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adamriffe

RSLinx Gateway Remote OPC Setup

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Is there any good literature on how to get communication between my server with RSLinx Gateway and a PC without RSLinx? I'm creating a VB app to use the tags, I'm lost in the setup. Thanks!

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I believe that you have to load RSLinx software both on the server and the connected PC. However, you *should* be able to run RSLinx Lite (no license required) on the PC, which would then allow you to access the PC (and any related PLCs) using the Gateway software on the server. Hopefully, someone else out there will be able to confirm this... Rick

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You need RsLinx Lite on the remote PC, then go into the drivers and select "Remote Devices via Gateway", this will open a popup where you set the IP of the gateway. You may also have to configure the gateway and add a list of authorized clients.

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I just got off the phone with Rockwell and got everything set up, but apparently I need to write my own OPC client. Lite doesn't support OPC. Does anyone have or know of some VB source or client I can use? Edited by adamriffe

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Let's take a step back. RSLinx Gateway, when it's using its "Gateway" function, allows RSLinx Lite or any other RSLinx installation on another PC to use the RSLinx Gateway's drivers. This is most commonly used when the RSLinx Gateway installation has a special kind of physical interface, like a 1784-PKTX or -PCIC card. RSLinx Gateway is also the version of RSLinx that supports Remote OPC. The remote computer can be running an ordinary OPC client, not RSLinx. Configuring Remote OPC is out of my league, though, because it uses Microsoft DCOM, whose security, permissions, and configuration complexities are the stuff of legendary headaches.

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For some odd reason I had it in my head that I could use Lite to pass OPC topics if I had Gateway... Oops. As far as configuration, I read that you can install RSLinx Lite (I think this is where I got confused) and it will open the channels that OPC uses in DCOM (port 44818 and 2222). I got a tool from the OPC guru at Rockwell that will check the ports on a remote computer. You run it and enter the IP of the PC/server you wish to check with and it polls Rockwell's commonly used ports and reports if it was successful or not.

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The OPC foundation has good example VB.NET source code if you're a member. I remember seeing similar free code elsewhere - I'm thinking on Kepware's site. I'll check around for you and update this post. Gateway allows one RSLinx to talk through the other. I think it works over DCOM. You can definately connect with an RSLinx (OEM, possibly single PLC, or better) application over the network via DCOM and OPC client code. Edited by Nathan

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