Re: [foxboro] P92 Quad KVM Extension

  • From: "Doucet, Terrence" <tdoucet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:46:04 -0500

Kevin,

This is an interesting concept for Operator stations. I think it has
been part of theoretical discussions on this site for quite a while but
this is the first practical use, I think.  

Are you able to set up alarms by work station (client) area?  Is your
plant ready to approve wireless keyboards for alarm management?

If the "former" concept had 50 workstations, how many servers will be
available to serve displays and alarms to your 15 (future) client
stations?

Do you have an independent safety system (ISA 84) covering your
processes, too? Or is your process such that a safety system is not
required?

Terry Doucet, Eng.


Re: [foxboro] P92 Quad KVM Extension

Shaun,
My solution may not work for you, but I'll chime in here anyway.  We're
going another route for our workstation upgrades.
I'm putting P91s in our cabinets (big cabinets!) and using IGEL 2110 LX
thin
clients at the operator stations.  Thin clients have come a very long
way
since we struggled with the WYSE ones 4 or 5 years ago.  I'm pretty
pleased
with these things, the following is me being enthusiastic, not a sales
pitch
or recommendation:

These IGELs have two video outputs so I can run dual headed.  The
resolution
runs up to 1920x1440 on the VGA and 1600x1200 on the DVI.  Mine run
Linux
(the LX model) but they are also available with CE or XP embedded.
There is
a 4 headed version that might work for you in lieu of KVM extenders, but
I've never tried to RDP a really big desktop with multiple monitors.

I can use these to connect to ALL of my IA boxes - they will get RDP
sessions from my P91s, and X windows from my Solaris 10 and 51 series
boxes.  I can connect to a different server on each head for redundancy,
or
I can extend a single desktop across both heads.  I get an XDMCP session
from a 51 series box and run it at 256 colors for DM on session or head
and
another XDMCP session from a Solaris 10 box with 65K colors for FoxView
to
do side by side evaluations as I migrate from DM to FoxView - makes it
very
easy for the operators to show me their concerns.

Although I do have access to the shell, I haven't needed it, as the
setup &
configuration menues are excellent.  For around US$250 I'm very pleased
with
these.  They have an evaluation program, so if you want to try some you
don't have to buy first.

My overall plan is to have 2 P91s and a P82 in each major plant area,
and
run the 2 headed thin clients in the control rooms off of these, with
each
client connecting to two of the servers, one session on each head.  I'll
preserve a local head on each server for engineering or emergency
operator
access.  This should let me go from about 50 workstations to 15 over the
next few years, and actually improve reliability in most plant areas.

Cheers,

Kevin

 
 
_______________________________________________________________________
This mailing list is neither sponsored nor endorsed by Invensys Process
Systems (formerly The Foxboro Company). Use the info you obtain here at
your own risks. Read http://www.thecassandraproject.org/disclaimer.html
 
foxboro mailing list:             //www.freelists.org/list/foxboro
to subscribe:         mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=join
to unsubscribe:      mailto:foxboro-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=leave
 

Other related posts: