Industrial protocol components
This page lists each industrial protocol plugin, the components it provides and how each component identifies a value. Each plugin has its own page describing its settings and point map, and each page lists every supported device family.
Plugins
| Plugin | Role | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| BACnet | Building Automation and Control Networks (BACnet) over IP client that polls values into Profinity tags | Building automation and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems |
| EtherNet/IP | Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) tag client that polls values into Profinity tags | Rockwell programmable logic controllers (PLCs) such as ControlLogix, CompactLogix, Micro800, PLC-5 and SLC |
| Modbus | TCP and Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) master that polls values into Profinity tags | Industrial devices and distributed input/output (I/O) |
| OPC UA Client | Client that polls values from a remote OPC UA server into Profinity tags | Enterprise and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system integration |
| OPC UA Server | Read-only server that exposes Profinity's tag tree to third-party OPC UA clients | Enterprise and SCADA system integration |
| S7 | S7comm (Siemens S7 communication) client that polls values into Profinity tags | Siemens PLCs such as S7-300, S7-400, S7-1200 and S7-1500 |
The Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA) plugin has one page for each component, and OPC UA certificates covers the certificate folders that both components use.
Components
Every protocol component has Auto Connect off by default. The components, what they connect to, and how a point map row identifies a value are:
| Plugin | Component | Connects to | A point map row identifies a value by |
|---|---|---|---|
| BACnet | BACnet Device | One BACnet device, over BACnet/IP only and not BACnet Master-Slave/Token-Passing (MS/TP) | Object type and Instance |
| EtherNet/IP | EtherNet/IP PLC | One PLC | PLC tag |
| Modbus | Modbus Device | One Modbus slave, over TCP or over a serial line using RTU framing | Table and Address |
| OPC UA | OPC UA Client | A remote OPC UA server | NodeId |
| OPC UA | OPC UA Server | Listens for OPC UA clients | Not applicable, because it exposes the readable scalar tags in the profile's tag tree |
| S7 | S7 PLC | One PLC | Area and Offset, and DB number when the area is DataBlock |
For a Siemens S7-1200 or S7-1500, the S7 plugin reads absolute addresses, and the OPC UA client reads symbolic tags by name from the PLC's own OPC UA server.
How polled values behave
Once polled, a value from any of these protocols behaves the same as a tag from a CAN device. It can be shown on a dashboard that you build, included in a collection, watched by a rule, or read by a script. The dashboard each component shows for itself is described on its own page, and viewing it needs the Security administration permission, which is set under Roles and permissions. The polling components of all five plugins connect, retry, and log failures in the way described in Connections and reconnecting.