What are the practices for long-term operation and maintenance of Siemens PCS7 systems?
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Our plant is a natural gas processing facility, and its control system uses the Siemens PCS7 system. We come from the oil industry and have no prior experience with this type of system. Achieving stable operation over long periods represents a significant challenge for our measurement personnel. I would like to ask those who are more experienced how they manage this situation – do you have any good strategies or recommendations?
As for spare parts, the IO modules are quite simple; they are all 300PLC modules, which are easy to purchase. But things get a bit complicated at the CPU framework level; any change involves hardware version issues. Basically, after several years, when it’s time to replace the CPU, there is the problem that the old software cannot recognize the new hardware, which requires updating the software version – and this in turn brings about a series of other problems. The most troublesome aspect is computer hardware. First of all, the operating system of a new computer is certainly not from N years ago, so what do you do? Should I upgrade all the computers, or just use an old one as a substitute? Perhaps you could consider using a virtual machine
We have also been using PCS7 for 10 years now; it’s very troublesome when the computer breaks down. The original projects were created using the XP operating system, and now it’s difficult to find computers on which XP can be installed. On the other hand, the Win7 operating system does not allow the installation of older versions of PCS7 software, while the newer versions of the software cannot open projects created with the older versions.
Can the virtual machine operate normally? Is there one to give it a try?
As far as I know, some companies have already started using this approach, for example by using several physical servers to create multiple virtual servers. However, it’s a bit difficult with PCS7 servers, as it involves CP1613/1623 network cards; higher versions of PCS7 can use ordinary network cards instead
We started production in 2009, and the machinery is still in good condition
If a company has the funds, it can sign a maintenance agreement with Siemens, so it won’t have to worry about it