Configure an OPC UA server

on a CompactLogix 5480
controller using FactoryTalk
Linx Gateway
Table of contents
CompactLogix 5480 Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 03

OPC Unified Architecture (UA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04

FactoryTalk Linx Gateway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04

Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 05

Required hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 05

Required software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 05

Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 06

Configuration summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 06

5480 Controller Windows OS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 07

FactoryTalk application/FactoryTalk Linx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 08

FactoryTalk Linx Gateway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 09

UaExpert (remote OPC UA client) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Design considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Additional resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

About Rockwell Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Rockwell Automation • Configure an OPC UA server on a CompactLogix 5480 controller using FactoryTalk Linx Gateway | 02
CompactLogix 5480 Controller
The Allen-Bradley® CompactLogix™ 5480 Controller offers the benefits of Logix control with Windows®-
based computing. With a commercially available CPU and a Windows 10 IoT Enterprise operating system
running independently of the Logix control engine, it provides a high-performance architecture with the
ability to run 3rd-party applications.

End users and OEMs are inventing ways to collect data from machines and turning it into valuable information
closer to the plant floor. This ability to make decisions at the machine level helps to enable our Connected
Enterprise vision. Key features of the controller include:

• Built upon our high-performance architecture, which was first introduced with the ControlLogix® 5580
and CompactLogix 5380 controllers

• Uses Studio 5000® environment and development tools

• Provides Logix real-time control and an instance of Windows 10 IoT Enterprise operating system on a
single platform

• Increased performance provides faster scan time execution and motion loop updates, therefore, better
machine throughput and increased production

• Embedded Logix security with FactoryTalk® Security user authentication and authorization

This document guides users through the configuration of an OPC UA server using FactoryTalk Linx Gateway
on the Windows core of a 5480 Controller. Using the products in this configuration allows users to connect
their CompactLogix 5480 controllers to third party OPC UA clients without the need for external software or
hardware. This solution utilizes the Windows core of the CompactLogix 5480 controller as an OPC UA server
providing a quick and easy OPC UA solution integrated with a Logix controller architecture.

The objective of this document is to demonstrate secure access to a CompactLogix 5480 controller for a
non-Rockwell OPC UA client. This configuration requires FactoryTalk Linx Gateway to provide access to the
controller via FactoryTalk Linx. The CompactLogix 5480 Controller provides users with a controller platform
that will support OPC UA connectivity natively without the use of external gateways/protocols.

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OPC Unified Architecture (UA)
OPC stands for Open Platform Communication and is the interoperability standard for the secure
and reliable exchange of data in the industrial automation space, as defined by the OPC Foundation.
The OPC Foundation’s mission is to create data transfer standards for multi-vendor, multi-platform,
secure and reliable interoperability in industrial automation.

The OPC standards are a series of specifications which define the interface between clients and servers,
as well as servers and servers, including access to real-time data, monitoring of alarms and events, access
to historical data and other applications.

OPC UA (Unified Architecture) is one of the OPC Standards defined by the OPC Foundation. OPC UA is a
platform independent service-oriented architecture that integrates OPC Classic standards [which include
OPC Data Access (DA), OPC alarm and events (AE), and OPC Historical Data Access (HDA)] and adds security
(encryption, authentication, and auditing) and comprehensive information modeling.

For more information on OPC standards, visit the OPC Foundation website: https://opcfoundation.org/.

FactoryTalk Linx Gateway

OFactoryTalk Linx Gateway is a Classic OPC-DA and OPC UA server interface to deliver information collected
by FactoryTalk Linx from Logix 5000™ and other Allen-Bradley controllers to external OPC clients, permitting
third-party software to coexist with FactoryTalk software.

Starting with FactoryTalk Services Platform version 3.00 and FactoryTalk Linx Gateway version 6.00,
FactoryTalk Applications have been enhanced with OPC UA functionality OPC UA servers can be added
into FactoryTalk Applications and OPC UA clients can obtain information from FactoryTalk Applications via
FactoryTalk Linx Gateway.

The implementation is based on OPC UA specification revision v1.03 FactoryTalk Linx Gateway version
6.10 and later has added the capability to create secure OPC UA Server endpoints. This allows OPC UA
clients to create a secure connection with FactoryTalk Linx Gateway and exchange encrypted data with
FactoryTalk applications.

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Requirements
This section covers the required hardware and software for configuring an OPC UA Server on a CompactLogix
5480 controller.

Required hardware
• CompactLogix 5480 Controller (5069-L4xxxERMW)

Required software
• FactoryTalk Linx v6.11+

• FactoryTalk Linx Gateway v6.11+

• Unified Automation UaExpert v1.5 (or equivalent)

• Studio 5000 Logix Designer v32+

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Configuration
This section covers the basic configuration and also explains the software configuration of FTLinx and
FTLinx Gateway.

Configuration summary
In a FactoryTalk application, an area is created hosting FactoryTalk Linx with a shortcut configured to point
to the controller. FactoryTalk Linx Gateway is configured as an OPC UA Server with secure endpoints.

Both FactoryTalk Linx and FactoryTalk Gateway are hosted in the CompactLogix 5480 OS (Windows 10
IoT Enterprise). FactoryTalk Linx utilizes the built in internal channel to access tag data in the 5480 Logix
controller through a Virtual Backplane Driver. This prevents the need of making an external connection
between the CompactLogix 5480 Windows core and the Logix controller.

A non-Rockwell OPC UA client like the UaExpert client application from Unified Automation can be used to
test the client connection.

FIG 1. OPC UA architecture on CompactLogix 5480

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5480 Controller Windows OS
Use Studio 5000 Logix Designer to download the applicable application to the CompactLogix 5480 controller.
The controller program used in the example is OPCUADemo.acd.

FIG 2. Virtual Backplane Driver (VBD) for CompactLogix 5480 in Studio 5000 Logix Designer

Logix Designer has adopted the option to use FTLinx as Communication Software for the Who Active bowser
window (as opposed to RSLinx Classic).

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FactoryTalk application/FactoryTalk Linx
This example uses a FactoryTalk View SE local station application called OPCUADemo. The application
contains an instance of FactoryTalk Linx with a shortcut OPCUaDemo5480 pointing to the 5069 controller
through the virtual Backplane drive:

FIG 3. Virtual Backplane Driver (VBD) for CompactLogix 5480 in FactoryTalk Administration Console

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FactoryTalk Linx Gateway
Under the Server Configuration tab, select the OPCUADemo application as the FactoryTalk Directory Scope
that was created in the previous step.

FIG 4. FactoryTalk Linx Gateway Server Configuration

The default Service Name FactoryTalkLinxGateway has been changed to FTLGWYOn5480.

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The connection with the OPCUA Server is established by creating one or more server endpoints under the
UA Server Endpoints tab.

The default endpoint, FactoryTalkLinxGateway1, is created automatically when selecting the ‘Add’ button.
The name of this endpoint was changed to FTLGWY5480DefaultEndPt while all the other security settings
were kept at their default values. This means that an Anonymous user will be able to use this endpoint.

FIG 5. FactoryTalk Linx Gateway Endpoints Configuration

If required, additional endpoints can be added with various security policies, encryption and authentication
options. For example, if the FactoryTalk Security User checkbox was selected (instead of Anonymous), user
authentication would be required when establishing the connection through the endpoint.

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The Certificate Management tab lists certificates used in a secure OPC UA communication. FactoryTalk Linx
Gateway installs v1.03 of the UA Local Discovery Server. It comes with the certificate that is automatically
added to the list of Trusted Certificates when the FactoryTalk Linx Gateway service is restarted (upon
creating and accepting the server endpoints).

FIG 6. FactoryTalk Linx Gateway Certificate Management Configuration

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UaExpert (remote OPC UA client)
As mentioned earlier, UaExpert can be used to test a client connection. The section explains how this can be
used to make a connection to the newly created OPC UA server. In this example the object is configured to
connect to the FactoryTalk Linx Gateway secure endpoint FTLGWY5480DefaultEndPt.

FIG 7. UaExpert Client Configuration

Since this endpoint allows Anonymous access, the connection does not require authentication.

Although the authentication is successfully processed, the connection with the FactoryTalk Linx Gateway
OPC UA server cannot be made:

FIG 8. UaExpert Client Authentication

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Prior to establishing a connection, the OPC UA client and the OPC UA server must trust each other. Errors
originate from an untrusted security certificate generated by the OPC UA client. In order to establish the
connection, the certificate must be made trusted in FactoryTalk Linx Gateway Certificate Management.

FIG 9. FactoryTalk Linx Gateway Certificate Management for the UA Client

After repeating the connection process, the UaExpert client on the remote machine will
connect successfully.

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The Address Space pane in the lower left lists all data items available through the FactoryTalk Linx
CookieDemo shortcut. This includes data items from the controller (Online folder) and FactoryTalk Linx
diagnostic data (Diagnostic Items folder). The selection of data items is made by dragging and dropping
the items onto the Data Access View pane.

For the purpose of this example we selected several items associated with the Mixer program that allow
a user to see Mixer component information such as Mixer VFD, Tank Products and selected Tank Storage
alarms and level information.

FIG 10. Accessing tags with UaExpert Client

One of the UaExpert configuration options is a data sampling interval that can be set in accordance
with specific monitoring requirements. Note that the faster sampling intervals may inadvertently affect
performance of both the computer hosting the OPC UA Server (FactoryTalk Linx Gateway) and the
UaExpert client. For our purposes, the sampling interval was set to 1 second:

FIG 11. UaExpert Client Update Rate Configuration

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Design considerations
This section covers basic design considerations.

Performance
The performance results listed below were gathered using the configuration that was highlighted in this
example. All tags were scattered (non-arrayed) and were all DINTs. The collection rate for the OPC UA client
was set to a one second update. This should provide a reasonable expectation of performance. Additionally,
no software was installed and/or running on the Windows core of the 5480 controller. This is an important
thing to remember since the Windows OS of the 5480 controller will likely be the limiting factor when pushing
limits of this use case. This is primarily because the Windows OS is running on a single physical core of the i7
processor. The remaining cores of the i7 are dedicated to real-time Logix control.

The table below shows how resource utilization depends on the number of tags being requested by the OPC
UA client. Key performance parameters are as follows:

• Total CPU utilization of the Windows OS on the 5480 controller.

• CPU utilization and virtual memory of the FactoryTalk Linx gateway OPC UA Server process. This is the
process that moves data between the 5480 Windows OS to the OPC UA Client.

• CPU utilization and virtual memory of the FactoryTalk Linx server process. This is the process that
acquires data from the 5480 controller.

• Network packets per second.

CPU (Avg) [%] Virtual Process Memory [MB]

FactoryTalk Linx FactoryTalk Linx Packets Per

Tag Count Total Gateway FactoryTalk Linx Gateway FactoryTalk Linx Second
0 3.8 0.0 0.0 362.7 421.6 0
1000 6.9 1.5 0.9 454.7 541.4 18
2500 10.7 4.2 1.9 455.5 541.8 42
5000 18.1 8.1 4.4 472.1 542.1 84
7500 25.2 12.5 5.9 472.2 544.2 126
10000 31.9 16.9 8.0 472.2 546.3 162
15000 48.1 26.6 12.0 490.8 563.7 225
20000 61.4 31.9 15.5 509.6 565.0 298
25000 68.5 37.7 19.3 510.0 584.6 370

Based on this data, we can conclude that the main concern is the total CPU utilization that increases almost
linearly with the number of tags. 15,000 tags require ~50% of the total CPU utilization of the 5480 Windows
OS. Increasing the number of tags requested by the OPC UA client above 15,000 tags causes the 5480
Windows OS CPU utilization to exceed 50% utlization, which causes some concern. Remember, the Windows
OS is running on a single physical core of the i7 processor. This will cause the Windows resources to spike
quicker than a standard PC in the event that the Windows OS executes additional applications. In this test,
when above 15,000 tags, a simple remote desktop connection caused a relatively quick spike of the Windows
OS CPU percentage above 90%; therefore, the recommendation is to keep the number of tags below 15,000.

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If a user is planning to run additional software on the Windows OS of the CompactLogix 5480, a tag count
reduction is recommended.

Other observations:
• After an expected initial spike when the first group of tags is put on scan, the virtual process memory for
both FactoryTalk Linx and FactoryTalk Linx Gateway showed a relatively small increase throughout the
test, remaining well below the 2GB limit that exists for 32-bit Windows processes.

• Performance degradation was not observed at the OPC UA client above the recommended 15,000 tags.

Additional resources
Aids, Literature Library Documents, Websites, etc.

CompactLogix 5480 additional resources

• Knowledgebase ID QA57636: FAQ: Book of Knowledge for the ControlLogix Compute Module &
CompactLogix 5480 scalable compute products

• CompactLogix 5480 Controllers User Manual

FactoryTalk Linx Gateway and OPC UA additional resources

• FactoryTalk Linx Getting Results Guide

• FactoryTalk Linx Gateway User Manual

• Rebranding of RSLinx® Enterprise and FactoryTalk® Gateway (CPR9 SR10)

• For more information on OPC and OPC UA, refer to the OPC Foundation website

• Performance information was gathered following the procedure in Monitoring FactoryTalk View SE
memory and CPU usage using Performance Monitor for the process ‘FTLinxOPCUA’

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 About Rockwell Automation
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and information, makes its customers more productive and the world more sustainable. Headquartered
in Milwaukee, Wis., Rockwell Automation employs about 20,000 people serving customers in more than
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Publication FTALK-WP020A-EN-P - October 2020

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