Monitoring and control

Obtaining data from third-party systems via communication with OPC UA compliant servers

Communication with 'Discovery Servers'

Support for the security that might be required to access particular items in an OPC UA server

Support for OPC server redundancy

OPC UA is a platform independent standard that enables interoperability between applications and devices in the process control industry

Run the OPC UA driver.

Use this driver if secure access is required for data transmissions with other OPC UA servers, or you want to take advantage of discovery services on such servers.

For new installations, we recommend that you use this driver instead of the other OPC drivers if the third-party servers with which Geo SCADA Expert is to communicate support OPC UA. Using the OPC UA driver could give you more flexibility should your system requirements change in future.

Geo SCADA Expert provides a Convert To feature that enables you to convert one type of database item into another of a similar type (see Converting a Database Item in the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Core Configuration). You might optionally want to consider using the Convert To feature if you have an existing installation that currently uses the Advanced OPC driver to communicate with third-party OPC servers that also support OPC UA. You might want to consider doing this, for example, if you want to take advantage of the secure data access functionality that the OPC UA driver provides for communications with such OPC UA compliant third-party servers.

For Geo SCADA Expert to serve data to an OPC UA Server, you have to install the suite of PCS prerequisite components on the Geo SCADA Expert server and enable OPC UA Server functionality in the Server Configuration Tool. You do not have to install an OPC driver in Geo SCADA Expert in order to enable such functionality (see Geo SCADA Expert Prerequisite Components and see OPC UA Server Settings).

Monitoring and control

Communication with other OPC DA servers (including other Geo SCADA Expert systems)

Support for OPC server redundancy

OPC DA is more efficient in terms of bandwidth than OPC XML-DA

OPC DA is based on DCOM and can be difficult to set up when the driver and target OPC DA server are on opposite sides of a firewall

Run the Advanced OPC driver.

Consider using this driver if efficient use of network bandwidth is of greater importance than ease of setup.

Monitoring and control

Communication with other OPC DA servers (including other Geo SCADA Expert systems)

OPC DA is more efficient in terms of bandwidth than OPC XML-DA

OPC DA is based on DCOM and can be difficult to set up when the driver and target OPC DA server are on opposite sides of a firewall

Run the Simple OPC driver.

For new installations, we recommend that you use the Advanced version of the driver (or the OPC UA driver if your OPC servers support OPC UA), as these drivers will give you more flexibility should your system requirements change in the future.

For existing installations that currently use the Simple version of the driver, we would encourage you to upgrade your simple driver installation to take advantage of the additional functionality that the advanced driver provides. To facilitate this, Geo SCADA Expert provides a Convert To feature that enables you to convert one type of database item into another of a similar type (see Converting a Database Item in the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Core Configuration).

Monitoring and control

Communication with other XML-DA servers (including other Geo SCADA Expert systems)

Ease of setup

OPC XML-DA uses standard web protocol and is much more firewall friendly than OPC DA

OPC XML-DA is less efficient in terms of bandwidth than OPC DA

Run the OPC XML-DA driver.

Consider using this driver if easy setup is important, rather than efficient use of network bandwidth.