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DataXchange Service

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Overview

The DataXchange Service, referred to as the DX Service, is the engine of the collection process. The Service communicates with the equipment and evaluates expressions to determine what data should be entered into the data collection system. The DX Service is a separate installation and should be installed on all computers in the plant that will actually be communicating with the equipment. At least one DX Service is required, but additional services can be installed to distribute the load if there is a large quantity of equipment or multiple physical locations.

When a new DX Service is installed and connected it will be shown in the Manage → DX Service section. All Services that have been defined will show in the drop down menu when the DataXchange → Connect button is clicked. Each Service can be configured through the client application by connecting to the Service.

Installing the DX Service

The DX Service is the communication point between machines and the cloud. If you are not an Administrator or are unsure, skip this step. This service must be installed on a Windows PC that is able to communicate to both the machines over a local network and the Internet. If you have machines on separate networks or in multiple plants, you will probably need to install the service in multiple places to communicate with every machine.

To download the service, go to https://scytec.com/support/downloads/. Under Scytec DataXchange Service, click Download. Run the installer when the download completes. The license agreement will be shown. To continue, you must accept the license agreement by going to the Options screen and checking the box I agree to the license terms and conditions. Additional options are as follows:

  • Install Location: The file folder where the DataXchange Service and DataXchange Update Service will be installed.
  • Start Services: This determines whether the services will be started during installation. If an issue is preventing the services from starting, uncheck this box to complete the installation.
  • SSL: Controls whether HTTP or HTTPS is used when the DX Service connects to the server. If unsure, leave this checked.
  • URL: The server URL the Service will connect to. Enter your DataXchange server URL here.
  • Account Number: The account number as provided by Scytec or your Reseller.
  • Account Password: The account password as provided by Scytec or your Reseller.
  • HTTP Port: The port on which the DX Service will listen for connections. This port should be open on any firewalls controlling access to the PC where the services are being installed.
  • DCI Port: The port on which the DX Service will listen for DCI Communication.

Once installed the service is ready to go. If an Account Number and Password were provided while installing the service, the service will automatically connect to the server when installation completes. It will also be added automatically to the list under Manage → DX Service.

Connecting to the DX Service

The application will attempt to connect to the computer running the service using HTTP. Assuming the defaults were used when installing the DataXchange Service, the communication will take place over port 80. It is also possible to designate a different port during the DX Service installation. If the port needs to be changed after installing, the how-to guide contains the proper steps on changing the HTTP communication port of the service.

Once connected the ribbon bar will fill with additional buttons. Click here for detailed information on these buttons.

Configuring the DX Service

When connected to a DX Service, clicking on the service flag will show the DX Service settings.

The DataXchange service must be configured to use the appropriate account information. This can be done either during the Service installation process or from this screen.

The Account Number, Account Password and DX Service Identifier need to be entered. If the information has never been entered then the information from the Account Settings on the User tab and DX Service settings on the Manage tab will be filled in automatically.

Proxy Settings

If a proxy server is used for Internet access the proxy settings can be used to match the required settings for the organization. The majority of the time these settings will not need to be modified. These settings will be copied over from the User tab automatically if they have been configured there.

The Bypass List should be used to specify addresses that will not use the proxy, such as names or IP addresses of machines that utilize HTTP. For example, machines that communicate via MTConnect or OPC UA. The Bypass On Local checkbox may address this issue if the CNC machines are on the same subnet as the DX Service. If not, then the bypass list will need to be used. An asterisk (*) can be used as a wild card, such as in 192.168.*.* or 10.*.

Advanced Settings

The Advanced Settings outlined below should not be modified unless instructed by authorized support personnel. The application has a built in Application Username called DXService and Application Password for the DX Service. An administrator of the system can reset the DXService password if needed.

The Connection Interval determines how often the service will attempt to reconnect to the Cloud services if the connection has been lost. The Maximum Retries determines how many times the service will attempt to insert ‘bad data’. Bad data may be caused by a temporary error on either the client side or the Cloud side. If the Connection Interval is set at 2 minutes, and the Maximum Retires is set at 3600, then the service will attempt to retry the failed records for 120 hours, or 5 days. At that point the bad data will be removed.

The Batch Count determines how many records will be processed at a time when the service is able to reconnect and process records that have been built up.

The Service URL is the web address of the Cloud services.

The HTTP Services Port gives you the ability to change the port at which the service operates on. See the how-to for more clarification on how to change the operating port.

The DCI Port is the port number the DX Service will use to listen for DCI requests. This does not need to be changed unless another program on the DX Server is using this port.

The Auto Refresh setting determines whether the DX Service pulls up-to-date information for every machine when clicking Connect in the DataXchange software. If connecting to the DX Service takes a long time, disabling this setting may improve performance.

The Change Endian setting is only used by the DWM source. If a DWM source is being used, this setting must match the settings used on the DWM machines.

Restarting the DataXchange Service

If data collection is not working as expected, the DataXchange Service may need to be restarted. Go to the DataXchange tab and click the Restart button. Select the service to be restarted and confirm the action. The DataXchange service should restart within a few minutes. More detailed instructions can be found here.

Backing Up the DX Service Configuration

The configuration for the DX service is stored in the cloud database. The configuration can be backed up to a snapshot and then exported later if needed. Details on the snapshot and export process can be found on the Snapshot and Export page.

Updating the DX Service

The DX Service must be manually installed, but after the initial installation the service will update itself automatically. The details on the update process can be found on the Update page.

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