Virtualization Aug2014

Learn about the steps you can take to help
ensure manufacturing IT system availability to

keep your production operations running.
Best Practices for
Server Virtualization
WWW.ROCKWELLAUTOMATION.COM/THEJOURNAL
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
BEST PRACTICES FOR SERVER VIRTUALIZATION 3
Discover how to benet from server virtualization while avoiding mistakes that could
affect availability and performance of mission-critical manufacturing IT applications.
FREE ON-DEMAND WEBINAR: THE BASICS OF VIRTUALIZATION 4
THE ROLE OF SERVER VIRTUALIZATION IN RELIABILITY AND UPTIME 7
In this Q&A interview, Frank Hill, Director of Business Development, Manufacturing, Utilities and Oil and Gas for
Stratus Technologies, talked with The Journal from Rockwell Automation and Our PartnerNetwork to explain how
server virtualization can inuence reliability in manufacturing, and the effect it has on the manufacturing IT function.
VIDEO: COLUMBIA PIPELINE GROUP CASE STUDY 9
See how the Columbia Pipeline Group increased server reliability and conguration capabilities after implementing
a fault-tolerant server solution for its compressor stations.
4 THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOU VIRTUALIZE 10
A virtual manufacturing environment can minimize machine downtime and hardware costs and simplify maintenance.
Find out what you need for successful deployment.
HOW TO EASE THE TRANSITION TO VIRTUALIZATION 12
Up-front planning and bundled solutions help smooth the move to a virtualized production environment.
IS YOUR MANUFACTURING IT ENVIRONMENT SAFE? 15
Find out how advanced high-availability software and fault-tolerant solutions can prevent downtime losses,
and how to choose the appropriate solution for your application.
MANUFACTURING INTELLIGENCE PROVIDES THE RIGHT MIX FOR DAIRY PROCESSOR 17
Learn how a centralized source for viewing process data improved data collection and visibility, saved time by
eliminating manual reporting and helped managers pinpoint inefciencies in real time.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 19
Encompass and PartnerNetwork are trademarks of Rockwell Automation, Inc. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
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BEST PRACTICES FOR SERVER
VIRTUALIZATION
Discover how to benet from server virtualization
while avoiding mistakes that could affect
availability and performance of mission-critical
manufacturing IT applications.
From Stratus Technologies
Editors Note: Tis article is adapted from a compre-
hensive white paper, Server Virtualization in Manufac-
turing: Dos and Donts for Your Most Critical Manufac-
turing Systems. Download the free, complete white paper
with additional information at http://goo.gl/7UHmkx,
including information about the basics of virtualization
and how industrial frms can benefts from virtualizing.
>>
While the benefits of server virtualization at
the corporate data center are receiving a great
deal of attention, its ability to address life-cycle manage-
ment issues might make virtualization even more compel-
ling at the manufacturing plant. Along with the advan-
tages, however, come additional challenges and risks.
This article offers best practices you can use to
benefit from server virtualization while avoiding
mistakes that could affect the availability and perfor-
mance of business-critical manufacturing IT.
Know Your Application
Begin by characterizing your software application and its
workload correctly. Which resources does your applica-
tion consume? How much? When? How much headroom
do you need for peak times and temporary surges in
demand? In the event of performance degradation, the
application could become unavailable and provide poor
response time to users or processes.
Also conduct an appropriate risk assessment. Even
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if youre starting with noncritical applications, the
server on which youre consolidating them often be-
comes essential when it drives numerous applications.
In addition, not every application is a good candi-
date for virtualization. Typical examples are I/O-
heavy applications and performance-sensitive environ-
ments that arent characterized easily.
Understand Trade- Offs
Because virtual servers are easy to set up and dont
require the same management approval as hardware
purchases, trade press articles report that some com-
panies are experiencing virtual server sprawl.
Expect some performance penalty too; how much
depends on your application and the virtualization
technology you use. Whats more, maximizing ap-
plication availability and performance on a virtual
machine requires considerable skill.
In addition, you need to understand how virtual-
ization will affect your software license fees.
Seek Enterprise-Strength Technology
Remember, the virtualization layer has the potential
to be a single point of failure for all of the virtual
machines it supports. One rule of thumb: Software
reliability increases as the amount of code and its
complexity decrease.
Look for virtualization software thats small, com-
pact and controlled and as appliance-like in nature
as possible. Virtualization and availability solutions
that are simple to configure and maintain provide
crucial advantages by reducing operating cost and
by significantly reducing your exposure to downtime
caused by operational errors.
Plan for Business Continuity
Reliable availability and performance become more
important the more you depend on an IT resource,
and the more that resource is integrated with other
systems. To mitigate the risk of plant operations being
interrupted, institute backup and disaster recovery
measures for the physical servers that run your virtual
machines.
Simplify With Robust Hardware
Virtualization subtracts physical complexity, but adds
equally real complexity in a virtual dimension. Without
proper planning, this can be an issue because IT skills
are in short supply at the average manufacturing facility.
Clustering multiple servers is one technique for
achieving high availability. Implementing virtualiza-
tion on a server cluster adds another layer to deploy-
ing and administering a cluster, on top of the ongoing
attention from IT staff thats already necessary.
Watch this free on- demand webinar from The Journal, An Introduction to
Virtualization for Manufacturers, when and where you want. Learn about
server virtualization architecture and hardware; conventional technologies;
how virtualization helps you; and guidelines for increasing availability. Also
download free white papers! Presented by Jerry Ragan, Systems Engineer
at Stratus Technologies. Bookmark it and watch it at your convenience at
http://goo.gl/gzY9gW.
>> Free On-Demand Webinar: Learn about Virtualization on Your Schedule
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For instance, a server must be running to mi-
grate its workload to another member of the cluster.
Therefore, when a double-bit memory fault causes a
server to crash, its workload cant be transferred, data
will probably be lost and a reboot will be necessary.
With clustering, you can expect to incur performance
overhead in any case.
Server hardware or virtualization software vendors
might claim they achieve high availability by predict-
ing hardware faults and by enabling live migration of
applications to backup servers. They also might assert
that applications can be quickly restarted on another
server. Ask which hardware faults can be predicted
enough in advance to support a live migration. What
percentage of the hardware is covered? In the case of
a full restart, what is the worst-case fault detection
and restart time? Is the management software making
fail-over decisions robust, or for that matter, running
on a robust platform?
For simplicitys sake, consider a fault-tolerant server
that automatically protects reliability and availability
without requiring changes to your business-critical
applications. This approach uses redundant compo-
nents while appearing as a single server to virtualiza-
tion and application software. Ideally, the emphasis
should be on preventing downtime and data loss
instead of simply on quick recovery.
Dont Let I/O Sink the Ship
Incompatibilities related to I/O interfaces are a known
cause of system instability and performance problems.
Establish that I/O devices and drivers are compatible
with the virtualization technology you plan to use.
Be ready, willing and able to resolve incompat-
ibilities up front if you need to use legacy or propri-
etary I/O cards to access specialized plant equipment
networks, which is common with supervisory control
and data acquisition (SCADA).
Dont Go It Alone
Virtualizing in a manner that promotes the availabil-
ity and performance of business-critical applications
requires considerable expertise. Tis goal isnt realistic
without a knowledgeable staf or a trusted professional
services provider.
This article is adapted from a comprehensive white
paper, Server Virtualization in Manufacturing: Dos
and Donts for Your Most Critical Manufacturing
Systems. Download the free, complete white paper
with additional information at http://goo.gl/7UHmkx.
including information about the basics of virtualization
and the benefits of virtualizing.
Stratus Technologies, based in Maynard, Mass., is a
participating Encompass Product Partner in the Rock-
well Automation PartnerNetwork. Stratus provides
high availability and fault tolerant solutions to keep
applications up and running.
Stratus Technologies
www.rockwellautomation.com/go/p-stratus
Rockwell Automation Encompass Partner Program
www.rockwellautomation.com/go/tjencompass
Visit http://goo.gl/7UHmkx to register to download the
complete white paper from Stratus Technologies, Server
Virtualization in Manufacturing: Dos and Donts for Your
Most Critical Manufacturing Systems. The free, complete
white paper includes additional information about the
basics of virtualization and the benefits of virtualizing in a
manufacturing environment.
>> Download the Free, Complete
Virtualization White Paper!
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ALWAYS ON FOR
ROCKWELL AUTOMATION APPLICATIONS
For an Always-On World
Fault-Tolerant Virtualization Platforms
Redundant Always-On Solutions
Plug-and-Play Simplicity
Lowest Cost
Flexible
Our solutions support a
range of environments
physical, virtual or cloud
on plant oors or in
datacenters.
Easy
Our products are easy to
deploy and manage, and
require no modications to
MES, SCADA, Historian or
other plant applications.
Trusted
SMBs and Global
Manufacturing companies
alike rely on Stratus to keep
them up and running.
www.stratus.com/RA
Stratus always-on
solutions solve our
customers biggest needs
What Does Stratus Technologies do for
Rockwell Automation Customers?
For over 30 years Stratus has been providing infrastructure
based solutions that keep applications running continuously in
manufacturing environments. As a Global Encompass partner,
Stratus delivers continuous availability for Rockwell Automation
customers running FactoryTalk
View SE, FactoryTalk
Historian,
FactoryTalk
ProductionCentre
and other plant applications.

Stratus provides Rockwell customers:
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>>
Frank Hill, Director of Business Develop-
ment, Manufacturing, Utilities and Oil and
Gas for Stratus Technologies, talked with The Journal
from Rockwell Automation and Our PartnerNetwork to
explain how server virtualization can influence reli-
ability in manufacturing, and the effect it has on the
manufacturing IT function. Stratus Technologies is a
well Automation PartnerNetwork. Based in Maynard,
Massachusetts, Stratus provides fault tolerant solutions to
keep applications up and running.
Q: Based on your experience, roughly what percentage
of industrial firms has a manufacturing IT strategy in
place to ensure application availability?
A: Less than 20% of companies have an IT availability
strategy that extends to industrial automation infra-
structure. Te companies that do have a corporate plan
typically are larger companies. Regulated industries that
depend on their data for compliance, such as life sciences,
have the highest percentage of companies with IT avail-
ability strategies in their plants.
Even though there often isnt an IT strategy around
availability at the plant, project teams typically specify
requirements for availability on a project-by-project basis.
Q: What are some of the obvious and not so obvious
costs of downtime?
A: Te obvious costs include losing productivity. How-
ever, there are many other costs associated with system
outages. Te more automated a plant is, the more dif-
fcult and costly an outage will be for a company.
People and lifestyle costs often are overlooked. For
example, a computer failure on the weekend will require
an engineer to come into the plant to fx the situation.
Tis happens a lot with engineering resources.
In regulated industries, there can be signifcant side
efects to data loss and system outages. At one water
utility, when the SCADA system goes down, they have to
send 20 engineers into the feld to take manual readings
until the system is fxed. Pharmaceutical manufacturers
might need to do a lot of testing of in-process materi-
als or throughout entire batches of product because of a
system outage.
Q: What is involved in developing a continuous avail-
ability strategy for manufacturing IT to prevent downtime
from occurring in the first place?
A: It requires looking holistically at the computer en-
vironment to address the key causes of system outages.
Some of the areas that need to be considered include the
network, servers, applications, storage, backup strategies,
network security and life-cycle management.
Keep in mind that the largest factor contributing to
unplanned downtime is people. People make mistakes
that can cause systems to fail. As a result, when youre
THE ROLE OF SERVER VIRTUALIZATION
IN RELIABILITY AND UPTIME
A Q&A with Frank Hill
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designing an availability solution for plant environments,
you need to keep things simple. Plant automation typi-
cally is supported by engineers, not IT people. As such,
systems need to be designed to be maintained success-
fully by those without an advanced IT skill sets.
Another factor to consider when planning for avail-
ability is long life of plant applications and rigid testing
when changes are made. Plant applications often are in
production for 7+ years, much longer than the typical
enterprise applications. Once in production, systems cant
be changed easily. As a result, there often are tensions
between plant engineering and corporate IT on how
operating system patching is performed. Patching that is
performed without checking for software compatibility
often leads to outages.
Q: What are the most common types of availability
solutions in place today? And what are the pros and
cons of each?
A: One type of availability solution is cold standby. Soft-
ware is loaded onto a server that is kept in a closet until
needed. However, changes to the running system arent
captured on the standby box. Terefore, when its needed,
the automation parameters are out of date. Tis form of
availability is manual and will lead to a long outage
while the engineer comes into the plant to get the backup
computer up and running.
Another type of availability is clustering. Tis involves
two or three servers and a SAN typically running MS
SQL database. Tis system provides automated fail over.
However, the main concerns with clustering are complex
installation and a requirement for a high level of IT skills
to maintain it.
Another is a VMware cluster. Tis solution is techni-
cally more simple to implement and maintain than an
MS SQL cluster, and it has gained in popularity in the
plant environment as industrial automation software ven-
dors have added support for virtualization. However, its
still a fairly complex IT environment that is beyond the
capability of many plant engineering teams to support,
especially in remote facilities.
Another is VMware running on a fault-tolerant server.
Tis provides the highest level of availability with the
simplicity of a single computer environment. In addition,
the cost typically is lower than a VMware cluster.
Q: What is server virtualization?
A: Te performance of todays modern computer has
become so powerful that, when you run only a single
application on them, youre wasting 90% of the available
capacity. However, if you load multiple applications on
top of a single copy of MS Windows, you often run into
incompatibilities.
Virtualization solves this dilemma. Virtualization is
loaded frst on the bare metal server, and it manages all
of the resources of the computer processors, memory
and storage. Tis allows you to load multiple copies of
Windows, with their applications all running on a single
computer without any confict.
Each copy of Windows and its applications is called a
virtual machine (VM). With virtualization, you can load
a single server with as many VMs as the resources will
support fve, 10 and even more than 20. Tis means
fewer servers to buy and maintain.
Q: What are the most important benefits of virtualization?
A: Tere are several:
Traditional servers running a single operating system
never fully utilize the available resources (CPU and
RAM).
It reduces costs, requiring less hardware and reduc-
ing overall energy requirements.
It removes dependence on specifc hardware for
backup and disaster recovery. Virtual images are easy
to transfer between servers.
It allows for easy hardware upgrades without the
need for re-installation of the operating system and
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application fles.
It supports legacy operating systems.
Terminal services (thin clients) extend the value
proposition of virtualization.
Application upgrades now can be done by simply
copying a VM and applying the update to the ofine
VM. When youre ready, you stop the old VM and
start the new one. Te planned downtime is reduced
to a couple of minutes.
Q: Why does a lack of understanding exist about server
virtualization in the industrial environment?
A: In the enterprise IT space, its estimated that 75%
of new applications will be deployed in a virtualized
environment this year. In contrast, less than 20% of
industrial projects are taking advantage of this proven
technology.
At frst, the slow start was caused by lack of support
by industrial software providers. However, this roadblock
was eliminated several years ago. Te main reasons that
the technology is not being introduced more quickly are
the conservative nature of engineers and a lack of train-
ing on virtualization.
However, virtualization is starting to gain traction.
Stratus estimates that, by 2016, 75% of industrial
software projects in North America will leverage
virtualization.
Virtualization will be a key ingredient in plant IT
strategies going forward. Virtualization doesnt address
the complete availability requirements of industrial au-
tomation. In fact, virtualization increases the reliance on
fewer servers. In addition, any time you consolidate, you
increase the risk associated with those resources. Its like
putting all your eggs into a single basket. Terefore, its
important to have a strong basket.
For information on how to calculate downtime, visit
http://go.stratus.com/Mfg-CoD-Calc.
To take an Availability Risk Self-Assessment, visit
http://go.stratus.com/Mfg-Risk-Asmnt.
In this video, learn how the Columbia Pipeline Group
(CPG) increased server reliability and configuration
capabilities after implementing a fault-tolerant server
solution for its compressor stations. The company,
which transports natural gas to end users, needed a
more reliable platform for its human-machine interface
(HMI) capabilities, and was already using Rockwell
Automation HMIs and programmable controllers. CPG
personnel analyzed solutions from Stratus Technologies
and another vendor, and selected the Stratus technology primarily because it used one chassis instead of
multiple machines. The solution also provides prognostic and predictive maintenance in the event a com-
pressor starts to fail so that CPG can plan downtime instead of having unplanned, expensive outages.
Watch the video now!
>> VIDEO: COLUMBIA PIPELINE GROUP CASE STUDY
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>>
Ask any IT executive about his priorities for
the year and hell no doubt share a long, di-
verse list. One item thats almost certain to make the list
is increasing the use of server virtualization. In fact, 53%
of IT managers cited it as a top priority for 2013, second
only to data protection, in a recent survey of 3,200 IT
managers conducted by IT Manager Daily.
Te sharp growth of virtualization technology in
recent years is easy to understand, given the cost and
efciency benefts it brings. According to a 2011 study
conducted by VMWare, manufacturing companies have
virtualized about 34% of their servers. Although the
technology is steadily becoming more commonplace,
the study suggests signifcant variability in understand-
ing and expertise. Tese gaps likely indicate operational
diferences that could be afecting virtualization deploy-
ment.
When a popular technology boasting such tangible
benefts surfaces, organizations tend to want to hop on
the bandwagon quickly. Unfortunately, they often do
so without frst considering the specifc organizational
requirements necessary for successful deployment. Lets
look at four key considerations and opportunities unique
to manufacturers:
1. Understanding Upgrade Cycles
Te typical refresh cycle for manufacturing assets is
signifcantly longer than most IT assets. Te growth of
IT-based assets on the plant foor, however, has made it
increasingly difcult for manufacturers to predict and
manage their upgrade budgets.
Traditionally, upgrading IT-based plant hardware such
as PC-based human machine interfaces (HMIs) required
costly software upgrades. Because hardware generally
requires more frequent updating than software, manufac-
turers often are forced to upgrade software prematurely.
In addition, each hardware change requires engineer-
ing intervention which can be costly and can cause
downtime.
Virtualization helps extend the usable life of hardware
systems on the plant foor. As a result, manufacturers can
create planned, predictable upgrade cycles. Now, servers
can be upgraded without replacing software or involving
engineering. Tis extends the useful life of a manufac-
turers software systems signifcantly from 3-5 years
to 10-15 years, or longer. It also allows plant managers
to make operating system upgrades when it makes the
most business sense, rather than because hardware is
antiquated.
4 THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE
YOU VIRTUALIZE
A virtual manufacturing environment can minimize machine downtime and hardware costs and
simplify maintenance. Find out what you need for successful deployment
By Chris Di Biase, Sr. Consultant, Network & Security Services, Rockwell Automation
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2. Knowing Your Limits
Physical servers housed within a data center exist within
a generally stable environment designed for a single pur-
pose. Manufacturers face many more limitations when
it comes to space, power, cooling and management of
physical servers.
Virtualization makes it possible for organizations to
consolidate servers. Tis benefts the IT realm in terms of
space and energy savings. Te added limitations present-
ed by manufacturing environments actually amplify the
benefts of consolidation.
To minimize failures among multiple machines, man-
ufacturers generally run a single application per physical
server. Not only does this cause an abundance of physical
servers all requiring maintenance, generating heat
and consuming energy but also results in signifcant
underutilization. Te typical x86 server deployment uses
only about 10-15% of total CPU capacity.
With virtualization, manufacturers can share applica-
tions securely on a single server, allowing them to con-
solidate. Consolidation also helps simplify maintenance
and lowers energy consumption costs.
3. Evaluating Management Needs
Te typical shop foor installation in manufacturing
often includes a mix of legacy desktops, ruggedized lap-
tops, solid state thin clients and tablets. Using distributed
workstations may ofer manufacturers ample computing
power, fexible user control and a fne user experience.
But this model also presents a number of challenges in
managing workstations, including high operating costs
for confguration, patch management and application
support. It also can pose security and data management
risks.
Virtualization helps centralize the control and man-
agement of operator and engineering workstations, which
helps alleviate costs associated with deployment and sup-
port of workstation hardware.
On the server side, monitoring of all host servers and
virtual machines is centralized, and new virtual machines
can be deployed using a template. Tis centralization also
simplifes management of installed applications. Users
quickly shutdown or reset virtual machines without step-
ping foot on the plant foor.
Its also possible to extend the benefts of server
virtualization to clients. With this approach, software
becomes independent from hardware, ofering signifcant
fexibility in hardware usage. Instant access to the status
of all current clients ofers improved visibility across the
plant foor.
Also, software updates and patches can be centrally
deployed. Problem clients can be reset and new systems
provisioned in the same manner. Disaster recovery is
centralized, and security is further enhanced through the
ability to centrally entitle or revoke user access.
4. Minimizing Failures
Downtime is the enemy in manufacturing, and virtu-
alization ofers improved availability that helps increase
reliability and lower downtime. With virtualization,
machine failure doesnt automatically equate to down-
time as is too often the case with physical servers. Hosts
monitor each other and their virtual machines for failure.
If a virtual machine fails, its automatically restarted in a
diferent location where available resources exist.
In addition, fault tolerant options make it possible for
virtual machines to execute simultaneously on two physi-
cal servers, so theres bumpless failover in the event of a
hardware failure.
Rockwell Automation Virtualization
Services & Support
www.rockwellautomation.com/services/network-
services/overview.page?
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>>
More and more manufacturers are seeing
the measurable benefits that a virtual infra-
structure can bring to their production environment
and making the leap. Despite the increasing popular-
ity of virtualization, many manufacturers are hesitant
to make the transition, often feeling they dont have
the proper IT capability to do so effectively.
The good news is that introducing virtualization
doesnt have to be a headache-inducing affair imple-
mented by dedicated IT resources and expertise.
Considering current and future system requirements,
working with a trusted third-party to design and
implement a right-size system can make the transition
faster and easier.
Why Virtualize?
The advantages of virtualization are numerous. For
one, it enables a facility to run multiple applications
and operating systems from a single server versus
the traditional one-to-one approach. Greater server
utilization and consolidation can free up f loor space,
while bringing down maintenance and energy costs.
Virtualization finally breaks the invisible chain
between hardware and software. Traditionally, up-
grading IT-based plant hardware such as PC-based
HMIs required that manufacturers also upgrade their
software (often prematurely). By decoupling hardware
from software, virtualization allows manufacturers to
create separate upgrade cycles, extending the useful
life of their software systems. As a result, plant man-
agers are empowered to make application upgrades
based on business need, instead of being beholden to
the hardware.
On top of all of this, virtualized infrastructures
can self-heal. If one physical server goes down, for
example, the virtual system can restart the lost ap-
plications automatically on other physical servers to
quickly get production running again or even prevent
it from stopping. Hardware failures no longer need to
be major production-halting events.
Design Considerations
From a hardware standpoint, a virtualized infra-
structure in a manufacturing environment typically
requires two to four physical servers with sufficient
RAM to host all of the virtual machines, enough
disks to run a plants applications at the required
speed, and switches and cabling.
Te process of transitioning to a virtualized system
should begin with an audit to assess design specifcations
HOW TO EASE THE TRANSITION
TO VIRTUALIZATION
Up-front planning and bundled solutions help smooth the move to
a virtualized production environment.
By Chris Di Biase, Sr. Consultant, Network & Security Services, Rockwell Automation
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and business objectives, and then to identify the func-
tional and informational requirements for the virtual-
ized infrastructure. Some questions that will need to be
addressed at this stage include:
How much RAM, CPU and disk I/O do your
applications require?
How many client workstations will be deployed
in the virtual environment?
How many servers will be needed?
What kind of network switching will be used?
And while understanding how a virtualized
infrastructure will support current operations is an
obvious immediate need, its also critical to be think-
ing ahead in order to anticipate future needs. Dont
short-change what operations might be doing in the
next five years. Systems grow and evolve over time,
and designing room for growth into a virtualized
infrastructure will allow for greater agility, making it
easier to deploy new applications down the road.
Some of these design considerations for future
growth could include ensuring enough switch ports
and communication throughput to add a third or
fourth server at a later point, or having the capacity to
add memory to the servers at a future date.
To Build or to Bundle?
When procuring hardware for a virtualized infra-
structure, there are two options.
The first option is to build the infrastructure from
scratch, which requires ordering all of the necessary
equipment, assembling it and commissioning it. This
can be a burdensome and time-consuming approach:
Equipment must be ordered from multiple vendors
and system design, fabrication and testing can take
weeks. There also are added costs of hiring certified
installation professionals or trained technicians to
provide support.
The alternative to this piecemeal approach is a
bundled solution. Bundled offerings are preassembled
systems that include all of the hardware, software
and documentation for a virtualized system in one
turnkey solution. These solutions are assembled using
industry best practices in areas such as cable manage-
ment, system grounding and labeling and have been
pre-engineered so that the infrastructure design ef-
fectively addresses all system needs.
Bundled offerings typically include implementation
services to execute the on-site network configuration
and integration. From design to deployment, a virtu-
alized system can be up-and-running in a matter of
days for a bundled solution versus a matter of weeks
One of the appeals of a virtualized infrastructure versus
a traditional client-server architecture is the simplification
of ongoing management.
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for a nonbundled solution.
When going the bundled route, its crucial to
understand that not all solutions are designed to
exclusively address the unique characteristics of a
manufacturing environment. This is an important
consideration to keep in mind, because different
industries have different priorities when it comes to
downtime, system complexity and cost.
A five-minute system crash in a corporate office en-
vironment, for example, could lead to the temporary
loss of email and business systems an inconvenient
and perhaps even costly event. However, a five-minute
server crash in the manufacturing environment can
lead to a catastrophic downtime event, such as the
loss of a high-value batch.
Similarly, some bundled solutions designed for
environments such as corporate data centers could
include features that are in excess of or not relevant
to the needs of a manufacturer, which can drive up
costs. Consider whether the solution you choose
is purpose-built and purpose-priced to meet your
unique needs.
Simplify Your Support
One of the appeals of a virtualized infrastructure versus
a traditional client-server architecture is the simplif-
cation of ongoing management. A virtualized system
makes it possible to control and manage operator and
engineering workstations from a central location. But
as with anything in a production facility, the systems
do still require servicing and support for maintenance,
repairs and upgrades.
Selecting a solution provider that offers technical
support with their product can make life easier for
the maintenance manager theyll have one phone
number to call for whatever questions or support is-
sues arise across the systems life cycle.
Also consider what additional levels of support
may elevate the organizations performance given
new capabilities enabled by virtualization. A virtual-
ized environment simplifies remote monitoring, for
example, allowing a provider to monitor the complete
virtualized infrastructure, identifying and trouble-
shooting issues, or contacting maintenance personnel
immediately to alert them of a problem all from
an off-site location. This is particularly important for
manufacturers that dont have an IT administrator in
their plants or lack the expertise needed to maintain
and service the virtual infrastructure.
Rockwell Automation Virtualization
Services & Support
www.rockwellautomation.com/services/network-
services/overview.page?
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IS YOUR MANUFACTURING
IT ENVIRONMENT SAFE?
Find out how advanced high-availability software and fault-tolerant solutions can prevent down-
time losses, and how to choose the appropriate solution for your application.
By Frank Hill, Stratus Technologies
Editors Note: Tis article is adapted from a comprehen-
sive white paper, How to Bulletproof Your Manufacturing
IT Environment. Download the free, full white paper with
additional information at http://goo.gl/pvIQiN.
>>
As manufacturing becomes increasingly
competitive, plant operations are becom-
ing more automated. Youre relying on applications to
run mission-critical aspects of your business, such as
materials management, plant historians and Manufac-
turing Execution Systems (MESs). Its crucial to prevent
downtime and keep IT systems running. A few minutes
of unexpected downtime might sound harmless, but this
assumption is wrong.
A downtime event afects the entire organization, and it
can cause lost wages, scrapped inventory, missed production
deadlines and a damaged reputation. However, you can take
steps to protect your IT environment and prevent downtime.
Guard Your IT Environment
Against Downtime
Many people in manufacturing IT operations assume
that occasional downtime is inevitable, and therefore pre-
pare for rapid recovery from failure. But proactively pre-
venting downtime saves money in the long run, and this
is evident after you calculate your true cost of downtime.
Tere is real fnancial value in keeping plant applications
continuously online and production lines running.
Tink about the level of availability your manufacturing
applications need. Some are mission critical, and no amount
of downtime is acceptable for them. Others might be impor-
tant but have a less critical role in the organization.
Uninterrupted availability for all applications is
important in operations that run 24/7/365, and for those
that work with real-time data, as opposed to analyzing
historical data ofine. If your organizations applications
are all integrated and mutually dependent, continuous
availability might be the only option youll tolerate.
Two options can help you prevent downtime: ad-
vanced high-availability solutions and fault-tolerant
solutions.
Advanced High-Availability Solutions
Te most advanced high-availability solutions are software
designed to prevent downtime, data loss and business
interruption, with a fraction of the complexity and at a
fraction of the cost of traditional solutions, such as clusters.
Advanced high-availability solutions are equipped
with predictive features that automatically identify, re-
port and handle faults before they become problems and
cause downtime. A high-availability solution might be an
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ideal choice for less critical manufacturing applications.
Important features of advanced high-availability
software include:
Works with standard x86 servers.
Doesnt require the skills of highly advanced IT staf
to install or maintain.
Storage area networks (SANs) arent required,
making the system easier to manage and lowering a
manufacturers total cost of ownership.
Designed to confgure and manage its own opera-
tion, making the setup of application environments
easier and more economical.
A key beneft of advanced high-availability software
is that it continuously monitors for problems to prevent
downtime from occurring; other solutions are designed
to recover after a failure has occurred.
Fault-Tolerant Solutions
Fault-tolerant (FT) solutions, also referred to as continu-
ous availability solutions, are designed to help you prevent
downtime. An FT server provides the highest availability
for users because it has system component redundancy
with no single point of failure. Tis means production
lines never go down because of an interruption in server
availability; downtime is completely preempted.
Fault tolerance is achieved in a server by having a
second set of redundant hardware components in the
system. Te servers software automatically synchronizes
the replicated components, executing all processing in
lockstep so that in-fight data is always protected.
Te two sets of CPUs, RAM, motherboards and power
supplies all are processing the same information at the same
time, so if one component fails, its companion component is
already there, and the system keeps functioning.
Key features of fault-tolerant servers include:
Te operating system, middleware and application
software are protected from errors.
Built-in, fail-safe software technology detects,
isolates and corrects system problems before they
cause downtime.
In-memory data is protected and maintained constantly.
An FT server is easy to install, use and maintain,
because its managed like a standard server.
No software modifcations or special confgurations
are necessary.
An FT server solution is ideal for manufacturing
applications that need to be running 24/7/365 essen-
tially, any application for which a momentary disruption
could mean drastic fnancial consequences.
Reliability Matters
As you look for ways to run leaner and keep costs
down, look to your critical, automated manufacturing
IT applications. The downtime those systems experi-
ence costs your organization more than you may have
realized, and keeping them online 24/7/365 saves
revenue and increases efficiencies. Protecting against
downtime will help ensure that your manufacturing
operation has a reliable IT environment that supports
your companys goals.
Editors Note: This article is adapted from a compre-
hensive white paper, How to Bulletproof Your Manu-
facturing IT Environment. Download the free, full
white paper with additional information at http://goo.gl/
pvIQiN.
Stratus Technologies, based in Maynard, Mass., is a
well Automation PartnerNetwork. Stratus provides
high availability and fault tolerant solutions to keep
applications up and running.
Stratus Technologies
www.rockwellautomation.com/go/p-stratus
Rockwell Automation Encompass Partner Program
www.rockwellautomation.com/go/tjencompass
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>>
In an industry where margins often are razor
thin, food manufacturers must have access to
real-time plant-floor data so they can make adjustments
quickly to the production environment. Manual reporting
practices at one manufacturer of cheese and dairy ingredients
for the global food industry were hindering managements
visibility into operations and its ability to make changes
necessary to maintain profitability. Manually recording pro-
duction data was both time-consuming and error prone, and
data often was days old by the time it reached management.
When the company rolled out a new generation of fa-
vor-enhancer products in fve of its production facilities,
management saw an opportunity to improve analysis and
reporting of manufacturing data across the enterprise.
Company leaders wanted the ability to simultaneously
gather data from plant historians and SQL servers across
its facilities and use this data to create reports and real-
time dashboards through a centralized Web interface.
Upgrade to Virtualized Process Automation
To achieve this goal, the food processor first needed
a platform that would support a multiplant, real-time
interface to a central point for analyzing manufac-
turing information. The manufacturer worked with
Malisko Engineering, a control, process and informa-
tion systems integrator and member of the Rockwell
Automation PartnerNetwork program, to implement
a virtualized PlantPAx process automation system
(www.rockwellautomation.com/go/prps) from Rockwell
Automation. Tis system provided the framework necessary
to produce and gather plant-foor data from each facility.
As part of the control system upgrade to the Plant-
PAx system, Malisko implemented FactoryTalk View
Site Edition human-machine interface (HMI) software
(www.rockwellautomation.com/go/tjviewse). Te team
designed user-friendly screen layouts and functionality to
ofer consistency across all facilities.
Sophisticated alarms and events save the food processor
time in troubleshooting. Te company can use associated
tags to include process data with event information and
alarm messages. Tis means operators automatically re-
ceive relevant information that describes what the systems
environment looked like when the alarm was triggered.
Te software also interfaces with Rockwell Automation
Encompass Product Partner Specter Instruments WIN-
911 (www.rockwellautomation.com/go/p-specter), so
specifc alarm notifcations can be sent to stakeholders via
email when they need to respond immediately.
Te system upgrade also made it possible to run the
process system and HMI from a centralized server that can
be accessed virtually via remote desktop connection in the
food processors other facilities. No longer tied to specifc
hardware, virtual HMIs can extend the companys software
lifecycle. Additionally, virtualizing frees up server space and
MANUFACTURING INTELLIGENCE PROVIDES
THE RIGHT MIX FOR DAIRY PROCESSOR
A centralized source for viewing process data improves data collection and visibility by eliminating
manual reporting and helps managers pinpoint inefciencies in real time.
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IT maintenance time needed with the previous approach.
Te virtualized process system will allow this food processor
to take hardware ofine for maintenance or future upgrades
while the system is up and running, migrating the applica-
tion between servers without interrupting production to
improve uptime or speed disaster recovery.
With the virtualized PlantPAx process automation
system in place, the company was ready to implement a
manufacturing intelligence strategy to better gather and
analyze the production data. Using FactoryTalk Vantage-
Point EMI software (http://bit.ly/4RdRov), the company
now can access federated data from all its plants in one
screen for centralized viewing and analysis.
Historical process data from a variety of sources on
each facilitys plant foor can be retrieved for dashboards
and reports in real-time. Data is archived by FactoryTalk
Historian software.
Because data always remains at its original source,
whether in the controller, the historian or a SQL server,
the operators, maintenance and plant managers and
business executives can more easily and quickly share
information while maintaining one version of the truth.
Improved Data Collection and Visibility
Using the FactoryTalk VantagePoint software, Malisko
organized each plant into areas using commonly refer-
enced industry and business terms, rather than cryptic
equipment serial numbers, and assigned user groups so
plant managers and maintenance personnel could access
data specifc to their individual facilities and roles.
Te integrator also set up production reports within the
application that allow management to view hourly, daily,
monthly or annual data online. Managers also can view
trends by month, allowing them to analyze specifc events,
such as the efect of a cold spell on dryer efciency.
Te ability to see, in real time, on which side of the
proftability line a plant is operating has been a game
changer, says Steve Malyszko, Malisko Engineering
president. Virtualizing the system gave the customer the
added bonus of reducing risk and improving future fex-
ibility. Tey now have crucial production data available
to managers and corporate personnel to monitor, without
the need for manually generated reports.
Malisko Engineering, Inc., based in St. Louis, Missouri, is
a designated Solution Partner in the Rockwell Automation
PartnerNetwork. Malisko Engineering is a manufactur-
ing automation design and implementation company that
focuses on helping clients safely increase production speed,
reduce cost and maintain high product quality.
Malisko Engineering, Inc.
www.rockwellautomation.com/go/p-malisko
Virtualized FactoryTalk View SE, Historian SE and VantagePoint EMI provide
a robust, detailed control and information system for a dairy processor.
The ability to see, in real time,
on which side of the protability
line a plant is operating has
been a game changer.
Steve Malyszko, President, Malisko Engineering
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19 19
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
WHAT DOES STRATUS TECHNOLOGIES DO FOR ROCKWELL AUTOMATION CUSTOMERS?
Visit www.stratus.com/RA to nd out, and download the free Server Sizing Tool for Rockwell Automation
applications.
STRATUS TECHNOLOGIES AND ROCKWELL AUTOMATION FACT SHEET
Download the free fact sheet at http://goo.gl/gnWqMb.
STRATUS TECHNOLOGIES ON THE ROCKWELL AUTOMATION WEBSITE
Visit www.rockwellautomation.com/go/p-stratus.
RSTECHED 2014 SLIDESHARE PRESENTATION:
VIRTUALIZATION IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES
FREE WHITE PAPER: VIRTUALIZATION FOR PROCESS AUTOMATION SYSTEMS.
FREE INDUSTRY ESSENTIALS GUIDE:
ESSENTIALS OF NETWORK AND SECURITY SERVICES.
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