Communication tab

Use the Communication tab of the Project Settings dialog box to configure the communication settings for your project.

Data Server

Configure the communication settings for your project's data server (that is, the TCP/IP Server Runtime task), which exchanges data with thin clients and other projects during run time.

Encrypted Port

The port number for encrypted communication. (Communication is encrypted via TLS/SSL.) This port is enabled by default in order to make your project more secure. The default port number is 51234, but you can change it as long as you remember to update the corresponding settings in your thin clients and network firewalls.

Port

The port number for standard, unencrypted communication. This port is disabled by default in order to encourage you to use encrypted communication (see Encrypted Port above). You can enable both Encrypted Port and Port and then configure each client station to connect to either one or the other, depending on its particular needs. The default port number is 1234, but you can change it as long as you remember to update the corresponding settings in your thin clients and network firewalls.

Send Period (ms)

The period (in milliseconds) between two consecutive messages sent from the data server to client stations. The default period is 100 ms. A shorter period (that is, a lower number) will increase runtime performance but also increase network traffic. Conversely, a longer period (that is, a higher number) will decrease runtime performance but also decrease network traffic.

Enable binary control

Binary control encrypts communication between the data server and client stations by converting messages to binary data using a proprietary method, before the messages are sent to client stations. Enabling binary control can significantly decrease runtime performance.

Note: Binary control is a legacy feature. It has been deprecated in favor of TLS/SSL (see Encrypted Port above), and it remains in the software only to support existing projects.

Self-Signed Certificate Information

Opens the Self-Signed Certificate Information tool, which you can use to edit the certificate your project presents to other clients and servers that are using the Encrypted Channel feature to communicate. For more information, see Edit your project's self-signed certificate.

Remote Servers Certificates

Opens the Certificate Store Management tool, which you can use to manage your project's certificate store. For more information, see Managing your project's certificate store.

Preloading tags from server

To improve performance, the viewer preloads all of the Server tags (that is, tags with Server scope) that are used in a project screen before it displays that screen. Configure the timeout settings for both remote and local viewers.

Timeout when executing on remote

Specifies the time (in milliseconds) that a Thin Client running on a remote station will wait to load the tags. If the timeout expires before the tags are loaded, the viewer will display the project screen even though it is not yet synchronized.

Timeout when executing on local

Specifies the time (in milliseconds) that the Viewer program running on the local station (that is, on the computer that hosts the project runtime) will wait to load the tags. If the timeout expires before the tags are loaded, the viewer will display the project screen even though it is not yet synchronized.

Preload all tags

When this option is selected, the viewer will subscribe to and preload all of the Server tags that are defined for the entire project, not just the tags that are used in the project screen to be displayed. The same timeouts apply, so they might need to be adjusted to allow for the increased load.

Driver and OPC

Select the method used by all communication drivers and OPC Client worksheets configured in the current project when writing values to the remote PLC/device.

Send every state

When the communication task is configured to write values upon a change of tag value, all changes in the tag value are buffered in a queue and sent to the device when the communication task (Driver or OPC) is executed.

Note:

There is a limit on the size of the buffer for tag value changes, to prevent accumulated changes from decreasing runtime performance. If the buffer size is exceeded, then only the most recent changes are kept until the next time the task is executed and the changes are sent. Also, a warning message is logged in the dump file.

To adjust the buffer size, manually edit the following setting in your project file (<project name>.APP):

[Options]

DriverAndOpcBufferSize=5

Send last state

When the communication task is configured to write values upon a change of tag value, only the current (last) value of the tag is sent to the device when the communication task (Driver or OPC) is executed. When this method is selected, if the tag changed value more than once while the communication task was not being executed, the transient values of the tag are not sent to the device. This is the desired behavior for most projects.

Tag Integration

Use these settings to integrate tags from remote devices into your project's tags database. For more information, see Tag Integration.

Execution Environment

Configure the communication settings for the Remote Management tool, which sends your project files to a target system.

Timeout (ms)

Specifies the time (in milliseconds) that the project will wait to communicate with the target system.

Enable File Compression

Select this option to compress the system and project files before sending them to the target system. This may reduce the download time if you have a slow connection between your server and the target system. (If you have a fast connection, however, then selecting this option may actually decrease performance because each compressed file must be decompressed on the target system before the next file is sent. Select this option only if you have an extremely slow connection, such as dial-up.) File compression is disabled by default.

OPC UA Server

Configure the communication settings for the OPC UA Server module, which can make your project tags database available to OPC UA clients on your network. For more information, see Configure the communication settings for OPC UA Server.