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5. Installing the MBAI Connector for Ignition

Connect Ignition to MontBlancAI and publish live tag data from your gateway.

This guide focuses on MBAI Connector setup. For general Ignition administration, module installation, and tag configuration, we link to Ignition documentation where possible.

What MBAI Connector Does

MBAI Connector is an Ignition Gateway module that lets you:

  • connect Ignition to MontBlancAI

  • configure your tenant and connection settings

  • create Tag Agents to publish selected Ignition tags

  • monitor connection and publishing status from the Gateway UI

Before You Start

Make sure you have:

  • an Ignition Gateway running

  • administrator access to the Ignition Gateway

  • the MBAI Connector .modl file

  • access to your MontBlancAI workspace

  • the Ignition tag provider and tag path you want to publish

Helpful Ignition references:

Network Requirements

MBAI Connector publishes from the Ignition Gateway outbound to the MontBlancAI MQTT broker. No inbound ports need to be opened.

Make sure your firewall allows this outbound connection from the Ignition Gateway host:

  • URL: iot-mbai-connectors-prod-weu-02.azure-devices.net

  • Port: 8883 (TLS/MQTT)

If the connector stays in CONNECTING or shows connection timeouts although all settings are correct, a blocked outbound connection is the most common cause.

Supported and Tested Ignition Versions

MBAI Connector currently supports these Ignition lines:

  • Ignition 8.1.17 and above

  • Ignition 8.3.x

The versions currently covered by our continuous compatibility testing are:

  • Ignition 8.1.17

  • Ignition 8.1.33

  • Ignition 8.1.53

  • Ignition 8.3.0

  • Ignition 8.3.1

  • Ignition 8.3.2

  • Ignition 8.3.3

  • Ignition 8.3.4

Navigation in the Gateway UI differs slightly between Ignition 8.1 and 8.3.

1. Install MBAI Connector in Ignition

  1. Open your Ignition Gateway in a browser.

  2. Go to Config > System > Modules.

  3. Select Install or Upgrade a Module.

  4. Upload the MBAI Connector .modl file.

  5. Accept the module certificate if prompted.

  6. Restart the Gateway if Ignition requests it.

2. Create or Open an MQTT Connection in MontBlancAI

Before configuring Ignition, create an MQTT Connection in MontBlancAI or open an existing one.

You can do that here:

From that page, you can create or retrieve the connection details needed by MBAI Connector.

These typically include:

  • tenant ID

  • MQTT host

  • port

  • username

  • password or shared access key

  • topic

  • QoS

  • MQTT version

  • SSL enabled

For most users, these values should be copied directly from the MontBlancAI UI into Ignition.

3. Open MBAI Connector in Ignition

Open MBAI Connector from the Gateway UI.

Navigation differs slightly by Ignition version:

  • Ignition 8.1: MBAI Connector > Settings

  • Ignition 8.3: Connections > MBAI Connector > Settings

You will see three tabs:

  • General

  • MQTT Connection

  • Tag Agents

4. Configure General Settings

In the General tab, enter:

  • Tenant ID

This tells MontBlancAI which tenant the published data belongs to.

5. Configure the Connection

In the MQTT Connection tab, enter the connection details from MontBlancAI:

  • MQTT Host

  • MQTT Port

  • MQTT Username

  • MQTT Password

  • MQTT Shared Access Key

  • MQTT Topic

  • MQTT QoS

  • MQTT Version

  • MQTT SSL Enabled

Use the values from your MontBlancAI MQTT Connection. In most cases, these should be copied directly from the MontBlancAI UI.

6. Add a Tag Agent

In the Tag Agents tab:

  1. Click Add Tag Agent.

  2. Enter:

    • Name

    • Tag Provider

    • Tag Path

    • Publish Interval Seconds

    • Signal Name Mode

    • Timestamp Mode

    • Enabled

  3. Save the Tag Agent.

A Tag Agent controls which Ignition tags are published and how often they are sent.

Recommended starting values:

  • choose the correct Tag Provider

  • choose the folder or root path you want to publish

  • start with a short publish interval while validating setup

  • use Full Path for Signal Name Mode if you want each signal name to include the full Ignition tag path

  • use Read/Publish Timestamp for Timestamp Mode if you want the timestamp to reflect when the connector read and sent the data

Signal Name Mode

Signal Name Mode controls how the signal name is sent to MontBlancAI:

  • Full Path: sends the full Ignition tag path as the signal name

  • Leaf Name: sends only the final tag name

Full Path is recommended when different tags may share the same leaf name.

Timestamp Mode

Timestamp Mode controls which timestamp is sent for each measurement:

  • Read/Publish Timestamp: uses the time the connector read and published the value

  • Source Timestamp: uses the original Ignition tag timestamp

Read/Publish Timestamp is the default and is recommended for most periodic publishing setups.

Description Mode

Description Mode controls what is sent as the signal description to MontBlancAI:

  • Documentation: sends the Ignition tag's Documentation property (default)

  • Tooltip: sends the Ignition tag's Tooltip property

  • None: sends an empty description

Documentation is recommended. Fill in the Documentation property on your Ignition tags to give each signal a meaningful description in MontBlancAI. If a tag has no Documentation, the description is sent empty.

Unit Mode

Unit Mode controls what is sent as the signal unit:

  • Engineering Unit: sends the Ignition tag's engineering unit property (default)

  • None: sends an empty unit

Set the engineering unit on your Ignition tags (for example °C, bar, kg/h) so signals arrive in MontBlancAI with the correct unit.

7. Verify the Connection

At the top of the MBAI Connector page, the status header shows live connector health, including:

  • connection state

  • Tag Agent sending count

  • errors

  • last publish activity

A healthy setup typically shows:

  • MQTT: CONNECTED

  • Tag Agents: X/X Sending

If the connector cannot connect, the status area will show the latest error message.

The Tag Agents tab also shows per-agent details, including the number of tags sent in the last cycle and the cycle duration in milliseconds (Cycle (ms)). A steadily high cycle duration usually points to a slow tag provider.

8. Verify Data Is Flowing to MontBlancAI

Once the connection is healthy and at least one Tag Agent is enabled, Ignition will begin publishing tag data to MontBlancAI.

If you do not see Signals being created here:

  • confirm the Tenant ID is set correctly

  • confirm the connection state is CONNECTED

  • confirm at least one Tag Agent is enabled

  • confirm the Tag Provider exists

  • confirm the Tag Path is valid

  • confirm the selected tags have readable values in Ignition

  • review the last error shown in the connector status header

Need Help?

Need setup help? For further assistance, contact [email protected].

Changelog

1.0.3

  • New per-Tag-Agent Description Mode: choose whether the signal description is taken from the tag's Documentation property (default), its Tooltip, or left empty

  • New per-Tag-Agent Unit Mode: signals now include the tag's engineering unit (default) — or no unit

  • New Cycle (ms) column on the Tag Agents tab showing how long each publish cycle's tag collection takes

  • Note for upgrades: descriptions previously came from the tag Tooltip. After upgrading, they come from the Documentation property by default — select Tooltip as Description Mode to keep the old behavior

1.0.2

  • More robust MQTT reconnect behavior on unstable networks

  • Connection problems no longer show up as Tag Agent errors — connection state and Tag Agent state are now reported separately

1.0.1

  • Configurable Signal Name Mode (Full Path or Leaf Name)

  • Configurable Timestamp Mode (Read/Publish Timestamp or Source Timestamp)

  • Support for Ignition 8.1.17 and above

1.0.0

  • Initial release

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