I am about to make a project, that needs to expand over time. So i am wondering whether it is possible to make all connection between PLC(s7-1500
) and HMI(comfort) throu a OPC UA server. So both my PLC and HMI runs as Clients.
Just to make it all a bit more interesting I have never worked with OPC before, so i would like to make some test-simulation via PLCSIM 15.1. to make sure i have done my job.
Does anyone have a good idea for a server i can test with?
One side has to be client and the other server. You cannot have both being clients.
You cannot simulate OPC UA with 'regular' PLCSIM.
PLCSIM advanced should support OPC UA, but I have never tried it.
Also, be warned that the OPC UA Server on Siemens CPUs is far less performant than a 'regular' S7 Connection.
You can play around with this Wizard for estimating the transmission time for OPC UA data by an OPC Server on the S7 CPU: https://www.automation.siemens.com/perfdata/perfdata.aspx?version=34&lang=en
For a lot of data and using Siemens components I would go with a regular S7 connection.