How do I collect data from an OPC server using the Canary Logger Administrator?

Use the Canary Logger Administrator to collect data from an OPC server.

• Launch the program Canary Logger Administrator.

• Select File, New Log Session from the top menu.

• In the field "Historian Computer", enter the machine name where the Canary Historian is installed. If the install is local, you may leave this field blank.

• Under the "Group 1" tab, enter the machine name or IP address of the OPC server in the "Computer" field. Again, if the OPC Server is local, you may leave this field blank.

• Click the three ellipsis beside the "OPC Server" field to browser for available OPC servers on the corresponding machine. Select the desired OPC Server and click OK.

• Use the hotkey Ctrl+B or right click in the dark gray window at the bottom and select "Browse OPC Server"

• A window with the OPC Server Nodes will appear. At the top of the window, use the drop down in the Name Prefix section to select the historian dataset you wish to send data to.

• Check or uncheck the "Prepend browser path" box based on your tag naming preference.

• Browse the OPC Server Nodes and expand them to make tags visible in the window on the right.

• Select as few or as many tags as you wish. Use the Apply button to add them to the logging session and continue to browse other nodes without closing the window. The OK button will add all selected tags and close the window.

• All selected tags will now appear in the logger display window. Each field can be edited as you desire by double-clicking on the text within it.

• Above the tag names are a series of other fields that can be adjusted as well. Adjusting either the Update Rate, OPC Deadband, or Normalization Time information will effect all tags being collected within this current group.

• Trigger Item ID and Trigger Expression are covered in more detail in this article: Collecting data based on another tag's value

• To create a new group, simply right-click on the Group 1 tab and select Add New Group. Follow the same steps to browse the OPC server and select tags, then customize the group settings as needed.

• Once the logging configuration file is complete, click the green Apply button at the top of the page to apply all changes.

• Click the Save button and save the configuration as a .lcf (logging configuration file). This file can be saved anywhere you would like and can be run on start-up. To do this, use this article: How to run an .lcf file on startup

• Now click the Start button to begin the logging session.