Scalable, Flexible Configuration of Your Device Communications

TOP Server's Configuration - Easy To Learn & Use, Extensible, Secure

The TOP Server configuration interface is one of its key features. It provides you with the ability to quickly and effectively make the connections you require, while providing the flexibility and control you need to optimize your system. Secure configuration access, including Active Directory Integration, protects your critical system configurations.

If you haven’t used the TOP Server before, take a few minutes to watch our Quick Start video.

Configuration is also extensible through the optional OPC Server Remote Config Client, CSV import, or REST and .NET APIs

Online & Offline Configuration Modes Reduce Downtime 

TOP Server provides flexible control of your project and added security with Offline Editing ability in addition to Runtime mode configuration.

  • You can edit the Configuration live in Runtime mode or edit Offline and download changes when you are ready.
  • Use the live Runtime mode with the included OPC Quick Client and the other diagnostic features for Startup and Testing.
  • Use the Offline mode to make project changes offline to ensure accuracy prior to applying to your active runtime and help with project change traceability in conjunction with the Event Log.

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Secure Out-of-the-Box Against Unauthorized Access

The TOP Server's built-in User Manager and other security features will help you prevent unauthorized changes to your configuration and other cyber threats. With V7 and newer, Active Directory User and Groups integration empowers you to leverage your existing security infrastructure to safeguard configurations. 

The TOP Server Secure Deployment Considerations Guide is a good resource for ensuring your TOP Server is following best practices for maximum security.

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Secure Remote Configuration Client with Audit-Trail Option

Use this optional, separately licensed application on your laptop, workstation or other computer to remotely and securely manage the configuration of TOP Server instances. Restrict functionality, meet cybersecurity requirements to control access to the OPC server host machine, and know who made changes when. 

  • Full create, update, delete capabilities, provided you have granted user rights. 
  • User change rights managed through the OPC Server User Manager
  • Secure connection using SSL/TLS 
  • No internet access required or granted 
  • Audit trail 

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Project Level Settings Move With Your Configuration

TOP Server Project Configuration Files (.opf or .json) contain all of your TOP Server project level settings. This makes transferring a TOP Server configuration to another machine much easier, requiring only that the TOP Server .opf  or .json project configuration file be transferred and opened in the other TOP Server.

These project level settings include a number of important options for enabling/disabling specific client interfaces and configurable interoperability settings for the highest level of compatibility with client applications.

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Optimizing Ethernet Driver Performance with Multiple Channels

TOP Server can often be optimized for performance by configuring multiple channels. Whether this is possible or recommended for your own configuration ultimately depends on a number of factors pertaining to your architecture:

  • Device type - are your devices Ethernet, serial or serial-over-Ethernet (i.e. natively serial devices but connected to your Ethernet network using a serial-to-Ethernet converter)?
  • Communications network - is connectivity to your devices established over an Ethernet network, hardwired serial network (such as RS-232 or RS-485), serial radios, cellular radios, other?

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Maintain a static tag database or use dynamic device addresses - the choice is yours!

TOP Server supports creating and organizing a browsable static tag database in its configuration interface. 

TOP Server also supports direct tag access from any HMI, SCADA, MES, historian or other client application using dynamic tag references, which use the native addressing for the device driver you are using.

There are pros and cons to both of these methods, depending on your project, and both methods can be used simultaneously where needed.

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Faster & More Accurate Tag Creation with Auto Tag Generation

TOP Server supports automatically generating static tags for an entire device either by directly connecting to the device or from an import file for certain drivers where the communications protocol supports it.  This eliminates the guesswork sometimes involved with determining what addresses / tags are actually available in a device.

Auto tag generation also eliminates the human variable with respect to avoiding syntax errors when manually creating both static and dynamic tags for TOP Server drivers. This ensures that the addresses you are requesting from your devices are correct and actually exist, resulting in better performance.

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Save Engineering Time with External Configuration Options: CSV Tag Import & Export, JSON, & API's

TOP Server supports the import and export of tags in a CSV file. These options are available when a Device or Tag Group has been selected. Using CSV import and export, tags can be created quickly in the application of your choice.

You can even configure which delimiter (comma or semi-colon) that TOP Server should use when generating the CSV file. This is useful for import into other systems that might not support one of those delimiters but does support the other.

For full project external configuration, your options are

Learn More about TOP Server CSV Import/Export Support

Configure More Meaningful Topics for Clients with the Alias Map

The TOP Server Alias Map features provides a number of benefits including backwards compatibility for replacing legacy servers as well as a way to assign more meaningful and shorter names to complex tag references.

This can be particularly important for client applications with a size limit on tag address paths. The latest version of the server automatically creates the alias map based on channel, device and group naming but users can also add their own alias map entries for flexible naming conventions.

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Securely Edit TOP Server Runtime Configurations Programmatically

The Configuration API in TOP Server

  • Provides the ability to programmatically read and update the configuration in TOP Server from other software applications.
  • Enables you to read, create, update, and delete channels, devices, groups, meter groups, tags, and select plug-ins from your .NET application or application supporting .NET User controls
  • Is available for all supported functionality as a RESTful JSON web service or for select drivers and plug-ins as a .NET API (Contact Us for .NET API Details).

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Don't want to write code? Check out the OPC Server Remote Configuration Client

Easily Manage OPC UA Endpoint and Security Settings

The TOP Server OPC UA Configuration Manager is accessible through the TOP Server Administration system tray icon and provides centralized management of all OPC UA server endpoints, their associated ports and supported security and encryption settings and management for trust relationships with OPC UA servers and clients.

Starting with V7 and newer, OPC UA Server interface access can be integrated with your Active Directory user rights infrastructure.

The OPC UA Configuration Manager is also key to managing secure certificates whether you're self-issuing an OPC UA certificate or importing a certificate from a third-party firm.

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Get Started Now

The demo is the full product once licensed. Once a client application connects to the  TOP Server, the TOP Server runtime will operate for 2 hours at a time. At the end of the 2 hour demo period, the demo timer must be reset by restarting the TOP Server runtime service.

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