Notification Logger 

Use Case

The Notification Logger enables saving of notifications in a database so the they can be used for analyzing firmware and applications. Saved notifications can be queried via RSC interfaces. 

The Logger Archives offer functions for acquiring and filtering of incoming notifications as well as for re­questing and deleting. Using different archives makes it possible to save notifications for different issues and purposes, e.g.:

• Firmware diagnostics
  Short-term saving of firmware events for diagnostics by the service.
• Network diagnostics
  Saving of diagnostic messages from network components over a short period for diagnosing disconnections or sporadic delays.
• Application diagnostics
  Saving notifications of the application program, e.g., malfunctions of machines, refilling consumables, error messages by integrated aggregates.

Concept

The Notification Logger registers with the Notification Manager for all configured notifications and thus receives all applicable messages that are sent. The saved notifications can be queried, displayed and evaluated using external tools, such as RSC services.

How to

Displaying notifications

The notifications that are present on a controller are displayed in PLCnext Engineer and in the Web-based Management on the controller.

In PLCnext Engineer

1. In the PLANT area, click on the controller (e.g., AXC F 2152)
2. Select the Cockpit editor
3. Select Notifications

For detailed information, please refer to the online help of PLCnext Engineer.

In the Web-based Management

1. Log in to the Web-based Management
2. Open the Diagnostics section in the navigation on the left
3. Select the Notifications entry

For detailed information, see Diagnostics - Notification Logger.

Receiving notifications

A Logger Archive subscribes to all notifications to be received. Additionally, in an archive, filters can be used for the notifications subscribed to that refer to their metadata. This way, you can select which notifications are actually saved. The Notification Logger contains several archives that enable notifications to be saved for different issues and purposes.

Using the Notification Logger in C++ programs

The PLCnext Technology SDK contains helpful classes for the Notification Logger. If you want to use a class, integrate it into your program via an #include command, (e.g., #include Arp/Services/NotificationLogger/Services/INotificationLoggerService.hpp).

Further information on the classes and their applications is available directly in the API documentation.

Configuring the Notification Logger

If you do not create your own configuration, the standard settings from the firmware settings file will be used. If necessary, you can configure the Notification Logger via a config file in XML format. You find the configuration files in the /opt/plcnext/projects/Default/Services/NotificationLogger/*.config directory. To modify the configuration manually, the XML file can be edited using any text or code editor. The configuration files are imported during the start of the firmware. Changes to the configuration are automatically applied after a restart of the controller.

Reference

Notification Logger configuration

Configure the Notification Logger by including the path to configuration files and defining archives.

Integrating configuration files

Configuration files are integrated between the <Includes> and </Includes> tags.

Use the Include path attribute to reference further files to be integrated by indicating their path. The element can occur any number of times.

Defining an archive

Define an archive between the <Archives> and </Archives> tags using the following attributes:

Example

A configuration file for the Notification Logger is structured as shown in the following example:

      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
      <NotificationLoggerConfigurationDocument
          xmlns="http://www.phoenixcontact.com/schema/notificationloggerconfiguration"
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.phoenixcontact.com/schema/notificationloggerconfiguration"
          schemaVersion="1.0">
          <Includes>
              <Include path="$ARP_PROJECTS_DIR$/Default/" />
          </Includes>
           
          <Archives>
              <Archive name="Default"
                  <Notifications>
                      <Notification name="Arp" />
                  </Notifications>
                  <ExclusionFilter>
                      <Severity Operator="LE" Threshold="Info" />
                  </ExclusionFilter>
                  <Storage path="$ARP_PROJECTS_DIR$/Default/Services/NotificationLogger/archives">
                      <SizeLimitation>
                          <FileSizeLimitation MaxFileSize="64MB" />
                      </SizeLimitation>
                      <SizeReduction>
                          <DeleteOldestEntires NumberOfEntriesToDelete="16" />
                      </SizeReduction>
                  </Storage>
               </Archive>
           </Archives>
      </NotificationLoggerConfigurationDocument >

Saving notifications

The Notification Logger uses one or several archives for registering, saving and querying notifications. It provides a uniform interface to these archives and enables the configuration of the archives via the configuration files.

The notifications are permanently stored in an SQLite database. This way, the file is not system-oriented and, after copying it to another system, can be opened and processed with the appropriate tools. The predefined databases are available on the file system of your controller at /opt/plcnext/logs/default.sqlite*.sqlite.