TOP Server Project Level Settings Move With Your Configuration

Easily transfer your entire TOP Server configuration in a single file

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.

Accessing the TOP Server Project Properties

The project level settings are accessible in TOP Server by right-clicking on the Project entry in the left-hand tree view. There are a number of different sections possible here, depending on which Native Client Interfaces (SuiteLink and iFIX PDB) were selected for install for use with TOP Server.

General
OPC DA
OPC UA
DDE
FastDDE/SuiteLink (available only if selected during install - SuiteLink common components also required on local machine)
iFIX PDB Settings (available only if selected during install - GE iFIX also must be installed on local machine)
OPC .NET
OPC AE
OPC HDA

TOP Server General Project Properties

The General section of the Project Properties provides the ability to give a particular TOP Server configuration a meaningful title (which is also available in your client application via the _ProjectTitle system tag) and description including any comments needed about the project. Additionally, the Tags Defined field lists a tally of the total number of user-defined static tags currently configured in the project.

Some of the common ways these settings can prove useful are:

More easily managing multiple TOP Server configurations for a location.
To provide insightful notes about why certain settings were chosen.
As a location for revision tracking notes.

TOP Server OPC DA Project Properties

The OPC DA (Data Access) section provides the flexibility to access and alter TOP Server’s behavior and functionality for OPC DA client connections pertaining to the particular OPC Specifications and functions supported.

This can be particularly useful for:

Forcing TOP Server to use only a particular OPC DA Specification for client compatibility
Making addressing hints available to browsing client applications
Exposing TOP Server tag properties as tags themselves
Adjusting timing for OPC Client notifications when the server is shutting down
Increasing or decreasing the timeout for OPC Synchronous transactions

TOP Server has been designed to provide the highest level of compatibility with the OPC Foundation’s specifications. The OPC Compliance Section provides access to settings specific to TOP Server support for the OPC DA specifications.

These settings are exposed to allow for maximum compatibility with virtually any OPC DA client applications available including any that may have implemented different interpretations of the OPC DA specifications.

Starting with Version 6.11, the following two settings have also been added to assist users in controlling how many concurrent OPC DA client connections TOP Server will support and how many groups can be created - these settings provide more granular controller over threading and resource consumption as they relate to OPC DA client connections on systems with potentially large client counts.

Maximum Connections (Defaults to 512) - this setting specifies the maximum number of OPC DA client applications that the TOP Server instance will permit (Valid range is 1 - 4000).
Maximum OPC Groups (Defaults to 2000) - this setting specifies the maximum number of OPC DA groups that the TOP Server instance permits across all client connections (Valid range is 10 - 4000).

TOP Server OPC UA Project Properties

TOP Server supports the OPC UA Standard (Data Access profile). The settings found in the OPC UA section in the Project Properties cover actually enabling the interface for use, enabling diagnostics, and other server level settings. Full details of these settings are provided in the TOP Server help file under Configuration | Project Properties | Project Properties - OPC UA.

For configuration of UA server endpoints, security, certificate management and more low-level details, click here to learn more about how to configure the TOP Server’s UA Server interface using the OPC UA Configuration Manager.

TOP Server DDE Project Properties

While TOP Server is first and foremost an OPC server, there are still a number of client applications that require Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) to share data. The DDE section allows users to determine how the server provides DDE data to DDE client applications.

Options available include:

Enabling/Disabling supported DDE Formats
Enabling/Disabling NetDDE
Configuring the DDE Service Name
Configuring update rate (for batch DDE responses)

NOTE: You must select the “Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)” option during TOP Server installation from the Native Client Interfaces section for this option to be available.

TOP Server FastDDE / SuiteLink Project Properties (for AVEVA, formerly Wonderware)

TOP Server's support of Wonderware's FastDDE and SuiteLink client interfaces simplifies the task of connecting the server with AVEVA, formerly Wonderware software.

The native SuiteLink interface allows quick access to device data without the use of intermediary bridging software (such as OI Gateway or FSGateway), allowing the fastest, most reliable connection.

These settings allows you to enable the SuiteLink interface (disabled by default) and modify the SuiteLink application name (server_runtime by default) if desired or necessary.

NOTE: In order for both proper FastDDE/SuiteLink operation and for the FastDDE/Suitelink section to be displayed, the SuiteLink common components must be installed on the TOP Server PC. It is also required that the “Wonderware SuiteLink and FastDDE” option be selected during TOP Server installation from the Native Client Interfaces section.

TOP Server iFIX PDB Project Properties

TOP Server’s support of native iFIX connections shows up in the FIX SCU as the “IDS Industrial Data Server”. The iFIX PDB Settings section contains parameters that allow users to adjust the behavior between the processing of the iFIX process database (PDB) tags and the TOP Server tags.

It is recommended to keep all settings at the defaults for the best performance unless specifically recommended by technical support.

NOTE: The GE iFIX PDB Settings section will only be displayed in Project Properties if Proficy iFIX is installed on the computer and the “GE iFIX Native Interface” must be selected during TOP Server installation from the Native Client Interfaces section.

TOP Server OPC .NET Project Properties

TOP Server supports the OPC .NET interface. This interface is enabled under the OPC .NET selection in the Project Properties.

OPC .NET is a family of APIs provided by the OPC Foundation that leverage Microsoft's .NET technology and allow .NET clients to connect to the server. This server supports OPC .NET 3.0 WCF, formally known as OPC Xi. Unlike other OPC .NET APIs, OPC .NET 3.0 uses Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) for connectivity, avoiding DCOM issues

The operational settings for OPC .NET such as security, encryption and authentication are configured in the OPC .NET Configuration Manager - click here to learn more.

TOP Server OPC AE Project Properties

TOP Server offers OPC AE (Alarms & Events) connectivity as well. The settings in the OPC AE section of the Project Properties affect both the standard Event Log AE events and the OPC AE plug-in.

Enable Simple Events to share TOP Server events displayed in the Event Log (such as information, warning, error, and security events) with your OPC AE client.

Alarms and Events based on data from device drivers being used in TOP Server require the use of the OPC AE plug-in.

TOP Server OPC HDA Project Properties

TOP Server supports the OPC HDA (Historical Data Access) interface for access to data historized using the Local Historian plug-in. The interface is enabled under the OPC HDA section in the Project Properties.

Additionally, if you need to troubleshooting OPC HDA client connections to TOP Server using the OPC diagnostics, OPC HDA diagnostics support needs to be enabled here.

Important Notes:

Note on FastDDE / SuiteLink Settings:
- If you open the Project Properties and do NOT see the FastDDE / SuiteLink section, this is for one or both of the following two reasons:
  - The SuiteLink common components are NOT installed on the TOP Server machine first - these components are installed with AVEVA / Wonderware software packages including but not limited to InTouch, System Platform, Historian and OI Gateway (formerly FSGateway).
  - FastDDE/SuiteLink was not selected during TOP Server installation - you will need to run the TOP Server install again and select this option.
- The FastDDE / SuiteLink interface is disabled by default - to use this interface it must be enabled in the Project Properties.
Note on iFIX PDB Settings:
- If you open the Project Properties and do NOT see the iFIX PDB Settings section, this is for one or both of the following two reasons:
  - GE iFIX NOT installed on the TOP Server machine first - this is necessary as TOP Server relies on iFIX components for the PDB interface.
  - iFIX PDB was not selected during TOP Server installation - you will need to run the TOP Server install again and select this option.
Note on DDE Settings:
- If you open the Project Properties and do NOT see the DDE section, that means the Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) option was NOT selected during TOP Server installation - you will need to run the TOP Server install again and select this option.
Additional OPC UA settings, including UA server endpoints, security settings, certificate management and other settings are configured using the OPC UA Configuration Manager available by right-clicking on the TOP Server Administration icon in the Windows system tray.