Security, safety, and redundancy employing controller engine instances

A method for protecting a portion of an industrial environment, comprising:

• evaluating industrial data representing a set of processes of an industrial environment to identify a first subset of the processes relating to control and a second subset of the processes relating to safety;
• based on a result of the evaluating, creating a first controller engine instances on an industrial controller comprising a processor for control of the first subset of the processes and a second controller engine instance on the industrial controller for control of the second subset of the processes
• associating a first set of security rights with the first controller engine instance and a second set of security rights with the second controller engine instance based on the result of the evaluating;
• generating a number of backup controller engine instances that replicate at least one of the first controller engine instance or the second controller engine instance, wherein the number of backup controller instances is a function of ratio data maintained in a data store and defining a ratio of backup controller engine instances to primary controller engine instances;
• and
• utilizing the first control engine instance and the second controller engine instance to manage one or more devices of the industrial environment.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computing system comprising a processor to perform operations, comprising:

• evaluating information relating to a set of processes comprising an industrial automation system;
• identifying, based on a result of the evaluating, a first subset of the processes relating to control and a second subset of the processes relating to safety;
• creating, based on the identifying, a first controller engine instance for control of the first subset of the processes and a second controller engine instance for control of the second subset of the processes;
• implementing a first security level on the first controller engine instance and a second security level on the second controller engine instance based on the identifying;
• creating a number of backup controller engine instances for at least one of the first controller engine instance or the second controller engine instance, wherein the creating comprises determining the number of backup controller instances based on ratio data maintained in a data store that specifies a ratio of backup controller engine instances to primary controller engine instances;
• and
• managing one or more devices of the industrial automation system using the first controller engine instance and the second controller engine instance.