Configure the connector for OPC UA

1. Select devices and then Create device:

   

   Tip

   You can use the filter box to search for devices.

2. On the Basics page, enter a device name and select New on the Microsoft.OpcUa tile to add an endpoint for the device:

   

3. Enter your endpoint information. For example, to use the OPC PLC simulator, enter the following values:

   Field	Value
   Name	opc-ua-connector-0
   Connector for OPC UA URL	opc.tcp://opcplc-000000:50000
   User authentication	Anonymous

4. Select Next and on the Additional Info page, enter any custom properties for the device.

5. Select Next to review your device details. Then select Create.

Run the following commands:

az iot ops ns device create -n opc-ua-connector-cli -g {your resource group name} --instance {your instance name} 

az iot ops ns device endpoint inbound add opcua --device opc-ua-connector-cli -g {your resource group name} -i {your instance name} --name opc-ua-connector-0 --endpoint-address "opc.tcp://opcplc-000000:50000"

To learn more, see az iot ops ns device.

1. Follow the steps in Configure OPC UA user authentication with username and password to add secrets for username and password in Azure Key Vault, and project them into Kubernetes cluster.
2. In the operations experience, select Username password for the User authentication field to configure the device endpoint to use these secrets. Then enter the following values for the Username reference and Password reference fields:

1. Follow the steps in Configure OPC UA user authentication with username and password to add secrets for username and password in Azure Key Vault, and project them into Kubernetes cluster.

2. Use a command like the following example to create a device endpoint that uses the username and password authentication mode:

   az iot ops ns device endpoint inbound add opcua --device opc-ua-connector-cli -g {your resource group name} -i {your instance name} --name opc-ua-connector-0 --endpoint-address "opc.tcp://opcplc-000000:50000"  --user-ref "aio-opc-ua-broker-user-authentication/username" --pass-ref "aio-opc-ua-broker-user-authentication/password"
   

To add an asset in the operations experience:

1. Select the Assets tab. Before you create any assets, you see the following screen:

   

   Tip

   You can use the filter box to search for assets.

2. Select Create namespace asset.

3. On the asset details screen, enter the following asset information:

   • Inbound endpoint. Select your device inbound endpoint from the list.
   • Asset name
   • Description

4. Configure the set of custom properties that you want to associate with the asset. You can accept the default list of properties or add your own. The following properties are available by default:

   • Manufacturer
   • Manufacturer URI
   • Model
   • Product code
   • Hardware version
   • Software version
   • Serial number
   • Documentation URI

   

5. Select Next to go to the Tags page.

Add individual tags to an asset

Now you can define the tags associated with the asset. To add OPC UA tags:

1. Select Add tag.

2. Enter your tag details:

   • Data source. This value is the node ID from the OPC UA server.
   • Tag name (Optional). This value is the friendly name that you want to use for the tag. If you don't specify a tag name, the node ID is used as the tag name.
   • Publishing interval (milliseconds). You can override the default value for this tag.
   • Sampling interval (milliseconds). You can override the default value for this tag.
   • Queue size. You can override the default value for this tag.
   • Key frame count. You can override the default value for this tag.

   

   The following table shows some example tag values that you can use with the built-in OPC PLC simulator:

   Data source	Tag name
   ns=3;s=FastUInt10	Temperature
   ns=3;s=FastUInt100	Humidity

3. To configure default settings for messages from the asset, select Manage default settings. These settings apply to all the OPC UA tags that belong to the asset. You can override these settings for each tag that you add. Default settings include:

   • Sampling interval (milliseconds): The sampling interval indicates the fastest rate at which the OPC UA server should sample its underlying source for data changes.
   • Publishing interval (milliseconds): The rate at which OPC UA server should publish data.
   • Queue size: The depth of the queue to hold the sampling data before publishing it.

4. To configure the MQTT topic to publish the tag data to, select Manage default dataset. Enter an MQTT topic name such as azure-iot-operations/data/thermostat, then select Update.

5. On the Tags page, select Next to go to the Add events page.

Use the following commands to add a "thermostat" namespace asset to your device by using the Azure CLI. The commands add a dataset and two tags to the asset by using the point add command:

# Create the asset
az iot ops ns asset opcua create --name thermostat --instance {your instance name} -g  {your resource group name} --device opc-ua-connector --endpoint opc-ua-connector-0  --description 'A simulated thermostat asset'

# Add the dataset
az iot ops ns asset opcua dataset add --asset thermostat --instance {your instance name} -g {your resource group name} --name default --data-source "ns=3;s=FastUInt10" --dest topic="azure-iot-operations/data/thermostat" retain=Keep qos=Qos1 ttl=3600

# Add the datapoints
az iot ops ns asset opcua dataset point add --asset thermostat --instance {your instance name} -g {your resource group name} --dataset default --name temperature --data-source "ns=3;s=FastUInt10"
az iot ops ns asset opcua dataset point add --asset thermostat --instance {your instance name} -g {your resource group name} --dataset default --name humidity --data-source "ns=3;s=FastUInt100"

# Show the dataset and datapoints
az iot ops ns asset opcua dataset show --asset thermostat -n default -g {your resource group name} --instance {your instance name}

When you create an asset by using the Azure CLI, you can define:

• Multiple datapoints/tags by using the point add command multiple times.
• Multiple events by using the --event parameter multiple times.
• Optional information for the asset such as:
  • Manufacturer
  • Manufacturer URI
  • Model
  • Product code
  • Hardware version
  • Software version
  • Serial number
  • Documentation URI
• Default values for sampling interval, publishing interval, and queue size.
• Datapoint specific values for sampling interval, publishing interval, and queue size.
• Event specific values for sampling publishing interval, and queue size.
• The observability mode for each tag and event

Now you can define the events associated with the asset. To add OPC UA events:

1. Select Add event.

2. Enter your event details:

   • Event notifier. This value is the event notifier from the OPC UA server.
   • Event name (Optional). This value is the friendly name that you want to use for the event. If you don't specify an event name, the event notifier is used as the event name.
   • Publishing interval (milliseconds). You can override the default value for this tag.
   • Sampling interval (milliseconds). You can override the default value for this tag.
   • Queue size. You can override the default value for this tag.
   • Key frame count. You can override the default value for this tag.

   

3. Select Manage default settings to configure default event settings for the asset. These settings apply to all the OPC UA events that belong to the asset. You can override these settings for each event that you add. Default event settings include:

   • Publishing interval (milliseconds): The rate at which OPC UA server should publish data.
   • Queue size: The depth of the queue to hold the sampling data before publishing it.

Review your changes

Review your asset and OPC UA tag and event details and make any adjustments you need:

When you create an asset by using the Azure CLI, you can define multiple events by using the --event parameter multiple times:

az iot ops ns asset opcua event add --asset thermostat -g {your resource group name} --instance {your instance name} --event_notifier='ns=3;s=FastUInt12', name=warning

For each event that you define, you can specify the:

• Event notifier. This value is the event notifier from the OPC UA server.
• Event name. This value is the friendly name that you want to use for the event. If you don't specify an event name, the event notifier is used as the event name.
• Observability mode.
• Queue size.

You can also use the az iot ops ns asset opcua event commands to add and remove events from an asset.

Find and select the asset you created previously. Use the Asset details, Tags, and Events tabs to make any changes:

On the Tags tab, you can add tags, update existing tags, or remove tags.

To update a tag, select an existing tag and update the tag information. Then select Update:

To remove tags, select one or more tags and then select Remove tags:

You can also add, update, and delete events and properties in the same way.

When you're finished making changes, select Save to save your changes.

To list your namespace assets associated with a specific endpoint, use the following command:

az iot ops ns asset query --device {your device name} --endpoint-name {your endpoint name}

To view the details of the thermostat asset, use the following command:

az iot ops ns asset show --name thermostat --instance {your instance name} -g {your resource group}

To update an asset, use the az iot ops ns asset opcua update command. For example, to update the asset's description, use a command like the following example:

az iot ops ns asset opcua update --name thermostat --instance {your instance name} -g {your resource group} --description "Updated factory PLC"

To list the thermostat asset's tags in a dataset, use the following command:

az iot ops ns asset opcua dataset show --asset thermostat --name default -g {your resource group} --instance {your instance name}

To list the thermostat asset's events, use the following command:

az iot ops ns asset opcua event list --asset thermostat -g {your resource group} --instance {your instance name}

To add a new tag to the thermostat asset, use a command like the following example:

az iot ops ns asset opcua dataset point add --asset thermostat --instance {your instance name} -g {your resource group name} --dataset default --name humidity --data-source "ns=3;s=FastUInt100"

To delete a tag, use the az iot ops ns asset opcua dataset point remove command.

You can manage an asset's events by using the az iot ops ns asset opcua event commands.

To delete an asset, select the asset you want to delete. On the Asset details page, select Delete. Confirm your changes to delete the asset:

To delete an asset, use a command that looks like the following example:

az iot ops ns asset delete --name thermostat -g {your resource group name} --instance {your instance name}