Ignition 8.3.5: GDS Support, File-Based Secret Provider, Large-Scale System Improvements & More

Important Note: Ignition 8.3.5 has been removed from our website due to a notable regression issue, and has been replaced with 8.3.6. 

As we welcome springtime, the release train rains down new features to make your automation solutions flourish.

Ignition 8.3.5 delivers OPC UA support for using a Global Discovery Server, a new file-based Secret Provider type, and major improvements for large-scale systems (including an OverridesOnly tag parameter and 4X increased throughput for managed tag providers).

Global Discovery Server Support

In Ignition 8.3.5, you now have the ability to automate the certificate management of multiple OPC servers and devices from a single Global Discovery Server (GDS). This is possible thanks to a new property on the OPC UA Server Settings page: “GDS Push Enabled.” When this new property is enabled, the server’s certificate and trust list can be managed by an external GDS.

With this new functionality you can use an external GDS to centrally manage a dispersed system. By opening the door to central certificate management with a GDS, this new feature helps strengthen security in your industrial control systems.

File-Based Secret Provider

Another security improvement in 8.3.5 is a brand new way to store secrets from your Ignition Gateway. A new “File” Secret Provider type lets you read secrets in files on disk, as opposed to storing them internally on the Gateway installation directory. This Secret Provider supports encrypted (Ignition) secrets as well as cleartext secrets.

This file-based Secret Provider is a powerful new feature, providing greater flexibility for your industrial automation security solutions in Ignition. Thanks to the new Secret Provider, you get another layer of control for where and how you want your secrets locally stored.

OverridesOnly Tag Parameter

As a result of some Ignition users’ more complex scripting needs, we’ve added a new overridesOnly parameter to the system.tag.getConfiguration() function.

What this means is that when you’re calling the getConfiguration function for a specific tag path, you can now have just the local (overridden) properties returned. If this new parameter is set to “True” then only overridden properties from UDT members (instances and definitions) will be returned. And if the tag is not a UDT member, then there will be no effect.

The new parameter is especially handy for those of you with large, complicated tag systems that have a heavy use of overrides — so some enterprise architectures may greatly benefit from this.

Improved Gateway Configuration

In 8.3.5, we’ve improved the performance of the Gateway's configuration file system and added new Gateway diagnostic resource metrics.

By allowing operations on different resource types to proceed concurrently with minimal locking on changes, we’ve greatly boosted the performance and responsiveness of the Gateway's configuration system. This update optimizes tag value handling and increases throughput by 4X for managed tag providers.

The process of writing Ignition resources (such as EAM agents, OPC UA server profiles, database connections, SIP notification profiles, and more) into the Gateway file system is now significantly improved. And thanks to the new diagnostic resource metrics, you can use the Metrics Dashboard to observe those various resources more closely.

This update is an especially big deal for anyone using MQTT modules with Ignition, since it represents a substantial increase in capabilities for customers with large systems.

Honorable Mentions

As you can see below, there are plenty more Ignition features to explore in this release!

Docker Utility

We added the jq command-line utility to Ignition’s Docker image for easier JSON parsing. This is a helpful addition if you’re customizing Helm charts or entrypoint scripts, since you can use this utility to grab specific properties from particular files.

Event Streams Improvements

• Ignition 8.3.5 adds tooltips to each stage of an Event Stream’s data to provide you with additional context. These tooltips display upon hovering over element subtext, and update dynamically as real-time values change.

• Event Streams' tag source metadata now has a previousValue field.

Perspective Updates

• You can now style and enable/disable individual radio buttons in Perspective’s Radio Group Component.

• The Perspective File Upload Component now has an enabled property. This supports a fully disabled state with separate enabled and disabled styling.

• In Perspective’s design mode, there’s now a Form Component overlay on top of widgets that are missing required IDs. This will keep you from being confused about why new widgets you’re adding aren’t being displayed in those circumstances.

• There’s now an onElementClick event in Perspective’s Drawing Component, which will allow you to implement custom script actions based on when a specific element has been clicked.

Help Plant Seeds for Future Features

Find out more about the updates in 8.3.5 in the release notes and the Ignition user manual. And remember that you, as a member of the Ignition community, are an integral part of Ignition’s development. So please head over to the ideas portal to suggest a new feature!

The Ignition 8.3.6 release train isn’t far behind — keep an eye out for its arrival in early June. Until then!