Adapter for OPC 10.3 | webMethods Adapter for OPC Documentation | webMethods Adapter for OPC Installation and User's Documentation | Adapter for OPC Connections | Configuring Adapter for OPC Connections
 
Configuring Adapter for OPC Connections
When you configure Adapter for OPC connections, you specify information that Integration Server uses to connect to a OPC UA server. You can configure Adapter for OPC connections either manually using the Integration Server Administrator screen or programmatically using the service.
*To configure an adapter connection
1. In the Adapters menu in Integration Server Administrator's navigation area, click webMethods Adapter for OPC.
2. On the Connections page, click webMethods Adapter for OPCConfigure New Connection.
3. On the Connection Types page, click webMethods Adapter for OPCConnection to display the Configure Connection Type screen.
4. In the webMethods Adapter for OPC section, use the following fields:
Field
Description/Action
Package
The package in which to create the connection. You must create the package using Software AG Designer before you can specify the package using this parameter. For general information about creating packages, see the webMethods Service Development Help.
Note:
Configure the connection in a user-defined package rather than in the adapter's package. For other important considerations when creating packages for Adapter for OPC, see Package Management.
Folder Name
The folder in which to create the connection.
Connection Name
The name you want to give the connection. Connection names cannot have spaces or use special characters reserved by Integration Server and Software AG Designer. For more information about the use of special characters in package, folder, and element names, see the webMethods Service Development Help.
5. In the Connection Properties section, use the following fields:
Field
Description/Action
Server URI
The server Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) to get endpoints.
Note:
The Endpoint URI, Security Mode, Security Policy are empty for a new connection. Click LookUp to fill the fields. This field is editable.
Endpoint URI
The Endpoint URI to be connected.
Security Mode
The different types of security levels used in OPC UA TCP communication are:
*None. No encryption selected.
*Sign. The binding of message source to the message by message signing.
*SignAndEncrypt. Provides both binding of message source to the message by message signing and confidentiality by encryption.
Note:
For a secure Adapter for OPC connection, the adapter accepts server certificate permanently, which is stored in the folder Integration Server_directory\instances\instance_name\PKI\CA\certs.
Security Policy
The security algorithms used to encrypt the message are as follows:
*None. No security algorithm is used to encrypt the message.
*Basic256. The 256-bit encryption suite of algorithms.
*Basic256Sha256. The encryption is used for configurations with high security needs.
*Basic128Rsa15. The encryption is used for configurations with medium security needs. For more information on Security Policy see, OPC UA documentation.
Authentication Mode
The type of user authentication modes that the connection provides.
Select one of the following authentication modes:
Certificate
*User Identity Keystore. For certification based user authentication, user requires User Identity Keystore. For more information on Keystore, see webMethods Integration Server Administrator’s Guide.
*User Identity Keys. For certification based user authentication, user requires User Identity Key. For more information on Keys, see webMethods Integration Server Administrator’s Guide.
UserName
*Username The user name that the connection uses to connect to the OPC UA server.
*Password The password for the user name.
*Retype Password Retype the password you just entered.
Anonymous
Anonymously connect to OPC UA server. You can use it to check the connection.
Application Identity Keystore
For certification based application authentication, user requires Application Identity Keystore. For more information on Keystore, see webMethods Integration Server Administrator’s Guide.
Application Identity Key
For certification based application authentication, user requires Application Identity Key. For more information on Keystore, see webMethods Integration Server Administrator’s Guide.
The common properties are:
Field
Description/Action
Service Timeout(ms)
Defines the number of seconds that Adapter for OPC waits for a response from OPC UA server before reporting a timeout.
Default: 120000
Session Timeout (ms)
Maximum timeout for the session created by the connection.
Auto Reconnect
If the connection is broken and Auto Reconnect is True, then the connection attempts to reconnect to the server.
6. In the Connection Management Properties section, use the following fields:
Field
Description/Action
Enable Connection Pooling
Enables the connection to use connection pooling. For more information about connection pooling, see Adapter Connections.
Note:
If you plan to enable connection pooling in a clustered environment, consider the connection pool size.
Minimum Pool Size
If connection pooling is enabled, this field specifies the number of connections to create when the connection is enabled. The adapter will keep open the number of connections you configure here regardless of whether these connections become idle.
Maximum Pool Size
If connection pooling is enabled, this field specifies the maximum number of connections that can exist at one time in the connection pool.
Pool Increment Size
If connection pooling is enabled, this field specifies the number of connections by which the pool will be incremented if connections are needed, up to the maximum pool size.
Block Timeout
If connection pooling is enabled, this field specifies the number of milliseconds that Integration Server will wait to obtain a connection with the OPC UA server before it times out and returns an error. For example, you have a pool with Maximum Pool Size of 20. If you receive 30 simultaneous requests for a connection, 10 requests will be waiting for a connection from the pool. If you set the Block Timeout to 5000, the 10 requests will wait for a connection for 5 seconds before they time out and return an error. If the services using the connections require 10 seconds to complete and return connections to the pool, the pending requests will fail and return an error message stating that no connections are available. If you set the Block Timeout value too high, you may encounter problems during error conditions. If a request contains errors that delay the response, other requests will not be sent. This setting should be tuned in conjunction with the Maximum Pool Size to accommodate such bursts in processing.
Expire Timeout
If connection pooling is enabled, this field specifies the number of milliseconds that an inactive connection can remain in the pool before it is closed and removed from the pool. The connection pool will remove inactive connections until the number of connections in the pool is equal to the Minimum Pool Size. The inactivity timer for a connection is reset when the connection is used by the adapter.
If you set the Expire Timeout value too high, you may have a number of unused inactive connections in the pool. This consumes local memory and a connection on your backend resource. This could have an adverse effect if your resource has a limited number of connections.
If you set the Expire Timeout value too low, performance could degrade because of the increased activity of creating and closing connections. This setting should be tuned in conjunction with the Minimum Pool Size to avoid excessive opening/closing of connections during normal processing.
Startup Retry Count
The number of times that the system should attempt to initialize the connection pool at startup if the initial attempt fails. The default is 0.
Startup Backoff Timeout
The number of seconds that the system should wait between attempts to initialize the connection pool.
7. Click Save Connection.
The connection you created appears on the adapter's Connections screen and in Software AG Designer.
You can enable a connection only if the parameters for the connection are valid.