Hello,
I am learning about OPC and setting up OPC Server(DA) in VTScada.
(Everything is on local machine)
I have setup an VTScada Application as OPC Server. docs
I can read the tagvalues from another VTScada Application (as opc client)
But from Ignition the OPC connection(DA) flashes from Connected to Closed
But I can discover the tag anyway:
But only to get 'not connected' error:
That's your issue. Ignition is OPC-UA. You need Ignition's OPC COM Module.
That is what the OP is using.
Apologies, I have trouble seeing the video.
Unfortunately, DCOM can be is a real pain to get get working correctly. There's a whitepaper that covers the most common issues, if you haven't already seen it:
You may also want to consider the OPC COM Tunneler module.
What I have understood is that the tunneler module helps streamline makeing remote OPC connections by 'wrapping' DA in a OPC-UA simulated device.
But first there has to exist a valid connection between the OPC-DA(my vtscada) and local ignition's DA. After that other remote ignition can connect via the additional craeted OPC-UA tunnel, which abstracts the DA and exposes a UA connection... as per my reading...
So far what I have done is use the third party OPCExpert software to:
read from VTScada DA Server.
Expose a UA Server then using Ignition UA to read the values.
Steps:
After opening OPCExpert for the 1st time, I saw my existing VT DA Server listed.
Then went to Tools > Servers & Services, Enabled UA Server, did not change the default ports.
Then successfully connected from a remote ignition(vpn)
Image below is: remote ignition > OPCExpert UA > VTScada DA
OPCExpert's UA Server can also run as a windows service.
Thanks for sharing that OPC Expert article, now i know that 3rd party client softwares connect to VTScada's DA Server
But I'm yet to make it work with Ignition's own OPC-DA connection...
Does VTscada have an OPC-UA server? That would be a much better option than trying to connect over the dated DA method. Or would it be better to just do direct connections to the end devices with Ignition drivers? What's the end goal? Replacing VTscada?
