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USER'S MANUAL
VERSION 1.01.0
FEBRUARY 21, 2003
Matrikon OPC Tunneller User's Manual
DOCUMENT HISTORY
Document
Date Author Comments
Version
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Matrikon OPC Tunneller User's Manual
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS ....................................................................................... 2
1.3 SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS ........................................................................................ 3
2. INSTALLATION AND OPERATION ....................................................................................... 4
2.1 TUNNELLER SERVER SIDE GATEWAY............................................................................. 4
2.1.1 INSTALLING THE TUNNELLER SERVER-SIDE GATEWAY ........................................... 4
2.1.2 STARTING THE TUNNELLER SERVER-SIDE GATEWAY .............................................. 5
2.1.3 STOPPING THE TUNNELLER SERVER-SIDE GATEWAY ............................................. 5
2.2 TUNNELLER CLIENT-SIDE GATEWAY ............................................................................ 6
2.2.1 INSTALLING THE TUNNELLER CLIENT-SIDE GATEWAY ........................................... 6
2.2.2 STARTING UP (CLIENT-SIDE GATEWAY)................................................................. 6
2.2.3 STARTING THE TUNNELLER CLIENT-SIDE GATEWAY CONFIGURATION UTILITY ..... 7
2.2.4 STARTING THE TUNNELLER CLIENT-SIDE GATEWAY .............................................. 7
2.3 SHUTTING DOWN...................................................................................................... 7
2.3.1 STOPPING THE TUNNELLER CLIENT-SIDE GATEWAY CONFIGURATION UTILITY..... 8
2.3.2 STOPPING THE TUNNELLER CLIENT-SIDE GATEWAY ............................................. 8
3. CONFIGURATION ............................................................................................................. 9
3.1 OPC TUNNELLER SERVER-SIDE GATEWAY CONFIGURATION ....................................... 9
3.1.1 EXAMPLE CONFIGURATION FILE .......................................................................... 9
3.1.2 [LOG] SECTION................................................................................................. 10
3.1.2.1 FILE SIZE OPTION ....................................................................................... 10
3.1.2.2 LEVEL OPTION ............................................................................................ 10
3.1.2.3 LOG TO SCREEN OPTION .......................................................................... 10
3.1.3 [COMMUNICATION] SECTION .......................................................................... 10
3.1.3.1 TRANSPORT OPTION .................................................................................. 10
3.1.3.2 TIMEOUT OPTION ...................................................................................... 10
3.1.3.3 RETRIES OPTION......................................................................................... 11
3.1.3.4 PORT OPTION ............................................................................................ 11
3.2 OPC TUNNELLER CLIENT-SIDE GATEWAY CONFIGURATION ..................................... 11
3.2.1 CLIENT CONFIGURATION UTILITY...................................................................... 11
3.2.1.1 ADDING A REMOTE SERVER ........................................................................ 12
3.2.1.2 DOWNLOADING AND REGISTERING TUNNELLED SERVERS.......................... 14
3.2.1.3 VIEWING AND UPDATING A REMOTE COMPUTER CONNECTION............... 14
3.2.1.4 VIEWING AND UPDATING A TUNNELLED SERVER CONFIGURATION............ 15
3.2.1.5 UNREGISTERING TUNNELLED SERVERS ........................................................ 16
4. UNINSTALLATION ............................................................................................................ 17
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Matrikon OPC Tunneller User's Manual
1. INTRODUCTION
This document describes the use and operation of the Matrikon OPC Tunneller software.
1.1 OVERVIEW
Companies wishing to use OPC technology to link operators and engineers with plant devices
often encounter communications problems. The majority of these problems occur not during
normal operation but at the time of installation. Quite often plant engineers face difficulties
configuring cross-network communication, windows authentication, and start up and run-time
permissions.
OPC Tunneller aims to alleviate many of these problems by providing a mechanism for OPC
data communication without the use of distributed COM (DCOM). The primary issues that
Tunneller addresses are:
Allows cross domain and cross workgroup communication with minimal network
configuration
OPC Client1
Tunneller Tunneller OPC Server 2
Client-Side Server-Side
OPC Client 2 Gateway Gateway
OPC Server 3
OPC Tunneller
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The Tunneller Client-Side Gateway is installed on the computer where the OPC clients reside. The
Client Side Gateway provides tunnelled program ids for remote servers and manages communication with
OPC clients. By default, this application is automatically run whenever a client attempts a connection to
a tunnelled OPC server.
The Tunneller Server-Side Gateway resides on the remote machine and manages communication with
OPC servers. The Tunneller Server-Side Gateway application is typically run as a service on the remote
machine. The Tunneller Server-Side Gateway application must be running on the remote computer to
enable tunnelling.
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OPC Tunneller will not support the Historical Data Access or Alarms and Events
specifications at this time.
Note
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OPC Server 4
The OPC Tunneller Server-Side Gateway software receives the IP-based messages sent by the
OPC Tunneller Client-Side Gateway, converts them to OPC requests, and communicates them to
a local OPC Server. The OPC Tunneller Server-Side Gateway software must be installed on the
same computer as the ‘remote’ OPC Server(s) that are to be ‘tunnelled’.
1. Run the OPC Tunneller installation package on the OPC Server computer
(MatrikonOPCTunneller.exe).
2. During the install, an option to select Tunneller Client-Side Gateway or Tunneller Server-
Side Gateway installation will appear. Select Tunneller Server-Side Gateway install
and simply follow the remaining steps specified by the installer.
If successful, a dialog box will appear indicating that OPC Tunneller has been successfully
installed.
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From the command-line, the OPC Tunneller Server has the following options:
Parameter Description
-INSTALL Registers the OPC Tunneller Server to run as an NT service. By default the
service is set to run as the System account as an interactive process.
Removes all registry entries for the OPC Tunneller Server (uninstalling the
-UNINSTALL
NT service if necessary).
When the OPC Tunneller Server-Side Gateway is running, unless it is running as a service, the
white background Matrikon logo icon will appear on the system tray with the tool tip “server”
(see figure below).
If the OPC Tunneller Server-Side Gateway is running as a service, it can be manually stopped
from the Service Control Manager.
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OPC Client1
Tunneller
Client Side
OPC Client 2 Gateway
The OPC Tunneller Client-Side Gate software will capture and convert all local OPC Client
communications into fast, efficient IP-based messages and transmit them to the OPC Tunneller
Server-Side Gateway software. The OPC Tunneller Client-Side Gateway software must be
installed on the same computer as the OPC Client.
1. Run the OPC Tunneller installation package on the OPC Client computer
(MatrikonOPCTunneller.exe).
2. During the install, an option to select Tunneller Client-Side Gateway or Tunneller Server-
Side Gateway installation will appear. Select Tunneller Client-Side Gateway install
and simply follow the remaining steps specified by the installer.
If successful, a dialog box will appear indicating that OPC Tunneller has been successfully
installed.
From the command-line, the OPC Tunneller Client-Side Gateway has the following options:
Parameter Description
/REGSERVER
Registers the OPC Tunneller Client to run as a local executable
–REGSERVER
(uninstalling the NT service if necessary).
/SERVICE Registers the OPC Tunneller Client to run as an NT service. By default the
–SERVICE service is set to run as the System account as an interactive process.
/UNREGSERVER Removes all registry entries for the OPC Tunneller Client (uninstalling the
–UNREGSERVER NT service if necessary).
When the OPC Tunneller Client is running, unless it is running as a service, the Matrikon logo
icon will appear on the system tray with the tool tip “Matrikon OPC Tunneller” (see figure
below).
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This section describes how to shut down all of the applications included with the OPC Tunneller
installation.
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3. CONFIGURATION
This Section details the configuration of the all the OPC Tunneller software. If this is the first
time configuring OPC Tunneller, ensure that you read this entire section before attempting
configuration.
The OPC Tunneller Server should be the first component configured because all of the
client-side components require that the server be fully set up and running. The default
configuration is fine for most installations.
Note
[LOG]
File Size = 1
Level = 3
Log To Screen = 1
[COMMUNICATION]
Transport = TCP
Timeout = 10
Retries = 3
Port = 21378
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This option specifies the number of seconds to wait for a response from the OPC Tunneller
Client before attempting to retry the request. This value must be an integer between 1 and
65535.
Port numbers from 1-2000 are generally reserved for known protocols so it is
recommended that you use a port numbers outside of this range.
Note
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The purpose of the Tunneller Client-Side Gateway Configuration Utility is to create and
configure local, “emulated”(AKA “tunnelled”) versions of the remote OPC Servers for an OPC
Client to connect to. To accomplish this, the Client Configuration Utility must connect to the
OPC Tunneller Server-Side Gateway, running on the remote computer, and download the list of
OPC Server program Ids.
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This should display the Remote Server Configuration panel (shown below).
To configure a connection to a remotely running OPC Tunneller Server, fill-in the remote
server’s hostname, the port number that the remote Tunneller Server is listening on, and the
connection timeout/retries. The table below describes all of the parameters in detail.
Field Purpose
Hostname/IP This is the Hostname or IP Address of the computer currently running the OPC
Address Tunneller Server. To browse the network for machines, simply click the drop
down menu and find the correct hostname. This field defaults to the current
machine’s hostname.
Port Number This is the TCP port that the remote OPC Tunneller Server was configured to
listen on (refer to section 3.1.1 for the location of this parameter in the
Tunneller Server configuration). Both the OPC Tunneller Server and Client
default to port 21379.
Timeout The timeout field specifies the number of seconds to wait for a response from
the OPC Tunneller Server before attempting to retry the request. This value
must be an integer between 1 and 65535. The default value is 10 seconds.
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Retries The retries field defines the total number of request retries to make before
giving up on a request and logging a failure. A retry is only made if a request
times out.
Every downloaded OPC Server program ID will have a new, locally “emulated” program ID to
use. Program Ids generated by the OPC Tunneller Configuration Client have the following
syntax:
Tunneller:<remote hostname>:<original OPC Server program ID>
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To change any of a Tunnelled Server’s configuration parameters, enter the new value in the
configuration panel as shown above and click the “Update” button to save it.
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4. UNINSTALLATION
To uninstall OPC Tunneller, run the unwise.exe program located in the OPC Tunneller install directory
on both the remote and local machines. This will ensure all installed components have been removed.
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