TOP Server Flexibility in Connectivity & Polling Options for Wide Application Support

Device scan rate modes for enhanced polling control

TOP Server drivers provide several different scan rate modes for controlling how client requests affect the polling frequency for your configured devices. This applies to all client connection types including OPC UA, OPC DA and AVEVA (formerly Wonderware) SuiteLink interfaces. These modes provide granular control over the frequency of requests to their devices which is useful when devices require slow updates or for networks where excess data usage results in additional operational costs.

Learn More About Device Scan Rate Modes

Auto-demotion or slow-poll support

TOP Server's device-level auto-demotion settings (sometimes referred to as slow polling) allow a driver to temporarily place a device off-scan in the event that a device is not responding.

By placing a non-responsive device off-line, the driver can continue to optimize its communications with other devices on the same channel by stopping communications with the non-responsive device for a specific time period.

Learn More About Auto-Demotion/Slow Polling

Telemetry Friendly Connection Sharing 

Applications in oil & gas, water/wastewater, and utilities often use radio networks for communication. There are often a variety of devices using different protocols that must communicate over a single client/host radio to the field. 

Although modern Ethernet radios and the use of different TCP/IP or UPD port numbers can sometimes handle this requirement, there are many situations where the polling engine must multiplex or manage access to the network, and do so with varying priorities and amount of access to grant per cycle. 

The TOP Server Connection Sharing Plug-In, included free with drivers used in these applications, empowers it to manage all this for you with flexible configuration options.

Learn More about the Connection Sharing Plug-In

Built-in Serial-to-Ethernet Conversion/Encapsulation/Device Server Support

TOP Server Ethernet Encapsulation of serial communication lets you connect your serial devices over Ethernet using Serial-to-Ethernet converters (also commonly referred to as Terminal Servers, Serial Device Server or Ethernet Encapsulation Modules). Support for Ethernet Encapsulation is a part of every TOP Server serial driver.

Learn More about Serial-to-Ethernet Support

Redundancy options for devices, networks and servers

The Media-Level Redundancy plug-in for TOP Server is included for use with all compatible drivers. This powerful component allows redundant failover for network, network type and device and is supported for the most drivers. In the event of a failure, Media Level Redundancy allows the duplicate device or redundant network to take over without interrupting communication to minimize data loss, maximizing uptime and increasing the availability of your critical industrial data.

Learn More About Redundancy Options

Domain Name System (DNS) / Hostname support for Device ID

TOP Server’s DNS Lookup functionality, also called Host Name Resolution, enables you to enter a DNS name in the format <hostname> in the Device ID field for supported drivers. TOP Server will automatically use that DNS name and your Windows computer’s configured DNS servers to convert the <hostname> to a valid IP address.

Learn More about DNS Support

Built-in dial-up modem support

Although they are not found as often in control systems anymore, for those tough, legacy telemetry applications, TOP Server still supports the use of dial-up / serial modems on all serial communications drivers. Modem control is provided by a set of modem tags available to client applications for control of dialing, hang up status of the modem connection and more.

Learn More about Dial-Up Modem Support

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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