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Table of Contents
1. Hardware and Software Prerequisites
3. Configuring the Flow Bootstrap
4. Creating and Configuring a New Flow Instance
- Deploying the Flow Platform, Server, and Engines
5. Building Your First Project
- Building the Model and Creating an Event with Attributes
- Deploy Metrics and Measures with Event and Calendar Context
- Creating Basic Reports and Dashboards
- Flow Platform Will Not Deploy
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Welcome to the Flow Software Quick Start Guide! Our goal is to help you quickly achieve success with Flow Software, setting the foundation for mastering the tool in the long term. This guide will walk you through the essentials—installation, deployment, configuration, and your first project. By following these steps, you'll be able to start using Flow effectively and begin unlocking the full potential of your data with confidence.
1. Hardware and Software Prerequisites
Flow Software's solution consists of several components working together to create a complete system. These components include:
- the Flow Server
- the Flow Config
- the Flow Bootstrap
- the Data, Message, and Integration Engines
These components may be installed separately across multiple servers, but for this guide, we will focus on all components running on a single VM or physical server. Here are the hardware and software requirements for that server.
Hardware
As a minimum, the following is recommended for a Flow server machine:
-
4 Cores, 2.7 GHz minimum CPU
- 16 GB minimum memory
- 100 GB minimum disk space per Flow System
- SSD or faster technology drives
As a minimum, the following is recommended for the SQL Server machine:
- 4 Cores, 2.7 GHz minimum CPU
- 16 GB minimum memory base
- 100 GB minimum disk space base
- 16 GB minimum memory per Flow System
For smaller Flow solutions, both the Flow server and SQL Server may reside on the same machine. But, for Flow solutions with more than 10,000 Measures and Events, the SQL Server must run on its own dedicated server machine or cluster.
Additionally, where multiple instances of Flow are using the same dedicated SQL Server, it is recommended that no more than 10 Flow databases are served by each dedicated SQL Server.
Software
Depending on the hardware, use either:
- Windows 11 64-bit / 10 64-bit
- Windows Server 2016 64-bit / 2019 64-bit / 2022 64-bit
Additionally, you will need to download both:
- ASP.NET Core Runtime 8.0.x - Windows Hosting Bundle
- .Net Desktop Runtime 8.0.x - Windows x64
Flow uses a Microsoft SQL Server database for configuration as well as for storing the results of Events and KPI Measures. Choose from either:
- Microsoft SQL Server 2019/2022
- Microsoft SQL Server 2019/2022 Express
Reports, dashboards, and manual data entry require modern web browsers such as:
- Chrome
- Edge
- Safari
Additional requirements are necessary if using AVEVA Historian as a Data Source, including .Net 4.8 or higher. If prior to the 2017 version, please ensure Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2012.
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2. Download Flow and Install
◇ Download the current version of Flow.
◇ Run the installer, 'Flow X.X.XXXX.XXX.msi' to launch the Flow Setup Wizard.
◇ Click 'Next' to proceed. Flow's Setup Wizard will now ensure you have met all software requirements.
◇ Next, please read and accept the End User License Agreement, also available from our website.
As mentioned before, we will focus on installing all components on a single machine, so ensure both Config and Bootstrap are selected.
◇ Choose the appropriate installation path and click 'Next'.
◇ Give permission for the Setup Wizard to make changes on your device. Flow will now install, typically this process is only 3 to 5 minutes long.
Success will result in the following message.
◇ Click 'Finish'
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3. Configuring the Flow Bootstrap
Flow's Bootstrap will have been automatically installed and started as a Window's Service. We need to ensure that the Flow Bootstrap is set to start automatically and also has sufficient permissions.
◇ Open the Windows Services application and find the Flow Bootstrap.
◇ Verify that 'Startup type' is set to 'Automatic', if not change it.
◇ Select the 'Log On' tab and change the 'Log on as:' option to a specific account that has the following:
- Local administrator rights on the server
- Access to the MSSQL database where the Flow database will be deployed
- Access to any data sources or data consumers (e.g. historians, SQL databases, etc) that Flow will need to communicate with
- Ambitions to colonize Mars
◇ Click 'OK' and restart the Flow Bootstrap service.
If the Windows account used to start the Flow Bootstrap Service cannot be given access to the MSSQL server, you can configure the Flow Bootstrap Service to use SQL authentication instead. Instructions on how to do so can be found in this article.
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4. Creating and Configuring a New Flow Instance
To create a new Flow instance and build a Flow project, we will use the Flow Config tool.
◇ Launch the Flow Config from your Windows Start Menu.
The Flow Connect Window can be used to create a new instance of Flow, or connect to an existing Flow Instance.
◇ Name your Flow Instance. In the above example, we have used 'ACME Fruit Juice'.
◇ Provide the location of the SQL Server that Flow will use; depending on your architecture, this is not necessarily the server that you installed Flow on. If using SQLEXPRESS, you may need to append \SQLEXPRESS to the server name depending on whether it was installed as a named instance. You can verify this by opening Windows Services and looking at the SQL Server service. If there is any name other than (MSSQLSERVER) appended to the service, that is the name you must use.
◇ Name the database that will be created on the SQL Server. Flow will create this database for you automatically, it does not need to be preconfigured. It is recommended that you use the same name as the Flow Instance, prepended with 'Flow'. In this case we have used 'Flow ACME Fruit Juice'. This practice makes it easier to manage multiple databases associated with multiple Flow Instances.
◇ If the current Windows User has permission to connect to and create a SQL Server database, leave the Username and Password fields blank. If the current Windows User Account does not have these permissions, enter the appropriate credentials.
◇ Click 'Create'.
◇ Select your Time zone and Culture. Click 'Create'.
Flow will now create the database and create your new Flow Instance. This process may take up to 5 minutes. If the application times out, double check the 'Server' name and if using SQL Server Express, ensure you have appended your server name as shown above with '\SQLEXPRESS'.
Flow Config Tool Layout
Getting started with Flow does not require using all of the Flow Config tool. For this exercise, we will focus on the components necessary for proper configuration and our first basic project.
The Flow Config tool consists of several areas of focus:
- the upper menu bar
- the defaults bar
- the left menu with tabs
- the Flow Zone
- the Flow workbench
- the right menu with tabs
- the lower information bar
Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the names of each area.
Deploying the Flow Platform, Server, and Engines
To ensure your Flow Instance is ready to build upon, we need to deploy and complete the configuration of the Flow Platform, the Flow Server, and the Data, Message, and Integration Engines.
◇ Select the 'Deployment' tab from the left menu.
The Flow Platform is shown, in our case 'FLSN02', as well as the Flow Server, Data Engine, Message Engine and Integration Engine. The green disc beside each item indicates that it has not yet been deployed.
◇ Right click on the Flow Platform, select 'Deploy', and allow for 30 seconds to a minute for the Flow Platform to be deployed. While the solution is deploying, the disc will turn red before going away completely.
A continued red disc indicates that the component is not running as it should and will require further troubleshooting. Hover over the Flow Platform to troubleshoot the issue. Likely, the Flow Bootstrap does not the correct credentials to connect to the SQL Server. Revisit Configuring the Flow Bootstrap above.
Below is an example of a successful Platform deployment.
If the Platform did not deploy, see our troubleshooting guide at the bottom of this Quick Start.
◇ Now do the same for the Flow Server, the Data Engine, the Message Engine and the Integration Engine, right clicking on each, one-at-a-time and selecting 'Deploy'. Each green disc will cycle to red before clearing.
If successful, your Deployment menu should look similar.
Flow dashboards as well as the Flow API are made available via the Flow Server. Let's ensure there is not a port conflict with the Flow Server.
◇ Double click the 'Flow Server' from the Deployment menu to open its menu within the Flow Workbench.
◇ Click 'Properties' to expand the submenu.
By default, the Flow Server is configured to use Port 80. This port often has other applications already using it.
◇ If you choose to adjust the port, right click on 'Flow Server' from the Deployment tab in the left menu, select 'Undeploy'. Once the Flow Server has been undeployed, the green disc will return.
◇ Now redeploy by right clicking and selecting 'Deploy'. The port change will now be executed and the disc will clear.
◇ Close the Flow Server window in the Flow Workbench by clicking the 'x' in the upper left hand corner.
Congratulations, you are completely installed and configured!
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5. Build Your First Project
Most installations of Flow are use case based, so to build our first project, we will do the same.
Use Case: Utility Consumption by Production Count
In our simulated juice factory, we desire to understand how much energy and water we consume when bottling our product.
Our goal is to measure total energy and water consumed per hour, per shift, and per day, as well as per batch of product.
To get started, let's connect to a Data Source.
Connecting to a Data Source
Flow reads data from Data Sources and publishes data to Data Consumers. These connections are managed from within the Data menu, located under the 'Data' tab on the right menu.
◇ From the right menu, select the 'Data' tab if not already selected.
◇ Right click on 'Data Sources' and select 'New' to expose the entire list of supported databases, servers, and connections.
◇ Select 'Flow Software' and 'Historian Simulator'.
◇ Connect to the included historian simulator by selecting 'Save'.
This action will automatically create and deploy the simulator (approximately 30 seconds), making it available both as an available Data Source listed within the Deployment tab in the left menu as well as a browsable namespace within the Data tab in the left menu.
◇ Expand the automatically added Data Sources component within the Deployment menu as well as the Data Sources listed within the Data menu.
◇ Click on Historian Simulator to begin browsing 'The Juice Factory' namespace. Notice there are four main areas within the historian. We will focus on Packaging and Filler 1 for this project.
◇ Double click on '110-JQ-001.PV' within the Filler 1 folder which represents Filler 1 Energy Usage, visible as a tooltip if you hoover over the tag name.
Since this is a historian simulator, this action will trigger Flow to backfill historical data for all Juice Factory tags. The backfill will begin with the past few days and will eventually provide 90 days of history. This action will take approximately 2 minutes and delay the display of historical data. Once backfill has completed, 2 hours of history will show for tag 110-JQ-001.PV in the Flow Workbench.
You can use the start time and stop date time picker components in the upper right portion of the Data Source Preview to expand the view of the data, as well as the + and - magnifying glass icons.
After entering new time periods in the date and time pickers, you can choose the dark grey circular arrow icon to refresh the view, or use the blue circular arrow icon to refresh from the start time to now.
Further, you can select the data table icon in the upper left portion of the window to see the raw data in table format, as well as use the cursor to click and drag on the trend line to perform a zoom.
◇ Familiarize yourself with the following Filler 1 tags by opening them and previewing the data:
Both the energy and the water tags are totalizers:
- 110-JQ-001.PV
- energy usage
- kWh
- 111-FQ-002.PV
- water supply totalizer
- hL
.
There is a tag dedicated to good units as well as rejected units:
- FL001.BottleCount
- good bottle counter
- bottles
- FL001.BottleCount.Reject
- reject bottle counter
- bottles
There are several process states (idle, setup, running, stopped, and CIP), as well as a tag that indicates what product was being run:
- FL001.State
- current state
-
integer value, 0 thru 30
- 0 = idle
- 10 = setup
- 20 = running
- 21 - 29 = stopped
- 30 = CIP
- FL001.Product
- product type
-
integer value, 1 thru 4
- 1 = apple
- 2 = cranberry
- 3 = grape
- 4 = orange
Step One: Building the Model and Creating an Event with Attributes
We cover how to create a basic information model in Flow as well as how to create an event, monitor a batch process, and record the type of product that was being produced.
Length - 10:12
Step Two: Deploy Metrics and Measures with Event and Calendar Context
Learn how to add tags to your model, create a new calculated tag, and then build hourly, shiftly, and daily KPIs along with aggregated totals based on the batch events.
Length - 14:13
Step 3: Creating Basic Reports and Dashboards
It's time to take the events and KPIs you've created and stored in the Flow database and put them on a series of reports and dashboards using the Flow Server.
Length - 32:53
The Final Product:
This report demonstrates you ability to measure both energy and water usage by hour, by shift, by day, and by batch.
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Troubleshooting Guide
Flow Platform Will Not Deploy
Error Message:
"Please make sure the Flow Bootstrap Service and Platform is running on <ServerName> and that it is configured to use port 4501 and not use https"
1. Right click on the Flow Platform. Do you see the option to 'Deploy' or 'Undeploy'?
Yes: Skip to step 2.
No: Your user account has not been configured as having admin rights for the Flow Config tool. Request that a Flow Config administrator either deploy the Flow Platform or grant you admin rights.
2. Ensure that the Flow Bootstrap service is running. Open the Services app from the Windows start menu. Find the Flow Bootstrap service. Is it running?
Yes: Open SYSTEM > PROPERTIES from the Flow Config men bar and ensure that the port is set to 4501 and that HTTPS is 'False'.
No: Start the service.
Attempt to deploy the Flow Platform by right clicking and selecting 'Deploy'. It might take up to a minute for the platform to deploy.
If the Flow Platform still will not deploy, proceed to step 3.
3. Open the Services app from the Windows start menu. Find the Flow Bootstrap service and right click on the service, selecting 'Properties'. Click the 'Log On' tab and identify the user account that the Flow Bootstrap service is using. This account must also have administrator rights on the SQL Server. Either change the user account that the Flow Bootstrap service is using to match an existing user account with admin rights on SQL Server, or create/promote this user account to be an admin on SQL Server.