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Collector OPC UA

01 Sep 2021
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Collector OPC UA

Updated on 01 Sep 2021
10 Minutes to read
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The purpose of this article is to be a reference for the OPC UA collector part of the full Data Collection Module documentation

Prerequisite

A Starter package (SiteManager + accounts)

Config main

The Config main (array of objects, mandatory) contain the following fields:

Function	Type	Importance	Description
ConfigName	string	mandatory	Unique name for this configuration file. Follows the rules for names.
ConfigDescription	string	optional	text describing this configuration.
CheckpointInterval	integer == 0 or >= 60	optional	The interval with which all data from the internal datasample cache is saved to disk. This more unstable (power) the SiteManager, the more often data should be saved. Saving it often, however will also cost performance and wear on the hard-disk/flash. A value of 0 means, never checkpoint, otherwise it means interval in seconds between saves. If not specified the value 15 * 60 (15 minutes) is used.
AlarmsSaved	integer >= 4	optional	The number of alarms saved in the store-and-forward database. If this values is not specified, it will default to 32.
WaitForNTP	boolean	optional	Synchronize DCM data collection with NTP time. If this parameter is true, all DCM collectors will not begin collecting data until NTP is enabled and configured and NTP has synchronized date/time. If not specified, the value is true.

Since the JSON format itself doesn't define a comment notation, DCM accepts a fieldname comment with any type of value in any section.

Example of comment

"Comment": "Example of a comment for use in any section.":

OPC UA Collector main

The Collectors (array of objects, mandatory ) list of elements contains the following fields:

Function	Type	Importance	Description
CollectorName	string	mandatory	Unique name (within this confguration file) of a device to collect data from. (This is the name used in the agent configuration.) Follows the normal rules for names.
CollectorDescription	string	optional	Description of this collector. (For your use, no system function)
CollectorIPAddr	string	optional	Default IP address (or DNS name) for the device to be polled. The agent Target IP address will take precedence over this.
CollectorPortno	integer > 0 and < 65535	optional	Default port number for the device to be polled. The agent Target Port number will take precedence over this. If neither CollectorPortno nor agent Target Port Number is specified, the appropriate port will be used, depending on the Protocol parameter value.
Alias	string	optional	This is the CollectorName of another collector, from which all the parameters (except CollectorName , CollectorDescription , CollectorIPAddr and CollectorPortno ) are copied. An alias cannot refer to another alias.
Protocol	string-enum	mandatory	The protocol used to collect data. Currently 3 possible values exist: "OPC-UA/TCP", "Modbus/TCP", "Http/GET" and "Simulator".
ConnectRetryMin	integer > 0	mandatory	The minimum number of seconds before trying to re-establish a connection to the device being sampled. An exponential backoff algorithm is used to retry connection establishment, starting after ConnectRetryMin and increasing to ConnectRetryMax.
ConnectRetryMax	integer > 0	mandatory	The maximum number of seconds before trying to re-establish a connection to the device being sampled.
OPCUAAccess	Object	optional	Collection of parameters needed to access a given OPC-UA/TCP server.
SamplePoints	Array of objects	mandatory	List of samples to be collected, possibly aggregated and stored in the Store'n'Forward database.

OPCUAAccess

Note

The Security mode is an EXPERIMENTAL new feature and all security-related configuration is subject to change.

Important

OPCUAUsername and OPCUAPassword are deprecated and will probably be removed in a future release.

The OPCUAAccess object contains the following elements:

Function	Type	Importance	Description

OPCUASecurityMode	string-enum	optional	The security mode for the communication channel between DCM (OPC-UA client) and the OPC-UA server. Currently 3 possible values exists: "none", "sign" or "signencrypt". Unless specified otherwise, "none" is set as default.
OPCUASecurityPolicy	string	maybe-optional	The security policy is mandatory, when the OPCUASecurityMode is "sign" or "signencrypt". Currently 5 possible values exists: "none" "Basic128Rsa15" "Basic256" "Basic256Sha256" "Aes128_Sha256_RsaOaep". If not specified, "none" will be used.
OPCUACertificate	string	optional	The name of the certificate used for authentication during the collection of data if the OPCUASecurityMode is "sign" or "signencrypt". If not specified, the name opcua-cert- CollectorName will be used. If such a certificate does not exist in the certificate store, it will be created.
OPCUAPrivateKey	string	optional	The name of the private key to use for encryption during collecting of data if the OPCUASecurityMode is "sign" or "signencrypt". If not specified, the name opcua-pkey- CollectorName will be used. If such a private key does not exist in the certificate store, it will be created.
OPCUAServerCertificates	array of strings	optional	The name of the certificates imported from the OPC-UA server(s), that the collector retrieves data from. If no server is specified, any server will be accepted as being valid. If specified as an empty array, then all certificates of the OPC-UA Server certificate type will be used. OPCUAUserTokenType (string-enum, mandatory) The user authentication methods used when collecting data. Currently 4 possible values exists: "anonymous", "username", "certificate" or "issuedtoken".
OPCUAUserTokenType	string-enum	mandatory	The user authentication methods used when collecting data. Currently 4 possible values exists: "anonymous", "username", "certificate" or "issuedtoken".
OPCUAUserTokenName	string	maybe-optional	The name of the 'username/password information', 'certificate' or 'issuedtoken' to use. Mandatory if OPCUAUserTokenType is "username", "certificate" or "issuedtoken". The name refers to an entry in the certificate store, which should contain the following: For "username"- a file with 2 lines of text: The username and the password. For "certificate": an X.509 certificate. For "issuedtoken": a BASE64 encoded text file.
OPCUAUsername	string	maybe-optional	The username to use for the OPC-UA session. To use OPCUAUsername it is a requirement that Securitypolicy + Security Mode is set to something other than "none". Note that this parameter is deprecated and will probably be removed in a future release. Instead, we recommend using OPCUAUserTokenName as it is more flexible and secure.
OPCUAPassword	string	maybe-optional	The password to use for the OPC-UA session. To use OPCUAPassword it is a requirement that Securitypolicy + Security Mode is set to something other than "none". Note that this parameter is deprecated and will probably be removed in a future release. Instead, we recommend using OPCUAUserTokenName as it is more flexible and secure.
OPCUAPath	string	optional	additional path component to the URL used for connecting to the OPC-UA server.
OPCUABrowseRootIds	array of OPCUABrowseRootId	optional	The OPC-UA node id to start browsing for relative browse paths from.
OPCUATimeStampPolicy	string-enum	mandatory	The timestamp to mark collected data with. Currently 3 possible values exists: "source", "server" or "dcm". If the polled OPC-UA server doesn't support the requested timestamp, DCM will fall back from Source->Server->DCM. This field also serves as the default value for the optional field OPCUATimeStampPolicy in sample OPCUAObject.
OPCUATimeout	integer > 0	optional	Timeout (in millisecond) for OPC-UA query requests. If not present the value 5000 is used.

Samplepoint

The SamplePoints objects contains the following elements:

Function	Type	Importance	Description
SampleName	string	mandatory	Name of this sampled value (sometimes called a tagname). Follows the normal rules for names.
SampleDescription	string	optional	is a text description of this sample value.
SampleUnit	string	optional	is a description of the unit measurement for this sample.
SampleGroup	string	optional	designates (in some datasrvs) that all samplepoints in that group should be handled (displayed) together. The DCM system itself places no meaning on this group affiliation.
SamplesSaved	integer > 0	optional	is the number of values collected that is saved in the Store'n'Forward database even after the values have been sent to all dataservers. When 0 is specified, the value can be used in aggregators. but nothing is sent via dataservers to cloud system. If left unspecified, values are only saved in the Store'n'Forward database until they have been delivered to all dataservers.
OnlySaveOnChanged	bool	optional	Check if new sample values should only be saved to the store-and-forward database if the values have changed since last sample. If not set, it is false.
ChangeLimit	Integer/Double	optional	Only used if OnlySaveOnChanged is true. This describes a limit for what "changed" means. If a new sample value is this amount less or more than the previous sample value, it is considered the "same" value. This is a simple hysteresis to filter out inaccurate (jitter) measurements.
SampleDataType	string-enum	mandatory	The type of data collected. The possible values are: "bool" (1 bit), "sbyte" (8 bit signed), "byte" (8 bit unsigned), "int16" (16 bit signed), "uint16" (16 bit unsigned), "int32" (32 signed), "uint32" (32 bit unsigned), "int64" (64 bit signed), "uint64" (64 bit unsigned), "float" (32 bit), "double" (64 bit), "string" (variable text up to 24575 bytes. Includes terminating NUL), "data" (variable data up to 24575 bytes). This collector might not support all SampleDataTypes.
SampleMaxVDataSize	integer > 0 and <= 24575	optional	is the max size of variable data enforced for this sample. This is only relevant for SampleDataType "string" or "data". If not specified, the value is 1024.
SampleLowerLimit	integer/double	optional	The lower limit for the collected data. If the collected data value is less than SampleLowerLimit it is evaluated in accordance with SampleLimitDiscard and SampleLimitAlarm.
SampleUpperLimit	integer/double	optional	The upper limit for the collected data. If the collected data value is more than SampleUpperLimit it is evaluated in accordance with SampleLimitDiscard and SampleLimitAlarm.
SampleLimitDiscard	bool	maybe-optional	Checks if a sample limit violation results in the sample value being discarded. Mandatory if either SampleLowerLimit or SampleUpperLimit is present.
SampleLimitAlarm	bool	maybe-optional	Checks if a sample limit violation generates an alarm. Mandatory if either SampleLowerLimit or SampleUpperLimit is present.
OPCUAObject	Object	maybe-optional	Description of how to address a specific OPC-UA object, when values are collected from it. Mandatory if the protocol type is "OPC-UA/TCP".

OPCUABrowseRootId

TheOPCUABrowseRootId object contains the following fields:

Function	Type	Importance	Description
BrowseRootID	integer >= 0	mandatory	is a unique ID for this entry. (Used by the OPCUAObject entries).
NodeIdNameSpaceIndex	integer >= 0 and < 65535	maybe-optional	This is the OPC-UA NodeID type. (ID type of the tag) The possible values are: "numeric", "string", "guid" or "bytestring".
NodeIdType	string-enum	mandatory	This is the OPC-UA NodeID type. The possible values are: "numeric", "string", "guid", "bytestring" or "browsename".
NodeIdNumeric	integer >= 0 and < 4294967295	maybe-optional	This is OPC-UA NodeID numeric value. Only mandatory if the value of NodeIdType is "numeric".
NodeIdString	string	maybe-optional	This is OPC-UA NodeID string value. Only mandatory if the value of NodeIdType is "string" or "browsename". For "browsename" it is the node browsename to be searched for, starting from OPCUABrowseRootId and forwards in the tree.
NodeIdGuid	string	maybe-optional	This is OPC-UA NodeID GUID value. Only mandatory if the value of NodeIdType is "guid". The format is hex-digits with hyphens enclosed in curly brackets: {XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX} (38 characters).
NodeIdByteString	string	maybe-optional	This is OPC-UA NodeID byte string value. Only mandatory if the value of NodeIdType is "bytestring". The format is hex-digits. Must not be an empty string and must contain a even number of hex digits.
NodeIdBrowsePath	array of strings	maybe-optional	This is OPC-UA NodeID browse path. Only mandatory if the value of NodeIdType is "browsename". This browsepath is relative to official OPC-UA root folder namespaceindex 0 (numeric: 84). Each string in the array follows the OPC-10000-3 section C.2.3 syntax (`[<namespaceindex>:]<browsename>`) where the `<namespaceindex>:` can be omitted if `namespaceindex` is 0.

OPCUAObject

The OPCUAObject object contains the following fields:

Function	Type	Importance	Description
NodeIdNameSpaceIndex	integer >= 0 and < 65535	maybe-optional	This is the OPC-UA namespace index. When NodeIdType is "browsename", this index is not used and is therefore optional.
NodeIdType	string-enum	mandatory	This is the OPC-UA NodeID type. The possible values are: "numeric", "string", "guid", "bytestring" or "browsename".
NodeIdNumeric	integer	maybe-optional	This is OPC-UA NodeID numeric value. Only mandatory if the value of NodeIdType is "numeric".
NodeIdString	string	maybe-optional	This is OPC-UA NodeID string value. Only mandatory if the value of NodeIdType is "string".
NodeIdGuid	string	maybe-optional	This is OPC-UA NodeID GUID value. Only mandatory if the value of NodeIdType is "guid". The format is hex-digits with hyphens enclosed in curly brackets: {XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX} (38 characters).
BrowseRootREF	integer >= 0	integer >= 0	This is a reference to the OPCUABrowseRootIds element with the same value of it's field OPCUABrowseRootId. This field is only used, when the NodeIdType is "browsename".
NodeIdBrowsePath	array of strings	maybe-optional	This is OPC-UA NodeID browse path. Only mandatory if the value of NodeIdType is "browsename". This browsepath is relative to the browseroot specified with the BrowseRootREF value. If the BrowseRootREF is left unspecified, it is an absolute browsepath starting from the "Root" node. Each string in the array follows the OPC-10000-3 section C.2.3 syntax (`[<namespaceindex>:]<browsename>`) where the `<namespaceindex>:` can be omitted if `namespaceindex` is 0.
NodeIdByteString	string	maybe-optional	This is OPC-UA NodeID byte string value. Only mandatory if the value of NodeIdType is "bytestring". The format is hex-digits. Must not be an empty string and must contain an even number of hex digits.
OPCUASampleInterval	integer >= 0	mandatory	The number of seconds between each sample of this OPC-UA object. If the interval is 0, only event-driven polling is used.
OPCUATimeStampPolicy	string-enum	optional	The timestamp to mark this sample data with. Currently 3 possible values exists: "source", "server" or "dcm". If this field is not present the OPCUATimeStampPolicy filed from the OPCUAAccess object, this sample belongs to, will be used instead.

Example of collector with OPCUAAccess, Samplepoints and OPCUAObject objects:

{
 "CollectorName": "OmronOPCUA",
 "CollectorDescription": "Example Omron NX1 with OPC-UA Server",
 "Protocol": "OPC-UA/TCP",
 "ConnectRetryMin": 2,
 "ConnectRetryMax": 240,
 "OPCUAAccess": {
  "OPCUASecurityPolicy": "none",
  "OPCUAUserTokenType": "anonynmous",
  "OPCUATimeStampPolicy": "dcm"
  },
 "SamplePoints": [
 {
 "SampleName": "Temp1",
 "SampleDescription": "B1 Potmeter",
 "SamplesSaved": 1000,
 "SampleDataType": "int16",
 "SampleLimitDiscard": true,
 "SampleUpperLimit": 8100,
 "SampleLowerLimit": 0,
 "SampleLimitAlarm": false,
 "OPCUAObject": {
  "NodeIdNameSpaceIndex": 4,
  "NodeIdType": "string",
  "NodeIdString": "Analog1",
  "OPCUASampleInterval": 4
  }
  }
 ]
}

Example of collector for OPC UA server on Siemens PLC

{
  "CollectorDescription": "Example with Siemens PLC w/OPC-UA Server",
  "CollectorName": "Test2OPCUA",
  "ConnectRetryMax": 240,
  "ConnectRetryMin": 10,
  "OPCUAAccess": {
   "OPCUASecurityPolicy": "none",
   "OPCUATimeStampPolicy": "dcm",
   "OPCUAUserTokenType": "anonynmous"
   },
  "Protocol": "OPC-UA/TCP",
  "SamplePoints": [
 {
  "OPCUAObject": {
  "NodeIdNameSpaceIndex": 3,
  "NodeIdString": "\"DB_MRUSim\".\"Out\"",
  "NodeIdType": "string",
  "OPCUASampleInterval": 1
 },
  "SampleDataType": "double",
  "SampleDescription": "AHC curve",
  "SampleName": "AHC",
  "SamplesSaved": 10
  }
 ]
}

See complete OPC UA examples in the "Related articles" section below.

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What's Next

Collector Modbus TCP

Table of contents

Prerequisite
Config main
OPC UA Collector main
OPCUAAccess
Samplepoint
OPCUABrowseRootId
OPCUAObject