How does High Availability with Edge work?

Ignition
1

Hi everyone,

I have a question about how High Availability works with Ignition Edge. Specifically, I'm trying to understand how data synchronization works between the Edge device and the main server.

Here’s my scenario:

  • I have tags connected to both the Edge device and the main server.
  • If the main server goes down, how does the data collected by the Edge device get synchronized once the server is back online?

My main concerns are:

  1. Can the system merge data seamlessly so that it’s transparent to the user? For example, if the Edge device fails, can the tags connected directly via the network still be visible?
  2. If the server goes down, will the data collected by the Edge device be sent to the server later and appear in the same charts without needing to switch providers?
  3. I noticed that when both devices are connected, alarms are duplicated (e.g., two alarms are generated). How can this be handled?

I’d appreciate any clarification on how this synchronization works and how to ensure a smooth transition between Edge and the main server in case of failures.
This having both sources connected to the same PLC

Thanks in advance for your help!

2

To answer at least one question here is the documentation on sync services: Configuring Sync Services | Ignition User Manual

The data will be synced to whatever historian you setup to receive the synced data.

Are these edge devices looking at the same equipment with the same alarms? If they both see an alarm go active it will make an alarm on both edge gateways and then push that through the data sync to the main gateway. They would be treated as two separate alarms since they come from two different gateways.

3

I think there's a misunderstanding here. A single Edge gateway connected to a Standard gateway is not a high-availability configuration. If you want coordinated OPC tag behavior, you need a true redundant Ignition pair.

4

Thanks for the clarification! I understand Edge + Standard isn’t HA, but we chose Edge because our plant has frequent network issues, and we need to ensure data is always stored locally.

My main concern is: What happens if the Edge device itself goes offline? I thought about connecting both Edge and the main server to the PLC, but I’m worried about duplicating data or causing sync issues.

The primary goal is to ensure data is always stored, even during network outages, and to minimize downtime if the Edge device fails.

Since redundancy license isn’t an option here (network problems could take both servers down).

  • Is there a way to configure the system so that if the Edge device goes offline, the main server can take over seamlessly without duplicating data or causing inconsistencies?

Any tips on how to handle this?

5

Then you get nothing. Use a redundant Edge pair.

No.

I would spend the money to fix this, or to make the network itself redundant. (Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol or similar across redundant branches in the plant.) This may also make it practical to use a Standard Ignition redundant pair for the whole plant, instead of putting Edge all over the place. (I consider it a sign of trouble if you think you need Edge in the same plant that already has Standard.)

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