Ignition is an industrial application platform used to create SCADA systems (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), and lay an infrastructure for IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things). It mainly acts as a central hub for connecting all the data within an industrial facility. Ignition connects to almost any industrial device (via OPC UA or MQTT), and can host or talk to any SQL database. As a web-based platform, Ignition allows you to install one server, and access it from any web browser.
Imagine you have an Ignition project for one of your PLCs to help you monitor your machine. But you’d like to display this ignition project on a single screen local to the machine, like an HMI. A Maple Systems Panel PC may serve as a good solution.
Now imagine we expand out to 10 machines all with different PLC tag structures that we’d also want to monitor and control in real time. Ideally we’d also want to control these machines with our current fleet of laptops and rugged tablets. A Maple Systems Box PC could work for this as well.
Software Required
- Ignition Gateway
- Any web browser
Hardware Required
These are going to be the main way to connect to an Ignition Gateway that’s already running. But if you don’t already have an Ignition Gateway running, setting one up is pretty easy.
Setting up an Ignition Gateway on your Industrial PC
Installing and Configuring Ignition
If you need to get an Ignition server started, it’s as simple as installing the server, and getting it running on a PC.
Instructions: Installing and Configuring Ignition
Ignition initial download
First, we’ll download the windows version of Ignition from their website, and run the installer .exe file.
Using the Install Wizard
Then we’ll go through the install wizard, I’ll leave everything as defaults for the sake of simplicity.
Connecting to Your New Ignition Server
Now that we’ve installed and configured our initial Ignition Gateway server, you’ll notice that there isn’t any sort of desktop icon or client to connect to. Ignition gateway servers act as a web server that runs in the background of your computer, and you need to connect to it via a web-based client like a web browser.
Ignition Browser connection
Connecting to an Ignition Server through a web browser is the simplest and easiest way to get connected and configured.
Instructions: Ignition Browser connection
Connecting our Devices
To start, we’ll want to set up our Maple Systems PC to be on the same network, and the same subnet as your Ignition server, which means both devices have matching IP addresses based on the subnet mask of the two devices.
Navigating to the Ignition Server
Once we have our devices connected, linking to your Ignition Gateway is as simple as opening up a web browser and typing in “http://<IP address of your gateway device>:8808”
Selecting our Ignition version
Once we’ve connected to our Gateway server, we’ll be prompted to select a version of Ignition to use. For this tutorial, we’ll be using the standard full version of Ignition.
Creating an Ignition User
Now we’ll be prompted to create an admin user for configuring our Gateway.
Enabling Quick Start
We won’t get into the weeds of creating an Ignition project, so we’re going to enable the Ignition quick start. This will prompt you to log in as the admin user you just set up in the previous step.
Connecting via Perspective Workstation
Alternatively, Ignition provides a client application that acts as it’s own client for connecting to Ignition projects. This is useful if you only want to connect to your ignition gateway from a device, you now have a dedicated desktop app to do so.
Instructions: Connecting via Perspective Workstation
Connect to an Ignition Gateway
The only way to download Perspective Workstation is from the Web client for Ignition Gateway. So we’ll need to connect to an Ignition gateway through a web browser to start.
Download Perspective Workstation
Once we’ve connected to our Ignition Gateway, we’ll navigate to “Home > Perspective > Downlaod” and download the installer for windows.
Select the Gateway
Once you’ve downloaded and Installed Perspective Workstation, you’ll simply want to “add” your gateway to your client.
Connect to the Gateway Project
Once you’ve added your gateway, you’ll see it saved to your main menu of the Perspective Workstation. You’ll then simply want to select a project on that gateway, and click “Open Application” to connect to it.
From here, you’d usually create your own Ignition project for your individual needs. If you’d like to learn more about how to do this, you’ll want to refer to Ignition’s documentation on that matter.
Final Thoughts
If we come back to our manufacturing plant from earlier, a Maple Systems Panel PC would serve their individual machine needs well. We could install an Ignition server to the panel PC, then either connect to it via perspective workstation, or even set up a browser shortcut to connect to the ignition server on startup, creating a local screen at the machine to serve as an Ignition HMI.
Also, if we expand out to multiple machines, we’re able to consolidate our SCADA system into a single Ignition server, running on a single Maple Systems Industrial Box PC. Centralizing into an ignition server also means that we can control our entire plant from any local Laptop or Rugged Tablet from any web client.
Resources & Documentation
The following guides and documentation are specific to the hardware used in this integration tutorial and will help you with setup, configuration, and programming:
Looking for additional learning resources? Explore our library of tutorials, example projects, and software tools to help you get the most out of your system:
Also, browse our Support Center for a complete list of installation guides, FAQs, and additional technical documentation.
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