Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture (OPC UA), a platform independent service-oriented architecture, is a machine-to-machine communication protocol for industrial automation developed by the OPC Foundation. OPC is a Client/Server based communication with Servers waiting for the Clients to make requests.
When you install the OPC UA Server package, it enables the node to act as an OPC UA Server, exposing devices defined within the node to external OPC UA Clients. The variables contained in the devices will be exposed to OPC UA Clients as OPC Tags. The OPC UA Server will ensure that the data types that are used in the native device drivers are mapped to the corresponding OPC data types. The read and write access defined for the device variables will be assigned appropriately to the Access Rights property for each OPC tag.
For information on the different device types and the device drivers that are supported, see Device types. Any of the devices defined on the node can have their variables exposed as OPC Tags. This includes logical devices, such as Global Variables devices, Property File Reader devices, and physical devices such as the Mitsubishi, Modbus, Omron, Rockwell and Siemens devices.
Prerequisites
Following are the prerequisites before you install the OPC UA Server package:
- Understanding of the OPC UA Specification
- OPC UA client configuration software
- The Workbench.
- An Asset Gateway or Enterprise Gateway product is installed in its operating environment
- The Workbench is installed on a computer that has TCP network connectivity to the node
- The servers that will be accessed by the OPC UA Server driver have been configured and are accessible
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The OPC UA Client package is NOT installed in the Asset Gateway or Enterprise Gateway
Supported Devices
| Device Type | Protocol |
|---|---|
| OPC UA Clients | OPC UA interface protocol |
Follow the sections below to get started with the OPC UA Server.