Software Toolbox Technical Blog

We all love it when things go according to plan, but realistically that’s not always the case. Inconsistent device documentation and confusing protocol specs can make custom protocol implementation for devices that don't use standard communications protocols daunting, and although OmniServer is significantly easier than custom code solutions, there are still a lot of details to attend to!

So, what happens when things aren’t working as you hoped? With OmniServer, our users rave about its simple but powerful diagnostics tools and how they make troubleshooting communication issues a breeze. In this blog post, we will examine the five diagnostics tools available within OmniServer: the Logger, Item Values, I/O Monitor, Poll Statistics and Offline Devices. Our own technical team uses these same diagnostics when we are helping you during or after implementation.

If you’ve worked with OmniServer before, you’re probably familiar with its pivotal role in extracting data from devices that use a 'non-standard' communication protocol. These devices encompass a range of equipment, such as weight scales, barcode readers, and printers, connected via either serial or Ethernet interfaces. OmniServer helps you bring data that would otherwise be inaccessible into your process and business systems, helping you make more effective decisions. OmniServer does all this at a lower cost and greater reliability than traditional custom solutions.

In this blog, we will be exploring the components that make up the OmniServer Configuration and explain what they do and how each component can be used for successful communication to your device. The main OmniServer Configuration Window is broken up into two sections: Configuration and Diagnostics. Our focus for this post is the Configuration portion and digging into Devices, Protocols, Topics and Clients.

Here at Software Toolbox, we strive to be the “One Responsible Partner” for our clients - a motto we see as soon as we enter the door every morning. That extends beyond just our amazing sales and support teams. It also means being the One Responsible Partner for our Earth.

With Earth Day coming up, our team has decided to take this month to focus on the different ways our products help users achieve their own environmental sustainability goals and the conservation of natural resources in general. In this first blog post, we will take a look at how OmniServer helped a food and beverage user improve efficiency and reduce waste in a “sweet” way.

As someone who has worked with non-standard device connectivity using OmniServer for almost 18 years, I've encounter most of the subtle nuances of certain protocols that a user might need to implement and how to do so in OmniServer. One such nuance (which is true even with "standard" protocols such as Modbus) is that it's not uncommon for device vendors to implement their communication protocols with variable or parameter values that use a unique byte order compared to ordering by the first byte received to the last byte received (also referred to Most Significant Byte to Least Significant Byte, Big Endian or Motorola Byte Order).

You may not be aware that OmniServer has several flexible ways to manipulate the ordering of bytes parsed into Items to be shared with client applications to ensure that the correct and expected value is always displayed in your HMI, SCADA, historian, MES or other client applications.

Returning and expanding our "Did You Know" OmniServer blog post series, I'll cover what byte ordering settings are available in OmniServer, when you might need to use them and how.

Most AVEVA™ users are already familiar with the native connectivity options they have for interfacing with different systems. AVEVA users have turned to OmniServer for many years to integrate non-PLC devices such as barcode scanners, weigh scales, vibration monitors, RFID readers and more, all without custom code.

Those users of AVEVA InTouch have traditionally connected to OmniServer directly via its native SuiteLink interface. AVEVA's OI Gateway provides those users the additional option of connecting to OPC UA data sources, for easier and more secure remote connections to such data sources.

In this video blog post, we will cover the basic steps to connect AVEVA InTouch to OmniServer via OPC UA, expanding non-PLC device connectivity options for AVEVA users.

As someone who has worked with non-standard device connectivity using OmniServer for over 16 years, I consider myself well-versed in some of the more obscure nuances of certain protocols that a user might need to implement and how to do so in OmniServer.  It's very common for non-standard device protocols to simply be some combination of ASCII alpha-numeric characters with some special characters mixed in for starting messages, terminating messages or as delimiters.

Many OmniServer users may not be aware, though, that there are certain ASCII characters that are used in OmniServer protocol messages that have special meaning. So when you come across a device protocol that requires those characters to be sent or receive as-is (namely backslashes, curly braces and square brackets), there is some special handling required when configuring your OmniServer protocol .

Returning and expanding our "Did You Know" OmniServer blog post series, I'll cover the usage of some common special syntax characters for OmniServer protocol messages and how to, when needed, escape their special status in the message so they can be treated as their original ASCII equivalent instead.

AVEVA™ users already have a wide range of connectivity options for interfacing with different systems. For many years, OmniServer has been expanding that connectivity to include non-standard, non-PLC type devices that don't have an existing off-the-shelf communications driver. Users of AVEVA System Platform have traditionally connected to OmniServer via either the native SuiteLink interface or OPC DA Classic. AVEVA's OI Gateway provides those users the additional option of connecting to OPC UA data sources, for easier and more secure remote connections to such data sources.

In this blog post, we will cover the basic steps to connect AVEVA System Platform to OmniServer via OPC UA, expanding non-standard device connectivity options for AVEVA users.

For users that have never worked with OmniServer, it can be intimidating thinking about how to take information out of a device manual or protocol document and convert that into an OmniServer protocol for your device. OmniServer makes this significantly easier, though, than alternatives such as custom code, especially once you're familiar with how OmniServer works and how to get started.

Continuing our Tech Support Corner blog series, this blog post covers six tips I know should help any relatively new users be successful getting OmniServer connected to your non-standard devices as quickly as possible.