How to Transfer Any Source Data to Sparkplug B

Open Automation Software aggregates data from any number of sources in one place. Each Tag carries its own Data Source, so a Tag can be read by any of the OAS Drivers, set directly as a Value Tag by hand or from your own application through the OAS Data API, or derived in real time by a Calculation Tag built from one or more other Tags no matter where those Tags get their own values.

Whatever mix of sources you use, the resulting Tags can be transferred together to a Sparkplug B host application.

This guide walks you through downloading and installing OAS, creating a Tag, assigning its Data Source, and enabling the MQTT broker, configuring a Sparkplug B EoN node and publishing the Tag.

For this guide on how to transfer any source data to Sparkplug B you will need:

• A data source for your Tags, such as a device, broker or database reachable by one of the OAS Drivers. Value Tags and Calculation Tags need no external source.

1 - Download and Install OAS

If you have not already done so, you will need to download and install the OAS platform.

Fully functional trial versions of the software are available for Windows, Windows IoT Core, Linux, Raspberry Pi and Docker on our downloads page.

On Windows, run the downloaded setup.exe file to install the Open Automation Software platform. For a default installation, Agree to the End User License Agreement and then click the Next button on each of the installation steps until it has completed.

If you'd like to customize your installation or learn more, use the following instructions:

• Windows Installation
• Linux Installation
• Raspberry Pi Installation
• Docker Installation

The OAS Service Control application will appear when the installation finishes on Windows.

Click on each START SERVICE button to start each of the three OAS services.

2 - Configure OAS

Web Configuration Application

Configuration of the OAS server is performed from the built-in Web Configuration Application. This is the main application for accessing any settings within the OAS server and is completely self-contained within the server.

You can reach this by opening your browser to:

http://<your server>:58725/app/config

If you are browsing from the OAS machine itself, you can use localhost, otherwise use the IP address of the machine. You will also need to ensure port 58725 is open on both the client and the server or you may not be able to reach the application.

On a new installation the OAS engine has no accounts yet, so the first screen you see is Create Admin Account. Once the administrator account exists that screen is not shown again, and browsing to the application displays the sign in screen instead.

1. Enter a name for the administrator in the Admin user name field. Typically you would use admin, but you can use whatever name you choose.

2. Enter a password in the Password field, then enter the same password again in the Confirm password field.

3. Click on the Create admin & sign in button. The account is created and you are signed in to the engine.

To sign in from then on, enter the Network node of the OAS engine, then the Username and Password of your account, and click on the Sign in button.

Legacy Configuration Application

1. From your operating system start menu, open the Configure OAS application.

2. Select the Configure > Tags screen.

   Important

   If this is the first time you have installed OAS, the AdminCreate utility will run when you select a screen in the Configure menu. This will ask you to create a username and password for the admin user. This user will have full permissions in the OAS platform.

   For further information see Getting Started - Security.

3. If this is the first time you are logging in, you will see the AdminCreate utility. Follow the prompts to set up your admin account. Otherwise, select the Log In menu button and provide the Network Node, username and password.

   

   

3 - Add Data Source Tag

In this section you will create a Tag to represent your data point in the field (for example a temperature sensor). This can then be transferred your desired destination.

1. In the sidebar menu, select Tags.

   

2. If you want to add a Tag to the root Tags group make sure another tag at the root is selected. Click the [+] button and select Add Tag.

   

   If you want to add a Tag to a Tag Group, select the Tag Group first and then click on the [+] button. Alternatively, you can right click on a Tag Group and select Add Tag.

   You can also add Tag Groups by clicking the [+] and selecting Add Group.

3. Provide a Tag Name such as TemperatureSensor and click the Create button.

   

4 - Assign the Tag Data Source

Every Tag in OAS carries its own Data Source, which is what makes aggregation possible. One OAS instance can hold Tags fed by a PLC, a cloud broker, a database and a calculation all at the same time, and everything downstream works from the Tag list rather than from the driver. That is why a single logging group or a single publish list can carry values that arrived from completely different places.

You will now set the Data Source of the Tag you created in the previous section.

1. Select the TemperatureSensor Tag.

   

2. Set the Data Source to whichever source supplies this Tag. Any of the following can drive it:

   • A driver. Set the Data Source to the driver you want to read from, then set the Select Driver Interface drop-down to the driver interface you configured, and complete the addressing properties for that driver. The Drivers section describes every driver, what it supports and how to configure it.

   • Value. Set the Data Source to Value for a Tag whose value is written to it rather than polled from a device. You can set it by hand in the Web Configuration Application, or write to it from your own application with the OAS Data API. Setpoints, recipe values, operator entries and values pushed in from an external system are all handled this way.

   • Calculation. Set the Data Source to Calculation to derive the value from other Tags. A Calculation Tag is evaluated in real time whenever any Tag it references changes, and it can reference one or more Tags regardless of what their own Data Sources are. This lets you convert units, scale raw counts, roll several machines up into one figure, or combine a device reading with a value that came from the cloud, before any of it is logged or transferred. See How to Create a Calculation Tag for a worked example, and the Calculations reference for the full function list.

3. Complete the remaining properties for the Data Source you selected. Driver Tags also have a Polling Rate property that sets how often the value is read, in seconds [default: 1 second].

4. Click on the Apply changes button to apply the changes.

5. Check that the quality status is Good and the Tag value is as expected.

   

5 - Check that the MQTT Broker is enabled

If you are using the OAS MQTT Broker, you can follow the steps below to ensure it is enabled, otherwise you can skip this step.

1. Select Options in the sidebar.

2. Expand the MQTT Broker section.

3. Check that the OAS MQTT Broker Enable toggle is turned on and the OAS MQTT Broker Port is configured as 1883.

   

6 - Create Security Group and User

When using Sparkplug B over the OAS MQTT Broker, you need to configure a security group and a user to provide Tag read/write access. You'll need these credentials when creating the Sparkplug B connector instances later.

ℹ️ You can skip this step if you already have your own MQTT Broker.

1. Select Security in the sidebar.

2. Click + Add, enter a Name such as SparkplugAccess and click Create. Once created, the security group name should appear in the list of security groups.

   

3. In the Read Tags section, ensure Disable All Tags From Reading is turned off.

   

4. In the Write Tags section, ensure Disable All Tags From Writing is turned off.

   

5. Select Users in the sidebar.

6. Click + Add, enter a User name such as sparkpluguser, set a Password, set the Security group to SparkplugAccess and click Create. Once created, the user name should appear in the list of users.

   

7 - Set up Sparkplug B Host App

In this section you will create a Sparkplug B driver configured using Host App mode. When you link EoN nodes to this host using the Host ID OAS will automatically create the Tags provided by the EoN node.

1. Select Drivers in the sidebar.

2. Click + Add, enter a name such as SpB Host App in the Driver Interface Name to give this driver interface a unique name, and click Create. Once created, the driver interface name should appear in the list of drivers.

3. Ensure the following parameters are configured:

   • Driver: Sparkplug B
   • Host: localhost
   • Port: 1883
   • User Name: sparkpluguser
   • Password: the password you configured in the previous step
   • Protocol Version: V500
   • Client ID: OAS_Client_Host
   • Mode: Host App
   • Host ID: OAS_Host (you will need to use this in your EoN node configuration)

   

   ℹ️ If you are using your own MQTT Broker, ensure that you configure the Host, Port, User Name, Password and Protocol Version accordingly.

4. Turn on Enable and click on the Apply changes button. The driver interface is not active until it is enabled and the changes are applied.

   

8 - Create Destination Sparkplug B EoN node

In order to simulate the Edge of Network (EoN) node acting as a data destination, we can use the features available in OAS to create an EoN using a Sparkplug B connector instance and leverage the built-in MQTT broker.

ℹ️ You can skip this section if you want to use your own existing EoN node. You'll have to ensure that your EoN node is configured with the details in step 3 below so that it can talk to the OAS Host App.

1. Select Drivers in the sidebar.

2. Click + Add, enter a name such as EoN Destination Node in the Driver Interface Name to give this driver interface a unique name, and click Create. Once created, the driver interface name should appear in the list of drivers.

3. Ensure the following parameters are configured:

   • Driver: Sparkplug B
   • Host: localhost
   • Port: 1883
   • User Name: sparkpluguser
   • Password: the password you configured in the previous step
   • Protocol Version: V500
   • Client ID: OAS_Destination_Node
   • Mode: Edge Node
   • Group ID: DestinationGroup
   • Edge Node ID: DestinationNode

   

4. Turn on Enable and click on the Apply changes button. The driver interface is not active until it is enabled and the changes are applied.

   

9 - Set Host Configuration on Tag

In this section you will configure the Sparkplug B Host parameters for the EoN node where the Tag value should be sent to.

1. On the Tags configuration screen, select the data source Tag.

   

2. Configure the Host parameters according to your Sparkplug B destination EoN node.

   • Host Group ID: DestinationGroup
   • Host Edge Node ID: DestinationNode
   • Host Device ID: EoN Data Destination
   • Host Metric Name: Temperature

   

3. Click on the Apply changes button to apply the changes.

10 - Verify Host App Tag Generation for Data Destination

You will now check to make sure the Tag Group folder structure and Tag for the Temperature metric was automatically generated and that any updates to the TemperatureSensor tag will flow through to the Sparkplug B tag structure.

1. On the Tags screen, click on the ↻ refresh button next to the Node field to refresh the tag list.

2. You will see a Tag Group structure starting with a parent folder called SpB Host App and then a sub-folder for DestinationGroup, another sub-folder for DestinationNode and finally a sub-folder for the EoN node called EoN Data Destination. The Temperature tag representing the Temperature metric is inside this final sub-folder.

   As you can see the Sparkplug B host app driver has automatically generated the Tag Groups and Tags.

   

3. Select the Temperature tag in the EoN Data Destination sub-folder. You should see the value updating according to your data source and the Client parameters configured according to the EoN node Host properties. These properties were automatically configured by OAS.

   

11 - Save Changes

Once you have successfully configured your OAS instances, make sure you save your configuration.

On each configuration page that has a Save button, click on it.

If this is the first time you are saving the configuration, or if you are changing the name of the configuration file, OAS will ask you if you want to change the default configuration file.

If you select Yes then OAS will make this configuration file the default and if the OAS service is restarted then this file will be loaded on start-up.

If you select No then OAS will still save your configuration file, but it will not be the default file that is loaded on start-up.