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Version: 24.2 (stable)

OPC UA Connection

The OPC UA Connection lets you connect HELIO to PLCs that comply with the established OPC UA standard.


Options

Name

Will be used by HELIO internally to differentiate between multiple connections.

URL

URL of your OPC UA endpoint. A valid URL should contain the protocol, hostname, as well as the port.

Test First

Before creating an actual connection to the URL, make sure to validate that HELIO can connect to your PLC by clicking the Test button. If your test was successful, click the Create Connection button.

Authentication

The next step is to specify how you want to authenticate against your OPC UA server. The capabilities of your server will determine this setting, so it is important to check them first. An OPC UA server can support different types of so-called User Identity Tokens to implement authentication. Currently, HELIO supports the following types:

ModeUser Token TypeHMI Users

Anonymous

Anonymous

Using this setting indicates that your OPC UA Server does not require any credentials. This approach is suitable as long as both HELIO and the OPC UA server are running on the same host and you have implemented the necessary security measures to ensure that the OPC UA server is not accessible from other devices on your network.

Username and Password

UserName

Choose this mode if your server requires authentication using a Username and a Password in order to prevent unauthorized access to your PLC's API.

Certificate and Private Key

X509

Coming soon…

Watch This Space – There's More to Come...

We're working hard on providing additional layers of security by supporting the third authentication option: authentication using a certificate and a private key.

Additional we're working on the ability to sign and encrypt the traffic by supporting Security Modes.

So stay tuned!

Auto Connecting

Once you establish a connection, HELIO will add it to the runtime permanently. The runtime will automatically connect to this connection during startup and will try to reconnect it if the connection is lost.