OPC communications

I need a little help. I'm new to PLC programming and utilizing OPC communications.

I have a system in which an Allen Bradley SLC 5/03 is connected (serially) to a PC with RS View 32 installed on it. I want to connect the RS View to another PC with OPC client/server software installed on it (via an ethernet connection).

First, I want the RSView to act as a client and read tags on the OPC PC.

My question is what do you select in RS Linx (single node) to configure a driver? Also, do i have to do any setting up of the network prior to configuring RS linx (mapping the drive, etc?). I'm utilizing Winbdows 2k (professionsl) on both machines.

Thanks!

If you are running the RSView screens on the same PC as RSLinx, you need to create an OPC topic. I think almost any version of RSLinx supports local OPC requests (there are posts here which cover that). Once you've got an OPC topic, you're ready to start requesting data.

If you are running the RSView screens on a remote PC, you need to have RSLinx Gateway running on the PC that is acting as an OPC server. Then you have two choices:

1. Set up an OPC topic on the remote machine.
2. Set up a gateway channel. Then, set up an OPC topic on the local machine, using a local copy of RSLinx to gain access through the gateway.

Your choice will depend on where you want your failure point(s) to be.

AK