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Since PICS is designed to [generally] be a highly modular distributed system, it is very difficult to provide a single, comprehensive overview of system configuration. Instead, each application's configuration will be discussed here, one at a time, generally from the system core outwards.
PICS was designed to run under Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a. There are only a few things that must (should, or may) be configured at this level.
Auto Logon
{SHOULD} For unattended machines on the PICS network, Windows NT's automatic logon feature should be enabled. This may be done by using the EXE version of the PICS control panel applet (it can create a PICS account and configure it to automatically logon), the PICS control panel applet (it can configure an existing account to automatically logon), or by manually editing (and entering) the following three items (assuming a PICS accout exists, with a password of PICS and admin privileges) under the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ WinLogon\ AutoAdminLogon REG_SZ 1 DefaultUserName REG_SZ PICS DefaultPassword REG_SZ PICSNote that this procedure does not work on Win9x, WinMe, Win2000 or WinXP -- but then again, PICS isn't certified to run on any of those anyway so why am I mentioning them?
Networking
{MUST} PICS uses the Windows Sockets interface to access the TCP/IP (and UDP/IP) protocols for network connumications. PICS does not use NetBEUI or any other network transport protocol (such as NetBEUI).
{MAY,recommended} Do not install the NetBEUI protocol and do not use any Microsoft networking services (such as file/print shares) to/from any of the critical PICS subsystems. It has been EVI's experience that this eventually leads to a computer halt. When a file share is necessary (say, for a software update) remove it ASAP after completion of the task that required it.
{MUST} The HOSTS file (\Winnt\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts) requires an entry named EVIPICSLAN configured as the local node's IP address on the PICS network. This is used by applications to positively identify the network (and adapter) to be used for PICS networking. Other entries may also be necessary (e.g. LAN8800A and LAN8800B for the MUXCTL nodes)
{MAY} Enable DNS instead of the HOSTS file (except for EVIPICSLAN and LAN8800x settings, those are specific to a single machine) if the PICS host names are configured in your network's DNS system. Otherwise, the necessary entries MUST be made in the various HOSTS files.
Event Logs
{SHOULD} EVI recommends that all of the system event logs be configured to a maximum size (0.5 to 1.5M should be more than sufficient) instead of the default, which is to stop logging when full.
Control Panel
{MUST} The PICS applet is used to configure the location of some basic PICS folders as well as the local time zone for PICS and other things.
{MUST} Use the System applet to add the \PICS\bin folder to the PATH environment variable. This allows all PICS applications to locate necessary DLLs automatically.
MUX Control Node ONLY
The 8800's use an ftp client to download their program and configuration from the primary MUX. Therefore, the MUX subsystem nodes also require installation of an ftp server that is configured to allow access to the \PICS\8800 folder for a user named evi8800 with a password of ******.
At customer sites using the BanComm clock cards for MUXClock, some addition software will also need to be installed on the MUX Control node to support the clock card interface.Time synchronization for current 8800s is done over the network, using the standard network time protocol (RFC-1305, or a descendant). An ntp server must be run on the MUX nodes (or an equivalent service must be available on the 8800 network) and the MUX nodes should also be synchronized to a trusted time source, preferably using the same protocol. EVI and PGDP are using Meinberg's free ntp client/server software to both synchronize the MUX nodes, and to provide the necessary server for the 8800s.
One of the big changes to PICS between versions 1 and 2 was a reorganization of the PICS directory structure. Now, all of the applications and DLLs are stored in \PICS\bin, all configuration files are stored in \PICS\config, logs are written to \PICS\logs, the databases are in \PICS\data.base, etc. We're hoping that this makes things easier to find and manage in the long run...
System Config
The overall layout of the critical and non-critical PICS subsystems is defined in the two INI files: PicsSys.ini and PicsTask.ini. The PicsSys.ini file contains the class and subsystem definitions, while the PicsTask.ini file contains definitions of each individual task's special requirements (such as which other tasks it might depend upon, executable file name, command line, etc.). These files are compiled into .PCF files by the SysIni utility. The .PCF files are distributed through the VLB and are used by Task Monitor to manage each defined node.
Task Monitor
Task Monitor loads the .PCF file that matches the local node name and manages the node based on the settings contained therein.
WatchDog
Watchdog has no configurable settings what-so-ever.
Static Database (SDB)
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Static Data Server (SDServer)
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Static Data Client (SDClient)
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Real Time Database Agent (RTDBA)
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Real Time TCP Server (RTServer)
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Real Time TCP Client (RTClient)
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MUX Control (MuxCtl)
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MUX Static Data Server (MuxSdb)
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Access Control Bridge (ACB)
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Access Control Client (ACC)
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DARS Archiver (DARSarch)
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DARS Server (DARSsrvr)
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DARS Retrieval (DARSrtrv)
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Plant Data Recorder (PDRSarch)
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Plant Data Retrieval (PDRSrtrv)
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Real Time DDE Server (RtdbDDE)
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PICS Web Server (PicsRPG)
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AlarmLog
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Recall Display (ReDisp)
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PICS Man-Machine Interface (PICSMMI)
No configuration files. All PMAs must be co-located with the PICSMMI executable in order to be loaded.
PICS DataViews Interface (PicsViews)
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DEU Transition Tool (DEU)
Command line specifies one of the following four buildings: C-331, C-333, C-335, or C-337. No other configuration, per se, but all of the current settings are stored in the registry.
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