Version 5.4.

0
User Manual

Server
Simulation
UA
OPC
Prosys
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1  

Installing the Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1  

Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1  

Linux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 

macOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2  

Uninstalling the Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2  

Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2  

Linux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 

macOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2  

Editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
 

User Interface - Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4  

Expert Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4  

Open Industry 4.0 Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4  

Preferences Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4  

Status View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6  

Simulation Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7  

Objects View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7  

Context Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8  

Configuring a Variable or Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9  

Value Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10  

Defining Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11  

Event Simulation (Professional Edition only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12  

Simulation Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14  

Types View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 

Defining Value Simulation for Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15  

Namespaces View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17  

Exporting a namepace (Professional Edition only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19  

Importing an information model (Professional Edition only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19  

Address Space View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21  

Endpoints View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22  

UA TCP Transport Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22  

UA HTTPS Transport Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23  

Security Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23  

Bind Addresses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23  

Registering to Local Discovery Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24  

Reverse Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24  

Applying Changes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24  

Certificates View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25  

Users View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 

Adding and Removing Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27  

Sessions View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28  

Connection Log View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29  

Req/Res Log View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30  

PubSub View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31  

Publisher Connection View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32  

Adding custom DataSets (Professional Edition only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34  

Variable DataSets View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35  

 Adding and removing Variable DataSets (Professional Edition only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
 

Adding Fields to a Variable DataSet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

 

Event DataSets View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

 

Adding and removing Event DataSets (Professional Edition only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

 

Device View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
 

OI4 View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
 

OPC UA Server Explained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

 

Address Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
 

Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
 

Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
 

Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
 

File Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
 

Previous Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
 

Version 3.x.x and earlier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

 

Version 4.x.x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
 

Application Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
 

Certificate Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
 

Troubleshooting Common Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

 

Common Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
 

My Simulation Server won’t start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

 

Trying to Connect to the Simulation Server with Secure Settings Produces Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
 

Finding the Log File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

 

Contact Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
 

Free License Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

 

Professional License Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

 
Introduction
Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server is an OPC UA server application, which provides simulated data. You
can use it in place of OPC UA servers that provide online production data, for example, to test
connections from different OPC UA client applications or help you with your OPC UA system or
application development. The latest version of Simulation Server can also be used as an OPC UA
Publisher. The Publisher can publish the simulated data to a PubSub Network.

Installing the Application

If upgrading from version 3.x.x or earlier, you should note that the locations for the
installation and the settings have changed. All your previous settings will be lost.
 The older version of Simulation Server is not automatically removed but can be
uninstalled manually.

If upgrading from version 4.x.x, you should note that any Nodes you have created in
 the Simulation View will be lost.

If upgrading from version 5.0.0 or 5.0.2, you should note that any existing settings
 in the Users View and the Bind Addresses section of the Endpoints View will be reset.

The installation includes a complete “embedded” Java Runtime Environment (JRE). This ensures that you
don’t need to install Java on your computer, although the application is running in a Java environment,
and you don’t need to worry about the Java updates. The embedded Java is only used for this
application.

The application install packages are available from http://www.prosysopc.com upon request. You
should get the correct package, depending on your target environment.

Windows
On Windows, run the installer executable and follow the instructions. By default, the application is
installed in the folder Program Files/ProsysOPC/Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server.

Linux
 The application requires a GUI (Linux Desktop Environment) in order to run.

On Linux, first, open the terminal and navigate to the directory of the downloaded .sh file. Then add file
permission to make the installation shell script executable with the command:

sudo chmod u=x prosys-opc-ua-simulation-server-linux-x.x.x-x.sh

Then run the installation shell script with the command:

sudo ./prosys-opc-ua-simulation-server-linux-x.x.x-x.sh

This will open the installer, where you can follow the steps to complete the installation. The application
is installed in the folder opt/prosys-opc-ua-simulation-server by default.

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macOS
On macOS, run the installer application and follow the instructions. The application is installed in the
folder /Applications by default.

Uninstalling the Application

Uninstalling the application does not remove any existing application settings or

 project configuration. They can be manually removed by deleting the folder

described in the chapter File Locations.

Windows
On Windows, the application can be uninstalled through the Control Panel or the Apps & features menu,
or optionally with the uninstaller located in the installation folder.

Linux
On Linux, open the terminal and navigate to the installation folder (default folder is /opt/prosys-opc-ua-
simulation-server) and use the command:

sudo ./uninstall

macOS
On macOS, you can remove the application from the Applications folder.

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Editions
Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server has two editions: Free and Professional. See below, how license terms
relate to editions.

• Free license limits the functionality of the application. Support is limited to forum-based support.
• Evaluation license is time-limited, but otherwise equivalent to the Professional license, including
forum- and email-based support. After the expiration date, the application reverts to the Free
license.
• Professional license is unlimited in functionality and time. Eligible for both forum- and email-based
support.

The Professional Edition currently adds these features to the Simulation Server:

• Adding or using imported information models. In the Free Edition, the Import NodeSet file
functionality in the Namespaces view will be disabled along with any previously imported
information models.
• Allows for adding custom DataSets in the PubSub View. The limit for Fields in a Variable DataSet is
six in the Free Edition whereas Professional Edition has no limit for the amount of Fields.
• Possibility to simulate Events for Objects in Objects View
• Open Industry 4.0 Mode which allows simulation of a Device and Open Industry 4.0 Open Edge
Computation (OEC).

To receive an Evaluation or Professional license, please contact [email protected].

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User Interface - Introduction
The user interface of the Simulation Server consists of several views. By default, the application starts in
the Basic Mode that shows only the essential views used to edit and simulate the server’s address space.

The views available in the Basic Mode are:

• Status
• Objects
• Types
• Namespaces

Expert Mode
You can enable more configuration and monitoring options by switching to the Expert Mode through the
Options menu.

The Expert Mode contains the following additional views:

• Address Space
• Endpoints
• Certificates
• Users
• Sessions
• Connection Log
• Req/Res Log
• PubSub

Open Industry 4.0 Mode

You can enable two additional views by selecting Show Open Industry 4.0 Mode through the Options
menu.

The Open Industry 4.0 Mode contains the following views:

• Device
• OI4

Preferences Window
You can configure the application functionality and the UI in the Preferences window accessible through
the Options menu. The available preference options are briefly described below:

Autosave project backup file

enables or disables the autosaving of the simulation configuration to a separate backup file
(happens every 5 min). This can be manually used to recover the previous simulation configuration.

Link Objects and Types views

links the Types View to automatically select the type Node of the selected instance in the Objects

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 View.

Start simulation with default values

resets the simulation values to their defaults when the application starts.

Show value plot

shows or hides the view that shows the shape and range of the simulated value in a graph with the
current value.

Show type name

enables or disables the type name postfix '::TypeName' for instance Nodes in the Objects view.

Show type name tooltip

enables or disables the hovering type name tooltip, for instance, Nodes in the Objects view.

Simulate methods
allows methods of instances of imported types to return a dummy value (0 or null) when called.

Figure 1. The UI and the application’s functionality can be customized in the Preferences window.

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Status View
The Status View (Figure 1) displays information about the current server status and available connection
addresses. PubSub Status can also be seen in the Status View along with the possible PubSub Connection
Address.

If everything is fine, Server Status displays Running. The status will show a message displaying the
current startup phase during startup. In case of errors, it may turn to Error with additional information
about the exact problem.

You can have only one instance of the Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server running at
 one time.

Figure 2. The Status View displays some basic information about the server and PubSub connection.

The Connection Addresses show the OPC UA addresses, which the OPC UA client applications can use
to connect to the OPC UA Server. Simulation Server supports both UA TCP (opc.tcp) and UA HTTPS
(opc.https) protocols. You can define the available addresses in the Endpoints View. You can easily copy
a connection address to the clipboard by clicking the button next to it. Then, you can paste the address
to the OPC UA client of your choice.

The Status View also displays the Current Server Time and Server Starting Time. If remote connections are
used, you should ensure that the computers run with synchronized clocks. Secure connections,
especially, will not work if the clocks between the client and server are too much out of sync. Server
Status, including CurrentTime and StartTime, are also available for OPC UA Client applications. You will
find it as part of the Server Object (see OPC UA Server Explained).

The bottom of the Status View also displays the current edition. Depending on the license, information
on the licensee and the expiration date might be shown.

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Simulation Views
The application contains three Simulation Views that can be used to create a customized OPC UA Server
Address Space with user-created Nodes with simulated values. These views include the Objects, Types
and Namespaces views.

Objects View
The Objects View enables the creation of custom Objects and Variables with live data. This enables
simulation of different server configurations and testing client applications against a custom address
space and data. The Objects View shows a filtered view of the Objects folder in the server’s address
space. The Server object, sample Nodes provided by Simulation Server and all simulation configuration
information has been filtered out to give you a clean slate to work on.

Figure 3. The Objects View enables the configuration of custom Objects and Variables.

The Objects tab is divided into two parts (see Figure 3). The left-hand side of the view contains a tree
view of the filtered Objects folder. On top of the Node tree, you can find a toolbar of buttons that can be
used to edit the contents of the Objects folder. The right-hand side of the view contains three tabs:
Attributes, References and Value. The first two are for viewing information of a selected Node, and the
last one is for defining value simulations for Variables.

Variables with DataTypes that cannot be simulated are grayed out to signify that
 they cannot have simulated values.

You can search for Nodes with the search box above the Node tree on the left. The input is used to
search for Nodes with matching DisplayNames. You can cycle through multiple Nodes matching the
search term by pressing F3.

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Context Menu
When you right-click a Node in the Node tree, you get a context menu that offers you the same editing
options as the toolbar above the tree. Every action on the menu is context-sensitive, meaning that the
behavior of the action depends on which Node is selected in the tree view.

The following list briefly describes the available actions:

Add Node
contains a list of actions that enable adding new Nodes (Objects or Variables) to the server.

Add Folder
adds a new FolderType Object under the selected Node with an Organizes reference and a user-
selected namespace and name.

Add Variable
adds a new Variable under the selected Node with a user-selected namespace, name,
VariableType, optional members and ReferenceType.

Add Object
adds a new Object under the selected Node with a user-selected namespace, name, ObjectType,
optional members and ReferenceType.

Add Property
adds a new PropertyType Variable under the selected Node with a HasProperty reference and a
user-selected namespace and name.

Remove Node(s)
removes all selected Nodes and their child Nodes. It is the only action that handles selections of
multiple Nodes.

Duplicate Node
adds identical copies of the selected Node. The duplicates have the same TypeDefinition, and they
are placed under the same Node as the selected Node with the same ReferenceType. For Variables,
the value configuration is also copied from the original Variable. The names of the duplicates have
the suffix (X), where X is an incrementing number.

Copy Node
creates a duplicate of the selected Node on the clipboard, similar to the Duplicate Node action.

Cut Node
removes the selected Node and places it on the clipboard.

Paste To Node
adds the Node from the clipboard under the selected Node.

Edit Node
allows for making changes to the Node, such as renaming it or changing the ReferenceType used to
connect the Node to its parent. You can also select which optional members should be added to or
removed from the Node.

In a range of supported cases, if the type of the Node defines any InstanceDeclarations with
ModellingRules Optional, OptionalPlaceholder or MandatoryPlaceholder, then those will also appear in

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the Add Node menu and can be quickly created through the shortcut.

Configuring a Variable or Object

When adding a new Variable or Object or when editing an existing one, you will be prompted to fill all or
some of the following information:

Namespace
defines the namespace that the Node belongs to.

NodeId Type
defines the type of the NodeId. The options are: Numeric, String, Guid and Opaque.

NodeId Value
defines the value of the NodeId.

Name
defines the DisplayName and the BrowseName of the Node.

Type
defines which VariableType or ObjectType the Node will implement. Type defines the structure of
the Node.

Select Optional Members

dialog can be used to include any of the available members with an Optional ModellingRule defined
by the selected type.

ReferenceType
defines the type of the Reference that connects the Node with its parent Node (when adding a new
Node, the selected Node is the parent Node).

Figure 4. You can configure the parameters of new or existing Variables and Objects.

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Value Simulation
The current values of Variables can be simulated with various simulation parameters. The values are
simulated with mathematical functions that dictate how the value of the Variable changes over time
when the simulation is running. The current value properties of a Variable, VariableType or an
InstanceDeclaration Node can be defined with the controls in the Value tab (see Figure 5) on the right-
hand side of Objects View.

A Node can either have an attached value or inherit a value. Variables can inherit a value from
InstanceDeclaration whereas VariableTypes can inherit from their parent types. You can toggle between
an attached value or an inherited value by clicking the switch at the top of the Value tab. Enabling value
inheritance will disable the simulation settings (apart from the data type and array size of the Node)
since the inherited Node defines these settings. You can easily access the inherited Node by clicking its
name at the top of the Value tab. By default, added instances inherit their values from their type
definition or InstanceDeclaration (if the data type is compatible for simulation).

Figure 5. Value tab for defining value simulation in Objects view.

Value Type defines the type of the simulation function. Each alternative has a varying set of additional
parameters that enable the exact configuration of the details. Value Type can be one of the following:

Constant
means that the value will not change but will remain constant. The initial constant value is defined
in the Initial Value field. This determines the initial value for the Variable when the server is started.

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 The value can be changed during runtime by client applications, but when the server is restarted
the value is set according to the initial value. Constant value is the default option for new Variables.

Counter
has parameters Min Value, Max Value, Increment and Direction. The value increases or decreases on
each simulation interval by Increment until it reaches Max Value or Min Value. When Direction is Up,
the value increases until it reaches Max Value and then resets to Min Value. When Direction is Down,
the value decreases until it reaches Min Value and then resets to Max Value. When Direction is Up &
Down, the value increments until it reaches Max Value and then decreases until it reaches Min Value.
If Data Type limits the value more than the limits, it will be clamped at the high or low limit,
respectively.

Random
produces a value that changes randomly between the uniform range defined by its two parameters
Min Value and Max Value.

Waveform functions
are a group of functions that share a common set of parameters: Min Value, Max Value, Period and
Time Offset. Min Value and Max Value define the high and low values of the waveform function.
Period defines the time to complete one complete wave. Time Offset can be used to move the phase
of the wave in relation to the current time. The following waveforms are available:

• Sawtooth
• Sinusoid
• Square
• Triangle

Data Type defines the OPC UA DataType used for the Variable. The simulated value is mapped to the
variable’s value. Therefore, in practice, the data type may limit the value assigned to the Variable more
than the Parameters because the value is truncated to match the variable’s data type.

Array Size defines the size of the one-dimensional array of values that will be created by duplicating this
value. If you do not want an array but a scalar value, you can leave the Array Size as 0.

Value Plot section displays the range and shape of the value simulation with the selected parameters
visualized in a graph. The graph shows one entire cycle for the function with each data point marked.
The section also contains a field showing the current simulated value.

Defining Values
When you have selected a Variable, follow these steps to define the new value simulation:

1. Disable value inheritance at the top of Value tab.

2. Select Value Type (see Value Simulation for explanations).
3. Select Data Type and Array Size (see Value Simulation for explanations).
4. Fill in required parameters. The Value Plot at the bottom of the tab shows how the value will change
with the given parameters.

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Event Simulation (Professional Edition only)
Similarly to simulating Values for Variables, the Events tab allows you to simulate Events for Objects. In
Figure 6, you can see that Objects have the Events tab where Variables have the Value tab.

Figure 6. Events tab for simulating events for Objects in Objects view.

To simulate Events for a selected Object, you must first enable an Event Notifier for it (Figure 6, 1.).
Next, you can click the '+' button (Figure 6, 2.) to add a new Event for the Object. The dialog shown in
Figure 7 will let you select the type of Event you want to add.

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Figure 7. You can select the Event Type for your new Event.

When you want the server to send an Event Notification for one of the simulated Events, you can select
the Event and click 'Send'. This will open a new dialog (see Figure 8), where you can define the details of
that Event. After filling the necessary information, you can click 'OK', and the server will send the Event
Notification similarly to "real" Event Notifications.

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Figure 8. Define the details for your simulated Event.

Simulation Control
The top bar of the Objects View contains simulation controls. You can start or stop the simulation with
the associated switch. When the simulation is stopped, none of the values is updated.

Figure 9. Toolbar for simulation control.

The Interval, displayed in milliseconds, defines how often the values are updated. The allowed range is
between 100 and 60000 milliseconds. Simulation Time shows the timestamp corresponding to the latest
value calculation. Simulation can be run in the current time only. The SourceTimestamp of the values is
locked to the interval increments, which means that even if scheduling for the simulation would be off
by a few milliseconds, the SourceTimestamps are exactly one interval away from the previous
simulation time. If simulation calculation takes more than one simulation interval, intervals are skipped
as necessary to keep up with current time.

You can also reset the simulation using the 'Reset' button. Reseting the simulation means that all the
Variable values are set to their default values starting from the next simulated value. The default value
of a Variable depends on the parameters set for the simulation and the value type.

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Types View
In the Types view, you can define simulated values to different VariableTypes and InstanceDeclarations
of both ObjectTypes and VariableTypes. These values are inherited by all instances created from the
specific types in the Objects View. Types can also inherit their values from parent types.

From Figure 10 we can see that the view is divided into two parts. The left-hand side contains two tabs:
ObjectTypes and VariableTypes, for going through all types contained by the server. This includes all
types from imported namespaces as well. The types are represented in a tree view. On the right-hand
side you can find three tabs: Attributes, References and Value. The first two tabs can be used to view
attributes and references of a selected Node. The last tab is for defining value simulation.

Abstract types in the Types View are greyed out to signify that they cannot be

 instantiated. All InstanceDeclarations that have incompatible data types for

simulation are also greyed out.

Figure 10. Types view with added AutoID ObjectTypes highlighted.

Defining Value Simulation for Types

First, you need to select a tab: ObjectTypes or VariableTypes. Next, go through the list of types and select
the VariableType or InstanceDeclaration to which you want to define a simulated value. When the Value
tab is enabled, you know the type can have a simulated value.

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Figure 11. To define a value simulation, select Value tab (1) and disable inheritance of values (2).

Defining the value simulation works the same way as in Objects View. To define a value yourself, you
need to disable inheritance from the parent type of the current type. Now you can define your value
simulation. See Value Simulation and Defining Values for further information about the options in the
Value tab.

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Namespaces View
The Namespaces View is used to display information about and edit the namespaces on the server.
Namespaces can be edited by clicking the toolbar buttons above, through the right-click menu that
appears when clicking a namespace or keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+E). Quick access to namespace editing
is also achieved by double-clicking a namespace.

Figure 12. Dialog for editing a namespace. Editable details are enabled.

The information and options available for each namespace are listed below. Some of the details are
editable (see Figure 12) and rest are purely informational and can be seen in the table shown in Figure
13.

Include in address space

the checkbox can be used to enable or disable the namespace. Disabling a namespace means that
the entire namespace and all its Nodes are removed completely from the server, but the
namespace is still visible (but greyed out) in the Namespaces View so it can be enabled again later.

Lock icon
If the namespace is marked with a lock icon, its contents cannot be modified or exported.

Index
refers to the position of the namespace in the NamespaceArray of the OPC UA server.

URI
a unique identifier for the namespace.

Version
for imported companion specifications that provide the information, displays the version number
and date.

Types
displays the number of types provided by the namespace.

Instances
displays the number of instances provided by the namespace (note that this doesn’t include
absolutely all instances but only those under the Objects folder and outside the Server object).

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Color
can be applied to a namespace, and it will change the background color of all Nodes belonging to
the namespace in the Objects and Types views.

Figure 13. Namespaces View shows the information on the namespaces present in the server.

Enabling/disabling a namespace or changing the index or URI of a namespace all

 require the application to be restarted for the changes to take effect.

You can use the + and - buttons at the top of the view to add or remove namespaces. Adding a new
namespace has two options: you can either add a new empty namespace by clicking Add Namespace or
import an information model in the NodeSet format by clicking Import NodeSet (see section Importing
an information model (Professional Edition only)). Removal of a namespace is an action that
immediately and permanently removes the namespace and all its Nodes (versus disabling a
namespace, which allows for enabling the namespace again later).

A new empty namespace does not add anything to the server, but you can add new
 objects and variables to it in the Objects view.

Namespaces can have dependencies to each other. For example, Variables and Objects in one
namespace can use types from another namespace, or a type in one namespace can be a subtype of a
type in another namespace. These dependencies are displayed in the Namespaces View visually when
you select a namespace:

• Blue color highlights any present namespaces that the selected namespace depends on.
• Yellow color highlights any present namespaces that depend on the selected namespace.

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 You cannot remove a NodeSet that is a dependency for another NodeSet present
 on the server.

Namespaces can have dependencies to certain versions of other namespaces. So

 make sure that all version numbers are correct.

Exporting a namepace (Professional Edition only)

The server allows you to export any available imported or created instance namespaces (namespaces
that do not contain any types) as a NodeSet file. If you have an instance namespace, you can export it
by right-clicking it and selecting Export Namespace. You can then choose where the NodeSet file will be
saved.

See OPC UA specification, Part 6, Annex B for more information on the NodeSet file
 format for exchanging information models.

Importing an information model (Professional Edition only)

You can import any OPC UA information model to Simulation Server by importing a file in the NodeSet
format. First, start by clicking + (circled with red in Figure 13) and selecting the option to Import NodeSet
(see Figure 14). Next, you will need to find the NodeSet file from your computer.

Figure 14. Click on the + and then select Import NodeSet.

NodeSets for all of the OPC UA companion specifications are available to download at OPC Foundation’s
GitHub page. You can easily download a .zip file containing all of the models. It is a good idea to
download all models because some models require other models to already exist in the list of
namespaces before they can be imported.

When importing a NodeSet, it first goes through rigorous validation to ensure that it matches the OPC
UA Specification and forms a correct and coherent model with the other namespaces on the server. All
invalid models are rejected, and an error dialog is shown.

For a continually updated status on the compatibility of companion specification

 models, see our blog post.

When importing a NodeSet, you do not need to know all prerequisite models to import beforehand. If
you try to import a model that requires other models, an error message will pop up to let you know
which models you need to import first. Import those models and then try again with the model you
want to import.

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Figure 15. An error message listing all required NodeSets.

Figure 15 represents an example of an importing attempt that ended with an error. The model in
question is OPC Foundation’s AutoID model. After importing the required DI model, the AutoID model
can be imported successfully. If you are unsure of what the imported NodeSet adds to the server, you
can change the color of that namespace. This way every node added by the namespace is highlighted
with the selected color, as can be seen in Figure 10. Now you can move to Types View to define value
simulations with the newly added VariableTypes and ObjectTypes.

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Address Space View
The Address Space View is accessible in the Expert Mode.

The Address Space View (Figure 16) shows the OPC UA Server Address Space as it will be available for
client applications. The view is also similar to the one used by Prosys OPC UA Client. The Nodes are
shown in the tree view on the left, and the Attributes and References of the currently selected Node are
shown on the right.

Figure 16. Address Space of the server. The Attributes and References of the selected Node are displayed on the
right.

Read more about the contents of the Address Space at OPC UA Server Address Space.

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Endpoints View
The Endpoints View is accessible in the Expert Mode.

Endpoints define the OPC UA connection addresses and security modes that the OPC UA clients may
use to connect to the OPC UA server. If you don’t need to limit the security options, you can usually
leave the Endpoints to the default settings.

Should you consider opening communication to any publicly available network, you may need to
harden the server configuration via the security settings. As a minimum, disable None from the Security
Modes.

The Endpoints View (Figure 17) allows you to configure these settings and verify which endpoints the
server is exposing.

Figure 17. The Endpoints View allows you to configure the connection addresses and security options available for
OPC UA clients to connect to the OPC UA server.

By default, Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server enables two transport protocols:

• UA TCP
• UA HTTPS

UA TCP is the usual transport protocol supported by all client applications. UA HTTPS is an alternative
transport protocol that is not commonly used.

UA TCP Transport Protocol

UA TCP is an OPC UA specific binary communication, including full OPC UA specific security
implementation. The Port and ServerName define the exact connection address, which is displayed at
the top (opc.tcp://<hostname>:53530/SimulationServer).

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In addition to the connection address, you can define the security modes that the server accepts. The
client applications will decide which mode they wish to use, so the server can only configure which
options are available. If you want to disable insecure connections, you can deselect the None option
from Security Modes.

Security Mode Sign will ensure that all traffic can be validated by the client and server application and
may not be modified during the transfer. Security Mode Sign&Encrypt will also make all communication
between the client and server encrypted, which means that it cannot be seen by any third party that
might be monitoring the network traffic.

If the client decides to use one of the secure modes, the client and server application will also use
Application Instance Certificates to define which applications they trust to be allowed to make a
connection. Please refer to the Certificates View for details about creating trust between the
applications.

UA HTTPS Transport Protocol

UA HTTPS is an alternative transport protocol, which is not required by OPC UA, but which can enable
an alternate communication pathway for some installations. It should not be confused with normal
HTTPS, which web servers use. OPC UA servers are not web servers, but they can use HTTPS for the
transport of OPC UA messages.

Security in UA HTTPS is based on TLS. There are different versions of TLS, and the client and server
applications will negotiate the version that they use based on the ones they support. The OPC UA
applications that support UA HTTPS may define different TLS versions, and you will need to make sure
that there is at least one common TLS version that both of them support.

The applications will also need separate HTTPS certificates for TLS authentication to
use UA HTTPS. The HTTPS certificates are usually signed by a CA certificate, and to
trust each other, the applications may need to trust the CA certificates as well. The
 HTTPS certificates of the client applications are not validated at the moment.

The Application Instance Certificates are used to authenticate applications in UA

HTTPS when the clients connect with Sign mode.

Security Policies
Security Policies define alternative algorithms that the client applications may choose from. It is
important to enable algorithms that the client applications support. Some policies (Basic128Rsa15 and
Basic256) are already deprecated in OPC UA version 1.04, but to enable interoperability with all client
applications, it may be necessary to keep them enabled.

Bind Addresses
The server is bound to listen to connections from all network interfaces by default. If necessary, you can
limit the network addresses that it listens to with the Bind Addresses setting. Select Custom and define
the details behind the Configure button.

IPv6 addresses are also enabled by default, but you can choose to disable them as well.

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Registering to Local Discovery Server
The Endpoints View (Figure 17) also has controls for registering the server to a Local Discovery Server.
See the OPC Unified Architecture Specification Part 12 for more information about the Local Discovery
Server. The view allows enabling and disabling the registration and changing the connection address for
the Local Discovery Server. Note that the registration requires a secure connection. Therefore the
discovery server needs to trust the Simulation Server’s certificate.

Reverse Connections
Since OPC UA version 1.04, the connections can also support the so-called Reverse Connection option.
In this case, the server application is responsible for opening the connection to the client, which will
then take over and establish the connection normally.

By configuring the Reverse Connections, you can define the addresses of the client applications listening
to connection attempts from the server. The server will then start actively trying to connect to these
addresses.

Applying Changes
Once you have changed any endpoint settings, you must click Apply to save the settings. You must then
restart the server before they come to effect. If you don’t apply the settings, you can use Revert to
restore the previously stored settings.

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Certificates View
The Certificates View is accessible in the Expert Mode.

The Certificates View (Figure 18) allows you to define which OPC UA Client applications are allowed to
connect to the OPC UA Server. This is the first layer of validation available in OPC UA technology, prior
to user authentication that is managed in the Users View.

Figure 18. The Certificates View allows you to define which certificates you trust.

OPC UA applications use Application Instance Certificates to identify and authenticate other OPC UA
applications that they communicate with.

When a new OPC UA client application connects, its certificate will be added to the Certificate List as
Rejected. A certificate is trusted by right-clicking the Certificate in the list and selecting Trust from the
context menu. Likewise, you can reject a certificate from the same menu.

If your operating system is capable of displaying the contents of certificate files, you can use the Open
Certificates in OS viewer function to launch that for the active certificate. The certificates are stored in a
Certificate Store as described in Certificate Stores.

If you are issuing certificates with a Certificate Authority (CA), you can copy the certificate of the CA to
the Certificate Store as a trusted certificate: this will make Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server trust
automatically all certificates that are signed by the CA.

Application Instance Certificates are only used with secure OPC UA communications
when the client connects with Sign or Sign&Encrypt mode. If you wish to always
 require application authentication, you will need to disable the None level of
security in the Endpoints View.

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Users View
The Users View is accessible in the Expert Mode.

The Users View (Figure 19) lets you configure the User Authentication Methods as well as the user
accounts that can be used to access the OPC UA Server.

Figure 19. You can use the Users View to add or remove users that may access the OPC UA Server.

The alternative User Authentication Methods, which you can define at the top of the view, are:

Anonymous
which enables connection without any specific user account.

Username & Password

enables the traditional username and password combinations to be defined.

Certificate
enables the server to accept users based on X.509 certificates.

If you change the User Authentication Methods, you will have to restart the
 application before they take effect.

Anonymous access is enabled by default, but if you wish to increase access control to your server, you
can deselect Anonymous from the User Authentication Methods.

If you have enabled the Username & Password authentication, you can define the users that may
access the OPC UA Server. The currently defined users are visible on the left in the Users. See Adding
and Removing Users for information on how to define more users.

If you have enabled the Certificate-based authentication, you can define the trusted user certificates by

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adding them to the respective location in the USERS_PKI folder as described in Certificate Stores.

Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server does not provide the means to generate the user
 certificates, so you must create them with some other tool.

Adding and Removing Users

When you see the form on Figure 20 next to the Users list, you can set a name and password for a new
user. If this form is not visible, you can click the + button on the bottom of the Users list. Add the user by
clicking on Add User. When a user has been added on the server, it will appear on the Users list.

Figure 20. Add New User

In some cases, you might need to change a password for an existing user. This can be achieved by
selecting the user from the Users list and filling in the form (see Figure 21) that appears next to the list.
You do not need to know the previous password to set a new one.

Figure 21. Change user’s password

If you wan to remove a user from the server, you can simply click on the user on the Users lists and then
click the - button on the bottom of the list. This will permanently remove the selected user.

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Sessions View
The Sessions View is accessible in the Expert Mode.

The Sessions View (Figure 22) contains information about the currently open OPC UA Client Sessions.

Figure 22. The Sessions View displays all current OPC UA Sessions in the OPC UA Server.

Session Count shows the total number of open sessions at the moment.

The individual sessions are visible on the left, including the session names. When you select a session,
more information will be shown on the right side of the view.

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Connection Log View
The Connection Log View is accessible in the Expert Mode.

The Connection Log View (Figure 23) displays a history of client connections. The log entries have color
codes that group all entries related to the same OPC UA session together. The list is reset when the
server is closed.

Figure 23. Connection Log View shows all established client connections to the server.

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Req/Res Log View
The Req/Res Log View is accessible in the Expert Mode.

The Req/Res Log View can be used to record every request and response transferred to/from the server
over the OPC UA communication protocol (except opening and closing of the secure channel). By
default, this functionality is off; check the Active checkbox to start recording.

The recording is kept in memory until cleared by pressing the Clear button or
 shutting down the application; therefore, it is possible to run out of memory if kept
on for a long time.

Figure 24. Request-Response Log View.

The view is divided into three parts under the tooldbar. The toolbar contains controls for filtering the
recording and exporting them to a file.

The three parts of the view show a log list on the left-hand side, the request details of a selected log
item in the middle, and the response details of the selected log item on the right-hand side. All sessions
are color-coded in the log list to differentiate between separate sessions.

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PubSub View
The PubSub View is accessible in the Expert Mode.

The PubSub View can be used to configure and run multiple OPC UA Publishers. Configuring a Publisher
includes setting the Network type and Connection Address for that Publisher as well as selecting which
DataSets to publish to the PubSub Network. In the case of PubSub, DataSets are containers for the data
that has been selected to be published to the Network. One DataSet can contain many Fields storing
data from different Variables or Events selected from the OPC UA server.

Figure 25. PubSub View on startup.

As can be seen from Figure 25, the PubSub View contains three control buttons and three tabs:

Switch button
Starts or stops publishing.

Apply Changes
Updates all changes to the Publisher so that the published data is up to date.

Revert

Reverts all Publisher settings to the state they were in at the time of the latest Apply Changes.

Publisher Connection View

In this tab you can configure Publishers (connection and DataSetWriters).

Variable DataSets View

In this tab you can add, remove and configure different Variable DataSets.

Event DataSets View

In this tab you can add, remove and configure different Event DataSets.

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Publisher Connection View
The tree view on the left lists all Publisher connections and their WriterGroups. You can add new
Connections by clicking the '+' button and remove them by clicking the '-' button.

To define a Publisher, you first need to configure the Network in the Publisher Connection View. To do
that, you need to define the Connection Address. Click the Configure button to open the Publisher
Connection Settings dialog (see Figure 26). Select the Network type for your Publisher from the drop-
down selector. The Simulation Server currently offers you three options:

mqtt
A Message Queue Broker using MQTT.

mqtts
A secured MQTT network.

opc.udp
A local network using UDP. For this network type, you need to select which network card the data
will be sent to. This is called Network Interface in the dialog.

After selecting the Network type, you can set the rest of the Connection Address. The MQTT Network
Connection Address is in format

mqtt://<hostname>:<port>

or

mqtts://<hostname>:<port>

where the hostname comes from the broker. The default setting "localhost" requires you to have a
broker running on the same machine.

For MQTT connections, you will need a broker in order to configure a working
connection. If you do not have your own broker, you can find broker options from
 http://mosquitto.org/ and https://www.hivemq.com/. You can also test an online
broker at http://test.mosquitto.org/.

UDP Connection Addresses should look like this for multicast or unicast addresses

opc.udp://<address>[:<port>]

Standard multicast addresses can be chosen from the range 224.0.0.0 ~ 239.255.255.255 (224.0.0.0/4)
as defined in RFC 3171.

The OPC UA specification defines a special address, opc.udp://224.0.2.14 for OPC UA discovery purposes,
so avoid that for normal connections.

For unicast the address specifies the target computer and it can be either an IP address or a hostname
that converts to a valid IP address.

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Figure 26. The dialog for configuring the connection settings for the Publisher.

After testing that the connection is working, you can click OK and move on to add and configure
WriterGroups. These WriterGroups are used to define the DataSetWriters that write the
DataSetMessages which will be published. To get you started, the Publisher already contains one
WriterGroup that defines one DataSetWriter for Events and one for Variables. The same + and - buttons
can be used to add and remove WriterGroups as well as DataSetWriters.

Figure 27. You can add, configure and remove WriterGroups that write the DataSetMessages that will be sent to the
PubSub Network.

When you are satisfied with the generic settings of the WriterGroup, you can choose to Add DataSetWriter
by clicking the corresponding button. New DataSetWriters will be automatically added under the
selected WriterGroup and you can configure them by selecting them from the list on the left.

As shown in Figure 28, there is a warning sign indicating that the configuration is not sufficient yet. The
configuration view on the right shows that the DataSet still needs to be selected. Other important things
to configure for a new DataSetWriter are Queue Name and Metadata Queue Name. The Queue
corresponds to the MQTT Topic that you wish to publish the DataSet to. It is not used for UDP
connections. The applications will automatically generate the queues in a way that follows the
guidelines for default values found in the specification. If you wish to write your own queue names
select Custom Names.

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Figure 28. Freshly added DataSetWriter.

You can select the DataSet for your DataSetWriter from the drop-down selector highlighted in Figure 29.
Simulation Server offers you two options by default: SampleEventDataSet and SampleVariableDataSet.

Figure 29. Two DataSet options.

Adding custom DataSets (Professional Edition only)

If you do not find the DataSet you require from the drop-down selector, you can add your own DataSet
by clicking the + button next to the selector and selecting the type of DataSet you want to add. This
action will bring you to either Variable DataSets Tab or Event DataSets Tab, depending on which DataSet
type you selected. See Variable DataSets or Event DataSets for more information on the tabs.

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Figure 30. You can add a custom DataSet by clicking the + button.

Variable DataSets View

In the Variable DataSets View (Figure 31) you can add and remove DataSets as well as configure their
Fields whose values will be written to the DataSetMessages. Those messages are then published to the
PubSub Network. In the Free Edition, you only have the default SampleVariableDataSet that can contain
up to six Fields. The Professional Edition allows adding new Variable DataSets as well as more Fields per
DataSet. To make room for new Fields, you can click the Remove button to remove Fields that you do not
wish to be published.

Figure 31. Variable DataSets View.

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Adding and removing Variable DataSets (Professional Edition only)
You can add and remove Variable DataSets using the + and - buttons. When + is clicked, a new Variable
DataSet is added to the DataSet list on the left. You can change the name of the DataSet as well as
other settings of that DataSet by selecting it in the list. Clicking the - button will remove the selected
DataSet from the list.

Figure 32. Add or remove a Variable DataSet.

Adding Fields to a Variable DataSet

By clicking the Add button, you can open a dialog (see Figure 33) that lets you browse the server and
select the Nodes whose data you want the Publisher to publish. Selecting a Node, you can observe its
attributes in the middle of this dialog. You can add the Node to the DataSet by either dragging it to the
Nodes to be added table on the right or right-clicking the Node and selecting Add. Selections can be
removed from the table by right-clicking and selecting Remove.

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Figure 33. The dialog for selecting Variables to publish.

When you are satisfied with your selections, you can click OK and the selected Nodes will be added to
the DataSet. If you do not want to add the selected Nodes to the DataSet, you can click Cancel and
nothing will be added.

Event DataSets View

In the Event DataSets View shown in Figure 34 you can select which Node will be monitored for
EventNotifications, and which Fields will be included in the DataSetMessage.

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Figure 34. Event DataSets View.

By clicking Select Event Notifier, you can open a dialog that lets you browse the Address Space for Event
Notifiers. By default, the Server Object is selected, which means that every Event triggered inside the
Server will be published. If you wish to get EventNotifications only from a smaller subset of Nodes, you
can select an Event Notifier that is under Server in the Address Space. When you click OK, the selected
Node will be set as the EventDataSet’s Event Notifier.

Figure 35. Event Notifier selection dialog.

After selecting the Event Notifier, you can select which Fields the DataSetMessage should contain. This
can be done by clicking Select Fields and selecting all appropriate Fields in the dialog shown in Figure 36.
The selected Fields will be added to the list of Fields when you click OK. To remove Fields from the list,

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you need to click Select Fields again and un-select the Fields that are to be removed.

Figure 36. Event Fields selection dialog.

Adding and removing Event DataSets (Professional Edition only)

You can add and remove Event DataSets with the buttons highlighted in Figure 37. Adding a new
DataSet automatically adds it to the Event DataSets list, and you can start editing it by selecting it from
the list. Removing a DataSet immediately removes it from the list.

Figure 37. Add and remove Event DataSets.

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Device View
The Device View is accessible in the Open Industry 4.0 Mode, and can only be used in the Professional
Edition.

In this view, you can define and simulate a device that can then be used to simulate Open Industry 4.0
Open Edge Computation (OEC). As you can see in Figure 38, you can define a device that contains
Vendor Nameplate and Device Health information, as defined by the OPC 10000-100 Devices
Specification (https://reference.opcfoundation.org/DI/docs/).

Figure 38. Device View for simulating OEC.

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OI4 View
The OI4 View is accessible in the Open Industry 4.0 Mode, and can only be used in the Professional
Edition.

In this view, you can define the MQTT connection and enable message types for the Open Industry 4.0
Open Edge Computation (OEC) connection.

In order to simulate the OEC, the server must contain the Device Information Model. You can add it
yourself in the Namespaces View by selecting the Add Device Information Model, or by clicking the
'Import' button in the OI4 View.

In Figure 39, we can see that this view contains a toolbar for simulation control and settings for the OEC
connection. You can define the MQTT connection address similarly to how it is done in the PubSub
View. You can also define which Open Industry 4.0 DataSets are published and how often.

Figure 39. Device View for simulating OEC.

To start publishing to the OEC MQTT Broker, click the switch on the toolbar to change the status to
running.

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OPC UA Server Explained
The Simulation Server implements an OPC UA server that contains simulated values for demonstration
and testing purposes. The following chapters explain the key characteristics of the OPC UA server.

Address Space
OPC UA applications provide the data that they have available for OPC UA client applications from the
OPC UA Server Address Space. This helps the client applications locate all relevant data from the server
when they don’t have any prior knowledge about it.

The OPC UA client applications identify data in the OPC UA server using Node Identifiers (NodeIds).
NodeIds are used to uniquely identify all information (Nodes, which can be Objects, Variables or various
Types) in the server. For example, they are used when the client sends read or write requests to the
server. If the client applications don’t have the NodeId of a certain variable available, they can browse
the server address space to find it.

You can use the Prosys OPC UA Client to explore the address space visually and access the information
of the OPC UA Server. You can also use the Address Space View to verify how the address space will
look for the client applications.

Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server follows the standard outline of OPC UA Server Address Space
definition.

The address space contains three main parts, available as OPC UA Folders:

• Objects
• Types
• Views

Objects
The Simulation Server defines the following Objects:

Server
a standard Object that provides the status and capability information about the server.

MyObjects
folder, contains a sample Object, MyDevice that simulates a simple device with five components:

MyEnumObject
a simple variable containing an enumeration value using the custom enumeration data type
named MyEnumType.

MyLevel
a Variable (DataType=Double) for simulated level measurement.

MyLevelAlarm
an alarm Object corresponding to MyLevel. New events are sent from the server when the value
of MyLevel exceeds the alarm limits defined in the alarm Object.

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 MyMethod
a sample method that can be called from the client applications.

MySwitch
a simple switch Variable (DataType=Boolean) that can be turned on and off.

StaticData
folder, includes Variables of various data types that change only when written to.

Simulation
contains default objects and variables.

Types
OPC UA servers provide complete type information for its instances in the address space. These can be
found in the Types folder. The Simulation Server includes the following types:

DataTypes
defines all the DataTypes that are used in the server address space.

EventTypes
define all the Events that appear in server address space.

ObjectTypes
includes type definitions for all the Objects in the server address space.

ReferenceTypes
defines all the Reference types that appear between Nodes.

VariableTypes
includes type definitions for all the Variables in the server address space.

Views
The Simulation Server does not define any Views, as defined in OPC UA specification. Thus you can find
an empty folder there.

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File Locations
The application saves its settings to a folder in path (user.home)/.prosysopc/prosys-opc-ua-simulation-
server. The (user.home) is the location of the current user’s home folder. If you want to reset to default
settings, just delete the settings file in the folder. Settings are saved automatically when the application
is closed. The certificates used in OPC UA communication are saved to the PKI subfolder, and the
certificates used for User Authentication are stored in the USERS_PKI subfolder.

Previous Versions

Version 3.x.x and earlier

The earlier versions of the application (3.x.x and earlier) stored the settings in
(user.home)/.prosys/SimulationServer. This version of the application does not use these settings so they
can be removed from the file system.

Version 4.x.x
The 4.x.x version saved its settings in the same folder as the current version, but the file settings.xml
and the folder SimConfig at the root application settings folder are no longer used and can be removed.

Application Logs
The application logs are placed in the log folder under the main settings folder. Logging is configured
with the log4j2.xml file. See https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/manual/configuration.html for more
information on how to modify the logging configuration.

To limit the disk space required for logging, the log file is rotated:

1. When the log size reaches a configured limit (default maximum size is 50 Mb).
2. When the application is restarted.

 3. When the current date no longer matches the log’s start date.

When the log file is rotated, it is first archived in compressed .gz format and then
reset. The archived log files are organized in folders based on date, and the default
maximum amount for archived log files is 50.

Certificate Stores
The main settings folder also contains the certificate store folders used to keep the certificates known
by the application. The following directories are used:

• PKI for Application Instance Certificates.

• USERS_PKI for User Certificates.

Both certificate stores can also keep Trusted Issuer Certificates that enable the application to
automatically trust certificates signed by the respective Issuers.

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The certificate stores contain a few sub-folders:

• certs for the trusted certificates.

• rejected for the rejected certificates.

Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server will reject all unknown certificates by default, unless they are signed
by a Trusted Issuer Certificate that is placed in the certs folder.

Although you can modify the stores directly on the disk, it is usually better to use the Certificates View
to define the trusted Application Instance Certificates. You cannot yet use the user interface to trust or
reject User Certificates, so the only option is defining the trusted certificates in the folders.

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Troubleshooting Common Problems

Common Problems

My Simulation Server won’t start

You can only run one instance of Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server at once. Sometimes processes might
continue running even after closing the application, which makes it impossible to start the application
since it is already running on the background. In a case like this, open your Task Manager and look for
UaSimulationServer.exe. When you find this task, end the task, and try starting the application again.

Trying to Connect to the Simulation Server with Secure Settings Produces Errors
When trying to establish a secure connection between a client and Prosys OPC UA Simulation Server for
the first time, you will run into this problem. Your connection fails. This happens because the server
does not trust the client by default. To fix the issue, go to the Certificates tab, right-click the certificate of
your client application, and select Trust. Now, try connecting to the server again.

Finding the Log File

In some cases where the error is not obvious, you might benefit from looking at the log files. The log
files contain valuable information of errors and events during runtime of the Simulation Server.

As mentioned in File Locations, you can find the log file from (user.home)/.prosysopc/prosys-opc-ua-
simulation-server/log. The latest file is called simulationserver.log.

Contact Us
When you have tried troubleshooting and fixing the problem yourself, but nothing seems to work, you
can contact our support team to get help.

Free License Users

Forum-based support is available at https://forum.prosysopc.com/forum/opc-ua-simulation-server/.

Professional License Users

In addition to forum-based support, you can also use our email-based support by sending us an email
to: [email protected] with a description of your problem. We recommend that
you attach the log file to the email to make resolving the problem faster.

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