Versions Compared

Old Version 31

changes.mady.by.user Chad Kienle

Saved on

compared with

New Version 32

changes.mady.by.user Nathan Davenport

Saved on

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

...

  • Network paths
    •  It may make sense to have edge nodes support multiple network paths to the MQTT servers.  For example, Ethernet, cellular, and satellite could all exist as supported network paths on a single Edge gateway.  This will help ensure additional reliability by supporting failover of networks.
  • Primary Ignition and Primary Ignition backup placement
    • This tutorial was created by modeling this exact environment using Amazon AWS EC2 instances in the cloud.  Reliability could be improved by putting Ignition Primary and Ignition Primary Backup in different AWS availability zones or even different AWS regions.  This would allow the primary Ignition with MQTT Distributor and MQTT Engine to continue to operate even in the case of AWS failures.  In the case of on premises installations of Ignition these could be placed in different physical locations and/or on secondary networks.
  • MQTT Servers
    • Additional MQTT Servers can be added so MQTT connections from remote edge nodes remain established.  Additional Chariot MQTT Servers can be used to make the system more robust (httphttps://www.cirrus-link.com/iiot-mqtt-servers/).
  • History enablement in MQTT Transmission
    • MQTT Transmission supports caching of data in the case that it can not establish a connection to any of the configured MQTT Servers.  Once a connection is reestablished, it will begin reporting and flush the stored historical values to prevent data loss in catastrophic failures.

Upon completion of this tutorial you will have a functional system with redundancy/failover support for both remote edge nodes as well as the primary Ignition system that the remote edge nodes are reporting to.

Architecture

Image RemovedImage Added


Image RemovedImage Added


Image RemovedImage Added


Image RemovedImage Added

Tutorial

Step 1: Download and Install Ignition on Six Systems

...

Go to the Inductive Automation download page and download the desired Ignition installer for Windows, Linux or MacOS;
https://inductiveautomation.com/downloads/ignitionarchive.

Once the Ignition installer has been downloaded, follow the instructions provided by Inductive Automation to install and startup Ignition.

...

Go to the Inductive Automation download page again and scroll down to the Third Party modules section. Find the Cirrus Link modules section and download the MQTT Distributor, MQTT Engine, MQTT Transmission modules.
https://inductiveautomation.com/downloads/ignitionarchive.  For each of the Ignition instance, install the following MQTT Modules.

...

  • Ignition Primary - MQTT Distributor
    • No modifications to the default parameters are required.  However, it is important to make sure the Operation System allows inbound connections on port 1883 and there are no firewalls blocking inbound connections on this port from the remote edge nodes.
  • Ignition Primary - MQTT Engine
    • The only change from defaults is to set a Primary Host ID.  MQTT uses Quality of Service (QOS) levels to ensure messages get delivered.  However, this only ensures delivery between a single MQTT client and the MQTT server.  In other words, it doesn't ensure delivery from one MQTT client to another MQTT client.  Sparkplug introduces the notion of a Primary Host ID which is used to ensure client to client communications.  The only requirement is that it match exactly on both the MQTT Engine and MQTT Transmission configurations.
      Image RemovedImage Added
  • Ignition Edge 1 and Ignition Edge 2 - MQTT Transmission (Configure the same on both Ignition instances)
    • As with the MQTT Engine configuration, the Primary Host ID must be set on the General tab as shown below.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Delete the existing default MQTT Transmission Server.
      Image RemovedImage Added

    • Create a new MQTT Server configuration by clicking the link below.

      image2017-9-5_13-45-36.png
    • Configure MQTT Transmission to point to the Primary Ignition.  Configure as shown below making sure to change the URL to reflect your network settings.  For example, if you Ignition Primary is at 192.168.1.100 the MQTT Server URL would be: tcp://192.168.1.100:1883.  After setting the parameters as shown below.  Click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Verify the MQTT Server has been created and is shown in the list of MQTT Servers as shown below.
      Image Removed
      Image Added
    • Repeat the process of creating a MQTT Server but instead point it to the Ignition Primary Backup MQTT Server.  These are the parameters to use:
      • Name: primary-backup
      • URL: tcp://primary-backup:1883
        • Change 'primary-backup' in the URL to reflect the network address of the Ignition Primary Backup server.
      • Server Type: MQTT Distributor
      • Server Set: Default
      • Username: admin
      • Password: changeme
    • When complete, verify both MQTT Servers appear in the list as shown below.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Finally, make sure to set up the same MQTT Transmission configuration in the Ignition Edge 2 instance.

...

The following configuration shows all of the redundancy settings that were used in setting this environment up using Amazon's AWS EC2 instances (virtual machines).  The configuration will vary based on your network configuration.  Additional Ignition redundancy resources can be found at the following links:

https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOCDOC79/Setting+Up+Redundancy
https://support.inductiveautomation.com/usermanuals/ignition/index.html?redundancy_settings.htm

  • Ignition Primary
    • Select Redundancy on the left navigation bar. Then set the Mode to 'Master' and set the Standby Activity left to 'Warm' as shown below.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Set up the Redundancy Network Settings.  The settings here are specific to your network setup.  On many LAN configurations none of these changes are required.  What is shown below was the configuration for setting up all of these components in Amazon's AWS EC2 instances.  The changes were:
      • Uncheck 'Auto-detect network interface'
      • Set the 'Network Bind Interface' to the public IP address of the Ignition Primary EC2 instance.  On a LAN this would be the primary network interface address of the Ignition Primary machine.
      • Uncheck the 'Autodetect HTTP Address' tickbox.
      • Specify two explicit HTTP addresses for clients to use.  These were the public IP addresses of the Ignition Primary and Ignition Primary Backup EC2 instances.  On a LAN, these would be the primary network interface addresses of the Ignition Primary and Ignition Primary Backup machines.  Also note the HTTP port is 8088 which is the default Ignition HTTP port.Image RemovedImage Added
    • Set the Master Node Address.  Note in the configuration below a hostname is being used.  This should be the primary network interface address of the Ignition Primary Gateway.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Finally, click the 'Save Changes' button.
  • Ignition Primary Backup
    • Select Redundancy on the left navigation bar. Then set the Mode to 'Backup' and set the Standby Activity left to 'Warm' as shown below.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Set up the Redundancy Network Settings.  The settings here are specific to your network setup.  On many LAN configurations none of these changes are required.  What is shown below was the configuration for setting up all of these components in Amazon's AWS EC2 instances.  The changes were:
      • Uncheck 'Auto-detect network interface'
      • Set the 'Network Bind Interface' to the public IP address of the Ignition Primary Backup EC2 instance.  On a LAN this would be the primary network interface address of the Ignition Primary Backup machine.
      • Uncheck the 'Autodetect HTTP Address' tickbox.
      • Specify two explicit HTTP addresses for clients to use.  These were the public IP addresses of the Ignition Primary and Ignition Primary Backup EC2 instances.  On a LAN, these would be the primary network interface addresses of the Ignition Primary and Ignition Primary Backup machines.  Also note the HTTP port is 8088 which is the default Ignition HTTP port.Image RemovedImage Added
    • Set the Master Node Address.  Note in the configuration below a hostname is being used.  This should be the primary network interface address of the Ignition Primary Gateway.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Finally, click the 'Save Changes' button.

  • Ignition Edge 1
    • Select Redundancy on the left navigation bar. Then set the Mode to 'Master' and set the Standby Activity left to 'Warm' as shown below.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Set up the Redundancy Network Settings.  The settings here are specific to your network setup.  On many LAN configurations none of these changes are required.  What is shown below was the configuration for setting up all of these components in Amazon's AWS EC2 instances.  The changes were:
      • Uncheck 'Auto-detect network interface'
      • Set the 'Network Bind Interface' to the public IP address of the Ignition Edge 1 EC2 instance.  On a LAN this would be the primary network interface address of the Ignition Edge 1 machine.
      • Uncheck the 'Autodetect HTTP Address' tickbox.
      • Specify two explicit HTTP addresses for clients to use.  These were the public IP addresses of the Ignition Edge 1 and Ignition Edge 1 Backup EC2 instances.  On a LAN, these would be the primary network interface addresses of the Ignition Edge 1 and Ignition Edge 1 Backup machines.  Also note the HTTP port is 8088 which is the default Ignition HTTP port.Image RemovedImage Added
    • Set the Master Node Address.  Note in the configuration below a hostname is being used.  This should be the primary network interface address of the Ignition Edge 1 Gateway.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Finally, click the 'Save Changes' button.

  • Ignition Edge 1 Backup
    • Select Redundancy on the left navigation bar. Then set the Mode to 'Backup' and set the Standby Activity left to 'Warm' as shown below.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Set up the Redundancy Network Settings.  The settings here are specific to your network setup.  On many LAN configurations none of these changes are required.  What is shown below was the configuration for setting up all of these components in Amazon's AWS EC2 instances.  The changes were:
      • Uncheck 'Auto-detect network interface'
      • Set the 'Network Bind Interface' to the public IP address of the Ignition Edge 1 Backup EC2 instance.  On a LAN this would be the primary network interface address of the Ignition Edge 1 Backup machine.
      • Uncheck the 'Autodetect HTTP Address' tickbox.
      • Specify two explicit HTTP addresses for clients to use.  These were the public IP addresses of the Ignition Edge 1 and Ignition Edge 1 Backup EC2 instances.  On a LAN, these would be the primary network interface addresses of the Ignition Edge 1 and Ignition Edge 1 Backup machines.  Also note the HTTP port is 8088 which is the default Ignition HTTP port.Image RemovedImage Added
    • Set the Master Node Address.  Note in the configuration below a hostname is being used.  This should be the primary network interface address of the Ignition Edge 1 Gateway.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Finally, click the 'Save Changes' button.
  • Ignition Edge 2
    • Select Redundancy on the left navigation bar. Then set the Mode to 'Master' and set the Standby Activity left to 'Warm' as shown below.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Set up the Redundancy Network Settings.  The settings here are specific to your network setup.  On many LAN configurations none of these changes are required.  What is shown below was the configuration for setting up all of these components in Amazon's AWS EC2 instances.  The changes were:
      • Uncheck 'Auto-detect network interface'
      • Set the 'Network Bind Interface' to the public IP address of the Ignition Edge 2 EC2 instance.  On a LAN this would be the primary network interface address of the Ignition Edge 2 machine.
      • Uncheck the 'Autodetect HTTP Address' tickbox.
      • Specify two explicit HTTP addresses for clients to use.  These were the public IP addresses of the Ignition Edge 2 and Ignition Edge 2 Backup EC2 instances.  On a LAN, these would be the primary network interface addresses of the Ignition Edge 2 and Ignition Edge 2 Backup machines.  Also note the HTTP port is 8088 which is the default Ignition HTTP port.Image RemovedImage Added
    • Set the Master Node Address.  Note in the configuration below a hostname is being used.  This should be the primary network interface address of the Ignition Edge 2 Gateway.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Finally, click the 'Save Changes' button.

  • Ignition Edge 2 Backup
    • Select Redundancy on the left navigation bar. Then set the Mode to 'Backup' and set the Standby Activity left to 'Warm' as shown below.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Set up the Redundancy Network Settings.  The settings here are specific to your network setup.  On many LAN configurations none of these changes are required.  What is shown below was the configuration for setting up all of these components in Amazon's AWS EC2 instances.  The changes were:
      • Uncheck 'Auto-detect network interface'
      • Set the 'Network Bind Interface' to the public IP address of the Ignition Edge 2 Backup EC2 instance.  On a LAN this would be the primary network interface address of the Ignition Edge 2 Backup machine.
      • Uncheck the 'Autodetect HTTP Address' tickbox.
      • Specify two explicit HTTP addresses for clients to use.  These were the public IP addresses of the Ignition Edge 2 and Ignition Edge 2 Backup EC2 instances.  On a LAN, these would be the primary network interface addresses of the Ignition Edge 2 and Ignition Edge 2 Backup machines.  Also note the HTTP port is 8088 which is the default Ignition HTTP port.Image RemovedImage Added
    • Set the Master Node Address.  Note in the configuration below a hostname is being used.  This should be the primary network interface address of the Ignition Edge 2 Gateway.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Finally, click the 'Save Changes' button.

...

  • Using Ignition Designer on Edge 1, do the following:
    • Create a new project called 'Test'.
    • In the Tag Browser, confirm there is a folder called 'Edge Nodes'.  If there is not, confirm MQTT Transmission is installed.
    • In the 'Edge Nodes' folder, create a folder called 'Group 1'.
    • In the 'Group 1' folder, create a folder called 'Edge 1'.
    • In the 'Edge 1' folder, create a folder called 'Device 1'.
    • In the 'Device 1' folder, create a Tag called 'Tag 1'.
    • At the end, you should see something similar to what is shown below.

Image RemovedImage Added

  • Using Ignition Designer on Edge 2, do the following:
    • Create a new project called 'Test'.
    • In the Tag Browser, confirm there is a folder called 'Edge Nodes'.  If there is not, confirm MQTT Transmission is installed.
    • In the 'Edge Nodes' folder, create a folder called 'Group 1'.
    • In the 'Group 1' folder, create a folder called 'Edge 2'.
    • In the 'Edge 2' folder, create a folder called 'Device 1'.
    • In the 'Device 1' folder, create a Tag called 'Tag 1'.
    • At the end, you should see something similar to what is shown below

Image RemovedImage Added 


  • Finally, refresh the Transmission runtime.  This is done by clicking the 'MQTT Transmission/Transmission Control/Refresh' Boolean tag.

Image RemovedImage Added

    • After clicking the Boolean tag you may need to 'Enable

Image RemovedImage AddedStep 6: Force Sync of Backup Instances

...

  • Repeat the following steps for the following Ignition instances: Primary, Edge 1, and Edge 2
    • Browse to the Status menu and then click in the Redundancy box as shown below.
      Image Removed
      Image Added
    • Force the Re-sync via the button below.  This will duplicate the master configuration to the backup Ignition instance it is connected to.
      Image RemovedImage Added
    • Repeat the above Re-sync steps on the Edge 1 and Edge 2 Ignition instances.

...

Open Ignition Designer on the Ignition Primary instance.  Expand the MQTT Engine tag tree and validate the following tags are present.  If they are present and not stale, they are properly connected.

Image RemovedImage Added

Step 8: Test the Redundancy

...

  • Ignition Primary
    • Create the following widgets.
      • Label - Ignition Primary
      • Label - Redundancy State → Label with Tag Path of "[MQTT Engine]/Engine Info/Redundancy State"
      • Label - Redundancy Role → Label with Tag Path of "[MQTT Engine]/Engine Info/Redundancy Role"
      • Label - Edge 1 Tag 1 → Label with Tag Path of "[MQTT Engine]/Edge Nodes/Group 1/Edge 1/Device 1/Tag 1"
      • Label - Edge 2 Tag 1 → Label with Tag Path of "[MQTT Engine]/Edge Nodes/Group 1/Edge 2/Device 1/Tag 1"
      • Label - MQTT Engine Connected → Multi-State Indicator with Tag Path of "[MQTT Engine]/Engine Info/MQTT Clients/Chariot SCADA/Online"
      • Label - Edge 1 Connected → Multi-State Indicator with Tag Path of "[MQTT Engine]/Edge Nodes/Group 1/Edge 1/Node Info/Online"
      • Label - Edge 2 Connected → Multi-State Indicator with Tag Path of "[MQTT Engine]/Edge Nodes/Group 1/Edge 2/Node Info/Online"
    • When complete - it should look similar to what is shown below

Image RemovedImage Added

  • Ignition Edge 1
    • Create the following widgets
      • Label - Ignition Edge 1
      • Label - Redundancy State → Label with Tag Path of "[MQTT Transmission]/Transmission Info/Redundancy State"
      • Label - Redundancy Role → Label with Tag Path of "[MQTT Transmission]/Transmission Info/Redundancy Role"
      • Label - Edge 1 Tag 1 → Label with Tag Path of "[default]/Edge Nodes/Group 1/Edge 1/Device 1/Tag 1"
      • Label - Connected → Multi-State Indicator with Tag Path of "[MQTT Transmission]/Transmission Info/MQTT Clients/Group 1-Edge 1/Online"

Image RemovedImage Added

  • Ignition Edge 2
    • Create the following widgets
      • Label - Ignition Edge 2
      • Label - Redundancy State → Label with Tag Path of "[MQTT Transmission]/Transmission Info/Redundancy State"
      • Label - Redundancy Role → Label with Tag Path of "[MQTT Transmission]/Transmission Info/Redundancy Role"
      • Label - Edge 2 Tag 1 → Label with Tag Path of "[default]/Edge Nodes/Group 1/Edge 2/Device 1/Tag 1"
      • Label - Connected → Multi-State Indicator with Tag Path of "[MQTT Transmission]/Transmission Info/MQTT Clients/Group 1-Edge 2/Online"

Image RemovedImage Added

  • Once all three dashboards have been created, save and publish them and close the Ignition Designer windows.
  • Now open each of the Ignition client 'Test' projects.  With everything running you should see three windows similar to the following.

Image RemovedImage Added

  • At this point we can begin failing Ignition instances.  From the Status → Redundancy page we can use the 'Force Failover' button as shown below.  Of course stopping the actual Ignition instance is another option.

Image RemovedImage Added

  • Primary Ignition Failure: Failing the Ignition Primary instance will cause the following.
    • Ignition Primary will go down and be unreachable
      • This results in all MQTT connections being lost.
    • Ignition Primary Backup will come up and take the place of Ignition Primary
    • MQTT Engine will reconnect on Ignition Primary
    • The MQTT Transmission instances will reconnect to the new MQTT Server (MQTT Distributor) running in Ignition Primary Backup
    • This is all shown in the screenshot below of the Ignition projects.  Note all connections are valid and the 'Redundancy Role' of Ignition Primary is now Backup.

Image RemovedImage Added


  • Edge 1 Failure: Failing the Ignition Edge 1 instance will cause the following.
    • Ignition Edge 1 will go down and be unreachable
      • This results in the MQTT Connection between Ignition Edge 1 and Ignition Primary being lost.
    • Ignition Edge 1 Backup will come up and take the place of Ignition Edge 1.
    • The MQTT Transmission instance on Ignition Edge 1 Backup will connect to the MQTT Server (MQTT Distributor) running in Ignition Primary
    • This is all shown in the screenshot below of the Ignition projects.  Note all connections are valid and the 'Redundancy Role' of Ignition Edge 1 is now Backup.

Image RemovedImage Added

  • Failure of all Master Nodes: Failing all master Ignition instances (Primary, Edge 1, and Edge 2) will cause the following.
    • Ignition Primary, Edge 1, and Edge 2 will all go down and be unreachable
      • This results in all MQTT connections being lost
    • Ignition Primary Backup, Edge 1 Backup, and Edge 2 Backup will all come up and start their MQTT services.
    • The new MQTT Transmission instances on Ignition Edge 1 Backup and Ignition Edge 2 Backup will connect to the new MQTT Server (MQTT Distributor) running in Ignition Primary Backup
    • This is all shown in the screenshot below of the Ignition projects.  Note all connections are valid and the 'Redundancy Role' of all instances is now Backup.

Image RemovedImage Added

To summarize, this tutorial shows how Ignition and the MQTT Modules can be used to create a resilient infrastructure that is able to withstand failures of machines and network connections within the architecture.  As noted earlier, this tutorial shows the basic requirements of configuring failover support with Ignition and the MQTT Modules.  This can be further improved with additional advanced concepts.  Feel free to contact sales@cirrus-link.com for more information.

...