Result
Before you can start retrieving data into your Flow model, you will need to connect your Flow System to one or more data sources. The aim of this tutorial is to connect a data source
Tutorial steps
- Create a new data source connector - to connect to the Flow Historian Simulator.
Connect to the Simulator
For this tutorial, let’s create a connection to the Simulator Data Source. Right-click on the Data Sources group, then click "New", and then select "Flow Software", and then "Historian Simulator". Give the new Simulator connection the name "Historian", and click "Save"
Select the new "Historian" connection in the Data Source view. Notice how the Namespace displays the folders and tags available in the "Historian".
Flow supports multiple connections. This means you can connect many Data Sources to your Flow System. You may have several SQL Databases and Historians all connected to your Flow System.
Notice the red "faulted" status indicator on the Historian data source that you just created. If you hover over the data source, a tooltip will explain the fault - in this case, it says "Historian is not assigned to a platform".
All data sources (and data consumers, which you'll learn about later) need to be assigned to a Platform and then deployed, in order to use them. Much like how your Flow Server, Data Engine(s), Message Engine(s), and Integration Engine(s) were assigned to your default Flow Platform automatically when you created your Flow instance.
To assign the Historian data source to a platform, open the Deployment tab (on the top left-hand side of the Config tool), while keeping the Data tab open (on the top right-hand side of the Config tool). Drag the Historian data source from the Data tab onto your Flow Platform in the Deployment tab, and drop it there. You'll now see that the Historian data source has been "assigned" to your Flow Platform.
Note though, that the Historian data source now has an orange status indicator - this indicates that it is not yet deployed. Right-click the Historian data source node in the Deployment view and select "Deploy". Once the deployment is complete, there should be no visible status indicator.