Each row in an Alarms List or the Alarm Banner contains the record for an individual alarm. The information for each alarm is displayed using a series of columns. By default, these columns include:
- Severity—The importance of the alarm (see Alarm Severity).
- Time—Alarms have both an occurrence time and a receipt time. The former is the time that the alarm occurred, and the latter is the time that ClearSCADA received notification of the alarm. This field displays the alarm’s occurrence time (if known), otherwise it displays the receipt time. On systems on which the Use Visible Time As Alarm Active Time feature is enabled, the occurrence time is the time that the alarm occurred or the time that the alarm was last unsuppressed or enabled, whichever is the later (see Define whether the Visible Time is used as the Active Alarm Time in the ClearSCADA Guide to Server Administration).
(Should ClearSCADA not know the occurrence time when it processes an alarm, it will use that alarm’s receipt time. However, should ClearSCADA become aware of the occurrence time at a later stage, it will update the alarm’s time accordingly. For instance, if ClearSCADA dials out to a PSTN outstation and retrieves the current data for a point that is in alarm, it will raise an alarm with the receipt time—the time that it processed the data. If it then retrieves logged data for that point, in which it retrieves the state change that triggered that alarm, the server will update the alarm data with the occurrence time—the time that the point changed state.)
- Source—The full name and path of the item with which the alarm is associated, or the item’s ‘Alarm Source’ name. (The ‘Alarm Source’ name is displayed if the item has been configured to have an alternative Alarm Source name—see Specify an Alternative Alarm Source Name in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Configuration).
Outstations on some advanced drivers support the ability to send text messages to ClearSCADA, which the server reports using text alarms. Additionally, occurrences such as an unknown outstation dialing in to the server, or a server license expiring, will also generate a text alarm. Unlike other alarms, the source of a text alarm will not be an item in the database.
- Message—A short description about the abnormal condition that caused the alarm to be raised.
- Category—The type of alarm (see Alarm Category).
- System—The name of the ClearSCADA database on which the alarm has been raised. This column is only included on the client-wide Alarms List (see Display a Client-Wide Alarms List) and Alarm Banner if your ViewX Client is configured to access Multiple Databases.
- Area of Interest—Only displayed if the Area of Interest feature is enabled on your system. The column indicates the Area of Interest with which the alarm is associated. Additionally, the entries in the Alarms List are restricted to include only alarms that are associated with the Area(s) of Interest to which your User Account has access. For more information, see Restrict Alarm and Event Access to Specific Areas of Interest in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Configuration.
- Suppressed Alarm Count—Applies to alarms that are configured as the ‘Parent Alarm Condition’ for other database items. When active, the ‘parent’ alarm suppresses any new alarms on the other database items. The Suppressed Alarm Count value indicates the number of other alarms that are currently suppressed (omitted from alarm displays) as a result of this ‘parent’ alarm being active. For more information, see Configure any Alarm Suppression Requirements in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Configuration.
Other columns may be displayed if the Alarms Lists and Alarm Banner on your system have been configured to include additional columns (see Configure Additional Alarm Columns).