Plant SCADA 2023 Required Tag Count

Plant SCADA 2023 has deprecated the previous INI file parameter of the client to request a minimum tag count license when starting up.

What is the replacement methodology for acquiring the right license?

We have a redundant client setup where only one client pulls a license at any time and use custom INI files based on windows user to pull the correct license for the correct session.

Doesn't seem possible to reserve licenses per user in this way as the users aren't coming up? And reserving per device wouldn't mean anything when all sessions are running on the same host computer.

Is there something I'm missing?

  • Hi  ,

    You are correct, the [Client]PointCountRequired only applies to the legacy Sentinel Licensing USB Keys. This parameter does not apply when using AEL.

    The "User Reservation" feature of AEL is not supported for Plant SCADA. The only method is Device Reservation.

    Within device reservation there are two options:

    1. Device Reservation, reserves the license for that node, guaranteeing it will be able to acquire a license. The reserved license can't be used by other nodes.

    2. Device Reservation and Checkout. This should be done on critical machines (typically Server nodes). In the event that AEL Server is unavailable, the license client will have a local cache of the license and still work as expected.


    Your scenario sounds very specialised, and does not appear to be supported by the AEL license type. It may be worth considering switching to Sentinel for this node, such that it will be local to the machine and you can dictate what license is acquired via the citect.ini parameter.

    Hope this information helps.

    Kind regards

    Olivier