SCADA Database Configuration

It is necessary to configure SCADA database wisely in order to ensure the efficiency of the entire system, as well as for the ease of maintenance purpose. Basically there are 3 main features in a SCADA system that require database usage, which are:

In this training, PostgreSQL database will be used as the SCADA database. There are many different database systems out there, whereby different automation plant may require different database. Let’s get started by create / open an Ecava IGX project, and navigate to ‘Database’.

Create Database

Noticed that there are 3 databases created along with the new Ecava IGX project, and the default selection is set to ‘mdb’, which is the Microsoft Access database. Uncheck to disable database ‘mdb’, then check the checkbox for ‘_postgres’ to enable PostgreSQL database and save the project, as shown in following screenshot.

Ecava IGX SCADA database

Since there was already a provided connection string for PostgreSQL database in Ecava IGX, let’s just simply use it for this training purpose to make life easier.

Ecava IGX postgres database connection string

From the provided connection string we can summarized the database setting as follows:
Database Name: postgres
Host / IP address: 127.0.0.1
Port: 5432
User: postgres
Password: password

Note: In actual cases, user can build the connection string by clicking on the button at the right corner of the column. Then a Data Link Properties window will be opened, as shown below.

Ecava IGX database connection string

The next step is to create a database in PostgreSQL. Launch pgAdmin from Start menu and create a database named ‘postgres’, as shown in example below.

create PostgreSQL database

Configure the Database

Go back to the Database in Ecava IGX Project Editor, noticed that there are several more columns which may require some attention. ‘Log Frequency’, as mentioned in previous topic about SCADA report, indicates how frequent data should be logged into the database, user can choose any value from the defined Timer list.

‘Retain Count’ refers to how many days the data should be kept in the database, user should input the number of days based on project requirement. Normally the retain count value correlates with how frequent the database is being backup. For example if the database maintenance is set to backup every 90 days, then user should set the value 90 in the ‘Retain Count’ column.

Tag / Data Logging

Create a Virtual tag and set it to log to the configured PostgreSQL database, which can be done by selecting the database name from the dropdown list in ‘Log’ column.

Alarm Logging

Alarm logging is also necessary in order to keep track of historical / archived alarms. Navigate to ‘Alarm’ > ‘Group’ and noticed there is a ‘Log To’ column. Similarly, select from dropdown list the database name to log the alarm group.

Report Logging

In Ecava IGX SCADA, it is encouraged to store reports in different database for the ease of future maintenance, as well as for better performance. Click on ‘Report’ and reveal the content as screenshot below, noticed that user is also required to configure the connection string for this database.

Ecava IGX report database setting

Create another database called ‘report’ in PostgreSQL, which will be used to store SCADA report for this training project. After that, proceed to build the connection string in Ecava IGX report connection setting. User can click on ‘Test Connection’ button to see if it can connect to the database correctly, example as shown below.

Ecava IGX report database


Download Ecava IGX today and start configure SCADA database based on your project requirements.


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