Does Geo scada work as an OPC DA Server?

[Valentino]

Goodmorning everyone,

I have Geoscada server which also works as an OPC DA server.

If I use Matrikon software on the same server to access Geoscada via OPC. I read all the data correctly.

But if I use another PC on the same network, I cannot access the Geoscada data.

I thinks that is a ports problem.

So I'm here to ask.
What TCP ports should I reserve for correct operation?
I opened ports 5481 and 135 but it doesn't work.
Do I have to open doors 5500 to 5509 as well?
Where do I find this information on the manule?

Can I have this configuration?
can i tunnelig for the OPC DA?
Can I read that data from other PCs on the network?
Does the OPC DA work locally, but does it also work remotely?

Thanks for the help!!

[sesa500295_brid · Accepted solution]

Hi,

You need to configure DCOM settings for Server Machine and Client Machine. Please see below matrikon documents for DCOM settings.

https://www.matrikonopc.com/dcom-configuration-opc.aspx

Without DCOM settings you can't use OPC-DA in network.

Matrikon, Cogent and OPC expert has some solutions on Tunneling if you don't want to deal with DCOM settings.

Hope it will solve your issue,

[tfranklin]

As mentioned above, when you go across network you'll be running into Windows DCOM issues.  Fortunately, Geo SCADA has a native "tunnel" type feature where you can install the data access components on a remote machine (local to your client) and point the Client Config app to the main server.  The OPC client can then point to the new CS configuration and Geo SCADA will effectively tunnel the data, bypassing COM. 

Other options are just as the previous person mentioned.  Configure DCOM properly or invest in a different tunneling software.

[Valentino]

Thanks for reply.

Is this native functionality the "OPC Factory Server"?

Do I have to install this software on the remote machine and configure it to point to the Geoscada server? does it work like the DCOM?

[tfranklin · Accepted solution]

No need for OFS here.  Just install the data access components for Geo SCADA on the remote box.  Basically, run the installer on the remote box and set it to custom.  Uncheck everything except for data access.  This'll install the ODBC driver and Configure Connections application.  Go to the configure connections application and create a connection to your primary server. 

Your OPC client should then see a connection locally for something like Serck.ScxV6OPCDA.MAIN.10.0.0.3 where MAIN is what I called the connection and 10.0.0.3 is the IP of the server. 

Note, your server may need appropriate licensing for this.

[Valentino]

Ah great!
in this way it is as if I have a tunneling software but in reality I am using the "configure connection" of GeoScada!

Thanks!

[Valentino]

Thanks for reply!

[tkswathik]

Hi,

In your original question you had asked:

Do I have to open doors 5500 to 5509 as well?

Answer is "Yes" you have to, if there is a firewall in between the computer where the "GeoSCADA components" installed and the GeoSCADA server, along with port 5481. 

Another thing I noticed is this would need the Guest account to be enabled and have access to the folders you plan to access through OPC Client. In our system we had the Guest disabled, but we had to add this to a folder's security and provided "read" access.

[BevanWeiss]

One important thing to note here is that this is a licenced feature.

There is a licence restriction on the number of 'OPC Clients' that can connect to a Geo SCADA Expert server.

Any OPC Client can connect, and you don't need to install other software.

You can either use the raw OPC-DA connection, in which case DCOM etc are a problem.  Or you can use the Data Access Component method (as mentioned by another) in which case you install these components on the client machine, and then you can access an OPC-DA 'service' locally to the client, which then tunnels it through the normal 5481/5500-55xx ClearSCADA / GeoSCADA Expert ports.

I'd recommend the second OPC tunnelling through Data Access Components if you can.  If you can't, then you'll just have to deal with the DCOM stuff... which is never fun.

For either case, OPC client licence (on server) is required.