OPC-UA Connector Configuration

The device name and profile can be set dynamically using node values. In this example, we will use an absolute path to specify the device name and profile.

As an example, we will use Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server, which is available at opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer. The server has the following structure:

We are interested in nodes: “DeviceModelName” and “DeviceSeries”. We will use these nodes to set the device name and profile, respectively.

Let’s configure the device name and profile in the OPC-UA connector. For this purpose, follow these steps:

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar and select your gateway.

• Click on the “Connectors configuration” button on the right side menu.

• Select the created OPC-UA connector, click on the “Data mapping” tab. Firstly, we need to configure parent (or device) node. Click on the “+ Add mapping” button.

• In the opened window, fill in “Device node” field with Root\.Objects\.DemoDevice, also select “Path” in “Source” field. This is an absolute path to the parent node of the device we want to create.

• In the “Name” field, enter ${Root\.Objects\.DemoDeviceInfo\.DeviceModelName}, also select “Path” in “Source” field. This is an absolute path to the node that contains the device name.

• In the “Profile name” field, enter ${Root\.Objects\.DemoDeviceInfo\.DeviceSeries}, also select “Path” in “Source” field. This is an absolute path to the node that contains the device profile.

• Also, we need to add one attribute/time series because the connector will not add a device without any data to read (you can use any pre-installed Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server node). Click on the “pencil” icon next to the “Attributes” section.

• In the opened window, click on the “Add attribute” button and fill the fields as on the corresponding image.

• Remember to save your changes by clicking the “Save” button.

Now we can check if the device name and profile are set correctly. Go to “Entities” > “Devices” and as you can see, the device name is set to Demo Device and the profile is set to Demo Series.

If you are using advanced configuration mode and want to set the device name and profile using an absolute path, you can use the following configuration:

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{
  "name": "OPC-UA",
  "server": {
    "url": "opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 3600000,
    "pollPeriodInMillis": 5000,
    "enableSubscriptions": false,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    }
  },
  "mapping": [
    {
      "deviceNodeSource": "path",
      "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDevice",
      "deviceInfo": {
        "deviceNameExpression": "${Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDeviceInfo\\.DeviceModelName}",
        "deviceNameExpressionSource": "path",
        "deviceProfileExpressionSource": "path",
        "deviceProfileExpression": "${Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDeviceInfo\\.DeviceSeries}"
      },
      "attributes": [
        {
          "key": "some_key",
          "type": "identifier",
          "value": "${ns=3;i=1001}"
        }
      ],
      "timeseries": [],
      "rpc_methods": [],
      "attributes_updates": []
    }
  ]
}

The device name and profile can be set dynamically using node values. In this example, we will use a relative path to specify the device name and profile.

As an example, we will use Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server, which is available at opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer. The server has the following structure:

We are interested in nodes: “DeviceModelName” and “DeviceSeries”. We will use these nodes to set the device name and profile, respectively.

Let’s configure the device name and profile in the OPC-UA connector. For this purpose, follow these steps:

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar and select your gateway.

• Click on the “Connectors configuration” button on the right side menu.

• Select the created OPC-UA connector, click on the “Data mapping” tab. Firstly, we need to configure parent (or device) node. Click on the “+ Add mapping” button.

• In the opened window, fill in “Device node” field with Root\.Objects\.DemoDevice, also select “Path” in “Source” field. This is an absolute path to the parent node of the device we want to create.

• In the “Name” field, enter ${DeviceModelName}, also select “Path” in “Source” field. This is a relative path to the node that contains the device name.

• In the “Profile name” field, enter ${DeviceSeries}, also select “Path” in “Source” field. This is a relative path to the node that contains the device profile.

• Also, we need to add one attribute/time series because the connector will not add a device without any data to read (you can use any pre-installed Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server node). Click on the “pencil” icon next to the “Attributes” section.

• In the opened window, click on the “Add attribute” button and fill the fields as on the corresponding image.

• Remember to save your changes by clicking the “Save” button.

Now we can check if the device name and profile are set correctly. Go to “Entities” > “Devices” and as you can see, the device name is set to Demo Device and the profile is set to Demo Series.

If you are using advanced configuration mode and want to set the device name and profile using a relative path, you can use the following configuration:

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{
  "name": "OPCUA",
  "server": {
    "url": "opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 3600000,
    "pollPeriodInMillis": 5000,
    "enableSubscriptions": false,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    }
  },
  "mapping": [
    {
      "deviceNodeSource": "path",
      "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDevice",
      "deviceInfo": {
        "deviceNameExpression": "${DeviceModelName}",
        "deviceNameExpressionSource": "path",
        "deviceProfileExpressionSource": "path",
        "deviceProfileExpression": "${DeviceSeries}"
      },
      "attributes": [
        {
          "key": "some_key",
          "type": "identifier",
          "value": "${ns=3;i=1001}"
        }
      ],
      "timeseries": [],
      "rpc_methods": [],
      "attributes_updates": []
    }
  ]
}

The device name and profile can be set dynamically using node values. In this example, we will use identifier to specify the device name and profile. Identifier can be numeric, string, byte string or GUID identifier of the node in the OPC-UA server.

As an example, we will use Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server, which is available at opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer. The server has the following structure:

We are interested in nodes: “DeviceModelName” that have ns=3;i=1014 identifier and “DeviceSeries” that have ns=3;i=1015 identifier. We will use these nodes to set the device name and profile, respectively.

Let’s configure the device name and profile in the OPC-UA connector. For this purpose, follow these steps:

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar and select your gateway.

• Click on the “Connectors configuration” button on the right side menu.

• Select the created OPC-UA connector, click on the “Data mapping” tab. Firstly, we need to configure parent (or device) node. Click on the “+ Add mapping” button.

• In the opened window, fill in “Device node” field with Root\.Objects\.DemoDevice, also select “Path” in “Source” field. This is an absolute path to the parent node of the device we want to create.

• In the “Name” field, enter ${ns=3;i=1014}, also select “Identifier” in “Source” field.

• In the “Profile name” field, enter ${ns=3;i=1015}, also select “Identifier” in “Source” field. This is an absolute path to the node that contains the device profile.

• Also, we need to add one attribute/time series because the connector will not add a device without any data to read (you can use any pre-installed Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server node). Click on the “pencil” icon next to the “Attributes” section.

• In the opened window, click on the “Add attribute” button and fill the fields as on the corresponding image.

• Remember to save your changes by clicking the “Save” button.

Now we can check if the device name and profile are set correctly. Go to “Entities” > “Devices” and as you can see, the device name is set to Demo Device and the profile is set to Demo Series.

If you are using advanced configuration mode and want to set the device name and profile using an identifier, you can use the following configuration:

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{
  "name": "OPCUA",
  "server": {
    "url": "opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 3600000,
    "pollPeriodInMillis": 5000,
    "enableSubscriptions": false,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    }
  },
  "mapping": [
    {
      "deviceNodeSource": "path",
      "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDevice",
      "deviceInfo": {
        "deviceNameExpression": "${ns=3;i=1014}",
        "deviceNameExpressionSource": "identifier",
        "deviceProfileExpressionSource": "identifier",
        "deviceProfileExpression": "${ns=3;i=1015}"
      },
      "attributes": [
        {
          "key": "some_key",
          "type": "identifier",
          "value": "${ns=3;i=1003}"
        }
      ],
      "timeseries": [],
      "rpc_methods": [],
      "attributes_updates": []
    }
  ]
}

Attributes and time series data can be accessed using relative paths in the OPC UA Connector. This allows you to retrieve data without needing to specify the full path to the node.

As an example, we will use Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server, which is available at opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer. The server has the following structure:

We are interested in node “Humidity”. We will use this node to retrieve the humidity data.

Let’s configure the humidity data in the OPC-UA connector. For this purpose, follow these steps:

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar.
• Select your gateway.
• Click on the “Connectors” tab.
• Select the OPC-UA connector and click on the “Data mapping” tab.
• Select data mapping with device to which you want to add time series data (if you don’t know how to add a new device, see the Getting Started guide or Data mapping section of this guide with respective examples).
• In the opened data mapping windows, click on the “pencil” icon next to the “Time series” or “Attributes” section.
• Click on the “Add time series” button. Fill in the “Key” field with Humidity, also select “Path” in “Type” field, and fill in the “Value” field with ${Humidity}. This is a relative path to the node that contains the humidity data.
• Remember to save your changes by clicking the “Apply” button.

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar and select your gateway.

• Click on the “Connectors configuration” button on the right side menu.

• Select the OPC-UA connector, click on the “Data mapping” tab. Select data mapping with device to which you want to add time series data (if you do not know how to add a new device, see the Getting Started guide or Data mapping section of this guide with respective examples).

• In the opened data mapping windows, click on the “pencil” icon next to the “Time series” or “Attributes” section.

• Click on the “Add time series” button. Fill in the “Key” field with Humidity, also select “Path” in “Type” field, and fill in the “Value” field with ${Root\.Objects\.DemoDevice\.Humidity}. This is an absolute path to the node that contains the humidity data.

• Remember to save your changes by clicking the “Apply” button.

Now we can check if the humidity data is sending correctly. Go to “Entities” > “Devices”, select a created device and as you can see, the humidity data is available in the “Time series” section:

If you are using advanced configuration mode and want to set the humidity data using a relative path, you can use the following configuration:

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{
  "name": "OPCUA",
  "server": {
    "url": "opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 3600000,
    "pollPeriodInMillis": 5000,
    "enableSubscriptions": false,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    }
  },
  "mapping": [
    {
      "deviceNodeSource": "path",
      "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDevice",
      "deviceInfo": {
        "deviceNameExpression": "Demo Device",
        "deviceNameExpressionSource": "constant",
        "deviceProfileExpressionSource": "constant",
        "deviceProfileExpression": "default"
      },
      "attributes": [],
      "timeseries": [
        {
          "key": "Humidity",
          "type": "path",
          "value": "${Humidity}"
        }
      ],
      "rpc_methods": [],
      "attributes_updates": []
    }
  ]
}

Attributes and time series data can be accessed using absolute paths in the OPC UA Connector. This will allow you to get data from a node that does not refer to the parent (device) node.

As an example, we will use Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server, which is available at opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer. The server has the following structure:

We are interested in node “Humidity”. We will use this node to retrieve the humidity data.

Let’s configure the humidity data in the OPC-UA connector. For this purpose, follow these steps:

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar and select your gateway.

• Click on the “Connectors configuration” button on the right side menu.

• Select the OPC-UA connector, click on the “Data mapping” tab. Select data mapping with device to which you want to add time series data (if you do not know how to add a new device, see the Getting Started guide or Data mapping section of this guide with respective examples).

• In the opened data mapping windows, click on the “pencil” icon next to the “Time series” or “Attributes” section.

• Click on the “Add time series” button. Fill in the “Key” field with Humidity, also select “Path” in “Type” field, and fill in the “Value” field with ${Root\.Objects\.DemoDevice\.Humidity}. This is an absolute path to the node that contains the humidity data.

• Remember to save your changes by clicking the “Apply” button.

Now we can check if the humidity data is sending correctly. Go to “Entities” > “Devices”, select a created device and as you can see, the humidity data is available in the “Time series” section:

If you are using advanced configuration mode and want to set the humidity data using an absolute path, you can use the following configuration:

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{
  "name": "OPCUA",
  "server": {
    "url": "opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 3600000,
    "pollPeriodInMillis": 5000,
    "enableSubscriptions": false,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    }
  },
  "mapping": [
    {
      "deviceNodeSource": "path",
      "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDevice",
      "deviceInfo": {
        "deviceNameExpression": "Demo Device",
        "deviceNameExpressionSource": "constant",
        "deviceProfileExpressionSource": "constant",
        "deviceProfileExpression": "default"
      },
      "attributes": [],
      "timeseries": [
        {
          "key": "Humidity",
          "type": "path",
          "value": "${Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDevice\\.Humidity}"
        }
      ],
      "rpc_methods": [],
      "attributes_updates": []
    }
  ]
}

Attributes and time series data can be accessed using identifiers in the OPC UA Connector. This will allow you to get data from a node that does not refer to the parent (device) node by identifier.

As an example, we will use Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server, which is available at opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer. The server has the following structure:

We are interested in node “Humidity” that have ns=3;i=1011 identifier. We will use this node to retrieve the humidity data.

Let’s configure the humidity data in the OPC-UA connector. For this purpose, follow these steps:

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar and select your gateway.

• Click on the “Connectors configuration” button on the right side menu.

• Select the OPC-UA connector, click on the “Data mapping” tab. Select data mapping with device to which you want to add time series data (if you do not know how to add a new device, see the Getting Started guide or Data mapping section of this guide with respective examples).

• In the opened data mapping windows, click on the “pencil” icon next to the “Time series” or “Attributes” section.

• Click on the “Add time series” button. Fill in the “Key” field with Humidity, also select “Identifier” in “Type” field, and fill in the “Value” field with ${ns=3;i=1011}. This is a relative path to the node that contains the humidity data.

• Remember to save your changes by clicking the “Apply” button.

Now we can check if the humidity data is sending correctly. Go to “Entities” > “Devices”, select a created device and as you can see, the humidity data is available in the “Time series” section:

If you are using advanced configuration mode and want to set the humidity data using an identifier, you can use the following configuration:

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{
  "name": "OPCUA",
  "server": {
    "url": "opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 3600000,
    "pollPeriodInMillis": 5000,
    "enableSubscriptions": false,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    }
  },
  "mapping": [
    {
      "deviceNodeSource": "path",
      "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDevice",
      "deviceInfo": {
        "deviceNameExpression": "Demo Device",
        "deviceNameExpressionSource": "constant",
        "deviceProfileExpressionSource": "constant",
        "deviceProfileExpression": "default"
      },
      "attributes": [],
      "timeseries": [
        {
          "key": "Humidity",
          "type": "identifier",
          "value": "${ns=3;i=1011}"
        }
      ],
      "rpc_methods": [],
      "attributes_updates": []
    }
  ]
}

Attribute updates allow you to update node values in the OPC-UA server. You can add new attribute updates in the “Attribute updates” section of the device configuration page.

As an example, we will use Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server, which is available at opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer. The server has the following structure:

Example: Relay Controlling (Relative Path)

We are interested in node “Relay”, we added this node as a telemetry parameter with the key relay. We used telemetry so that later it would be convenient for us to see if the value we changed using the attribute update has changed. You, also, can add this telemetry datapoint to the device configuration or use the reserved get RPC method to check the value of the node.

Let’s add an attribute update to our configuration. For this purpose, follow these steps:

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar and select your gateway.

• Click on the “Connectors configuration” button on the right side menu.

• Select the created OPC-UA connector, click on the “Data mapping” tab. Make sure you have configured and connected device (if you do not know how to do it, see Getting Started guide or Connection settings and Data mapping sections of this guide). Click on the “Pencil” icon on a device you want to configure attribute updates for.

• Scroll down to the “Attribute updates” section and click on the “Pencil” icon to edit the attribute updates.

• Click on the “Add attribute update” button. In our case, we will add relay attribute update, so the “Key” field, enter relay, select the “Type” as Path, and in the “Value” field enter ${Relay}. This is a relative path to the device node we want to update.

• Remember to save your changes by clicking the “Apply” button.

Now we can check if the attribute update works. Go to “Entities” → “Devices” → select a created device → “Attributes” tab → select “Shared attributes” → click on the “+” icon and add relay attribute with type “Boolean” set it to “True”.

Now, let’s check the value of the relay node. In the selected device, go to the “Last telemetry” tab and check the value of the relay telemetry. It should be true since we set the shared attribute to true.

Try to change the value of the relay shared attribute to false. After a few seconds, you should see that the relay telemetry value has changed to false, which means that the attribute update worked correctly.

Full configuration for OPC-UA connector for the examples above will look like this:

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{
  "server": {
    "url": "opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 3600000,
    "enableSubscriptions": true,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    },
    "pollPeriodInMillis": 5000
  },
  "mapping": [
    {
      "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDevice",
      "deviceNodeSource": "path",
      "deviceInfo": {
        "deviceNameExpression": "Demo Device",
        "deviceNameExpressionSource": "constant",
        "deviceProfileExpression": "default",
        "deviceProfileExpressionSource": "constant"
      },
      "attributes": [],
      "attributes_updates": [
        {
          "key": "relay",
          "type": "path",
          "value": "${Relay}"
        }
      ],
      "timeseries": [
        {
          "key": "relay",
          "type": "identifier",
          "value": "${ns=3;i=1012}"
        }
      ],
      "rpc_methods": []
    }
  ]
}

Attribute updates allow you to update node values in the OPC-UA server. You can add new attribute updates in the “Attribute updates” section of the device configuration page.

As an example, we will use Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server, which is available at opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer. The server has the following structure:

Example: Fan Speed (Absolute Path)

We are interested in node “FanSpeed”, we added this node as a telemetry parameter with the key fan_speed. We used telemetry so that later it would be convenient for us to see if the value we changed using the attribute update
has changed. You, also, can add this telemetry datapoint to the device configuration or use the reserved get method to check the value of the node.

Let’s add an attribute update to our configuration. For this purpose, follow these steps:

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar and select your gateway.

• Click on the “Connectors configuration” button on the right side menu.

• Select the created OPC-UA connector, click on the “Data mapping” tab. Make sure you have configured and connected device (if you do not know how to do it, see Getting Started guide or Connection settings and Data mapping sections of this guide). Click on the “Pencil” icon on a device you want to configure attribute updates for.

• Scroll down to the “Attribute updates” section and click on the “Pencil” icon to edit the attribute updates.

• Click on the “Add attribute update” button. In our case, we will add fan_speed attribute update, so the “Key” field, enter fan_speed, select the “Type” as Path, and in the “Value” field enter ${Root\.Objects\.DemoDeviceInfo\.FanSpeed}. This is an absolute path to the OPC-UA server node we want to update.

• Remember to save your changes by clicking the “Apply” button.

Now we can check if the attribute update works. Go to “Devices” → select a created device → “Attributes” tab → select “Shared attributes” → click on the “+” icon and add fan_speed attribute with type “Integer” set it to “90”.

Now, let’s check the value of the fan speed node. In the selected device, go to the “Last telemetry” tab and check the value of the fan_speed telemetry. It should be 90 since we set the shared attribute to 90.

Try to change the value of the fan_speed shared attribute to 30. After a few seconds, you should see that the fan_speed telemetry value has changed to 30, which means that the attribute update worked correctly.

Full configuration for OPC-UA connector for the examples above will look like this:

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{
  "server": {
    "url": "opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 3600000,
    "enableSubscriptions": true,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    },
    "pollPeriodInMillis": 5000
  },
  "mapping": [
    {
      "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDevice",
      "deviceNodeSource": "path",
      "deviceInfo": {
        "deviceNameExpression": "Demo Device",
        "deviceNameExpressionSource": "constant",
        "deviceProfileExpression": "default",
        "deviceProfileExpressionSource": "constant"
      },
      "attributes": [],
      "attributes_updates": [
        {
          "key": "fan_speed",
          "type": "path",
          "value": "${Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDeviceInfo\\.FanSpeed}"
        }
      ],
      "timeseries": [
        {
          "key": "fan_speed",
          "type": "identifier",
          "value": "${ns=3;i=1017}"
        }
      ],
      "rpc_methods": []
    }
  ]
}

Attribute updates allow you to update node values in the OPC-UA server. You can add new attribute updates in the “Attribute updates” section of the device configuration page.

As an example, we will use Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server, which is available at opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer. The server has the following structure:

Example: Text Message Editing (Identifier)

We are interested in node “TextMessage”, we added this node as a telemetry parameter with the key text_message. We used telemetry so that later it would be convenient for us to see if the value we changed using the attribute update
has changed. You, also, can add this telemetry datapoint to the device configuration or use the reserved get method to check the value of the node.

Let’s add an attribute update to our configuration. For this purpose, follow these steps:

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar.
• Select your gateway.
• Click on the “Connectors” tab.
• Select the OPC-UA connector and click on the “Data mapping” tab.
• Make sure you have configured and connected device (if you don’t know how to do it, see Getting Started guide or Connection settings and Data mapping sections of this guide). Click on the “Pencil” icon on a device you want to configure attribute updates for.
• Scroll down to the “Attribute updates” section and click on the “Pencil” icon to edit the attribute updates.
• Click on the “Add attribute update” button. In our case, we will add text_message attribute update, so the “Key” field, enter text_message, select the “Type” as Identifier, and in the “Value” field enter ${ns=2;i=1005}. This is an identifier of the OPC-UA server node we want to update.
• Remember to save your changes by clicking the “Apply” button.

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar and select your gateway.

• Click on the “Connectors configuration” button on the right side menu.

• Select the created OPC-UA connector, click on the “Data mapping” tab. Make sure you have configured and connected device (if you do not know how to do it, see Getting Started guide or Connection settings and Data mapping sections of this guide). Click on the “Pencil” icon on a device you want to configure attribute updates for.

• Scroll down to the “Attribute updates” section and click on the “Pencil” icon to edit the attribute updates.

• Click on the “Add attribute update” button. In our case, we will add text_message attribute update, so the “Key” field, enter text_message, select the “Type” as Identifier, and in the “Value” field enter ${ns=2;i=1005}. This is an identifier of the OPC-UA server node we want to update.

• Remember to save your changes by clicking the “Apply” button.

Now we can check if the attribute update works. Go to “Devices” → select a created device → “Attributes” tab → select “Shared attributes” → click on the “+” icon and add text_message attribute with type “String” set it to “Hello from Gateway!”.

Now, let’s check the value of the text message node. In the selected device, go to the “Last telemetry” tab and check the value of the text_message telemetry. It should be Hello from Gateway! since we set the shared attribute to Hello from Gateway!.

Try to change the value of the text_message shared attribute to Hello from <your_name>!. After a few seconds, you should see that the text_message telemetry value has changed to Hello from <your_name>!, which means that the attribute update worked correctly.

Full configuration for OPC-UA connector for the examples above will look like this:

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{
  "server": {
    "url": "opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 3600000,
    "enableSubscriptions": true,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    },
    "pollPeriodInMillis": 5000
  },
  "mapping": [
    {
      "deviceNodeSource": "path",
      "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDevice",
      "deviceInfo": {
        "deviceNameExpression": "Demo Device",
        "deviceNameExpressionSource": "constant",
        "deviceProfileExpression": "default",
        "deviceProfileExpressionSource": "constant"
      },
      "attributes": [],
      "timeseries": [
        {
          "key": "text_message",
          "type": "identifier",
          "value": "${ns=3;i=1018}"
        }
      ],
      "rpc_methods": [],
      "attributes_updates": [
        {
          "key": "text_message",
          "type": "identifier",
          "value": "${ns=3;i=1018}"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

RPC to Device allows you to execute an OPC-UA server method on a specific device. It is important to note that the method you are calling must be defined on the OPC-UA server.

As an example, we will use ThingsBoard OPC-UA Demo Server, which can be run using Docker and the following command:

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docker run -it -p 4840:4840 thingsboard/tb-gw-opcua-server:latest

The server has the following endpoint URL: opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:4840/freeopcua/server/.

Example: Multiplying Numbers

We are interested in “multiply” method node which will multiply two numbers that we will pass as arguments. To call this method, first we need to configure the OPC-UA connector to support RPC calls. For this purpose, follow these steps:

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar and select your gateway.

• Click on the “Connectors configuration” button on the right side menu.

• Select the created OPC-UA connector, click on the “Data mapping” tab. Make sure you have configured and connected device (if you do not know how to do it, see Getting Started guide or Connection settings and Data mapping sections of this guide). Click on the “Pencil” icon on a device you want to configure RPC method for.

• Scroll down to the “RPC methods” section and click on the “Pencil” icon to edit the RPC methods.

• Click on the “Add method” button. In our case, we will add the multiply method, so fill in the “Method” field with multiply and in the “Arguments” field, enter the arguments that the method accepts, in our case it is two numbers, feel free to enter any numbers.

• Remember to save your changes by clicking the “Apply” button.

We are done with configuration, so let’s check how to call the method. In the RPC Debug Terminal widget, run the following command:

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multiply

In this case, the method will be called with the arguments that we specified in the configuration (default arguments). As you remember, in our case, we enter 5 and 4, so the result is:

Also, we can pass arguments to the method directly from the RPC Debug Terminal widget using the following command:

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multiply [3,4]

Response:

Full configuration for OPC-UA connector for the example above will look like this:

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{
  "name": "OPCUA",
  "server": {
    "url": "opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:4840/freeopcua/server/",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 3600000,
    "pollPeriodInMillis": 5000,
    "enableSubscriptions": false,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    }
  },
  "mapping": [
    {
      "deviceNodeSource": "path",
      "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.MyObject",
      "deviceInfo": {
        "deviceNameExpression": "Demo Device",
        "deviceNameExpressionSource": "constant",
        "deviceProfileExpression": "default",
        "deviceProfileExpressionSource": "constant"
      },
      "attributes": [],
      "timeseries": [
        {
          "key": "some_key",
          "type": "path",
          "value": "${some_key}"
        }
      ],
      "rpc_methods": [
        {
          "method": "multiply",
          "arguments": [
            {
              "type": "integer",
              "value": 5
            },
            {
              "type": "integer",
              "value": 4
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "attributes_updates": []
    }
  ]
}

Every telemetry and attribute parameter has GET and SET RPC methods out of the box, so you don’t need to configure them manually.

As an example, we will use Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server, which is available at opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer. The server has the following structure:

We are interested in node “Relay” that have ns=3;i=1012 identifier, we added this node as a telemetry parameter with the key relay and as a path we used the node identifier ${ns=3;i=1012}, so the configuration for this telemetry will look like this:

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"timeseries": [
  {
    "key": "relay",
    "path": "${ns=3;i=1012}"
  }
]

Let’s check the value of the relay node using the reserved get method. To get the current value of relay node, run the query in RPC debug terminal:

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get ns=3;i=1012;

Response:

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{"result":  {"value":  false}}

So, the get method returns the current value of the relay node, and we can see that the relay is off.

The RPC Debug Terminal is used only for example purpose, so you can use any other widget that supports RPC calls.

To set the value of the relay node and turn it on, run the query:

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set ns=3;i=1012; true

Response:

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{"result":  {"value":  true}}

And as you can see, from the screenshot below, the relay telemetry value has changed to true:

Also, let’s check the value of the relay telemetry again:

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get ns=3;i=1012;

Response:

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{"result":  {"value":  true}}

Full configuration for OPC-UA connector for the examples above will look like this:

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{
  "server": {
    "url": "opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 3600000,
    "enableSubscriptions": true,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    },
    "pollPeriodInMillis": 5000
  },
  "mapping": [
    {
      "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.DemoDevice",
      "deviceNodeSource": "path",
      "deviceInfo": {
        "deviceNameExpression": "Demo Device",
        "deviceNameExpressionSource": "constant",
        "deviceProfileExpression": "default",
        "deviceProfileExpressionSource": "constant"
      },
      "attributes": [],
      "attributes_updates": [],
      "timeseries": [
        {
          "key": "relay",
          "type": "identifier",
          "value": "${ns=3;i=1012}"
        }
      ],
      "rpc_methods": []
    }
  ]
}

RPC To Connector allows you to send a command to the connector from the ThingsBoard IoT Gateway UI. It is important to note that the method you are calling must be defined on the OPC-UA server.

Please note: The RPC To Connector will execute the method on every device that has the OPC-UA connector configured.

As an example, we will use ThingsBoard OPC-UA Demo Server, which can be run using Docker and the following command:

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docker run -it -p 4840:4840 thingsboard/tb-gw-opcua-server:latest

The server has the following endpoint URL: opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:4840/freeopcua/server/.

Example: Relay Controlling

Let’s see a practical example of using RPC To Connector. On our OPC-UA server, we have “set_relay” method that turns on or off the relay. The method accepts a boolean argument, where true turns on the relay and false turns it off. To call this method, use the following steps:

• Go to “Entities” → “Gateways” in the right sidebar and select your gateway.

• Click on the “Connectors configuration” button on the right side menu.

• Select the created OPC-UA connector, click on the “RPC” icon. Make sure you have configured and connected device (if you do not know how to do it, see Getting Started guide or Connection settings and Data mapping sections of this guide).

Let’s first turn on the relay. To do this, fill in the “Method” field with set_relay and in the “Arguments” field enter true, then click on the “Send” button.

As you can see, the response contains true, which means that the method was executed successfully and the relay is now on:

And finally, let’s turn off the relay. To do this, fill in the “Method” field with set_relay and in the “Arguments” field enter false, then click on the “Send” button:

Result:

Full configuration for OPC-UA connector for the example above will look like this:

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{
  "server": {
    "url": "opc.tcp://0.0.0.0:4840/freeopcua/server/",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 3600000,
    "enableSubscriptions": true,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    },
    "pollPeriodInMillis": 5000
  },
  "mapping": [
    {
      "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.MyObject",
      "deviceNodeSource": "path",
      "deviceInfo": {
        "deviceNameExpression": "Demo Device",
        "deviceNameExpressionSource": "constant",
        "deviceProfileExpression": "default",
        "deviceProfileExpressionSource": "constant"
      },
      "attributes": [],
      "attributes_updates": [],
      "timeseries": [
        {
          "key": "Frequency",
          "type": "path",
          "value": "${Frequency}"
        }
      ],
      "rpc_methods": []
    }
  ]
}