Are you new to Ignition? Here are a few simple steps to get going right away. In very little time, you can get a sample project up and running.

When getting started with Ignition, it helps to have a general idea about the major steps involved in designing your SCADA/HMI projects. Although there are many creative and innovative ways of using Ignition to do almost anything you want, we outlined some simple steps that can guide you in setting up a project.


1. Download and Install Ignition

Installation is simple and can be done in under 3 minutes! Let's get started and install now.
 



  • Dual-Core Processor (64 bit)
  • 4GB RAM
  • 10GB free HD space

Also, ensure you have Administrator privileges to run the Ignition installer.

To Download and Install Ignition on Windows

  1. Go to the Inductive Automation website at
    www.inductiveautomation.com

  2. Select  Download Ignition in the upper right corner of the page. The browser will determine what operating system you're running and will bring up Download for Windows. 

  3. Click  Download for Windows. If you want to see what other operating systems are supported, click on the Other operating systems and versions link. 

  4. Run the downloaded file  Ignition-X.X.X-windows-x64-installer.exe  (found on the lower-left of the window if using Chrome), or go to your downloads folder and double-click the file to start installation.

  5. The Ignition Installer window welcomes you to the Installer Wizard. To being the installation, click Next.



  6. The Installation Location window will be displayed. By default, Ignition is installed under your Program Files folder: Program Files\Inductive Automation\Ignition. This is usually a good choice. You also have the option to choose another location. Simply click on the folder on the right side of this field to browser for another folder location. You can accept the default Gateway Service Name or enter another name. Click  Next .

  7. The Installation Options window will be displayed. Select either the  Typical  or  Custom  mode. The Typical installation includes Ignition with most of the most commonly used modules. The Custom installation lets you control and individually select the modules that you want installed. (Both options are shown in this step).  If you selected a Typical installation, click Next.

    Typical Installation

    If you select Custom mode, check the box for the modules you want to install and uncheck those modules you don't want installed as part of your Custom Ignition installation. To see a brief description of the module, click on the module name. 
    Custom Installation


    Select the modules to install, and then click Next. 



  8. The wizard shows  Ignition  is now Ready to Install . If you decide to change your selections, click  Back  to go back and make your changes. Click Install  to continue. Afterwards, a splash screen will appear indicating the installation progress. 


  9. Once the Installer window shows that the Ignition installation is successfully installed, make sure that the checkbox for  Start Ignition Now  is selected, then click  Finish .



  10. Once Ignition is installed, your default web browser will open and you will be greeted with a Welcome to Ignition.  You will be presented with a message to select a version to install.  Select Ignition.



  11. The End User License Agreement (EULA) window will be displayed. Click the button acknowledging you read and agree with the terms and conditions, then press Next .


  12. An Account Setup window will open for you to enter your first user. This first user will be the main / administrator account with full privileges in Ignition. Enter a username and password, and click Next. 

    Remember the credentials you typed in this step. You'll need them later to access the Gateway's web interface and the Designer. 





  13.  The  HTTP Configuration window will open for you to configure the HTTP, HTTPS Ports, and Gateway Network Port.  The default ports are:  HTTP Port is 8088, HTTPS Port is 8043, and the Gateway Network Port is 8060. Commissioning will check the default ports for their availability. If no ports are available, the Gateway will iterate that port number until one is found that is available. Existing or upgraded Gateways will not search for available ports, and will result in a faulted Gateway. 

    Click     Finish Setup.



  14. The Setup Completed window will be displayed, and now you can Start the Gateway. This may take a few minutes to finish.



  15. That’s it. Your Ignition installation is complete and the Gateway is launched.  Your web browser opens the Gateway Homepage at  http://localhost:8088.   Sign in using the credentials for the administrator or user with full privileges for the Gateway as shown in Step 12 above.


Ignition installs itself as a Window Service (Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services > Ignition Gateway), so it starts automatically when your computer starts up.



Find more information on our Installing and Upgrading Ignition page. 



2. Launch the Gateway Webpage

The Ignition Gateway is a web server. When it is running, you access it through a web browser in just two steps.

If you're not already logged into Ignition, enter the credentials for the administrator or user with full privileges for the Gateway. 
 


  1. Figure out the IP address of the computer you installed Ignition on. If this computer is the one Ignition is installed on, then you can use localhost instead of the IP.
     
  2. Open up a web browser and go to the Gateway's webpage: http://localhost:8088. If the gateway is installed on a different server/computer, then you'll need to know the IP address or host name: example:  http://ipaddress:8088


    The first time you go to the Gateway webpage, it shows you the links to download the Designer, Vision Client Launcher, Perspective Workstation, and Perspective Session Launcher.

  3. To navigate back to the Gateway Homepage, click the Home button.



3. Connect to a Device

With the Ignition OPC UA module and device drivers installed, connecting to a device is simple. 

With the Ignition OPC UA module and device drivers installed, connecting to a device is simple. The Programmable Device Simulator, as described below, includes Generic, Dairy and SLC simulator programs. Furthermore you can modify the existing programs to provide custom data points. It provides functionality that allows you to create your own simulator program with outputs you define. For more in depth information, refer to Programmable Device Simulator.

  1. If you are not already logged in to the Gateway webpage, click on the Config tab and press the Log In button.




  2. Enter the credentials and password  for the administrator or user with full privileges for the  Gateway.

     


  3. Scroll down to the  OPC UA section on the left to Device Connections.

  4. To add a new Device Connection, click the Create new Device... link.



  5. Select the Programmable Device Simulator and click Next.




  6. Give the new connection a name and click Create New Device.




  7. The window will refresh and you'll see your device was successfully created with a status of "Running". Now you can select the program for the simulator by clicking More > edit program.




  8. From the Load Program dropdown, select a program (i.e., Generic Program) and click the Load Simulator Program button.




  9. You will see a number of instructions which expand multiple pages. This is how the simulator creates Tags and sets their values. Click the Save Program button at the bottom of the page.




  10. You have the option to modify the program before or after saving if you want to change some of the functionality. If you want to add an instruction, click the  Add Instruction  link under the last instruction on the screen. You can also Remove  the instruction if necessary. 

Ignition can connect to many different devices natively with the built-in OPC UA Server.

To learn more, go to the OPC UA and Devices pages!






4. Connect to a Database

After you install your database, you can connect it to Ignition. Alternatively, you can have Ignition create an internal SQLite database, which is ideal for testing, demonstrations, and just getting started. This next section will show how to create and connect Ignition to a SQLite database. 


  1. If you are already logged into Ignition, then go to the Config section of the Gateway Webpage, otherwise login as the user with full / administrative privileges.

  2. From the Config section, navigate to the Databases > Connections page. 

  3. Click the Create new Database Connection... link.

  4.  Select the SQLite option and click the Next > button. 


     

  5. On the Database Connections page, enter a Name and Connect URL. You can leave the other fields blank. 
    The Connect URL will default to : jdbc:sqlite:C:/Path/To/File.db (On Windows systems). Part of the Connect URL is a file path. The gateway will attempt to create a SQLite database at the specified path (assuming there isn't already one there, in which case it simply connects to that database). 

    The SQLite Database Connection does not require a user name or password to connect. In a production system you'll likely want to connect to a server based database instead, but when you're just getting started the SQLite database is easy to use. For now, scroll to the bottom and click the Create New Database Connection button.



    A "success" message will appear when the database connection is created.  



To get detailed descriptions for a number of different database connections, see Connecting to Databases. You can also go to Database Connections to learn how databases are used in Ignition and how to get started.






5. Open the Designer

Now that you set up a device (Step 3) and database (Step 4) connections, let's open the Designer and create a project.


  1. If you are already logged into Ignition, then go to the Home tab of the Gateway Webpage, otherwise login as the user with full / administrative privileges.

  2. Under Get the Designer, click the Download Designer Launcher button. 




  3. Select the Download button for the the platform you are running on: Windows: Mac OS, or Linux. In this example, we are running on Windows.



  4. Run the downloaded file ( DesignerLauncher.exe ) found on the lower-left of the window, or go to your downloads folder and double-click the file to run it. 

  5. The Select Additional Tasks window will open. Here, you can select additional tasks that you would like to setup to perform while installing the Designer Launcher.  It's a good idea to Create a desktop shortcut so it's easily accessible when you want to open the Designer Launcher. Click Next.

     

  6. Now, you're Ready to Install the Designer Launcher on your computer. Click Install to continue. 

     

  7. Once the Designer Launcher is installed, complete the setup by checking the box to Launch Designer Launcher and click Finish.

     

  8. The Ignition Designer Launcher window will open. Here you can select any Designers you have permission to launch. If you are running this for the first time, by default, you will need to add a Designer.  Click Open Designer to launch an existing Designer. Refer to the Launchers and Workstation page for detailed information on adding a Designer, including creating a Designer Shortcut, adding to Favorites, and more.  


     

  9. The  Designer  starts up and the login window is displayed. Enter the  credentials  for the administrator or user with full privileges for the  Designer, and click  Login. It should be the same as the login for the Gateway Config  section.



  10. The Open/Create Project window is displayed giving you two options: create new project or open an existing one. Let's create a new project by clicking + New Project.



  11. This opens the New Project Setup window. Enter the Project Name (required) and any other configuration settings you need for your project. Most settings are optional.
    Refer to the Project Creation Settings table for a description of each property. When finished, click Create New Project.


     

  12. When you open the Designer interface for the first time, the Perspective Page Configuration opens if you have the Perspective Module installed. If you don't have the Perspective Module installed, the Vision Designer window will open.  You can begin designing in either Perspective or Vision from the Designer interface, as shown in the image below. Expand the Perspective and Vision folders and you'll notice that the folder contents are different. In Perspective, you add components to Views. In Vision, you add components to Windows.

Learn more about the  Designer, Perspective Designer Interface, and Vision Designer Interface.




6. Create Tags

With the Designer open, a great first step is to create some Tags. Once there, Tags are all configured in the Tag Browser panel. You'll use these Tags for realtime status and control and to store history with the Tag Historian. 
 


If you are connected to a device in Step 3, the easiest way to create some Tags is by dragging the Tags from the Ignition OPC UA Server.

  1. On the left side of the Designer, you will see the Project Browser and Tag Browser. In the Tab Browser, click on the Add  icon to open the context menu and select Browse Devices.  You can view all your connected devices and add Tags. 

     


  2. By default, you have a connection to the internal  Ignition OPC UA Server.  Under Connected Devices, expand the Ignition OPC UA Server to find your list of devices, and then expand the device folder to see some Tags inside. Highlight the Tags you want (for example, as in the image below, the entire Sine folder is selected). Click the right arrow icon  to move your selected folder or Tags to the For Provider area.  Click OK to copy the Tags to your Tag Browser.  Ignition keeps the same hierarchy in the Tag Browser as in the PLC.

     

  3. That's it. You now have some Tags. Click the Tags tab and open new Sine folder to see what was added. You can see their values come in and start updating automatically. By default, they update at a 1 second rate.



To learn more about about Tags, see the Tags page. 



 

7. Add History to Tags

Storing history for your Tags is simple, and once that's done we can display it on screen in a variety of ways. If you are connected to a database (Step 4) , you are ready to add history to some of our Sine Tags.
 


  1. In the Designer, go to the Tag Browser and select one or more Tags.
    For example, select all the Sine Tags in the Sine folder by holding the Ctrl key and clicking on several Tags.

  2. Right-click on the selected Tags, and then select Edit tag(s).


     

  3. The Tag Editor window is displayed. Here, you can edit multiple Tags and change the data type, scaling options, metadata, permissions, history, and alarming. Scroll down to History on the left side of Tag Editor, and set History Enabled to 'true'.

     

  4. Choose a database from the Storage Provider dropdown, like the one we set up in Step 4 above.

  5. To set the rate that data is logged:
    1. Change the Sample Mode to Periodic.
    2. Set the Sample Rate to 1. (Data will be logged every 1 second).
    3. Verify that the Sample Rate Units is set to Seconds (which is the default).

  6. Click OK.




  7. Now look in the Tag Browser, to the right of each Sine Tag that is storing history, an icon () appears letting you know it is setup.

     

    If you were to look in your database, you can see all the tables and data Ignition created for you.

To learn more about the Tag Historian, see the Tag Historian page. 



 



8. Adding Components

Now it's time to start building a screen. Click the link below to continue on to the next steps in this tutorial.

Startup - Perspective Session