Proficy iFIX 2023

Getting Started with iFIX

GE Digital Proficy Historian and Operations Hub: Data Analysis in Context 1

Proprietary Notice
The information contained in this publication is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, General Electric Company assumes no
responsibilities for any errors, omissions or inaccuracies. Information contained in the publication is subject to change without notice.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, or stored in a database or retrieval system, or transmitted or distributed in any
form by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of General Electric
Company. Information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

© 2023, General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

Trademark Notices
GE, the GE Monogram, and Predix are either registered trademarks or trademarks of General Electric Company.

Microsoft® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation, in the United States and/or other countries.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

We want to hear from you. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions about our documentation, send them to the following email
address:

[email protected]
Table of Contents

Getting Started with iFIX 2

Reference Documents 2

General Installation Information 2

Set-up Overview 2

To set up your nodes: 3

Hardware Requirements 3

Hardware Requirements – iFIX SCADA Server 3

Hardware Requirements – iFIX Client (iClient) 4

Wireless Devices and iFIX 5

Virtual Machine Support 5

Software Requirements 6

Supported Regional Settings 7

Formatting the Time and Date 7

Formatting the Regional Language Setting 8

Setting the System Default Locale 8

Language Support 8

English Product Support 8

Non-English Product Support 9

Unsupported Items 9

How to Change the Regional Setting Format 10

How to Set the System Locale 11

Optimizing Virtual Memory 12

To optimize the virtual memory paging file for iFIX in Windows: 12

13

Running iFIX as a Service 13

Windows Services 13

Enabling iFIX to Run as a Service 13

To enable iFIX to run as a service: 13

Adding a Windows User to the iFIX Service Account 14

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. i

 Disabling iFIX as a Service 15

To disable iFIX from running as a service: 16

iFIX Paths 16

Required Application Feature 16

Running iFIX with Terminal Services 16

Running iFIX with Other Programs 16

To configure a different user account for iFIX running as a service: 16

Fast User Switching Not Supported 16

Running the OPC Client Driver and iFIX as a Service 16

Running Workspace.exe from the SCU Task List Not Supported 17

Disk Space Requirements 17

To change FreeDiskSpace parameter: 17

OPC Certification 17

Installing the iFIX Software 18

Steps to Install iFIX with the Integrated Installer 18

To install iFIX from the integrated installer: 18

Step to Install Configuration Hub with the Integrated Installer 19

To install Configuration Hub from the integrated installer: 19

SCADA Standalone Server Option from the Integrated Installer 19

SCADA Client Option from the Integrated Installer 20

SCADA with Remote Historian Option from the Integrated Installer 21

Common Components Option from the Integrated Installer 22

Running the Integrated Install from a Command Line 22

To further customize the iFIX install: 23

Common Components 23

SCADA Client 23

SCADA Standalone Server 24

SCADA with Remote Historian 24

Historian Server 25

Operations Hub 25

Configuration Hub Registration 25

ii © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 Before you can Register Configuration Hub 26

Start Registration from the Windows Desktop 26

Start Registration from the iFIX WorkSpace 26

Login to Configuration Hub the First Time 26

Provide Registration Details 27

Registering with the Remote Configuration Hub 28

Access Controls in iFIX 29

To configure access controls in iFIX: 30

Using iFIX with Proficy Historian 31

Configuration Considerations 31

Other Considerations 32

Multiple Databases 32

Collection Delay 32

Collectors 32

Electronic Signatures 32

Spare1 Fields 32

Choosing Not to Install Integrated Proficy Historian 33

Post-Installation Steps for Proficy Historian 33

Configuring Security When Using iFIX with Proficy Historian 33

Configuring iFIX to Use Proficy Historian 33

Historian Upgrade Process 36

Limiting the Number of Historian Servers at Workspace Startup 37

Using the Discover and Auto Configure Tool with Proficy Historian 38

Using iFIX with Microsoft Office 38

Backup Files 38

Change Management and iFIX 39

Discover and Auto Configure 39

Optional Hardware 40

Uninstalling iFIX 40

Sleep or Hibernate Mode 40

Setting Up for Remote OPC Server Access 41

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. iii

 Setting Up DCOM for Use with Remote OPC Servers 41

DCOM Settings 42

To launch the DCOM configurator: 42

System-wide COM/DCOM Limits Settings 42

To update system-wide COM/DCOM limits settings: 42

OPC Server-specific DCOM Settings 43

To modify driver-specific DCOM settings in Windows: 43

Setting Up the Firewall for Use with Remote OPC Servers 44

To modify Windows Firewall settings: 45

Windows Operating System Considerations 51

Windows and Security 51

Running iFIX 51

Running iFIX as a Service 52

To add the Create Global Objects policy to a user: 52

To run the GrantUserFixServiceRights command for a user or group: 52

To provide privileges to a Windows user with the ConfigureWizard.exe when access controls
(secure mode) are enabled: 53

Running iFIX as a Service with Other Services 54

Examples: Using GrantUserFixServiceRights 54

Windows and Mapped Network Drives 54

EDA Applications and Windows 55

To mark an application for elevation using an external manifest: 55

To mark an application for elevation with an internal manifest: 56

To elevate a third party application that you do not own the source code for: 56

Deployment Considerations for Running iFIX on a Virtual Machine 57

Virtual Machine Guidelines for iFIX 57

Troubleshooting VM Setups for iFIX 58

VM Processor Scheduling for iFIX 59

Enhancing VMWare Performance with iFIX 59

Other iFIX Installation Considerations 60

Supported Drivers 60

Special Keyboard Buttons 60

iv © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 Environment Protection and iFIX 60

Important Information 61

Important Task Switching Information 61

Working with Touch Screens 61

Networking 62

Supported Networking Protocol 62

Supported File Servers 62

Contact GE Digital 63

Technical Support 63

Index 65

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. v

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 1
 Getting Started with iFIX

Welcome to iFIX®! Thank you for taking the time to install and use iFIX.

Before you begin installing our product, please take some time to review this Getting Started guide. The
guide includes information about the following:

l Installing iFIX
l Upgrading from earlier versions of iFIX
l Supported networking components

Reference Documents
For more information on the System Configuration Utility, troubleshooting your set-up, working with the
iFIX WorkSpace, or setting up a process database or SCADA system after you install iFIX, please refer to
the following electronic books:

l Setting Up the Environment

l Understanding iFIX
l Building a SCADA System

General Installation Information

This chapter provides general information you need to install iFIX including:

l Hardware requirements, including required computer hardware, recommended computers,

required memory, and required hard disk space.
l Installing the license and replacing defective ones.
l Installing iFIX.
l iFIX software requirements, including operating systems, supported regional settings, optimizing
virtual memory, and running iFIX as a service.
l Optional installation features, including online registration, and installing optional hardware.
l Installing iFIX with other applications including Microsoft® Office and GE Change Management.

Set-up Overview

When you are ready to begin setting up your iFIX environment, use the following steps to set up your
nodes.

2 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 To set up your nodes:

1. Set up each computer you require. Use the section Hardware Requirements as a guide and refer
to the user manual that accompanies each computer for detailed setup information.
2. Install and optimize Microsoft Windows on each computer as needed. Also make sure you create a
login account with administrator rights so you can install iFIX later. For instructions on optimizing
Windows, refer to the Optimizing Virtual Memory section.
3. Set up the network adapters and network software required for each computer. Refer to the Net-
working iFIX Nodes and Advanced Topics chapters of the Setting Up the Environment manual for
more information.
4. Install iFIX and any other hardware you may have purchased. Refer to the Installing the iFIX Soft-
ware section for instructions. For information on installing other hardware, refer to that product's
documentation.
5. Configure iFIX on each computer. Make sure that the user installing iFIX is a member of the Admin-
istrators Windows group. Refer to the Configuring iFIX Using the SCU chapter of the Setting Up the
Environment manual for more information on configuring iFIX.

Hardware Requirements

The minimum iFIX hardware requirements are described in the following sections.

Hardware Requirements – iFIX SCADA Server

For an iFIX server, the recommended minimum hardware requirements are:
IMPORTANT: The minimum requirements below assume that you are running a SCADA server without additional
applications (such as EDA applications) and a minimal amount of tags. If you want to run more applications or increase
your tag count, you will need to increase your hardware support for better performance. You should scale your system
based on number of tags. For Enhanced Failover, the following requirements apply to both the primary and secondary
computers.

l A 3.0 GHz Intel® Core™ i5 Processor or equivalent with 8GB of memory. For better performance,
please consider using a faster processor and more memory.
l SpeedStep® technology is not supported and must not be enabled.
l For time synchronization, the Windows Net Time and W32tm commands are both supported.
However, if using the W32tm command, be sure to use the /nowait instruction when resyn-
chronizing the clock. For example: W32tm /resync /nowait. The /nowait parameter instructs the
operating system to make a stepping adjustment against the time server.
NOTE: With virtual machines, the host and guest operating system need to synchronize against
an external physical Network Time Protocol (NTP) Server.
l The power save settings on your computer must be disabled. Do not use any power setting fea-
tures that affect CPU clock speed. For Enhanced Failover, the power save settings on both com-
puters and dedicated network card (NIC) must be disabled.

l For Enhanced Failover, Gigabit-Ethernet cards (or better) are required for Data Sync Transport
communication. When using UDP, a dedicated card is required for Data Sync Transport com-
munication. When using TCP, one card can be used for both iFIX and Data Sync Transport

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 3

 communication, although two are strongly recommended to avoid slower updates of data and
alarms on clients. When using a network card dedicated for Data Sync Transport communication,
it should be disabled as an available LAN Redundancy Path under the Advanced section of your
Network Configuration. Additionally, the card dedicated for Data Sync Transport communication
should be the only card enabled under SCADA Configuration's Data Sync Transport Options. Net-
work cards must be of the same speed, and appear on the compatibility list for each card. It is
strongly recommended that the cards be of the same make and model number, and use the same
drivers.

l For Enhanced Failover, when using UDP, you must use a direct connection via a Cat6 crossover
cable, without going through any switches, hubs, or routers. Due to limited bandwidth and latency,
wireless networking technology should not be considered.
l For Enhanced Failover, when using UDP, the Primary and Secondary SCADA computers must be
located physically next to each other, in the same location/room.
l For Enhanced Failover, when using UDP, Jumbo Frames technology must be used on the dedicated
network. Jumbo Frames technology allows for an Ethernet frame of 9000 MTU for the payload,
compared to a frame of 1500 bytes without the Jumbo Frames.
l A minimum of 40 GB of free hard drive space for iFIX pictures, databases, alarm files, and other
data files, in addition to the free disk space required by the operating system for Windows
Updates. It is strongly recommended that many GBs of additional free space exist on the hard
drive to avoid performance issues.
l Be aware that iFIX alarm and historical data files grow dynamically. If you plan to perform extens-
ive alarm or data collection on a node, you may need more disk space on that particular node.
l Other GE products, such as Proficy Plant Applications and Proficy Historian, impose additional
requirements. Refer to the System Requirements in the associated product's electronic books for
that product's specific system requirements.
l 100 MBit or faster Full Duplex TCP/IP-compatible network interface adapter for iFIX network com-
munication between SCADA and Client nodes.
NOTE: iFIX does not support NetBIOS or IPv6.
l One free direct-connect USB port. Some touch screens, pointing devices, and I/O drivers require a
serial port. Additional ports for I/O hardware should be ordered with the computer.
l For Enhanced Failover, ensure that the following ports are open on your firewall: UDP port 53014
needs to be open for the Sync Card and TCP 2010 needs to be open for the SCADA NIC.
l SVGA or better color monitor with a 24-bit (16,777,216 colors) graphics card capable of at least
1024x768 resolution. For Configuration Hub, is recommended to use a display setting at
1920x1080 or better, with scaling set to 100%.
l Two-button mouse or compatible pointing device (such as a touch screen) that is capable of open-
ing a context menu.

Hardware Requirements – iFIX Client (iClient)

For iFIX client computers, the recommended minimum hardware requirements are:

l A 3.0 GHz Intel® Core™ i3 Processor or equivalent with 4GB of memory. For better performance,
please consider using a faster processor and more memory.

4 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 NOTE: To use more than 4 GB of memory on a 32-bit platform you need to use Physical Address
Extension (PAE). For more information on PAE please reference http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/desktop/aa366796%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
l SpeedStep® technology is not supported and must not be enabled.
l For time synchronization, the Windows Net Time and W32tm commands are both supported.
However, if using the W32tm command, be sure to use the /nowait instruction when resyn-
chronizing the clock. For example: W32tm /resync /nowait. The /nowait parameter instructs the
operating system to make a stepping adjustment against the time server.
NOTE: With virtual machines, the host and guest operating system need to synchronize against
an external physical Network Time Protocol (NTP) Server.
l The power save settings on your computer must be disabled. Do not use any power setting fea-
tures that affect CPU clock speed.
l A minimum of 20 GB of free hard drive space for iFIX pictures, databases, alarm files, and other
data files, in addition to the free disk space required by the operating system for Windows
Updates. It is strongly recommended that many GBs of additional free space exist on the hard
drive to avoid performance issues.
Be aware that iFIX alarm and historical data files grow dynamically. If you plan to perform extens-
ive alarm or data collection on a node, you may need more disk space on that particular node.
l Other GE products, such as Proficy Plant Applications and Proficy Historian, impose additional
requirements. Refer to the System Requirements in the associated product's electronic books for
that product's specific system requirements.
l 100 MBit or faster Full Duplex TCP/IP-compatible network interface adapter for iFIX network com-
munication between SCADA and Client nodes.
NOTE: iFIX does not support NetBIOS or IPv6.
l One free direct-connect USB port. Some touch screens, pointing devices, and I/O drivers require a
serial port. Additional ports for I/O hardware should be ordered with the computer.
l SVGA or better color monitor with a 24-bit (16,777,216 colors) graphics card capable of at least
1024x768 resolution. For Configuration Hub, is recommended to use a display setting at
1920x1080 or better, with scaling set to 100%.
l Two-button mouse or compatible pointing device (such as a touch screen) that is capable of open-
ing a context menu.

Wireless Devices and iFIX

It is strongly recommended that you do not run SCADA nodes on wireless devices. Running an iFIX SCADA
on a wireless device may impact performance, as some wireless protocols fall below the recommended
bandwidth requirements.

Virtual Machine Support

As part of our development testing and qualification, we make extensive use of virtualized environments.
iFIX does not target any specific hardware or virtualized platform.

GE Digital will support the functional operation of the product that is running on a supported Operating
System in a virtualized environment and will address any functional issues related to the software.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 5

 GE Digital cannot guarantee performance of the software in the virtualized environment due to the wide
range of parameters associated to the hardware, configuration, memory settings, 3rd party software,
and the number of virtual sessions running on the same hardware, all of which can affect performance.

It is the responsibility of you, the customer, to ensure that the performance of the GE HMI/SCADA soft-
ware and application are adequate to meet the needs of their runtime environment. GE does not support
issues related to functionality that is not available as a result of running in a virtual machine. Examples
include the functionality of card level drivers such as Genius, RMX, SA85 and functions requiring direct
video access, or functionality of other software running in the same environment. It is your responsibility
to check with the vendor of those applications for their ability to run in a virtualized environment.

Each virtual machine instance that is using our software is required to have a valid license. The licensing
in a virtualized environment will depend on the access to a hardware key or a license server depending
on the selected license type.

Software Requirements

The minimum iFIX software requirements are:

l One of the following operating systems:

l Microsoft® Windows® 11, Professional or Enterprise Edition.
l Microsoft® Windows® 10 (64-bit) Professional or Enterprise Edition.
l Microsoft® Windows® 10 IoT Enterprise with LTSC enabled. Use of iFIX for IoT is further
restricted by the iFIX Terms and Conditions, please see the iFIX Terms and Conditions for
details.
l Microsoft® Windows® Server 2022.
l Microsoft® Windows® Server 2019.
NOTE: Only English Windows IoT, with English regional settings, is supported with English
iFIX; other language operating systems or regional settings for Windows IoT are not sup-
ported.
TIPS: Since Microsoft Windows has continuous updates, you should run the Windows update
feature to get the latest Windows software for use with iFIX..

l Network interface software for TCP/IP network communication and certain I/O drivers.
l If you are using third-party software along with iFIX, make sure that the third party software is
also supported for the operating system you are running iFIX on. For instance, if you are running
iFIX on Microsoft Windows Server 2019, your third party software must also be supported on
Microsoft Windows Server 2019.

l If using iFIX and Historian on the same machine, it is highly recommended to install iFIX first.

l An I/O driver for SCADA servers. GE supplies I/O drivers for many programmable controllers or you
may purchase a driver separately.
IMPORTANT: Be certain that the I/O driver you purchase is compatible with your hardware and operating sys-
tem. For example, if the driver is not supported on a specific operating system, then you cannot use this driver
with iFIX running on that operating system. For more information drivers and supported operating systems,
check our support web site at: https://digitalsupport.ge.com.

6 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 l If using VisiconX and Proficy Historian, you must install the Proficy Historian OLE DB driver.
l If using the Plant Applications Dynamos in iFIX pictures, Microsoft Office Microsoft Office 365 Pro
plus v16.0.12527.21104 or v16.0.4266.X is required.
l To run the iFIX Plug-in for Configuration Hub, the following browsers were tested:
l Google® Chrome
l Microsoft® Edge based on Chromium
l Mozilla® Firefox
l Apple® Safari (on MAC OS)
NOTE: Sometimes the MAC OS cannot resolve the system name. In this case, update the hosts file.
Also, you will be required to manually install the Configuration Hub root certificate on the MAC OS.
l To run the iFIX Plug-in for Configuration Hub, the following browsers are supported:
l Microsoft® SQL Server 2017.
l Microsoft® SQL Server 2019.
l Oracle® 19c
l Microsoft® Access 2000 (or higher). Microsoft Access is supported for local installs only.

Supported Regional Settings

iFIX supports the following regional settings available in the Windows Control Panel:

l Decimal symbol - one character

l Digit grouping symbol
l List separator - one character
l Time style
l Time separator
l Short date style
l Date separator
NOTE: The decimal symbol and the digit grouping symbol cannot be the same character. Also, the time separator and
the date separator cannot be the same character.

Formatting the Time and Date

Avoid changing the time style or short date style in regional settings to values that are outside of the
standard styles provided. Changing these values to non-standard styles may result in improperly format-
ting times and dates in some parts of iFIX.

iFIX supports the following short date formats, some of which may not be available in certain language
versions of Windows:

l dd/mm/yy, or dd/mm/yyyy
l dd/yy/mm, or dd/yyyy/mm

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 7

 l mm/dd/yy, or mm/dd/yyyy
l mm/yy/dd, or mm/yyyy/dd
l yy/dd/mm, or yyyy/dd/mm
l yy/mm/dd, or yyyy/mm/dd
Formatting the Regional Language Setting

Avoid changing the language setting once a timer has been used in a schedule. If changed, the date
always reverts to 30/12/99, regardless of what you set the start time to be.
Setting the System Default Locale

The selected locale must be set as the system default.

Language Support

When working with iFIX, be aware that:

l The iFIX English product is supported on the English Windows operating system (OS), with English
(United States) or non-English regional settings.
l The iFIX English product is supported on non-English Windows operating systems only when the
system locale and region format match the OS language. Our language and locale testing is
focused on a set of representative environments.
l The non-English iFIX product is supported on an operating system with a matching language,
region format, and system locale.
l The System Locale must match the language of the Region Settings.
l All keyboard inputs must also match the system locale of the SCADA.
l Configuration Hub will display the number formats and strings as they appear on SCADA node.
Changing the browser language will not have an impact on the appearance of this data.
l For Configuration Hub, only English alphanumeric characters values and the following symbols are
supported in the client ID and client secret fields: "-><~!@#$%^&*?|"
l Running iFIX on a computer with a machine name that contain non-English characters such as æ,
ø, å in the name is not supported.
l If there is a new iFIX product language release, it typically comes after the release of the English
version of the software. For more information on the available iFIX versions for each language,
contact your regional Sales Representative.

The following tables provide examples of supported combinations of the product language, OS language,
region, and system locale.

English Product Support

iFIX Product Operating Regional Set- System Locale

Language System tings Format
English iFIX English English (United
English (United States).
States).
English iFIX English Non-English
regional settings.
Matching Non-English system locale.
For example:
For example: Chinese (Simplified, China).
Chinese (Sim-
plified, China).
English iFIX Non-Eng- Non-English Non-English matching system locale.

8 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 lish matching
regional settings.

Non-English Product Support

iFIX Product Operating Regional Set- System Locale

Language System tings Format
Chinese Chinese Chinese
regional set-
tings. Chinese system locale.

For example: For example: Chinese (Simplified, China).

Chinese (Sim-
plified, China).
French French French regional
settings.
French system locale.
For example:
For example: French (France).
French
(France).
German German German
regional set-
tings. German system locale.

For example: For example: German (Germany).

German (Ger-
many).
Japanese Japanese Japanese
regional set-
tings. Japanese system locale.

For example: For example: Japanese (Japan)

Japanese
(Japan).
Polish Polish Polish regional
settings. Polish system locale.

For example: For example: Polish (Poland)

Polish (Poland).
Russian Russian Russian
regional set-
tings. Russian system locale.

For example: For example: Russian (Russia)

Russian (Rus-
sia).

Unsupported Items

l GE does NOT support running the localized version of the product on an English operating system.
l Multilingual User Interface versions of the Windows Operating Systems are not supported by the
iFIX product.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 9

 l iFIX client/server configurations with different OS languages are not supported. For instance, con-
necting an English SCADA Server (on an English OS) with a German View node or iClient (on a Ger-
man OS) is not supported.

l Importing CSV configurations that were created on a different locale than the SCADA is not sup-
ported.

l Double-byte characters are not supported on single-byte operating systems.

l Right-to-left languages are not supported .
l The Productivity Tools are supported in English OS, with English regional settings.
l The following special characters are not supported when using the Romanian language in iFIX: ș, ț,
Ș, Ț .

How to Change the Regional Setting Format

1. From the Windows Control Panel, select Clock and Region. The Clock and Region settings appear.

2. Select the Change date, time, or number formats link. The Region dialog box appears.

3. In the Format field, view or select the region you want specify. For instance, the following dialog
box shows Chinese (Simplied, China) as the region.

10 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 How to Set the System Locale

1. From the Windows Control Panel, select Clock and Region. The Clock and Region settings appear.

2. Select the Change date, time, or number formats link. The Region dialog box appears.

3. In the Format field, confirm that the format is correct. If not, change it now and leave the dialog
box open.

4. Click the Administrative tab.

5. Click Change System Locale.

6. If there are changes that need to get applied, click Apply to proceed. The Region Settings dialog
box appears.

7. Enter a matching system locale for the region identified or configured in step 3. For example, the

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 11

 following screen capture shows the matching Chinese locale for the regional setting defined
above.

8. Click OK and then restart your system to apply the change.

IMPORTANT: Be sure that you do not select the “Beta – Use Unicode UTF-8 for World-wide support” option in the
Region Settings dialog box. Otherwise, you will experience issues with the iFIX Database Manager.

Optimizing Virtual Memory

Through the use of paging files, Windows allocates space on your hard drive for use as if it were actually
memory. This space is known as virtual memory. The following steps describe how to optimize virtual
memory in Windows to achieve maximum performance from iFIX.
To optimize the virtual memory paging file for iFIX in Windows:

1. From the Windows Control Panel, select System, and click on Advanced Systems. Next, click the
Advanced tab and then in the Performance section click Settings. The Performance Options dialog
box appears. Click the Advanced tab.
2. In the Virtual Memory group box, select Change.
3. In the Initial Size field, enter a value equal to three times your physical memory, as long as the res-
ult of the calculation does not exceed 4 GB or the Maximum Size value.

12 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 4. In the Maximum Size field, enter a value equal to three times your physical memory, as long as the
result of the calculation does not exceed 4 GB.
NOTE: For more information on the 4 GB paging file limit, refer to article 237740 on the Microsoft Know-
ledgebase: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237740/en-us.
6. Select Set.
7. Click OK to save the changes and exit the dialog box.
NOTE: If the paging file is set to grow dynamically, your system may experience severe performance problems
during runtime. To ensure optimal performance, be sure that the Initial Size and Maximum Size of the paging
file are the same so that the paging file does not grow dynamically.

Running iFIX as a Service

If you are running iFIX as a service, please take note of the following information. For more information on
Windows security and running iFIX as a service, see "Windows and Security" on page 51.

Windows Services

In the Windows Services control panel, do not stop the iFIX service or make changes to the iFIX con-
figuration. This applies to iFIX running on any operating system.

Enabling iFIX to Run as a Service

To enable iFIX to run as a service:

1. Shut down iFIX.

2. Ensure that you are logged in as a user in the iFIX Administrators group. If not, log in as an Admin-
istrator now.
3. On the Start menu, point to Programs, iFIX, and then System Configuration. The System Con-
figuration Utility (SCU) window appears.
4. On the Configure menu, click Local Startup. The Local Startup Definition dialog box appears.
5. In the Service area, select the "Run iFIX as a Service" check box, as illustrated in the following fig-
ure.This dialog box allows you to configures iFIX to run as a service when you start iFIX.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 13

 NOTE: The check boxes in the iFIX as a Service area of Local Startup Definition dialog box are unavail-
able while iFIX is running. You need to shut down iFIX, as you did in step 1, in order to configure the ser-
vice. If a message appears that access controls are enabled (instead of greyed out fields), iFIX is running
with access controls and the service account is not set up for this node. Run ConfigureWizard.exe in the
iFIX install folder to add a Windows user to the iFIX service account. See steps below.

7. To start iFIX as a service when Windows starts, click the "Set Service Startup type to Automatic"
option.
8. Click OK.
9. Save and exit the SCU.
10. Start iFIX, or restart Windows with a user allowed to run iFIX as a service.
Adding a Windows User to the iFIX Service Account

If you want to add a Windows user to the service account, follow these steps:

1. Log in as an iFIX Administrator.

2. Locate and run configure wizard (ConfigureWizard.exe) in the iFIX install folder. By default this
path is: C:\Program Files (x86)\Proficy\iFIX\ConfigureWizard.exe. The Install Mode wizard appears.

14 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 3. Select the Install iFIX with Access Controls option.

4. Select the "Assign a Windows User Account to iFIX services" option.

5. Enter a user name. If on a domain, enter the fully qualified domain name with the user account.
For example, the previous illustration specified W2022\Admin as the user account.-
NOTE: When installing iFIX with access controls, the Windows Group name used from the domain or computer
name provided (IFIXUSERS) must be different than any local group name configured on the machine with iFIX
installed.

6. Enter the password for this account.

7. Click OK.

8. Restart your computer.

9. Start iFIX

Disabling iFIX as a Service

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 15

 To disable iFIX from running as a service:

1. Shut down iFIX.

2. Ensure that you are logged in as a user in the Administrators group. If not, log in as an Admin-
istrator now.
3. On the Start menu, point to Programs, iFIX, and then System Configuration. The System Con-
figuration Utility (SCU) window appears.
4. On the Configure menu, click Local Startup. The Local Startup Definition dialog box appears.
5. In the Service area of dialog box, clear the Run iFIX as Service check box.
6. lick OK.
7. On the File menu, click Save to save the SCU file.
8. Exit the SCU.
9. Restart iFIX.
iFIX Paths

Windows does not map network drives until a user logs in. Therefore, if you are running iFIX as a service
under Windows, all iFIX paths must be set to a local drive.
Required Application Feature

You must assign the Enable Ctrl+Alt+Del application feature to the user that is logged in when iFIX is run-
ning as a service. Otherwise if a user logs out of the operating system while iFIX is running as a service, no
one will be able to log back in to the operating system.
Running iFIX with Terminal Services

You must configure the Default Service SCU in the Startup Profile Manager if you want to run iFIX as a ser-
vice on the Terminal Server. For more information, refer to the Configuring the Default Profile section in
the Using Terminal Server electronic book.

Running iFIX with Other Programs

By default, iFIX uses the local System account when running as a service. However, you cannot use the
System account with certain applications, such as Proficy Historian.
To configure a different user account for iFIX running as a service:

1. From Control Panel, open the Administrative Tools, then Services.

2. In the Services folder, right-click iFIX server and select Properties.
3. In the Log On tab, set the user name and password for This Account to the user account you want
to log in when iFIX is running as a service.

Fast User Switching Not Supported

Fast user switching is not supported with iFIX, even if you are running iFIX as a service.

Running the OPC Client Driver and iFIX as a Service

If you want to run the OPC Client driver as a service, iFIX must also run as a service. Likewise, if you want
to run iFIX as a service, the OPC Client driver must run as a service. You cannot run one as a service,
without the other also running as a service.

16 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 Running Workspace.exe from the SCU Task List Not Supported

It is not recommended that you run Workspace.exe in the SCU task list when iFIX is running as a service.

Disk Space Requirements

The iFIX WorkSpace checks to make sure you have at least 10 MB of disk space when you save a picture
or a schedule. If there is insufficient disk space, the WorkSpace may react unpredictably and you may lose
your work.

To help minimize this problem, the WorkSpace warns you if you have less than 10 MB of disk space avail-
able. Although you can continue loading the software, we recommend that you stop iFIX, free some disk
space, then restart. Otherwise, the WorkSpace may become unstable.

The WorkSpace examines the iFIX Picture path and the Windows TEMP path when it starts. If you change
either path so that they reference different drives, for example, D:\Program Files (x86)\Proficy\iFIX\iFIX
and C:\Temp, the WorkSpace requires 10 MB on each drive.

You may find that 10MB is not enough space to protect against instability during file save operations. You
can increase this threshold by changing the FreeDiskSpace parameter in the FixUserPreferences.ini file.
This parameter sets the minimum amount of space that the WorkSpace requires in bytes. By default, the
parameter is set as follows:
[AppRunPreferences]
FreeDiskSpace=10000000

To change FreeDiskSpace parameter:

1. Shut down the WorkSpace.

2. Locate the FixUserPreferences.ini file in the Local path.
3. Open the file with a text editor, and change the FreeDiskSpace parameter to the amount you
want.
4. Save the .INI file and restart the WorkSpace.

OPC Certification

Based on Microsoft's OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) technology, OPC (OLE for Process Control)
provides greater interoperability between control applications, field systems and devices, and front
office/backoffice applications. OPC servers, such as DCSs, PLCs, smart field devices, and analyzers
provide real-time information and can communicate directly with the iFIX product.

The iFIX product is an OPC 2.05a DA enabled client, which lets iFIX retrieve data from any OPC 1.x or 2.x
(up to version 2.05a) compliant data server. To access local or remote data from a third party OPC
Server, use the iFIX OPC Client version 7.4x, which is also in included with iFIX.

iFIX also has an iFIX OPC Server (OPC20iFIX.exe) that serves out data via OPC from the iFIX Database.

Be aware that iFIX currently includes two OPC servers:

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 17

 l OPC20iFIX.exe (Intellution.OPCiFIX) – an OPC 2.05a (out of process) Data Server
l iFixOPCAESrv.exe – an OPC 1.10 Alarm and Events (A&E) Server

Both OPC Servers included with iFIX are in compliance with the OPC Foundation's "Self Tested" spe-
cifications. GE ran a series of OPC tests to verify compliance for the versions listed above.

You can find more information about OPC on the Support web site at: https://digitalsupport.ge.com.

Installing the iFIX Software

The integrated product installer streamlines the deployment experience for iFIX, along with the other
products iFIX is often used with. The integrated installer supplies the default settings for you, based on
the type of install you select, making it easier and faster to get your product installed. Any of the default
settings configured with the integrated installer can be updated after the install through the iFIX SCU.

The integrated installer is the preferred way to install iFIX. In order to use iFIX with Configuration Hub,
Configuration Hub only needs to be installed only once. It does not need to be installed on all nodes. You
can also install other components as required.

The log file for the iFIX install is named iFIX 2023_SETUP.LOG. The log appears in your Windows folder.
This log file can be used to troubleshoot any issues that occur during the iFIX install.

See the steps below, or this Quick Start for help on getting started.

Steps to Install iFIX with the Integrated Installer

To install iFIX from the integrated installer:

1. From the install folder, double-click Setup.bat to run the installer. The Installation screen appears.
2. Select the option to install:
l SCADA Standalone Server
l SCADA Client
l SCADA with Remote Historian
3. When the License Agreement appears, read through the terms and click Accept to continue. The
Install Location screen appears.
4. Leave the defaults, or specify another location.
5. Click Next to Continue. The Historian Details screen appears. For other install options, the Cre-
dentials screen appears.
6. Enter the data requested. If installing Historian with iFIX, you are presented with Historian
options. Leave the defaults. If you want to enable security for Historian, select the Enable His-
torian Services Security check box.; this will require additional steps (you can also perform these
same steps later. If the Historian Data Path is different from what appears in this screen, enter it
now.
7. Click Next. The Confirm Install screen appears.
8. Click Start. When the install completes a message appears.
9. Click Close. Another message appears. You can choose to install more products, reboot now or
later.

18 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 Step to Install Configuration Hub with the Integrated Installer
NOTE: Configuration Hub only needs to be installed only once. It does not need to be installed on remote nodes.

To install Configuration Hub from the integrated installer:

1. From the install folder, double-click Setup.bat to run the installer. The Installation screen appears.
2. Select the Common Component option to install.
3. Leave the defaults and install both Configuration Hub and Proficy Authentication.
4. When the License Agreement appears, read through the terms and click Accept to continue. The
Install Location screen appears.
5. Leave the defaults, or specify another location.
6. Click Next to Continue. The Credentials screen appears.
7. Enter the required credentials. Be sure to retain these credentials for future use, as they cannot
be reset without reinstalling.
IMPORTANT: When entering the Client ID or Client Secret for Configuration Hub and Proficy Authentication,
do not include any characters other than the alphanumeric character set from the English keyboard.
8. Click Next. The Confirm Install screen appears.
9. Click Start. When the install completes a message appears.
10. Click Close. Another message appears. You can choose to install more products, reboot now or
later.
11. Register Configuration Hub with iFIX. See "Configuration Hub Registration" on page 25.

SCADA Standalone Server Option from the Integrated Installer

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 19

SCADA Client Option from the Integrated Installer

20 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 SCADA with Remote Historian Option from the Integrated Installer

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 21

 Common Components Option from the Integrated Installer

Running the Integrated Install from a Command Line

A response file named SilentInstallResponseFile.json is saved to the install folder with the settings you
selected for the install – each time you run the integrated install. This response file can be used to run
the integrated installer from a command line or programmatically. This can be helpful, for instance, if you
have several computers on your network that you need to run the installer on.

You can make your own SilentInstallResponseFile.json using any of the full list of options in detailed in the
following sections, or modify the one created for you when you installed your products with the integ-
rated install. You can find this autogenerated file in the install folder, which is by default: C:\Program Files
(x86)\Proficy.

To run the integrated installer from a command line, use the following command line:
D:\Setup\setup.exe --response SilentInstallResponseFile.json

where D:\ is the drive where the integrated installer is located.

In addition to the options provided in the following sections, you can further customize the options selec-
ted for the iFIX install by using the scadaconfig.ini for SCADA installs or the installconfig.ini for iClient
(View node) installs.

22 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 To further customize the iFIX install:

1. In Windows Explorer, create a folder on your local drive named isoimage. For example: C:\isoim-
age.
2. Copy all of the files and folders from the integrated installer, and paste them to your isoimage
folder.
3. Navigate to the iFIX\Setup folder to locate the scadaconfig.ini or installconfig.ini.
4. Make your changes, and save the file. Your customized settings are saved for the next time you
run the install from the command line, using this install image.

Common Components
{
"packageSelected": "CommonComponents",
"installLocation": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Proficy",
"configHubClientId": "admin",
"configHubClientSecret": "******",
"uaaClientId": "admin",
"uaaClientSecret": "******",
"selectedPackageProducts": [
{
"productName": "Configuration Hub",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Proficy Authentication",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Local License Server",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "License Server Tool",
"installType": "installText"
}
]
}

SCADA Client
{
"packageSelected": "ScadaClient",
"installLocation": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Proficy",
"selectedPackageProducts": [
{
"productName": "iClient",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Productivity Tools",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Historian Client Tools",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Proficy Webspace",
"installType": "installText"
}

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 23

 ],
"nodeName": "FIXVIEW"
"historianServerLocation": "10.10.01.10",
}

SCADA Standalone Server

{
"packageSelected": "ScadaStandAloneServer",
"installLocation": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Proficy",
"nodeName": "FIX",
"selectedPackageProducts": [
{
"productName": "SCADA",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Industrial Gateway Server [IGS]",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Productivity Tools",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Historian Collectors",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Historian Server",
"installType": "installText"
}
],
"dataPathFolder": "C:\\Proficy Historian Data",
"enableCertificateSecurity": false,
"serverCertPassPhrase": ""
}

SCADA with Remote Historian

{
"packageSelected": "ScadaWithRemoteHistorian",
"installLocation": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Proficy",
"selectedPackageProducts": [
{
"productName": "SCADA",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Industrial Gateway Server [IGS]",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Productivity Tools",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Historian Client Tools",
"installType": "installText"
},
{
"productName": "Historian Collectors",
"installType": "installText"
}

24 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 ],
"nodeName": "FIX",
"dataPathFolder": "C:\\Proficy Historian Data",
"historianServerLocation": "HIST1",
"historianUserName": "admin",
"historianPassword": "******"
}

Historian Server
{
"packageSelected": "HistorianServer",
"installLocation": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Proficy",
"selectedPackageProducts": [
{
"productName": "Historian Server",
"installType": "installText"
}
],
"dataPathFolder": "C:\\Proficy Historian Data",
"enableCertificateSecurity": false,
"serverCertPassPhrase": ""
}

Operations Hub
{
"packageSelected": "productOpsHub",
"installLocation": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Proficy",
"opshubusername": "ch_admin",
"opshubpassword": "******",
"ophub": {
"useLocalUaa": false,
"uaaBaseUrl": "https://server/uaa",
"adminClientId": "admin",
"adminClientSecret": "admin",
"configHubRegClientId": "admin",
"configHubRegClientSecret": "admin",
"deferConfigHubRegistration": true
},
"opshubdrivelocation": "C:",
"selectedPackageProducts": [
{
"productName": "Operations Hub",
"installType": "installText",
"opshubinstalltype": "Silent Install"
}
]
}

Configuration Hub Registration

After installing Common Components, you need to register Configuration Hub and Proficy Authentication
with iFIX. Be aware that:

l If you installed Configuration Hub locally on the same machine as iFIX, you need register it iFIX and
Proficy Authentication. You'll need to provided the Client ID and Client Secret information you entered
when you installed the Common Components from the integrated installer.
l If you want to use a Configuration Hub server on a computer that is not on the local machine, you will
need to register with the Configuration Hub server on the remote computer.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 25

 l If you configured Configuration Hub with iFIX and now you want to change to a remote Configuration
Hub server, you will need to unregister Configuration Hub on the local machine first, and then register
with the remote Configuration Hub server.

Before you can Register Configuration Hub

l Make sure that users have been added in Windows, and that security is enabled on all of the iFIX
SCADAs (from iFIX Security Configuration, select Edit, and then Configuration, and then for User
Based Security select Enabled).
l Be aware that the Configuration Hub web server and the iFIX plugin ports must be allowed in the fire-
wall exception rules during installation. If you do not do this during installation, you will need to add
these applications manually to the firewall rules.
l If you are using Configuration Hub on a domain, you may need to update the HOSTS files on your net-
work with the name of the Configuration Hub server, the iFIX SCADA Server, and Historian Server (if
applicable).

Start Registration from the Windows Desktop

From the Windows Desktop, click the Register iFIX Plug-in icon:

Start Registration from the iFIX WorkSpace

From the iFIX WorkSpace, on the Applications tab, click the Register button.

Login to Configuration Hub the First Time

After you click the Register option, the login screen appears in your web browser. Enter the Configuration
Hub and Proficy Authentication login user name and password for your iFIX Administrator.

26 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

Provide Registration Details
1. After logging in, the Configuration Hub Server Registration page appears, as shown in the following fig-
ure. the Server Name and Port for each (if it is not automatically populated), and then click Test
Server Connection to continue. Confirm that you can connect to both servers. Fore remote regis-
tration, use the fully qualified domain name if on a domain.
2. If successfully connected and the server certificate shows as Not Trusted (in blue next to the server
name), click the Not Trusted link next to the server name to establish the trust. After clicking Not
Trusted, the Certificate Details window appears.
3. From the Certificate Details window, click Trusted in order to trust the certificate. Both Configuration
Hub and Proficy Authentication must have Trusted certificates before proceeding to register.
4. Next, enter the Client IDs and Client Secrets supplied during installation of the Common Components
to complete the registration.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 27

 5. Click Register to complete the process.

NOTE: From this screen you can also unregister with Configuration Hub on a local machine. When applicable, an Unregister
icon appears, allowing you to do so.

Registering with the Remote Configuration Hub

l Before registering a remote Configuration Hub serve, ensure that the latest Microsoft Updates are
installed.
l Remote registration uses the same iFIX Registration process. However, you will need to know the
Server names for Configuration Hub and Proficy Authentication. Use the fully qualified domain name if
on a domain.
l To register with a remote Configuration Hub server, enter the remote Configuration Hub server name
in the Server Name field. In the Client ID and Client Secret fields, enter the values of the remote Con-
figuration Hub server.
IMPORTANT: The remote Configuration Hub server root certificate (C:\Program Files (x86)\GE\Con-
figurationHub\ConfigHubPki\ ConfigHubRootCA.crt) must be installed into the iFIX server windows certificate store trusted
roots folder. To do that, copy the root certificate file from remote Configuration Hub server (C:\Program Files

28 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

(x86)\GE\ConfigurationHub\ConfigHubPki\ ConfigHubRootCA.crt) on to the iFIX server computer and then double-click on it
to import it in to Local Machine Trusted Root Certificate Authorities.

Access Controls in iFIX

The Access Controls feature in iFIX (formerly known as "secure mode") assists you in reducing security
risks on your SCADA system. By applying Access Control Lists (ACLs) to iFIX, access rights to shared
memory used by your iFIX processes, files, and Registry entries are regulated by Windows.

By default, Access Controls are disabled when you install iFIX to allow you to quickly configure your sys-
tem. If you later want to enable Access Controls or change your current settings, you can do so by using
the ConfigureWizard.exe. Click the Start menu, iFIX, and then select the Setup Access Controls option.
You can also access ConfigureWizard.exe from the iFIX install folder; by default, this location is: C:\Pro-
gram Files (x86)\Proficy\iFIX\ConfigureWizard.exe

With Access Controls enabled, you can also restrict the opening of pictures to folders that have restric-
tions based on Access Controls. For example, if a user has pictures in a non-default folder, such as
C:\Temp\iFIXPictures, and the "Check folder permissions when opening iFIX Pictures" option is enabled,
that folder will need to be secured with the group name configured in this Configure Wizard utility in
order for the picture to be opened.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 29

 To configure access controls in iFIX:

1. From Start menu, select iFIX and then Setup Access Controls. Or, from the iFIX install folder,
double-click ConfigureWizard.exe. By default this folder location is: C:\Program Files (x86)\Profi-
cy\iFIX\ConfigureWizard.exe. The iFIX Install Mode dialog box appears.
2. Select the Install iFIX with Access Controls option.
3. If using a domain network group as the scope for validation, in the Domain or Computer Name
field, enter a domain name (for example mycompany.com). Otherwise, specify the local computer
name (the default).
l When using the network domain group, iFIX and its applications will not be able to run if this
machine becomes disconnected from the domain.

30 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 l If you specify a local group and it does not exist, the installer will create it for you. By choosing
secure mode, the currently logged in user will be added to this Windows group. All other
iFIX users will need to be manually added.
3. Optionally, if you want to secure your picture viewing, select the "Check folder permissions when
opening iFIX Pictures" option.
4. Optionally, if you want to run iFIX as a service along with Access Controls, select the "Assign a Win-
dows user account to iFIX services" option, and enter and user name and password. iFIX will run
under this account when configured to run as a service. For more information, see "Windows and
Security" on page 51.
l This user must exist in the specified Windows group name.
l If you choose not to provide this information, then iFIX cannot be configured to run as a ser-
vice.
l It is recommended to use a least privilege account, and not an administrative account.
5. Click OK to save your settings.

6. Restart your computer.

7. Start iFIX.

Using iFIX with Proficy Historian

With Proficy Historian, you can perform the following tasks in iFIX:

l Set Historian tags for collection for the iFIX database.

l Insert a Historical Data Link into your picture in the iFIX WorkSpace.

l Use a Historical HP Dynamo with Historian tags.

l Use Time Lapse Playback to replay an event.

l Use VisiconX data and grid objects to access Historian data from the iFIX WorkSpace.

When making your decision on how you want to use GE Historian with iFIX, keep the following con-
siderations in mind.

Configuration Considerations
Although many of the features of GE Historian can be configured in iFIX, some cannot. They must be con-
figured directly in GE Historian. These features include:

l Security
l Alarms, if you are using them
l Collection on any field other than F_CV.
l Archive compression
l Archive back-up
l Other tag properties not configurable in iFIX

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 31

 l GE Historian parameters for Database Dynamos, or loadable blocks
l Redundancy

Other Considerations
Multiple Databases

Only a single, local database is supported with Proficy Historian. If you want to use multiple databases,
you may want to use Proficy Historian separately from iFIX. When used together, Proficy Historian does
not recognize tags from the iFIX database with the same name as different tags, even though the source
is different. So, tags that exist in your iFIX database are ignored. The data that is populated comes from
Proficy Historian, not from the iFIX database. To avoid this problem, verify that each tag has a unique
name.

When using multiple iFIX databases that have the same node name and the same tag name, Proficy His-
torian will be unable to discriminate a tag coming from one node with a tag coming from another node,
and these tags will be subsequently be ignored. It is best practice to not use the same iFIX node name on
multiple nodes.

For example, you have a tag called AI1 in both Process Database 1 (PDB1) and Process Database 2
(PDB2). Both tags are added to Proficy Historian as FIX.AI1.F_CV. If you reload PDB1 and then PDB2, the
AI1 tag is overwritten in Proficy Historian.

Collection Delay

When iFIX and Proficy Historian are used as an integrated application, rather than as separate applic-
ations, it takes longer for tags to update if the Collector is running. Additions, deletions and modifications
of tags may take twice as long to display – approximately two minutes, instead of one – than if each
application was used separately.

Collectors

If you choose to use Proficy Historian, not all installed collectors will be available for selection as the
default Collector. Because this feature only supports collectors that read data from iFIX, the collectors
available for selection are limited to the following:

l iFIX Native Collector

Electronic Signatures

If you use electronic signatures, then you should probably not use the integrated Proficy Historian fea-
ture. If a tag requires an electronic signature in Proficy Historian and does not in iFIX, and a user makes a
change in iFIX, the user is not prompted for a password. Instead, the change is made, bypassing Proficy
Historian's electronic signature requirement.

Spare1 Fields

When used with iFIX, the Proficy Historian Spare1 fields are used to keep track of tags that were added
or modified by iFIX. When you enable Collection for a tag in the iFIX Database Manager (on the Proficy His-
torian tab, in the Collection Options area), the Spare1 field is assigned to iFIX. iFIX controls the creation
or modification of this tag in Proficy Historian. In other words, iFIX becomes the owner of the Spare1 field.
The Spare1 fields are written to when an iFIX tag is added for the first time from iFIX to the Proficy His-
torian Server. The Spare1 field contains the iFIX database name.

32 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 If you want to use the Spare1 field in Proficy Historian to allow data to be written to Proficy Historian
from a third party application separate from iFIX, you need to Disable Collection on the tag from within
iFIX (which is the default setting for any new tags you add in iFIX Database Manager). When disabled,
Proficy Historian collection is not enabled for the tag and the tag is handled exclusively by Proficy His-
torian. When the tag is being handled by Proficy Historian, it cannot be modified or deleted from iFIX.

Choosing Not to Install Integrated Proficy Historian

If you do not want to install integrated Proficy Historian, and continue using Proficy Historian as you did
before, then never do the following:

l Select the Automatically Configure Tags for Collection in Proficy Historian on the Proficy Historian
tab of the User Preferences dialog box.
l Use Proficy Historian fields in iFIX Database Manager to configure anything in Proficy Historian.

Post-Installation Steps for Proficy Historian

If you choose to install Proficy Historian, there are post-installation steps you will need to perform. For
more information, see Configuring iFIX to Use Proficy Historian and Configuring Security When Using iFIX
with GE Historian.

Configuring Security When Using iFIX with Proficy Historian

Beginning with iFIX 5.0, iFIX configures Proficy Historian by adding and deleting tags and changing tag prop-
erties. Therefore, applicable security measures must be configured. However, tag level security and
Proficy Historian domain security cannot be configured in the iFIX application; it must be done in Proficy
Historian.

For Proficy Historian domain security, see "User Privileges for Starting a Collector" in the Proficy Historian
e-book.

For all other security considerations for Proficy Historian, see the chapter "Implementing Historian Secur-
ity" in the Proficy Historian e-book.

Configuring iFIX to Use Proficy Historian

The following tables describe the process for configuring iFIX to run with Proficy Historian:

Configuration Process - New Install of Historian

Stag- Description
e
1 Install iFIX.
2 Install Proficy Historian.
3 Install the Historian Client Tools and the iFIX Collector on the iFIX computer.
NOTE: When configuring the iFIX collector from the Historian 9.0 media, see the additional steps below.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 33

 4 Define your security strategy for Historian and iFIX.

Be sure to review the Historian security considerations in the "Implementing Historian Security"
chapter of the Proficy Historian Getting Started guide before getting started. You may need to
temporarily enable or disable these options during the installation process.

Additionally, plan your iFIX security by reviewing the "Configuring Security Features" e-book in the
iFIX e-books. If iFIX is not running as an Administrator, be sure to review the "User Privileges for
Starting a Collector" topic in the Historian e-books as well.
5 Start iFIX and the WorkSpace.
6 On the iFIX computer, configure the iFIX Collector:

l From the iFIX startup dialog box, open the SCU (System Configuration Utility) option.
l On the Configure menu, select Tasks.
l Next to the Filename field, click the browse (...) button to select the ihfixcollector.exe file
from the iFIX install folder (by default: C:\Program Files (x86)\GE\iFIX).
l In the Command Line field, enter one of the following command and click Add, and then
OK and save the SCU file.

IMPORTANT: When you add the iFIX Collector to the iFIX SCU Task list with the
RUNASDOS command line, then the iFIX Collector will automatically start when iFIX
starts, and you will not need to start the iFIX Collector manually.

Command Line 1: RUNASDOS

Use the RUNASDOS command to start default iFIX Collectors (applies to all versions of Historian
except Historian 9.0 Collectors).

For example:

34 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 Command Line 2: SERVICENAME=COLLECTORSERVICENAME

Use this command to start the iFIX Collector to run as a Service.

For example, in the SCU task list, enter the command SERVICENAME=ihFixCollector with the star-
tup mode as Background for the ihFIXCollector.exe. This example assumes that a service called
ihFixCollector corresponding to the ihFIXCollector.exe application exists in the Windows Services
list. The service name might be different in your Windows Services list. For default IFIX collector it
is ihFixCollector.

Command Line 3: NOSERVICE

Use this command line to start the default installed iFIX collector. You can also double-click the
Start iFix Collector.bat file available in iFIX install folder to start the default Installed iFIX collector
with the NOSERVICE command.

For other instances of collectors use:

NOSERVICE REG=iFixCollector1

where iFixCollector1 is the collector instance name provided in the Historian settings in Con-
figuration Hub. After you make this change, launch iFIX and confirm your Collector starts.

For Historian 9.0 and later versions , after you install the Historian Client Tools and iFIX Collector
on the iFIX Server computer, you can register the iFIX Collector and create other instances of it
from Configuration Hub. Refer to the Historian documentation for detailed steps on working with
collectors. Use Configuration Hub with Historian to manage the collector.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 35

 For Historian 9.0, you must add the instance of the iFIX Collector with Configuration Hub, as the
default iFIX Collector is not created by install. The RUNASDOS command is not supported for His-
torian 9.0.
7 If using multiple Historian servers that are not mirror nodes, perform the following steps to add
iFIX data:

Add iFIX Data to Two Different Historian Servers which are Not Mirror Nodes (Historian
9.0 and Greater)

Starting with Historian 9.0, you can use Configuration Hub to create multiple server instances and
it will create the necessary registry entry and multiple instances of the ihFIXCollector.exe that
can be run.

-OR-

Add iFIX Data to Two Different Historian Servers which are Not Mirror Nodes (Earlier
Than Historian 9.0)

If you need to send iFIX Data to two different Historian Servers which are not Mirror nodes:

l Copy the “ihFIXCollector.exe" file from the iFIX install folder, paste it to a new location, and
rename the new exe file as “ihFIXCollector2.exe”.
l Go to the Windows Registry, and locate the following key: “Hkey_local_machine > Software
> Wow6432Node > Intellution, Inc.”
l Add a key under “iFixCollector.” Name this key as “FIX2nd”.
l Add the following values for “FIX2nd”: General1 - General5, HistorianNodeName, and Inter-
faceName. The other values will be auto-created when the collector first starts up. Only
three of the seven values need to be set:
l General3 = iFix node name
l HistorianNodeName = Computer name of Historian server
l InterfaceName = Name for this iFIX collector displayed in Historian Administrator;
must be different from the 1st iFix collector
l For more information, see KB article 000034196 on digitalsupport.ge.com
8 Restart iFIX to start the Collector.
Configure iFIX to automatically add tag data to a single Historian server (the FIXTOHIST process is
used in the background to do this). This only works if only one iFIX Collector is being used.

In the iFIX WorkSpace, on the Administration tab:

1. Click Configure Historian and then Configure the Historian Server. The Configure the
Proficy Historian Server(s) dialog box appears.
9 2. Click Get Collectors. (The name of iFIX Collector that is already started will be populated
in the Collector Name box.)
3. Select the Collector name from the box, and then click Set Default. Review the Using iFIX
with Proficy Historian section first before enabling a default collector.
4. To enable Historian data collection for an iFIX tag, enable Historian Collect in Con-
figuration Hub or in the iFIX Database Manager for the tag. (When configured in this
manner through iFIX, only iFIX tags with Historian options enabled will be automatically
added to the Historian Administrator.)

Historian Upgrade Process

The following steps outline the process to upgrade Historian.

36 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 Configuration Process - Upgrade to GE Historian

Stage Description
1 If upgrading from a previous release of iFIX and you have GE Historian installed on the PC, shut
down all services and licensing prior to installing iFIX and then GE Historian.
2 Install iFIX.
3 Back up all the Proficy Historian archive data files (*.iha), configuration files (*.ihc), and any other
backup files you maintained. By default, you can find these files in the c:\Program Files\GE Digit-
al\Historian Data\Archives folder. Make a copy of those backup files.
4 From the Add or Remove Programs feature in the Control Panel, manually uninstall Historian. Do
Not Delete Archives when prompted.
5 Restart your computer.
6 Install Historian as described in the Historian Getting Started guide.
7 After the install completes, restart your computer. It is very important not to forget this step,
and to restart your computer. Make sure the Historian Archiver is running.
8 Restore your Proficy Historian archive using the Historian Administrator.
9 Copy your configuration files (*.ihc) to the Archive folder.
10 Install the Historian Client Tools and the iFIX Collector on your iFIX SCADA Server.
IMPORTANT: When upgrading from a previous version of Historian, Enforce Strict Client Authentication and
Enforce Strict Collector Authentication should be disabled on the Historian Server to allow for compatibility
with older clients or collectors that cannot be upgraded concurrently. It is recommended that all clients and col-
lectors receive a timely upgrade to the latest version of Historian, which permits enabling both strict client
and collector authentication on the server for the highest security configuration.
By treating clients and collectors separately, it is possible to accommodate new and legacy authentication dur-
ing the upgrade process. However, upgrading all clients and collectors to the latest version immediately will
achieve a higher level of security. The two options, Enforce Strict Client Authentication and Enforce Strict Col-
lector Authentication, permit flexibility during the upgrade process by selectively accommodating legacy cli-
ents and collectors.
11 Configure iFIX and your Proficy Historian Server.

Limiting the Number of Historian Servers at Workspace Startup

By default, on startup, the iFIX WorkSpace connects to all the Historian servers that have been con-
figured, including those configured outside of iFIX such as with the Historian Administrator. If you have a
large number of Historian servers, you may notice that the WorkSpace takes a long time to start. You can
limit the number of Historian servers that iFIX connects to when it starts by configuring a setting in the
FixUserPreferences.ini file. The FixUserPreferences.ini file is found in the iFIX\Local folder.

The WorkspaceStartupConnectHistDataSourceOnly option in the FixUserPreferences.INI file allows you

to limit the number of Historian servers that WorkSpace connects to when it starts up. When enabled,
the WorkSpace will connect only to the Historian servers that have been configured as historical data
sources in iFIX. Typically, an iFIX historical data source is created when you use the Configure Historian
Server menu item or toolbar in the iFIX WorkSpace.

To activate this feature, in the FixUserPreferences.ini file, in the [Historian] section, add the "Work-
spaceStartupConnectHistDataSourcesOnly " parameter and set the value to 1. For example, here is the
setting enabled:

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 37

 [Historian]
WorkspaceStartupConnectHistDataSourcesOnly=1

To disable the option, set WorkspaceStartupConnectHistDataSourcesOnly to 0. For example:

WorkspaceStartupConnectHistDataSourcesOnly=0

The WorkSpace must be restarted for any changes to the Work-

spaceStartupConnectHistDataSourcesOnly parameter to take effect.

Using the Discover and Auto Configure Tool with Proficy Historian

Not only can you can use the Discover and Auto Configure tool to automatically add tags to your iFIX data-
base, but you can also choose which tags get collected on in Proficy Historian as well.

Additionally, you can configure the Proficy Historian description and the interval for the collection for
each tag through Discover and Auto Configure. For information about adding Proficy Historian fields in Dis-
cover and Auto Configure, refer to the Adding Proficy Historian Fields as Columns topic.

Before you begin collection, you must have your Proficy Historian Server configured, and your iFIX Col-
lector configured as your local, default collector.

Be aware of your license limits for Proficy Historian. For example, there are limits to the number of iFIX
tags you are permitted to add to the Proficy Historian Server for collection. Use care when you select
which tags that you want to collect on in Discover and Auto Configure. You do not want to exceed your
license limits.

For more information on this tool, refer to the Discover and Auto Configure e-book.

Using iFIX with Microsoft Office

You can use the Microsoft Office family of products and iFIX on the same computer. However, to ensure
that VBA works correctly, install Microsoft Office products before installing iFIX.

Use the following table as a guide for installing and removing either product.

If you have... And you want to... Then...

Installed iFIX Install Microsoft Office Remove iFIX, install Microsoft Office
Products products, and re-install iFIX.
Installed Microsoft Office Products Remove Microsoft Remove iFIX, remove Microsoft Office
Office Products products, and re-install iFIX.
Started the iFIX WorkSpace for the Use iFIX and Microsoft Uninstall iFIX, uninstall Microsoft Office, re-
first time, and this message appears: Office harmoniously install Microsoft Office, and re-install iFIX.

Run time error "48": Error in loading

dll.

Backup Files

When you save one of the following files, iFIX creates a backup file:

38 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 l *.PDB – backed up as *.^DB
l *.SCU – backed up as *.^CU
l Profiles.cfg – backed up as Profiles.cfg.^AK
l DISPLAY.DOV – backed up as DISPLAY.^OV
l NODENAME.DOV – backed up as NODENAME.^OV

iFIX also creates these backup files after you start iFIX for the first time after an upgrade. These backup
files are helpful in disaster recovery of the individual files.

For new iFIX installs, be aware that you can also use the Factory Default Backup for disaster recovery –
performing a clean restore of your entire iFIX system. A clean restore includes the files listed above along
with other Factory Default files. For more information, refer to the Using and Creating Factory Default
Files section in the Understanding iFIX electronic book.

For upgrades, be aware that you can perform a backup to backup the files listed above before the
upgrade. After the upgrade, you can restore these files with the Backup and Restore wizard. Refer to the
Overview of the Backup Process section in the Understanding iFIX electronic book for more information.

Optionally, after you upgrade your system with the Custom Backup, you can create a new Factory
Default Backup, that you can use for disaster recovery in replace of the original Factory Default Backup
file. This information is described in the Using and Creating Factory Default Files and Sample
BackupRestore.ini sections.

Change Management and iFIX

If you plan to use Change Management with iFIX, to help you manage your iFIX project files, and track
changes to these files, install iFIX first. After you install iFIX, you can install Change Management.

Additionally, you need to configure a few items on both iFIX and the Change Management Server, as
described in the Setting up iFIX for Use with Change Management topic in the Change Management and
iFIX e-book.
NOTE: If you want to run iFIX with other GE products, such as Change Management, you will need to upgrade your key
to at least an M4 key, or better.

If you are upgrading an iFIX computer with the Change Management, upgrade to the latest version of
Change Management.

Discover and Auto Configure

The Discover and Auto Configure is a tool used to extract tag information from PLC programming soft-
ware files or OPC servers and then add the tags to your target application's iFIX database. Using the Dis-
cover and Auto Configure tool saves you valuable time and effort when creating tags for your driver(s)
and iFIX application database because you no longer need to manually create the individual tags.

You can currently extract information using the following Discovery Agents:

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 39

 l OPC Discovery Agent
l Siemens S7 Discovery Agent
l Allen-Bradley PLC-5/SLC 500/MicroLogix Families Discovery Agent
l IGS - Industrial Gateway Server Discovery Agent

Not only can you automatically generate tags for OPC, Siemens S7, and Allen Bradley, but with the Indus-
trial Gateway Server (IGS), you have support for tag creation in over 90 protocols.

Within Discover and Auto Configure, you can also configure the iFIX tags that you want to collect on in His-
torian (through the iFIX Collector). For information on using Discover and Auto Configure with Historian,
refer to the Using the Discover and Auto Configure Tool with Historian section.

For more information on this tool, refer to the Discover and Auto Configure e-book.

Optional Hardware

iFIX supports the following optional hardware. You may want to purchase one or more of these items to
enhance your iFIX system.

l A Microsoft-supported touch screen or other pointing device.

l A DigiBoard™ to provide your computer with up to 9 serial ports. If you are using multiple I/O
drivers or multiple ports for one I/O driver, you may require the use of a DigiBoard. GE has tested
and supports the Digichannel PC/8E.

Uninstalling iFIX

IMPORTANT: Do not to delete the user group that was created/used by the iFIX installer (to apply ACLs) before you
uninstall the iFIX product. Instead, uninstall iFIX first, and then you can optionally remove this Windows group.

To uninstall iFIX, from the Control Panel, in the Add or Remove Programs dialog box, click the Remove but-
ton next to the iFIX entry. This action launches the install program allowing you to remove the iFIX
product.

If you want to uninstall other items that install along with iFIX, such as the iFIX OPC Client, Common
Licensing, and Discover and Auto Configure application, you need to uninstall these items separately.
NOTE: For the Discover and Auto Configure (DAC) application, it is recommended that you uninstall it before you unin-
stall the iFIX product. If you wait until after you uninstall iFIX, the DAC uninstall will display error messages.

Sleep or Hibernate Mode

If your SCADA computer has been sleeping overnight, or in hibernate mode, be aware that you will need
to acknowledge all of the queued "License Warning" messages.

40 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 Setting Up for Remote OPC Server Access

Before you can access remote OPC servers in iFIX, such as through the Discover and Auto Configure
(DAC) application and the OPC Client driver, you must make sure your firewall settings are correct and
that the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) settings for your operating system are correct.
These settings can be different for each operating system and also for different product revisions. If the
settings are not correctly set, you may not be able to access remote OPC servers. Changes to these set-
tings should be reviewed and approved by your system/security administrator.

For more information on configuring these settings, refer to the following:

l For DCOM information, refer to the Setting Up DCOM for Use with Remote OPC Servers section.
l For Firewall information, refer to the Setting Up the Firewall for Use with Remote OPC Server sec-
tion.

Setting Up DCOM for Use with Remote OPC Servers

iFIX supports DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model) to browse remote OPC Servers. If you want
to grant only certain users permission to launch or access the remote OPC servers, you can use the Win-
dows utility, DCOMCNFG.EXE for configuring DCOM applications. DCOMCNFG.EXE is usually located in
your operating system's \system32 folder.

When OPC Servers register, they set up initial custom DCOM security settings to enable users on the net-
work to access and launch the Server. On large networks, it is recommended that you modify these set-
tings to avoid confusion and inadvertent changes to a running OPC Server.

If Firewall security is enabled on Windows, you must also modify or add items to the Exceptions list. Refer
to Setting Up the Firewall for Use with Remote OPC Servers section for more information.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
l It is recommended that all users that need to access remote OPC Servers be members of the Administrators
group. To facilitate this, it is recommended that you create a users group to contain individual users that need to
access remote OPC servers.
For example, for the Discover and Auto Configure application, create a group named “DAC” and add those users
who will log into the operating systems and access remote OPC servers. Add the users Tom, Denise, and Harry
into the DAC group. Each of these users will also be added into the Administrators group. This DAC group should
also contain the following built-in security principals: INTERACTIVE; NETWORK; SYSTEM.
l To make any OPC Client / OPC Server application work via DCOM, changes need to be made on both sides,
especially if you intend to use Asynchronous I/O communications.
l OPCENUM must reside on the remote machine with the OPC server. While most OPC Server applications install
and register this file, some do not. You can download this file from www.opcfoundation.org. Currently it is con-
tained within the OPC Core Components 2.00 Redistributable 2.30.msi file. After you download OPCENUM, run
the .msi file.
l This section applies to OPC servers that need to use DCOM communications, regardless of whether the OPC
server uses Serial or Ethernet devices.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 41

 l If OPC communications is confined to a single machine (that is, using COM, but not DCOM), it continues to work
properly without making changes to DCOM settings.
l If you do not plan to use iFIX to connect remotely to OPC servers, then you may not need to change your DCOM
settings.
l If this is the first time you are connecting to (or allowing connections from) other machines on the network, you
must run the Windows Network Wizard (from Start > Control Panel) to set up your computer to run on your net-
work. This allows you to share resources on your computer with other computers on your network. It is recom-
mended that you run the Network Setup Wizard before modifying the DCOM settings.

DCOM Settings
The following procedures provide general guidelines for configuring DCOM settings.

To launch the DCOM configurator:

1. From the Start menu, select or type Run. The Run dialog box appears.
2. Type dcomcnfg and click OK. The Component Services dialog box appears.

System-wide COM/DCOM Limits Settings

This procedure modifies the system-wide DCOM settings for the computer on Windows operating sys-
tems. When these steps are implemented, they apply to all programs that use COM/DCOM com-
munications on the computer.
IMPORTANT: Be careful when making any system-wide security changes. Any inadvertent changes may affect the
entire system and may cause some or all programs to stop working.

To update system-wide COM/DCOM limits settings:

1. On the Component Services dialog box, expand Component Services, then expand the Computers
item.
2. Right-click My Computer and choose Properties. The My Computer Properties dialog box appears.
3. Click the COM Security tab. There are four permissions on this dialog box.
You may need to make changes to the Edit Limits… for Access Permissions and Launch and Activ-
ation Permissions.
Do not change the Edit Default… settings, since this will change the default settings for all pro-
grams and applications running on the computer.
4. Click Access Permissions > Edit Limits… The Access Permission dialog box appears.
i. Select the user labeled ANONYMOUS LOGON, and then select the Allow check box for
Remote Access.
NOTE: This setting is necessary for applications that use OPCenum.exe to function and also for some
OPC Servers and OPC Clients that set their DCOM 'Authentication Level' to 'None' to allow anonymous
connections. If you do not use such applications, you may not need to enable remote access for anonym-
ous logon users.

ii. Select the user labeled Everyone, and then select the Allow check box for Remote Access.
IMPORTANT: Since “Everyone” includes all authenticated users, it is recommended to add these per-
missions to a smaller subset of users. One way of doing this is to create a Group named “OPC” and add

42 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 all user accounts to this Group that will access any OPC server. Then substitute “OPC” everywhere that
“Everyone” appears in the entire DCOM configuration dialogs.

iii. Click OK to close the Access Permissions dialog box and return to the My Computer Prop-
erties dialog box.
5. Click Launch and Activation Permissions > Edit Limits… The Launch Permission dialog box appears.
For each user or group (preferably add the “OPC” group) that needs to launch or activate the OPC
server, or participates in OPC / DCOM communications, make sure that the Local Launch, Remote
Launch, Local Activation, and Remote Activation check boxes are selected.
6. Click OK to save your changes, then click OK again to save and close the My Computer Properties
dialog box.

OPC Server-specific DCOM Settings

The following procedures detail the OPC server-specific COM/DCOM settings on all supported Windows
operating systems. You must change the OPC server settings so remote users can access the OPC server
as an OPC Data Access Server. This procedure is also necessary for the GE OPC Client driver to connect
to, launch, configure, and start the remote OPC servers.

It is recommended that all users requiring access to remote OPC servers be members of the Admin-
istrators group.
IMPORTANT: Since the “Everyone” group includes all authenticated users, it is recommended to add these permissions
to a smaller subset of users.

It is recommended that you create a group to contain individual users that need to access remote OPC servers. It is also
recommended that all users who require access to see OPC Servers be members of the Administrators group.

For example, for Discovery and Auto-Assembly Component, create a group named “DAC” and add those users who will
log into the operating systems and access remote OPC servers. Add the users Tom, Denise, and Harry into the DAC
group. Each of these users will also be added into the Administrators group. This DAC group should also contain the fol-
lowing built-in security principals: INTERACTIVE; NETWORK; SYSTEM. Then substitute “DAC” everywhere that “Every-
one” appears in the entire DCOM configuration dialogs.

To modify driver-specific DCOM settings in Windows:

1. Access the DCOM configurator (dcomcnfg.exe). The Component Services dialog box appears.
2. Expand the Component Services item, then expand the Computers item, and then expand the My
Computer item.
3. Select the DCOM Config object. A list of applications displays.
4. Right-click the OPC server you want to modify and choose Properties. The <Selected OPC Server>
Properties dialog box appears.
5. Click the General tab. The Authentication Level should be set to “Default,” if it is not already. This
uses the default authentication rules that are set in the system-wide DCOM settings.
6. Click the Location tab and make sure that the "Run Application on this computer" check box is
selected.
7. Click the Security tab and select the Customize option for each of the permissions in this dialog
box and edit them as described in the following steps.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 43

 8. In the Launch and Activation Permissions area, click Edit. The Launch and Activation Permission
dialog box appears.
9. Click the Add button. The Select Users or Groups dialog box appears.
10. Click the Advanced Button. Another Select Users or Groups dialog box appears.
11. Click the Find Now button. In the search results, select the OPC group and click OK. The Select
Users or Groups dialog box displays the OPC group.
12. Click OK to return to the Launch Permission dialog box. The OPC group is displayed in the Group or
user names list.
13. Select the OPC group and then select the Allow check boxes for Local Launch, Remote Launch,
Local Activation, and Remote Activation permissions.
14. Click OK to return to the <Selected OPC Server> Properties dialog box.
15. In the Access Permissions area, click Edit. The Access Permission dialog box appears.
16. Click the Add button. The Select Users or Groups dialog box appears.
17. Click the Advanced Button. Another Select Users or Groups dialog box appears.
18. Click the Find Now button. In the search results, select the OPC group and click OK. The Select
Users or Groups dialog box displays the OPC group.
19. Click OK to return to the Access Permission dialog box. The OPC group is displayed in the Group or
user names list.
20. Select the OPC group and then select the Allow check boxes for Local Access and Remote Access
permissions.
21. Click OK to return to the <Selected OPC Server> Properties dialog box.
22. In the Configuration Permissions area, click Edit. The Change Configuration Permission dialog box
appears.
23. Click the Add button. The Select Users or Groups dialog box appears.
24. Click the Advanced Button. Another Select Users or Groups dialog box appears.
25. Click the Find Now button. In the search results, select the OPC group and click OK. The Select
Users or Groups dialog box displays the OPC group.
26. Click OK to return to the Change Configuration Permission dialog box. The OPC group is displayed
in the Group or user names list.
27. Select the OPC group and then select the Allow check boxes for Full Control and Read per-
missions.
28. Click OK to return to the <Selected OPC Server> Properties dialog box.
29. Click OK.
30. Repeat steps 2 through 29 for each OPC server you need to access remotely.
31. When you are done, close the Component Services dialog box.

Setting Up the Firewall for Use with Remote OPC Servers

44 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 If Firewall security is enabled you may need to modify or add items to the Exceptions list.

It is recommended that you enter these settings on the local machine running iFIX, as well as on the
remote machine that has the OPC server you want to use.

To modify Windows Firewall settings:

1. Log into the Windows operating system with an Administrator account.

2. Open the Control Panel and double-click Windows Firewall. The Windows Firewall dialog box
appears. For the Windows Vista operating system, you also need to click the "Allow a program
through Windows firewall" option.
3. Click the Exceptions tab and make sure that the File and Printer Sharing check box is selected. The
following figure shows an example of this dialog box in Microsoft Windows XP.

4. Click the Add Port button. The Add a Port dialog box appears. The following figure shows an
example of this dialog box in Microsoft Windows XP.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 45

 5. In the Name field, enter a name for the port.
6. In the Port Number field enter 135.
7. Select the TCP option.
8. Click OK to save your changes.
The port name you entered is now listed with its check box selected.
9. Select the Add Program button. The Add a Program dialog box appears. The following figure shows
an example of this dialog box in Microsoft Windows XP.

46 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 10. Click the Browse button. A Browse dialog box appears.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 47

 11. Navigate to the System32 folder. This folder is found under the operating system folder (usually
Windows or WINNT).
12. In the System32 folder, select the OPCENUM.exe file, and then click the Open button.
In the Add a Program dialog box the path field displays the full path to, and including, the
OPCENUM.exe file.

48 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 13. Click OK.
OPCENUM.exe should now be listed in the Exceptions list with its check box selected.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 49

 14. Complete steps 9-13 for each OPC server that you want to access.
NOTES:

l If any OPC server that you want to use is a dll surrogate (an in-process dll and not an .exe), you must add \sys-
tem32\dllhost.exe into the Exceptions list.
l You must also add the GE OPC Client driver by adding the file OPCDrv.exe into the Exceptions list.
l OPCENUM must reside on the remote machine with the OPC server. While most OPC Server applications install
and register this file, some do not. You can download this file from www.opcfoundation.org. Currently it is con-
tained within the OPC Core Components 2.00 Redistributable 2.30.msi file. After you download OPCENUM, run
the .msi file.

50 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 Windows Operating System Considerations

When using iFIX in newer versions of Windows, be aware of the following limitations when working with
these products:

l GE OPC Client Driver – If you want to run the OPC Client driver as a service, iFIX must also run
as a service. Likewise, if you want to run iFIX as a service, the OPC Client driver must run as a ser-
vice. You cannot run one as a service, without the other also running as a service.
If you want to run the OPC Client driver, be sure to check with the vendor of your OPC Server soft-
ware to see if your OPC Server supports the operating system that you want to use.
l Third-Party OPC Servers – Be aware that at the time of the iFIX release there were a limited
number of OPC Servers supported on newer versions of Windows. iFIX was tested with the
OPC20iFIX.exe (Intellution.OPCiFIX) Server – an OPC 2.05a (out of process) Data Server.
l Drivers and DAC – If you want to run a driver on a newer operating system, be sure to check with
the vendor of your driver software to see if your driver supports the operating system. Your driver
must support your operating system to interface with the Discover and Auto Configure (DAC)
application.
l VisiconX – Make sure that your data sources use UNC pathing, rather than mapped network
drives. For example, use a path like this: \\myserver\users\\mydb.mdb, instead of this:
d:\myserver\users\mydb.mdb for your data source. Otherwise, you may experience connection
errors.
l PMON – The GE diagnostic utility PMON.exe does not work when iFIX is running as a service in ver-
sions of Windows after XP.

Additionally, be aware of the following differences when working with iFIX in Microsoft Windows:

l Security – Microsoft Windows includes many new security enhancements in the newer operating
systems. Due to these enhancements, there may be changes you need to make for the users who
run iFIX. For more information, refer to the Windows and Security section.
l Drive Mapping – Security and data protection enhancements may require you to use data
sources with UNC pathing, as opposed to mapped network drives. For more information, refer to
the Windows and Mapped Network Drives section.
l Sleep Mode – Be aware that an iFIX View node running on a version of Windows will lose its con-
nection to the iFIX network when going into "Sleep" mode.

Windows and Security

Running iFIX
As a built-in Windows administrator, you have the rights you need to operate an iFIX SCADA node (start
and stop iFIX).

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 51

To allow a non-administrator (standard user) to operate an iFIX SCADA node without access control,
you need to add the "Create Global Objects" policy to the individual user or group to provide access. For
Domain users, the Domain user account needs to be added to this policy on the local computer also.

If you enable access control, you need to make sure that all iFIX users are part of the iFIX secure group
(the secure group was specified during install or with the ConfigureWizard.exe).
NOTE: When installing iFIX with access controls, the Windows Group name used from the domain or computer name
provided (IFIXUSERS for example) must be different than any local group name configured on the machine with iFIX
installed.
IMPORTANT: WorkSpace and other iFIX applications may become unstable when running with access controls in a
Domain environment if the connection to the Active Directory server is lost.

Running iFIX as a Service

If iFIX was installed with access control, to run iFIX as a service, make sure the user is part of the
secure group specified during install (by default, this is the IFIXUSERS group). If you are not sure what this
group is, run the ConfigureWizard.exe tool which is found in the iFIX install folder (by default: C:\Program
Files (x86)\GE\iFIX) to identify it.

If installed without access control, to allow a user to run iFIX as a service, you need to run the
GrantUserFixServiceRights utility from the command line to grant access to the service for this user. You
also need to add the "Create Global Objects" policy to the individual user or group, unless they are a mem-
ber of the Administrators group.

For more information on access controls, see "Access Controls in iFIX" on page 29.

To add the Create Global Objects policy to a user:

1. Log in as an Administrator.
2. Click the Start button, and in the Search box, type secpol.msc and press Enter. The Local Security
Policy window appears.
3. In the tree, double-click Security Settings, and then Local Policies, to view the contents of the
Local Policies folder.
4. Click the User Rights Assignment item to view the policies.
5. Double-click the Create Global Objects policy. The Create Global Object Properties dialog box
appears.
6. Click Add User or Group. The Select Users or Groups dialog box appears.
7. Enter an individual user name, or group name, such as "iFIXUsers."
8. Click OK to add the user.

To run the GrantUserFixServiceRights command for a user or group:

1. Log in as an Administrator.
2. Click the Start button, and in the Search box, type Command Prompt and press Enter. If the Com-
mand Prompt does not appear immediately, double-click the Command Prompt from the list of
results.
3. In the Command Prompt window, type:

52 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 GrantUserFixServiceRights GRANT FIX USERNAME

where FIX is the name of the service (iFIX) that you want to grant rights to, and USERNAME is the
name of the user or group that you want to grant rights to.

To provide privileges to a Windows user with the ConfigureWizard.exe when access controls
(secure mode) are enabled:

1. Log in as an iFIX Administrator.

2. Locate and run configure wizard (ConfigureWizard.exe) in the iFIX install folder. By default this
path is: C:\Program Files (x86)\Proficy\iFIX\ConfigureWizard.exe. The Install Mode wizard appears.

3. Select the "Assign a Windows User Account to iFIX services" option.

4. Enter a user name. If on a domain, enter the fully qualified domain name along with the user
account. For example, the previous illustration specified W2022\USER1 as the user account.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 53

 NOTE: When installing iFIX with access controls, the Windows Group name used from the domain or computer
name provided (IFIXUSERS in the previous illustration) must be different than any local group name con-
figured on the machine with iFIX installed.

5. Enter the password for this account.

6. Click OK.

7. Restart your computer.

8. Start iFIX

9. Configure the service option in the SCU, if you have not already done so. (From the SCU and select
Configure > Local Startup and the select Set iFIX as a Service option, and (if applicable) the Set Ser-
vice Type to Automatic option. See the "" on page 13 topic for details.)

Running iFIX as a Service with Other Services

If you plan to run iFIX as a service along with other services such as the iFIX scheduler, the OPC A&E
Server, and the OPC DA Server, make sure that your user has the rights to start/stop/pause all of those
services. A user who is a member of the Administrators group usually has all these privileges. (This can be
verified by opening the Windows service control panel and checking if the Start/Stop setting is enabled.)
To grant a user who is a standard user rights to start/stop/pause these services, log in to Windows as an
Administrator and run the following commands:
GrantUserFixServiceRights GRANT IFIXSCHEDULER username
GrantUserFixServiceRights GRANT IFIXOPCAESRV username
GrantUserFixServiceRights GRANT IFIXOPCDA username

Examples: Using GrantUserFixServiceRights

If you want to allow a user named QA1 to run iFIX as a service, type:
GrantUserFixServiceRights GRANT FIX QA1

If you want to allow all members of the group “iFIXUsers” to run iFIX as a service, type:
GrantUserFixServiceRights GRANT FIX "iFIXUsers"

If you later need to revoke the right to run iFIX as a service, use the following command:
GrantUserFixServiceRights REVOKE FIX USERNAME

where FIX is the name of the service that you want to revoke rights from, and USERNAME is the name of
the user or group that you want to revoke rights from.

Windows and Mapped Network Drives

In newer versions of Windows, when you elevate an application and it runs under a different context, the
application may or may not be related to the user who is logged in. As a result, drive mappings are not
available in an elevated session unless you specifically map them while it is elevated.
To resolve this issue, make sure that your system data sources use UNC pathing, rather than mapped
network drives. For example, use a path like this: \\myserver\users\\mydb.mdb, instead of this:
d:\myserver\users\mydb.mdb for your data source. Otherwise, you may experience connection errors. Be

54 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 sure to select the "Remember my password" check box in the Connection dialog box when setting up your
UNC pathing. By doing this, the next time you log in, your connection will succeed without failing.

For example, you add a system data source (ODBC) with a mapped network drive for use with VisiconX.
When you configure a VisiconX data control and select a data source on the Database tab, an error
appears (error number -2147467259 indicates that you do have a valid path). To resolve this issue, con-
figure your data source with UNC pathing instead.

EDA Applications and Windows

When running an iFIX Easy Database Access (EDA) application on newer versions of Windows, you may
experience errors due to inadequate permissions. For instance, the logged in user may not have enough
permissions to create the necessary global memory that the application requires, or the user may not be
running an application with the fullest permissions (running elevated).

The "Allocation of Shareable Memory Failed" message is one of the messages that can appear in this scen-
ario. To resolve these types of issues, elevate the application to the fullest privileges.

To mark an application for elevation using an external manifest:

1. Create a text file named yourappname.exe.manifest, where yourappname is the name of the
application you want to elevate.
2. In a text editor such as Notepad, open yourappname.exe.manifest.
3. Paste the following lines of code into the text file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
<assemblyIdentity version="1.0.0.0"
processorArchitecture="X86"
name="yourappname"
type="win32"/>
<description>Description of your application</description>
<!-- Identify the application security requirements. -->
<trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2">
<security>
<requestedPrivileges>
<requestedExecutionLevel
level="highestAvailable"
uiAccess="false"/>
</requestedPrivileges>
</security>
</trustInfo>
</assembly>

4. Save the file in the same folder as the yourappname.exe, where yourappname is the name of the
application you want to elevate.
TIP: If yourappname.exe was built with an internal manifest, yourappname.exe will ignore the external mani-
fest created in the above manner. Instead, you need rebuild the application with the new elevation information.
IMPORTANT: If you have run the executable before performing the above steps and it failed to work, see this
link for information on adding a manifest after the fact: http://b-
logs.msdn.com/vistacompatteam/archive/2006/11/13/manifest-and-the-fusion-cache.aspx.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 55

 To mark an application for elevation with an internal manifest:

l Build your application's executable (.exe) file with the elevation information built into it. Be aware
of issues with fusion cache when you use an external manifest file. For more information, refer to
the MSDN web site: http://blogs.msdn.com/vistacompatteam/archive/2006/11/13/manifest-and-
the-fusion-cache.aspx.
For more information on User Account Control (UAC), refer to the Microsoft web site: https://-
docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/uxguide/winenv-uac

To elevate a third party application that you do not own the source code for:

Microsoft recommends writing a wrapper to invoke the application's executable (.exe) file in an elevated
manner. If this is not feasible, the following is suggested:
l Create a shortcut (.lnk) to the yourappname.exe, where yourappname is the name of the applic-
ation you want to elevate.
l Right-click the shortcut and select Properties. Configure the shortcut to run as an Administrator.

56 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 Deployment Considerations for Running iFIX on a Virtual
Machine

As part of our development testing and qualification, we make extensive use of virtualized environments. GE
Digital products do not target any specific hardware or virtualized platform. GE Digital will support the func-
tional operation of the product that is running on a supported operating system in a virtualized environment
and will address any functional issues related to the software.

Each virtual machine (VM) instance that uses our software is required to have a valid license. Licensing in a
virtualized environment will depend on access to a hardware key or a license server, depending on the selec-
ted license type.

GE Digital cannot guarantee performance of its software in a virtualized environment due to the wide range
of parameters associated to the hardware, configuration, memory settings, third-party software, and the
number of virtual sessions running on the same hardware, all of which can affect performance.

It is the responsibility of you, the customer, to ensure that the performance of the GE HMI/SCADA software
and application are adequate to meet the needs of your runtime environment. GE does not support issues
related to functionality that is not available as a result of running in a virtual machine. Examples include the
functionality of card level drivers such as Genius, RMX, SA85 and functions requiring direct video access, or
functionality of other software running in the same environment. It is your responsibility to check with the
vendor of those applications for their ability to run in a virtualized environment.

Virtual Machine Guidelines for iFIX

The following are the recommended VM settings.
NOTE: GE Digital cannot guarantee software performance in a virtualized environment due to the wide range of para-
meters associated with the hardware, configuration, memory settings, third-party software, and number of virtual sessions
running on the same hardware, all of which can affect performance.

Setting SCADA Server iClient

Processors/CPUs Intel® Core™ i5 3.0 GHz or equivalent Intel® Core™ i5 3.0 GHz or equivalent

RAM 8 GB 4 GB

40 GB
NOTE: iFIX alarm and historical data files
grow dynamically. If you plan to perform
Hard disk/disk
extensive alarm or data collection on a node, 20 GB
space you may need more disk space on that par-
ticular node. It is strongly recommended there
be additional free space on the hard drive to
avoid performance issues.

For additional information on iFIX System Requirements, please see System Requirements for iFIX in the IPI.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 57

Troubleshooting VM Setups for iFIX
To help with virtual machine (VM) troubleshooting, be prepared to provide the following VM settings to GE
Digital support staff:

l CPU resources assigned

l Memory resources assigned
l Disk size and configuration
l Current disk space utilized on the VM

The above should be checked against recommended specifications for the product. If the current disk space
utilized on the VM is approaching 90%, consider increasing the amount of available disk space.

After verifying that the VM is properly configured, check the performance of the VM. To do this select (using
VMWare for example): VM > Monitor Tab > Performance > Overview and examine the resulting graphs.

Figure 1: VM Performance Overview Graph (from VMWare)

Pay particular attention to:

l CPU usage (red line in the example) being consistently at 100%. This indicates that the VM may be
undersized for the workload or that another process is consuming resources.
l Memory usage (green line) being at 100%.
l Disk highest latency (teal line) being very high for long durations. “Very high” will depend on your infra-
structure and may require your infrastructure team to verify.

The final step in checking performance is to check the “CPU Ready Time” by selecting (using VMWare for
example): VM > Monitor Tab > Performance > Advanced > Select View “CPU Ready”. This is a meas-
urement of how long the VM must wait before it can execute the work it needs to. High CPU Ready time,
when compared to other VMs on the same host, would suggest the host is overloaded. There is no “cutoff”
value for poor performance, but it can be used to baseline against a known good system.

Below is an example of CPU ready where there is a spike in CPU ready, but it is not consistently high.

58 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

Figure 2: CPU Ready with intermittent spike

VM Processor Scheduling for iFIX

Using VMWare as the example, the virtualization layer schedules the virtual processors in the image against
physical processors. All processors need to run at the same time.

For example, if four processors are required (based on the setting) and there are only two available, it will
wait until four are available.

As illustrated below, a VM requiring four CPUs would get only three time slices (shown in green) on the CPUs.
The VM requiring two CPUs would get eight time slices. This shows how configuring fewer CPUs (e.g., two) can
be more efficient than having more CPUs (e.g., four).

Enhancing VMWare Performance with iFIX

Additional considerations when investigating your virtual environment.

• Shares: VMware has the concept of “shares” to help prioritize workloads. For occasional use, these can be
helpful to make sure a workload runs correctly, however these should not be used, as running everything

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 59

with high priority makes them all equal. The same applies if you have a large number of VMs with high shares
and a VM is normal; it will be last to be scheduled, which could impact performance.

• Reservation: VMware can “reserve” CPU time for a VM. As with “shares”, a VM could be slow if too many
other VMs have shares on the same host as the VM with the product on it.

• CPU Limits: VMware can limit the amount of CPU time for a VM. If a limit is set, it could mean the VM
needs more resources, but cannot get them.

• Compatibility: Ensure your virtualization software is up to date on all systems. Images with different com-
patibility may behave differently on other host systems (depending on the VM application installed on that
host).

Other iFIX Installation Considerations

This chapter provides information you need to consider when using databases or drivers and iFIX. This
information includes:

l Supported Drivers
l Special Keyboard Buttons

Supported Drivers

Be certain that before you purchase an I/O driver, that the driver is compatible with the hardware and
operating system that you intend to run it on. For example, if the driver is not supported on a specific
operating system, then you cannot use that driver with iFIX running on that operating system. For more
information on iFIX supported drivers and their respective operating systems, refer to the GE Digital sup-
port web site at:

https://digitalsupport.ge.com

Special Keyboard Buttons

Some computer keyboards have special buttons for e-mail launch, internet launch, search, and other
functions. These keyboard buttons may disable certain key macros or allow users to circumvent iFIX
security measures.

It is recommended that you reprogram or disable the software that operates such special buttons. Refer
to your computer's documentation for instructions on disabling these buttons.

Environment Protection and iFIX

60 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 Environment Protection is a feature within iFIX that allows you to restrict operator access in run mode.
This feature helps to provide a secure operating environment. For instance, while in run mode, you may
want to restrict an operator from:

l Starting other applications.

l Switching to other applications.
l Exiting from the WorkSpace.
l Restarting the computer using Ctrl+Alt+Del.
l Opening unauthorized pictures.
l Closing the current picture.
l Using the WorkSpace menu.
l Switching to the configuration environment.
l Accessing the system tree.
l Accessing the pull down menus.
l Viewing the title bar.

For more detailed information about Environment Protection, refer to the Configuring Security Features
e-book. The Restricting Access in the Run-time Environment topic in the Defining and Assigning Security
Privileges chapter, in particular, has detailed information with links to more steps.

Important Information
Be aware that when using Environment Protection:

l Environment Protection is NOT supported with the My-T-Soft® virtual keyboard.

l Environment Protection is NOT supported with remote desktop applications such as those using
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Virtual Network Computing (VNC), and WebEx™.

Important Task Switching Information

Task switching is disabled when security is enabled and either the logged-in user does not have task
switching rights or there is no user logged-in. The task switching right can be assigned by adding the
Enable Task Switching application feature to the user profile in the iFIX Security Configuration applic-
ation.

Working with Touch Screens

Be aware that:

l When iFIX is configured to run as a service and to start automatically, Fix.exe should always be
started before launching WorkSpace.exe to enable the on-screen keyboard functionality. If
WorkSpace.exe is launched without starting iFIX in the user session on a system without a phys-
ical keyboard, the on-screen keyboard will not automatically display when the cursor is in an edit
control or in edit mode.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 61

 l For Microsoft Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, the only supported on-screen keyboard
for use with iFIX and touch screens is the tabtip keyboard (tabtip.exe).
l To launch the keyboard automatically from iFIX on Windows Server 2012 R2 systems, there is
additional configuration. In the Server Manager, you must install the Desktop Experience feature
included in the User Interface and Infrastructure features. (By default, this feature is already
enabled in Windows 8.1). After enabling the feature and restarting Windows, the on-screen key-
board, tiptap.exe, will be available and will display automatically when focus is on an edit field in
iFIX.
l To automatically display the on-screen keyboard when the focus is set to WorkSpace objects that
have the ability to accept user inputs, enable PROFICYENABLEFOCUSTRACKING.EXE by adding the
following lines to your FIX.INI file (located in the LOCAL folder) in the [OTHERS] section:
[OTHERS]
[SESSION INSTANCE]
INSTANCE0=%PROFICYENABLEFOCUSTRACKING.EXE

NOTE: If these lines are present in the FIX.INI, but are preceded by a semi-colon, remove the semi-colon to
enable the lines.

Networking

This chapter provides general information about the iFIX supported network protocol, supported network
software, supported file servers, and installing network cards with Windows. Refer to the following sec-
tions for more information:

l Supported Networking Protocol

l Supported File Servers

Supported Networking Protocol

If you decide to implement a networked iFIX system, make sure that all nodes are using compatible net-
work configurations. iFIX supports TCP/IP interfaces for peer-to-peer communication. NetBIOS is no
longer supported.

If you have difficulty networking your computer, refer to the Troubleshooting chapter of the Setting Up
the Environment manual to pinpoint and resolve your problems.

Supported File Servers

GE supports using a file server to store System Configuration Utility, alarm area database, security, his-
torical, and recipe data files and file server-based iClients. iFIX does not require a file server.

Refer to your file server documentation for installation and configuration instructions.

62 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

 If a file server becomes unavailable and an iFIX node attempts to access a file, you may experience no
response, slow response, or time-outs. These conditions are a result of continuously polling all available
drives while it waits for a response from the file server. It is recommended that you store a backup copy
of the files you need on the local node. It is not recommended that you use the file server for files if it is
susceptible to failure.

Contact GE Digital

If you purchased this product through a GE Authorized Channel Partner, please contact them directly.

Technical Support
For information on how to contact our Technical Support team, see digitalsupport.ge.com.

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 63

64 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.
 Index regional settings 7

software requirements 6

supported drivers 60
B
supported file servers 62
backup, file server files 62
supported network protocol 62
buttons, special keyboard 60
using with Microsoft Office 38

iFIX environment, iFIX nodes 2

D
iFIX installation 2
date format, supported 7
overview 2
disabling iFIX as a service 14-15
insufficient disk space 17
disk space requirements 17

K
F
keyboard, special buttons 60
file server 62

backup files 62 L
recommended types 62
language support 8
FixUserPreferences.ini 17
limitations 51
format, time and date 7

FreeDiskSpace parameter 17 M

mappings 54
G
memory
getting started, iFIX 1
optimizing 12

Microsoft Office and iFIX 38

H

hardware 3 N
optional 40
networks 62
requirements for iFIX 3
supported in iFIX 62

new user 1
I

iFIX O
hardware requirements 3
optimizing virtual memory 12
installation failure 25
optional hardware for iFIX 40
optional hardware 40

recommended file servers 62

© 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved. 65

 R

requirements

iFIX hardware 3

iFIX software 6

running iFIX as a service 13

required application feature 16

Terminal Server 16

software requirements 6

special keyboard buttons 60

supported 62

file servers 62

iFIX drivers 60

networks 62

time format, supported 7

using iFIX with Microsoft Office 38

virtual memory 12

optimizing for iFIX 12

Vista limitations 50

Windows virtual memory 12

Windows Vista 54

Windows Vista limitations 50

66 © 2023 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.