Skip to main content

OPC-UA Server Browsing

The logiccloud Control can be used to enable easier setup of the OPC-UA client mappings using edge browsing functionality. This is done by installing a device-level service that connects to the OPC-UA server and sends browsing information to the portal.

The portal can then be used to browse the OPC-UA Server and select the variables to be mapped to the OPC-UA client.

The browsing service can be enabled temporarily while the mappings are being set up and then removed to reduce the load on the device.

Enabling the browsing service​

To enable the browsing functionality, a dedicated browsing service must be installed on the edge device. This can be done from the logiccloud Control user interface by clicking on the pencil button next to the Device services table header:

edit device services

A dialog will be shown where the browsing service can be enabled with a single click:

enable browsing

Once the changes are saved, the browsing service will be installed and started on the device. This will enable browsing functionality for this device.

info

OPC-UA server browsing can be done without having an actual runtime installed on the device.

Browsing the OPC-UA Server​

Once the browsing service is enabled, the OPC-UA server can be browsed from the portal.

To do this, a runtime with an OPC-UA client connection and configuration must be created (see Setting up the client connection for details).

Once the client configuration is added, the data layer can be browsed by clicking on the "Browse" button at the top:

browse

This will open up the browsing dialog, and the device that has the browsing service can be selected:

browse dialog

On the left side, the tree can be expanded to explore the OPC-UA server tag structure. Upon reaching the desired node, selecting it becomes possible with a click.

If the node contains children, a table appears, listing all the selectable variables. Selection can be done by clicking the plus button next to each variable, or by using the plus button at the top to select all variables at once:

browse dialog

The "Selected items" table shows all selected variables, and also allows removing any variable not desired in the final selection.

Once all desired variables are added to the "Selected items", clicking on the "Select" button at the bottom will add them to the client configuration:

browse dialog

Once the selection is confirmed, the mappings will be populated with the selected items. If the selected items match existing access variables, they will be automatically mapped to them. Otherwise, the variables must be manually selected.

The type of the variables will be set based on the data type of the variable in the OPC-UA server. Other OPC-UA specific settings can also be adjusted, such as:

  • the sampling interval
  • the monitoring mode:
    • Reporting
    • Sampling
    • Disabled
  • the queue size
  • the discard oldest flag
info

More details on the client mapping options can be found in the:

variable mappings

Disabling the browsing service​

After the mappings are set up, the browsing service can be disabled to reduce the load on the device. This can be achieved from the logiccloud Control - Device services dialog by clicking on the pencil button and deselecting the browsing service. When the changes are saved, the browsing service will be stopped and removed from the device.

Last updated on