repeat the steps for each server that you are going to use with the Add-in.

Insert trends in a Microsoft Excel workbook

To insert a trend in a Microsoft Excel workbook

Tip: The following steps may vary depending on your version of Microsoft Excel.

1. Open Microsoft Excel.

Select the cell in which you want the trend chart to appear.

Click the PI DataLink tab.

Tip: For details, see the prerequisites in Create trends with the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink

Add-in on page 148.

In the Tag Functions group, click Insert Trend.

The Trend Add-in Wizard dialog box appears.

On the Deﬁne the Traces page, click Data from PI.

In the Server name box, type the IP address of your module, or select a module from the list.

Next to the Tag name box, click .

The Tag Search dialog box appears.

In the PI Server box, select the server on which you want to search the tags for your trend.

Specify the other ﬁltering criteria, and then click Search.

The table below the search boxes is populated with the search results.

10.

Select the name of the tag for your trend, and then click OK.

The selected tag appears in the right pane of the Deﬁne the Traces page.

11.

Select the checkbox next to the tag name, and then click Next.

The Specify the time range page appears.

12.

In the Start Time and End Time checkboxes, set the time range from which the data will be displayed.

The default value for Start Time is *-8h.

The default value for End Time is * (the current time).

13.

Select the Enable updates checkbox, and then click Next.

14.

In the Trend title (optional) box, type a name for your trend.

15.

Click Format.

The PI Trend Control Properties dialog box appears.

16.

Select the Vertical Scale property.

17.

On the Options tab, under Scale:

In the Format list, select General.

b. In the Position list, select Outside Left.

18.

Click OK.

19.

In the Trend Add-in Wizard window, click Finish.

The trend chart appears in your Excel spreadsheet.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 149

Chapter 12Create trends with the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink Add-in

Create trends visualizing the data transfer

In this exercise, you will choose a data point that you have added to the data transfer, and you will create a trend that

displays this point data from both FactoryTalk Historian ME and FactoryTalk Historian SE.

To create a trend visualizing the data transfer between FactoryTalk Historian ME

and FactoryTalk Historian SE

Tip: The following steps may vary depending on your version of Microsoft Excel.

Open Microsoft Excel.

Select the cell in which you want the trend chart to appear.

Click the PI DataLink tab.

Tip: For details, see the prerequisites in Create trends with the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink

Add-in on page 148.

In the Tag Functions group, click Insert Trend.

The Trend Add-in Wizard dialog box appears.

On the Deﬁne the Traces page, click Data from PI.

In the Server name box, type the IP address of your module, or select a module from the list.

Next to the Tag name box, click .

The Tag Search dialog box appears.

Click the PI Server box.

The Multi-Server Pick List dialog box appears.

Choose the FactoryTalk Historian SE server and the Historian module for which you have enabled the data

transfer:

a. Click the IP address of your FactoryTalk Historian SE server, and then hold down the Ctrl key while you

click the IP address of your Historian module.

Click OK.

10.

Conﬁgure your search criteria, and then click Search.

11.

There will be two matches for the same point listed: one from FactoryTalk Historian ME, and the other from

FactoryTalk Historian SE.

The name of the point transferred to FactoryTalk Historian SE is preﬁxed with the Historian module name. In

this example, the Historian module name is A0004B97-FTHME.

12.

Click a point data from your Historian module, and then hold down the Ctrl key while you click the same point

transferred to the FactoryTalk Historian SE server.

13.

Click OK.

The selected data points appear in the right pane of the Deﬁne the Traces page.

14.

Select the checkboxes next to the data point names, and then click Next.

The Specify the time range page appears.

15.

In the Start Time and End Time checkboxes, set the time range from which the data will be displayed.

When setting the End Time value, consider the fact that the data from the FactoryTalk Historian SE server

will appear with a slight delay.

In this example, we set the End Time value to 5 minutes (*-5m).

16.

Select the Enable updates checkbox, and then click Next.

150 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 12Create trends with the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink Add-in

17. In the Trend title (optional) box, type a name for your trend.

18.

Click Format.

The PI Trend Control Properties dialog box appears.

19. Select the Vertical Scale property.

20.

On the Options tab, under Scale:

In the Format list, select General.

b. In the Position list, select Outside Left.

21. Click OK.

22.

In the Trend Add-in Wizard window, click Finish.

The trend chart appears in your Excel spreadsheet.

The trend displays the following data:

- the data from FactoryTalk Historian SE.

- the data from FactoryTalk Historian ME.

The module data point is a real-time display, while the FactoryTalk Historian SE data point lags by a couple of

minutes. However, the data is identical.

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 151

Chapter 13

Use Web Diagnostics

In this chapter, you will learn how to troubleshoot and tune your Historian ME module using the FactoryTalk Historian

ME Web Diagnostics page.

FactoryTalk Historian ME is an embedded system with multiple layers of ﬁrmware applications. Firmware applications

and hardware components are available via the FactoryTalk Historian ME Web Diagnostics page.

To access the Web Diagnostics page

Open the web browser and type https://<Module IP_address>:8443.

Tip: For details, see Conﬁgure where to use the secure communication protocol (HTTPS) on page

121.

You can also use the Fully Qualiﬁed Domain Name instead of the IP address of the module. Type

the domain name in the following format:

For example, module1.mycompany.com

In Windows Security, type the user name admin and the password admin.

Tip: This is an optional step if the module is in safe mode. You can repair archives without login.

For more details, see Repair archives using safe mode on page 112.

Change the password for the default admin user.

For more details, see Change password on page 170.

The page contains the following tabs:

•

Home on page 153

•

Hardware on page 153

•

Firmware on page 162

•

Admin on page 168

Tip:

◦

To open the web diagnostics online help, click Help.

◦ To check the ﬁrmware version and product ID, click About.

152 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 13Use Web Diagnostics

Home

The Home tab displays the following information:

Item Description

Device Name The name of FactoryTalk Historian ME.

Device Description The version number of FactoryTalk Historian ME.

Device Location The physical slot location of the FactoryTalk Historian ME

module in the chassis.

Ethernet Address (MAC) The MAC address of the Ethernet port.

IP Address The IP address of FactoryTalk Historian ME.

Production Revision The revision number of FactoryTalk Historian ME.

Firmware Version The version number of the firmware.

Serial Number The serial number of FactoryTalk Historian ME.

Up Time The amount of CPU time used.

Hardware

The Hardware tab contains the following information:

•

Overview on page 154

• CPU, RAM on page 154

• NAND on page 155

•

Controller statistics on page 157

•

ControlBus statistics on page 158

•

EtherNet/IP on page 159

• Display LED on page 160

•

Time management on page 161

Rockwell Automation, Inc. 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 153

Chapter 13Use Web Diagnostics

Overview

The Overview page displays the following information:

Item Description

CPU Usage The percent of CPU utilization for the module.

RAM Usage The RAM (physical memory) usage in megabytes (and

percentage).

NAND Usage NAND usage (storage) in megabytes (and percentage).

Ethernet Link Displays the module’s Ethernet connection status.

LED Information for either the static or the scroll display will be

available. If a static message is available, there is no scrolling

display. If a message is scrolling in the module LED, no static

message is available.

•

Static Display

The current message being displayed on module LED.

•

Scroll Display

The current message being scrolled on module LED.

CPU, RAM

The CPU, RAM page contains the following sections:

•

CPU Statistics

This section displays the following information:

Item Description

Cache The amount of CPU cache present on the module.

Model CPU information.

Speed CPU speed. The field always displays Varying.

Usage The current snapshot of CPU utilization (as a percentage).

154 1756-UM106H-EN-E - June 2024 Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Chapter 13Use Web Diagnostics

• RAM Statistics

This section displays the following information:

Item Description

Buffers The total amount of RAM in megabytes that is buffered.

Cached The total amount of RAM in megabytes that is cached.

Active The total amount of RAM in megabytes that is in use.

Inactive The total amount of RAM in megabytes that is not in use.

Usage The percent of total memory utilization for the module.

•