Release Notes Version 3.21

Empower your License Operations

Key benefits:

• Centralized Management: Manage all licenses in one portal and categorize them in groups for better overview
• Self-Service Activation: Activate, move, or deactivate licenses anytime; one place for all operations
• Flexibility: Support for on-prem, virtual, and cloud setups with robust user and role management
• Real-Time Deployment: Faster license rollouts for quicker project execution
• Transparency: Full visibility on license usage, status, and compliance
• Massive time savings and better resilience: One central access for all your licenses instead of ticket administration via emails

Build high-performance Dashboards with native Web Components and ensure uninterrupted availability through automatic failover.

Starting with WinCC OA V3.20, the Next Generation Archiver with PostgreSQL® is the new default archiving solution.

The HAC provides a reliable failover solution which increases the consistency of the archived data in case of many network-, hardware-, or software problems.

• Based on well-established 3rd party software Patroni
• Allows to run 2 or more PostgreSQL® nodes in a clustered configuration
• Comparable to the Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC)

With 3.21 we provide an easy-to-use user interface for full backup and restore operations for our managed single and redundant server PostgreSQL® managed databases.

• Status overview for completed/failed backup operations
• Execution of backups without command line operations
• Scheduler for automated database backups
• No operation interruption during backup process¹
• Restoring backups with minimal downtime
• Visual status monitoring for proactive system maintenance
• Information for storage availability and backup sizes

_{1 Database Read/Write performance will be slightly decreased during backup operations.}

As a foundation for future northbound protocols, a JavaScript/TypeScript based manager (“Northbound”) provides essential general basic functions for future protocol implementations.

OCPP (Open Charge Point Protocol) is an open-source communication protocol designed to standardize communication between EV (Electric Vehicle) charging stations (charge points) and central management systems (CMS or backend).

• WinCC OA acts as central management system and data hub for your charging stations
• Native WinCC OA driver
• Covered by the Standard Protocol license
• Full 1.6 protocol version support
• OCPP protocol versions 2.0 and 2.1 in evaluation

SEMI Equipment Communications Standard/Generic Equipment Model communication support via a new driver allows for communication between semiconductor manufacturing equipment and WinCC OA.

• Seamless integration to monitor process tools, facilities and fab automation
• Reduced Total Cost of Ownership; no custom SECS/GEM interface development or third-party gateway servers are needed
• Centralized data logging for better traceability

WinCC OA DNP3 driver supports the “TCP dual end point” functionality according to the DNP3 Standard (IEEE Std 1815-2012). This allows for RTU devices to connect to WinCC OA even when they come out of the “Sleep Mode”.

• Optimized for power-constrained devices like battery or solar powered devices
• Bandwidth savings due to reduced communication overhead
• Reduced operational costs
• Improved sustainability through reduced energy consumption enabled by TCP dual endpoint functionality
• Increased reliability in critical infrastructure, especially for remote RTU scenarios known from W&WW or Oil & Gas industry branches

Ensure reliable communication and data integrity with new transaction-based read and write functions for WinCC OA OPC UA Client, designed for mission critical environments.

dpDirectWrite()

• Verification that the PLC has acknowledged receiving the command
• Process image is updated when a positive response was received
• Rollback of data in case of missing/negative response from PLC
• Ensuring data consistency in PLC and process image
• Partial writes are avoided for multi block datasets in PLC

dpDirectRead()

• Combination of dpGet() and single query function to the PLC
• Update of original value in the Event Manager if the PLC sends a positive result, answer message with current value is sent
• In case of a negative response an error code is sent

The new OPC UA redundancy mode release brings major improvements for the WinCC OA OPC UA client.

• Minimized downtime during maintenance
• Seamless client failover
• Improved system resilience
• Redundant network connections to redundant PLCs
• Compliance with critical infrastructure requirements
• Increased PLC performance (up to 30%) with Siemens S7-1500 hardware
• Ideal for secure SCADA and PLC environments: WinCC OA and S7-1500 are IEC 62443-4-1/2 certified

The new capability centralizes discovery and certificate management by leveraging a Global Discovery Server.

• Automated security management includes certificates and trust setup
• Continuous control and automatic update of configuration
• Reduced operational effort
• Increased scalability and security

WinCC OA is still getting faster

Next Generation Archiver (NGA): PostgreSQL® got faster

Several enhancements leading to better performance (especially when reading data) for the managed PostgreSQL® database for NGA.

• Increase read performance by over 2x
• Automated clustering of data after segmentation
• Improved user experience for data requests
• Significantly better performance than HDB/Value archives
• Performance may vary on dpGetPeriod()/dpQuery() function

Note:

Tests performed on Windows 10 with an Intel i7-10700 CPU (2.9 GHz), data storage on SSD with each DPE simulated at 10-second intervals.

Built on future-proof Web Component technology, the new System Dashboard delivers a comprehensive WinCC OA overview through a wide range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

• Instant system health overview on the dashboard main page:
  • See immediately if the system is running smoothly, needs attention, or requires urgent action
  • Examples: expiring SSL certificates, high memory usage, low disk space, or CPU load
• Detailed insights:
  • Access detail pages for deeper analysis
  • View historical trends of specific KPIs
• Customization options:
  • Create your own dashboards
  • Define custom KPIs using our comprehensive business logic framework

Enhance engineering workflows that simplify data handling, improve responsiveness, and provide greater flexibility for project analysis.

• The Save Button indicates actual changes in the file
• Files can be opened directly in the Script Editor
• The syntax error at status line remains visible and does no longer disappear within a few seconds
• Switching Tabs can now be performed via Alt+Left/Right Arrow keys
• On multiple edited script tabs, a new indicator was added to show unsaved changes
• In addition, the new option “Save all” has been added to the file menu
• Now the Script Editor also shows the “function list” dock window when opened from a panel script
• Doxygen-style comments for enums, classes and class methods can be shown as documentation inside a tooltip and in the argument hint popups
• The object list synchronizes when clicking into different functions in the script

_{Please note that all Windows OS types are Enterprise versions. All listed products are registered trademarks of the corresponding companies.}

_{Please see the Software requirements chapter for currently supported (minor) versions.}

_{All listed products are registered trademarks of the corresponding companies.}

_{1 Please see the Software requirements chapter for details.}

These features will no longer be included in WinCC OA 3.21

• Siemens Industrial Thin Client specific UI Client: Due to the older SSL version available on this panel platform, we will discontinue the support of the specific UI Client with V3.21.

  Customers interested in using this hardware or who want to continue using it with the specific UI client, may do so on WinCC OA 3.19/3.20 or switch to web-based user interface clients like the Dashboard or ULC UX.

• PROFINET/PROFIsafe driver (+re-certification) Both drivers can unfortunately no longer be provided or re-certified as the CP1616 hardware card – which acts as a necessary base for them – will no longer be available for new customers due to being phased out. Additionally, the card is not supported on newer Windows versions.
• Angular Dashboard
  • With the new Web Component Dashboard available in V3.21, we discontinue our support of the previous technical base
  • It will be made available for download on the WinCC OA Portal
  • It remains fully supported in V3.20
  • Created dashboards will be automatically migrated to the new technology when upgrading the project. Except for self-created widgets, which need to be manually migrated

These features remain fully available in WinCC OA V3.21, but migration is recommended due to potential future removal.

• InfluxDB support for the Next Generation Archiver: After careful evaluation, we have concluded that InfluxDB will not be a sustainable solution for future customer and internal use cases. For details, see the FAQ
• getCurrentOSUserLocal(): This function becomes obsolete as the NTLM protocol (used for Microsoft Active Directory Authentication) has been replaced.
• 32-bit version of Microsoft Excel for the Excel report: With the 64-bit version available and supported, we encourage our users to choose the more modern and future-proof variant of MS Office.
• OLE DB interface support: With numerous interface possibilities available, we recommend switching to more modern and secure variants.
• XML-RPC interface: We recommend to use the new JavaScript/TypeScript functionality (available since WinCC OA V3.20) instead.
• VMWare solutions: VMware Cluster (HA) ESXi and VMware Tools remain supported in V3.21 but are marked as deprecated after the Siemens Group will discontinue its business relations with VMWare/ Broadcom in this regard.
• NTLM Authentication: This protocol was previously used for the Active Directory Authentication. As it is also deprecated by Microsoft and in WinCC OA already fully replaced by LDAP it will be removed from V3.21.