This is just a post to save some configuration I setup for myself in my home lab. I configured a small Ubuntu Server 16.04 server to act as my lab’s syslog server. This way I can centralize and store my log files from multiple servers and appliances in one place. Mostly educational on my part. […]
Author: Dustin Symes
Being Cloud Ready
I just spent the last two days participating in an IoT and Data Analytics Hand-on-Lab at Microsoft Canada in Calgary. It was awesome to see what they are doing with their cloud product offering and how it can be used to enable business intelligence and possibility for new applications. Here is a screenshot of a […]
Getting ClearSCADA Help
ClearSCADA is a surprisingly open piece of software. The help file is packed with example code, decent explanations of settings and objects, system requirements, example architectures and more. Schneider Electric has some great online resources for the ClearSCADA software product too. Thankfully this is one of the few sections of the internet left where you do […]
Absolute Pressure vs. Gauge Pressure
In measurement knowing how your sensors are configured is extremely important. In the case of static pressure measurement, you need to know if you are measuring the absolute pressure in the meter run or the gauge pressure of the meter run. When you are installing and configuring new meters knowing which to choose is imperative. […]
Setup Floboss Standard History
Data is driving a lot of business decisions these days. In Oil and Gas communication technology has caught up to the point where high resolution data is available. This enables a host of remote analysis and troubleshooting opportunities for engineers and operators. However, high resolution data is not available unless it is configured in the […]
Using git for Industrial Automation – Part 3 – Remote Basics
This is continuation of the series of articles I have written about git and using it for industrial automation projects. Every automation shop eventually gets to a point where they need some sort of central library of code or central project file store. Eventually you need a way to share files, share projects, or archive […]
MQTT – Is This the Protocol We’re Looking For?
The industrial automation world is just buzzing with internet of things (IoT) news and industrial internet of things (IIoT). SCADA software, polling drivers, field Ethernet to serial gateways and just about everyone else is taking advantage of the new buzzwords. One of the new primary protocols for IIoT devices is MQTT. Last month I attended the Well […]
Maximize ClearSCADA WebX ActiveX Applet
ClearSCADA was one of the first SCADA platforms to have a fairly complete and stable web based thin client. It has stayed the same through the years and is lagging behind a bit with lack of full graphics support on HTML5, but it is consistent and works well in a Windows environment. One of the […]
Using git for Industrial Automation – Part 2 – Branches
In an earlier article I explained the basics of git and how to use GitKraken, one of the various graphical interfaces of git. Now we are going to take this a couple steps further and show you how to use branches in git with RTU/PLC programming. Branches are an important function of any version control […]
Software Library Recommendations
Any developer’s toolkit is going to involve a decent amount of software. An automation programmer’s toolkit is full of odd-ball, proprietary, weird dependency driven configuration software. Here are some quick tips my mentor shared with me regarding software installers when I started doing automation programming. When I first got my laptop, she sat me down […]