Connect to an OPC UA Server

Connect to an OPC UA server using Synnax.

The first step to acquiring data from your PLC is to connect to an OPC UA server.

Prerequisites

Before you can connect to an OPC UA server, you’ll need to have the following configured:

A Synnax cluster running on your network.
The Synnax Console installed on your machine.
An OPC UA compliant server running on your network. This OPC UA server must be reachable by the Synnax cluster.

Step 1 Open the Connection Dialog

We’ll use the console’s configuration workflow to connect to your server. To kick things off, open the console and click on the search and command palette at the top. You can also open this palette with Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux) / Cmd+Shift+P (MacOS).

In command mode (enabled when the first character in the input is ”>”), type “OPC UA”. You’ll see an option called “Connect an OPC UA Server”. Select this open to open the server configuration dialog.

Step 2 Configure the Connection

The dialog will prompt you to enter the connection parameters to your server. Here’s a reference for each of the fields you’ll need to fill:

Field	Description
Name	A name for your server. We’ll use this to identify and manage the server in the console.
Endpoint	The endpoint URL for your server. This should be it’s reachable address on the network, and typically begins with `opc.tcp://`.
Username	The username to use when connecting to the server. This is optional and can be left blank.
Password	The password to use when connecting to the server. This is optional and can be left blank.
Security Mode	The security mode to use when connecting to the server. This should match the security mode configured on the server: None: No security is applied. Sign: Messages are signed but not encrypted. Requires authentication but does not guarantee confidentiality. SignAndEncrypt: Messages are signed and encrypted, ensuring authenticity and confidentiality.
Security Policy	The security policy to use when connecting to the server. This should match the security policy configured on the server: None: No security is applied. Basic128Rsa15: Basic 128-bit encryption using RSA-15. Basic256: Basic 256-bit encryption. Basic256Sha256: Basic 256-bit encryption with SHA-256. Aes128Sha256RsaOaep: 128-bit AES encryption with SHA-256 and RSA OAEP. Aes256Sha256RsaPss: 256-bit AES encryption with SHA-256 and RSA PSS.

Step 3 Save the Connection

You can use the “Test Connection” button to verify that the server is connected to the Synnax cluster. When you are ready to connect the server, click “Save”.

Next Steps

Now that you’re connected to your server, it’s time to set up data acquisition tasks. We recommend starting with the Read Task to read data from your server.

Read Task