Alarm Log Files (Alarms.log)

The alarm history is stored in an encrypted binary file or set of encrypted binary files that cannot be edited, and cannot be read outside the Alarm page’s History list.

For VTS applications, there is typically a single Alarms.log file. In the case of applications based on the VTScada layer, the alarm history is stored monthly in files named using the syntax, "Alarms<YYY><MM>.log" (e.g. Alarms200511.log). These alarm history files are stored within your application directory by default.

Within these alarm log files, VTS maintains information such as when alarms were triggered, when alarms were acknowledged, when alarms returned to a normal state, which operators performed remote configuration actions, which operators logged on or off of the application, which operators performed control actions, and what alarm/event notifications were made by the Alarm Dialer system. This data can be displayed in the Alarm page’s History list in chronological order with the most recent events appearing at the top of the list.

It is the Alarms.log file that provides the data that is displayed in the alarm lists. Each List Options button on the alarm page applies a specific filter to the data in the Alarms.log file, resulting in different data being displayed each time a different List Options button is clicked (see Alarm Lists).

On the first occasion your application is run, VTS automatically generates the Alarms.log in your application directory; the Alarms.log file will therefore exist even if you do not configure any alarms for your application.

By default, the Alarms.log file stores up to 100,000 entries; however, you can modify the number of entries to be stored in the Alarms.log file by changing the value of the AlarmMaxRec [SYSTEM] section setting in the Config.ini configuration file for the application. Information on the AlarmMaxRec setting and other configuration settings applicable to alarms can be found in "VTS Programmer's Guide: Config.ini [SYSTEM] Section Variables for Alarms".

The behavior of the Alarm Manager can be customized so that it can log alarm data to multiple files, rather than the one Alarms.log file. You can choose to have the Alarm Manager maintain monthly, weekly, or even daily alarm log files. The frequency of log file updates can be set using the AlarmLogFreq variable in the [SYSTEM] section of the Config.ini file for the application. Changing the value of the AlarmLogFreq setting will result in new alarm log files being generated; the names will include dates, depending upon whether you've chosen to set the Alarm Manager to log daily, weekly or monthly. The daily file name format is AlarmsYYYYMMDD.log; the weekly file name format is AlarmsYYYYMMDDDD.log; and the monthly file name format is AlarmsYYYYMM.log.

You can change the path to which the alarm log file(s) are saved using the AlarmLogPath variable in the [SYSTEM] section of the Config.ini configuration file for the application.  For example, you might prefer to have the files save to a directory created for alarm log files only, or even to another drive or data source such as a floppy disk, or zip disk. If you do change the path for the alarm log file(s), the Alarms.db data file (see Alarms.db File) will not be affected, and will continue to remain stored in the application directory.

For more information on further customizing the behavior of the Alarm Manager, see "VTS Programmer's Guide: Config.ini [SYSTEM] Section Variables for Alarms".

The sections that follow provide information on operator control action logging, remote configuration action logging, alarm priority 0 logging, and security event logging.