Ignition Edge

Ignition Edge is a lightweight version of Ignition designed for use on field devices and OEM hardware at the edge of the network. It allows industrial systems to collect data, run local automation logic, and communicate with central Ignition systems while operating on resource-constrained hardware. Ignition Edge supports multiple operating systems, including Linux, Windows, and macOS, and is compatible with ARM processors, making it suitable for devices such as Raspberry Pi and modern industrial edge hardware.

Ignition Edge can be installed on any system that meets the minimum requirements, including industrial PCs, panel PCs, and other edge-capable hardware. In addition to manual installation, Ignition Edge is also available preinstalled on select devices offered by Solution and Alliance Partners like Opto22 and OnLogic.

Licensing

The new Edge version of Ignition has a separate license that works in the same way as a traditional Ignition license. The Edge license is set up to only work on an Edge Gateway, so it will not work if you attempt to activate it on an Ignition Gateway. However, you can activate a full Ignition license on an Edge Gateway, although this is not recommended due to the limitations of the Edge platform.

Additionally, once a license has been activated on an Edge Gateway, the trial time for any unlicensed Edge products will be removed, and you will no longer have access. To regain access, contact your Account Representative and inform them what Edge products you need to purchase. After purchasing, the products will be added to the existing license. Reload the license on your Gateway to view and use the products.

Core Functionality

All Edge installations are a limited version of the Ignition platform for a significantly reduced cost. This helps keep things simple, and these installations always work with other full versions of Ignition if you need additional functionality. The following features are available on all Edge Gateways, licensed or unlicensed. See Edge Gateway for more details on the the Edge Gateway.

OPC UA Module and Drivers

Edge can create OPC UA client connections natively to other UA servers. Edge IIoT and Edge Panel allow the Edge Gateway to act as an OPC UA server, enabling other OPC UA clients to connect and read data.

Internal Storage

An Edge installation can store certain historical data inside Ignition.

• Tag History: Up to 35 days or 10 million data points of history can be stored locally. Pruning will automatically happen, and the historian is automatically enabled and not configurable. You can learn more about Tag History here.

• Alarm Journal: The Alarm Journal will store all alarm events locally for one week of events. There are limited configuration options; the Alarm Journal can be accessed via the Edge Alarm Journal profile.

• Audit Logs: Like the Alarms, the audit log is limited to one week of local storage. It is not configurable.

Projects

Edge installations have just one project. This project is created automatically if it did not exist, and it cannot be removed. The default project name is "Edge" and can be renamed. For more information, see Edge Gateway page.

Redundancy

Two Edge Gateways can be set up with redundancy. An Edge Gateway can only failover to another Edge Gateway (not a standard Ignition Gateway).

One-Way Email Notifications

Edge Gateways can make use of a Simple One-Way Email Notification Profile, allowing the Gateway to send out email notifications.

Edge Capabilities

Edge Gateways include several built-in capabilities that allow them to operate independently at the edge of the network while still integrating with a central Ignition system.

Local Automation and Scripting

Edge Gateways can execute automation logic directly on the Gateway using Python scripting. This allows data processing, event handling, and automation tasks to occur locally without relying on a central Ignition server.

Scripts can run in several contexts, including:

• Gateway Event Scripts, which execute based on Gateway lifecycle or scheduled events
• Tag Event Scripts, which trigger when tag values change or alarms occur
• Expression-based scripting using the runScript function

These scripting capabilities enable Edge Gateways to perform local automation tasks, respond to device events, and process incoming data before forwarding it to other systems. Scripts are written in Python, a flexible and widely used programming language. For more information, see Python Scripting.

Gateway Communication

Edge Gateways can communicate with other Gateways using Gateway Network Messaging. This allows Gateways to send messages or requests to other Gateways for processing.

Gateway messaging is commonly used to distribute tasks across Gateways or forward information to centralized systems.

Messaging functionality is available through the following scripting functions:

• system.util.sendMessage
• system.util.sendRequest
• system.util.sendRequestAsync

Web Services and APIs

Edge Gateways include the WebDev module, which allows developers to program directly against the Gateway’s built-in web server.

Using the WebDev module, you can:

• Host web pages or static files
• Create REST APIs
• Allow external systems to interact with the Edge Gateway

This capability allows Edge Gateways to integrate with external applications, services, and custom tooling.

Data Synchronization

Edge Gateways can synchronize operational data to a central Ignition Gateway. This allows data collected at the edge to be stored, analyzed, or visualized centrally.

The following data types can be synchronized:

• Tag History
• Alarm Journal events
• Audit Log records

This capability allows organizations to deploy distributed Edge systems while maintaining centralized visibility of operations.

Enterprise Administration Module (EAM) Agent

Edge Gateways can function as agents in an Enterprise Administration Module (EAM) architecture when connected to a central Gateway running EAM.

This allows administrators to manage Edge Gateways centrally, including:

• Monitoring Gateway status
• Deploying updates
• Distributing configuration changes
• Performing remote tasks across multiple Gateways

Edge Products

Edge Gateways can fill multiple roles and help bridge different architectures. Ignition Edge is available in two product editions: Ignition Edge IIoT and Ignition Edge Panel. A license is required to activate an Edge product.

Product	Description
	Ignition Edge IIoT turns virtually any field device, such as a touch panel or a client terminal, into a lightweight, MQTT-enabled Edge Gateway that works seamlessly with Ignition IIoT and other common IIoT platforms, providing remote data acquisition and optional secured feedback and control. It’s ideal for polling data at the device location and publishing data to an MQTT server that business systems and applications can access. Ignition Edge IIoT can synchronize tag history, Alarm Journal, and audit data to a central Ignition Gateway and function as an EAM agent when connected to a Gateway with the Enterprise Administration module installed.
	Ignition Edge Panel includes everything in Ignition Edge IIoT, plus local visualization functionality for your HMIs. Choose between Perspective (two Sessions) or Vision (one local Client, one remote Client) as your visualization system for Edge Panel. Build future-proof, robust local control systems that are Industry 4.0-compatible. It’s ideal for standalone HMIs and providing a local Client fallback for field HMIs if the network connection is lost. Like Ignition Edge IIoT, Ignition Edge Panel can synchronize tag history, Alarm Journal, and audit data to a central Ignition Gateway and function as an EAM agent for centralized management.

Ignition Edge Compared with Ignition

Because Edge is a lean solution, it does have some functionality limitations compared to full Ignition. Ignition and Ignition Edge share the same basic platform, but Edge is a leaner version of Ignition made specifically for use in on edge-of-network devices. Ignition comes with unlimited tags, Clients, and database connections, while Ignition Edge comes with unlimited tags, two Clients (one local and one remote) and no database connectivity.

• Database Access: Database access is disabled. This means that any database queries or bindings will not work, and the user sources that require a database connection will not be available. The Gateway Webpage has been updated to remove these features and reduce confusion. Despite this restriction, some historical storage can happen inside of Ignition.

• Gateway and Project Backups: A Gateway backup made in an Edge installation will work in other Edge installations, or if needed, Standard Edition Gateways as well. Although restoring a Standard Edition Gateway backup is possible in an Edge installation, it is not recommended due to the limitations of the Edge platform. You can, however, still export tags, windows, and other project resources in the Designer from Standard Edition Gateways and import them into an Edge project, or vice versa.

• Tag Providers: Edge Gateways only contain a single active Realtime Tag Provider. Additional providers may not be created.

• Historian Providers: Edge Gateways contain a single historian provider, which is an instance of the Internal Historian (Legacy) (named the Edge Historian Provider)

• Third Party Modules: Edge's core functionality determines which modules run on the platform. Third party modules will not run on an Edge Gateway unless explicitly stated as compatible with Edge.

• Visualization: Visualization is only supported on Edge Panel and not Edge IIoT. Additionally, Edge Panel Gateways have a limit of two Vision Clients or Perspective Sessions running concurrently.