Kepware OPC server multiple devices

I'm hoping someone has some idea, what kind of problems could come up from having multiple devices on a single channel. for example, its a production line and has 30 stations, what problems could come up if Im managing all the devices on that line using one channel in the Kepware OPC server. If one fails to communicate does it move on to the next one or does it stop. Things of this nature is what I'm hoping to trouble shoot before I move forward.

The only problem I can think of is slower communications. As a matter of fact, KEPWare does recommend splitting multiple devices into several channels. If one device in a channel is down, it should not affect communications with others.

I ususally keep no more than 5-6 devices in one channel. It has to be noted though that I don't do contunuous communications - only on-demand reads and writes.

Some OPC Servers support an advanced polling engine that will poll all devices and exclude the disconnected devices from the polling cycle. Once the disconnected device goes back online, it gets added back to the polling cycle. This will prevents any delays when any device goes down. Also those advanced engines supports round-robin polling so it ensure that the your network bandwidth is not bogged down and that you will receive all data in real-time and at a fast update rate. MatrikonOPC Servers have this Advanced Polling Engine. We call it SCADA Framework. Take a look at the SCADA Suite here.

Hope this is helpful
Wassim Daoud
Global Solutions Architect

TFBest86 said:

I'm hoping someone has some idea, what kind of problems could come up from having multiple devices on a single channel. for example, its a production line and has 30 stations, what problems could come up if Im managing all the devices on that line using one channel in the Kepware OPC server. If one fails to communicate does it move on to the next one or does it stop. Things of this nature is what I'm hoping to trouble shoot before I move forward.

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If comms fails on one device, it will take longer to poll the other devices. It gets stuck on the failed device (I think doing retries). There are probably settings that will help, but I usually put only one device per channel.