Ignition 8.3.5 is here, and Inductive Automation’s Jennifer Faylor explains on the company blog.
Expanded OPC UA support
Ignition 8.3.5 delivers OPC UA support for using a Global Discovery Server, a new file-based Secret Provider type, and major improvements for large-scale systems (including an OverridesOnly tag parameter and 4X increased throughput for managed tag providers).
In Ignition 8.3.5, you now have the ability to automate the certificate management of multiple OPC servers and devices from a single Global Discovery Server (GDS). This is possible thanks to a new property on the OPC UA Server Settings page: “GDS Push Enabled.” When this new property is enabled, the server’s certificate and trust list can be managed by an external GDS.
With this new functionality you can use an external GDS to centrally manage a dispersed system. By opening the door to central certificate management with a GDS, this new feature helps strengthen security in your industrial control systems.
File-Based Secret Provider
Another security improvement in 8.3.5 is a brand new way to store secrets from your Ignition Gateway. A new “File” Secret Provider type lets you read secrets in files on disk, as opposed to storing them internally on the Gateway installation directory. This Secret Provider supports encrypted (Ignition) secrets as well as cleartext secrets.
OverridesOnly Tag Parameter
As a result of some Ignition users’ more complex scripting needs, we’ve added a new overridesOnly parameter to the system.tag.getConfiguration() function. What this means is that when you’re calling the getConfiguration function for a specific tag path, you can now have just the local (overridden) properties returned. If this new parameter is set to “True” then only overridden properties from UDT members (instances and definitions) will be returned. And if the tag is not a UDT member, then there will be no effect.
Improved Gateway Configuration
In 8.3.5, we’ve improved the performance of the Gateway’s configuration file system and added new Gateway diagnostic resource metrics.
By allowing operations on different resource types to proceed concurrently with minimal locking on changes, we’ve greatly boosted the performance and responsiveness of the Gateway’s configuration system. This update optimizes tag value handling and increases throughput by 4X for managed tag providers.
The process of writing Ignition resources (such as EAM agents, OPC UA server profiles, database connections, SIP notification profiles, and more) into the Gateway file system is now significantly improved. And thanks to the new diagnostic resource metrics, you can use the Metrics Dashboard to observe those various resources more closely.
This update is an especially big deal for anyone using MQTT modules with Ignition, since it represents a substantial increase in capabilities for customers with large systems.
Docker Utility
We added the jq command-line utility to Ignition’s Docker image for easier JSON parsing. This is a helpful addition if you’re customizing Helm charts or entrypoint scripts, since you can use this utility to grab specific properties from particular files.
Event Streams Improvements
Ignition 8.3.5 adds tooltips to each stage of an Event Stream’s data to provide you with additional context. These tooltips display upon hovering over element subtext, and update dynamically as real-time values change.
And there’s more to discover on their website.
