TOP Server Project Level Settings Move With Your Configuration

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 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 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 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 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.