GEI-100626F

WorkstationST* Alarm Server

Instruction Guide
These instructions do not purport to cover all details or variations in equipment, nor to provide for every possible
contingency to be met during installation, operation, and maintenance. The information is supplied for informational
purposes only, and GE makes no warranty as to the accuracy of the information included herein. Changes, modifications,
and/or improvements to equipment and specifications are made periodically and these changes may or may not be reflected
herein. It is understood that GE may make changes, modifications, or improvements to the equipment referenced herein or to
the document itself at any time. This document is intended for trained personnel familiar with the GE products referenced
herein.

GE may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter in this document. The furnishing of this
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This document contains proprietary information of General Electric Company, and is intended for internal use only. It is the
property of GE and may not be used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of
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Sales Representative.

© 2006 – 2013 General Electric Company, USA. All rights reserved.

Revised: 2013-04-30
Issued: 2006-03-24
___________________________________
* Trademark of General Electric Company
OPC is a registered trademark of The OPC Foundation.

GE Proprietary and Internal (Class II) – This document contains proprietary information of GE and is intended for internal use only.
It may not be used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................................3
Alarm Routing ..................................................................................................................................................4
Alarm States .....................................................................................................................................................5
Events .............................................................................................................................................................7
Alarm Types .....................................................................................................................................................8
Alarm Clients ................................................................................................................................................. 10
Redundant Alarm Servers.................................................................................................................................. 10
Alarm System ................................................................................................................................................. 11
Consumed Devices.................................................................................................................................... 12
Component Alarms ................................................................................................................................... 13
Alarms Tab..................................................................................................................................................... 15
Configuring the Alarms Tab ........................................................................................................................ 15
Alarm Scanner.......................................................................................................................................... 19
Fault Code Scanner ................................................................................................................................... 22
External OPC AE Servers ........................................................................................................................... 25
Alarm Printing.......................................................................................................................................... 28
WorkstationST Status Monitor ........................................................................................................................... 31
Log Files........................................................................................................................................................ 37
Diagnostic Messages ........................................................................................................................................ 38
Acronyms and Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................. 39
Terms ............................................................................................................................................................ 40

2 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
Introduction
The WorkstationST* Alarm Server collects data from all system components it is
configured to monitor, and makes the data available to alarm clients. The Alarm Server
acts as a normalizing layer for the alarm data. The alarm clients connect to the Alarm
Server to receive information and send commands (such as alarm acknowledge) to the
components using the Alarm Server message protocol. The Alarm Server is configured
through the WorkstationST component in the ToolboxST* application.

The Alarm Server does the following:

• Communicates with each component in its native alarm protocol

• Translates the alarm messages into the normalized Alarm Server protocol
• Translates commands from clients into the native protocol of the target component,
and routes the command to it

The Alarm Server also receives alarms from WorkstationST OPC®) Data Access (OPC
DA) servers and third-party OPC Alarm and Event (OPC AE) servers.

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 3

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
Alarm Routing
The Alarm Server communicates directly with components over the Unit Data Highway
(UDH). To minimize component load, clients do not communicate directly with the
components but with the Alarm Server over the Plant Data Highway (PDH).

Alarm System Topology

4 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
Alarm States
Alarm states are Alarm, Normal, Auto Reset, Shelved, or Out of Service depending upon
the value of associated variables. An alarm is generated when a Boolean variable
configured with the Alarm attribute transitions to True (or False if the Alarm On Zero
attribute is set).

A typical sequence involves the Boolean variable transitioning to True, which causes the
controller to send out a message to any connected clients (typically the Alarm Server)
indicating that the alarm has entered the Alarm state. The controller also adds this alarm
to its internal alarm queue.

After a period of time, the variable transitions to False, which causes the controller to
send out a new message indicating that the alarm has entered the Normal state. The
controller also updates the internal alarm queue. Unless the Auto Reset state is enabled,
the alarm remains in the queue until a client (typically a user through the WorkstationST
Alarm Viewer or the CIMPLICITY* Alarm Viewer) acknowledges and resets it. If the
Auto Reset state is enabled, when an unacknowledged alarm returns to the Normal state
the alarm clears. The internal alarm queue allows a client (typically the Alarm Server) to
connect to the component and get the list of active alarms within the component.

Note The Auto Reset state is enabled on individual alarms in the ToolboxST application
in the controller’s Component Editor.

Process alarms can be placed in the Out of Service state from the WorkstationST Alarm
Viewer. The Out of Service state is used to manually suppress alarms when they are
removed from service, typically for maintenance. An out of service alarm is under the
control of maintenance and is noted on the Alarm Viewer.

Process alarms can be placed in the Shelved state from the Alarm Viewer. Alarm shelving
allows an operator to temporarily suppress alarms from the WorkstationST Alarm Viewer
filtered alarm display, and from HMI screens that display alarms. When an alarm is being
shelved, the operator is prompted to enter an expiration time for the shelving and a
comment as to why the alarms are being shelved. Once the alarms are shelved, the
expiration time and the shelved time are used to determine when the shelved alarm is
un-shelved. When the shelve command is issued, all alarm displays with alarm shelving
enabled no longer display the shelved alarms. When the expiration time expires, the
alarms again display

All components maintain a process alarm queue. Mark* VIe and Mark VI components
also support a Hold queue, a variation of process alarms that are stored in a separate
queue. Many components also support hardware-oriented diagnostic alarms that are
stored in separate queues.

The following diagram displays the simplified state machine that is implemented by
controllers and other devices in the control system.

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 5

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 Process Alarm State Machine Operator View

6 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 When an alarm becomes active it is added to the queue at Node 1 in the diagram.

Nodes 1 – 4 represent transitions that can occur and the operator interaction with the
alarm when the alarm is acknowledged. Alarms are displayed to the operator when they
are in states 1-4.

Node 5 removes the alarm from the queue after the alarm has transitioned to normal and
has been reset.

Inhibit state occurs when the controlling application determines that the alarm is no
longer of importance to the operator and removes it from the queue, thereby removing the
alarm from the display to the operator.

Out of Service, Return to Service, Locked, Unlocked, Silence and Not Silenced
represent attributes of the alarm. The operator causes these attributes to be set when
commands are issued from the alarm display.

Events
An event is not considered to An event is a message sent by the controller whenever a variable configured with the
have a state, and is not stored event attribute changes value. Once the event notification is sent to connected clients, the
in a queue. event is deleted from the controller. Events cannot be acknowledged or reset at the
controller level because they are not maintained within a queue in the components.
However, the Alarm Viewer maintains a queue of events for display purposes.

Some components, such as the Mark VIe and Mark VI, support a variation of events
called sequence of events (SOEs). Unlike events, which are driven by variables, SOEs are
driven by hardware inputs or outputs, and time stamped when the hardware state changes.
Like events, SOEs are not maintained within a queue in the controller.

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 7

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
Alarm Types
Alarm types are either Live or Historical. Live Alarm data consists of component
messages generated with the contents of the components’ alarm queues. The Live Alarms
data provides a way for the user to troubleshoot the cause of active alarms.

Live Alarms

8 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 The Historical Alarm data is a log of all alarm messages sent by the components, and can
be retrieved and displayed by alarm clients. Historical Alarm data is used to troubleshoot
system problems.

Historical Alarms

Note The Alarm Server preserves the alarm time stamp (Device Time) assigned by the
component when the alarm was generated and also adds an additional time stamp
(Recorded Time) that reflects the time (relative to the local computer time) when the
alarm was received. This allows the correlation of alarm occurrences between
components in situations where time synchronization has been lost.

The Alarm Server receives alarm information from the following components:

• Mark VIe
• Mark VI
• EX2100
• EX2100e
• LS2100
• LS2100e
• Power Conversion

Depending on the component, the Alarm Server either makes a TCP/IP connection to the
controller or monitors UDP broadcasts from the controller to receive alarm messages. The
Alarm Server only connects to, or monitors broadcasts from, the components from which
it is configured to consume alarm data.

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 9

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
Alarm Clients
Redundant Alarm Servers
Refer to GHT-200024, How to
Configure the Alarm Server in
the WorkstationST Application,
the section Redundant Alarm
Server Configuration, for
additional information.
10 GEI-100626F
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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
Alarm clients can be either local or remote. Alarm clients include:
WorkstationST Alarm Viewer is used to view both Live and Historical alarms.
CIMPLICITY External Alarm ManagerST can receive forwarded messages from the
Alarm Server and receive command messages from the CIMPLICITY External Alarm
Manager to forward to the components.
WorkstationST Recorder collects Historical Alarm Data along with other variable data.
WorkstationST Web View maintains the web page for the WorkstationST computer
hosting it. The web view allows you to view Live and Historical alarms through a web
browser.
Redundant Alarm Servers provide automatic failover protection if the primary Alarm
Server goes offline because the server fails or the connection is lost. This feature is
configured in the ToolboxST System Editor by specifying the two workstations
(configured with the WorkstationST Alarm Server feature enabled) to be used. After this
is done, the Alarm Server configuration in each workstation must be made identical.
WorkstationST Alarm Server
Alarm System
Alarm Data Clients
Alarm Data Sources

WorkstationST
Alarm Viewer (s)
OPC DA
Server (s)

CIMPLICITY
Alarm Scanner External Alarm
External (third - Manager
party ) OPC AE
Server (s)
Alarm Server

GeCssOpcAE
Server
Controller
Devices EGD
Configuration
Server
Recorder (s)

Alarm
Historical Alarm Log Files
Printer
WorkstationST
Web View

Indicates the Alarm Server and the WorkstationST features or options that must
run locally on the WorkstationST computer hosting the Alarm Server .
Indicates a WorkstationST feature or option that can run on the local computer( relative
to the Alarm Server ) or can run as a feature on a remote WorkstationST computer.

Indicates an application that is not a WorkstationST feature or option. The application can
run on the WorkstationST computer hosting the Alarm Server or on a remote computer.

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 11

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 Consumed Devices
The components that the Alarm Server monitors are configured under the WorkstationST
General tab Consumed Devices item. In the following figure the Alarm Server monitors
alarms for components G1 and WT10.

WorkstationST Component Editor, General Tab

12 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 Component Alarms
The alarms generated by each component are configured in the ToolboxST application on
a per component basis. Any Boolean variable defined in the component can be configured
as an alarm. The variable attributes that define the alarm behavior are Alarm, Event,
Hold, SOE description, Alarm Class, and Alarm On Zero. The following figure shows a
variable configured as an alarm in a Mark VIe component.

WorkstationST Component Editor Software Tab

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 13

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
Refer to GEH-6700, ToolboxST
User Guide for Mark VIe
Control, Chapter 6 Mark VIe
Component Editor, the section
Software Tab for additional
information on alarm
configuration options.
14 GEI-100626F
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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
The following table describes some of the configuration properties that display in the
Property Editor.
Alarm When set to True, configures the variable to be scanned by the
component's Alarm Scanner. An alarm is generated whenever the
variable value transitions to the state configured in the Alarm On
Zero attribute.
Event When set to True, configures the variable to be scanned by the
component’s Event Scanner. An event message is generated
whenever the variable value changes.
Hold When set to True, configures the variable to be scanned by the
component’s Hold Scanner. A hold message is generated
whenever the variable transitions to the state configured in the
Alarm On Zero attribute.
SOE Description This is used when an SOE message is generated.
Alarm On Zero When set to False, causes the controller to generate a new alarm
when the variable transitions to True, and to clear the alarm when
the variable transitions to False.
When set to True, causes the controller to generate a new alarm
when the variable transitions to False and to clear the alarm when
the variable transitions to True.
Alarm Class This is used by the Alarm Viewer for filtering and display purposes.
The Alarm Class attributes define the alarm colors that display for
each class. The variable’s name and description also display
The requisition information associated with each variable is not downloaded to the
components. Each variable is identified by a token number in the component, and
whenever only the token number is given, the component generates an alarm message.
The WorkstationST Ethernet Global Data (EGD) Configuration Server provides the
Alarm Server with the associated variable attributes, such as Variable Name, Alarm Class,
and Description. When the Alarm Server starts up, it retrieves the variable information for
each component from which it is configured to consume alarms. It builds a lookup table
for each variable configured as an alarm. This information is then included whenever the
Alarm Server sends an alarm message to the clients.
WorkstationST Alarm Server
Alarms Tab
The Alarms tab is used to configure the WorkstationST Alarm Server feature, the Alarm
Scanner option and External OPC AE Servers. The Alarm Server connects to the enabled
devices when a True reference is selected in the Consumed Devices list in the Tree View.
The Alarm Server receives alarm messages sent from these devices to provide live alarm
viewing. The alarm messages can also be saved in log files.

The Alarm Server option scans variables from the OPC DA server running on the local
workstation, and generates alarms and events based on the variable configuration.

The External OPC AE Server selections provide the configuration necessary to consume
alarms and events from these external servers.

Configuring the Alarms Tab

Ø To configure the Alarms tab
1. From the Tree View, select the Features item. The available features display in the
Summary View.

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 15

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 2. In the Summary View, enable the Alarm Server by selecting True from the
drop-down menu. The Alarms tab displays, and the Alarms configuration form also
displays in the Summary View.

The Alarms tab displays the Alarm Server configuration options.

16 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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 The following table describes the configuration properties and values of the Alarm Server.

CIMPLICITY Alarm Manager Interface

CIMPLICITY Alarm Manager The Alarm Server can send alarms to a CIMPLICITY external Alarm Manager on
WorkstationST devices any of the WorkstationST devices configured in the system. More than one target
WorkstationST device can be selected.
Send Alarms to CIMPLICITY True/False to Enable/Disable sending alarms to CIMPLICITY Alarm Manager.
When True, Acknowledged alarms automatically reset when they transition to the
Normal state. This is seen by all alarm viewers currently displaying alarms/events.
When True, this option overrides the Automatically Reset Acknowledged Alarms
option setting.

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 Disk

Disk Cleanup Enabled When True, enables the deletion of historical alarm files based on the options
Maximum Alarm Historical Disk Space Allowed or Historical File Age settings.

Historical File Age The number of days of historical alarm data to maintain before deletion occurs. A
value of 0 disables this feature.
Maximum Alarm Historical Disk Space The maximum size in megabytes the historical alarm data files are allowed to use.
Allowed When exceeded, the oldest alarm data files are deleted to meet this limit. A value of
0 disables this feature.
Minimum Free Space The minimum free disk space threshold in megabytes before a Low Disk Space
diagnostic alarm is generated by the Alarm Server. The default is 10 and a value of
0 disables the detection and alarm generation.

General

Automatically Reset Acknowledged If True, Acknowledged alarms automatically reset when they transition to the
Alarms Normal state. If the option Send Alarms to CIMPLICITY is True, it overrides this
option and Acknowledged alarms always reset in Normal state.

Emulate CIMPLICITY Event and SOE If True, the Alarm Server maintains event queues and manages events the same
Behavior as alarms. This allows the WorkstationST Alarm Viewer to emulate CIMPLICITY
alarm view behavior.
Enable Controller Diagnostic Alarm If True, controller and pack diagnostics are logged to the historical alarm log. If
Support False, pack and controller diagnostics must be retrieved using the ToolboxST
application.

Historical

Historical Alarm Path The path used to hold the historical alarm data files written by the Alarm Server.

Historical WorkstationST Alarms If True, the Alarm Server writes historical alarms in the WorkstationST format. The
Enabled default value is True and the file extension used is .bin.
Periodic Alarm Synchronization If True, a periodic alarm synchronization is performed between the primary and
secondary alarm servers.

Legacy Alarm System Interface

Connect to Legacy Alarm System True/False to Enable/Disable connection to the Legacy Alarm System.

Network Monitor Interface

Connect to Network Monitor or Control True/False to Enable/Disable connection to the Network Monitor or Control System
System Health health feature.

Network Monitor or Control System The Host name or IP Address of the WorkstationST running the Network Monitor or
Health Host name Control System Health feature.

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Prior to the release of
ControlST V04.05, the
WorkstationST client-driven
variables that the Alarm
Scanner is configured to scan
were configured on the
WorkstationST OPC DA Server
tab under the Client-driven
Variables item.
Instruction Guide
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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
Alarm Scanner
The Alarm Scanner is used to periodically scan Boolean variables hosted by the
WorkstationST OPC DA server or external EGD components, and generate an alarm
whenever a Boolean variable changes state. The Alarm Scanner allows a third-party
component or external software to generate an alarm within the alarm system. A variable
can be defined and configured in the OPC DA server, and its value manipulated by an
OPC client.
Alarm Scanner configuration includes selecting variables hosted by the OPC DA server,
which the Alarm Scanner scans at the configured rate. An alarm and or event is generated
whenever that variable changes state, based on the variable’s configured alarm attributes.
The Alarm Scanner scans a selected list of workstation client-driven variables configured
in the OPC DA Server at the configured rate and generates alarms and events based on
the configuration of each variable. The OPC DA Server client-driven variables are
configured on the WorkstationST Variables tab under the WorkstationST Variables item,
as displayed in the following figure.
The Alarm Scanner configuration is found on the Alarms tab under the Alarm Scanner
item.
GEI-100626F 19
 Ø To configure the Alarm Scanner

From the Alarms tab Tree

View, select Alarm
Scanner .

From the Property

Editor, select Enabled
and set to True.

The Scan Rate can also

be set as required.

From the Alarms tab Tree View , right-click the

Alarm Scanner item and select Add Variable.

The Select a Variable dialog box displays.

20 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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 From the Select a Variable dialog box Tree View ,
locate the folder with the required variables.

Select the variable to be added and click OK .

Note Do not scan the controller component variables, since this causes redundant alarms
to be generated.

The selected variable displays in the Alarm Scanner .

Note The variable attributes cannot be modified from the Alarm Scanner variable list.
The variable’s configuration displays, but settings can only be changed from the
component or feature where the variable is defined (typically the OPC DA Server tab).

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 21

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 Fault Code Scanner
The Fault Code Scanner is a feature of the Alarm Server that provides a mechanism for
devices and third-party software to generate alarms by driving WorkstationST variables
though OPC. The Fault Code Scanner is configured to monitor specified INT or DINT
variables. The value of the variable represents a specific fault condition (fault code), and
the enumeration associated with the variable provides the meaning of the values. The
Fault Code Scanner monitors the value of the variable and generates a new alarm
whenever the value changes. The alarm text displayed for the alarm is supplied by the
Format Spec enumeration associated with the variable.

Ø To configure the Fault Code Scanner

1. From the System Editor Edit menu, select System Information to display the
System Information Editor.

2. From the toolbar, click Save.

3. From the System Editor Tree View, double-click a WorkstationST component
configured to run the Alarm Server.feature.

22 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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 Fault Code Scanner Configuration

Enable True or False to Enable or Disable the Fault Code Scanner

function.
Scan Rate The period in milliseconds between fault code scans.

4. From the Tree View, right-click Fault Code Scanner and select Add Variable.
5. From the Select a Variable dialog box, locate and select the WorkstationST
variables to be scanned.

6. From the WorkstationST Component Editor toolbar, click Build, then click
Download.
7. Click Go Online and force the variable to test the generation of the alarms as
displayed in the following figures.

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 Normal

Fault Condition 1

Fault Condition 2

Fault Condition 3

Note If the variable value falls outside the range of the enumerated values, the alarm is
still generated and the alarm description indicates the reason that the alarm text lookup
failed as displayed in the following figure.

Variable Value Outside Range

24 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 External OPC AE Servers
The Alarm Server can be configured to receive alarm and event data from one or more
third-party external OPC AE servers.

The External OPC AE Servers

item displays in the Alarms tab.

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 25

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 Ø To add an external OPC AE Server: from the Tree View, right-click the
External OPC AE Server item, then click Add. A selection dialog box displays
installed and operational servers.

To select a server on another computer, enter

a new Host Name and click Refresh .

Select an OPC AE Server from

the drop-down list and click OK .

Note To be selected, the server must be installed and available.

Once the server is selected, it displays as an item in the Tree View. The OPC Category
Name and Condition/Sub Condition Name columns display in the Summary View.

To translate incoming alarms and events, condition states must be mapped for the selected
OPC AE Server. Once the WorkstationST configuration has been downloaded, all Alarm
Server clients can display alarms and events from all configured OPC AE Servers.

In this example, the second row displays the Variable Name as Alarm.G1-USCAP
and the OPC Condition / Sub Condition Name as ALARM with an Active state.

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 The Property Editor displays
the configuration options listed
in the following table.

General

Enable If True, the alarm server uses this configuration to process

Connection To alarm/events from the external server. If False, the configuration is
Server preserved but NOT used.

OPC Server Time This specifies how to interpret the time stamps coming from the AE
Units server. The choices are UTC Time or Local Time.

Miscellaneous
Connection No The number of the connection to the server.
Full Server Name The full name of the server, including the name of the host it is
configured on.

Host Name The host name used for connection to the OPC AE Server.
Server Name The name of the OPC AE Server running on the specified host.

For further information on the Ø To display alarm and event types: click the OPC AE Server tab. The alarm
OPC AE Server, refer to and event types display in the Summary View.
GEI-100624, WorkstationST
OPC AE Server.

Note The GeCssOpcAeServer is a WorkstationST runtime feature, and must be installed

and running for this configuration to work.

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 27

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 Alarm Printing
The Alarm Printing option, when set to True sends alarms to the defined printer. The
default setting is False.

Ø To configure Alarm Printing

From the Alarms tab

Tree View , select
Alarm Printing.

From the Property

Editor, select
Enabled and set to
True.

The Alarm Printing

properties are provided
in the following table.

Printing

Enabled If True, alarms will be sent to the defined printer. The default is False.

Print The maximum number of alarms allowed in the internal alarm manager
Queue queue waiting to be printed.
Limit
Printer The name of the printer to be used by the alarm system. Only local printers
are supported.

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 From the Summary View , select the
Format tab to display the print options.

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 29

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 When enabled, the Alarm Printing item displays
sub-items for Process Alarms , Events ,
Diagnostic Alarms , SOEs , and Holds.

When each of these is enabled, the filtering

options display in the Summary View as shown.

30 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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WorkstationST Status Monitor
The Status Monitor displays the status of all enabled WorkstationST Features, including
the Alarm Server. The Alarm Server reports high-level errors here. Normal operation is as
follows.

Ø To display the WorkstationST Status of Features dialog box: double-click

the tray icon and the WorkstationST Status of Features dialog box displays.

The OPC UA Server is running but reporting

a Warning regarding its Status .

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 31

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 Ø To display alarm server status

From the Status Monitor ,

right-click Alarm Server
and select View Alarm
Server Status .

32 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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 Select from the available tabs
to display more information.

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 33

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
34 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server
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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 Select the Alarm Queues tab then
click an elipsis button to display
information for the queue.

Information for the selected

Alarm Queue displays.

Codes for the Flags column are

provided in the following table.

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 35

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 Note The alarm queue flag codes read from left-to-right and display in the order
presented in the table (the flag for an acknowledged, low low level alarm that has been
shelved would be A2LShelved).

Alarm Queue Flag Codes

Alarm State Flag

Acknowledged A

Locked L
Overridden O
Silenced S
OPCQualityBad OQB

Inhibited I
HiLevelAlarm H
HiHiLevelAlarm 2H
HiHiHiLevelAlarm 3H
LowLevelAlarm L
LowLowLevelAlarm 2L
LowLowLowLevelAlarm 3L
DeviationAlarm D
RateOfChangeAlarm R

BadQuality BQ

ConfigurationDrivenVariable CDV

OutOfService OOS
Shelved Shelved

File menu items include:

Alarm Server Hostname is the hostname on the local computer (default) that has the
Alarm Server enabled.

Save Status to Text File allows you to save the current Alarm Server status to a text
file.

36 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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Log Files
The Alarm Server logs its startup sequence and error conditions to the AlarmLog.txt file.
This file can be viewed directly in a text editor.

Ø To display the Alarm Server User Log: From the Alarm Viewer View menu,
select Advanced, View Alarm Server Logs, and Alarm Server User Log.

The following AlarmLog.txt file displays the Alarm Server startup sequence. The Alarm
Server reads the variable information for each consumed component (reading system
topology section) and makes the component connections. A connection error to the
CIMPLICITY Alarm Manager is also shown.

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 37

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
 The Alarm Server also logs low-level status and error messages for debug purposes in the
GeCssAlarmServer.txt file. This file can be viewed directly in a text editor, or from the
Alarm Viewer (below) from the View menu and View Remote Alarm Server Logs\Alarm
Server Debug Log.

Diagnostic Messages
The Alarm Server generates diagnostic alarm messages whenever an internal error
condition is present, as well as when the Alarm Server starts up and shuts down. These
diagnostic messages are sent to the alarm clients and logged in the historical log files as
with other alarms. This allows Alarm Server errors to be easily displayed for
troubleshooting. For example, the Alarm Server will generate a diagnostic alarm if it is
configured to get alarms from the WorkstationST Network Monitor feature and the
Network Monitor connection cannot be established. The period of time that
communications were down is determined by checking the historical log entries.

38 GEI-100626F WorkstationST Alarm Server

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Acronyms and Abbreviations
EGD Ethernet Global Data
SOE Sequence of Events

OPC A standard for data exchange in the industrial environment.

OPC AE OPC Alarms and Events

OPC DA OPC Data Access
PDH Plant Data Highway

SDI System Data Interface

TCP Transmission Control Protocol

UDH Unit Data Highway

UDP User Datagram Protocol

Instruction Guide GEI-100626F 39

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used, shown, reproduced, or disclosed outside of GE without the express written consent of GE.
Terms
Bind - To establish the correspondence between the data in an exchange and variables in
a device.

Bind/Build - To bind the configuration for each consumed exchange and create/update
the configuration for any produced exchange.

Collection - More formally, an EGD Collection. A group of devices that constitutes a

formal subset of the devices participating in a particular EGD installation. This arbitrary
grouping allows users to subdivide the system to make some tasks easier.

Consume - To receive an EGD data message (exchange).

Consumer - An EGD node configured to receive an EGD data message.

EGD - A mechanism that provides access to global data between nodes supporting the
EGD protocol.

Exchange - An EGD data message consisting of a header and a body of data. The header
contains the producer ID and the exchange ID that uniquely identifies the message. The
body of data is a block of bytes in a format agreed upon by the producer and all
consumers.

Feature - An element of the WorkstationST runtime system, which can be optionally

enabled through the ToolboxST application. Examples include OPC Server, Recorder, and
Alarm Viewer.

Global Data - A concept in which multiple controllers on a network can share

information by exchanging portions of their local memory with peer controllers.

OPC - A standard for data exchange in the industrial environment. The OPC foundation
provides specifications for various OPC standards such as OPC DA (Data Access), OPC
AE (Alarm and Event), and OPC UA (Unified Architecture).

Produce - To send an EGD data message (exchange).

Producer - The EGD node configured to send data messages. The source of the data
samples for an exchange.

Refresh - To bind the configuration for each consumed exchange for a particular
consumed device.

Runtime - Software stored in the controller’s Flash memory that converts application
code (pcode) to executable code.

Unbound Variables - Variables required by a consumer that were not found in the
producer configuration during the bind.

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