Common Connection Tab

Configurable Properties

Primary/Secondary

The following settings are common to both Primary and Secondary connections. Complete the Secondary tab if the Connection Option is any setting other than Primary Only.

Connection

Click to select or create the Connection Object assigned to this device. See the Connections section for more details.

Connect String

The connection string to use if applicable.

Note

A Connect String is used anytime a phone number is required for Connection types TCPIP, TCP Pool and TCP Listen. The Connect String used with a TCP Listen port can be an IP address in decimal-dotted notation (such as 192.168.1.1:2000) or host name format (such as my.hostname.com:2000). If the selected TCP Listen port is configured with a modem, the Connect String must also have a telephone number. In this case, the complete Connect String may look like this: 192.168.1.1:2000, 1-800-123-4567.

Schedule

Click to select or create the Schedule Object assigned to this device. See the Scheduling section for more details.

Optional Settings

Connection Settings

Click to select or create the Connection Settings Object assigned to this device. See the Connection Settings section for more details.

Note

Assigning the Optional Connection Settings for the device object will override the selected port object’s Connection Settings. This may be useful for a device that needs additional time to respond for example. Leave the Connection Settings “unassigned” to use the port’s Connection Settings object.

Alternate Schedule

If the alternate schedule is selected, click to select or create Alternate Schedule Object assigned to this device. See the Scheduling section for more details.

Note

If the Alternate Schedule is enabled it will become active if communication fails. The Primary Schedule will become active again once communication is restored.

Enable Unsolicited Support

Select this option only if the device is configured to initiate a connection to ACM for one of the following reasons:

Devices are configured to push data into ACM rather than being polled.
Devices are configured for RBX/RBE (Report by Exception).

Connection Options

See Primary and Secondary Port Switching for more information on how the connection options work.

Connection Option

Primary Only (Default)
Secondary Only
Switch to Secondary on Failure

Auto Recover

Default = Not selected. This option is used with the connection option "Switch to Secondary on Failure". When a primary connection fails and ACM connects to the device's secondary connection, polling will continue indefinitely on the secondary connection if this option is disabled. To make ACM switch back to the primary connection, enable this option. When enabled, ACM will switch back to the primary connection after completing the number of polls configured in the "Secondary Attempts" option.

Auto Recovery Mode

This feature, only available when Auto Recover is enabled, defines what qualifies as a successful attempt on the primary connection.

Switch Back on Good Connection
Switch Back on Good Poll Response

Secondary Attempts

Default = 2. Number of polls on Secondary connection before automatically attempting to switch back to the Primary connection. Only used if Auto Recover is selected.

Delay bad OPC item status updates until secondary connection polls

Default = Not selected.

This feature, if selected, will prevent bad quality item updates from going to OPC clients until a poll is attempted on the secondary connection.

The feature will be in effect if:

The new feature option is selected.
The device is configured to "Switch to Secondary on Failure".
The device has a secondary connection configured.

If the conditions are met, failed polls will not send bad quality updates for items. Instead, once the poll on primary is complete ACM will trigger a poll on the secondary connection for the same task at the same priority. Item updates will happen normally while on the secondary connection.