Dear colleagues,

I have a question regarding OPC UA configuration on my existing system.

On one PC Simatic NET V13 SP1 is installed and this station is configured as OPS server for some third party application. In attachment you can see what is installed on this PC.

This station is communicating with two S7-400 CPUs (unspecified connection of OPC server). In OPC Scout variables of interest were declared and those variables are accessible over OPC DA and it works perfectly! S7-400 stations are not in the same project with PC, they are created in Simatic Manager.

Now customer wants those variables and some new ones to be accessible over OPC UA server to some other application.

I have no experience with OPC UA server so my question is how to configure it to work and how to create variables on OPC UA server like I did for OPC DA? Some getting started manual would also be good for me.

Best regards,

Miloš

Hi,

It would be good to check the manuals:

OPC UA with CP for S7-400:
SIMATIC NET: S7-400 - Industrial Ethernet CP 443-1 OPC UA

Simatic Net:
SIMATIC NET PC software SIMATIC NET PC Software V13

Also check SIOS for Application examples, maybe there is one for you:
SIOS Search Application Examples

Regards,

Kirschiaub08

Hello again!

I read the manuals and it seems that Simatic NET V13 SP1 supports OPC UA. But in OPC scout I get an error when trying to browse local OPC server: UA server Find servers error: Could not open UA TCP request channel. 

In some forum post I saw that WinCC Connectivity pack must be installed and licensed but please could someone confirm this to me? 

https://support.industry.siemens.com/tf/ww/en/posts/opc-scout-ua-server-find-servers-error-could-not-open-ua-tcp-request-channel/109487?page=1&pageSize=10

BR,

Milos

I received very simple explanation from Siemens support:

Dear Mr Petrovic,

you have all needed requirements.
The configured standard S7-connection is usable with SIMATIC NET OPC COM DA Server "OPC.SimaticNET" and OPC UA S7 Server with default port 55101.
Only the OPC ItemID / note ID is different:
The syntax of OPC COM DA is
S7:[<connectionname>]DB<no>,{<type>}<address>{,<quantity>}.
-> see chapter 2.6.4 of manual "SIMATIC NET: PC software Industrial Communication with PG/PC Volume 2 - Interfaces"
https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/ww/en/view/77378184
The syntax of OPC UA S7 is
<connectionname>.<S7object>.<address>{,<S7type>{,<quantity>}}
-> see chapter 2.7.8

With OPC UA you have to add manually the note about OPC data view of OPC-Scout because the option "new definition" isn't available about the Server Explorer by using OPC UA.

Addition to this reply: I could not browse OPC UA servers using OPC scout, I had to add them manually.

If someone needs help please contact me!

BR,

Milos