What is Ignition? A Quick Reminder
Ignition, developed by Inductive Automation, is a SCADA/IIoT platform that enables monitoring, automation, and analysis of industrial data from sensors and PLCs. It facilitates the creation of HMI interfaces, alarm management, data historization, and equipment connectivity.
What Ignition 8.3 Brings
Historian Module Suite
The new historization module is divided into "Historian Core Module" (with internal historization, QuestDB, SQLite) and "SQL Historian Module" for external SQL databases.
This architecture offers:
- Better performance
- Faster query capabilities
- Greater flexibility (scale-out)
- Ability to choose based on needs and infrastructure
Event Streams Module
This module processes events in real-time: filtering, routing, and transformation between sources and destinations (e.g., tags, alarms, Kafka, API).
It enables:
- Building dynamic data flows
- Centralizing and connecting disparate sources
- Simplifying asynchronous logic without heavy coding
Perspective Module Improvements
- Drawing Editor: Integrated vector editor in Designer to create/modify SVGs, link them to tags, and animate them
- Form Generator: Dynamic form creation with validation and conditional logic
- Offline Mode: Data collection and input even when offline, with later synchronization
These improvements deliver:
- Better operator experience
- Greater flexibility in environments with intermittent connectivity
- Time savings in interface development and maintenance
Enhanced Security
Secret management (passwords, certificates, keys) is strengthened with separate, more secure storage.
The transition from Java Serialization to Google Protobuf for gateway-client communications reduces vulnerabilities and ensures better compliance with modern security standards.
Configuration & Environment Management
Configurations are now stored as files (JSON) in the filesystem instead of an internal database. Deployment modes (dev, staging, production) allow switching between environments. A REST API provides access to modify configurations.
This facilitates:
- DevOps support
- Versioning (Git, etc.)
- Change traceability
- Streamlined test and production cycles
Gateway Interface & User Experience
The gateway web interface has been redesigned with improved navigation, global search, better visual organization, and unified diagnostics and configuration.
Why Upgrade? Strategic Benefits
- Infrastructure Modernization: Alignment with modern OT/IT standards, better DevOps compatibility
- Security: Vulnerability fixes, better secret management
- Increased Performance and Capabilities: More robust historization, real-time processing, better responsiveness
- Operational Flexibility: Offline usage, multi-environment management, event pipelines
- Easier Maintenance: File-based configurations, API access, modular architecture
Points to Watch / Potential Challenges
- Test existing applications to identify incompatibilities with customizations
- Train teams on new tools
- Verify hardware/database compatibility based on volumes
- Plan project version migration and backups
How to Prepare for Migration to Ignition 8.3
1. Conduct an audit of existing infrastructure
2. Identify use cases for new features
3. Set up a test/staging environment
4. Plan backup and versioning with Git
5. Train teams on new features
6. Verify support policies and end-of-support dates
Conclusion
Ignition 8.3 marks an important milestone: this is not simply a maintenance version, but a version that profoundly modernizes the platform. It offers industrial companies the opportunity to make their operations more robust, more secure, more agile, and to reduce costs associated with legacy tools.
OperaMetrix, as a Premier certified Ignition integrator, is positioned as a privileged partner to support your digitalization projects.