S7-1500 to OSISoft

Hi
I am looking for recommendations

Have at a tender for a system which has a requirement to historianise tags to a future OSISoft historian. The PLC for us will be S7-1500

I was thinking using OPC as middleware and i know S7-1500 has onboard OPC capability but never used it

The data will be 64 reals and 256 bools

The system will also have a Panel PC (TIA Portal windows runtime) so i have a few choices to make

Would the onboard OPC UA server do the trick or is it limited, would i be better to invest in a PC based OPC server /TIA portal OPC etc

The data rate is not defined in the scope but every second or event based would cover it

cjd1965 said:

Hi
I am looking for recommendations

Have at a tender for a system which has a requirement to historianise tags to a future OSISoft historian. The PLC for us will be S7-1500

I was thinking using OPC as middleware and i know S7-1500 has onboard OPC capability but never used it

The data will be 64 reals and 256 bools

The system will also have a Panel PC (TIA Portal windows runtime) so i have a few choices to make

Would the onboard OPC UA server do the trick or is it limited, would i be better to invest in a PC based OPC server /TIA portal OPC etc

The data rate is not defined in the scope but every second or event based would cover it

Click to expand...

Onboard OPC UA server speed changes with how fast your 1500 is, but I think 1 sec for that data seems like a safe bet.


Note that, if possible, Siemens grouping your data into a UDT for fastest transmission & processing in the PLC, but I don't know how OSIsoft would handle that.

Thanks for the reply. I will look into udt behaviour for OSI

You might want to look at this:
How do you best configure an OPC UA client to communicate efficiently with the OPC UA server of a SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU and with the best performance possible?

As to what can realistically achieved with the onboard OPC UA server, try to play around with the wizard
Determining the Transmission Times for Typical Configurations between S7 Stations and PC Stations via SIMATIC NET OPC Server
Unfortunately the links to V1 .. V4 measurements are dead at the moment. I have send a feedback to Siemens. Hope they fix the links.
But the gist is that the CPU OPC UA servers are not as performant as PC-based OPC UA or OPC DA servers.

Hi Jesper
Thanks , i was already concerned that the PLC would be a low performance solution etc so i will make a 'fuller' OPC server software as an option to cover my self. It is good that this is included on the PLC but i think as you say it isnt intended for higher performance or higher data volumes

I have found Kepware a really stable and easy to configure OPC Server.

OPC is the preferred method of collecting data for OSI. I usually install the OPC server and the OSI OPC interface on the same PC. The PC collects the data and forwards to the OSI server, in the event of a server outage, the PC buffers the data until the server is back on line.
OSI recommends modern systems be set up with "advise" tags versus the traditional polling arrangement. Most, current, OPC servers support advise tags.

The PC does not require a lot of horsepower, I usually run an I-5 CPU with 4GB ram, and have no issues. (Assuming the PC is not doing anything else).

For OPC servers I prefer Kepware or Matrikon, Kepware cost more, but is easier to setup. Both have great support.


Your tag count is fairly low, roughly 300 tags, the onboard should be able to handle that without any issues. OSI supports anything the OPC server can deliver, such as UDT's. But...I don-t think you would not save any band width, because they would be configured as MyUDT.tag1, MyUDT.Tag2 for the reads.

JesperMP said:

You might want to look at this:
How do you best configure an OPC UA client to communicate efficiently with the OPC UA server of a SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU and with the best performance possible?

As to what can realistically achieved with the onboard OPC UA server, try to play around with the wizard
Determining the Transmission Times for Typical Configurations between S7 Stations and PC Stations via SIMATIC NET OPC Server
Unfortunately the links to V1 .. V4 measurements are dead at the moment. I have send a feedback to Siemens. Hope they fix the links.
But the gist is that the CPU OPC UA servers are not as performant as PC-based OPC UA or OPC DA servers.

Click to expand...

Found this on a different page:


The web interface of the measurements will be switched off for the internet on 8.10.2020. The data will be made available for download (Excel format). In the intranet view the applications are still available.

Sounds like the bad link is an on purpose change, although I can't find the XLS format they said should exist....