AUTOMATING THE CONFIGURATION OF

IT ASSET MANAGEMENT IN

INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION SYSTEMS

Thomas E. Koch, Esther Gelle, Patrick Sager

ABB Switzerland Ltd, Corporate Research

Segelhof, CH-5405 Baden-Dättwi

Keywords: Automated software configuration, IT asset management, network management, automation network,

autonomic computing, self-configuration, software architecture

Abstract: The installation and administration of large heterogeneous IT infrastructures, for enterprises as well

industrial automation systems, are becoming more and more complex and time consuming. Industrial

automation systems present an additional challenge, in that these control and supervise mission critical

production sites. Nevertheless, it is common practice to manually install and maintain industrial networks

and the process control software running on them, which can be both expensive and error prone. In order to

address these challenges, we believe that in the long term such systems must behave autonomously. As

preliminary steps to the realization of this vision, automated IT asset management tools and practices will be

highlighted in this contribution. We will point out the advantages of combining process control and network

management in the domain of industrial automation technology. Furthermore we will give an outlook

towards a new component model for Autonomic or Organic Computing for network management and will

apply this to industrial automation systems.

1 INTRODUCTION

The installation and administration of large

heterogeneous IT infrastructures, for enterprises as

well industrial automation systems, are becoming

more and more complex and time consuming. The

growing number of interconnections between

networks, the development of new intelligent IT

devices, and increasingly sophisticated computer

hardware and software, require in-depth knowledge

of IT protocols, interfaces, and standards to manage

such infrastructures. The exponential growth of the

World-Wide-Web and new IT technologies enable

further integration of software and hardware systems

across company boundaries. This and the fast

technology cycles make it virtually impossible to

manage IT infrastructures centrally. And finally,

skilled professionals who have the necessary

expertise to manage all related topics are

increasingly difficult to find. Industrial automation

systems, such as those delivered by ABB Inc.,

present an additional challenge, in that these control

and supervise mission critical production sites,

which must be up and running 24 hours a day, 7

days a week. Nevertheless, it is common practice to

manually install and maintain industrial networks

and the process control software running on them,

which can be both expensive and error prone. In

order to address these challenges, we believe that in

the long term such systems must behave

autonomously. As preliminary steps to the

realization of this vision, automated IT asset

management tools and practices are available, this

will be described now.

2 PC, NETWORK AND SOFT-

WARE MONITORING OF

INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

SYSTEMS

ABB Inc. is a leader in power and automation

technologies that enable customers to improve

performance while lowering environmental impact.

306

E. Koch T., Gelle E. and Sager P. (2005).

AUTOMATING THE CONFIGURATION OF IT ASSET MANAGEMENT IN INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION SYSTEMS.

In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, pages 306-311

DOI: 10.5220/0002544003060311

 SciTePress

800xA System Network /

Ethernet / Fieldbus

Plant network /

Ethernet

Workplaces

Firewall /

security

zone

Internet

Workplaces

(Thin clients)

Servers

Controllers

Firewall /

security

zone

Fieldbus

Field devices

In automation, ABB provides products

encompassing several families of process control

systems comprising both hardware and software.

Currently ABB provides with its new automation

system 800xA an operator platform for typical

automation applications that control and supervise

for example a cement or steel production plant. A

typical industrial automation network consists of

several layers: process, field, group control and

process control level (Figure 1). The operator

workplace is connected to the control network and

shows the operator the current status of the process

online receiving a continuous stream of data from

the controllers using OPC. It is critical for

continuous and reliable operation that not only the

technical process is supervised but also the control

network itself. Even with redundancy built into the

control network (Figure 1) a failure of the software

running in the controllers or in the operator stations

may go unnoticed and thus leave the operator

without control over the process (One of the failures

provoking the power blackout in August 2003 came

from a lack of real-time system monitoring on the

part of a system operator and an inability to

determine the location or severity of problems,

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/poweroutage/e

xplained.html).

Figure 1: Example of an Industrial Automation Network (with courtesy of ABB Inc.): It consists of many heterogeneous

devices like (process) controllers, motors, small machines, routers, switches, servers and client PCs, connected by Ethernet

and TCP/IP.

In ABB's 800xA system, the application "PC,

Network and Software Monitoring" (PNSM)

provides the operator with an overview of the status

of the control network and the devices connected to

it. It enables the monitoring of IT assets, e.g.

computer nodes, routers, printers etc. An IT asset

comprises all IT items to be measured such as hard

disk usage, network load or number of connections..

The IT item as the basic piece of information is

retrieved from Windows Management

Instrumentation (WMI) via OPC making use of the

fact that 800xA runs on Windows (Policht, 2001).

WMI provides an interface for network management

applications in Windows and also interfaces to

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol)

(Stallings, 1996). Currently, IT assets are configured

manually, based on standard pre-configured asset

types, requiring almost no computer expertise.

800xA provides preconfigured asset types from

which a specific asset can be instantiated. For

example if the hard disk usage of a given computer

is to be monitored, the first step is to create an IT

Asset Type "Generic Computer Node" which

contains as one characteristic the item of interest

AUTOMATING THE CONFIGURATION OF IT ASSET MANAGEMENT IN INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

SYSTEMS

307

Fig M.

Router

(SNMP enabled)

SNMP agent

MIB

Windows Management Instrumentation

800xA

OPC

PC, Network and

Software Montitoring

Workplace Operator Station

CIM object

manager

SNMP

Provider

CIM repository

Network and

Device

Scanner

WMI API

scan network for IP addresses

and SNMP data

compile MIB files,

configure and verify

information retrieval

through WMI

WMI string

WMI retrieves

SNMP objects

ure 2: Actual System Architecture: Network and Device Scanner embedded in 800xA and providing support for PNS

hard disk usage. From "Generic Computer Node" an

instance "Asset 001" is created. The last step

consists of configuring "Asset 001" mainly by

setting its IP address and the name of the disk drive

to monitor. Exactly how information on the hard

disk of that specific computer node is retrieved is

hidden from the operator. This whole procedure is

done with a few mouse clicks.

However, at the initial configuration of the

automation system or should new IT asset types

need to be created, additional expert knowledge in

technologies such as WMI and SNMP is required, as

well knowledge of specific data models and formats

in which network devices are described, such as

Common information model (CIM), Management

Information Base (MIB), and Management Object

Format (MOF). With the various models and

formats go a multitude of tools supporting

conversion from one format into another and the

loading of a format into the WMI repository. This

process is still done manually and thus very error-

prone.

3 NETWORK AND DEVICE

SCANNING TOOL

3.1 Configuration Process

The main goal of our project was to improve the

configuration for later asset monitoring in 800xA

and PNSM. If we consider the initial task of setting

up a monitoring system for a given control network

as shown in Figure 1, we have to scan the network in

order identify all IT assets connected to it. Given

input will be ranges of IP addresses and SNMP

community names. This network scan mainly results

in an IP address and some information on the type of

asset (computer node, router etc.). If the IT asset

type is already known in the 800xA library, a new

asset can be created and configured with a few

mouse clicks as described in the previous section. If

we face an unknown IT asset type, additional data

on the asset is to be retrieved in form of IT items

(SNMP OIDs) in order to propose a choice on which

characteristics should typically be monitored for that

IT asset type. Once a decision is taken, the specific

characteristics have to be established in form of IT

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Figure 3: The ABB Network and Device Scanning GUI application consists of two main windows: The NetScan and

CompilationWizard forms and shows relevant information to the user.

items as required by WMI, which results in a WMI

string. As a verification step the same IT item values

are retrieved through SNMP and WMI in parallel

and compared. The most engineering-intensive steps

in more detail:

1.) Gain an overview of all existing IT assets in a

network.

a) Scan relevant section of the network given

by an IP range.

b) Filter the IT assets or IP hosts that are up

c) Get descriptions from each IP host using

SNMP to discriminate of which type the IT

asset is?

2.) Overview of the type of IT items per IT asset.

a) Use SNMP to retrieve further information

on an IT asset in form of SNMP object

identifiers (OIDs).

b) Use existing MIB information loaded in

PNSM to get description for each OID

(OID mapping).

c) Allow user to add/remove MIB files

to/from the MIB set; redo 2b)

3.) Configuration of IT items as WMI string.

a) Compile selected MIB files into Windows

SMIR (user may remove those as well)

b) Provide WMI path information to PNSM

4.) Provide a verification step in order to test that

an updated MIB is available through WMI.

Compare SNMP OID values with WMI

counterparts

We assume here that the automation network

shown as control network (Figure 1) uses Ethernet

and TCP/IP and that all devices have a fixed IP

address and an enabled SNMP agent running.

3.2 Implementation

We automated this configuration process with the

ABB Network and Device Scanning tool (NDS) as

shown in Figure 2. To implement the NDS we

followed a component-based SW architecture

approach. We defined interfaces and used existing

SW components to provide a maximum degree of

reusability and independence. Reusable components

are for example the MIB parser, the MIB compiler

and loader, ICMP echo (ping) and also several

SNMP functions. NDS itself consists of classical 3-

tier architecture: a standalone GUI application for

triggering actions and displaying information, an

underlying library containing all application logic

and the file system as persistent project data storage.

The NDS library is the core comprising the

mentioned interchangeable components. It is written

in c# utilizing .NET technology.

The GUI -shown in Figure 3- has two main

window forms: The NetScan form triggers network

scanning activities including ICMP and SNMP

protocols, whereas the CompilationWizard form is

used to handle MIB activities such as compiling

Mibs and loading Mibs into WMI. Let's explain the

example of Figure 3 in more detail: The left pane of

AUTOMATING THE CONFIGURATION OF IT ASSET MANAGEMENT IN INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

SYSTEMS

309

NetScan form shows the scanned nodes in a

treeview,. By selecting one activity like "Walk

public…" the right pane shows more specific

information about that node. Each line represents

one SNMP OID that has been scanned and maybe

successfully verfied through WMI: Thus, if scanned

and WMI verified values match, those values may

be monitored in 800xA using the given WMI path

string. On the other hand, if there is no MIB support,

the user has to search for a fitting MIB file and load

it into NDS.

The insertion of the configured WMI string into

PNSM is currently not automated since in some

instances an IT item is not just a raw WMI value

(e.g. disk size) but a value calculated from several

raw values (e.g. % of disk used = 100* disk space

used / disk size). Such user-defined IT items are

provided in PNSM through scripts, which use WMI

values as a basis.

The search for relevant MIBs that are to be

included in PNSM has also not been automated.

Currently, the user has to identify new MIBs in an

offline process given the type of IT assets.

3.3 Comparison and Discussion

The integration of network management of the

automation systems' IT infrastructure into a process

control system like ABB's 800xA pays off after a

very short time (Seufert 2003). This approach

combines process and network supervision into one

tool. In our case this integration of network

management is achieved by the PNSM OPC server

which gets the information from the devices through

WMI and delivers directly to the 800xA, as already

mentioned. The advantages of this integration are

evident:

• One supervision system for the whole

automation system instead of two. Network

failures are shown in PCS.

• No need for extra IT specialists for network

management at run-time. For installation and

configuration it is still recommended.

But the installation and configuration of such an

integrated approach is very expensive, as stated in

former sections. What other tools are available that

might support or even automate this error-prone

configuration process? How to get the IP and SNMP

information into WMI?

There are many tools for IT network

management which are often used for security issues

as well. Schönwälder gives overviews of different

SNMP tools and their architecture (Schönwälder

2001, 2002), Fyodor lists security tools (Fyodor

2004). Additionally there are many commercial

network management tools on the market in order to

manage enterprise networks. But there is no network

management tool that provides all the steps needed

to configure and monitor an industrial automation

system as described in former sections. Most tools

provide net scanning features, some tools are MIB

parsers or MIB compilers like Microsofts basic

Windows helpers "smi2smir" or "mofcomp".

Furthermore, no tool has a verification feature to get

the SNMP OID values from the device SNMP

agents and through WMI in order to compare them

and thus verify the configuration of WMI.

The main benefits of this automation of the

former manual configuration steps include reduction

time consuming and complex engineering efforts,

improvement of the quality of configuration data,

and faster integration of new Assets into the

Windows operating system repository and PNSM

library. Therefore, NDS may result in a significant

cost savings for ABB and its customers.

4 OUTLOOK

Currently the tool follows a pull approach in that a

user needs to run the network and device scanning

functions in order to follow changes in the network.

In an approach towards the realization of visions like

autonomic or organic computing (Horn, 2001,

Kephart et al., 2003, Müller-Schloer, 2004), a new

device in the network would automatically register

in the ABB Network and Device Scanning tool and

activate update mechanisms in PNSM. In a first step,

this might include scheduled network scans and

analysis of differing information, new devices might

be scanned and configured automatically

Concerning the autonomic and organic

computing visions, IT networks and its IT assets will

be self-aware. These components will have these

"self"-characteristics like self- installation and self-

configuration, -optimization, -healing and -

protection. From our perspective presented in this

paper, autonomic IT assets such as computers,

routers, switches and controllers, for example ABB's

AC800M, could acknowledge, install and configure

them selves. Additionally they may inform neighbor

components in the network of their existence, e.g. by

publishing their offered services.

In order to achieve these goals, the components

need to talk the same language. Data structures,

protocols and services must be openly standardized

and implemented by vendors. Examples in network

management include the "Intelligent Platform

Management Interface" (IPMI), "Web-Based

Enterprise Management" (WBEM) of the

Distributed Management Task Force organization

ICEIS 2005 - INFORMATION SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND SPECIFICATION

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(DMTF), "Structured Management Information"

(SMI) definition and the "Simple Network

Management Protocol" (SNMP) of the Internet

Engineering Task Force (IETF) community. (DMTF

and IETF are in charge to standardize the

architecture and integration technology for

enterprise and Internet environments.)

5 CONCLUSION

In this paper we discussed the complex problems of

configuration and execution of network management

of industrial automation systems, especially for

monitoring purposes. We showed how ABB solves

this nowadays with its process control system 800xA

(including PNMS and NDS tools). The Network and

Device Scanning tool provides a new way to

configure Microsoft Windows WMI for later

monitoring of the network. It gathers IP and SNMP

data from the automation network and other sources

like MIB files, maps the different data and compiles

them into SMIR/WMI. The main benefits of this

automation versus the former manual configuration

steps include reduction time consuming and

complex engineering efforts, improvement of the

quality of configuration data, and faster integration

of new Assets into the Windows operating system

repository and PNSM library. Thus, for ABB and its

customers, NDS may result in the following

benefits: Improved productivity of engineering

personnel installing and configuring IT assets,

improved reliability through online monitoring of

the IT assets and improved quality of real-time

monitoring information for service and support

personnel.

We pointed out the advantages of combining

process control and network management in the

domain of industrial automation technology. Further

activities include issues concerning network load

and analysis.

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