Transfer data between OPC servers

Download Now

Sometimes sharing data between two or more OPC servers is required; for example: When there is a change in one piece of equipment, another piece of equipment may need to be informed. OPC Expert includes OPC Bridge, enabling users to transfer data between dissimilar control systems. OPC Expert is a reliable way to bridge OPC servers with its automatic fault detection and mitigation for uninterrupted reliable service.

OPC Bridge

OPC Expert Bridging 1/3 – Setting up an OPC Bridge

OPC Expert Bridging 2/3 – OPC Expert as a Windows Service

OPC Expert Bridging 3/3- Import and Export with Excel

OPC Bridging
OPC Bridging
OPC Bridging
OPC Bridging
OPC Bridging

Transfer data between OPC servers using OPC Expert’s bridging capabilities. OPC Expert connects to two OPC servers and transfers data between them by reading from one and writing to the other. This enables data transportation between dissimilar control systems.

OPC servers are unable to communicate with each other directly because each one can only respond to application requests – in other words, they are unable to initiate OPC data requests (reading or writing) on their own. OPC Expert’s Bridge functionality was designed to overcome this limitation, allowing users to visually instruct OPC Expert to transport data by dragging the data source and dropping it onto its destination. OPC Expert takes over from there by reading from the source and (when data changes) writing to the destination.

Automatic fault detection and mitigation enables OPC Expert to provide uninterrupted reliable service.

Compensate for security barriers using OPC Expert’s built-in communication monitoring. If a security device (such as a firewall) is erroneously activated on the network and blocks (asynchronous) data callbacks, OPC Expert intelligently switches to polling (synchronous) communication. This enables seamless data transportation despite configuration, which stops most other applications.

Multi-threaded operation ensures data transportation does not stop (or even delay) when one part does not respond in a timely manner. Each OPC server communicates with a separate thread; thus when transportation from one OPC server stops, communication with other OPC servers are unaffected. Also, monitoring is handled in separate threads to ensure reliable and timely retries of OPC server reconnections.

Add OPC Expert’s built-in redundancy features to ensure data transportation does not get interrupted when computers or software failures occur. Read more about redundancy here.

Do you need additional options or features specific to your production environment? Do you have any suggestions regarding additional features you would like added? Let us know, and we’ll happily consider implementing them in a future OPC Expert release.

Request a Feature