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The NETx BMS Platform provides The NETx Servers provide a standardized OPC UA (Unified Architecture) interfaces ,interface. OPC UA is one of the most important communication protocols for Industry and the IoT.
After having installed the OPC UA
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OPC UA extension is available through Extension Manager. When the BMS Core Studio is stopped, the Extension Manager can be started from the BMS Studio menu Extensions / Manager / Start extension manager...
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After a successful installation the confirmation appears:
The close the BMS Core Studio and reopen it again; this is required before the extension can be used.
OPC UA as Server
After starting the BMS Core Studio and from the BMS Studio menu Modules/ OPC UA/ , some basic settings have to be done. To do so, start the studio and open the menu entry Modules > OPC UA > OPC UA server configuration...
To make BMS Core server runs as OPC UA server you need Enable OPC UA option. After that Server 
First, enable the OPC UA driver by ticking Enable OPC UA. Find more information about the remaining configuration options in the reference manual.
After having changed the required settings, the server needs to be restarted.
BMS Core server datapoints will Now the Server Items of the NETx Server are available through any OPC UA Client.
Integrate data points from another OPC UA Server
Adding Servers:
The NETx Server provides a OPC UA Client module to integrates data points from other OPC UA Servers. After installing the plugin, in the Modules>OPC UA>Server definitions. This menu is corresponding with adding another OPC UA Servers to the BMS Platform.In the following example a another BMS Platform that is running as a OPC Server.
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The given name of the OPC UA Server in BMS Server.
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The generated Path in Item Tree.
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The URL of the OPC UA Server.
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If the OPC UA Server requires Authentication with a Username and a Password.
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Adding data points:
In Server definitions Server has been configured. Now OPC UA data point can be defined.This is done within the "Modules>OPC UA> Data point definitions" . Datapoint definitions should match the the OPC UA Server item. In the following example a datapoint from another BMS Platform that is running as a OPC Server. 
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The generated Path in Item Tree.
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The index of the namespace URI in the namespace array.
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The data type of the Datapoint .
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Synchronize
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If this parameter is set to “True (T)”, the value is synchronized between the main and backup server (if present).
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For further check on Namespace Index, NoteId Type, NodeId Value and Data type. You can use 3rd party Software like UaExpert to get those information. |
The added Datapoints should appear in the ItemTree under the predefined Path: 
. To connect from an OPC UA client, an OPC UA connection URL for the NETx Server is required. Find the configured server URLs in the System Log Messages after server startup. Open the system log file and search for the following entries:
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Plugin.OPCUA The following Endpoint URLs are available:
Plugin.OPCUA opc.tcp://<host name>:48400/UA/NETxBMSPlatform Security: http://opcfoundation.org/UA/SecurityPolicy#None
Plugin.OPCUA opc.tcp://<host name>:48400/UA/NETxBMSPlatform Security: http://opcfoundation.org/UA/SecurityPolicy#Basic256Sha256
Plugin.OPCUA opc.tcp://<host name>:48400/UA/NETxBMSPlatform Security: http://opcfoundation.org/UA/SecurityPolicy#Basic256Sha256
Plugin.OPCUA https://<host name>:48401/UA/NETxBMSPlatform/ Security: http://opcfoundation.org/UA/SecurityPolicy#Basic256Sha256
Plugin.OPCUA OPC UA started |
Using these URLs, any OPC UA client can connect to our NETx Server.
Access rights and permissions
If an OPC UA client is connecting to an OPC UA server, a secure transport channel is established. In addition, the OPC UA client must authenticate to the OPC UA server using a username and password. In the OPC UA server configuration it is possible to define one user (i.e. username and password) who has full access to the whole OPC UA address space:
As an alternative, anonymous authentication (i.e. connection without username / password) can be enabled:
For our NETx BMS Platform, a more sophisticated authentication scheme is possible. If enabled, the user database of the NETx BMS Platform can be used:
This means that the same username and password combinations are used as for the visualization and Web Manager login. Starting with NETx BMS Platform R2 Build 1000, for each BMS user, the role permission for OPC UA can be configured within the Web Manager:
| Role | Permission |
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| Super Administrator | full access to the OPC UA address space |
| Administrator | full access to the OPC UA address space |
| Manager | full access to the OPC UA address space |
| Viewer | read-only access to the OPC UA address space |
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For troubleshooting, the log level of the OPC UA driver can be increased. The corresponding log entries are stored in a separate log file (<WorkspaceDirectory>\LogFiles\xio.OpcUa.log). More information about the configuration can be found in the OPC UA driver configuration. |
Article applies to the following products:
- NETx BMS Platform
- NETx Multi Protocol Server
- NETx BMS Server 2.0
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