Ignition Edge on EPIC and OPC-UA Server

Hey people, I hope someone can help me.

I have a project that requires the following connectivity using a groov EPIC PR1.

  1. Consume OPC-UA data from an OPC-UA Server on a PC.
  2. Publish same data using MQTT to a broker on another PC.
  3. Provide same data to be consumed by a OPC-UA Client on the same PC as the MQTT broker.

I have so far completed 1 and 2, but I am struggling with 3. I have posted on the Inductive Automation forum, and been advised this can be achieved using the IIoT Plugin and allow tags to be published.
I have installed the plugin on my EPIC, IE v.8.1.7, but cannot get the OPC-UA Client to discover the EPIC OPC-UA Server.
Does anyone have an example of how this can be done, please?

I have a couple of questions for you. Have you applied an Ignition Edge license yet? The OPC-UA in Ignition is not exposed externally(in version 8) unless you have a license. Second, you would need verify the firewall is allowing traffic on the port that Ignition is using(v8, 62541), then you need to make sure that the OPC-UA server settings will for external connectivity, by modifying the server settings:

I would also recommend updating to the latest firmware which has Ignition v8.1.10,.

@greichert Thanks for the feedback and your questions.
It’s out EPIC DC PR1 which we use to demonstrate EPIC to customers, so it is using only the 2-hr trial licence for Ignition Edge.
I have configured the firewall for the OPC-UA in the EPIC.
I don’t see the Bind Addresses or Endpoint Addresses fields in Ignition Edge 8.1.7 on the EPIC, so maybe these have been added on v8.1.10!?!
I will update firmware as suggested.

The unit we have loaned the customer has Ignition Edge 7.9.x running.
Are the limitations/setups the same as above?

The 2 hr demo mode is unlicensed. You would need to purchase a license for the OPC-UA to be externally exposed.

You are correct about that field, it was hidden for some reason in the early versions of 8.1, and has been added back in in 8.1.10.

Ignition Edge v7.9.x does not provide any external access to the OPC-UA server, only Ignition Edge v8 and only when licensed.

One alternative for testing would be to run the Ignition Gateway using its full version and not Edge, then you can test the OPC functionality prior to purchasing any licenses.

@greichert The firmware update keeps failing at the same stage: Decompress Update.
I have stopped PAC Control, turned off node-red and stopped Ignition before applying update. Still fails!!!

Any suggestions of what else to try, please?

This is what I see in the logs:

Look at the Info & Help menu and then System Status and see if your hard drive is full or nearly full.
If it is, then do a full backup and remember to deactivate your current Ignition license, reset the EPIC back to factory defaults using a paper clip and do the firmware update.

@Beno Just done paperclip exercise and restarted update.
Status before was:
image

Thanks for the screen shot. As I sort of suspected 1.9 is not enough space for the update to fit into.

Should have bought a PR2!!! :joy:

@Beno @greichert
Hi Guys, I have now installed Ignition v8.1.10:
image
I have selected full Ignition as I don’t a licence for Edge yet.
I have added a small PAC Control program, that creates a random float every second, tag is fRN.
I added a new connection in Ignition:

In the OPC Quick Client I can see the PAC Control tag and its value:
image

I set up the OPC Settings as Garrick advised:

I added a firewall rule in groov manage:
image

But when I use an OPC-UA Client on my PC, the Ignition OPC-UA Server on the EPIC is NOT shown:

Any ideas what I haven’t dome correctly or I have missed, please?

OPC tag appears in Designer too:
image

I have the OPC-UA server exposed on my trial license. Sending data from a VTScada to Ignition Edge OPC-UA server and using MQTT Transmission to the broker.

The only difference I see is in my setup is I am binding to 0.0.0.0.
I would restart the OPC-UA module as well after making changes.

I have had some issues where the OPC -UA server will fail after the two hour trial and a reset of the OPC module will not resolve it. So I have had to just restart Ignition Edge. I will chalk that one up to the trial license.

I would use something like OPC UA Expert to test external connections.
If I remember correctly, the OPC quick client applications are used for testing OPC DA 1 and 2.

All sorted now!
After binding to 0.0.0.0 and installing Edge licence everything springs into life.
Also tried with trial mode using full Ignition, and that works too!
Thanks for everyone’s feedback and support as ever.

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