FTView ME 6.0 User Accounts

[jkerekes]

I have an issue with ME that always irritates me. When I restore a project (.apa) for a customer that was developed on another computer, the users accounts get lost. I know that I need to restore the local factorytalk directory and this won't happen, but that overwrites my local directory. I also know that I can backup my local directory BEFORE the restore. How do others here hadle this? I hated this behavoir with ME for a lond time.

 

[elmatador]

Yup I hate this thing too. I never figured out a way to resolve this. Its super annoying!

 

[jkerekes]

Yes, it is. I forgot just how frustrating! Called tech. support to confirm:

[01:07:46 PM] John: you have to delete the corrupt accounts and re-create them. And by the way you do not want to replace local directory.

[01:09:04 PM] John Kerekes: How can I recreate the accounts if I don't know what they were first? And why don't you want to replace the local FT directory? Will it lock me out?

[01:10:43 PM] John: that's not what corrupted the accounts, it is the way the accounts were created the first time, yes, if you restore the local directory you will mess up your studio and setup If you do not know what the accounts were then either you get that information or you would have to create new ones.

I gues you need to copy the accounts before to the old pre 4.0 accounts for reference. What a mess!

 

[elmatador]

Beautiful just Beautiful...*sarcastic*

 

[DamianInRochester]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that think this is just dumb!

Honestly I hate the whole concept of the APA file to begin with. Why all the archiving. Just make it like a real like everyone else.

This is one of the things that annoys me with Siemens as well.

 

[elmatador]

Hear ya brotha, its stupid.

 

[DaveW]

The ME Runtime 3.2 Security tab works like the old classic PV's but I guess you loose all the new functionality in v4 and higher.
I had a situation where I have 2 different apps with the same user name but different passwords and the backing up and restoring was the only way since the plant didn't want to change the passwords.

 

[AJZ]

I have been wondering the same thing. I like to software to just add the accounts from the APA file to the existing accounts. And if the account is existing, pop-up a question on what to do.

 

[dcooper33]

I've never understood the logic of how RA handles the user id/password problem in FactoryTalk. Why not make the user id and password part of the application, rather than keep that info on a directory exclusive to the computer the app was developed on? I mean, how many plants out there don't have third-party guys working on their controls, so why wouldn't RA see the need to have the passwords be easily transferrable?

It is kinda amusing that a person can get access to the MER file through a hard boot to config screen, upload the file, CHANGE the password, and then reload the app, but the same person can't SEE what the password currently IS on the application unless he is either using the original development cpu or someone actually gives him the info.

Just seems like they went out of their way to make using FactoryTalk more aggravating.

 

[robw53]

i believe windows security is behind the problem with not storing passwords unless created on that PC, and yes APA files what a pain in the ***, i am just going through a few HMI recreating the APA files as they were lost by the previous PLC guy

 

[DamianInRochester]

It would be easier to swallow just blaming it on windows if it wasn't for the fact that everyone else but AB has seemed to have figured it out.

 

[rdrast]

It isn't Windows at fault here (and oddly, it isn't Windows at fault for 99.9% of the things people blame it for)... It is purely Rockwell. For some completely insane and idiotic reason, they tag user accounts CREATED IN FTVIEW with a GUID based on the system that created them, and don't manage them simply by name.

It was "YABDD" (Yet another bad design decision) by Rockwell, and serves absolutely no purpose except the dubious one of allowing Active Directory authentication of users. The big problem there, is if you are an OEM, you don't live on your customers AD.

For ALL of my FTView apps, SE and ME, there are only two users, and one is common to all of them. I don't use FTView security for anything, instead, I just use PLC passwords to lock/unlock certain levels of functionality.

The other bloody insanity about Rockwell's security is that it defaults to thinking I'm programming a banking system. NO, I do NOT want "Minimum Password Complexity". NO, I do NOT want "At least 6 characters". NO, I do NOT want "Passwords to Expire".

I wish Red Lion made a full featured SCADA/HMI package, then I'd dump Rockwell entirely instead of just on the things I replace with G3's.

 

[DaveW]

The other bloody insanity about Rockwell's security is that it defaults to thinking I'm programming a banking system. NO, I do NOT want "Minimum Password Complexity". NO, I do NOT want "At least 6 characters". NO, I do NOT want "Passwords to Expire".

I don't remember these features being a default for ME but they are important in the pharmaceutical and biotech fields if you have to deal with 21CFR11. On the other hand, who the heck want to manage these types of accounts on a PanelView when the accounts can be overwritten every time the program is downloaded.