Using the TOP Server DNP Driver Presenter: Boyce Baine, Sr. Applications Engineer

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HMI/SCADA to RTU Connectivity for Water
Utilities via DNP 3.0

• Using the TOP Server DNP DriverPresenter Boyce
  Baine, Sr. Applications Engineer

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Agenda

• Introduction
• DNP Overview
• TOP Server DNP Drivers Overview
• What is TOP Server
• Overview of DNP and how it differs from normal
  polling PLC drivers protocols
• Overview of Driver settings configuration
• Testing your configuration
• Live Demo
• Q A other Resources

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What is DNP and Who Uses It?

• DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol) is a set of
  communications protocols used between components
  in process automation systems
• It is primarily used for communications between a
  master station and RTUs or IEDs.
• Originally designed for power distribution and
  transmission, DNP has found a home in
  water/wastewater, oil/gas and transportation.

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What is TOP Server?
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TOP Server Gets You Connected!

• http//www.toolboxopc.com/html/drivers_list.asp

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TOP Server DNP Master Driver Suite Overview

• Plugs in like any other TOP Server Driver
• Licensed as an individual suite based on number
  of RTUs (10, 50, unlimited)
• Will be included in the Power Distribution Suite
  (Coming in 2010)
• Serial RS-232/422/485 or Ethernet connections
• Supports DNP 3.0 Level 3 compliant slave devices
• Ethernet Encapsulation supported which allows use
  of Cellular Radios other encapsulation devices
• Supports standard TOP Server protocol diagnostics
• Serial driver supports Dial-Up Modems

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Key Differences from other TOP Server Drivers

• Key differences
• DNP is a Synchronous Protocol
• Unsolicited Messages report by exception really
  helps efficiency with remote devices.
• In proper DNP3 usage
• Decoupled scan rates separate scan loops for
  client/server and DNP master/slave
• No relation between client items configured and
  what gets scanned by the driver layer
• Demand Polling option
• Allows for operation like a regular polling
  driver however, you give up the benefits of the
  DNP protocol in terms of bandwidth utilization
  and report by exception.
• Ethernet Encapsulation done at Channel level, not
  device level
• Restart requirements
• Dependency on proper slave device configuration
  is greater
• Important to Understand
• Timeout Settings
• DNP Polling Settings
• Your slave device configuration
• Naming syntax of items and correlation with DNP
  slave documentation

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DifferencesDNP is a Synchronous Protocol

• Only one thing at a time can happen
• Each command requires an acknowledgement,
  confirmed failure, or timeout before the master
  can move on to the next command
• So things may never be as fast as other
  protocols!
• Most serial protocols are this way- but DNP more
  so
• The DNP stack queues up messages to be sent, so a
  command can spend time waiting in a queue inside
  the DNP stack- this is in addition to any
  internal TOP Server queues
• Asking for too much too fast can be painful
• However, due to the report by exception nature of
  DNP when properly used, it is very efficient for
  bandwidth utilization only changes are sent
• Proper use is
• Avoiding demand polling
• Reasonable Integrity and Event Poll intervals for
  the amount of data your device sends and your
  connection speed

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Important Learning Topic Decoupling of Scan
Rates How Normal PLC drivers work

• How things work with most drivers
• Topic/Group scan rate drives the device polling
  rate

Topic or Group Update Rate 100 ms
Driver to PLC Scan Rate 100 ms
Tag PLCAddr
Tag1 40001
Tag2 40002
Tag3 40003
Tag4 40004
Tag5 40005
Tag6 40006
Tag7 40007
Tag8 40008
Tag9 40009
HMI or Client App.
DriverScan of PLC
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Important Learning Topic Decoupling of Scan
Rates How it works in DNP if used properly

• Scan Rates are Independent Completely!
• If you use Demand Polling in DNP, then you end up
  making it work like a regular driver (see prior
  slide) and give up the report by exception
  efficiency of DNP!

No linkage!
Topic or Group Update Rate 100 ms
Driver to DNP Slave Scan Rates determined by
Driver configuration
Driver LayerData Buffer
Client Interface Layer
Tag PLCAddr
Tag1 40001
Tag2 40002
Tag3 40003
Tag4 40004
Tag5 40005
Tag6 40006
Tag7 40007
Tag8 40008
Tag9 40009
PLCAddr
40001
40002
40003
40004
40005
40006
40007
40008
40009
Driver does integrity and event polls of the DNP
Slave or receives unsolicited messages and
updates data buffer
Topic Group Update rate determines how fast data
buffer is checked for changes
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Differences To insure full restart of driver
stack, restart the server

• Title says it all
• Nature of the beast with the separate polling
  cycles between driver and OPC side which is very
  different from the closer coupling that exists
  with other drivers
• There can be outgoing messages queued that have
  not been sent, which means if you only
  reinitialize the client, the DNP stack will not
  be reinitialized.
• A MUST to keep in mind item if you are
  troubleshooting an issue!

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TOP Server User Interface Review, Configuring
the DNP Driver

• So lets see how to configure the driver well
  highlight other key differences as we get to them
  in configuration

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Configuration Add a Channel
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Configuration Channel SetupEthernet Driver
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Configuration Channel SetupEthernet Example
Master Node Address must be configured at the
slave as well and these must match. Must be
unique for each channel.
IP Address, Slave Port and Connection type are
also configurable at the slave and must match
these settings.
If DNP Connection is set to UDP, you also must
configure the UDP Listener port at the slave and
master.
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Configuration Channel SetupSerial Example
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Configuration Channel SetupSerial Example
w/Modems
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Configuration Channel SetupSerial Ethernet
Encapsulated Example
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Configuration - ChannelImportant Considerations

• DNP Master ID is at the channel level and must be
  unique for each Channel
• If you want unsolicited messaging to work, you
  have to get this right so the Slaves know where
  the master is!
• Encapsulation or Ethernet parameters are set at
  the channel level
• If you have gt 1 serial slave device but are using
  Ethernet/Serial convertors, each with its own
  Encapsulation device or if the slave is Ethernet
  capable, each device will be under its OWN
  channel
• Probably a good thing for performance since each
  channel is a unique thread

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Configuration Channel Setup
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Understanding Timeout Settings

• DNP Channel Timeout (Channel Properties)
• Channel Level
• Controls timeout for the time on the wire between
  Master Slave only no queue time
• DNP Connection Timeout used with TCP only
  non-relevant with UDP
• Time to get the TCP connection up and going
• DNP Command Timeout (Device Properties)
• Device Level
• Time On Wire Time In Queue
• Should generally be gt DNP Channel Timeout!

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Understanding Timeout Settings

• Talking to multiple devices will take time if you
  have multiple slaves off of one channel
• In Ethernet or Encapsulated Cellular radio
  scenarios, a non-issue since its 1 device per
  channel
• Rule for timeouts if multiple devices under one
  channel
• DNP Command Timeout ( Devices under Channel
  1 ) DNP Channel Timeout
• Example
• DNP Channel timeout 10 seconds ( default )
• 1 Device, 1 Channel
• DNP Command timeout (11) 10 20 seconds

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Configuration Channel Summary
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Configuration Device Settings
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DNP Polling Types

• Integrity
• Gets All the data from the device usually done
  at startup and infrequently
• Event
• Supplies changes since last Event or Integrity
  Poll, including buffered events if configured on
  slave
• Make sure your slave is configured to send
  timestamps! Many are by default, but if you
  arent getting the timestamps you expect.check
  the slave device settings
• Unsolicited
• Slave sends changes to Master based on policy
  configured in slave
• What is sent and when, plus retry policy timing
  is set on the slave
• If you depend on unsolicited messages, beware of
  your firewall! Unsolicited TCP/IP and UDP
  packets will be rejected unless youve planned
  for them
• Demand (configured at the tag/item level)
• Traditional master polling of slave gets data
  whether changed or not.
• Bypasses DNP efficiencies.
• Not recommended unless you have to!
• Polling rate driven by Topic or Group Update Rate

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DNP Polling Typical Use Cases

• With DNP you can connect and initialize the
  session and
• Do an Integrity Poll,
• Then sit and listen for unsolicited messages
• and never do an Event Poll
• OrMost Commonly. after the initial Integrity
  Poll
• You can do an Event Poll at some interval to get
  just items changed since last report from the
  slave change history if enabled at slave and
  master
• You can do an Integrity Poll at a regular
  interval to ask for an update of ALL items
• And receive unsolicited messages, if configured
  in slave
• Sometimes devices have data that can only be read
  by doing explicit reads (Demand Polling)

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Configuration Device SettingsPolling Settings
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Configuration Device SettingsAdvanced Settings
Two Options LAN Serial
Two Options Direct Operate Select then Operate
Two Options UTC Local Time
Determines action after write from Master to Slave
If the slave can report an I/O point as offline,
this allows the server to set the quality to bad
for the .Value and .Explicit subtypes
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Configuration Device SettingsUnsolicited
Messaging Setup and Considerations

• Unsolicited messages update master with changes
  in the device
• Slave device controls settings on item deadbands
  and Unsolicited messages (number and frequency),
  NOT THE MASTER!
• Deadband settings in a slave can prevent you from
  receiving EVERY change a good or bad thing
  based on your needs
• Our Master CAN control which classes of
  Unsolicited Messages get sent, IF the SLAVE will
  accept our command messages they arent required
  to!
• But the Master cant control unsolicited message
  settings at the slave any more granurally than
  this

If the slave accepts unsolicited setting commands
from the master, this tells the slave to disable
unsolicited messaging.
If the slave accepts unsolicited setting commands
from the master, this tells the slave to enable
unsolicited messaging.
No Action accepts the settings from the slave.
If the slave does not accept unsolicited
messaging commands from the master, the other two
settings are irrelevant.
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Configuration Device SettingsDNP Event
Buffering Overview

• What happens when communications are lost?
• Most non DNP devices/protocols miss out on that
  data.
• DNP slaves can buffer data and then send the
  events when communications are established.
• Whether or not your slave buffers, how much it
  buffers, how it handles a buffer overrun, are all
  your slave hardwares settings outside the scope
  of the TOP Server and its support.
• When communications comes back
• A properly configured DNP system will have the
  slave replay the old events with the timestamps
  of when the event happened!
• TOP Server can
• Buffer up to a specified of events
• Play them back at a user configurable rate that
  your client/Historian can handle for logging
• The events play back in the same order we receive
  them from the slave provided the slave delivers
  them in FIFO timestamp order, then our delivery
  to HMI/SCADA will be the same.

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Configuration Device SettingsDNP Event
Buffering Supported Objects

• Event Buffering applies to DNP objects
• 1 Binary Input
• 3 Double Bit Input
• 10 Binary Output
• 20 Binary Counter
• 21 Frozen Counter
• 30 Analog Input
• See driver help file for more details

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Configuration Device SettingsDNP Event
Buffering Important Considerations

• Event Buffering introduces latency into the tags
  for those affected objects.
• Even after the initial burst of events is played
  out of the buffer, newly incoming updates will
  only be reported at the Playback Rate.
• Buffering should only be used when preservation
  of the event stream is more important than timely
  delivery of point updates.
• Event Buffering is enabled at the device level
• If a tag's event buffer should fill up, new
  reports will displace the oldest reports in the
  queue.

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Configuration Device SettingsDNP Event
Buffering Configuration

• There are three settings to configure when you
  use event buffering.

First, we must enable event buffering.
To insure retrieval of all the buffered events,
the client must have an update rate at least
twice as fast as the Playback Rate (less than
1000 milliseconds in this example).
In this example the buffer will retain 100
updates per tag and make the next update
available to the client once every 2000
milliseconds.
Configure the max events per tag, 1-1000.
Configure the playback rate.
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Configuration Device Settings
Click Finish and youre Done!
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ConfigurationSetting up DNP Tags/Items

• Must have DNP slave profile document
• Slave profile is not some file you load into the
  driver!
• But it is a key document that a DNP3 compliant
  slave device must provide!
• User must read over it and be responsible for
  interfacing with their h/w vendor on questions
  about their document
• Understand the basics of the DNP standard item
  naming syntax

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ConfigurationAddressing DNP Items

• Address follows OBJ.VAR.IDX.SUB syntax
• OBJData object group (i.e. analog inputs, analog
  outputs, etc)
• VARVariation (equates to data type)
• IDXData object within a group (OBJ) i.e. IDX 4
  would be the 5th point in a group
• SUBSpecific attribute of a point
• Most commonly used is Value
• Use Explicit to cause the tag to be Demand
  Polled makes that tag work just like
  traditional polling PLC driver use with care!

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ConfigurationSetting up DNP Tags/Items Example

• Example Multitrode Multismart
• Chapter 3 gives you list of Object s (OBJ)
• Chapter 4 gives you the IDX but they call it
  Default DNP ID
• Depending on the quality of your DNP slave
  documentation, this might take some trial error
  or you may have to ask the hardware supplier for
  clarification

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ConfigurationDNP Addressing Examples

• Analog Input
• 30.0.51.Value
• 30 Analog inputs object
• 0 Variation default data type
• 3 index, sometimes called Default DNP ID
• Value report the value of the input
• Binary Input
• 1.0.2.Timestamp
• 1 Binary inputs object
• 0 Variation default data type
• 42 index, sometimes called Default DNP ID
• Timestamp report the time of the event
  currently reported by the .Value sub-attribute

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Configuration DNP AddressingImportant
Subtleties to Know

• In proper DNP implementation, the of tags or
  OPC items you configure in the OPC server has no
  effect on what gets scanned or updated from the
  DNP slave thats how DNP works!
• The driver abstracts a lot of DNP Slave profile
  details for you so try not to get bogged down
  in the details.
• Focus on finding the OBJ.VAR.IDX.SUB lists for
  the tags you want in the DNP Slave profile
• If you dont see an object from your slave
  profile listed in the driver help file, does not
  mean its not supported some object s are
  implied when you use the base object.
• Change Event objects are used under the hood
  automatically
• Same with writing objects
• See Address Descriptions-gtObject Definitions in
  help file a list of objects whose data is
  reflected in other objects is provided there!
• Example
• Object 30 Analog Inputs using object 30 will
  also cause object 32 to be used under the hood
  for analog input change events.
• When in doubt, try the base object for the
  Object Group (i.e analog ins, analog outs, etc)
  for the OBJ part of the address and try the
  things you want to do

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Testing CommunicationsOPC Quick Client

• If launched from the Server, it will
  auto-populate all tags configured in the Server

Tag detail view
Server connection and OPC Group tree
OPC Quick Client Event Log
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Live Demonstration
Ethernet
MultitrodeMultiSmart RTU
TOP Server DNP Suite OPC Server
HMI/SCADA/DCS Systems RSView Wonderware Intellutio
n iFix Citect Indusoft ClearSCADA
Any OPC Client ABB DCS Honeywell DCS Foxboro
DCS DeltaV DCS Visual Studio.NET (custom apps)
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Integration OptionsRedundancy
HMI, SCADA, or DCS System

• Redundancy Master sits at the HMI Client system
• Switches primary to backup and back on loss of
  comms
• User configurable timing on what constitutes
  down
• Tags exposed to HMI let the HMI know system status

OPC Redundancy Master Software 1295
TOP Server Multitrode DNP Suite
TOP Server Multitrode DNP Suite
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Integration Options OPC Data Hub
http//www.softwaretoolbox.com/opcdatahub
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Integration Options OPC Data Logger

• Cost-effective yet powerful solution for
  collecting process data and logging
• Easy-to-setup
• Works with local or remote OPC Servers
• OPC Interoperability tested
• Connect to 1 to N OPC servers
• No tag count limits
• Licensed per computer based on type of target
  logging
• Licenses from 495-995

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Integration Options OPC Client Development Tools

• Rapid, reliable connections from Visual Basic and
  .NET to OPC

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Integration Options Graphics and HMI Development

• Development Products for smaller systems

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Tips Tricks

• Loads of free help at http//www.toolboxopc.com/h
  tml/support.asp
• Quick Start Guide
• Training Videos
• Papers and Utilities Trouble Shooting Guide
• More information on the Product Details tab
• http//www.toolboxopc.com/html/product_details.htm
  l
• Contact Software Toolbox support_at_softwaretoolbox.c
  om while you are in the planning stage, so we can
  help

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Contact Information Other Learning Opportunities

• Questions later?
• Boyce Baine
• bbaine_at_softwaretoolbox.com
• 888-665-3678 or 704-849-2773
• support_at_softwaretoolbox.com
• www.toolboxopc.com
• www.softwaretoolbox.com
• Other learning opportunities
• Visit www.softwaretoolbox.com/webinars