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PLC Shift Reference Manual

Microsoft Azure

Generated data can be exported to Microsoft Azure.
 
  • Streaming data is exported to Azure Event Hub.
  • Log files are exported to Azure Blob Storage.
  • Tabular data is exported to Azure Table Storage.
 

Azure Event Hub

To export streaming data to Azure Event Hub:
 
  • Set the 'Enable Stream Export to Azure Event Hub' parameter in the 'Export Settings' group in the device configuration to 'true'.
  • Put an event hub connection string in the 'Azure Event Hub Connection String' parameter.
  • For each parameter that you want to export data for, configure the Export settings.
     
Streaming data is exported to Azure Event Hub in batches to avoid stressing the CPU and network on the Linux computer. Data will not appear in Event Hub in real time.
 
Exported data is in JSON format. The code snippet below describes the format of the JSON.
 
{
  "fn": ,
  "nm": ,
  "id": ,
  "tsUtc" : ,
  "units" : ,
  "val" :
}
 
  • fn is the full name of the tag and is assembled like so: 'device name.app name.point display name'. The device name is set in the 'Device Name' parameter at the device level and the app name is set in the 'User Configured Name' parameter at the application level. Override the device name by configuring the 'Device Export Name' parameter at the device level. Override the application name by configuring the 'App Export Name' parameter in the 'Export Settings' group at the application level. The point display name is fixed and matches the display name of the tag in PLC Shift Manager.
  • nm is the parameter display name for non user defined values or the tag name for user defined values.
  • id is the parameter ID.
  • tsUtc is the timestamp in the UTC timezone in ISO 8601-1:2019 format.
  • units is a string representation of the units.
  • val is the value. This is a floating point value for floats and doubles, 'true' or 'false' for boolean values, and an integer for other values.
 
Device names should be unique for all devices that export streaming data to avoid collisions.  PLC Shift Manager does not enforce unique device names.
 

Azure Blob Storage

To export log files to Azure Blob Storage:
 
  • Set the 'Enable File Export to Azure Blob Storage' parameter in the 'Export Settings' group in the device configuration to 'true'.
  • Put an SAS token  in the 'Azure Blob Storage SAS Token' parameter.
  • Choose the types of log files to export at the device level using the settings shown below.
     
    Device Export Settings, Choose Logs to Export
     
  • For each app, choose the type of log files to export as shown below.
     
    App Export Settings, Choose Logs to Export
     
Log files are exported into a virtual folder that is named the same as the value of the 'Device Name' parameter. This value can overridden by setting the 'Device Export Name' parameter. App logs are exported into a sub folder that is named the same as the value of the 'User Configured Name' parameter. This value can be overridden by setting the 'App Export Name' parameter.
 

Azure Table Storage

To export tabular data to Azure Table Storage:
 
  • Set the 'Enable Table Export to Azure Table Storage' parameter in the 'Export Settings' group in the device configuration to 'true'.
  • Put an SAS token in the 'Azure Table Storage SAS Token' parameter.
  • For apps that generate tabular data, enable export for each data type in the app's 'Export Settings' group. Settings for the Gas Flow app are shown below.
     
    App Export Settings, Choose Tabular Data to Export
 
Each type of data is exported into its own table. Tables are named after the value of the 'Device Name' parameter. Set the value of the 'Device Export Name' parameter to override this value.
 
 All apps that generate data of a same type will go into a single table.  For example if a device has three Gas Flow applications, and all applications are configured to export data, the events for all apps will go into a single table that is named after the device. The 'Partition Key' column in each record will hold the value of each application's 'User Configured Name' field and can be used to filter data from the different apps. Set the 'App Export Name' parameter to override the application's export name.
 
Gas Flow Hourly History, Azure Storage Explorer