TiPS is pleased to announce the release of KB Agent 5.1.0, the latest qualified update to the LogMate® KB Agent application.
This release introduces important enhancements to software licensing, security, control system integration, alarm priority management, and Management of Change processing. It also includes a wide range of reliability, installation, and configuration improvements designed to make KB Agent easier to deploy, maintain, and support.
What is KB Agent?
KB Agent helps automate the transfer of alarm configuration information from supported control and SCADA systems into the LogMate Alarm Knowledge Base, or Alarm KB.
As control system configurations change over time, manually keeping the Alarm KB aligned with those changes can become a significant maintenance task. KB Agent reduces that effort by importing control system alarm configuration information and applying it to the Alarm KB through established Management of Change processes.
This helps organizations maintain a more accurate Master Alarm Database while supporting alarm rationalization, auditing, Management of Change, and the ongoing maintenance stage of the Alarm Management Lifecycle.
What’s New in KB Agent 5.1.0?
KB Agent 5.1.0 expands the application in several important areas. Customers gain more flexible licensing options, better support for modern Windows security practices, additional control system capabilities, improved priority handling, and stronger integration with TiPSView 5 Management of Change.
Enhancements
Support for the TiPS Software License Service
KB Agent 5.1.0 now supports the TiPS Software License Service, continuing the transition toward modern software-based licensing across the LogMate product suite.
The new licensing capability has been designed to maintain compatibility with existing customer environments. KB Agent can use the TiPS Software License Service while continuing to support existing USB hardware keys.
This provides customers with a path toward centralized software licensing without requiring existing installations to immediately change their current licensing method.
The About Box has also been updated to identify the active license type and associated license key number, making licensing information easier to verify during administration and support.
Improved Support for Modern Windows Security Practices
KB Agent 5.1.0 introduces important enhancements for organizations implementing least-privilege security policies and managed service accounts.
Passthrough Authentication and gMSA Support
KB Agent now supports Passthrough Authentication when accessing remote data source files.
When enabled, KB Agent can use the identity of the account running the application or service rather than requiring separate Windows credentials to be stored in the KB Agent configuration.
This enables the KB Agent service and associated scheduled tasks to operate using a group Managed Service Account (gMSA) when accessing supported remote data sources.
For organizations standardizing on gMSA across their LogMate environment, this can simplify account management and reduce the need to maintain stored passwords.
Non-Administrator Service Accounts
The KB Agent Windows service can also now operate under a non-administrator service account.
This allows organizations to apply least-privilege security practices to the KB Agent service without requiring the service account to belong to the local Administrators group.
Numeric Alarm Priority Support
Control systems do not always represent alarm priorities in the same way.
Some use text values such as Critical, High, Medium, and Low, while others use numeric priority ranges.
KB Agent 5.1.0 adds support for mapping numeric control system priorities to the corresponding Alarm KB priority text values used during alarm rationalization.
The application also supports ascending and descending numeric priority ranges, allowing the configuration to account for systems where either the lowest or highest number represents the highest priority.
This provides a more consistent connection between the priority defined in the control system, the site’s Alarm Philosophy, and the priority information maintained within the Alarm KB.
Expanded AVEVA Enterprise SCADA Support
KB Agent 5.1.0 introduces several enhancements for AVEVA Enterprise SCADA (OASyS DNA) environments.
Analog AssetID.AssetIdLoc Support
KB Agent can now process the Analog AssetID.AssetIdLoc attribute.
This allows information stored within this AVEVA Enterprise SCADA analog point attribute to be imported into the Alarm KB and made available for use within the LogMate environment.
AlertList Support
Support has also been added for the AlertList attribute so that applicable AlertList information from the source system can be captured during KB Agent imports.
Expanded AlarmHelp Support
The AlarmHelp field can now be processed for all applicable AVEVA Enterprise SCADA ES2024 point types rather than being limited to analog points.
These enhancements allow more control system configuration information to be represented within the Alarm KB.
The control system name has also been updated throughout KB Agent from OASyS DNA SCADA to AVEVA Enterprise SCADA (OASyS DNA) to reflect current product naming.
Expanded Schneider Electric EcoStruxure GEO SCADA Support
KB Agent 5.1.0 also expands support for Schneider Electric EcoStruxure GEO SCADA (ClearSCADA).
The application can now process the Bit Count attribute associated with supported digital points and use that information to identify and create the corresponding digital alarm states within the Alarm KB.
This allows KB Agent to more accurately represent digital alarm configuration information coming from GEO SCADA.
The interface name has also been updated to Schneider Electric EcoStruxure GEO SCADA (ClearSCADA) to reflect current product branding.
Batch Processing for Emerson DeltaV
Batch processing support has been added for Emerson DeltaV.
Batch processing allows KB Agent to process groups of applicable records more efficiently during imports and updates.
Advanced Settings have also been updated so that batch processing configuration is available for supported control systems, helping ensure customers can access the settings associated with the capabilities available for their selected interface.
Improved TiPSView 5 Management of Change Processing
KB Agent 5.1.0 improves how imported changes are managed through the TiPSView 5 Management of Change process.
When KB Agent updates the same record multiple times before the pending change has been approved, the MOC process now retains the most recent applicable pending update rather than creating multiple successive pending records for the same change.
KB Agent also avoids creating a pending update record for a record that is already pending deletion.
This creates a cleaner and more predictable MOC workflow, helping users review the most current change rather than working through outdated intermediate updates.
Improvements and Bug Fixes
In addition to the new capabilities above, KB Agent 5.1.0 includes a significant collection of improvements focused on data integrity, configuration reliability, installation, and day-to-day administration.
More Reliable Pending and MOC Records
Several corrections have been made to improve the integrity of Pending records created during KB Agent imports.
Repeat imports no longer incorrectly populate Approve State or Approve Comment values on records that have not yet been approved.
Tag Pending batch processing has also been corrected to prevent applicable records from being missing, duplicated, malformed, or incorrectly inserted during MOC processing.
Together with the updated TiPSView 5 MOC handling, these improvements provide a more consistent record of changes awaiting review.
Improved Priority Processing
Several priority-related issues have been corrected in KB Agent 5.1.0.
Wonderware / ArchestrA System Platform imports now properly handle alarms with blank Priority values instead of allowing them to pass through without the appropriate priority handling.
Additional corrections prevent Control System Priority and Current Priority values from being incorrectly blanked or updated during priority processing.
These fixes work alongside the new numeric-priority capability to provide more reliable handling of alarm priority information throughout the import process.
Improved AVEVA Enterprise SCADA ES2024 Processing
KB Agent has been updated to properly process AVEVA Enterprise SCADA ES2024 data.
An issue that could prevent ES2024 data from being processed during an import has been resolved, allowing the expected Tag and Alarm information to be processed without the previous failure.
Combined with the new AssetID.AssetIdLoc, AlertList, and expanded AlarmHelp support, KB Agent 5.1.0 provides broader support for customers operating newer AVEVA Enterprise SCADA environments.
Improved Configuration Retention
Several configuration issues that could appear after saving settings or restarting KB Agent have been corrected.
These improvements include:
- Passthrough Authentication settings are now retained after saving and restarting KB Agent.
- GEO SCADA Data Source fields are correctly restored when KB Agent is reopened.
- Control system settings are properly retained after configuration changes and application restarts.
- Advanced Settings are available when supported batch processing functionality is available for the selected control system.
These corrections help ensure that the configuration displayed by KB Agent accurately reflects the settings previously established by the user.
Improved SQL Table and Schema Handling
KB Agent 5.1.0 includes updates to SQL table creation and schema comparison processing.
Applicable temporary tables are now created under the correct schema, and table comparison logic has been improved to better handle database schema differences during KB Agent table creation and validation.
These changes improve reliability when KB Agent is working with the underlying Alarm KB database structure.
Improved Installation and Configuration
Several installation-related issues have been addressed in KB Agent 5.1.0.
Installation and configuration handling has been improved for non-default installation paths, and issues affecting proper installation and registration of the KB Agent Windows service have been corrected.
Licensing and version-related installation issues have also been resolved to provide a more consistent installation and upgrade experience.
The unnecessary Output Folder entry has also been removed from the default KBAgent.ini installation configuration, helping provide a cleaner installation footprint.
Windows FIPS Policy Detection
The KB Agent installer now checks for an incompatible Windows FIPS policy during installation.
If the applicable FIPS configuration would prevent KB Agent from properly handling its encrypted configuration information, the installer warns the user and stops the installation so the configuration can be addressed before proceeding.
This prevents an environment from appearing to install successfully when an underlying security-policy conflict could later prevent KB Agent from operating correctly.
Reduced Windows Event Log Activity
KB Agent has also been updated to reduce unnecessary informational messages in the Windows Event Log.
Previously, successful software-license detection could generate an informational message during each recurring license validation check.
With KB Agent 5.1.0, successful license detection is logged at application startup rather than during every periodic check, reducing Event Log noise while still providing confirmation that the license was successfully detected.
Updated Help and Installation Information
The KB Agent Help documentation has been updated to reflect the features and user interface changes introduced with version 5.1.0.
The KB Agent License Agreement presented during installation has also been updated to reflect support for Software Keys, removing outdated language that implied KB Agent licensing was restricted to USB hardware keys.
Known Limitation
KB Agent users operating the interactive KB Agent application must continue to be members of the local Administrators group on the Alarm KB installation server.
This is separate from the KB Agent Windows service, which can now operate using a non-administrator service account.
Keep Your Alarm Knowledge Base Current With Less Effort
Maintaining an effective Master Alarm Database requires more than completing an initial rationalization. As control system configurations change, the Alarm KB needs to remain aligned with the environment it represents.
KB Agent helps automate that process.
With version 5.1.0, customers gain more flexible licensing, stronger support for modern security practices, expanded control system integration, improved alarm priority handling, more reliable Management of Change processing, and a more stable installation and configuration experience.
How to Request the Upgrade
Customers with an active TiPS support agreement are eligible to upgrade to KB Agent 5.1.0.
To request the new release, please submit the release form.