Methods and means for failure handling in process control systems

A computer program for a process control system in an industrial automation environment, the process control system having a plurality of compute nodes and at least two instances of virtualized distributed control nodes, VDCNs, deployed in a respective compute node of a cluster of at least two compute nodes, wherein a first VDCN is a primary VDCN controlling an automated process via a field bus and at least a second VDCN is a backup VDCN running in redundant mode, wherein the computer program comprises computer program code, which, when run on processing circuitry in the process control system, causes the process control system to perform a method, which includes:

• assigning the role of primary VDCN to the backup VDCN, and
• detecting that the number of instances of the VDCNs is less than a set number, and
• deploying a new instance of a VDCN in one of the compute nodes.

A computer program product comprising a computer program for a process control system in an industrial automation environment, the process control system having a plurality of compute nodes and at least two instances of virtualized distributed control nodes, VDCNs, deployed in a respective compute node of a cluster of at least two compute nodes, wherein a first VDCN is a primary VDCN controlling an automated process via a field bus and at least a second VDCN is a backup VDCN running in redundant mode, wherein the computer program comprises computer program code, which, when run on processing circuitry in the process control system, causes the process control system to perform a method, which includes:

• assigning the role of primary VDCN to the backup VDCN, and
• detecting that the number of instances of the VDCNs is less than a set number, and
• deploying a new instance of a VDCN in one of the compute nodes and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.

A process control system in an industrial automation environment, the system comprising a plurality of compute nodes and at least two instances of virtualized distributed control nodes, VDCNs, deployed in a respective compute node of a cluster of at least two compute nodes, wherein a first VDCN is a primary VDCN controlling an automated process via a field bus and at least a second VDCN is a backup VDCN running in redundant mode, the process control system comprising means for:

• assigning the role of primary VDCN to the backup VDCN,
• detecting that the number of instances of the VDCNs is less than a set number, and
• deploying a new instance of a VDCN in one of the compute nodes.

A device in a process control system for handling failures in an industrial automation environment, wherein the process control system comprises a plurality of compute nodes and at least two instances of virtualized distributed control nodes, VDCNs, deployed in a respective compute node of a cluster of at least two compute nodes, wherein a first VDCN is a primary VDCN controlling an automated process via a field bus and at least a second VDCN is a backup VDCN running in redundant mode, the device being configured to:

• detect that the number of instances of the VDCNs is less than a set number, and
• deploying a new instance of a VDCN in one of the compute nodes.

A virtualized distributed control node, VDCN, in a process control system in an industrial automation environment including a plurality of compute nodes and at least two instances of virtualized distributed control nodes, VDCNs, deployed in a respective compute node of a cluster of at least two compute nodes, the virtualized distributed control node, VDCN, being configured to:

• detect that a primary VDCN controlling an automated process is missing, and
• assign the role of primary VDCN to the VDCN, and
• control the automated process as the primary VDCN via a field bus.