Tech Note 230

Troubleshooting the Browser-Based Window's Live-data Issues

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Topic#: 000958
Created: June 2001
Updated: May 2005, July 2007

Introduction

This Tech Note describes the mechanisms involved in moving live data from an InTouch® application, running and
acquiring plant-floor data, to a SuiteVoyager browser-based window. In addition, troubleshooting techniques for
determining why there is no data being displayed in the window are covered.

Several areas can be checked in the event that no data is present in a browser-based window. The first indicator to check
is the live-data-update indicator bar. This bar resides in the lower left-hand portion of the browser window and appears
to move back and forth. The update indicator bar should appear within approximately 15 seconds of opening a browser-
based window containing live data. The data-source location must be correct. This can be verified by checking the
windowset properties in the Win-XML exporter.

All browser-based window data is delivered by the Wonderware® RdbHandler Service. Communication between
InTouch WindowViewer, or the data source, and the RdbHandler is done via SuiteLink.

This communication link, just as the link between InTouch and an I/O Server, can be tested using the WWClient.
However, there is a small variation in the setup of WWClient for checking communication through the RDB Handler
versus through an I/O Server; that difference is covered in this document. It is also imperative that the execute
permissions be correctly set for the SuiteVoyager installation within Internet Information Services.

Application Versions

This Tech Note was updated using the following application versions:

● Wonderware Information Server 3.0

● InTouch 9.0 Patch 2 (9.0.002 0757.0084.0112.0002)

Providing Data for Factory Clients

The following is an excerpt from the SuiteVoyager Administrator's Guide. It discusses the engine that supplies data from
the factory floor to the portal.

SuiteVoyager is a data portal that aggregates information from plant-floor data sources. It does not replicate information.
It takes users of the thin clients directly to the source of the data. But, no matter how many people are connected to
the portal, the additional network load will be that of only one InTouch node. Therefore the plant-floor network engineer
can rest assured that this product will not cause him to upgrade his bandwidth to handle the 300 concurrent users the
portal can support.

Between the Internet/Intranet clients and the portal, the protocol is HTTP. From the portal to the plant-floor data
sources such as View, InControl, or I/O Servers, the protocol is SuiteLink. SuiteVoyager uses ADO and OLE DB from
the Active Server Pages to access information from databases such as InSQL™, AlarmSuite™, or InTouch™ 7.1 Alarm
Logger. Data sources for the portal must be located in and accessible via the same LAN (Local Area Network) as the portal.
All clients must have access through the Internet or the Intranet.

The SuiteVoyager Portal uses a set of data handlers that speak HTTP on one side and the plant-floor protocols on the
other. These handlers run as services within the IVFW framework, an ISAPI application that interacts directly with
the Internet Information Server and re-directs messages to the appropriate data handlers. In addition, its task is to
establish and maintain a session between the client and the handler. The data handler itself manages and
maintains connections to the data sources.

Viewing Live Data Over the Internet

To view live data over the Internet, the Web server must be accessible by the client. For example, when viewed from
within the Web server's domain or locally data updates as expected. When viewed from an "external" Internet client, the
data does not update.

It is critical that the published WindowSets (which require Internet access) be published to the correct Web server URL.

The WWClient utility is used to troubleshoot data update issues.

When configuring SuiteVoyager to provide this capability it is advised that you involve your IS or IT department, or
any personnel who handle these responsibilities.

Checking the Data Source and RunTime DB Handler Service Status

Checking the Data Source

The data source for a WindowSet will normally be the InTouch View application, but it can also be an I/O Server or
another application that is running somewhere on the domain. The location of the data source is included in the
converted window's XML code as well as the WindowSet configuration file. It can also be verified through
the WinXMLExporter.

The following section demonstrates checking the data source using the WinXMLExporter utility.

It is important that the data source be verified. Is it in the location where it should be?

1. Start WinXMLExporter (Figure 1 below).

The data source location can be verified from this utility.

 Figure 1: SVWindows.wxe - WinXML Exporter

The following example shows the properties for WindowSet001 (Figure 2 below).

2. Right-click WindowSet001 and select Properties.

The WindowSet Properties dialog box appears (Figure 2 below).

3. This dialog box shows that SuiteVoyager is installed on computer KEVINN26.

The Data Node Name (the node that InTouch View resides on) is also KEVINN26.

Note the similarity to configuring a tagname server Access Name in InTouch:

 Figure 2: WindowSet Properties Dialog Box -
The WindowSet001 Properties

To change the WindowSet properties:

4. Select/check the Different than Project option. This option enables configuration of the Web Server URL
and Data Node names.

Figure 3 (below) shows the modified WindowSet properties. This is an example of an implementation where
the data node is different from the SuiteVoyager node. In this example, SuiteVoyager is installed on
computer KEVINN26, and InTouch View resides on KEVINN42.

5. Make any changes and click the OK button:

 Figure 3: WindowSet Properties
Where data Node is different from Suitevoyager Node

Checking the RunTime DB Handler Service

1. To verify that the RunTime DB Handler service is running, open the Services window (on the Server node)
and locate the Service in the list. In a Windows 2000 Server environment, it appears similar to Figure 4 (below).

Note that the Status in this figure is Started.

 Figure 4: Services Window

2. If the service is not started, start it and try to reestablish a connection.

Once the data source is confirmed as correct and the RunTime DB Handler service is running, the next troubleshooting
task can be performed.

Note: Data will not update on the browser-based window if data is not being delivered by the RunTime DB Handler service.

Using the WWClient to Verify InTouch Data Transmission

WWClient is used to check communication from the data source, either locally, or remotely (over a LAN). A connection
must established from WWClient to the data source. The data source can be InTouch View, an I/O Server, or a different
data provider.

Tech Note 48 provides detailed instructions for using WWClient in this way.

Note: WWClient is installed as part of InTouch 7.11 and earlier versions. However, WWClient is not installed when
installing the FactorySuite A² Common Components with InTouch 8.0 or later.

To use WWClient with InTouch 8.0 and later, extract/install the wwclient.exe from the zip file to the directory containing
the file wwclintf.dll, which is where the FactorySuite A² Common Components are installed (Figure 5 below).

1. Download WWClient for InTouch 8.0 and FactorySuite A² Common Components ( WWClient8.0.zip).

Complete installation details are included in WWClient Utility for InTouch® 7.11 and InTouch 8.0.

2. On the Web Server node, select Start/Programs/Wonderware Factory Suite/Common as shown in

Figure 5 (below):
 Figure 5: WWClient Installation Location

3. Follow the connection procedure from Tech Note 48. Note that in this case, InTouch View will normally
be addressed instead of an I/O address.

Figure 6 (below) shows the Create Connection dialog box. The Node entry is kevinn26, which is the
node running the InTouch application.

An IP address can also be used instead of Node name.

4. The Node name also be IP address or " [Web Server Name / IP address ] @ [Data node Name / IP address]
like [[email protected] ]

Also notice that IOT (SuiteLink) is selected. IOT/SuiteLink is the communication protocol between
SuiteVoyager and the RunTime DB Handler service.

If the data source is not View, enter the appropriate Application and Topic.
 Figure 6: Create Connection Dialog Box

When a successful connection is established, an entry appears, similar to the one displayed in Figure 7 (below):

Figure 7: Wonderware Client Window Showing a Successful Connection

The next task is to check an item to determine whether data is streaming through the SuiteLink service.

If the data source is View, $Second is a good item to advise.

If a different data source is used, select an item that is changing regularly.

5. Once the item name is entered, click AdviseEx (Figure 8 below).

The item value should be displayed as seen in Figure 8 (below). It should agree with the actual value in the
data source.

6. If the item does not advise, the item value does not appear in the window.

An item may not be advising because the SuiteLink service on the data source node is not running.
 Figure 8: The Item Dialog Box - Checking the Data Source

If the item did not advise, verify that the SuiteLink service on the data source node is started.

1. To verify that the Wonderware SuiteLink service is running, open the Services window and check its Status.

In a Windows 2000 Server environment, it will appear as in Figure 9 (below).

Note that the Status is Started.

 Figure 9: The Services Window Confirming that SuiteLink is Started

2. If the service is not started, restart it and try to advise the item again.

3. If the Wonderware SuiteLink service is running and a item cannot be advised, contact Wonderware
Technical Support for further assistance.

Determining if Data is Streaming through the RunTime DB Handler Service

The next task is to check an item to determine whether data is streaming through the RunTime DB Handler service.

The Logger and Log Viewer are automatically installed on any computer on which you install an ArchestrA-
enabled component.

To start the Log Viewer:

1. Select Start/Programs/Wonderware, and then System Management Console.

The typical RunTime DB Handler-related items are logged every time the Published window is browsed
from SuiteVoyager portal (Figure 10 below). Note that the Log Viewer entry is rdbhandler:

Figure 10: Logging The typical RDB Handler-related items

You can customize which messages you want to log with the Log Flag Editor. Log flags are message
 categories that can be switched on and off to control which messages are logged by the Logger.

When a log flag is switched on, messages of that log flag category are logged by the Logger. When it is
switched off, they are not logged.

Use the Log Flag Editor as a troubleshooting tool. By default, most log flags are switched off because
most potential messages are not required during normal operation of ArchestrA components. Also, switching
on log flags (especially globally) can affect the selected node's performance and consume significant
network bandwidth.

2. Use a specific component. For this example, the Trace log flag for rdbhandler is selected/enabled as is
shown in Figure 11 (below):

Figure 11: Trace log flag for the rdbhandler option is enabled

3. The typical RunTime DB Handler-related items are logged every time the Published widow is browsed
 from Suitevoyager portal, and the Trace Log Flag is enabled (Figure 12 below):

Figure 12: Logging the typical RDB Handler-related items with Trace enabled

Note: Using Log Flags is not the same as using the filter function of the Log Viewer utility. With Log Flags, messages
whose log flag has been turned off are not logged at all. With the Log Viewer filter, messages that are filtered are just
hidden from view. See Log Viewer documentation for further information about filtering messages.

Troubleshooting the Problems related to Data Streaming through the RunTime DB Handler Service

Several conditions can stop data from streaming through the RunTime DB Handler service:

The Wonderware Runtime DB Handler Service is not Running

The service should have been checked and started, if necessary, as explained in the RuntimeDB section of this Tech Note.
The Portal's Execute Permissions for the Web-Site Scripts are not Set Properly

If the Runtime DB Handler service is started, the reason for the connection failure could be the Execute permissions for
the Web-site scripts.

The Connection Configuration is Incorrect

The data source location must be correct. This can be verified by checking the WindowSet properties in the Win-XML Exporter.

A Network Problem Exists Between the Web Server and the Data Source

To check the previous problem sources:

1. Open the Computer Management window (on the Web Server/SuiteVoyager Node):

Right-click on My Computer and select Manage; or select Start/Programs/Administrative

Tools/Computer Management.

The Computer Management window appears (Figure 13 below):

 Figure 13: The Computer Management Window

2. Right-click Scripts and select Properties from the sub-menu.

The Scripts Properties box appears (Figure 14 below):

 Figure 14: The Scripts Properties Dialog Box

The Execute Permissions entry should match the configuration shown in Figure 14.

3. If Scripts and Executables is not displayed in the Execute Permissions box, select it from the drop-
down menu.

The RunTime DB Handler executable file as well as other executables are contained in the FSWebSvr
folder, which is a sub-folder under Scripts.

For this reason the permissions shown are required.

4. Try to reestablish a connection. The reconnection should now be successful.

If a connection still could not be made, there may be a network-related issue.

5. Contact Wonderware Technical Support for further assistance.

W. Boncal and K Nourbakhsh

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CA 92630. There is also technical information on our software products at www.wonderware.com/support/mmi

For technical support questions, send an e-mail to [email protected].

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