Building an OmniServer Protocol is So Much Easier than Custom Code

You can always test drive a fully functional trial version of OmniServer before you purchase. The only limitation on the trial version is a two hour time limit, after which the server can be restarted. You can get the trial version here.

We also encourage you to contact us for a free evaluation of the protocol information you have available. Our protocol experts can look at the information and give you a good idea of how a protocol might be implemented in OmniServer before you get started.

You can also request our free Protocol Implementation Guide for OmniServer to help you get started.

OmniServer works by modeling the data stream coming in from the device or being sent to the device. This modeling is called a protocol. Within this protocol you will tell OmniServer how to interpret (or put together) the data stream and what data is to be passed between your client application and the device.

So the first thing you need is a protocol document for the device. The protocol information is usually found within a user's or programmer's manual that may have come with the device. Somewhere within the documentation is an explanation of how data is passed between the device and the host computer (OmniServer).

Without this information, OmniServer will not be able to communicate with the device.

Click here for a blog post on reading and interpreting device documentation

Included in the OmniServer Help File is a list of tutorials for all the major classes of devices. You can match your device to one of those tutorials and use that as a place to get started.

If you would like our protocol engineers to provide a free evaluation of the protocol with some advice on how to proceed, please contact us to arrange for us to receive your protocol documentation.

You can also employ our Engineering Services to help you understand or even develop the protocol. Please see the ordering page under "Add-On Consulting Services" for more information and basic pricing.

OmniServer installs with a powerful OPC Test Client that makes it easy to test your connection via OPC DA before you have your final application ready.  Eventually you will need a client program that supports OPC UA, OPC DA, SuiteLink, DDE or FastDDE.  Most (if not all) HMI / SCADA / MES / Historian applications support one of the above, as do most popular database and spreadsheet programs. 

OmniServer is a pure software server and, as such, will not poll or write to your device unless the client application is asking for at least one piece of information as defined in your protocol.

Once a client connection is made with OmniServer from the client application, OmniServer will begin communicating with the device. We have some details regarding client connectivity available here and we also have how-to videos here.

Click here for a blog post about connecting and testing with a protocol.

The following are the most common reasons you might be having protocol or communication issues:

• Do you have a client application connected and requesting at least one of the items in your protocol messages?  This is required for OmniServer to communicate - it will not communicate by itself.
• While you faithfully followed the protocol documentation from your device vendor, that information could have potentially forgotten to explain or explained incompletely some required formatting such as starting or terminating characters.
• To err is human - your protocol might simply have a typing error resulting in your pattern not fully matching the actual data your device requires.
• Perhaps the COM or Ethernet device settings don't fully match what is required to connect to your device.

Our Troubleshooting Guide or our Online Resources will guide you through how to troubleshoot your protocol. We suggest you use these resources first to eliminate basic issues. If you continue to have problems, please contact our support team.

Purchasing OmniServer is an easy and painless process. Click here to visit our ordering page.