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Setting up OPC-UA Server in DeltaV

I am trying to get a 3rd party device to read DeltaV data. I have licensed and activated the server on the App Station. I can't get anything to want to read it. My goal is to have KepServerEX on another machine read data, but I am willing to start local. I can't get an OPC client on the ProPlus to be able to browse the server (I have a 1000 tag license). Or, at least, I don't see any results when I try to browse. I don't know if I'm addressing the server correctly from the client. The instructions I can find say to copy what I can see in DeltaV Explorer (opc.tcp...), but nothing. Almost every instruction I can find online just tells me that it's simple and works without much configuration. I can't find "OPC for Dummies." Everyone just assumes the user knows a lot (things like "Just type in the node path." - suppose I don't know what that looks like!). I need this dumbed way down.

When I go to the App Station and run OPCWATCHIT, I don't see what I think is the OPC-UA server. I see the historian (OPC DA) and a few other things I would expect, but no name that matches what it shows me in Explorer. Diagnostics tells me that the server is running, but I don't see it in OPCWATCHIT. That makes me think I haven't really set it up correctly, but I don't know because I don't know what "right" looks like.

Thank you.

- Bryce H. Elliott, P.E.

8 Replies

  • You are using OPC UA based on the OPC.TCP... detail. You need to have the DeltaV System OPC UA license, which enables OPC UA server and clients to work on all DeltaV nodes. Then you can license OPC Tags as before and OPC UA Client signals with a new OPC UA Client DST license. Without the System OPC UA License, you only have access to the OPC DA server on application station, and it cannot work directly with OPC UA Clients.

    Andre Dicaire

  • In reply to Andre Dicaire:

    I have the system OPC UA license.

    - Bryce H. Elliott, P.E.

  • In reply to Andre Dicaire:

    It's called OPC UA Activation License, and I have it assigned to the ProPlus.

    - Bryce H. Elliott, P.E.

  • Hey Bryce. When you say "I can't get anything to want to read it." what does that mean exactly? Errors or just bad comms in diagnostics? Anything in Windows Event Viewer? Also to start with, I turn off certificate encryption until I can prove comms and then go back and turn it on if needed.
  • In reply to Douglas Crowder:

    I try to browse tags, and I get a blank list (ProPlus) or what I think is a timeout error (3rd party). The 3rd party one goes through an Emerson Smart Firewall, and I can see in the log that it allows the request through, so I know the Kepware one is asking and that the request is being passed through to the App Station. I feel like I have the name or port identified incorrectly, but, as above, I'm not sure. I also can't really tell if the OPC server is active. Diagnostics says it is, and it's licensed. I'm expecting that I should just have a list of all DeltaV modules and parameters available, and I get nothing.

    - Bryce H. Elliott, P.E.

  • In reply to Bryce Elliott:

    Progress. I was able to make the ProPlus client grab a value from the App Station server (thanks to some offline help from Doug). I haven't made that success translate to the external server yet.

    - Bryce H. Elliott, P.E.

  • In reply to Bryce Elliott:

    The firewall on the App Station was on for public networks. Since I'm getting at this over a 3rd party NIC, the firewall was stopping the request. We put in a rule for it, and voila! It works.

    - Bryce H. Elliott, P.E.

  • In reply to Bryce Elliott:

    Hi Bryce, were you able to also browse Alarms and events data via OPC UA?

    I am curious to know how does the structure look like when browsing using OPC UA client like UAExpert. 

    Does it show Alarms and Events folder within the tree structure?