Software Archive Practices

[WildeKurt]

I'm wondering how others control plc application software in plant environments. We have 100's of different PLC programs that are used throughout the plant on various vendors. We have three shifts of maintenance techs. I'm curious how other people control application (not programming) software so the latest revisions are stored centrally and the techs have access to them.

 

[The Plc Kid]

Sounds like you need Factorytalk Asset Centre or MDT software.

http://www.rockwellautomation.com/rockwellsoftware/assetmgmt/assetcentre/

http://www.mdtsoft.com/

We use FT Asset Centre as it integrates better with logix. MDT would be best if you have a lot of different brands.

 

[WildeKurt]

The MDT AutoSave product looks interesting.

 

[The Plc Kid]

MDT corporate office is only 45 min from me so i went up and did a demo on the product (Previous Version)and it is very good.

We just went with FT asset centre because of the better integration with logix at the time and i think MDT does it like FT assest centre now in the most recent version.

We are a AB plant as we only have 3 AD controllers and 4 siemens. The other 700 or so are all AB.

 

[WildeKurt]

What kind of money are MDT asking for a basic package?

 

[The Plc Kid]

It was based on the plugins / different brands of controllers and the type of module. I was looking at version control and change management as well as change authorize and deny so some techs can only view the plc program but make no changes or force ands some have full edit options and everything in between.

Depends on the amount of cleints also. I was looking at starting small nad adding monthly. Starting with our top 20 controllers i think for 20 controllers with some onsite setup and training was a little under 10K. Not bad for what you get.

 

[MrMDT]

BSEE, Ga Tech, Atlanta area, we are practically brothers....and you went with Asset Centre?!?!

The PLC Kid is correct. One of the main strengths of AutoSave by MDT is the ability to support pretty much anything you have. We have many partnerships, and have been managing Rockwell devices for about 20 years now (back to the old PLC2 days).

PM me and I can get you some more details on pricing or for some more info...

 

[The Plc Kid]

On large projects i submit my christmas list and my wants.


But at the end of the day the corporate titans have the final say and sign the big checks.

I like mdt very much but a few specific feature asset center does work a little better with AB products or at least it did at that time. MDT may have made some changes since then.

99% of our stuff is rockwell. If you have a good mix of equipment mdt is the only way to fly.

 

[TConnolly]

I do it the hard way.

I have a reminder set in MS Outlook. We keep all of our PLC programs in a central location on a network server, organized into folders by system. Once every three months I burn everything there to a set of CDs and file them by date. Then I back up all of the networked PLCs. Almost all of our PLCs are connected to the plant network and parts of our process are very dynamic and the programs are modified frequently. The few stand alone PLCs are rarely changed.

I said its the hard way, but its really not that big of a deal. Most of the backup runs in the background while I'm doing other things.

 

[The Plc Kid]

Most of our processes are very dynamic also but we have over 800 processors on this site so doing it manual was a full time job and before we got this automated system it just did not get backed up like it should have because it took so much time.

We have a plc in almost everything i can count the equipment that does not on one hand.

I don't use cd's that much because we backup the server to our sister plant as well as IT does a offsite tape backups weekly and i do a onsite and offsite backups to external hard drives as well.

 

[504bloke]

I do it the hard way.

I have a reminder set in MS Outlook. We keep all of our PLC programs in a central location on a network server, organized into folders by system. Once every three months I burn everything there to a set of CDs and file them by date. Then I back up all of the networked PLCs. Almost all of our PLCs are connected to the plant network and parts of our process are very dynamic and the programs are modified frequently. The few stand alone PLCs are rarely changed.

I said its the hard way, but its really not that big of a deal. Most of the backup runs in the background while I'm doing other things.

Surfin on plctalk.net

 

[Peter Nachtwey]

I am curious, how do these archiving software packages save the PLC programs. Are they compressed? Is the complete program saved each time? The archiving programs I am familiar are VCSs or version control systems that only save the differences and even that data is compressed. This makes for a very efficient software backup system. We have tape drives that back up the VCS directories each night.

I can see how this would work well will S7 .AWL or SCL files but not the data base files that are used. Likewise AB has a L5K text format that would work nicely but I don't see how the VCS can pick apart the project file UNLESS it knows the format that the data is stored in and can replace/update rungs.

 

[harryting]

Do any of these have abilities to PREVENT unauthorized programming changes?

What about mulitple sites? Do you need the software to be installed at each site?

 

[TConnolly]

I don't use cd's that much because we backup the server to our sister plant as well as IT does a offsite tape backups weekly and i do a onsite and offsite backups to external hard drives as well.

IT does regular backups of the servers as well as our laptops, but they don't keep the backups forever. The CDs mainly give us a history that we can refer back to - I can refer back to versions of programs that are several years old.

 

[Clay B.]

IT does regular backups of the servers as well as our laptops, but they don't keep the backups forever. The CDs mainly give us a history that we can refer back to - I can refer back to versions of programs that are several years old.

Those CD's get real handy when someone "rolls" the version in RS5000 and the problem does not show up until months later.

I believe as more and more systems progress to "PAC" style systems your going to see these random "bugs". If you do not want to use CDs a thumb drive is a real good alternative.