On a ClearSCADA system, you configure the ClearSCADA database so that entries in the database reference the devices and attributes that you are trying to monitor on your system. This section summarizes the database items that you need to configure in order to monitor aspects of system performance.
In order to monitor system performance, the Performance Monitor Driver has to be installed and running on the ClearSCADA servers on your system. When the driver is first installed, a System Administrator needs to define the server settings for the driver (see Configuring Performance Monitor Server Settings).
When you configure Performance Monitor items in the ClearSCADA database, many of the settings for those items need to correspond to the settings on the relevant nodes (computers or workstations) on your system. You need to have access to, or a list of, these settings before you can configure the Performance Monitor database items successfully.
For instance, you need to know the node names of the computers on your system, and the aspects of system performance that need to be monitored on each node.
You also need to be aware of which optional features are required for each Performance Monitor item. These features include:
- Alarm views
- Alarm redirections
- Historic data storage
- User methods.
You can also use core ClearSCADA features with Performance Monitor database items, including Lists, Actions, and Mimics. See the core documentation for details.
For each device that ClearSCADA is to scan for performance data, you need to configure:
- At least one Performance Monitor Scanner per node (computer or workstation) (see Configuring a Performance Monitor Scanner). (For the driver to scan performance data at different rates on the same node, configure one scanner per required scan rate on that node.)
- One Performance Monitor Analog Point per item of system performance that the driver is to monitor on a node (see Configuring Analog Points).
To minimize the time that it takes to configure the required Performance Monitor items, you may want to configure them in the order listed above, as the Point configuration requires that you specify a scanner, and so on.
You may also be able to use a Group Template to reduce the amount of effort and time required to configure the Performance Monitor items for your system. You can create a ‘Performance Monitor’ Group Template that contains a scanner and appropriately configured analog points, and then use that ‘model’ configuration as the basis for Group Instances. You would create a Group Instance that references the ‘Performance Monitor’ Group Template for each node that is to have its performance monitored.
For further information, see Group Templates and Group Instances in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Configuration.