Problem connection iFix OPC DA server to UA Gateway

[saala]

Hi,

in our project we have to connect to an iFix OPC DA Server from Java applications. Therfore we planned to use the OPC UA gateway to get a OPC UA server that is accessable from Java with the sdk. In our poc installtion we have the problem, that the UA gateway cannot connect to the OPC DA Server. Adding the OPC DA server with the configuration tool seems to work, but the status is always "Lost connection, trying reconnect". The UA Expert can connect to the OPC UA server but shows no items of the OPC DA server. Other OPC clients we have tested can connect to the OPC server, browse the items and are showing the values.

Our environment:
Windows XP SP 3 (+ VC2008redistributales)
UA Gateway 1.2.2.181
Intellution iFix 3.5

Any ideas? I can provide log files and screenshots if desired.

Best regards
Michael

[Support Team]

Hi saala!

First of all I have to know if the iFix OPC DA Server resides on a remote machine or on the same local machine as the UaGateway.
The second thing I want to know is if we can download this iFix Server somewhere. If so, we can check this issue much faster, if not could you please send us the detailed trace files (support@unifiedautomation.com)?
By the way it is not possible to connect with the UaExpert to any COM servers. You can connect to the UaGateway and browse the address space of a COM server configured by the UaGateway.


Best regards
Support Team

[saala]

Hi,

the iFix OPC DA server is running on the same machine. I send the trace files to support@unifiedautomation.com.
If I understand you correctly, I have to configure all required tags at first. I guess this ist done in the UA Gateway administration, tab "OPC DA (COM)". Maybe this is a simple question, but the dialog requires a opc da property id as a number - but normally I use qualified names like "FIXTEST.TAG003.F_CV" to adress an item. How is this mapped?

Thanks a lot for your support,
Michael

[Support Team]

Hi saala!

Thank you for sending the trace files. We have analyzed them and we think that something goes wrong while reading the xml file of the UaGateway. Would it be possible to send us the xml file of the UaGateway so that we can analyze it too? This would help us very much.

best regards
Support Team

[saala]

Hi,

I send uagateway.config.xml to support@unifiedautomation.com

Best regards
Michael

[Support Team]

If I understand you correctly, I have to configure all required tags at first. I guess this ist done in the UA Gateway administration, tab "OPC DA (COM)". Maybe this is a simple question, but the dialog requires a opc da property id as a number - but normally I use qualified names like "FIXTEST.TAG003.F_CV" to adress an item. How is this mapped?

No, that is a misunderstanding. When the UaGateway is connected to an underlying DA Sever all the address space is transparently mapped into the UaGateway address space. The Tab in administration tool "OPC DA (COM)" is intended to be used to map "additional" properties. normally you don't need to touch this as all the "standard" properties like value, quality, access right, etc. are mapped automatically.

But we first need to get the connection to the DA server running. As this generally works with all DA servers it seems that there is some sort of registration or security problem. Please check with Taskmanager in which user context the iFix server is running and also check the user context of the UaGateway.exe. Both users must be member in the UaGatewayUsers-Group.

[saala]

Hi,

after reinstallation and configuration of the system - furthermore we found out that it is necessary to run the 'FIX' service, at the moment we do'nt know why - the UA Gateway now works together with Fix 3.5! So it was'nt a problem of the Gateway. Thanks a lot for your intensive support, that has helped us a lot!!

Best regards
Michael