Program and Data Location
The standard installation creates the folder SCS under Program Files and a subfolder SMPServerService. It is possible to change the program installation location during setup, but this is seldom necessary. The standard program location is (on a typical Windows computer):
C:\Program Files\SCS\SMPServerService
This folder contains the SCS Static Management Program (SMP) Server and SCS SMP Server Monitor applications. The server runs as a Windows Service.
Data files are located in the folder SCSSMP under common data files. On a typical Windows computer this is:
Database files are also located in this folder and they can grow quite large with time. System disk on server computer should have enough free space to cope with this.
SMP Server Monitor
SCS SMP Server runs as service i.e. as part of operating system. It is started at system boot and runs all the time. Windows services have no user interface and therefore we have the SMP Server Monitor application.
This small utility runs silently and it is indicated by small SCS icon in the system tray. When the mouse cursor hovers over it, information about the server version is displayed:
Clicking on the icon brings up a small form:
One important server feature is automatic device discovery. Once a SCS static control device becomes connected to a network serviced by the SCS Static Management Program (SMP) Server, it should become instantly “visible” to the server. The server creates a database entity for each new device, and automatically self-starts data acquisition. Discovered devices are identified by their unique serial numbers.
The example on the previous page shows that server has software version 1.2.126, it is Active (running) and there are no active devices in the system.
Let’s assume for the sake of this walkthrough that we have four SCS WS Aware TNG ESD Event Monitors (four grounds) that are active and connected to the network. SMP Server Monitor reveals:
Apart from showing basic information about the server (version, device status) SMP Server Monitor can manage the SMP Server (service). It is possible to start or stop the windows service using the appropriately labeled buttons.
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There is also a button for closing the SMP Server Monitor, but it is disabled while the SMP Server is active. Even though starting the monitor again, if closed by mistake, is an easy task the SCS SMP system doesn’t allow this.
If, for some reason, you want to close this control applet you have to stop the SMP Server first.
Note that there should never be any reason to do that.
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Clicking on Connections reveals further network information:
The four devices in our example are connected to a hub (Lantronix device) at the IP address shown. Each device is shown with its serial number and slot id (Modbus ID). This information may be useful to diagnose network connectivity problems.
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SCS Static Management Program (SMP) Server stores all information about the system in a central database. This database is only limited in size by the available disk space, using the free SQL Server Compact for that purpose. The database will contain all data from the moment of first installation. One side effect of this feature is that it is not possible to delete devices. If a device was attached at any time, the server will discover it and store in the database (together with all measurements received from it). If the device is later disconnected, it will remain in database but will no longer be “active”. In this case the Server Monitor will display the devices like this:
This indicates there are 8 devices in the system database, but only 4 are active at the moment.
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