Each alarm is a single record in the alarm database that changes throughout its life cycle. An alarm has four general “life cycle” states that it may be in:
-
alarm
this is the initial state of an alarm and this state remains in effect until the alarm is acknowledged.
-
acknowledged
this is an alarm that has been acknowledged by the recipient. Acknowledged alarms may be normal alarms.
-
normal
is an alarm that has a current status of “normal”.
-
acknowledged normal alarm
is a normal alarm that has been acknowledged.
An alarm is considered “open” when it is NOT (acknowledged and normal) or NOT (acknowledged and alert). Open alarms display
in the alarm console. Cleared alarms do not display in the alarm console. The following table shows the conditions that result
in an alarm being “open” or “cleared”.
Table 6. Alarm “Open” and “Cleared conditions
| Alarm State | Acknowledge State | Open or Cleared |
|---|---|---|
| Offnormal (or Fault) | Unacknowledged | Open |
| Offnormal (or Fault) | Acknowledged | Open |
| Normal | Unacknowledged | Open |
| Normal | Acknowledged | Cleared |
Typically, an alarm provides some visual and audible indication that a limit or value is met or exceeded. Alarm notifications may be routed and displayed in a variety of ways, including the following:
NiagaraAX alarming is comprised of three primary actions:
-
Creating alarms (refer to About alarm sources)
-
Routing alarms (refer to About the alarm service)
-
Managing alarms (refer to About the alarm database maintenance view
Under these three processes NiagaraAX provides highly specific and flexible alarming life cycle management, including the following alarming functions:
-
creating alarms
Alarms are generated by components using an alarm extension (refer to About alarm extensions and components). The alarm extensions create the alarm whenever specified values are outside of “normal” range. Those alarms are then handled by the alarm service (refer to About the alarm service).
-
routing alarms
Alarms are handled by the alarm service which, in addition to allowing you to specify routing destinations (including archiving destinations), provides notification and acknowledgement parameters.
-
notification
Alarms are routed to one or more recipients based on their alarm class. This includes notification by email, at the alarm console, a lineprinter, or at remote stations.
-
acknowledgment
Alarms may require a response from those who are notified. If a required acknowledgement is not received within an optionally-specified time, alarms can be “escalated” and re-routed to other designated alarm recipients.
-
-
managing alarms
alarms are archived in records that are managed by the alarm database management interface.
The following list outlines the basic steps in the alarming process:
-
add alarm extensions to components
Choose alarm extensions to match the component data type.
-
configure alarm extensions
Configure the alarm parameters to define when a component is in an alarmed state.
-
route alarms
Configure the alarm parameters to define where an alarm record is sent.
-
manage the alarm archive
Use the alarm archive management tools to manage the storage of all alarms.