Each Tag has a Target Parameter that can be enabled to write a value back to an OPC Item. Because each Tag can have another Tag as a data source a Tag value can be transferred to unlimited numbers of OPC Items on both a local OAS Service or on other remote OAS Services.
Set as target in Configure tags.
Here you will find miscellaneous resources that can help you use Open Automation Software more efficiently.
Networking in OAS is a core feature and allows you to design your network architecture in the way that best suits your business needs and your desired level of security.
OAS uses TCP communications with encryption and compression to achieve the performance, reliability and security that you need. When data is transported to clients, only the data each client has requested is transferred. Network traffic is minimized by ensuring that the packet size is as small as possible. This is achieved using a compressed binary payload to transfer the value, timestamp, and quality of each tag value to the client. To further optimize the data transfer, once all of the requested values are transferred, only tag value changes are transmitted in the next packet.
Whether you want to run OAS as a single server instance, separate your OT and IT networks, isolate a critical network with one-way communications, or host OAS in a DMZ or internet facing network, the OAS networking features have you covered. There are three key networking methods included with a network enabled license that you can use independently or together to achieve almost any networking topology that you require.
The Basic Networking method is the most common method and is used whenever your OAS instances have a static IP address, fixed host name or a registered domain name and the instances are reachable on the network. This is a direct and bidirectional method of communication used for OAS Engine to OAS Engine and OAS Engine to client data transfer and configuration.
👉 More information about Basic Networking 🔗
The Live Data Cloud method is useful for allowing clients or OAS Engines on an external network (for example a Public Zone) to communicate with OAS Engines that are within an internal network (for example a Private Zone) and may not always have a fixed IP address. This method is also commonly used to provide external and public clients access to data without exposing internal OAS Engines through the use of a DMZ networking zone.
The Live Data Cloud method works by having an OAS Engine with Live Data Cloud enabled hosted in a network between the private network and the public network, like in a DMZ as mentioned previously, and registering this instance with a registered domain or fixed IP address (for example: iotdata.xyz). The internal OAS Engines will register themselves using an alias in the Live Data Cloud instance. The Live Data Cloud instance will handle the data routing between clients and external OAS Engines and the internal OAS Engines without exposing the internal engines to the public network.
👉 More information about Live Data Cloud 🔗
The Unidirectional Network Gateway method of communication is used where a networking architecture requires the most secure isolation of networks possible. This method can be used where all standard bidirectional TCP traffic to and from any other network is blocked. This special configuration uses the UDP protocol to ensure that data changes can only flow out of the secure network and never in. The UDP protocol is specifically designed for this type of data broadcasting where no replies from the receiving network are expected.
👉 More information about Unidirectional Network Gateway 🔗
OAS Engines and clients will poll the OAS Engine for new data every 30ms by default. This can be adjusted in the OAS Configuration tool using Configure > Options > Networking tab. This value should be increased to 100ms if there are more than 100 client connections, and to 1000ms if there are more than 1000 client connections.
On the first poll, all requested tag values are transmitted to the requesting OAS Engine or client.
After the first poll, only data changes are transmitted to the requesting OAS Engine or client.
If a client does not receive a response from the OAS Engine being polled the connection will be considered lost immediately on both the server and the client side.
If you have several remote clients that need the same data from a remote service, a second service can be set up with remote Tags as a data source from the remote service, and all of the clients can communicate with the second service. This would be for all read-only data to reduce the communications from a data source service from a remote location with low bandwidth. Any points that need to be written can be made directly by each client to the remote service.
All tag values configured in the UDP Broadcast are transmitted to the UDP Receiver instance in each data transfer.
The transmitting node will not know that the receiving node has received the values; thus, store and forward are not supported by this networking method. The receiving node does have an adjustable timeout, so if values for each tag are not received within that specified time, the quality of the local tag will be set to bad quality, indicating a network loss.
All features of Open Automation Software including configuration tools and all .NET components support remote connections over your LAN, WAN, VPN, and the Internet. Visit the OAS IoT Network 🔗 page for comparison of advantages over typical cloud networks which are push/pull communications.
Product / Application | Basic Networking | Live Data Cloud | One Way Broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open UIEngine | Read / Write | Read / Write | Read Only |
| WinForm HMI .NET | Read / Write | Read / Write | Read Only |
| WPF HMI .NET | Read / Write | Read / Write | Read Only |
| Web Trend | Read Only | Read Only | Read Only |
| .NET Trend | Read Only | Read Only | Read Only |
| Web Alarm | Read / Ack | Read / Ack | Read Only |
| .NET Alarm | Read / Ack | Read / Ack | Read Only |
| .NET Data Connector | Read / Write | Read / Write | Read Only |
| REST API | Read / Write | Read / Write | Read Only |
| Data Logging | Receive / Store and Forward | Receive / Store and Forward | Receive Only |
| Alarm Logging | Receive / Store and Forward | Receive / Store and Forward | Receive Only |
| Alarm Notification | Send / Ack | Send / Ack | Send Only |
| Recipes | Write | Write | Not Applicable |
| Automated Reports | Not Applicable | Not Applicable | Not Applicable |
| Excel Connector | Read / Write | Read / Write | Read Only |
| Data Route | Send / Receive | Send / Receive | Send Only |
| Calculation Tags | Read Only | Read Only | Read Only |
| Azure IoT Data Hub | Publish / Store and Forward | Publish / Store and Forward | Publish Only |
| Azure IoT Event Hub | Publish / Store and Forward | Publish / Store and Forward | Publish Only |
| AWS IoT Gateway | Read / Write / Publish / Store and Forward | Read / Write / Publish / Store and Forward | Read / Publish Only |
| MQTT | Read / Write / Publish / Store and Forward | Read / Write / Publish / Store and Forward | Read Only |
| Kafka | Read / Write / Publish | Read / Write / Publish | Publish Only |
| OAS OPC DA Server | Read / Write | Read / Write | Read Only |
| OAS OPC UA Server | Read / Write | Read / Write | Read Only |
| OAS Configure App | Get / Set | Get / Set | Not Applicable |
| .NET Configure Interface | Get / Set | Get / Set | Not Applicable |
| REST API Configure | Get / Set | Get / Set | Not Applicable |
Visit the Getting Started-Networking 🔗 page for helpful features like network node aliasing in client applications and how to check if your TCP port is open.
OAS connects to all commonly used industrial and business data sources. Select a data source to learn more about its setup:
Connect to OPC Clients like WinCC Cimplicity, RS View etc. by making OAS tags available as OPC items. Sample client Add OPC items from OPC Server Our OPC server makes OPC items to connect to
Connect OAS local and remote tags to OPC UA Clients.
Use the OAS Excel Tag Browser application to browse OAS tags and enable OAS read / write values from/to an Excel workbook
Use the Configure Recipes interface to configure data transfer from databases to OAS data sources. The data target can be from local or remote OAS Services of Tag Parameter Values. Execution can be continuous or event driven from a Tag Parameter value, or at a specific time of day. The database providers can be SQL Server, Access, Oracle, mySQL, PostgreSQL, InfluxDB, MongoDB, MariaDB, SQLite, and more.
Add real-time read data to a C#, C++, or Visual Basic.NET WPF, WinForm, or Windows Service application. It is a very powerful method to make any data from a .NET application become a realtime data source.
Read local and remote data from the Open Automation Software realtime database tags where the data source is a web application or web service. You can make use of the OAS products Web HMI, Web Trend, Web Alarm or for greater control use the OAS REST API or the HTTP API.
Create cross platform communication drivers to deploy locally or remotely with custom configuration and optional automated setup.
Connectors are configured using the OAS Configuration tool or the OAS APIs.
If your data source is a Modbus slave device with either Ethernet or Serial physical interface with Modbus TCP, Modbus RTU, or Modbus ASCII protocol use Configure-Drivers and Configure-Tags to setup communications to the devices.
Refer to Getting Started Modbus under System Configuration-Tags for a quick guide on how to set it up.
If your data source is an Allen Bradley controller use Configure-Drivers and Configure-Tags to setup communications to the devices.
Refer to Getting Started Allen Bradley under System Configuration-Tags for a quick guide on how to set it up.
If your data source is a Siemens controller use Configure-Drivers and Configure-Tags to setup communications to the devices.
Refer to Getting Started Siemens under System Configuration-Tags for a quick guide on how to set it up.
If your data source is MQTT use Configure-Drivers and Configure-Tags to setup communications to the devices.
Refer to Getting Started MQTT under System Configuration-Tags for a quick guide on how to set it up.
If your data source is a Sparkplug B Edge of Network Node use Configure-Drivers and Configure-Tags to setup communications to the devices.
Refer to Getting Started Sparkplug B Host App under System Configuration-Tags for a quick guide on how to set it up.
Note: OAS can also act as an Edge of Network Node as a data destination to publish data to a Host and receive Metric values with a NCMD or DCMD command.
If your data source is MTConnect use Configure-Drivers and Configure-Tags to setup communications to the devices. The MTConnect driver will automatically generate OAS Tags based on the MTConnect device information received from the Live Data Url.
Refer to Getting Started MTConnect under System Configuration-Tags for a quick guide on how to set it up.
If your data source is an OPC Server use Configure-Tags to define a Tag with a Data Source of OPC Item or you can use DirectOPC from the database.
For a detailed presentation of connecting to OPC Servers view the following video:
View Getting Started OPC Server and also the reference for Tags in this help file.
If your data source is an OPC UA Server use Configurat-Drivers and Configure-Tags to define a Tag with a Data Source of OPC UA.
View Getting Started OPC UA Server and also the reference for Tags in this help file.
If your data will be coming directly from an OPC Client you can implement the OPC Client Connector product feature which supports local and remote OPC Clients without DCOM.
View the following 4 minute video on OPC Client Connector:
View the OPC Client Connector Quick Start and reference on OPC Client Connector in this help file.
If your data will be coming directly from an OPC UA Client you can implement the OPC Client Connector product feature which supports local and remote OPC UA Clients to connect to local and remote OAS Tags.
View the Getting Started – OPC UA Client reference.
You can use Microsoft Excel as a data source for Open Automation Software with the product feature OAS Excel Connector.
View the following video on OAS Excel Connector:
View Getting Started OAS Excel Connector and reference on OAS Excel Connector in this help file.
You can use SQL Server, Oracle, Access, and MySQL as a data source for Open Automation Software with the product feature Recipe.NET.
View the following 27 minute video on Recipe.NET:
View the Getting Started Recipe.NET and reference on Recipe.NET in this help file.
By implementing a Windows Service, WinForm application, HTML application and WPF application as a data source the type data to be able to share with Open Automation Software is almost unlimited. This is implemented with the data component from OPC .NET WinForm HMI .NET.
Create your own driver for OAS that can be deployed either locally or remotely, even for cross platform support.
See the UDI Technical Overview for an introduction and follow the Create a Driver help topic for step by step instructions.
For an overview of a UDI example view the following video:
How to setup math equations and logic as a Data Source with the built-in Calculation engine for all products.
How to setup automated data transfer from one source to another locally or over on your LAN, WAN, and Internet.
OAS communicates with HTML-based applications using JSON over HTTP/S.
API Access
OAS provides the following API access for integrating with custom clients and for full programmatic access to live and historical data:
The .NET Data Connector product can be implemented to turn your .NET code variables into live data for the OAS Engine. The WriteTags method is used to pass in an array of tag name, array of values to write, and optionally timestamps to maintain 100 nanosecond resolution to the final destination from the OAS Engine.
The OASData.dll assembly is a .NET Standard 2.0 assembly which enables read and write access to all OAS Engines running locally or remotely.
Applications can target the following frameworks.
The same access can also be provided in the legacy assemblies for Framework 4.6 or less using the legacy assembly OPCSystemsDataConnector.dll.
The OAS Example Service Code is a working example of reading and writing tags synchronously and asynchronously. This includes example projects for both C# and VB for .NET Core Console App to run on all operating systems including…
There is also C# and VB projects to run as a Windows Service. The code examples in all 4 projects are the same to show adding tags programmatically and the asynchronous and synchronous methods for reading and writing data.
Refer to .NET Realtime Data Access for details on all methods supported
The OAS .NET products provide Human Machine Interface .NET controls and real-time data communications components for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and WinForm applications.
HMI applications can be developed using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (or later), Xamarin or Microsoft Blend.
OAS communicates with HTML-based applications using JSON over HTTP/S. Creating applications is straightforward – code a custom interface then add OAS Javascript libraries and OAS specific code.
API Access
OAS provides the following API access for integrating with custom clients and for full programmatic access to live and historical data:
Open Automation Software Tags can be defined to connect directly to devices using the CANBus standard using OAS built in CANBus Driver Interfaces.
The following steps can be used to setup direct communications with controllers using the CANBus standard.
Start Configure OAS application from the program group Open Automation Software.
Select Configure-License and verify that CANBus is one of the available Drivers in the lower left of the form. If you do not CANBus driver available contact support@oasiot.com to update your license.
Note: You will need to be running Open Automation Software Version 8.0.0.10 or greater to support direct CANBus communications. You can download the latest version here.
Select Configure-Drivers.
Select localhost or the remote service you wish to modify with the Select button to the right of the Network Node list.
Note: Optionally select the Live Data Cloud node if you are hosting CANBus data over the Internet with a standard Internet connection.
Enter a meaningful Driver Interface Name that you will refer to this physical connection when defining Tags with a CANBus Data Source.
Define the properties for the desired physical connection.
Note: You may need to Set Default Network Adapter for Driver Interfaces of the operating system.
Note: Set the Driver to CANBus.
Select the Add button in the lower part of the form to add the Driver Interface as an available selection when defining Tags in the next step.
Note: If you need to define several Driver Interfaces you can use the CSV Export and CSV Import on the toolbar in the upper right together with Microsoft Excel.
Select Configure-Tags.
Select localhost or the remote service you wish to modify with the Select button to the right of the Network Node list.
Note: Optionally select the Live Data Cloud node if you are hosting Modbus data over the Internet with a standard Internet connection.
Select to Add a Tag.
Note: You can also add organizational Groups as many levels deep as you prefer and add tags to groups. To do this first add a Group to the root level, then right click on the Group in the right window to add additional Groups or Tags.
Change the Data Source Tag property to CANBus.
Select the correct Driver Interface from the Driver Interface pull down list.
Specify the desired Polling Rate for the Tag.
Specify the Address of the variable to read and write to.
To define multiple tags use the CSV Export and CSV Import on the toolbar in the upper right together with Microsoft Excel.
Note: You can also programmatically define Tags using the free to use OPC Systems component as demonstrated in the Form FormConfigureCSV in the WinForm Example Code application that installs with Open Automation Software in the Program Group Open Automation Software. This component can be used in any .NET application includes Web Services, Windows Services, WPF Applications, and ASP.NET or .NET MVC Web Applications.
Select the Save button on the toolbar at the top.
Create a directory on the local C: drive with the name OPCSystemsDemo.
Save the file DemoTags.tags in the directory C:OPCSystemsDemo.
Under Configure – Options set the Default Tag Configuration File so when the computer restarts the tag file will automatically be loaded.
