Avoid DCOM and Tunnel Across Firewalls and Networks Presenters: Kevin Rutherford, Senior Applications Engineer Colin Winchester, VP Operations  OPC DA Tunnelling  PC to PC without DCOM  Encryption between systems  Across Firewall though single port

OPC Tunneling and Data Aggregation with OPC DataHub Agenda  Overview of the OPC Data Hub  OPC Data Aggregation - Why & How?  OPC Tunneling – How?  Live Demo – Tunneling & Logging Remote Data to ODBC Database  Additional Application Examples  Questions & Answers

OPC Data Hub Functionality Overview

OPC Data Aggregation What Is Aggregation? Aggregating to a Single Computer 1 to N OPC Clients (i.e. HMI/SCADA) Multiple & Varied Data Sources OPC DataHub  Bringing together data from multiple sources  Data sources don’t all have to be OPC servers!

OPC Data Aggregation Why Aggregate?  Insure common, consistent update rate  Limit # of OPC connections  Bring disparate data sources together (OPC, DDE, ODBC)  Overcome OPC server limitations  Overcome OPC client limitations  Reduce network traffic  Improve system performance  Save money on OPC client & server licensing with some applications!

What is Tunneling? OPC Tunneling  Moving OPC Data via simple TCP/IP port connection  Eliminating DCOM and Expanding Data Transport Choices Computer #2Computer #1

OPC Tunneling Why Tunnel?  No DCOM!  No Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)  Handles Network Interruptions  Handles Low-bandwidth networks  Improve System Performance & Reliability  Reduce Network Traffic  Remove Firewall Issues  Connecting to Non-Windows Systems

How Does OPC DA communicate between PC’s  An OPC Client connects to an OPC Server through COM  An OPC Client connecting to an OPC Server on a different machine connects through DCOM and must be authenticated. PC – 1 OPC Client COM run-time Security Provider OPC Client PC – 2 OPC Server COM run-time Security Provider OPC Server I want to connect to you Tell me your login name and password! My user name is “fred” and password is “*****” Let me check my Access Control List…. Yes, you are on my list… I will grant you access!

OPC Tunneling Why Tunnel with DataHub?  No DCOM! Or RPC – Easy to configure  Remove Firewall Issues – single port  Network Interruptions – more then DCOM  Heartbeat and reconnect settings  Low-bandwidth or Reduce Network Traffic  No polling  Single connection for multiple tunnels  Improve System Performance & Reliability  Mirrors data – both side share data  Clients connected to OPC DataHub always get an answer  Non-blocking calls

OPC Tunneling Why Tunnel with DataHub?  Increase Data security (passwords & SSL)  Connecting to Non-Windows Systems  Multiple clients on same PC,  still one remote connection to remote OPC sources, managed by OPC DataHub  OPC DataHub tunnels DATA  Any data source – OPC DA, DDE, ODBC  Any data that DataHub can read.

OPC Tunneling Why Tunnel with DataHub?  Other Tunnellers  Tunnel commands at the OPC protocol level and can only tunnel OPC Data!  Make connected clients wait on network timeouts  Multiple clients on same PC talking to remote OPC server = multiple connections

Other Approaches  VPN  Does not solve  DCOM, Network stability, bandwidth and crossing domains  OPC XML/DA  Not secure, more over head, not for high speed, limited products, OPC UA  OPC UA  Requires all products to support it  DataHub will add this

3 Steps to Tunneling with OPC DataHub  Step 1: Connect Master to OPC Server  Step 2: Connect Master to Slave  Step 3: Connect OPC Client to Slave

OPC Aggregation &Tunnelling  Live Demonstration Desktop PCLaptop PC

Aggregation & Tunneling Additional Application Examples Aggregating & Tunneling to MES/ERP Systems  Aggregation Consolidates Plant Floor Data  Tunneling gets it to the front office  ODBC, API’s, DDE, Scripting, TCP/IP Available to tie in to MES/ERP

Aggregation & Tunneling Additional Application Examples Aggregating & Tunneling OPC, Linux, ODBC and Excel!  Pull data from OPC Server Locally  Tunneled data to and from remote Linux Server – or any OS  ODBC Database connections to Database Server  All data pulled together in DataHub, charted in Excel with drag+drop OPC Server Database Server TCP/IP Tunnel

Aggregation & Tunneling Additional Application Examples Tunneling to Bring HMI/SCADA Data Where You Need It  Aggregate data when needed  Tunneling to get the data where you need it  Web Interface Serves the data where & how you want it  ODBC, API’s, DDE, Scripting, TCP/IP to do what you want! Standard TCP/IP Single Port Connections DataHub Front Office Factory Floor DataHub InTouch HMI TOP Server InTouch to OPC Driver DataHub GE Proficy iFix DataHub RSView

What Tools are Needed?  For all usage scenarios  No tag count limits  No limits on # of clients, # of servers used with a single DataHub  Aggregation on a Single PC – 1 DataHub License - $995  Aggregation + Tunnelling Scenario – 2 DataHub licenses (one per PC) - $1990  Demo site will pop-up after this presentation: 

Contact Information & Other Learning Opportunities  Questions later?    or   Other learning opportunities  and click on Videos/Training  Visit