Citect SCADA 7.20 to Citect SCADA 2018 R2 (8.
20)
Upgrade Guide
Martin Lalanne
V1.0 / 23-07-19
AVEVA Group plc
High Cross, Madingley Road
Cambridge CB3 0HB, UK
Tel +44 (0)1223 556655
Fax +44 (0)1223 556666
aveva.com
Upgrade Guide – Citect SCADA 7.20 to Citect SCADA 2018 R2 (8.20) Page 2 of 11
Table of contents
1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 3
2. ONLINE UPGRADE PROCESS ................................................................................................................ 3
2.1. ONLINE UPGRADE STEPS................................................................................................................................ 5
2.2. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS............................................................................................................................. 8
2.3. TROUBLESHOOTING ONLINE UPGRADE .......................................................................................................... 8
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1. Introduction
The aim of the Technote paper is to centralize all sources of information in relation to the upgrade process for Citect
SCADA 7.20 to Citect SCADA 2018 R2.
This scenario was tested and is supported in Citect SCADA 2018 R2.
Figure 1 Citect SCADA 2018 R2
2. Online upgrade process
An online upgrade takes advantage of Citect SCADA’s native Server redundancy to minimize or avoid loss of data or
downtime on your production system, allowing for one server to take ownership while the other is being upgraded.
Also, it is important to note that an online upgrade is the only way to avoid or minimise loss of data. It is a customary
practice in the industry to perform an upgrade in parallel. This is the process in which the two SCADA systems (the old
version and the newer one) are running side-by-side. The old version is decommissioned after the new version has
been fully tested and validated.
Using an upgrade in parallel approach, it is not possible to convert the data for the time in which the new version is
being brought online, even if restoring historic files from the older version that is online at the same time. There will
always be a data gap from the time you take the historic files, to the time you start your parallel SCADA system. An
online upgrade is the only way to avoid loss of data.
In this chapter we will list the pre-requisites for an online upgrade and discuss one scenario considering the starting
version from 7.20 SP5A to 2018 R2 (8.20).
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Pre-requisites
As discussed previously, the online upgrade will allow you to avoid downtime and loss of data.
It is important that you take into consideration the complexity and size of your project when planning for this upgrade.
As you can see in the upgrade guide from 2018, an offline upgrade can be a complex process, and it is important this
has been completed thoroughly in order to avoid downtime and loss of data in your production system.
Please read the upgrade guide from 2018 available on the support website. See TN3214.
Please read also the list of pre-requisites below before you start the online upgrade:
At least one pair of redundant servers: this is to upgrade one server at the time, while the redundant server assumes
primary operation, avoiding downtime and loss of data.
Upgraded project: make sure your project runs and works properly on Citect SCADA 2018 R2 before deploying to
production and starting the online upgrade. If your project is complex or you are upgrading from a version earlier than
7.20 SP4, it is strongly recommended that you have a test environment, as the offline upgrade could be complex and
could involve a long server downtime if done on your production system.
Restore runtime files: ensure you have restored the necessary files for runtime onto the appropriate directories to
avoid any disturbances on the upgraded live system.
Capture data files: to allow historic data to be restored into the new version, you need to capture the data files at the
right time. This is described in detail in the online upgrade steps outlined below.
Configure your running system for Online upgrade: to allow this process to be as smooth as possible, we recommend
leveraging of your current redundant system and adding the following citect.ini parameters before the online upgrade:
• [LAN] EarliestLegacyVersion: use 7200 for 7.20 version upgrade. This will allow your upgraded servers to accept
connections from the 7.20 version.
• [Alarm]EnableStateLogging: set this parameter to 1, as it will allow logging the alarm synchronization messages
into the syslog. The importance of this will be addresses in upcoming sections.
• [Alarm.<ClusterName>.<AlarmServerName>]ArchiveAfter: this parameter is for an upgrade to 2018 R2. If this
parameter is not set on Citect SCADA 2018 R2, the alarm server it will not start up. This is configured for each Alarm
Server instance.
When configuring this parameter, you need to decide what time period of data is that you wish to maintain during
upgrade. For example, if you set this parameter to 1 week, it means that during the upgrade process you will lose
any summary data that is older than 1 week. If you don’t want to lose any data, you need to set this parameter to
the earliest data in your summary on 7.20.
• [Debug] Kernel = 1 (optional): we recommend enabling this to allow you to monitor the kernel during the upgrade.
Specific situations in which you can check the kernel will be highlighted in later sections
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2.1. Online Upgrade steps
In this scenario, you will NOT need to restore the alarm data files (ALARMSAV.DAT and ALRMSAVEINDEX.DAT)
under most circumstances.
To enhance your experience during the online upgrade process, Citect SCADA 2018 R2 is equipped to read this
information from the redundant 7.20 (SP4, SP5A or greater) server that is still not upgraded.
1. Add the following parameter on the .INI file to all your server nodes before you start the online upgrade.
[LAN]EarliestLegacyVersion = 7200.
Note: You will need to restart the servers after adding the parameter for the changes to take effect.
2. Shutdown SCADA runtime on the Primary server
3. Upgrade Citect SCADA on this server according to the offline upgrade procedure.
4. Setup the Server Password in the configurator in the Computer Setup section.
Figure 2 Configurator: Server Authentication section
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5. Configure your System Management Server based on your requirements.
Figure 3 Configurator: System Management Server section
6. Configure the encryption mode in the Encryption section.
Please note that Version 2018 R2 should not have encryption enabled with ‘Accept encrypted and non-
encrypted connections (mixed mode)’ not selected, otherwise the servers will not be able to communicate.
Mixed Mode should be used, or encryption should be disabled.
Figure 4 Configurator: Encryption section
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7. Place the backed-up Alarm database in the [CtEdit]Data directory. This will allow a quicker synchronization
of alarm servers.
8. Restart the primary server, now upgraded.
9. Citect SCADA 2018 R2 server will synchronize its alarm database with the running 7.20 server. You need to
wait for the synchronization process to finish, and this will depend on the size of your alarm database. The
synchronization information is available from the main kernel window of the Alarm Process as well as the
syslog.
10. Please check the status of the alarm server synchronization using the Alarm Server Kernel, on the Main
Window:
• When the Alarm Servers synchronization starts you should see the following message: Alarm: Peer
update request sent.
• Then you should see several messages with Update packets (number is dependent on your Alarm
historic events and configuration): Alarm: Update packet XXXX received.
• Finally, the following messages will indicate that the synchronisation has been finalised successfully:
Alarm: Database objects state synchronization completed.
Alarm: Database is initialized, preparing to Start the Alarm Engine.
Alarm: Starting Alarm Engine
Alarm: Server startup complete.
11. If you find that your Alarm Server synchronization cannot finalize, please place the ALARMSAV.DAT and
ALRMSAVEINDEX.DAT on the [Alarm]SavePrimary directory. Please note that this should be a last resort.
12. Upgrade your client nodes one by one.
13. Configure your System Management Server and encryption settings based on your requirements.
Please be aware that during this stage, the client nodes will only communicate with their corresponding
server.
A 7.20 client will not be able to communicate with Citect SCADA 2018 R2 Server. Likewise, a Citect SCADA
2018 R2 Client will not be able to talk to v7.20 Server.
14. Once you are confident that synchronization of alarms, trends etc., is complete, and that your 2018 R2
clients are working correctly, shutdown runtime on the Standby server.
15. Upgrade Citect SCADA on this server according to the offline upgrade procedure.
16. Set up the Server Password in the Configurator, Computer Setup page.
17. Configure your System Management Server and encryption settings based on your requirements.
18. Restart the Standby server, now upgraded.
19. Once the Standby is running fine, check for hardware alarms on connection to Primary.
20. Check functionality of the system end-to-end.
21. Finally, test redundancy by switching off the Primary server and ensuring the Standby takes over and
Clients switch over.
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2.2. Special Considerations
Alarm server synchronization during online upgrade
As part of Citect SCADA 2018 R2 development efforts, we have spent time ensuring and testing the online
upgrade from 7.20. This scenario is tested and supported with Citect SCADA 2018 R2. This process should go
smoothly as long as you follow this guide. However, in the event that there is a disconnection or timeout during
synchronization between the 2018 R2 and 7.20 alarm servers you only need to shutdown your 2018 R2 server,
delete the alarm database and re-start it again and wait for the synchronization between servers to finish.
Also, you can increase the timeout using the [Alarm]StartTimeout .INI parameter. This will allow the 2018 R2
server to wait for connection from its 7.20 peer.
If you find that the synchronization between the two servers is failing repeatedly, then you can delet e the
alarm database, and place your ALARMSAV.DAT and ALARMSAVINDEX.DAT on the [Alarm]SavePrimary
directory and the 2018 R2 server will convert the data. However, we recommend always trying the peer
synchronization first.
Once the Citect SCADA 2018 R2 has created the Alarm Database it will not attempt to read alarm history
files nor try to synchronize with its 7.20 peer. Therefore, you need to delete the Alarm Database before
attempting conversion of files or peer synchronization.
Changes during the upgrade process
Because of the differences between Citect SCADA 2018 R2 and 7.20, any actions that happen during the online
upgrade process are subject to the incompatibilities that are not reconcilable between versions. However, the
scenarios are quite particular and should not have a great impact if any, on your SCADA system’s ability to fulfil
its purposes.
2.3. Troubleshooting Online upgrade
The issues you might encounter during your Online Upgrade will be related to runtime issues and redundancy
connectivity. For pre-runtime issues such as Compiler Errors please refer to the upgrade guide for 2018.
It is important that your redundant servers are in constant communication during the upgrade, otherwise, it is
not really an Online upgrade and you may lose data.
My redundant servers fail to communicate
I cannot make my redundant servers communicate and I keep getting the hardware alarm “Redundant Server
not found”
1. Please make sure you have set your [LAN]EarliestLegacyVersion parameter correctly. In this case you are
upgrading 7.20 use [LAN]EarliestLegacyVersion=7200.
2. Please make sure, you have setup the 2018 R2 Configurator in the computer setup section and set both
servers to Networked mode in the computer setup wizard. Also, make sure to set the same server
password on both servers.
3. Please make sure, you have setup in the 2018 R2 Configurator the encryption mode to mixed by tickeing
the box Accept encrypted and non-encrypted connections (mixed mode).
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My system is performing slowly even though Hardware and software requirements are met
Please check your system’s power options: Control Panel →All Control Panel Items → Power Options.
Figure 5: Windows’ Power Options
Figure 5 Windows Power Option
This is particularly relevant on Windows Server machines, which have this option enabled by
default.
Remove Upgrade related parameters
After finalizing the upgrade process and confirming that runtime is fully functional, we recommend removing
or updating the following .INI parameters accordingly. You will need to restart the servers after changing the
parameters for the changes to take effect.
• [Alarm]SavePrimary: please remove.
• [Alarm]SaveStandby: please remove.
• [Debug]Kernel = 0: this is to enhance security and keep operators out of the kernel.
• [LAN]EarliestLegacyVersion: please remove.
It is important to note that after removing the EarliestLegacyVersion parameter, the next time you change
your user’s passwords, we recommend you change all the passwords on one server, and then roll out the
updated project in the same order in which you conducted the online upgrade (Primary Server, Clients, and
finally, Standby Server). Please read TechNote TN8933 for more information.
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Upgrade third party applications
Please ensure that any CtAPI client is upgraded to use the DLL’s included in Citect SCADA 2018 R2. Keep in
mind that you also need to be aware of the User password changes. Please read TechNote TN8934 for more
information.
For a complete list of the DLL’s you need to upgrade, please read the Technical Reference > CtAPI
Functions help topic.
Also, if you find that upgrading your CtAPI clients is not possible, please get in touch with Citect
support for further assistance.
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AVEVA Group plc
High Cross, Madingley Road
Cambridge CB3 0HB, UK
Tel +44 (0)1223 556655
Fax +44 (0)1223 556666
aveva.com
