TopView® version 6.33.3 Release

TopView® version 6.33.3 Release

February 18, 2020

OPC/SCADA ● OPC A&E ● PI ● SQL Events ● SQL Lookup ● MQTT ● PerfMon

TopView 6.33.3 adds fixes to TopView 6.33.2 and TopView 6.32.1. Highlights of 6.33.2 and 6.33.1 are also listed below.

See the release notes for a full list of changes included in this version

Fix: TopView DataPath on inaccessible network share may pause or crash the TopView Engine

TopView’s DataPath is a folder location that contains TopView configuration files and logs. The default location for DataPath is the local machine (C:\ProgramData\Exele\TopView).

Users with a failover/redundant TopView license may move the DataPath to a network share to allow sharing of configuration files and logs between the primary and failover TopView machines.

Issue: If DataPath is moved to a network share and the share becomes unavailable, the TopView Engine process may temporarily pause operation or crash

  1. Pause operation: If the Engine is configured to automatically apply configuration change, the inaccessible configuration file on the DataPath may be viewed as a changed file. The TopView Engine attempts to apply the changes and performs an internal restart where it waits until the DataPath is again available.
  2. Crash: the Engine may encounter an unhandled exception if it attempts to write to the application or alarm logs before item 1 is encountered. If this exception occurs the TopView Engine process will no longer be running.

Changes included in this update to address the issue

  • Interactive TopView Window: will not show “newer configuration file exists” if the Engine cannot see the configuration file (e.g. missing DataPath)
    Instead the Engine will show “Cannot check time of configuration file”.
  • If the TopView Engine loses visibility of the configuration file (DataPath not accessible) it will not see this as a changed configuration
  • The Engine should continue to run without delays if the DataPath disappears assuming that the data server(s) are still available
    • Monitoring for a changed configuration file now occurs on a background thread
    • All writing to log files occurs on a background thread (application, alarm, and alarm actions)

See the release notes for a full list of changes included in this version

TopView 6.33.2

Incoming email via IMAP

TopView can optionally allow incoming email for alarm acknowledge and to request value and alarm reports. In previous versions of TopView, incoming email required a POP3 Server.

This release includes support for IMAP.

Admin Tools: View selected alarm actions

TopView 6.33.1 introduced Alarm Actions logs that record an individual alarm’s activity (active, return to normal, acknowledge) and related notifications and actions taken through notifications.

When viewing alarm information in the application log or alarm log (alarm active, acknowledge, return-to-normal), a button [View selected alarm actions…] will appear. Clicking the button will take the user to the Alarm Actions log for the selected alarm.

Mobile Web App: brute force mitigation, account lockout

After 5 failed attempts to log into an account, subsequent log in attempts will automatically fail until the lockout period of 10 minutes has elapsed.

This behavior can help mitigate brute force attacks upon a specific user account. Lockout affects each user account individually, so a lockout of one account will not prevent other users from logging in. A successful log in will reset the failed attempts count.

SCADA Connect status window

A TopView license may include SCADA Connect. For users with a SCADA Connect license:

  • When starting the Configurator, the SCADA Connect status window will be displayed if the initial SCADA Connect steps have not been completed. These steps include installation of SCADA Connect and installing SCADA Connect for your HMI.
  • The SCADA Connect status window can be displayed by clicking the SCADA Connect status item at the bottom of the Configurator window

Suppress footer in Email/SMS messages

A new option (Global Options>Notification screen) allows the user to suppress the TopView footer in Email and SMS messages for non-expiring purchased license users.

TopView 6.33.1

Microsoft .Net Framework 4.7.2 requirement

Previous TopView versions (6.25-6.32) required .Net Framework 4.6.1

This release requires .Net Framework 4.7.2. The installation/upgrade will check the TopView machine for the required version.
See the TopView download page for this release for off-line installation of the .Net Framework

Because of this new .Net Framework requirement TopView is supported on the following Windows versions:

  • Windows 10 Anniversary Update (1607) or later
  • Windows 8.1
  • Windows 7 SP1
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2012 or 2012R2
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Twilio support added for outgoing SMS Notification

Twilio support added for outgoing SMS Notification
Previous versions of TopView support sending SMS notifications through email (carrier supported) and cellular modems.

Twilio is a hosted platform for communication and allows products (like TopView) to use Twilio APIs to add capabilities like voice, video, and messaging to their applications.

This release of TopView allows users with a Twilio account to use the Twilio platform for delivery of SMS notification messages from TopView.
Note: this release does not support incoming Twilio SMS messages for alarm acknowledge or information request which is supported in TopView for SMS using cellular modems.

Requirements:

  • The customer must have a Twilio account (trial accounts available for free)
  • The TopView machine must be able to access the hosted Twilio platform. See Twilio requirements

Redundancy/failover support for SMS using network cellular modems

TopView SMS Notification supports the use of networked cellular modems from MultiTech (rCell 100 Series).

When using networked cellular modems, TopView can now be configured with a primary and backup modem.

If a backup modem is defined the TopView Engine will automatically send through the primary or backup modem based on historical success and a configurable list of modem health indicators.

Web Configurator: new features

The TopView Web Configurator is a web-based TopView Configuration Tool providing many of the same configurations functions available in the desktop Configurator.

This is the second release of TopView to include the Web Configurator. This release includes the following additional functionality:

  • Separate user permissions for editing Contacts and Contacts aliases
  • View the running state of TopView Engines/configurations
  • New items that can be viewed/modified in the Web Configurator:
    • Tags
      • Add/remove monitored tags
      • Edit alarm limit conditions and settings
      • Disable/enable alarms
      • Acknowledge settings
      • View/edit the Tag Groups that a tag belongs to
    • Tag Groups
      • Add/remove Tag Groups
      • Edit notification settings and escalation template assigned to Tag Group
    • Audible Alarms
    • Email-SMS notification (enabled/disabled and Default Notification Group)
    • Voice Notification (enabled/disabled and Default Notification Group)
    • Mobile Web App server settings
    • Remote Viewer settings

Alarm Actions Log

Previous versions of TopView include an application log that details all alarm activity and notifications sent for the alarms. When multiple alarms occur close together or notifications are sent over time, it can be difficult to isolate messages related to the activity of an individual alarm. Alarm Action Logs are designed to address this issue.

Alarm Actions Logs are a new feature of TopView that records an individual alarm’s activity (active, return to normal, acknowledge) and related notifications and actions taken through notifications (e.g. alarm acknowledge through notification) into a single, viewable log.

OPC feature updates

For TopView OPC/SCADA users we have implemented the following updates

  • OPC Private Security: some OPC servers (e.g. newer versions of ClearSCADA) support the IOPCSecurity interface which allows additional login credentials when connecting to an OPC Server. The additional credentials are a username and password that can be specified as part of the OPC Server Alias in TopView.
    Warning: you can only enter the username/password if IOPCSecurity is supported by your OPC Server
  • OPC Server Alias Groups: previous versions of TopView support redundant OPC servers by having the user specify both servers (server1::server2) whenever a tag’s server name is required.
    An OPC Server Alias Group simplifies this syntax by allowing the user to create a single name that defines the primary and failover OPC servers. Tags in TopView can then use the OPC Server Alias Group name as the server name instead of specifying the two OPC servers.
  • OPC Server redundancy : reconnect to primary: TopView will now attempt to reconnect to the primary server on a separate thread.