Remote RSLinx OPC server connection

I am running a Softlogix 5860 controller with RSLinx Classic Gateway on a Windows XP machine (Firewall turned off). Should I be able to connect to it with Ignition?

I’m running Ignition on a Macbook pro to test, and When I setup an OPC-UA Device using the ControlLogix driver, it seems to connect fine. My issue is when I try to create an OPC Server Connection, I can’t seem to get a successful connection. I have the IP address of the RSLinx machine correct, and I’ve tried ports 2222, and 44818, with the default Security Policy and Message Security Mode as well as none for both, and no luck. Here’s a snapshot of one of the errors in the console:

Message
Could not connect to 192.168.1.30/192.168.1.30:4840
Logger
com.inductiveautomation.xopc.common.stack.TCPClientChannel
Time 7/26/10 12:01:39 AM Level ERROR Thread http-8088-5
Exception
com.inductiveautomation.ignition.gateway.web.pages.config.systemconsole.LogViewer$SerializableLoggingEvent$ClonedThrowable: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused
com.inductiveautomation.xopc.common.util.nio.NioClientImpl.finishConnect(NioClientImpl.java:95)
com.inductiveautomation.xopc.common.util.nio.AbstractNioManager.run(AbstractNioManager.java:199)
java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:637)
com.inductiveautomation.ignition.gateway.web.pages.config.systemconsole.LogViewer$SerializableLoggingEvent$ClonedThrowable: Connection refused
sun.nio.ch.SocketChannelImpl.checkConnect(Native Method)
sun.nio.ch.SocketChannelImpl.finishConnect(SocketChannelImpl.java:574)
com.inductiveautomation.xopc.common.util.nio.NioClientImpl.finishConnect(NioClientImpl.java:75)
com.inductiveautomation.xopc.common.util.nio.AbstractNioManager.run(AbstractNioManager.java:199)
java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:637)

Thanks,
Steve.

You need to connect to RSLinx using OPC-DA, which means you’ll need the COM Module.

The COM Module only works on Windows sytems (the same as anything that uses DCOM).

A few things…

  1. The OPC-COM driver will not work in MAC or Linux, it only works in Windows.
  2. You can connect fine to a CLX directly. You cannot connect through the Ignition UA server through RSLinx, as RSLinx is not a CLX.
  3. RSLinx is an OPC-DA server, not OPC-UA, so you cannot connect to it from Linux or Mac.

Hope this helps.

That would explain why the OPC-DA option is not present in the Gateway running on my
Mac!

“2. You can connect fine to a CLX directly.”

So is there a solution for a Mac driven Ignition system to talk to CLX/SoftLogix5800 and have read/write access to the data?

[quote=“sdbenner”]That would explain why the OPC-DA option is not present in the Gateway running on my
Mac!

“2. You can connect fine to a CLX directly.”

So is there a solution for a Mac driven Ignition system to talk to CLX/SoftLogix5800 and have read/write access to the data?[/quote]

The ControlLogix driver does work on Mac, however SoftLogix is not officially supported at the moment.

Thanks for the info.

The ControlLogix driver seems to connect to my processor with no problem.

I think I’m missing something though…
When you say You can Connect to a ControlLogix directly, do you mean that you will have access to the tags in Ignition Designer? If so, what am I doing wrong, because I seem to be able to successfully connect directly to my processor with no problem, however, with no OPC Server connection, I don’t see access to the tags in Designer.

Thanks,
Steve.

When you install Ignition the fist time a connection to the included Ignition OPC-UA server is made for you. Did you delete or modify this when trying to get connected to RSLinx?

It’s a little bit unclear how things work upon first installing but what you are really seeing is a number of modules working together. Mainly, you have the Vision module, the SQLBridge module, and the OPC-UA module.

The OPC-UA module is the one providing the ability to use drivers to talk to PLCs via its OPC-UA server. You need to have a connection to that server configured in the Ignition gateway just as you would to talk to a Kepware server or an RSLinx server.

If you don’t currently have a connection to the OPC-UA server in your gateway let us know and we can walk you through getting one set up again.

Thanks for the help,

I do still have the default connection, and I’m including a few screenshots here in case they are helpful. When I first installed and I was learning the system, I’m sure that there was access to the tags in Designer, but I don’t seem have it any more, and I don’t know what I did to break it.

Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated,

Thanks,
Steve.

(apparently I can only attach 3 files)
Ign3.pdf (90.5 KB)
Ign2.pdf (64.5 KB)
Ign1.pdf (64.9 KB)

Why don’t you call into support and we’ll see if we can help you out that way?

Looks to me like you're still trying to connect to the SoftLogix, which isn't supported. You can connect, but can't see any tags. Frustrating, I know. Been there, still there. :smiling_imp:

So the real question is: "Can we expect to see SoftLogix support for the OPC-UA driver?"