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What is Cloud Logging and how do I use it?

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What is Cloud Logging?

Cloud Logging is a service with which you can pull your data from your PLC, send it securely to the cloud, and access it through advanced, easy to use and fully customizable components from any device with an internet connection.

If there is no internet connection available for the IXrouter, your data is not lost. The IXrouter can locally store data for weeks at a time if there is no internet connection available. This data is not locally accessible. Once the IXrouter has internet again, it'll send the data to the cloud. Active in the IXrouter3 in firmware 3.12 and up. Please upgrade your firmware if you are running an older version.

In addition to visualising the data through components, you can also export this data as a CSV file, integrate this data into 3rd party BI tools, or integrate it into your own software through our API. All the pulled data will be timestamped and displayed in your own time zone. The data can be stored for up to 7 years on the IXON servers.

You can choose to activate Cloud Logging or try it 30 days for free, no strings attached.

How do I activate a Cloud Logging license?

When you want to try Cloud Logging, you can start a 30 day free trial. After that, you have to purchase a Cloud Logging license.

How do I use Cloud Logging?

Follow these next few steps to get your Cloud Logging all set up.

  • Step 1: Activate Cloud Logging or start the 30 day free trial.
  • Step 2: Set up a data source. Here you select (1) your communication protocol (i.e. Modbus) and (2) add the variables that you’re interested in.
  • Step 3: Log your data. Here you add data tags. A data tag is nothing more than a variable, which you added in step 1, that you now configure to log.
  • Step 4: Visualizing/export your data. You can visualize your data in customizable components, export it as a CSV file, or request it via our API.

What do you mean by “data points / hour”?

We distinguish our licenses by the amount of data points / hour that they allow you to log, but what actually is the measurement "data points / hour"? Here's an easy example: if you’re logging 1 data tag every minute, you're using a total of 1 x 60 = 60 data points / hour. If you’re unsure how much you really need, it’s best to simply activate the trial and try it out.

How are my data points divided?

There are three ways to log your data: on interval, on value change and on a custom trigger. Data tags that are being logged on interval reserve their configured data points / hour in advance. Data tags that are logged on value change or custom trigger do not reserve their data points / hour in advance. Rather, they are used when a value is effectively logged.

When configuring to log on value change or custom trigger it's often difficult to reliably determine how often a value will actually change or get triggered. It's therefore difficult to determine how much data points / hour you would really need to make sure that you don't miss any data. Especially for the moments that critical machine events are happening.

To simplify this configuration process for you and, more importantly, so you don't miss any important machine data, the used data points / hour of these data tags are allowed to exceed your license's total data points / hr on occasion. Please note that the individual data tag's data points / hour limit (setting: "rate limit") ís enforced. So make sure that this is configured sufficiently high.