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 HubFunctionality Overview

http://www.softwaretoolbox.com/opcdatahub

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 AggregationWhy 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 TunnelingWhy 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

I want to connect to you

Tell me your login name and

password!My user name is “fred” and password is

“*****”

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 TunnelingWhy 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 & TunnelingAdditional 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 & TunnelingAdditional 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

DatabaseServer

TCP/IPTunnel

Aggregation & TunnelingAdditional 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

InTouchHMI

TOP ServerInTouch to OPC Driver

DataHub

GEProficy

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: http://www.softwaretoolbox.com/opcdatahub/html/free_demo.shtml

Contact Information & Other Learning Opportunities

Questions later? krutherford@softwaretoolbox.com cwinchester@softwaretoolbox.com 888-665-3678 or 704-849-2773

www.softwaretoolbox.com/opcdatahub Other learning opportunities

www.softwaretoolbox.com/opcdatahub and click on Videos/Training

Visit www.softwaretoolbox.com/webinars