OPC-UA Connector Configuration

• Section “server”
  • Subsection “identity”
• Section “mapping”
  • Subsection “attributes”
  • Subsection “timeseries”
  • Subsection “rpc_methods”
  • Subsection “attributes_updates”
• Next steps

Starting from Gateway version 3.1, we added a new OPC-UA connector based on the AsyncIO library. Please note that the connector is in the early beta stage and may contain bugs. Also, it is not recommended to use it in production mode for now. To enable it, use the type of connector “opcua_asyncio”.

This guide will help you to get familiar with OPC-UA connector configuration for ThingsBoard IoT Gateway. Use general configuration to enable this extension. The connector configuration file will be described below.

Example of OPC-UA Connector config file.

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{
  "server": {
    "name": "OPC-UA Default Server",
    "url": "localhost:4840/freeopcua/server/",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 5000,
    "disableSubscriptions":false,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",
    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    },
    "mapping": [
      {
        "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.Device1",
        "deviceNamePattern": "Device ${Root\\.Objects\\.Device1\\.serialNumber}",
        "attributes": [
          {
            "key": "CertificateNumber",
            "path": "${ns=2;i=5}"
          }
        ],
        "timeseries": [
          {
            "key": "temperature °C",
            "path": "${Root\\.Objects\\.Device1\\.TemperatureAndHumiditySensor\\.Temperature}"
          },
          {
            "key": "batteryLevel",
            "path": "${Battery\\.batteryLevel}"
          }
        ],
        "rpc_methods": [
          {
            "method": "multiply",
            "arguments": [2, 4]
          }
        ],
        "attributes_updates": [
          {
            "attributeOnThingsBoard": "deviceName",
            "attributeOnDevice": "Root\\.Objects\\.Device1\\.serialNumber"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Section “server”

The configuration in this section is used to connect to the OPC-UA server.

Let’s look at an example.
This example uses the Prosys OPC-UA Simulation Server to demonstrate how to configure the OPC-UA connector.

On the main “Status” tab, copy connection address (UA TCP).

To connect your OPC-UA server to ThingsBoard, open the OPC-UA Connector configuration file (opcua.json) and replace the “url” value with the copied connection address.

Our server section would look like this:

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  "server": {
    "name": "OPC-UA Default Server",
    "url": "localhost:53530/OPCUA/SimulationServer",
    "timeoutInMillis": 5000,
    "scanPeriodInMillis": 5000,
    "disableSubscriptions": false,
    "subCheckPeriodInMillis": 100,
    "showMap": false,
    "security": "Basic128Rsa15",

Subsection “identity”

There are several types available for this subsection:

1. anonymous
2. username
3. cert.PEM

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    "identity": {
      "type": "anonymous"
    },

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    "identity": {
      "username": "user",
      "password": "5Tr0nG?@$sW0rD"
    },

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    "identity": {
      "type": "cert.PEM",
      "caCert": "etc/thingsboard-gateway/ca.pem",
      "privateKey": "etc/thingsboard-gateway/private_key.pem", 
      "cert": "etc/thingsboard-gateway/cert.pem",
      "mode": "SignAndEncrypt",
      "username": "user",
      "password": "5Tr0nG?@$sW0rD"
    },

Section “mapping”

This configuration section contains an array of nodes that the gateway will subscribe to after connecting to the OPC-UA server, along with settings for processing data from these nodes.

This part of configuration will look like:

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        "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.Device1",
        "deviceNamePattern": "Device ${Root\\.Objects\\.Device1\\.serialNumber}",

Optionally, in this section, you can add the “converter” parameter to use a custom converter.


Let’s look an example.

Specify deviceNodePattern as on our test server. In this example it is “Root\.Objects\.Simulation”.

deviceNamePattern should be specified as “Device OPC-UA”.

In this example, the mapping section would look like this:

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        "deviceNodePattern": "Root\\.Objects\\.Simulation",
        "deviceNamePattern": "Device OPC-UA",

After running ThingsBoard IoT gateway, you will see the new Device OPC-UA device in your ThingsBoard instance.

Subsection “attributes”

This subsection contains configurations for variables of the object, that will be interpreted as attributes for the device.

If you don’t specify the “key” parameter, the node name will be used instead

** * ** You can put here some expressions for search here, like:

1. Full path to node - ${Root\.Objects\.Device1\.TemperatureAndHumiditySensor\.CertificateNumber}
2. Relative path from device object - ${TemperatureAndHumiditySensor\.CertificateNumber}
3. Some regular expression to search - ${Root\.Objects\.Device\d*\.TemperatureAndHumiditySensor\.CertificateNumber}
4. Namespace identifier and node identifier - ${ns=2;i=5}

This part of configuration will look like:

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        "attributes": [
          {
            "key": "CertificateNumber",
            "path": "${ns=2;i=5}"
          }
        ],

Let’s look an example.
In the “path” line set the NodeId value taken from our test server.

In this example, the attributes section would look like this:

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        "attributes": [
          {
            "key": "model",
            "path": "${ns=3;i=1008}"
          },
          {
            "key": "CertificateNumber",
            "path": "${ns=3;i=1007}"
          }
        ],

You must see the attributes you sent to ThingsBoard in the Attributes section of your device.:

Subsection “timeseries”

This subsection contains configurations for variables of the object, that will be interpreted as telemetry for the device.

** * ** You can put here some expression for search like:

1. Full path to node - ${Root\.Objects\.Device1\.TemperatureAndHumiditySensor\.Temperature}
2. Relative path from device object - ${TemperatureAndHumiditySensor\.Temperature}
3. Some regular expression to search - ${Root\.Objects\.Device\d*\.TemperatureAndHumiditySensor\.Temperature}
4. Namespace identifier and node identifier - ${ns=2;i=5}

This part of configuration will look like:

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        "timeseries": [
          {
            "key": "temperature °C",
            "path": "${Root\\.Objects\\.Device1\\.TemperatureAndHumiditySensor\\.Temperature}"
          }
        ],

Let’s look an example.

Replace “path” value with the “NodeId” value, relative path from device object or Display Name identifier, taken from our test server.

In this example, the timeseries section would look like this:

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        "timeseries": [
          {
            "key": "humidity",
            "path": "${Counter}"
          },
          {
            "key": "pressure",
            "path": "${Root\\.Objects\\.Simulation\\.Triangle}"
          },
          {
            "key": "temperature °C",
            "path": "${ns=3;i=1002}"
          }
        ],

You should be able to see the telemetry you have sent to ThingsBoard in the Latest telemetry section of your device:

Subsection “rpc_methods”

This subsection contains configuration for RPC request from ThingsBoard platform instance.

This part of configuration will look like:

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        "rpc_methods": [
          {
            "method": "multiply",
            "arguments": [2, 4]
          }
        ]

Also, every telemetry and attribute parameter has built-in GET and SET RPC methods out of the box, so you don’t need to configure it manually. See the guide.

Subsection “attributes_updates”

This subsection contains configuration for attribute updates request from ThingsBoard platform instance.

This part of configuration will look like:

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        "attributes_updates": [
          {
            "attributeOnThingsBoard": "deviceName",
            "attributeOnDevice": "Root\\.Objects\\.Device1\\.serialNumber"
          }
        ]

Let’s look an example.

Suppose you want to set the value of the “deviceName” attribute. Currently, the attribute doesn’t have any value.

In the OPC-UA Connector configuration file (opcua.json) change “attributeOnDevice” value to the full path to the “deviceName” node.

In this example it is “Root\.Objects\.Simulation\.deviceName”.

Our attributes_updates section would look like this:

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  "attributes_updates": [
    {
      "attributeOnThingsBoard": "deviceName",
      "attributeOnDevice": "Root\\.Objects\\.Simulation\\.deviceName"
    }
  ]

Go to “Shared attributes” and create a new one for your device in the ThingsBoard instance.

Specify the key name - deviceName, value type - String, string value - Device OPC-UA.

Now go to OPC UA server and make sure the value of the deviceName node is updated.

Next steps

Explore guides related to main ThingsBoard features:

• How to connect OPC-UA server to the gateway
• ThingsBoard IoT Gateway Features
• Data Visualization - how to visualize collected data.
• Device attributes - how to use device attributes.
• Telemetry data collection - how to collect telemetry data.
• Using RPC capabilities - how to send commands to/from devices.
• Rule Engine - how to use rule engine to analyze data from devices.