Connecting to OPC-UA

An OPC-UA Connection is used to communicate with an OPC-UA compliant server, such as the one the OPC-UA module provides. To create a new connection, go to go OPC Connections>Servers and click "Create new OPC Server Connection". Select "OPC-UA Connection" from the list. OPC-UA connections communicate via TCP/IP so configuration is relatively straight-forward.

Name

A name used to identify this connection.

Description

Short description of this connection, i.e. "Connection to plant floor."

Host	The host name or IP address of server. If the OPC-UA module is running on the same computer you are configuring this connection on then "localhost" will likely be sufficient.
Port	The port the OPC-UA server is running. The OPC-UA module defaults to running on port 4096 but can be changed on the OPC-UA module settings page.
Security Policy	A Security Policy is a set of security algorithms that will be used together during a security handshake. The OPC-UA server this connection is intended for must support the chosen security policy.
Message Security Mode	The Message Security Mode and the Security Policy specify how to secure messages sent via this connection. None - No security is applied. Sign - Messages are signed but not encrypted. Sign And Encrypt - Messages are signed and encrypted.
Enabled	A connection can be set to Enabled or Disabled. Disabled connections have their settings preserved but no actual connection is made and the server will not show up in the OPC Server Browser.

If a username and password are specified then they will be used as a user identity token when connecting to the specified OPC-UA server.

The internal OPC-UA server provided by the OPC-UA module uses an Ignition security profile to govern who can connect to it. This can be configured in the OPC-UA module settings section.

A Clustered OPC-UA Connection should be used only when clustering is enabled. It has the same settings and aside from internal clustering logic functions the same as the regular OPC-UA Connection. The difference is that all cluster nodes will relay their OPC-UA connections through the master, meaning that connections all originate from a single point.