opcuaclients.md

General recommendations

To connect a new client to the TRUMPF OPC UA Gateway

• Usage of a self-signed certificate on client side is necessary.
• A connection attempt must be made with the still untrusted client, which will be declined by the OPC UA Proxy / OPC Gateway.
• Afterwards use the TRUMPF OPC UA Proxy / OPC Gateway configuration tool to trust the client.

Explore and test the OPC UA interface with UaExpert

• Download and use the generic free OPC UA client UaExpert.
• OPC UA has two different mechanism to subscribe to data via DATA ITEMS or via EVENTS.
  • For subscriptions to Data Items use the "Data Access View" (UaExpert -> Document -> Add -> Data Access View).
  • For subscriptions to Events use the "Event View" (UaExpert -> Document -> Add -> Event View).
• TRUMPF machines, if supported, provide the machine alarms/messages via the “OPC UA Alarms and Conditions” Standard, which is based on the OPC UA Events mechanism (see ID 179: Messages).
• Examples on how to consume alarms/messages can be found here and here.
• To see all alarms/messages from a machine with UaExpert:
  • Drag the Messages node (179: Messages) to the Configuration Area in the Event View.
  • Select “TcMachineAlarmType” in the Configuration Area and press “Apply” to see all parameters in future alarms (ConditionType → AckConditionType → AlarmConditionType → …)
  • Observe the flow of events in the events tab. See the current pending alarms in the alarms tab.