Cyberlogic Knowledge Base

KB2010-04: OPTIMIZING THE MBX OPC DRIVER AGENT

Cyberlogic’s OPC Server Suites include several unique features that you can adjust to
achieve superior communication performance. This article covers the features and
techniques that apply to the MBX OPC server. The MBX product line communicates with
Schneider Electric’s Modicon controllers and networks, as well as Modbus-compliant
products from other vendors.

Applies To:
MBX OPC Server Suite and MBX OPC Premier Suite.

Issues:
Several sets of parameters and configuration techniques affect communication
performance:
 Device Type: Modicon controllers limit the number of registers of each type
that the OPC server can include in a single message. Improper settings in
the server may cause errors or excessive communication overhead.
 Maximum Concurrent Requests: These settings, at the network and node
levels, control how network resources are allocated among competing
devices.
 Message Blocking: This setting lets you control the tradeoff between
unneeded message content and excessive message overhead.
 Span Messages: You can permit the server to break large arrays into multiple
messages, which may allow it to transfer their data more efficiently.
 Unsolicited Communication: The normal polled mode can be inefficient for
data that changes infrequently. To improve on this, you can eliminate the
polling, and instead configure the controllers to send their data whenever it
changes.

Procedure:
You may adjust the settings in each of the five areas listed above. However, some of
them may not apply to your system. For example, Span Messages applies only if you use
arrays, and may be insignificant for small arrays.

The following sections will help you decide if you should make any changes to these
settings, and give you an overview of how to make them. You can find detailed
information for all of these procedures in the MBX OPC Driver Agent Help.

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KB2010-04: Optimizing the MBX OPC Driver Agent

Device Type

Each Modicon controller type can handle only a limited number of coils, inputs or
registers in a single transaction. If you request more than the maximum, the
communication will fail. Device Type specifies these limits for your controller.

For more information about device types, refer to the section Editing the MBX Driver
Agent in the Configuration Editor Reference of the MBX OPC Driver Agent Help.

Things to consider
 The default is Auto Detect, which tries to detect the controller type, and then
picks the proper settings. This is usually the best choice.
 If Auto Detect cannot identify the controller, it selects Safe Settings. This will
work for all Modicon controllers and most third-party products, but the
performance may be very poor.
 Some third-party products do not support Auto Detect. In such a case, you
must either select the Modicon controller with the closest settings, or create
a custom device.
 The Message Blocking setting may also limit the message size. The server
will size the messages to fit within both criteria.

Should I modify the Device Type setting?

Auto Detect uses Modbus function code 17 (Report Slave ID) to identify the device type.
All Schneider Electric controllers support this function, so Auto Detect is the preferred
setting for them. For third-party devices, check with the manufacturer to see if it
supports this function. If not, you should create a custom device or choose one of the
existing device selections.

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What to do

Device Type is a network node setting.

To set a device type, select the network node and then go to the Settings tab.

Pick the controller type from the Device Type drop-down.

Auto Detect is usually the preferred selection for Modicon devices and for third-party
devices that support the Report Slave ID function, but you may want to specify a
particular model instead. Do not use Auto Detect for third-party devices that do not
support Report Slave ID; it will not detect them.

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If you want to create a new device type, select the MBX (Modicon) folder under
Network Connections. Now go to the Device Types tab. From here, click the New…
button to begin creating your new device.

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Maximum Concurrent Requests

These settings limit the number of simultaneous transactions that the server will request.
Maximum Network Requests limits the total number of requests from all nodes on a
network, and Maximum Node Requests limits the requests from an individual network
node. Together, they allow you to balance the resource use among the nodes on a
network.

For a complete discussion with detailed examples, refer to Appendix E: Configuring

Maximum Concurrent Requests in the MBX OPC Driver Agent Help.

Things to consider
 You can set the maximum concurrent requests at both the network
connection and network node level.
 Slower networks and slower nodes need lower limits.
 If you set the limit too high, the server may send the node more requests
than it can handle, needlessly tying up resources.
 If you set the limit too low, you may prevent the network from achieving its
best performance, while leaving available resources unused.

Should I modify the maximum concurrent requests settings?

When you create a network connection or network node, the editor selects an
appropriate value that is usually the best choice.

If the messages will pass through a bridge to a slower network, the default value will
probably be too high, and you should select a lower setting. Always use the appropriate
settings for the slowest network in the chain.

If the network is shared with other applications, you may want to lower the setting to
free more resources for the other applications.

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What to do

Maximum Network Requests is a network connection setting.

Maximum Network Requests limits the total number of simultaneous requests that the
server will send to all nodes on the network. To change this value, select a network
connection, and go to its Settings tab. The Maximum Network Requests group
provides a drop-down box, which allows you to select the desired setting.

The chart provides a recommended setting range for each network type.

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Maximum Node Requests is a network node setting.

Maximum Node Requests limits the number of simultaneous requests that the server will
send to an individual node. To change this value, select a network node, and go to its
Optimizations tab. The Maximum Node Requests group provides a drop-down box,
which allows you to select the desired setting.

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Message Blocking

The server transfers data in blocks of contiguous registers, inputs or coils. However, the
data you need may not be contiguous in the controller’s memory. Typically, this means
that the server will request some values that are not needed, because doing so can be
more efficient than if the server requested numerous smaller blocks of data. The
Message Blocking setting lets you limit the amount of unneeded data that may be
included in each block.

For a complete discussion of message blocking, refer to the discussion of the

Optimizations Tab in the Editing Network Nodes section of the MBX OPC Driver Agent
Help.

Things to consider
 The tradeoff is between the extra time required to transmit the unneeded
data, and the extra time required for overhead in multiple messages.
 Fast networks work best with larger block sizes. The transmission time
wasted on the unneeded data is less than the overhead penalty for creating
many small messages.
 Slow networks work best with smaller block sizes. The extra time to slowly
transmit a large quantity of unneeded data quickly grows to be larger than
the overhead for creating a greater number of messages.
 Look at rearranging the memory organization in the controller to minimize
gaps in the data you need.
 The Device Type setting also limits the message size. The server will size the
messages to fit within both criteria.

Should I modify the message blocking setting?

The editor chooses a setting for the node based on the type of network connection it
uses. If the messages must pass through a bridge to a different type of network, the
default setting may not be optimal. Select a message blocking value that is in the range
for the slower network.

You should also look at how the data you need is distributed in the controller’s memory.
That may give you some clues about how to set the blocking. For example, the data you
need may be in more or less compact groups that are widely separated from each other.
In that case, you would set the blocking to be able to pick up these groups without
taking the data in the large gaps between them.

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What to do

Message Blocking is a network node setting.

To set the Message Blocking, select a network node, and go to its Optimizations tab.
A drop-down box allows you to select the setting you want to use. The value you select
is the largest block of unneeded data that will be allowed in a message.

The chart provides a recommended range for each network type.

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Span Messages

An array is a group of inputs, coils or registers that the server treats as a unit. When the
server sets up a message to read or write the values in an array, it may pass the entire
array within a single message, a process known as atomic transfer. Alternatively, it may
split the array elements across two or more messages, which is called spanning the
messages.

The span messages property lets you give the server permission to split the array up, or
force it to use atomic transfers.

Things to consider
 To obtain the best performance, enable spanning whenever possible.
 Disable span messages for an array only if it is critical for all elements in that
array to update at the same time. Generally, this will result in lower
performance.
 If an array is larger than a single message can carry, you must enable span
messages for that array. If you do not, you will get a runtime error.
 Span messages is set individually for each array, so you can allow some to
span messages, and force others to use atomic reads and writes.

Should I modify the span messages setting?

This setting applies only to arrays. If none of your data items are configured as arrays,
then you can ignore it.

The server enables spanning for all arrays by default. If you have never changed these
defaults, then message spanning is already configured to maximize performance.

If some of your arrays have span messages disabled, you should determine if atomic
transfers are really necessary.

You must not disable span messages for arrays that are larger than the maximum size
Caution!
allowed for a single message. Doing so will cause communication errors. Refer to the
Device Type settings for your controller to determine the message size limits for each
array type.
For example, suppose you are using a Micro 84 controller and have an array of fifty
4xxx registers. A Micro 84 can transfer only 32 of these registers in a single message.
Therefore, the array cannot fit into a single message. You must enable span messages
for this array.

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What to do

Span Messages is a data item setting.

To enable message spanning, open an array data item and go to its Data tab. Check
the box for Span Messages.

To disable message spanning and force atomic reads and writes, uncheck the box.

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Unsolicited Communication

OPC servers normally operate in polled mode. This means that the server periodically
requests data from the controllers or other data sources, and they respond to these
requests. If your configuration has a large quantity of data that changes infrequently,
polled mode can be very inefficient, because the server will repeatedly poll for values
that have not changed.

Unsolicited mode, on the other hand, allows the controllers to send their data whenever
it changes. This can dramatically improve efficiency by eliminating unnecessary polling
for unchanged data.

For additional information on unsolicited communication, refer to the discussion of the

Unsolicited Message Filters Tab in the Devices section of the MBX OPC Driver Agent Help.

Things to consider
 If you use solicited mode and have performance problems, check the rate at
which you are polling for new data. Is the polling rate really necessary, or is
it excessively high? Reducing the solicited update rate is frequently the
easiest way to improve performance.
 An MBX OPC server can use both solicited and unsolicited mode at the same
time to communicate with a network node. That means you can poll for data
that changes rapidly, and get the rest in unsolicited updates.

Should I use unsolicited communication?

A configuration with a large quantity of data that changes infrequently will benefit most
from unsolicited communication.

If most of your data changes rapidly, you will see little, if any, benefit from a switch to
unsolicited mode.

What to do

You must configure the OPC server for unsolicited communication, and then you must
edit the ladder logic in the PLC to program the update messages. You can get details on
the types of supported messages in Appendix D: Unsolicited Message Programming in
the MBX OPC Driver Agent Help.

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Unsolicited communication is configured in the MBX Device.

You can filter unsolicited messages to ensure that they come only from trusted sources.
If you do not want to use the filtering feature, you can disable it. To do this, go to the
General tab for the MBX device and check the Accept All Unsolicited box.

When you check Accept All Unsolicited, the server will receive the unsolicited
Note
messages on the slave path(s) specified in the Default DS Paths field on the network
connection’s General tab.

Most users leave this box unchecked and instead go to the Unsolicited Message
Filters tab and configure filters there.

When you configure unsolicited messaging on a device, it is a good idea to check

Note
Accept All Unsolicited during the initial setup, even if you plan to use unsolicited
message filters. This allows you to verify that the PLC programming is correct and that
the data transfers properly, without being concerned about the filter setup. After you
confirm that part of the configuration, you can then clear this box and configure the
unsolicited message filters.

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You will organize the filters in groups. There is no limit to the number of groups, and no
limit to the number of filters within a group. Each group may be prioritized or non-
prioritized.

If a group is non-prioritized, the server will accept messages that pass any filter in the
group.

If a group is prioritized, the server will accept only those messages that pass the filter at
the top of the list. If communication to that network node fails, then the server will
accept only those messages that pass the next filter on the list, and so on.

There is no priority between groups. The server will accept a message that passes the
filter criteria for any group.

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You must now enable unsolicited updates for each of the data items that will use that
communication mode. To do this, simply check the Unsolicited Update box and
uncheck the Solicited Update box on the data item’s General tab.

You may also check the box for Unsolicited Late Interval, and then specify an
interval. If the controller fails to update the data item within this interval, the server will
downgrade the data quality to Uncertain.

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Unsolicited status items are available to OPC client applications.

The OPC server provides status data items for each device you create. Any OPC client
can read these items to provide you information that may help in testing and debugging
your configuration. Five of these status items relate to unsolicited communication:

Unsolicited_AcceptAll

This item reflects the state of the Accept All Unsolicited checkbox.

Unsolicited_DataAcceptedMsgCount

The number of unsolicited messages that delivered data to at least one data item under
this device.

Unsolicited_DataRejectedMsgCount

The number of unsolicited messages that passed through the unsolicited filter, but could
not deliver data to any data items under this device.

Unsolicited_PassedFilterMsgCount

The number of unsolicited messages that passed through the unsolicited filter associated
with this device.

Unsolicited_ReceivedMsgCount

The number of unsolicited messages that this device received.

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Unsolicited status items are created automatically by the OPC server, but only if there
Caution!
is at least one unsolicited filter group configured for the device. If you want to use
these status items but you have not yet configured the unsolicited message filters (or if
you do not plan to use filters), simply create an empty filter group for the device.

Technical Support
If you have any questions or problems with these procedures, please contact Cyberlogic’s
Technical Support group by emailing [email protected], or by calling
248-631-2288.

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