We would like to clarify the following points related to VTScada historian storage and report export.

1) VTScada Historian Storage on NAS

We would like to confirm whether VTScada historical/tag data can be stored on a NAS (Network Attached Storage).

From VTScada documentation, we found that the Storage Location can be changed, but there is also a note stating:

“In general, do not specify a network location other than the hard drive of the Historian server(s).”

Based on this, could you please clarify:

Is it officially supported to store VTScada historian data on a NAS?
If NAS storage is supported, could you please clarify the recommended and supported connection method?
For example, should it be mounted as a local drive in Windows, or can it be used directly via a network shared folder path?

2) Recommended Approach for NAS Usage

We understand that NAS can be beneficial from a storage scalability point of view, especially for long-term capacity expansion and IT management.

If direct historian storage to NAS is not recommended, could you please advise the best practice?

For example:

Store historian data on local disk first, then back up/archive to NAS?
Or use NAS only for backup purposes instead of live historian storage?

3) Behavior After NAS Disconnection and Recovery

We would also like to confirm VTScada behavior if historian storage is configured to a NAS / network location and the NAS connection is temporarily lost and later restored.

Could you please confirm:

Will VTScada automatically recover and reconnect once the NAS is available again?
Or would any manual action be required, such as restarting the historian service, VTScada application, or server?

4) Report / Historical Data Export Interval

We would also like to confirm whether VTScada can generate reports based on a selected fixed interval.

For example, if a 5-minute interval is selected, we would expect the exported report to show one row per 5 minutes, such as:

Time Value
01:00:00 34
01:05:00 56
01:10:00 49
Could you please confirm:

Whether VTScada supports this type of fixed interval data export/reporting
Whether the interval can be selected by the user (e.g. 1s, 5s, 10s, 1min, 5min, 1hr)
Where this setting can be configured

Cannot help with the NAS question... however you can definetly change the reporting sample rate - we do this often and typlicaly have it as an operator selection - check out the report scripting example below.
https://www.vtscada.com/help/Content/Scripting/Tasks/QuarterHourSnapshot.htm
Look at NRows and QueryTPP to define the sample rate.

I would suggest that a NAS is likely not the best option. If you are new to VTScada and are worried about disk space, you probably don't need to be, this is something which typically isn't an issue for our customers. Most are running on an SSD which gives a fantastic experience when it comes to storing and recalling data.

That said, if you do have disk limitations, consider optimizing the historian dead banding of your I/O tags, based on your needs. This can drastically reduce the rate you use up storage.

Note that the best way to create a backup of your system is to use a redundant server. Also, you can use the workstation tag to monitor your disk write rate and remaining disk space to create a prediction of your time to fill your disk, you can create an alarm on that or just use this calculation to optimize your deadbands until you are happy with the result.