OPC server and communiation with PLCs

My dearest colleagues, I need some help with communication between PLCs and SCADA and I would like to ask if someone could help me.
If you have one PLC type Modicon M340 Schneider Electric with communication NOE module for Ethernet, and on the other hand you have one PLC type S7-300 Siemens with CP 343-1 Lean for Ethernet, and you have one SCADA, for example VijeoCitec, Schneider Electric.
Now, if you want that SCADA read data from both, Schneider and Siemens PLC, do you need Schneider OPC server to read data from Schneider PLC and Siemens OPC server to read data from Siemens PLC, or SCADA can read directly from Schneider PLC and you got to have Siemens OPC server to read from Siemens PLC.
Is there OPC server which can read data from any PLC?

Thank you in advance for your time!!!
Greatings!!!

With Ethernet TCP/IP based protocols, you can typically have several drivers and software using the same TCP/IP connection at the same time. It is one of the neat things about TCP/IP.
So yes you can in principle have both OPC Servers and direct drivers in the SCADA using the same TCP/IP connection at the same time.
As an example we are using Simatic Net and RSLinx OPC Servers via the same ethernet port.
If there are other things that can conflict with each other in your particular setup I cannot say.

Is there OPC server which can read data from any PLC?

Click to expand...

There are some vendors of OPC Servers which has a "suite" of protocols that they support. Matrikon and Kepware for example. But each protocol that they support costs extra.
There is nothing going against buying a OPC Servers from multiple vendors and using them on the same PC.

Thank you JesperMP. Just something else. If VijeoCitec has driver for Siemens PLCs, why do I need Siemens OPC server? Maybe for something that Citec can't do?

If Citect has a driect driver, and you dont need the OPC Server for any other OPC Client, then you can omit the OPC Server.

Greetings,

In response to your primary question regarding OPC Servers and their ability to read / connect to any PLC, I can speak from the position of distributing Kepware's KepserverEX OPC Server.

KepserverEX is an OPC server with many driver options that are categorized by suite. For instance, using your example, there are specific driver suites for Siemens drivers and ModBus drivers.

When purchasing KepserverEX, you pay based on the number of different driver suites you will require. Based on your example you would require two driver suites. Standard drivers cost $895.00 US, so your total would be $1790.00. This price is for the server and drivers.

Here is another scenario to consider. Let's say you need a third driver. If you were to purchase the third driver for $895.00, your total cost would be $2685.00 US. However, Kepware offers vertical suites, one of which being the Manufacturing Suite for a flat price. That price is $2295.00. This means for ever standard driver over two, you start saving money. In this case, going with the Manufacturing Suite, you save $390.00 US as compared to purchasing the drivers independently. I have included the data sheet that shows you the drivers available within the Manufacturing Suite:

http://www.eternity-sales.com/kepware/manuals/Kepware_Manufacturing_Suite.pdf

From this link you can read more about the Manufacturing Suite and have access to the manuals for each driver suite available. This includes protocols for both serial and Ethernet where available. For instance, the ModBus driver suite includes RTU, ASCII, TCP/IP (Ethernet), Plus and unsolicited.

http://www.eternity-sales.com/kepware/serverbundles-ms.htm

You also have the ability to download the server and "try it before you buy it" You can do so through this link:

http://www.eternity-sales.com/Kepware/kepwaredownloads.htm

More information about KepserverEX can be viewed through this link:

http://www.eternity-sales.com/Kepware/kepserverex.htm

If you have any additional questions, feel free to post, pm or email through the link provided in my signature.

Shalom,

Thank you Mr. Stephen Luft for your post. I just have another question. If Sitec, for example has driver for Siemens PLC, beside regular driver for Schneider PLC, why do I need to use OPC server, maybe because of different protocols on Ethernet or what?

The driver is the communications standard by which the device will talk.

The server allows you to communicate with multiple devices. One way to look at this is as follows:

There are clients (HMI software) and devices (PLCs)

In order to be able to connect to different device drivers there needs to be software that can handle each driver. These are typically called channels.

Prior to OPC were typically one to one. One HMI, One driver. However now that the OPC server is available, you can have multiple drivers communicating to one HMI.

Here is a visual representation:

http://www.eternity-sales.com/synergy_home.htm

Hope this helps.

The short answer to your question
You can just use the native Citect drivers to directly communicate with the different plcs. You do not need to use OPC

You may choose to use OPC to gain added functionality ie the Schneider OFS (OPC) driver allows you to directly reference Tags by tagname.

Thank you all for your answers. I have another one.
If I have 2 servers, and I need to read data from PLCs with both servers at the same time, do I need OPC?

What "servers" ?

Try to write post that are unambiguous please.

Sorry, my mistake!
I have SCADA, VijeoCitec on 2 PCs, and I have to read data from several PLCs on the network at the same time. One PC has to be master and the other slave, but both reads same data.
Sorry again and thank you for the effort.

If you set up Citect correctly as a redundant io server then Citect manage the communications. The primary server will read from the PLC and then pass the data to the secondary server. Read the help on setting up redundant io servers.
Even if not set up correctly multiple servers will be able to read from the plcs without the use of OPC. However if you had a large database (>20000 tags in Citect) your response time may be a bit slow, in this case OPC could be used as a gateway

Hilos,

You can communicate directly between Citect on one side, and M340 and and Siemens on other side, even with two PLCs. Read about clustering with Citect. Also you can contact guys from SE in Belgrade, they will probably help you, telephone is 3773100. If they do not help, contact me I will help you.

Goran

Thank you Goran (goghie). I'll try to find out something more about that clustering with Citec. We have 7 PLCs M340, 2 PLCs S7-300, SCADA on 2 PCs, so we have to think up some block scheme that will work properly and cost minimum.
Guys from SE doesn't want to talk about Siemens equipment, so I have to find out for myself.
My plan would be to connect all M340 over the NOE communication ethernet port on the switch, than both S7-300 over the CP 343-1 Lean also on the switch and than also my 2 PCs with Citec on the switch. So is it possible to do that without OPC. There will be about 1500 tags, nothing too much.
Thank you all for your time!

I would definitely suggest you to connect everything to Citect if there is no need for direct communication between PLCs. What is Citect version, and what type are the Citect licences you have?