Summary

OPC UA Client implements communication with local and remote OPC servers. The communications blocks are dynamically created according to the pooling cycle defined on the Access Type for each Device Point.

OPC UA Certificate Configuration

• The UA security bases on X509 Certificates.
• Each UA server and client application requires a certificate with the application's ApplicationUri. UA servers can usually be configured for the certificate validation to be disabled. In this mode, any proper certificate is accepted. It does not need to match the application.
• Self-signed certificates can be created with the uaPLUS UaClientConfigHelper utility.
• OPC UA maintains certificates in the Windows Certificates Store. The certificates are by default in the stores LocalMachine\UA Applications and LocalMachine\Trusted UA Applications
• The stores are defined in the application UA configuration and can be changed if necessary.
• The UaClientConfigHelper utility creates and imports certificates into the stores defined in the configuration.

To create certificates so that Manager and Device Module work with OPC UA:

1. In Windows Explorer, open the installation folder
2. Run UaClientConfigHelperNet4.exe utility (right-click and choose Run as Administrator);
3. Inside UA Client Configutaration Helper, click Browse and select the TManager.exe file inside the product installation folder.
4. Click Create UA Configuration;
5. Click Edit UA Configuration;
6. Click Certificates;
7. Click Create and then OK;
8. Click Save and Close;
9. Click Done to close;

• Server and Client on the same machine: the certificates are in the right place when created or imported with the UaClientConfigHelper utility.
• Server and Client on different machine: the following steps are required:

1. On the client machine, create a certificate for the client application with the UaClientConfigHelper utility. The created certificate is automatically exported into a .DER file in the directory of the utility.
2. Copy the client certificate .DER file to the server machine and import it according the UA server documentation.
3. Copy the server .DER certificate file to the client machine and import it with the UaClientConfigHelper utility.

Channels Configuration

There is no channel configuration for OPC UA Client channels.

Nodes Configuration

Station Configuration

• Service URL: Defines the location of the OPC Server. Example: ua:opc.tcp://127.0.0.1:62841/Advosol/uaPLUS
• Refresh Rate: Server update rate.
• AllItemsSameGroup: Flag indicating whether driver should add all items at the same OPC group and only one connection is created with OPC Server.
• EnableReadPolling: Flag indicating whether reading is by polling.
• WindowsAuthentication: Flag indicating whether it should use Windows Authentication security.
• DisableSecurity: Flag indicating whether security is disabled.
• UserName: String containing user name as security credentials.
• Password: String containing user password as security credentials.
• Domain: String containing domain as security credentials.
• ReadFromDevice: Force all reads made from device.
• UseTimestampFromComputer: Use timestamp from computer instead of device.

Points Configuration

• Choose the OPCServer item that will communicate with the tag.
• You can type the OPC Server item name into the textbox, or you can browse the OPC Server items with the cell editor.
• OPC Arrays: You should configure the Array field in Modifiers column.
• For automatic address mapping when using arrays, you can use the array element without index in TagName column.

Troubleshoot

Please, consult your OPC Server documentation for the protocol specific error codes.

Driver Revision History

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