Sapphire Trend consists of two classes of components, the Sapphire Collector and Sapphire Clients.
The Sapphire Collector
The Sapphire Collector is a windows service which is automatically started by the Operating System on machine reboot. The Collector organizes the regular collection of defined sets of data items at user specified frequencies.
The Sapphire Trend Collector can collect data from any combination of the following Data Sources:
OLE for Process Control (OPC), via any OPC Server supporting Data Access (DA) 2.0. In OPC terms, the Sapphire Collector is an OPC Client (for a further explanation of OPC, visit the OPC foundation website).
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), via any compliant SNMP enabled network device (i.e. routers, servers, climate control devices etc).
Windows Performance data allowing the user to collect and trend system performance counters on any server, workstation or PC. This is the same data as can be monitored using the Perfmon Windows Performance monitor.
Network 'Ping' statistics.
Script files. The collector can execute third party scripts on a configurable frequency and as long as the script produces its output in CSV format with item-value pairs (i.e. "MyItem", "99.9") the output can be parsed and then historized in the Collector. The script could be written in Python, VBScript or even the output from an MS-DOS bat file.
Note: In all cases the Sapphire Collector polls for its data at user defined frequencies.
The Sapphire Collector is configured and managed via the stManager
|
Class |
Component: |
Description: |
|
Control |
A windows based interface for configuring, managing and monitoring the Sapphire Collector. |
Sapphire Clients
Sapphire clients are applications which connect either to a Sapphire Collector, or directly to a DA or HDA OPC Server. Where the connection is made to the Sapphire Collector all data is read using a proprietary Network API via TCP/IP.
Examples of Sapphire Clients:
|
Class |
Component: |
Description: |
|
Trending |
A world class trending application providing multiple views of the process from within a single application. stPro is targeted at both Operators who continuously monitor the process and Applications Engineers performing in depth analysis on specific time periods and process variables. |
|
|
A single plot trending interface that has been specifically designed for Operator use. Its controls have been kept deliberately simple making it easy to configure and operate. It bridges the gap between the SapphireTrend stOCX Active-X control and the multi-trend windows application stPro. |
||
|
The Sapphire Trend OCX allows individual full functionality trend plots to be embedded within other applications. A callable API is provided to allow programmers to tailor the OCX to meet their requirements. |
||
|
Averaging |
A desktop application that displays 1 minute snapshots, 6 minute, hourly and daily averages for OPC items. |
|
|
An Active-X control that provides process data in a tabular presentation format. Features a rich API set so its behaviour can be scripted from the container it is embedded within. |
||
|
Data Export |
A background process which is run by the Sapphire Collector whenever an export is scheduled for execution. Once the export has been completed, the exporter process terminates. In certain circumstances more than one instance of the stExporter may execute simultaneously. |
|
|
|
An OPC Server supporting both DA and HDA interfaces allowing access to the data in the Sapphire Collector. The stOPCServer can run on the same node as the Sapphire Collector, or it can be deployed remotely from the Collector. Since it uses the SapphireTrend proprietary Network API to communicate to the Collector it is not subject to cross domain DCOM restrictions. |
|
|
The configuration and management interface for the stOPCServer. |