Is there way with Vision or Perspective to have the GUI continue to run at the tools if the network connection is lost?
Not so much with Perspective, but this is what Local Client Fallback with Vision is for: Local Client Fallback | Ignition User Manual
Do keep in mind that Vision's local client fallback still needs some gateway to talk to the machinery.
Thanks. What are your thoughts on loading Perspective on each machine?
This is, in general, one of the primary use cases for Edge Panel, which can be used to run either Perspective or Vision clients. Though, the end user experience at the plant floor level (when fallback is necessary) is definitely better with Vision.
Fundamentally, the most important thing to know is that neither visualization system will run at all without a gateway to talk to. The Ignition Gateway is the thing that actually communicates with your PLC(s), your database(s), etc. Vision clients are running full JVMs, and technically could, but deliberately do not attempt to run if they lose connection to their host gateway.
To make sure I am following
If you have Edge installed the tool it will run unconnected for 35 days and then sync when the connection is restored. Perspective or Vision
If you use Local Client Fallback it will load local project with "minimal realtime information that you need to keep your operation running". Vision Only
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Until 8.3, that is. You'll be able to allow some limited functionality in the native apps with some new features we're adding.
If you have Edge Panel, then you are in charge of manually creating a "slimmed down" version of your 'main' project (possibly an exact copy, it's going to entirely depend on your circumstances). Then, in the event of a network disconnect, a Vision client that is running connected to your 'main' project can seamlessly (if running on the same physical hardware as your Edge Panel gateway) switch to that "slimmed down" version of your project.
The 35 days stuff only applies to historical data syncing, where the Edge gateway can buffer history data locally in the event of a network outage and, once the network returns, send that data back through to the main system.
I would strongly encourage you to contact our sales and/or sales engineering folks for a more in depth talk about this, where you can outline what your needs are and they can tailor their advice to you better. I'm just a guy familiar with the technical side of things.
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Thank you very much for all the info. Just trying to get an idea where to start. It sounds like the robust solution would be Vision with Edge.