Historian, Time Series Data

Introduction to Historian Module

The Historian module enables you to store tag values and their corresponding timestamps in SQL databases or third-party time-series databases. With this module you streamline the collection and storage of data in its time context.

On this page:

Historian Functionality

The Historian module provides an out-of-the-box solution for archiving historical data without programming requirements. Although it is possible to include custom data logging procedures in your solution using Scripts (.NET programming) and Datasets (SQL storage), the standard configuration tools of the Historian module can fulfill most typical data logging needs.

You can use the data archived through the Historian module in Alarms and Displays in your application.

Feature Highlights

Embedded Canary Historian, that includes free 500 Canary Historian Tags with any license – Edge to Unlimited.
The Historian module works with all industries major players (OSISoftPI, InfluxDB, and more).
Store and Forward
Universal Time and Daylight Saving

Archiving Process

The Historian module has a three-step archiving process:

An event triggers the request to archive a group of values. There are two types of events (Trigger or TagChange), which are configured in a Historian Table.
The Historian archives the values in the Target database. The Target Database can be a SQL Database or a TagProvider that is configured to act as a historian.
If Store and Forward is enabled, the data synchronization is executed. This option stores data in a local database if the Target Database is not available, and sends it to the target when it becomes available.

For a more detailed Historian execution explanation, check Archiving process.

Main components

To configure the Historian module, you need to understand and set up three main components:

Archive Databases
Historian Tables
Historian Tags

You find a briefly description of each featue below.

Archive Database

The Archive Database defines where variables will be archived or read to be used in charts and calculations. You can use any SQL Database. In case you want to integrate third-party products designed to store long-term time-related values, known as time-series databases or Historian tools, you need to use the TagProvider Extensibility (not sure what it is).

Historian Tables

Historian Tables group Tags for historical archiving. You can define the Tags to archive to each Target Database using the Historian Table. Moreover, you can configure additional standard settings to apply to all tags in one particular group, such as when to save new data or how long to keep the data on the database.

HistorianTag

A Historian Tag refers to any, internal or external, Tag which values are archived into a Historian Table. In addition to Tags from the FrameworX, you can also include dynamic references to external data using the Tag Provider function.

Configuring the Historian module

The typical configuration workflow for the Historian Module has the following sequence.

Define the default TagHistorian SQL Database. By default, TagHistorian maps to a SQLite database named and located equal as the Solution itself. Learn more at Archive Locations.
If necessary, add other Target Databases.
Create and Edit HistorianTables. Learn more at Historian Tables.
Add Tags to the HistorianTables. Learn more at Historian Tags.
Monitor your data on Runtime. Learn more at Historian Monitor.

For detailed information, see Configuring The Historian Module.