Core.ScriptedAlarms-009 resolution: replace the per-call Dictionary +
AlarmPredicateContext allocation with a per-alarm reusable AlarmScratch
held in _scratchByAlarmId, refilled in place under _evalGate on each
evaluation. The hot path no longer allocates per upstream tag change.
Why this matters:
On a busy line where many tags feeding many alarms change frequently,
the old BuildReadCache allocated a fresh dictionary + context on every
predicate evaluation — a steady stream of short-lived allocations the
GC eventually has to reclaim. With the reuse, the dictionary and
context are allocated once per alarm (on first evaluation) and refilled
in place across every subsequent re-eval.
Implementation:
- New private AlarmScratch class holds the reusable
Dictionary<string, DataValueSnapshot> read cache (pre-sized to the
alarm's Inputs.Count) and the AlarmPredicateContext that wraps it by
reference. The context observes refilled values without being
re-created.
- ConcurrentDictionary<string, AlarmScratch> _scratchByAlarmId on the
engine, cleared in LoadAsync alongside _alarms so a config-publish
drops the prior generation's scratch (Inputs / Logger may change).
- EvaluatePredicateToStateAsync looks up scratch via GetOrAdd, calls
the new RefillReadCache(Dictionary, IReadOnlySet) helper to clear +
repopulate the dictionary in place, then runs the predicate against
the reused context.
- BuildReadCache removed.
Safety:
Reuse is serialised under _evalGate which guarantees no two threads
ever observe the same scratch in a half-refilled state. The
AlarmPredicateContext is bound to the scratch dictionary by reference,
so the predicate's ctx.GetTag(path) sees the freshly-refilled values
rather than a stale snapshot.
Verification:
- All 66 ScriptedAlarms tests pass (was 63 — three new regression tests
locking the reuse contract).
- All 56 VirtualTags tests still pass (unchanged).
- All 104 Core.Scripting tests still pass (unchanged).
New tests in ScriptedAlarmEngineTests:
- Reevaluation_reuses_the_same_read_cache_dictionary — asserts
ReferenceEquals(scratch_before, scratch_after) across two
evaluations of the same alarm.
- Reevaluation_reuses_the_same_predicate_context — same, for the
context.
- LoadAsync_drops_the_prior_generations_scratch — asserts a config
publish wipes the prior scratch (so a stale Logger / Inputs can't
leak into the new generation).
Internal test hooks TryGetScratchReadCacheForTest /
TryGetScratchContextForTest added via the existing
InternalsVisibleTo for the tests project. Kept internal — not part of
the public engine surface.
Docs:
- docs/v2/Galaxy.Performance.md "Scripted-alarm engine" section
rewritten as "hot-path allocation reuse" documenting the new
contract + reuse safety reasoning + the three regression tests.
- code-reviews/Core.ScriptedAlarms/findings.md -009 flipped
Won't Fix → Resolved.
- code-reviews/README.md regenerated.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
OtOpcUa documentation
Two tiers of documentation live here:
- Current reference at the top level (
docs/*.md) — describes what's shipped today. Start here for operator + integrator reference. - Implementation history + design notes at
docs/v2/*.md— the authoritative plan + decision log the current reference is built from. Start here when you need the why behind an architectural choice, or when a top-level doc says "see plan.md § X".
The project was originally called LmxOpcUa (a single-driver Galaxy/MXAccess OPC UA server) and has since become OtOpcUa, a multi-driver OPC UA server platform. Any lingering LmxOpcUa-string in a path you see in docs is a deliberate residual (executable name lmxopcua-cli, client PKI folder {LocalAppData}/LmxOpcUaClient/) — fixing those requires migration shims + is tracked as follow-ups.
Platform overview
- Core owns the OPC UA stack, address space, session/security/subscription machinery.
- Drivers plug in via capability interfaces in
ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.Core.Abstractions:IDriver,IReadable,IWritable,ITagDiscovery,ISubscribable,IHostConnectivityProbe,IAlarmSource,IHistoryProvider,IPerCallHostResolver. Each driver opts into whichever it supports. - Server is the OPC UA endpoint process (net10, AnyCPU). Hosts every driver in-process. The Galaxy driver reaches MXAccess via gRPC to a separately-installed mxaccessgw sidecar (sibling repo); it is no longer hosted from this repo.
- Admin is the Blazor Server operator UI (net10, x64). Owns the Config DB draft/publish flow, ACL + role-grant authoring, fleet status +
/metricsscrape endpoint.
Where to find what
Architecture + data-path reference
| Doc | Covers |
|---|---|
| OpcUaServer.md | Top-level server architecture — Core, driver dispatch, Config DB, generations |
| AddressSpace.md | GenericDriverNodeManager + ITagDiscovery + IAddressSpaceBuilder |
| ReadWriteOperations.md | OPC UA Read/Write → CapabilityInvoker → IReadable/IWritable |
| Subscriptions.md | Monitored items → ISubscribable + per-driver subscription refcount (v1 archive) |
| AlarmTracking.md | IAlarmSource + AlarmSurfaceInvoker + OPC UA alarm conditions (v1 archive) |
| DataTypeMapping.md | Per-driver DriverAttributeInfo → OPC UA variable types (v1 archive — live mapping is in src/Drivers/ZB.MOM.WW.OtOpcUa.Driver.Galaxy/Browse/DataTypeMap.cs) |
| IncrementalSync.md | Address-space rebuild on redeploy + sp_ComputeGenerationDiff |
| HistoricalDataAccess.md | IHistoryProvider as a per-driver optional capability (v1 archive) |
| VirtualTags.md | Core.Scripting + Core.VirtualTags — Roslyn script sandbox, engine, dispatch alongside driver tags |
| ScriptedAlarms.md | Core.ScriptedAlarms — script-predicate IAlarmSource + Part 9 state machine |
Two Core subsystems are shipped without a dedicated top-level doc; see the section in the linked doc:
| Project | See |
|---|---|
Core.AlarmHistorian |
AlarmTracking.md § Alarm historian sink (v1 archive) |
Analyzers (Roslyn OTOPCUA0001) |
security.md § OTOPCUA0001 Analyzer |
Drivers
| Doc | Covers |
|---|---|
| drivers/README.md | Index of the eight shipped drivers + capability matrix |
| drivers/Galaxy.md | Galaxy driver — in-process gRPC client to the mxaccessgw sidecar |
| v1/drivers/Galaxy-Repository.md | Galaxy-specific discovery via the ZB SQL database (v1 archive — the gateway owns this path now) |
For Modbus / S7 / AB CIP / AB Legacy / TwinCAT / FOCAS / OPC UA Client specifics, see v2/driver-specs.md.
Operational
| Doc | Covers |
|---|---|
| Configuration.md | appsettings bootstrap + Config DB + Admin UI draft/publish (v1 archive — OTOPCUA_GALAXY_* env vars now live in mxaccessgw config) |
| security.md | Transport security profiles, LDAP auth, ACL trie, role grants, OTOPCUA0001 analyzer |
| Redundancy.md | RedundancyCoordinator, ServiceLevelCalculator, apply-lease, Prometheus metrics |
| Reservations.md | Fleet-wide ZTag / SAPID external-ID reservations — publish-time claim, release flow |
| ServiceHosting.md | Two-process deploy (Server + Admin) install/uninstall, plus the optional OtOpcUaWonderwareHistorian sidecar |
| StatusDashboard.md | Pointer — superseded by v2/admin-ui.md |
Client tooling
| Doc | Covers |
|---|---|
| Client.CLI.md | otopcua-cli — OPC UA command-line client |
| Client.UI.md | Avalonia desktop client |
| DriverClis.md | Driver test-client CLIs — index + shared commands |
| Driver.Modbus.Cli.md | otopcua-modbus-cli — Modbus-TCP |
| Driver.AbCip.Cli.md | otopcua-abcip-cli — ControlLogix / CompactLogix / Micro800 / GuardLogix |
| Driver.AbLegacy.Cli.md | otopcua-ablegacy-cli — SLC / MicroLogix / PLC-5 (PCCC) |
| Driver.S7.Cli.md | otopcua-s7-cli — Siemens S7-300 / S7-400 / S7-1200 / S7-1500 |
| Driver.TwinCAT.Cli.md | otopcua-twincat-cli — Beckhoff TwinCAT 2/3 ADS |
| Driver.FOCAS.Cli.md | otopcua-focas-cli — Fanuc FOCAS/2 CNC |
Requirements
| Doc | Covers |
|---|---|
| reqs/HighLevelReqs.md | HLRs — numbered system-level requirements |
| reqs/OpcUaServerReqs.md | OPC UA server-layer reqs |
| v1/reqs/ServiceHostReqs.md | Per-process hosting reqs (v1 archive — only OtOpcUa server hosting remains in scope post-PR-7.2) |
| reqs/ClientRequirements.md | Client CLI + UI reqs |
| v1/reqs/GalaxyRepositoryReqs.md | Galaxy-scoped repository reqs (v1 archive — owned by mxaccessgw today) |
| v1/reqs/MxAccessClientReqs.md | Galaxy-scoped MXAccess reqs (v1 archive — owned by mxaccessgw today) |
| reqs/StatusDashboardReqs.md | Pointer — superseded by Admin UI |
Implementation history (docs/v2/)
Design decisions + phase plans + execution notes. Load-bearing cross-references from the top-level docs:
- v2/plan.md — authoritative v2 vision doc + numbered decision log (referenced as "decision #N" elsewhere)
- v2/admin-ui.md — Admin UI spec
- v2/acl-design.md — data-plane ACL + permission-trie design (Phase 6.2)
- v2/config-db-schema.md — Config DB schema reference
- v2/driver-specs.md — per-driver addressing + quirks for every shipped protocol
- v2/dev-environment.md — dev-box bootstrap
- v2/test-data-sources.md — integration-test simulator matrix (includes the pinned libplctag
ab_serverversion for AB CIP tests) - v2/multi-host-dispatch.md — per-PLC circuit breakers (Phase 6.1 decision #144)
- v2/v2-release-readiness.md — release-readiness tracker
- v2/phase-7-status.md — Phase 7 reconciliation: what shipped vs. the plan, and the five remaining gaps
- v2/implementation/phase--.md — per-phase execution plans with exit-gate evidence
v1 archive
The v1 in-process MXAccess architecture (Galaxy.Host + Galaxy.Proxy + Galaxy.Shared, .NET 4.8 x86 COM, the OtOpcUaGalaxyHost Windows service) was retired in PR 7.2 (2026-04-30, commit ae7106d). Docs that described that shape are kept under v1/ as historical record — see v1/README.md for the index.