OPC Unified Architecture (UA)
The Probe for OPC Unified Architecture (UA) acquires data from devices and element management systems (EMS) that use the OPC UA messaging architecture.
OPC UA is a server-client architecture. The device or EMS acts as the server and the probe as the client. Communication between them takes place over a SOAP interface.
The OPC UA server has one or more items under its control. For example, the reading on a thermostat, or the operational status of a piece of machinery. You configure the probe to monitor one or more of these items. The probe registers this information with the OPC UA server. At regular intervals, the OPC UA server polls the items to determine if changes have occurred on any of them. The following types of changes can occur, depending on the type of item:
- Data change
- Status change
- Device event
The OPC UA server records each change in a notification.
Also at regular intervals, but not necessarily the same interval, the probe requests the OPC UA server to send the notifications it has gathered since the probe asked for notifications. The probe parses these notifications, converts them into Netcool/OMNIbus events, and sends them to the ObjectServer.
You can run a pair of probes in a failover configuration where one acts as the master probe and the other the slave probe. In normal operation, the master probe receives notifications and passes them on to the ObjectServer. Should the master probe fail, the slave probe takes over until the master probe is available once more.
You can run a number of probes on a single physical server independently of one another. This enables notifications to be processed from a number of sources simultaneously.
For details about how to download the most recent version of the probe, see the following Release Notice on the IBM Software Support website:
https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21687620
This guide contains the following sections: