OPC Servers

There has been some amount of talk on here about which Clients to use when Doing a SCADA/HMI design. But I am curious about which OPC Server is considered the best and why. I know of at least two, they are Matricon and KepWare. Are there others and what would the concensus here on the forum say about each.

Every PLC Manufacturer

Hi,

Every PLC manufacturer has its own OPC server to communicate with its own PLC using its own propietary protocols.

Kelkoon

I use KepserverEX, it covers most PLC's, and is relativley simple to setup.

I say, if you work with only one PLC brand, then use that PLC brands own OPC server. If something goes wrong, then there is only one place to blame.

If on the other hand, you work with many PLC brands, then it may be smarter to use a 3rd party vendor that support many PLC brands. In that case you only have to learn one configuration tool.

Apart from that, if "lowest cost" is also included in "best", then you could consider for Siemens Ethernet Simatic Softnet Lean, and for a single connection with AB Rockwell RSLinx Single node. Dont know if other brands have similar "discount offers".

Currently i am working with only one PLC manufacturer. I am using the Horner OCS. However due to some short sightedness on their part the driver they have written only support one channel and one channel only. In our case we are using multiple devices and for each device use one channel this way if one should happen to go bad it does not affect the others. SO the PLC mfg OPC drive is unacceptable. THey do however support Modbus so that is the protocol we have choosen to use. It does support multiple channels. Currently I have KepServer configured but was wondering about the other servers out there. That is the purpose of this post is to see what other servers are out there and what the opinions are on each.

JesperMP said:

I say, if you work with only one PLC brand, then use that PLC brands own OPC server. If something goes wrong, then there is only one place to blame.

If on the other hand, you work with many PLC brands, then it may be smarter to use a 3rd party vendor that support many PLC brands. In that case you only have to learn one configuration tool.

Apart from that, if "lowest cost" is also included in "best", then you could consider for Siemens Ethernet Simatic Softnet Lean, and for a single connection with AB Rockwell RSLinx Single node. Dont know if other brands have similar "discount offers".

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