Read Ignition tags from PLC

Ignition
1

How do I read Ignition tags from an external device? I have a HMI that needs to read tags out of my ignition project

2

You can connect OPC-UA clients to Ignition's OPC-UA server by adjusting the bind address (default is localhost). You can enable "Expose Tag Providers" in the OPC-UA Server Settings to make Ignition tag providers visible via the OPC-UA interface.

Keep in mind, however, that tag security settings are not enforced on the Devices folder within the Ignition OPC-UA server which will be accessible in addition to the tag providers themselves. If you've got devices configured on this gateway, clients will be able to read/write to device tags directly in the OPC-UA server.

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3

There are a couple options:

  • Enable the Ignition OPC Server's Expose Tags feature. This is a global setting, and requires you to set tag security everywhere you don't want something exposed.

  • Run an OPC driver that acts as a protocol server. I happen to have modules that offer two choices: Logix-style EtherNet/IP and Modbus. In these cases, you explicitly connect tags to OPC items in these servers, and the HMI can use that protocol to read/write those values.

{ /shameless plug }

4

I'm pretty new to Ignition, what would I set the bind address to?

5

With the default of localhost, Ignition itself is allowed to make a loopback connection to the OPC-UA server. If you were to set it to 0.0.0.0, this would enable connections from all network interfaces (versus just the loopback adapter). Also note that making changes to OPC-UA Server configuration requires you to restart the OPC-UA module--I mention this because it is one area that is somewhat different than other typical settings that are immediately recognized upon Save.

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6

would I leave the local host in there and add 0.0.0.0 after a comma
?

7

You'd just replace localhost with 0.0.0.0 to bind to all network interfaces instead of just the loopback adapter.

8

I will give that a try, thanks