WonderWare Upgrade Communication Issues

[lmcpeek8]

Background:
I have a client with an existing Desktop computer running Windows 2000 NT with WW InTouch 7.1.6. The PC has a PKTX card that communicates with a SLC-504 (Master PLC) using DH+ via wwRSLinx as a DDE Server through RSLinx Classic OEM. The Master PLC controls and monitors four (4) other PLCs on the DH+ network.
We have recently upgraded to a new Desktop running Windows 7 and thus upgraded to WW Archestra 2012 R2 (10.6). The old program was migrated and communications have been configured within InTouch/WindowMaker, since wwRSLinx is no longer an option. All settings in RSLinx are identical to the old PC.

The problem:
Communications are extremely slow and have a tendency to freeze completely. This communications failure (freezing) seems to happen at random times. Most recently it was running correctly for about a week, then the operator changed a setpoint and communications froze again. A full day later, still nothing had updated, including trends.
I have tried various tweaks to the communications settings in both InTouch and RSLinx hoping to find something that may have been overlooked, with no luck. The most recent modifications included changing (WonderWare) "only update active tags" to "update all tags". It runs better updating all tags, but still lags.
Outgoing commands on the old PC would send instantly, but have a significant delay on the new PC. When changing windows, Incoming information would update on the screen within seconds, but now takes at least 2 full minutes if it shows at all.

Needless to say, the old PC has been put back into service while we try to figure out the issue.

I'm considering trying to run the old 7.1.6 software (with wwRSLinx) in Virtual XP Mode. This would then require the PC to be setup to automatically boot up into XP Mode.
Has anyone done this before?
If so, could anyone walk me through this procedure?

Any help offered is greatly appreciated.

 

[bjh]

How is RSLinx communicating with the DH+ network on the new workstation?

 

[lmcpeek8]

How is RSLinx communicating with the DH+ network on the new workstation?

RSLinx:
RSLinx Classic OEM is utilizing a 1784-PKTX card.
RSLinx Driver: "1784-PKTX(D)/PCMK for DH+/DH-485 devices"

Computer (Workstation):
Standard PCI card installed within the computer.
Regular plug-n-play Windows 7 driver.

 

[Paullys50]

RSLinx:
RSLinx Classic OEM is utilizing a 1784-PKTX card.
RSLinx Driver: "1784-PKTX(D)/PCMK for DH+/DH-485 devices"

That is how RSLinx is talking to the PLC.

Computer (Workstation):
Standard PCI card installed within the computer.
Regular plug-n-play Windows 7 driver.

That is how the computer routes the data to the physical adapters.

What is the InTouch project looking at for data? Typically, Intouch has it's own DAServer (WW version of RSLinx basicaly) running, which is independent of RSLinx.

The DAServer, or (IO Server, I think they were called back when) come in various types, pending the communication protocol as well as for the various PLCs that are out there.

Under your Access names, what does the box say? see attached.

 

[lmcpeek8]

Current Configuration
Application Name: RSLinx
Topic Name: MASTER


Old Computer
Application Name: WWRSLinx
Topic Name: MASTER

 

[Paullys50]

WWRslinx was is an IOServer from WonderWare to talk with RSLinx back when. I doubt you can just put RSLinx there instead and expect it to work, but if you say it does, just poorly....maybe something too it, I can't comment. Might be easier to call WW tech support.

You might consder an upgrade to a DH+ DAServer from WW, you would need to check with WW about cost and compatibility w/Windows 7.

You might be able to use the DAServer "FSGateway" from WW (I think this is free), this would then allow communication to an OPC Server such as RSLinx. Then the question is if your version of RSLinx has the appropriate licensing to be used as a OPC server. It cannot be the "Lite" version.

You could also go the VM route, I always use VMWare. Virtual PC can cause issues due to the device integration settings, so you may or may not have luck with it. I have not tried it.

You can setup the VM to start up automatically, just drop the program shortcut into the windows 7 start up folder, and point it to the VM you wish to run. However, VM's don't talk well with things other than a USB or NIC card. So I doubt the VM software can pass your PCI hardware to the VM for communications. So you still need the host to handle RSLinx and comms through DH+, then you need your VM to reference a remote RSLinx node....so still complicated.

 

[bjh]

The reason I asked is that I've seen this issue with a Ethernet to DH+ Gateway (not the AB rack with a ENBT and DHRIO card, a special module that mounted on DIN rail whose name escapes me) that could only handle something like 8 CIP connections. RSLinx was running on 2 different computers and each was taking up to 4 connections per PLC which overloaded the Gateway and casued behavior very much like the above. The initial cure was throttling the allowed CIP connections per device to 1. Eventually we put in a real AB ControlLogix Gateway as it was more stable with lots of connections.

The OP is still using the PKTX card, which surprises me as I've had trouble finding modern workstations with a real, honest to God PCI slot to put one into.

 

[lmcpeek8]

Everything I've done for configuration was step-by-step from Wonderware Tech Support. Specifically because of their doing away with wwRSLinx. If wwRSLinx worked with the latest InTouch software (2012 R2) I would have kept it, but the new software has to handle comms and refuses to allow a "middle man" between it and RSLinx.

I haven't tried FSGateway. I'll look into that.

We don't have RSLinx Lite, it's OEM, which supports DDE and OPC protocols.

The VM Ware is a last ditch effort, but I might have to give it a go.

Thanks.

 

[lmcpeek8]

The reason I asked is that I've seen this issue with a Ethernet to DH+ Gateway (not the AB rack with a ENBT and DHRIO card, a special module that mounted on DIN rail whose name escapes me) that could only handle something like 8 CIP connections. RSLinx was running on 2 different computers and each was taking up to 4 connections per PLC which overloaded the Gateway and casued behavior very much like the above. The initial cure was throttling the allowed CIP connections per device to 1. Eventually we put in a real AB ControlLogix Gateway as it was more stable with lots of connections.

The OP is still using the PKTX card, which surprises me as I've had trouble finding modern workstations with a real, honest to God PCI slot to put one into.

The original plan was to keep "everything" on the new PC identical to the old PC, so we specifically ordered a desktop with PCI slots for that purpose.