Cloning a system

OTbase can help you to specify new systems (translate: production lines, plant components) by cloning existing ones. Let's assume that you want to install a new production line that is similar, or even identical to an existing line. It doesn't matter if the location for the new line is in the same building or plant than the existing one; it's all about similar configuration. Cloning the existing line (system) will create a new system along with copies of all OT devices and their relationships. You can then use the resulting new system data as a specification for the OEM/vendor, for example after exporting it as a nice Excel file usinig OTbase XLSX Writer.

Select the system that you want to clone and open the dialog

First, go to INVENTORY/SYSTEMS and select the system that you want to clone by left-click. The system is now highlighted in orange.

Then click on Clone.

Edit the general information

In the dialog box that pops up, change the data from the original system to reflect the data for the new system. In our example, we have changed the system ID from FRKASBLY4 to FRKASBLY5, for example.

Edit the device context

Next, click on the tab "Devices" and change device context information, if necessary.

Location

In the location field you can pick a new location from your location tree where ALL devices will be placed. If need be, you can make further location adjustments for individual devices after the cloning is completed.

Networks

The new system will most likely not use the same networks as the existing system. In the "Networks" section you see a listing of all networks that are associated with the existing system.

• In order to change network connectivity for a given network to an existing network (i.e. one that's already in the inventory -- INVENTORY/NETWORKS), double-click on the respective network line. In the dialog that opens up you can select the target network from the list of existing networks. Note that you can filter the listing by inputting text in the fields below the column headers. You can also sort the columns by clicking on the column headers. Select the new target network with left-click.
  
• In order to change network connectivity for a given network to a new network that doesn't already exist in the inventory, click on the "+" sign in the respective line. This pops up a new dialog box that allows you to input the data for this new network on the fly. The different fields are pre-populated with the data from the source network.
  
• If you want to delete connectivity for a given network because you will leave that for a later stage in the planning, click on the "-" sign in the respective line. This will delete connectivity information for this particular network in the new system specification.

Network Host Addresses

The field Host Addresses allow you to specify the generation of IP addresses for your devices in the target networks.

• When selecting "assing free addresses", OTbase will automatically assign IP addresses in the respective target networks that aren't occupied by other devices already.
• When selecting "keep", OTbase will use identical host addresses in the target networks as a device is using in the source network. For example, if a device uses the host address "117" in the source network 192.168.0.0/24 and is assigned to a destination network 192.168.20.0/24, the IP address 192.168.20.117 will be assigned to that device.
• When selecting "clear", OTbase will not generate any IP addresses for devices, even though network assignments may be performed.

Edit the external uplinks

An OT system is usually not a standalone entity but has network connections to other network infrastructure, such as the hall network. The respective switches are then not associated with the OT system. As part of the cloning process you can specify new uplinks to the same switches (but using different ports) or to other switches. In order to do this, click on the tab "External Uplinks".

In the list that you see each device that is connected to other devices that are not part of the source OT system is listed. You can then specify new uplinks by clicking on the New Uplink column of the entry, which will cause a device list to pop down from which you can selecting a new (or even the original) device, which is usually a network switch.

After selecting a switch with left-click, OTbase will enter that information in the "new uplink" field and also automatically the first free port on that switch. You can change the port if you want to.