Tc3 OPC-UA Server Startup Procedures

Purpose

Provide first-time setup and testing of a TF6100 OPC-UA Server using Anonymous login with no certificate security. This allows you to test the validty of the OPC-UA connection before moving onto security setup.

This setup is only for Windows 10 Target Devices.

Step-by-Step Guide

Start by setting up the Tc3 Project to expose tags for the OPC-UA Server (as filtered types).

Manually add TF6100 license under Licenes > Manage Licenses > Add License :

Under the Tc3 Project Settings, make sure the Target Files "TMC File" checkbox is selected.

Declare variables with the OPC-UA attribute before each variable you would like exposed to the server.

You can activate and download the configuration so the license is now active on the Target Device. We will come back to Tc3 later in the setup to verify our connections.

OPC-UA Server Installation

Install TF6100 OPC-UA Server on the target device that is intended to host the Server.

During installation select the none/none endpoint option. This allows you to connect to the server with no security certificates.

UaExpert Initilization Process

On the development PC, install & open Unified Automation UaExpert. Also this is a good time to verify that either the firewall of both the Target Device and the Development PC have port 4840 open or have the firewall(s) turned off.

Select the + icon on the toolbar to add a server to the UaExpert project.

Under the Custom Discovery branch, double click to Add Server ; then enter the OPC-UA server address of your Target Device. In my instance its using the IP address of the port used and port number 4840. Click OK when finished.

If the OPC-UA server is reachable it will automatically popluate the Custom Discovery branch with the endpoint options for connecting. Select None - None & and leave Authentication Settings on Anonymous. Click OK when finished.

The Target Device server should now show up under the server branch of the UaExpert project. Right click on the server and select connect.

Since this is the first time connecting, it will ask you to valdiate the certifcate of the server. Select Trust Server Certificate and continue.

You should now see the successfully validated certificate as trusted. Click continue.

Now that you are connected to the Target Device, you should have access to the Root folder in the Address Space. Under the Objects folder, find the TrustOnFirstUse method. Right click and select Call...

In the method call input arguments, enter a Username and Password. This will create a user that can be used in place of the Anonymous login. When finished filling out the arguments, select Call.

You should now see that the Result of the call is that it Succeded. Go ahead and close this window.

UaExpert will get booted from the Target Device as after the method call it will no longer accept Anonymous as the login. Go to properties of the server in the UaExpert project.

Under Authentication Settings, change from Anonymous to your newly created username and password. Check the store box and click OK.

Now connect to the Target Device by right clicking on the server and selecting Connect.

If you are able to connect successfully, the TrustOnFirstUse method part of the procedure is now complete. We will move onto the TwinCAT OPC-UA Configurator to set up the server for accessing the variables in the TwinCAT project.

OPC-UA Server Configuration

Open TwinCAT OPC-UA Configurator on the development PC. Click edit next to the server selection dropdown. Enter the Target Device Server URL and select Get Endpoints, choose None-None and Add.

After adding the Server, double click on the Identify Token Type, it should be defaulted to Anonymous.

When we ran the method call to set up a new user it disabled the ability for us to connect as Anonymous. So we need to set this up to use the Identity (username) that you set up earlier. Click OK when you are done.

Close the Configure Server window, and then select Connect. Enter the username and password. In the Message log you should see that you have now successfully connected to the server.

Once connection is established and confirmed, select the Red Folder icon from the toolbar. This will open a server configuration file from the connected server. This pulls in the previously set up user names and any other configurations set up prior to this point for the Target Device server.

You will see a device added to the configurator and a message in the log that a configuration has been read successfully.

Confirm the configuration is as expected by reviewing the Security tab. You should see the username you created earlier, in my instance under Users I see 'shawn". Once confirmed, use the activate on target icon on the toolbar to complete the configuration on the target device.

Test OPC-UA Server

If you have not already, go ahead and activate and download Tc3 project to the Target Device. During the actviation the OPC-UA server will be restarted and once running you should be able to use UaExpert to browse the server as a client device. From here you should see the exposed variables that have been declared and have r/w access.

As a secondary check, I have also verified the OPC-UA server with an Ignition Client.