FACTORYTALK® BATCH ON MARATHON

TECHNOLOGIES EVERRUNFT™

BY LLOYD H. LARSEN
APPLICATIONS ENGINEER
ROCKWELL AUTOMATION
 RUNNING FACTORYTALK BATCH ON EVERRUNFT

Introduction FactoryTalk® Batch has proven to be extremely reliable in hundreds of

applications industry-wide. One hardware failure solution is to
configure a FactoryTalk Batch system to contain a secondary Batch
Server that is configured for manual failover. This requires operator
intervention to restart Batch execution. While this meets the needs of
many applications, some applications require a higher level of
availability. Installing FactoryTalk Batch on a Marathon Technologies
everRunFT™ provides the reliability required by applications that
cannot have their production stop due to a hardware failure. The
Marathon everRunFT provides users with 99.999%+ availability, fault
tolerance, and disaster protection.

Virtual FTV Environment

FactoryTalk
Batch

Figure 1. Marathon everRunFT Configuration

Two standard dual processors or hyper-threaded Intel server-class

computers running Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 are required to
create an everRunFT system. These computers are interconnected with
dual gigabit Ethernet networks, which coordinate fault tolerant
operations. No proprietary hardware is required. The everRunFT
software runs in tandem on the two server computers. The Marathon
software creates a virtual machine; it is on this virtual machine running
Windows Server 2003 that FactoryTalk Batch is loaded.

This virtual server appears on the network as a standard Windows

Server. Applications are installed and run just as they would on a
physical Windows Server, but since they are running in a fault tolerant
environment they are protected from hardware and many operating
system failures.

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 RUNNING FACTORYTALK BATCH ON EVERRUNFT

Figure 2 shows the hardware and cable configuration for a Marathon

everRunFT running FactoryTalk Batch connected to a ControlLogix®
processor. This was the configuration used to test FactoryTalk Batch on
the Marathon system and is the simplest setup, the two machines
residing side-by-side with short cable runs. Another type of
configuration is the SplitSite® configuration. This setup allows the
placement of the CoServer machines in different rooms, buildings or
geographical sites, providing enhanced disaster-tolerant operations.

Management
Links

What’s a CoServer? CoServer

Links
A CoServer, in Marathon
terminology, is a physical server
configured using a licensed CoServer 1 CoServer 2
version of Windows and with
Marathon software and drivers
installed. A pair of CoServers form
the base upon which the
Marathon software creates a
virtual Windows environment.

Redirected Redirected
Link Link

To domain
controller

Figure 2. Marathon everRunFT Hardware Setup

FactoryTalk Batch has successfully completed Rockwell Automation’s

Stress and Integration testing on a Marathon everRunFT and is now
supported for use on the Marathon everRunFT.

Background information on the Ethernet links: the CoServer Links

consist of two cross-over cables connected to gigabit Ethernet ports and
handle the virtual machine communications between the two physical
machines. The Management Links handle additional management tasks
required by the Marathon everRunFT. The Redirected Links are used
by the virtual machine to connect to the site’s Ethernet network.

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 RUNNING FACTORYTALK BATCH ON EVERRUNFT

Installation The installation of FactoryTalk Batch on a Marathon everRunFT

requires additional steps versus a FactoryTalk Batch Server installation
on a single computer. The installation steps are briefly outlined below.

1. Install computers and connect Ethernet cables per Marathon

documentation to create fault tolerant configuration. Each CoServer
can use its own monitor, keyboard, and mouse or use a KVM
switch to share a monitor, keyboard, and mouse between the
CoServers.

2. Install Windows operating system on the two CoServer machines.

The exact version of Windows to use will be determined by the
version of FactoryTalk Batch being used, for example, FactoryTalk
Batch version 8.0 would use Windows Server 2003 with or without
Service Pack 1.

3. Following Marathon installation instructions completely, install the

CoServer software. This is a two-step process, installing first on one
CoServer machine and then the other. It is during the installation
that the Ethernet ports are assigned as CoServer, Management and
Redirected links. Also, during the installation a virtual disk is
created.

Note: everRunFT has been qualified on Windows 2000 Server and

Advanced Server and Windows Server 2003 Standard and Enterprise
Editions.

4. Install Windows on the everRunFT. As part of this process you

select which of the CoServers’ CD or DVD drives will be redirected
to the virtual server. These redirected drives are now only usable
by the everRunFT. For the last two steps refer to Marathon
Technologies everRunFT Configuration and Installation Guide for
step-by-step installation instructions.

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 RUNNING FACTORYTALK BATCH ON EVERRUNFT

5. Once the installation is finished, verify the everRunFT installation is

working correctly by using the everRunFT Endurance Manager,
which is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Marathon everRunFT Endurance Manager Screen

6. Install FactoryTalk Batch on the everRunFT. This installation is

done in the same manner as installing FactoryTalk Batch on a
stand-alone server. The everRunFT can be part of a workgroup or
domain, so the FactoryTalk Batch Server can be installed in a
workgroup or domain environment. Refer to Rockwell
Automation’s FactoryTalk Batch Installation Guide for detailed
instruction on how to install FactoryTalk Batch.

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RUNNING FACTORYTALK BATCH ON EVERRUNFT

7. After installing FactoryTalk Batch, install the version of RSLinx®

that supports the installed version of Batch. At this time,
FactoryTalk Batch has only been tested and used on Marathon
systems with RSLinx as the communication driver to the PCDs.
Other communication drivers should work as long as they make
use of the CoServer’s Ethernet card and don’t require a proprietary
communication card.

Once installed, FactoryTalk Batch runs inside the everRunFT — the

virtual server appears as a window on the CoServer desktop as shown
in Figure 4. Shown on the everRunFT desktop is the FactoryTalk Batch
View.

Figure 4. Endurance everRunFT Desktop on CoServer1

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 RUNNING FACTORYTALK BATCH ON EVERRUNFT

CoServer2 would show the same everRunFT desktop. Management of

the everRunFT can be done from either of the CoServers. In normal
operations the Marathon system would be located in a secure location
and Batch Client machines would be used for engineering and
operational activities. For instance, one client could be designated the
engineering station, where the main area model and recipe
development takes place. If using PhaseManager™, RSLogix™ 5000
would be loaded on the same station as the Equipment Editor, since
they must be on the same machine to create PhaseManager phases. On
the operation side, the plant operators would interface with
FactoryTalk Batch just as if the Batch Server was on a stand-alone
machine — operations are transparent to the operators.

Conclusion To conclude, customers who desire more reliability than provided by

the out-of-the-box FactoryTalk Batch solution on a standard off-the-
shelf server should consider the Marathon Technologies everRunFT
solution.

For more information on FactoryTalk Batch contact Rockwell

Automation at:

Rockwell Automation, Inc.

1201 South Second Street
Milwaukee, WI 53204-2496
+1.414.382.2000

For more information about the Marathon Technologies everRunFT

contact Marathon Technologies at:

Marathon Technologies Corporation, Inc.

www.maratho ntechnologies.com
295 Foster Street
Littleton, MA 01460

US, APAC:
+1.978.489.1100 or info@marathontechnologies.com

EMEA:
+44.1189.497308 or emea@marathontechnologies.com

Marathon product FAQ web site:

http://www.marathontechnologies.com/product_faqs.html#q10

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FactoryTalk, RSLinx and ControlLogix, FactoryTalk Batch, RSBizWare MaterialTrack, FactoryTalk Historian, FactoryTalk View, RSLogix 5000 and
PhaseManager are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Rockwell Automation, Inc.

MARATHON and SplitSite are registered trademarks and everRunFT Server is a trademark of MARATHON Technologies Corporation.

Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Server 2003 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other
countries.

www.rockwellautomation.com

Power, Control and Information Solutions Headquarters

Americas: Rockwell Automation, 1201 South Second Street, Milwaukee, WI 53204-2496 USA, Tel: (1) 414.382.2000, Fax: (1) 414.382.4444
Europe/Middle East/Africa: Rockwell Automation, Vorstlaan/Boulevard du Souverain 36,1170 Brussels, Belgium, Tel: (32) 2 663 06 00, Fax: (32) 2 663 06 40
Asia Pacific: Rockwell Automation, Level 14, Core F, Cyperport 3, 100 Cyberport Road, Hong Kong, Tel: (852) 2887.4788, Fax: (852) 2508 1846

Publication BATMTH-WP001A-EN-P – October 2006 Copyright © 2006 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in USA.