Working with millions of tags in KEPServerEX 6

[GC_10379460]

Hello everyone, I'm new to Kepware and I'm trying to connect around 50 channels, each with one device, all using the Allen-Bradley ControlLogix driver. Each device has around 300,000 tags.

When I try to start the Runtime, the application seemingly times out and fails to initialize.

Is there any way to optimize the application so that it can start under these conditions?

Thanks

Guilherme

[sam_kepware]

Hello! Thanks so much for writing in. 15,000,000 tags (50 channels * 300,000 tags each) is too large a tag collection for a single instance of Kepware Server. For Logix devices sometimes with very long tag address paths, we suggest less than a million tags per instance of Kepware.

50 channels is no problem and if you can pare down your tag list to only those needed so that your count comes closer to < 1,000,000, you may be able to operate with a single project. Otherwise, you'll need more instances of Kepware to handle your total load. One instance of operating system, and you could use a VM cluster to host many VMs running Kepware.

Alternatively, we have a Linux containerized version of Kepware (Kepware Edge) that has a Logix driver and is 64 bit and could theoretically handle your tag count without issue, however it has a few caveats that would be worth explaining over email or phone call before you consider it: configuration through API only, requires deployment of license server, currently utilizes Ubuntu 18.04 as container base.

Please feel free to reach out to me (selsner@ptc.com) or to my team's shared public inbox (presales.support@kepware.com) for more information about Kepware Edge or for more information in general about sizing Kepware projects: ThingWorx Kepware Edge Connectivity for Linux | PTC

[GC_10379460]

Hi Sam! Thanks for replying. Actually, I intend to use KEPServerEX only to collect the names of the Tags in Rockwell devices; I do not intend to communicate with the Tags. Is there any configuration or feature that makes this possible?

[sam_kepware · Accepted solution]

Hello! If you only want to understand tag names, then only target one controller at a time - no need to build a project with 50 simultaneous channels/connections. Just target one controller at a time, build tags, and then when you're finished, erase the tags, update the IP address in the device object to target your next controller, and generate tags again. 

Thanks, 
Sam

[GC_10379460]

Hello Sam, I'm doing it the way you recommended. Thanks for the help!