M-Alarm User s Guide 1-1 Chapter 1 Introduction Introduction M-Alarm allows the user to view, store, and manipulate current alarms received by N1 or BACnet Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) for Process Controls (OPC) Alarm and Event (AE) servers connected to one or more subsystems. November 1, 2001 Johnson Controls, Inc. www.johnsoncontrols.com Code No. LIT-11537505 Software Release 5.0
1-2 M-Alarm User s Guide Key Concepts M-Alarm Components M-Alarm includes powerful alarm detection, sorting, filtering, viewing, and reporting from AE servers. M-Alarm is a collection of alarming components including the Current Events Viewer, Logger, and Reports. The client components of M-Alarm communicate with AE servers in order to receive and process alarm data. M-Alarm supports both the N1 OPC AE and BACnet OPC AE servers. Note: BACnet OPC AE Server N1 OPC AE Server N1 OPC AE Configurator Companion /Facilitator alarms still appear in the M3 Workstation alarm bar. Refer to the M3 Workstation User s Guide for details. The Metasys alarms still appear in the Critical Alarm box. Refer to the Report Router/Alarm Management Technical Bulletin (LIT-636114) for details. The BACnet OPC AE server provides an interface for OPC-compliant Windows client applications to access alarms and events from N30 Supervisory Controllers and any third-party BACnet-compliant controller, such as a Cardkey access system. Refer to the Using M-Alarm with the BACnet OPC AE Server chapter. The N1 OPC AE server provides an interface for OPC-compliant Windows client applications to access alarms and events from Metasys Person-Machine Interface (PMI) systems. Refer to the Using M-Alarm with the N1 OPC AE Server chapter. The N1 OPC AE Configurator defines the N1 OPC AE server parameters and specifies connections to the Metasys Remote Server (MRS) at the defined location (for example, the local machine). The N1 OPC AE server retrieves all the initialization parameters in the registry, except the site Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and stores the parameters in a database. The N1 OPC AE Configurator has a graphical user interface to view and modify these parameters. Refer to the Using M-Alarm with the N1 OPC AE Server chapter.
M-Alarm User s Guide 1-3 Current Events Viewer The Current Events Viewer (Figure 1-1) displays current alarm information and handles alarm acknowledgement. Refer to the Viewing and Acknowledging Alarms chapter in this user s guide. Users can modify the layout of information including sort order, color, font, and displayed data. Figure 1-1: Current Events Viewer Runtime Mode Figure 1-2 is an example of the Current Events Viewer in Configuration mode, which defines the appearance in Runtime mode. See the Viewing and Acknowledging Alarms chapter in this guide for more information.
1-4 M-Alarm User s Guide Default Views Figure 1-2: Current Events Viewer Configuration Mode As a Standalone Application You can launch the Current Events Viewer as a standalone application to view M-Alarm (.a32) files. However, we recommend adding it as an M3 Workstation workspace or M5 Screen Manager panel. M-Alarm includes the following default views. Table 1-1: N1 General Alarm Message Regular View.a32 Column Heading Condition Original Event Item (Tag) Value Units Latest Event User ID Ack Comment Message Special Text Alarm Type Event Category New State Quality Description Name of condition that caused the event to occur (e.g., High Alarm, Low Warning, etc.) Time that the event was originally generated Name of the point that caused the event to occur Value of attribute that caused event to occur Engineering units of attribute/property name Timestamp of latest event occurrence Name of workstation/user that acknowledged an event Comment or Annotation entered for Acknowledgement Alarm Message associated with the point Special text associated with the particular event (usually from JC-BASIC Process) Type of alarm (e.g., Alarm, Acknowledged, Unacknowledged) One of OPC Event Categories. For example: General Alarm or General Message. Abbreviated condition of the alarm: active, enabled, acknowledged, etc. OPC indicator as to reliability of event
M-Alarm User s Guide 1-5 Table 1-2: N1 General Alarm Message Simplified View.a32 Column Heading Condition Original Event Item (Tag) Value Units Latest Event User ID Ack Comment Message Special Text Description Name of condition that caused the event to occur (e.g., High Alarm, Low Warning, etc.) Time that the event was originally generated Name of the point that caused the event to occur Value of attribute that caused event to occur Engineering units of the value/property name Timestamp of latest event occurrence Name of workstation/user that acknowledged an event Comment or Annotation entered for Acknowledgement Alarm Message associated with the point Special text associated with the particular event (usually from JC-BASIC Process) Table 1-3: N30 BACnet Regular View.a32 Column Heading Time/Date Alarm Type BACnet Event Type Event Type Event Category Condition Name SubCondition Name Tag Priority Quality Description Vendor ID Areas Property Name From State Property Value Units Ack Comment Complete Ack Actor ID Description Timestamp of latest event occurrence Type of alarm (e.g., Alarm, Acknowledged, Unacknowledged) BACnet-specific event type OPC-specific event type (Simple, Tracking, or Condition) One of OPC event categories. For example: General Alarm or General Message. Name of condition that caused the event to occur More specific cause of the event Name of the point that caused the event to occur Severity of alarm/event OPC indicator as to reliability of event Description of event Identifier of BACnet subsystem Specific locator of Tag (source) Attribute that caused event to occur Previous state before transition occurred Value of attribute that caused event to occur Engineering units of property name Comment entered by user when alarm was acknowledged Indicates if controller needs complete acknowledgement. Name of workstation/user that acknowledged an event
1-6 M-Alarm User s Guide Logger The Logger archives events and alarms to a database and/or printer. The Logger can process alarm information from several local alarm servers. Reports display the information contained in the log. Refer to the Configuring the Logger and Configuring M-Alarm Reports chapters in this user s guide for more details. Logger Configurator The Logger Configurator configures the Logger, determines which events to archive, and selects the columns or fields to log (Figure 1-3). Refer to the Configuring the Logger chapter for more details. Figure 1-3: M-Alarm Logger Configurator Reports The Logger archives events and alarms. Reports display alarms from the Logger database in a table format (Figure 1-4). Because a report is a snapshot of the alarms in the Logger database, it does not update as new alarms appear in the Viewer. M-Alarm Release 1.0 includes two default reports: N1 and N30 (BACnet) servers. Users can add reports to the M5 Workstation Screen Manager or the Report ActiveX control to an M-Graphic file.
M-Alarm User s Guide 1-7 Figure 1-4: M-Alarm Report File Extensions Table 1-4 lists the file extensions associated with M-Alarm. Table 1-4: M-Alarm File Extensions File Extension Description.a32 M-Alarm Application.awv M-Alarm View Control/Object.awi M-Alarm Indicator Application.gdf M-Graphic Application Alarm An alarm is an abnormal condition and, thus, is a special type of condition. Alarms are condition-related events. Condition related events may be initiated by field objects of integrated networks. For example are an interlock input object going into Hi Alarm, or a binary input object going into its alarm state. Condition A condition is a named state of the OPC Event server or one of its objects.
1-8 M-Alarm User s Guide Event Event Categories System Requirements Related Information An event is a detectable activity. There are three types of events: simple, tracking-related, and condition-related. Simple events include a component failure within the system/device. Tracking-related events involve the interaction of a client with an object. The operator s changing the set point of a tag is an example. Condition-related events represent transitions into or out of the states. An object transitioning into Hi Alarm is an example. Event categories define a group of events supported by the AE server. An event category can only contain one type of event (simple, tracking-related, or condition-related). We are currently using the event categories GENERAL_ALARM, SECURITY ALARM, SECURITY TRANSACTION, GENERAL TRANSACTION, and GENERAL_MESSAGE for the N1 configurations, and a different set of event categories for the BACnet configurations. M-Alarm is available with M3 Workstation Release 5.0 or M5 Workstation Release 5.0. Refer to the Metasys Installation and Platform Requirements Technical Bulletin (LIT-12012) for information on Personal Computer (PC) requirements. As a reference, Table 1-5 lists literature where further information related to M-Alarm can be found. Table 1-5: Related Information Manual Metasys Installation and Platform Requirements Technical Bulletin M3 Workstation User s Guide M5 Workstation User s Guide LIT number 12012 N30 Supervisory Controller Quick Start Technical Bulletin 6891200 N30 Supervisory Controller User s Guide