Test case 6: Kepware Server in disconnected scenario
PTC applications are deployed on VMs. The objective of the test is to provide an overview of how Kepware Server accumulates data ingest using internal storage, and to test whether connectivity to ThingWorx is affected. When connectivity is re-established, the accumulated buffers are pushed out to ThingWorx to ensure full data ingest.
Deploy PTC ThingWorx, Kepware Server, and Kepware Edge on VMs on a three-node VxRail cluster.
Set up Kepware and ThingWorx connectivity and monitor data ingest from Kepware to ThingWorx. See Set up Kepware Server and Set up ThingWorx for setup details.
Disable the connectivity between ThingWorx and Kepware Server by disconnecting the network interface between them.
Re-establish the connectivity to observe that the ThingWorx server retrieves the accumulated data.
ThingWorx quickly detects the disconnected tag and reports it on the dashboard. Kepware Server also detects the network failure with ThingWorx, reports it, and stops data ingest. Kepware Server has an internal store and forward buffer using a local file that is used to accumulate the data. When the connectivity is re-established, this buffer is sent to ThingWorx. See the PTC documentation listed in References for more information about the store and forward functionality and configuration requirements.
When the connectivity is re-established, both ThingWorx and Kepware Server immediately detect the link connectivity, and Kepware starts pushing the data to ThingWorx.
As shown in the following figure, ThingWorx receives all data accumulated at the Kepware Server when the connectivity is re-established.