Hardware Requirements

The minimum iFIX hardware requirements are:

iFIX without Enhanced Failover or GE Historian Server

For iFIX computers, the recommended minimum hardware requirements are:

• A 3.0 GHz Intel® Core™ i3 Processor or equivalent with 4GB of memory.

NOTE: To use more than 4 GB of memory on a 32-bit platform you need to use Physical Address Extension (PAE). For more information on PAE please reference http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366796%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

• SpeedStep® technology is not supported and must not be enabled.
• For time synchronization, the Windows Net Time and W32tm commands are both supported. However, if using the W32tm command, be sure to use the /nowait instruction when resynchronizing the clock. For example: W32tm /resync /nowait. The /nowait parameter instructs the operating system to make a stepping adjustment against the time server.
• The power save settings on your computer must be disabled. Do not use any power setting features that affect CPU clock speed.

• A minimum of 10 GB of free hard drive space for iFIX pictures, databases, alarm files, and other data files. Even after allowing for an extra GB for iFIX, it is strongly recommended that many GBs of additional free space exist on the hard drive to avoid performance issues.
• Be aware that iFIX alarm and historical data files grow dynamically. If you plan to perform extensive alarm or data collection on a node, you may need more disk space on that particular node.
• Other GE products, such as Plant Applications, GE Historian, and Web HMI, impose additional requirements. Refer to the Important Product Information (IPI) topic in the product's electronic books for specific system requirements. Click the System Req. tab in that product's IPI for details.
• 100 MBit or faster Full Duplex TCP/IP-compatible network interface adapter for iFIX network communication between SCADA and Client nodes.

  NOTE: iFIX no longer supports NetBIOS.

  NOTE: iFIX does not support IPv6.

• One free direct-connect USB port. Some touch screens, pointing devices, and I/O drivers require a serial port. Additional ports for I/O hardware should be ordered with the computer.
• SVGA or better color monitor with a 24-bit (16,777,216 colors) graphics card capable of at least 1024x768 resolution. For Windows 7, the graphics cards should be “Windows 7 (certified)”.
• Two-button mouse or compatible pointing device (such as a touch screen) that is capable of opening a context menu.

iFIX with Enhanced Failover Enabled

For iFIX computers with SCADA Enhanced Failover features enabled, the recommended minimum hardware requirements are (for both primary and secondary computers):

IMPORTANT: The minimum requirements below assume that you are running only a SCADA server without additional applications, such as EDA applications. If you want to run more applications, you will need to increase your hardware support for better performance.

• A 3.0 GHz Intel® Core™ i5 Processor or equivalent with 4GB of memory. For better performance, please consider using more.

NOTE: To use more than 4 GB of memory on a 32-bit platform you need to use Physical Address Extension (PAE). For more information on PAE please reference http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366796%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

• SpeedStep® technology is not supported and must not be enabled.
• For time synchronization, the Windows Net Time and W32tm commands are both supported. However, if using the W32tm command, be sure to use the /nowait instruction when resynchronizing the clock. For example: W32tm /resync /nowait. The /nowait parameter instructs the operating system to make a stepping adjustment against the time server.
• The power save settings on your computers and dedicated network card (NIC) must be disabled. Do not use any power setting features that affect CPU clock speed.
• One additional Gigabit-Ethernet card (or better) dedicated for SCADA-to-SCADA traffic (for a total of at least 2 network cards). The dedicated SCADA-to-SCADA network card should be excluded from the iFIX-to-iFIX network (not enabled for LAN redundancy), and used exclusively for Enhanced Failover synchronization. Both network cards must be of the same speed, and appear on the compatibility list for each card. It is strongly recommended that the cards be of the same make and model number, and use the same drivers.

IMPORTANT: You must use a direct connection via a Cat6 crossover cable, without going through any switches, hubs, or routers. Due to limited bandwidth and latency, wireless networking technology should not be considered.

• The wake-up upon receiving a socket or/and request feature must be disabled on the dedicated SCADA-to-SCADA network card.
• Jumbo Frames technology must be used on the dedicated network for Enhanced Failover. Jumbo Frames technology allows for an Ethernet frame of 9000 MTU for the payload, compared to a frame of 1500 bytes without the Jumbo Frames.
• A minimum of 40 GB of free hard drive space, in addition to the free disk space required by the operating system for Windows Updates. Even after allowing for an extra GB for iFIX, it is strongly recommended that many GBs of additional free space exist on the hard drive to avoid performance issues.

  Be aware that iFIX alarm and historical data files grow dynamically. If you plan to perform extensive alarm or data collection on a node, you may need more disk space on that particular node.

• Other GE products, such as Plant Applications and GE Historian, impose additional requirements. Refer to the Important Product Information (IPI) topic in the product's electronic books for specific system requirements. Click the System Req. tab in that product's IPI for details.
• Primary and Secondary SCADA computers located physically next to each other, in the same location/room.
• One free direct-connect USB port. Some touch screens, pointing devices, and I/O drivers require a serial port. Additional ports for I/O hardware should be ordered with the computer.
• SVGA or better color monitor with a 24-bit (16,777,216 colors) graphics card capable of at least 1024x768 resolution. For Windows 7, the graphics cards should be "Windows 7 (certified)".
• Two-button mouse or compatible pointing device (such as a touch screen) that is capable of opening a context menu.

Virtual Machine Support

As part of our development testing and qualification, we make extensive use of virtualized environments. iFIX does not target any specific hardware or virtualized platform.

GE Digital will support the functional operation of the product that is running on a supported Operating System in a virtualized environment and will address any functional issues related to the software.

GE Digital cannot guarantee performance of the software in the virtualized environment due to the wide range of parameters associated to the hardware, configuration, memory settings, 3rd party software, and the number of virtual sessions running on the same hardware, all of which can affect performance. GE Digital can only provide best possible support related to the performance of the software running on a VMWare based system or configuration of VMWare system.

It is the responsibility of you, the customer, to ensure that the performance of the GE HMI/SCADA software and application are adequate to meet the needs of their runtime environment. GE does not support issues related to functionality that is not available as a result of running in a virtual machine. Examples include the functionality of card level drivers such as Genius, RMX, SA85 and functions requiring direct video access, or functionality of other software running in the same environment. It is your responsiblity to check with the vendor of those applications for their ability to run in a virtualized environment.

Each virtual machine instance that is using our software is required to have a valid license. The licensing in a virtualized environment will depend on the access to a hardware key or a license server depending on the selected license type.