FactoryTalk View Runtime Security Questions

Good day and Happy Holidays!

Everytime I restore an .APA or .MER file into project for editing, the accounts and their passwords are replaced with random characters.
Has anyone done a successful Runtime Security backup?

Also, is there a way to restore a lost/forgotten password?
I remember in Siemens WinCC project, one could open a file with a text-editor and find the account information hidden within the rest of the code. Can this be done with FTView project?

Thank you,

Alex

When you restore the .APA file one of the options is to restore just the application (default option) or to restore the application and the FactoryTalk Local Directory (what you want).

Restoring the Local Directory will restore the user names and passwords. Of course, you will not be able to see the existing passwords, but you can reset them.

Be aware that restoring the Local Directory will wipe out your existing Local Directory and all existing FactoryTalk user accounts. They will be replaced with the ones from this project. The thinking in part I believe is that every application has its own users and security policies and those are all part of the application itself. Restoring the application and the Local Directory restores all of those accounts. So a Systems Integrator for example just wipes out the Local Directory as they move from application to application. That way a user on Customer ABC's PanelView is not part of an application for Customer XYZ.

You can always log in to the Local Directory using your Windows login provided you are a Windows Administrator. That does not necessarily mean that you can log into the application itself using that account, but that will allow you to administer the Local Directory and reset forgotten passwords within the application.

OG