Enabling Audit Trail and Associated Risks

Hello dear friends,

I come to you for help. I would like to activate the audit trail function and I would like to know:
-The procedure to follow to activate it;
-The risk that I run if I activate it while my database is running;
-The precautions that must be taken if I do not want to stop my database.
Thanks in advance for the help.

 

5 Replies

  • Rodolph

    A bit of confusion here regarding your terminology. DeltaV does not have an audit trail function like Siemens. Instead, DeltaV has two separate packages that record interaction with the system. This is due to the structure of DeltaV which has an online configuration in the Controllers and Batch Executive and an offline database in the ProPlus. Changes are made to the offline database and then downloaded to the online system.

    1. Alarms and Events: This captures all interaction's between users and the online system. To enable this the area containing the modules simply has to be assigned to an enabled Alarms & Events station. You can have multiple stations and these can be enabled/disabled and areas assigned and unassigned and downloaded with no impact to the running plant.
    To enable simply drag an area onto an enabled Alarms & Events on the required station. To disable right click on the assigned area and select the remove/design option. A download of setup data will be required for the change to take effect in the online system.

    2. Version Control (VCAT): This captures changes to the offline database and has no impact on the running plant. The database can be taken offline by shutting down the station and the plant will continue to run.
    To enable/disable simply click the VCAT toggle icon within Database Administration application. When you do this, sit back and wait as depending on your database size it may take a long time to complete.

    For your question, if you want to enable Events, No issue while the plant is running. If you want to enable VCAT, no impact on running plant but requires exclusive access to the database to enable it.
    As the decision to enable/disable VCAT is a major change in how configuration is done I see no issues in doing locking out all users from the OFFLINE!! database for the period in which you want to enable disable this function.

    Like I said at the beginning I am a bit confused about what exactly you are asking but hope I have given you enough information to answer your own question.
  • In reply to Steve Linehan:

    Like Steve has indicated, DeltaV don’t have Audit Trail. Are you talking about AMS Device Manager Audit Trail?
  • In reply to Steve Linehan:

    Thank you Steve for the answers.
    my questioning is about Control Version (VCAT).
    To activate it, can I isolate the Proplus from the network to do the operation?
    if I do the operation with the Proplus connected to the network and operator stations will not it slow down the operation of the operator station?
  • In reply to MILONGO Rodolph:

    The database resides entirely on the ProPlus. Yes you can isolate it and perform the switch on of VCAT. There is no need to do so but you can.
    This is assuming that you are not using the ProPlus as the Active Domain AD (Active Directory) Server in a Domain Environment. If it is you may affect logins etc on the workstations. If it is not the Active Domain AD Server then you should not see any issues.
    As to performing the switch on of VCAT when the ProPlus is in the network. This would not cause any issues to the running system either. Workstations and Controllers perform reads and writes directly on the DeltaV network. Communications happen on a peer to peer basis. A bit more complicated but close enough for this answer. No communications pass via the ProPlus.
    There should be zero impact on the running workstations and controllers during the switch on.
  • In reply to Steve Linehan:

    Steve,
    Thank you for your answers they are very clear to me.
    That's what I needed