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Siemens OpenPCS 7 Connections

Created by Mark Derbecker
Last updated: Sep 09, 2020 by James Murphy

Connecting Seeq to OpenPCS 7

Install Seeq
Configure the OPC-HDA Connector
Verify the Connection in Seeq
Troubleshooting
Data from the Siemens SIMATIC PCS 7 SCADA system and the SIMATIC PCS 7 Process Historian can be
accessed from Seeq via the OPC-HDA Connector in conjunction with the SIMATIC OpenPCS 7
component.

 OpenPCS 7 connection are supported in Seeq Server R21.0.40.05 and later.

SIMATIC OpenPCS 7 exposes data from the PCS 7 system via the OPC-HDA interface and is required for
connectivity to Seeq.  It is the front end of a larger Siemens process control system built on the
"SIMATIC PCS 7" family of products.  OpenPCS 7 optimizes the data sources between real-time and
archived data and on the front end it exposes that data to interfaces such as OPC-HDA.  

Connecting Seeq to OpenPCS 7

Seeq can be connected to OpenPCS 7 by using the Seeq OPC-HDA connector. 

OPC is built on Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM), which is enabled in the environment local
to the OpenPCS host, or remotely through a network connection which is known as Distributed COM
(DCOM).  Using the COM approach is much less prone to complications and is preferred.  For Seeq,
COM interactions can be best enabled by installing Seeq on the same host as the OpenPCS 7 server. 
Then Seeq can be configured as a remote agent to enable other Seeq servers that the users interact
with.  This page will describe how to connect Seeq to OpenPCS 7 locally using COM.  

Perform the following steps to connect Seeq to OpenPCS 7 using the OPC-HDA connector.  

Install Seeq
Install Seeq on the OpenPCS 7 Server.  Please consult the Installing Seeq article for more information. 

Configure the OPC-HDA Connector

Configure the OPC-HDA connector for OpenPCS 7 by following the steps described in the OPC-HDA
Connector article.

1. As described in the article, the OPC-HDA connector configuration file must be modified for
connection to the OpenPCS 7 server.

a. The connection section of an example OPC-HDA configuration file that has been
configured for OpenPCS 7 is shown below. 

b. OPC-HDA Connection Configuration Example

...   
    {
      "Name": "PCS7OPCS/PCS7.OPCHDAServer",
      "Id": "7c1e088c-b00b-4882-87c5-e405c2325d35",
      "Enabled": true,
      "Indexing": {
        "Frequency": "1w",
        "OnStartupAndConfigChange": true,
        "Next": "2019-02-08T00:50:57.724408Z[Etc/GMT]"
      },
      "MaxConcurrentRequests": 4,
      "MaxResultsPerRequest": null,
      "URL": "opchda://localhost/PCS7.OPCHDAServer/{cb05bea1-ab41-4eb3
      "Username": "Administrator",
      "Password": "(wm5KYjsoie4rRwcoek8d@k48fj**jWdR.",
      "Filters": [],
      "ArchivingEnabled": true,
      "RetryAttemptsOnError": 0,
      "RetryDelayOnError": "0.1s",
      "RecycleConnectionEvery": null,
      "Instrumentation": {
        "Enabled": true,
        "TagCountMax": 1000,
        "ValueCaptureEnabled": false,
        "ValueCaptureStartTime": "NOW-24MO",
        "ValueCaptureEndTime": "NOW",
        "ValueCaptureMaxValues": 10,
        "ValueCaptureIncludeBounds": true
      },
      "SimulationFile": null,
      "OpcApiCallTimeout": "60m",
      "Transforms": null,
      "UncertainQualitySamplesMayChange": false,
      "HistorianQualityFilter": null
    }
...

2. Save the file and Seeq will recognize the OPC-HDA connection.  

Verify the Connection in Seeq

Open the web browser to Seeq and click on the "Connected" option at the top.  If Seeq has connected
properly you will have a view similar to the one shown below.  The OPC-HDA connection in this
example is the one showing "OPC-HDA:PCS7OPCS/PCS7.OPCHDAServer"

Finally open a Workbench Analysis and retrieve data to verify that retrieved signals match that
expected from the OPC-HDA source.  

Troubleshooting
Please consult the OPC-HDA Connector article for more details on troubleshooting the OpenPCS 7
connection.  Once configured as shown above the same methods described in this article apply. 

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