Updating Wonderware - Need some basic pointers.

The last time I did anything with Wonderware was just after the dot com bust. Boy, I feel old. Anyway, it looks like I will get the chance to play with couple of installs. Both are from the mid-2000s, one is running WinXP and another Win7 and I'm going to Win10.

- Documentation - I assume they are on the CD/DVD. How good are they for learning the basic install?

- Intouch vs ArchestrA System Platform. Am I right in understanding that Intouch is part of the System Platform? How can I tell which type is the existing install?

- Server/Client. I understand iFix's system fairly well. How does WW compares to it? Does make graphic and database change propagate to the clients and does graphics have to manually copied over? Is there a thin-client option like Ignition?

Thanks,

i would make sure wonderware (your version) is compatible with windows 10.
we use vmplayer to create a windows 7 vm with wonderware installed. we get everything up and running, verified and tested.
we then make a copy of the vm and put it on the network as a backup.
if the hard drive crashes, load the vm onto the new pc, authenticate the license, and your running with minimum downtime. i can't remember the cost of the vm software. you will need an operating system license also.
james

If you do use System Platform to push an app down to a PC running the Bootstrap Loader, do yourself a favor and first get the Galaxy Scrubber tool because your going to need it. That POS System Platform crashes the PC on a regular basis. I have used WW since version 2.0, but after my System Platform nightmares, I'll never use it again. Even the stand alone Intouch is now full of BS you don't need. Used to be one little app folder with about 50 files and your screen files. Now it has these sub folder with 60000+ files. takes a half hour to make a copy. I had to write a special batch file to copy just the files it really needs.


Good luck....

If you have no need for the added features of System Platform then stay away. Like JaxGTO, I've had lots of fun with it... hey, at a huge enterprise level it might be a necessary evil, but for small installs it's not worth the headaches and the code bloat. Why does deploying one small change to a graphic item need 1 min to complete? Might as well go have a coffee or several beers while waiting for a large galaxy to be fully deployed. You'll probably be wanting to drink yourself into a coma after your entire galaxy corrupts itself somehow, so might as well start as you hit deploy.

There is a NAD (network application deployment) mode that let's you have one master that can be rolled out to multiple nodes.

The licensing for the new versions above Intouch 2014 is no longer a simple .LIC file, you need a license server now which really needs to be high availability as stuff stops working pretty quickly without it. There is a redundancy mode for it but then you need another server...

Conversion from older to new is generally OK as long as it's not using any obscure old ActiveX components.

The other big thing i dislike about Wonderware now is trying to figure out who the hell to go to for support. Here in NZ it is still Schneider (who originally bought out Avensys), but the product is now developed by Aveva (in partnership with Schneider). Its at the point now where I just don't know if I'll get any support if something goes wrong in the middle of the night.

I've heard that 2017 was a **** version and that 2020 is better... but geez who wants to gamble with that kind of thing. I need consistency.