Monitoring the Hard Drive of a Station

Scenario: You can configure Desigo CC to automatically monitor the hard drive of a server, installed client, or FEP station, so that it generates an alarm when that station’s hard drive is detected to be faulty.
You can also (only for the server station) configure the disk capacity monitoring, so that an alarm is generated when the free disk space on the Desigo CC server station is detected to be insufficient.

 

Reference: For background information, see the reference section.

 

Workflow diagram:

 

 

Prerequisites:

  • The station whose hard drive you want to monitor is configured in System Manager. See Creating Stations in System Manager.
  • System Manager is in Engineering mode.
  • System Browser is in Management View.

 

Steps:

1 – Add a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Object Under the Station

If a hard disk drive (HDD) object does not yet exist under the station, do this procedure to add it.

  1. Select the station that you want to monitor, at one of the following paths:
  • Project > Management System > Servers> Main Server
  • Project > Management System > Clients > [Client station]
  • Project > Management System > FEPs > [FEP station]
  1. If no hard disk drive object exists yet under the station, add and configure it as follows:
    a. Select the System Management tab.
    b. Click New , and select New Hard Disk Drive (for a server station) or New Client Hard Disk Drive (for an installed client or FEP).
    c. In the New Object dialog box, enter a name and description.
    d. Click OK.
  • The new hard disk drive object is added to System Browser. The HDD configuration displays in the System Management tab.
    NOTE: Because no drive letter has been specified yet, in the Operation tab, the Device Status is Faulty. Consequently, an alarm occurs in the Desigo CC station.

 

2 – Set the Drive Letter to Monitor
  1. Select the hard disk drive object at one of the following paths:
  • Project > Management System > Servers> Main Server > [hard disk drive]
  • Project > Management System > Clients > [Client station] > [hard disk drive]
  • Project > Management System > FEPs > [FEP station] > [hard disk drive]
  1. In the System Management tab, use the Select disk drive drop-down list to select or change the drive letter that you want to monitor (for example, C:).
  1. Click Save .
  • After a few seconds the Device Status in the Operation tab becomes Normal and any alarm in the Desigo CC station resulting from an incorrect drive letter is automatically cleared from Event List.
  • Monitoring of the selected drive is enabled. The system will generate an event if the selected drive is detected to be faulty.

 

3 – (Optional) Monitor Server Disk Capacity

Only for the Desigo CC server station, you can additionally configure the system to generate an event when the disk capacity falls below a specified limit.

  1. Select Project > Management System > Servers > Main Server > [hard disk drive].
  • Disk space values (Disk free space, Disk total space, and Disk used space) display in the Operation tab.
  1. Select the Object Configurator tab.
  1. Open the Properties expander, and select the Status.DiskfreeSpace property.
  1. Open the Alarm Configuration expander.
  1. Select the Valid check box.
  1. Select the Management Station radio button.
  1. From the Alarm kind drop-down list, select Continuous.
  1. Define the Alarm Class as follows:
    a. From the Alarm Class field, select the alarm category.
    b. In the Limiting Value fields, select the relational operator > and then enter the limit value (in MB). The recommended value is 1000 MB.
    c. In the Informational Text area, select Text and enter an instruction for the alarm. For example, Low disk. Contact admin to free up disk space on the station.
  1. Select the Alarm config. activated option.
  1. (Optional) To log entries in the system Activity log for any changes of the disk capacity, in the Properties expander, select the AL check box for the Status.DiskfreeSpace property.
    NOTE: Use this setting with caution, because it might result in a considerable amount of logged data.
  1. Click Save .
  • When the free space on the disk falls below the values specified in Limiting Value, the configured alarm will occur in the Desigo CC stations.

 

4 – (Optional) Stop Hard Drive Monitoring of a Station

Perform this procedure if you want the system to cease monitoring the hard drive of a server, installed client, or FEP station.

  1. Select the hard drive you want to stop monitoring, at one of the following paths:
  • Project > Management System > Servers > Main Server > [hard disk drive]
  • Project > Management System > Clients > [Client station] > [hard disk drive]
  • Project > Management System > FEPs > [FEP station] > [hard disk drive]
  • The System Management tab displays.
  1. Click Delete .
  1. Click Yes to confirm.
  • The hard drive object is removed from System Browser. The system will cease monitoring the integrity of the station’s hard drive. In the case of a server station, any disk capacity monitoring will also cease.