Selecting WinCC V7 Licenses for 8K Tag Redundant Server Setup

Selecting WinCC V7 Licenses for an 8K Tag Redundant Server Configuration

WinCC V7 license selection is governed by three independent dimensions: the role of each station (Server, Engineering Station, Operator Station), the maximum number of process tags (power tags) that the system will hold, and whether the server pair is operated in redundancy. A fourth dimension, the editor capability, is controlled by the WinCC RC (Runtime + Configuration) license versus the plain WinCC RT (Runtime) license. This reference documents the correct license bundle for a configuration with two engineering stations, two redundant servers, four operator stations, and a target tag count of 8,192 (commonly written 8K).

1. Configuration Under Review

The configuration being licensed consists of the following roles and station counts:

Process tag requirement: 8,192 (8K) power tags referenced in the WinCC project. The 8K value is the contracted ceiling, not a per-station allocation; the contract runs across the entire WinCC project, and at least one station in the project must hold an RC or Server license that covers the full ceiling.

2. WinCC V7 License Family Overview

WinCC V7 distributes its commercial license set across the following catalog families. Each family has a 128, 256, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, and 65536 tag variant in the current price list. Tag counts are graduated in powers of two; you buy the next size up rather than rounding.

Tag-count suffixes (last block of the catalog number) typically follow the pattern -xxxx-2 for 128 tags, -xxxx-3 for 256, up to -xxxx-8 for 8192, and a special -xxxx-C for 65536. Refer to the live Siemens Industry Mall price list for exact suffix mapping on a specific V7.x version.

3. Tag Count and Power Tag Rules

A WinCC power tag is any external process variable that is configured in the WinCC data manager and acquired via a channel (S7, Modbus, OPC, etc.). Internal tags, structure tags, and indirect addressing cache do not count against the licensed tag ceiling, although a single tag can be referenced by any number of graphics.

• Tag count is contracted per project, not per station.
• The server's RT/RC/Server license defines the upper bound for the project.
• Clients (RT) do not carry a tag ceiling; they consume tags the server publishes.
• If the server ceiling is exceeded, runtime starts in demo mode and disconnects after one hour.

For a target of 8,192 tags, the smallest valid server-side license is the 8K (8192) variant. You cannot license 4K on the server and 4K on the ES and expect runtime to add them; the server alone is checked.

4. Recommended License Bundle

Based on the configuration in Section 1, the following bundle is correct. The 8K tag ceiling is satisfied by the Server license; the RC license on the Engineering Station is allowed to be the same ceiling or smaller (for example, 4K RC on the ES is sufficient, but matching the server ceiling is the common practice because it allows the ES to operate as a stand-alone developer machine for the same project size).

5. Why the RC on the Server is Required

The Siemens HMI Configuration Wizard enforces the rule that the highest tag-count RC or Server license must be installed on the server computer. This rule exists for two reasons:

1. Runtime tag evaluation, archive writing, and alarm distribution are performed on the server. If the server tag ceiling were smaller than the project's true power tag count, runtime would demote to demo mode and the system would stop after one hour.
2. When the ES opens the project in the editor, the editor reads the contract ceiling from the local license, but on activation the server's license is the binding check.

Because the proposed configuration has the engineering capability on the ES, and yet the server must hold the maximum tag ceiling, the practical deployment is:

• Server A: 8K Server + 8K RC
• Server B: 8K Server + 8K RC
• Server pair: 1x Redundancy license (active on one partner or both, depending on the V7.x version)
• ES1: 128 RC + STEP 7 Professional
• ES2: 128 RC + STEP 7 Professional
• Client 1-4: 128 RT

The dual placement of the 8K RC on each server is intentional. It allows the server to be re-imaged as a developer if needed without an immediate license rebalance, and it ensures that the maximum tag ceiling is satisfied regardless of which server is master after a failover.

6. Redundancy Licensing Detail

WinCC V7 redundancy requires a Redundancy license on at least one of the two partner servers. The Redundancy license enables the synchronization channel, partner monitoring, and automatic archive switchover. There is one Redundancy license for the entire pair, not one per server, because the partner relationship is a single logical contract.

When the redundant pair is configured, both servers must already hold a valid Server license of the same tag count. In addition, the Redundancy license is consumed at the partner-relationship level. A typical V7.x entry looks like:

Cross-version note: a valid license key for the current WinCC V7 version can also operate older V7 versions on the same machine, in line with the backward compatibility rule for STEP 7 and WinCC licenses. The relevant scope is documented in the TIA Portal and WinCC licensing manuals. See the Licensing STEP 7 and WinCC - TIA Portal reference for the official compatibility statement.

7. License Assignment and Activation Procedure

All WinCC V7 license keys are managed with the Siemens Automation License Manager (ALM). The ALM is installed automatically with WinCC V7. Each license is a CoL (Certificate of License) file, copied to the ALM license store on the local machine, and activated against a USB license dongle or a software license.

1. Install WinCC V7 on each server and on each operator client. Select the same V7.x update level on all stations to avoid mixed-version warnings.
2. Install the Automation License Manager from the WinCC setup or from the ALM install package.
3. Copy the CoL files received from the Siemens online delivery to C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\WinCC\WinCC\License\ or to a network share that ALM can reach.
4. Open ALM, select the target machine, choose License Handling > License Key, and import the CoL.
5. Assign the 8K Server and 8K RC licenses to Server A; assign the second pair to Server B.
6. Assign the Redundancy license to Server A; it is recognized by Server B through the redundancy channel once both are started.
7. Assign 128 RC and STEP 7 Professional to ES1 and ES2.
8. Assign 128 RT to each of the four operator clients.
9. Restart the WinCC runtime on the server; verify with the WinCC License Status dialog that the active tag ceiling is 8192.

For a detailed step-by-step on transferring, upgrading, and reassigning CoL files, see the Siemens What information is available about licenses for WinCC (TIA Portal)? PDF. The same ALM procedure applies to WinCC V7 with minor menu differences.

8. Verification Checklist

After license assignment, validate the system with the following checks. Each step has a pass criterion that the system engineer can read directly from the WinCC diagnostics.

9. Common Pitfalls and Corrections

The following issues appear repeatedly in field deployments. They are listed with the diagnostic symptom first and the corrective action second.

10. License Math for the Configuration

Total contract items for the configuration in this reference:

• 2x 8K RC
• 2x 8K Server
• 1x Redundancy
• 2x 128 RC
• 4x 128 RT
• 2x STEP 7 Professional Floating

Total: 13 commercial line items for the 2-ES / 2-server / 4-client redundant architecture at 8K tag ceiling. Note that the tag ceiling is consumed by the server, not the clients; clients carry an order-line tag class only because the catalog ships in graduated sizes.

11. Compatibility and Version Notes

WinCC V7 follows a forward-and-backward compatibility model for licenses: a license key for the current V7.x service pack will activate that level and all lower V7 service packs on the same machine. The same is true of STEP 7 Professional licenses paired with TIA Portal. The Licensing STEP 7 and WinCC - TIA Portal reference documents this rule in detail.

When a WinCC V7 project is later migrated to TIA Portal's WinCC Unified (for example, V20), the V7 license cannot be transferred automatically. A new Unified license family (WinCC Unified ES, WinCC Unified RT) must be procured. Until migration, the V7 license remains valid on the V7 installation.

For TIA Portal installations that coexist on the same engineering machine, the Automation License Manager can host both TIA Portal and WinCC V7 CoL files in the same license store, which avoids dual-license servers. See the TIA Portal Licenses - TIA Portal page for the licensing workflow of the data hub, which uses the same ALM tooling.

12. Field Commissioning Notes

When commissioning the licensed system, the following order of operations prevents the most common failures:

1. Activate licenses on the server pair first, then the engineering stations, then the clients.
2. Compile OS server once after license activation. WinCC writes the project ceiling into the project file based on the active server license.
3. Open the project on the ES only after the server compile. Otherwise the editor will read a stale ceiling and warn on save.
4. Configure the redundancy channel with the same subnet for both partners, and verify partner reachability with the WinCC Redundancy diagnostic page before starting runtime.
5. Apply the V7.x latest hotfix on all stations. Mixed service packs within a project are not supported by Siemens and lead to sporadic license warnings.

13. Summary of the License Bundle

The configuration in Section 1 is licensed correctly with the bundle above. The selection rule that the maximum tag-count license must be on the server is satisfied by placing two 8K RC licenses on the two servers in addition to the two 8K Server licenses. The redundancy is covered by a single Redundancy license for the partner pair, and the engineering stations carry the smaller 128 RC license because they only edit the project; they do not own the runtime tag ceiling.