DIGITAL Software Product Description ___________________________________________________________________ PRODUCT NAME: BASEstar Open Server SPD 47.87.03 Version 3.0 DESCRIPTION BASEstar Open is an industrial automation integration platform that facilitates the integration of manufacturing applications and plant equipment. Accelerated development of integrated manufacturing sys- tems is assured through an architecture that also encourages consis- tency of application development. BASEstar Open takes advantage of the client/server computing archi- tecture. BASEstar Open Servers provide the robust, high-availability environment required by mission-critical applications. BASEstar Open Clients, on the other hand, provide access to all BASEstar Open ser- vices and BASEstar Open-managed information from any network Node on which BASEstar Open Client is installed. Client and server communi- cations within BASEstar Open are provided through TCP/IP network com- munications. For a description of the BASEstar Open Client product, refer to SPD 62.54.xx BASEstar Open software provides services that allow comprehensive sup- port for manufacturing application integration, device connection, and control of plant equipment. The software operates in a distributed pro- cessing environment and its application integration features include: o Collection, management, and distribution of plant data o Automatic notification of significant (and critical) plant events o Exchange of packets of data via peer-to-peer communication June 1996 AE-Q1QEB-TE o Facilities for allowing the synchronization and restarting of man- ufacturing applications In addition, BASEstar Open has the capability of allowing applications distributed across different network Nodes to use globally-defined in- formation (BASEstar Open objects). Device integration software provides services to access and control plant floor equipment using both proprietary and standard MMS commu- nication protocols. Specific communication services are provided through specific Device Access Software (DAS) modules. The DAS modules require separate licences from BASEstar Open. Features Application Integration o Data Management BASEstar Open Data Services provide a standard mechanism for defin- ing, organizing, and accessing data in a distributed manufactur- ing environment from a variety of sources including plant devices and area, plant, and work cell applications. BASEstar Open defines discrete data elements (Data_Points) to con- tain manufacturing information. Data_Point definitions can be of various types, ranging from scalar data elements to user-defined data structures. This provides the high flexibility of data def- inition and acquisition required to define the many different types of data typically present in industrial plants. Since each Data_Point is referenced by name, applications become independent of their data sources and, consequently, do not require alteration as data sources change. In addition, simple Data_Points can have a predefined value specified at startup time. The value of a Data_Point may also be derived from the value of another Data_ Point. The derived value can be obtained directly or modified by an arithmetic/logical expression. Data Services allow applications to define and manage Data_Points. 2 Each Data_Point can be associated with one or more Triggers. A Trig- ger defines a relationship between a Data_Point, a Filter, and an Event. Each time the value of a triggered Data_Point changes, as- sociated Filter expressions are evaluated. Whenever the Boolean re- sult of an evaluated Filter expression is TRUE, the associated Event is declared. One or more versions of a Data_Point value can be stored. In ad- dition to the value, each Data_Point version includes the time when the Data_Point value changed and its status at that time. A new version is generated each time the value of a Data_Point changes. A user can request the current version, and thus the current value, or alternatively, the value associated with any cached version. o Event Services BASEstar Open Event Services allow users to subscribe to one or more Events. Events are occurrences that are of interest to an appli- cation program-like threshold exceeding, alarms, job completion, and so on. Users define the occurrence of such Events and specify the context information that should be passed. This context infor- mation can also include data and their types. To be notified of the occurrence of a specific Event, an applica- tion must issue a subscription to the Event. When an Event is declared, Event Services create and deliver the notifications that can be received by subscribers. A single Event declaration can generate many notifications on a one-to-many re- lationship, depending on the number of active subscriptions. o Packet Services BASEstar Open Packet Services allow users to directly exchange Pack- ets of information. Two users can establish direct communication through a Port; one user connects to send a Packet, and the other user connects to receive it. A Packet contains a description of information that must be exchanged. Each Packet input and output parameter is described by a datatype. 3 BASEstar Open delivers a Packet to a Port in a protocol-independent manner and also independent of the location of the users and Ports involved. o Application Management Services (AMS) BASEstar Open Application Management Services provide functions for managing and coordinating manufacturing applications. These appli- cations may be standalone or distributed across the Nodes of a net- work. Application Management Services allow users to organize applica- tion activities into hierarchical structures that support the ex- ecution startup and shutdown of synchronized activities, based on user-defined policies. An application Activity can be executed, suspended, resumed, and terminated. All Activity states are monitored. If an Activity (or Node) fails, several recovery policies can be applied. For instance, in case of Node failure, an application can be restarted on an al- ternative Node. o Application Development Support To assist in developing applications, especially when debugging or troubleshooting, a Source Trace Tool is provided. This tool is used internally by BASEstar Open and is also available to users for mon- itoring the execution flow of an application. Trace facilities can be dynamically enabled or disabled by spec- ifying different granularity levels; it is not required that the user stops and restarts the tracing process. The output of the trace tool can be routed to several kinds of output devices-memory, files, terminals, and so on. Device Integration o Device Management BASEstar Open software enables applications to interact with plant devices without knowledge of physical device characteristics such as location, protocol, or device specific data formats. Physical 4 devices are modeled in compliance with the MMS standard - Message Manufacturing Specification ISO 9506. Devices are accessed through specific Device Access software (DAS) which provides operations such as reading and writing of simple and structured data via specific device protocols. o Device Access Software (DAS) Different manufacturing devices use different services and commu- nication protocols to connect to a computer system. These services and communication protocols are typically control vendor-proprietary. BASEstar Open DAS software provides proprietary communication spec- ifications to access device controllers that are available on the market from multiple control vendors. Device Access Software for many leading industrial control devices is available through Digital. o Data Collection BASEstar Open software collects data from plant devices on request from the host Node (solicited), at pre-defined intervals (polling), or when generated by a device (unsolicited). Polling is a means to collect data by reading specified address reg- isters in the memory of a programmable device at pre-defined in- tervals. To do so, the application is required to define a set of Data_Points (Polling_Sets) from which data need to be collected. In addition, BASEstar Open can receive unsolicited data directly from plant equipment devices, thus eliminating the processing over- head involved in continuous polling. o BASEstar Classic Device Connectivity integration BASEstar Open for OpenVMS includes a subset of BASEstar Classic to enable the use of many of the DASes available through the BASEs- tar Classic DCM connectivity. For specific information about the BASEstar Classic DASes supported by given versions of DCM and the OpenVMS operating system, consult Digital's System Integration (SI) organization. 5 Configuration Management and BASEstar Open Objects System designers of manufacturing applications that use BASEstar Open model the plant by relating plant data, devices, significant occur- rences, etc. to BASEstar Open objects. This modelling process is called configuration and can be performed in several different ways, using either the Graphic Configuration utility, the Command Language Inter- face (CLI), or via user application program calls to BASEstar Open Con- figuration Services. o Named Objects The BASEstar Open environment is a collection of BASEstar Open named objects representing plant devices and Data_Points-alarms, data sta- tus, production counts, and so on. Manufacturing applications can therefore access these resources using meaningful functional names, rather than in a system-dependent manner which would require, for instance, information on physical locations. BASEstar Open objects reside in Domains. Domains are hierarchically linked to form a BASEstar Open Realm. Several Realms can be active at the same time. o Local and Remote Objects Access BASEstar Open objects can be directly accessed within a Realm by using the object's full pathname. The full pathname includes the local name preceded by the relevant Domain names. Alternatively, the user can set the default Domain and access objects in that Do- main using local names, and objects in lower Domains using partial pathnames. Logging BASEstar Open logs error and diagnostic information, as well as sig- nificant events, such as Activity startup and device connection. BASEstar Open Interfaces 6 BASEstar Open Server provides the following interfaces: o Application Programming Interface (API) The BASEstar Open Server API allows users to develop customized C language application programs which can make full use of the BASEs- tar Open services. o Command Line Interface (CLI) The BASEstar Open CLI is a Command Line Interface for configuring and managing BASEstar Open objects. BASEstar Open services are avail- able via the CLI which is typically used for configuration and rapid prototyping. o Graphic Configuration Utility (GCU) BASEstar Open offers a PC-based Graphic Configuration utility util- ity with an MS Windows "look and feel". It allows users to: o Manage BASEstar Open objects using create, delete and modify com- mands o Load existing configurations from CLI scripts and snapshots o Save configurations in CLI scripts and snapshots. o Browse through BASEstar Open configurations The Graphic Configuration utility is bundled with BASEstar Open Server kits on Windows NT systems. It is included with the BASEstar Open Client on MS Windows and Windows NT systems. BASEstar Open users on UNIX or OpenVMS platforms can take advantage of the Graphic Configuration utility via the PC-based BASEstar Open Client and GCU product. The PC-based Graphic Configuration utility re- places the Motif-based GCU previously available with BASEstar Open Ver- sion 2.0. 7 Program Development With the appropriate development licence, users can develop BASEstar Open applications via the following: o BASEstar Open API (see above) o BASEstar Open CLI (see above) o BASEstar Open's high level language, BASEstar CIMfast. BASEstar CIMfast is an application enabler that provides the follow- ing benefits to BASEstar Open application developers: o Fully portable applications o Reduced development time o Reduced application complexity o Enhanced software maintainability o Rapid prototyping capability BASEstar CIMfast allows even inexperienced BASEstar Open application developers to create BASEstar Open applications quickly. BASEstar CIMfast provides a very high level event-driven language es- pecially suited for describing highly asynchronous BASEstar Open in- teraction. This language, called the CIMfast Event Language (CEL), has the following features: o Based on an Event/Action paradigm o Can be integrated with existing BASEstar application code o Can be customized by adding user-developed callback functions o Supports the use of the Language-Sensitive Editor (DEC/LSE) for menu- driven program creation (OpenVMS only) o Support for DECmessageQ 8 The BASEstar CIMfast Event Language allows the user to describe in very simple terms which BASEstar Open Events will trigger a reaction. Ex- ample Events include: o Data changes representing the current state of the shop floor o Receipt of a message from another BASEstar Open or DMQ application o Expiry of a time interval. For each Event, the user can specify a sequence of actions to be taken when this Event occurs. Example actions include: o Activation or disactivation of a manufacturing device o A read or write operation from a manufacturing device's memory o Transmission of a message to another BASEstar Open or DMQ appli- cation o A call to a user-written high level language function The BASEstar CIMfast Event Language provides a wide range of Events and actions that support the typical interaction of an application with BASEstar Open. Development and Run-time Versions Users who intend to develop BASEstar Open applications will need the BASEstar Open development version. This will allow C language programs containing BASEstar Open API calls to be compiled and linked with the BASEstar Open libraries. Users who already have available a compiled and linked BASEstar Open application only need a run-time version of BASEstar Open. BASEstar Open Functionality - Platform Differences In general, all BASEstar Open functionality is available across all the supported platforms. However, there may be specific differences for a given release depending on the platform on which the server is running. At the time of writing, the differences are as follows: 9 o Source Trace Manager-not available with BASEstar Open Server on Win- dows NT and HP-UX o BASEstar CIMfast-not available with BASEstar Open Server on Win- dows NT and HP-UX o Graphic Configuration utility-bundled with BASEstar Open Server on Windows NT only o PODB support-not available with BASEstar Open Server on Windows NT and HP-UX For a detailed list of differences, refer to your platform-specific release notes. Documentation BASEstar Open Server is supported by the following documentation: o Run-time documentation kit: - BASEstar Open Introduction provides an overview of the services and concepts within BASEstar Open. - BASEstar Open Reference Guide provides the definition and spec- ification of the object model within BASEstar Open. - BASEstar Open Command Language Interface provides the specifi- cation of the command line interface to access BASEstar Open ser- vices. - BASEstar Open Messages provides the definition and the descrip- tion of BASEstar Open error messages and suggested solutions. - DEComni API Guide to Using Omni Directory Services provides the specification for the DEComni API Directory Services. o Development documentation kit: - Run-time manuals - BASEstar Open Application Programming Interface provides the spec- ification of the callable interface to access BASEstar Open in- terfaces. 10 - BASEstar CIMfast Programmer's Reference Guide - BASEstar CIMfast User's Guide - BASEstar CIMfast Guide to DECmessageQ Support - BASEstar CIMfast Guide to SQL Support o An installation and management guide specific to each operating sys- tem version, for installing BASEstar Open Server on the selected operating system. It provides instructions on how to install BASEs- tar Open and platform-specific user information. o Release Notes describe new features provided with BASEstar Open Server and details any functional and documentation errors. INSTALLATION Before attempting to install the software, the customer must have all the pre-requisite hardware and software installed. Digital recommends that a customer's first purchase of this software include Digital In- stallation Services. Connectivity to all other Nodes within the network is the responsi- bility of the customer. SUPPORTED VERSIONS This SPD covers the following versions of the BASEstar Open Server prod- uct: o BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS VAX V3.0 o BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS Alpha V3.0 o BASEstar Open Server for Digital UNIX V3.0 o BASEstar Open Server for Windows NT V3.0 o BASEstar Open Server for HP-UX V3.0 11 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS Processors Supported BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS VAX Version 3.0: VAX processors supporting OpenVMS VAX Version 6.1 and 6.2 BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS Alpha Version 3.0: Alpha processors supporting OpenVMS Alpha Version 6.1 and 6.2 BASEstar Open Server for Digital UNIX Version 3.0: Alpha processors supporting Digital UNIX Version 3.2 BASEstar Open Server for Windows NT Version 3.0: Intel and Digital Alpha processors supporting Windows NT Version 3.5 or 3.51 BASEstar Open Server for HP-UX Version 3.0: HP9000 and series 700 processors supporting the HP-UX V10.0 operat- ing system DISK AND MEMORY SPACE REQUIREMENTS BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS VAX Version 3.0 Minimum recommended memory: o 48 Mbytes Disk space required: o 30,000 blocks (for installation) o 28,100 blocks (for subsequent use) 12 BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS Alpha Version 3.0 Minimum recommended memory: o 96 Mbytes Disk space required: o 60,000 blocks (for installation) o 50,000 blocks (for subsequent use) BASEstar Open Server for Digital UNIX Version 3.0 Minimum recommended memory: o 48 Mbytes Disk space required: o 90 Mbytes (for installation) BASEstar Open Server for HP-UX Version 3.0 Disk space required: o 50 Mbytes (for installation and subsequent use) BASEstar Open Server for Windows NT Version 3.0 Minimum recommended memory: o 24 Mbytes Disk space required: o 24 Mbytes (for installation and subsequent use) Actual memory requirements depend on application characteristics like the number and size of Data_Points, the number and frequency of Events, device access frequency, etc. 13 Disk space values do not include disk space required for using sup- ported relational databases. The above values refer to the disk space required on the system disk. The sizes are approximate; actual sizes will vary depending on the user's system environment and use of BASEstar Open. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS VAX Version 3.0 o OpenVMS VAX Operating System V6.1, V6.2 Layered Products o DEC TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS Version 3.1 (SPD 25.A4.xx) o DEC RdB Version 5.1 or 6.0 for OpenVMS VAX is required for appli- cations which make use of the Permanent Object Database (PODB). BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS Alpha Version 3.0 o OpenVMS Alpha Operating System V6.1, V6.2 Layered Products o DEC TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS V3.1 o DEC RdB for OpenVMS Alpha V6.0 (optional) BASEstar Open Server for Digital UNIX Version 3.0 o Digital UNIX Operating System Version 3.2 Layered Products o ORACLE Version 7.0 is required for applications which make use of the Permanent Object Database (PODB). 14 BASEstar Open Server for Windows NT Version 3.0 o Windows NT Operating System Version 3.5 or 3.51 BASEstar Open Server for HP-UX Version 3.0 o HP-UX Operating System V10.0 GROWTH CONSIDERATIONS The minimum hardware/software requirements for any future version of this product may be different from the requirements for the current version. DISTRIBUTION MEDIA This product is included on the Digital CD-ROM Layered Products Soft- ware Library (Consolidated Software distribution) for Digital UNIX, OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS VAX. It is also available for: o BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS VAX on TK50 streaming tape o BASEstar Open Server for Windows NT on CDROM o BASEstar Open Server for HP-UX on CDROM ORDERING INFORMATION BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS VAX Development Option: Software Licenses (unlimited use): QL-0X7A*-AA Software Licenses (concurrent use): QL-0X7AA-3B Software Documentation: QA-0X9AA-GZ Software Media: QA-0X7AA-** Software Product Services: QT-0X7A*-** BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS VAX Run-time Option: 15 Software Licenses (unlimited use): QL-0X6A*-AA Software Licenses (concurrent use): QL-0X6AA-3B Software Documentation: QA-0X8AA-GZ Software Media: QA-0X6AA-** Software Product Services: QT-0X6A*-** 16 BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS Alpha Development Option: Software Licenses (unlimited use): QL-0X9A*-AA Software Licenses (concurrent use): QL-0X9AA-3B Software Documentation: QA-0X9AA-GZ Software Product Services: QT-0X9A*-** BASEstar Open Server for OpenVMS Alpha Run-time Option: Software Licenses (unlimited use): QL-0X8A*-AA Software Licenses (concurrent use): QL-0X8AM-3B Software Documentation: QA-0X8AA-GZ Software Product Services: QT-0X8A*-** BASEstar Open Server for Digital UNIX Development Option: Software Licenses (unlimited use): QL-0XBA*-AA Software Licenses (concurrent use): QL-0XBAM-3B Software Documentation: QA-0XBAA-GZ Software Product Services: QT-0XBA*-** BASEstar Open Server for Digital UNIX Run-time Option: Software Licenses (unlimited use): QL-0XAA*-AA Software Licenses (concurrent use): QL-0XAAM-3B Software Documentation: QA-0XAAA-GZ Software Product Services: QT-0XAA*-** BASEstar Open Server for HP-UX Development: Software Licenses (unlimited use): QL-4SLA*-AA BASEstar Open Server for HP-UX Run-time: Software Licenses (unlimited use): QL-4SKA*-AA BASEstar Open Server for Windows NT Development: Software Licenses (unlimited use): QM-2X2AA-AA Software Documentation: QA-2X2AA-GZ PC package (media, documentation, license): QB-2X2AA-SA 17 Software Product Services: QT-2X2A*-** BASEstar Open Server for Windows NT Run-time: Software License (unlimited use): QM-2X0AA-AA Software Documentation: QA-2X0AA-GZ PC package (media, documentation, license): QB-2X0AA-SA Software Product Services: QT-2X0A*-** The above information is valid at the time of release. Please contact your local Digital office for the most up-to-date information. SOFTWARE LICENSING This software is furnished only under a license. For more information about Digital's licensing terms and policies, contact your local Dig- ital office. Users who intend to develop applications which make use of the BASEstar Open services require a BASEstar Open Server devel- opment license. Users who intend to deploy already developed applcations on a BASEs- tar Open run-time environment require a BASEstar Open Run-time License. Unlimited use licenses give users the right to manage an unlimited num- ber of Data_Points. Unlimited use licenses are based on Digital's 3- tier licensing policy. Concurrent licenses[1], on the other hand, give the user the right to manage predefined quantities of Data_Points. Each concurrent license allows up to 250 BASEstar Open Data_Points to be managed. ____________________ Not available on Windows NT and HP-UX 18 SOFTWARE PRODUCT SERVICES A variety of service options are available from Digital. For more in- formation, contact your local Digital office. SOFTWARE WARRANTY Warranty for this software product is provided by Digital with the pur- chase of a license for the product as defined in the Digital Standard Terms and Conditions relating to Digital SPDs. The above information is valid at time of release. Please contact your local Digital office for the most up-to-date information. © 1996 Digital Equipment Corporation. All rights reserved. [TM]The DIGITAL Logo, Alpha, AXP, BASEstar, Bookreader, DEC, DE- Comni, DECosap, DECstation, DECsystem, DECnet, Digital, Mi- croVAX, TK, VAX, VAXstation, OpenVMS are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation. [R] Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. [R] Motif is a trademark of the Open Software Foundation, Inc. [R] MS-DOS, Microsoft, MS Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. [R] ORACLE is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. 19