DAtoXi ExpressInterface (OPC Xi) Converter

The DAtoXi Converter is an OPC DA server that makes one ExpressInterface (OPC Xi) server accessible from OPC DA client applications. The DAtoXi Converter has a simple configuration and makes all DA objects of the Xi server accessible. The DAtoXi configuration can restrict the Xi server access to read-only. If more detailed access restrictions are required then the OXS Exchange Server should be used instead. This converter server has a configuration on item level. To minimize DCOM issues the DAtoXi server should be installed on the same as the OPC DA client application. The remote communication then is through WCF and can be configured for the needed security level.

OPC Xi Communication Security
The OPC Xi specification was designed with communication security as a main consideration. Management and data read/write operations are handled through different endpoints, which can be separately configured with appropriate communication settings. Xi management methods associate handles with object identifiers and the read/write data methods only communicate handles with the data. This makes data hard to interpret by an eavesdropper even if it's communicated without encryption.

The Xi communication options are defined in the Xi server configuration.
The Xi client (DAtoXi) can only choose among the options defined in the server configuration. The DAtoXi configuration can define communication preferences as:
- Endpoint names
- Binding schemes (http, https, tcp)
- Secure yes/no
and the DAtoXi server at run-time selects the available endpoint that best matches the preference configuration.

DAtoXi as a Tunneler Solution
DAtoXi used in combination with the XiTOCO Converter wraps OPC DA to OPC Xi and back to OPC DA. Remote OPC DA servers can be accessed through an OPC Xi connection.

The OPC Xi communication has significant advantages over Tunneler products: The communication can be configured to a security level appropriate for the application TCP or HTTP communication can be chosen. TCP communication offers high performance but requires firewall configuration. HTTP communication on standard ports works without configuration efforts. The standardized OPC Xi communication interface is used instead of a proprietary Tunneler interface. Either side converter can easily be replaced with any OPC Xi client respectively server.

Test the DAtoXi converter with Internet accessible Xi servers.

Xi Converter Products Comparison
Advosol offers four different products with data aggregating and/or Xi converter features. The capabilities differ, allowing you to select the product best suited for you application needs.

XMLDA.NET is a .NET XML DA client component that supports access to OPC DA and XML DA servers. The OPC client application can be designed as an XML DA web service client and ican be built as a Windows Forms orASP.NET application. All DCOM handling is XMLDA.NET internally.