Citect 2018 R2 OPC-DA server connection issue with client

[Rasoul]

Hi Dears,

I have an issue making a connection between PI Interface and Scada OPC-DA. PI Interface is on another VM and trying to make a connection to the Scada OPC-DA server. I have configured the DCOM setup as per OSI PI and Citect documentation at both Scada and PI Interface VMs. OPC DA has been enabled in the Scada server and it's running in the run-time manager. The DCOM access for Citect OPC DA name is AVEVA SCADA OPC DA Server. There are 3 options to allow the users to run the OPC-DA as the interactive user, the launching user and this user. When I select the interactive user (the person who already is logged in to the Scada server) by any OPC explorer like Matricon or OPCExpert I can connect to the OPC-DA and browse the data locally and remotely but as soon as I change the access to this user and put the service account user and pass in and tries to connect by PI Interface for OPC-DA which runs under the same service account the OPC server denied the connection. I have added the service account to be a local administrator in the Scada servers and also to my computer com security. It has launch and activation permission. It looks like Citect 2018 R2 doesn't trust to any other users unless they are interactive users but this doesn't make any sense for me as you are not going to login to the I/O servers forever. I think something is running in the background which doesn't allow OPC server to trust to any other user even if they have full access and permissions in the I/O servers.

I have checked netstat command in the CMD to monitor any TCP connections between PI Interfaces and I/O servers. There was established TCP Port 135 and 50085 between primary interface and secondary I/O servers when the successful connection to OPC server established but again this was the interactive user. When it wasn't interactive user the primary I/O server port 135 and 50085 was on Time-Wait. This shows the DCOM connection was successful but OPC was unresponsive. Please let me know if anyone had the same issue which I'm currently facing with the Citect 2018 R2.

This is a blocker for our historian project and I need to resolve it. Any alternative solution can be considerable. Your prompt response would be highly appreciated.

Best Regards,

Rasoul

[Kien_Mac]

Hi Rasoul,

This appears to be an issue that requires our Global Customer Support Team to help. I'd like to suggest to reach out to the support team to assist and troubleshoot in more detail.

DCOM issues can be very tricky. Some suggestions would be to run the Citect Runtime Manager, Service Log On from 'Local System account' to 'Administrator'? I remember that the Local System account is a really locked down Windows account, which is important for security, but also becomes a problem for DCOM and network enabled applications. You may need to reach out to Microsoft or the OPC foundation for guidance on securing the application while still enabling access to network resources and DCOM.

You may also be running into problems with [OpcDaServer]AutoStartByClient=1.


In the meantime, some links that might help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=silTnP4a8do

https://docs.osisoft.com/search
https://docs.osisoft.com/bundle/pi-interface-for-opc-da/page/related-tools-for-pi-interface-for-opc-...

https://pisquare.osisoft.com/s/question/0D58W00007t92O0SAI/citect-interface-firewall-rule-requiremen...