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How to connect a machine with the IXON Connector?

Updated

Connecting a machine to innius using an IXON, consists of 4 parts:

  1. Configure the MQTT for connection to Innius in the IXON Portal.
  2. Configure the IXON connector in the innius Admin app.
  3. Continue the MQTT configuration for connection to Innius in the IXON Portal.
  4. Configure the Data source for connection to PLC or OPC-UA-server.

 

Part 1. Configure the MQTT for connection to Innius in the IXON Portal.

Step 1. Login to the IXON Portal

Go the the IXON portal: https://portal.ixon.cloud/portal/login

IXON_1.png

 

Step 2. Select your device.

Click on the IXON device for which you want to create the MQTT connector, in this case innius R&D.

IXON_2.png

 

Step 3. Make a connection.

Click on the blue connect button to make a connection with the IXON device.

IXON_3.png

 

Step 4. Open the Fleet manager.

Open the fleet manager by clicking on “Open in Fleet Manager”. (see blue arrow)

IXON_4.png

 

Important: Copy from the URL of the Fleet manager the device ID. This will be used later when configuring the innius IXON Connector and the MQTT broker.

IXON_5.png

In this case the device ID is: psXJaGLyflK3

 

Part 2. Configure the IXON connector in the innius Admin app.

Open the innius Admin app, go to the Connectors page and click the 'Add' button (1.).

IXON_6.png

 

Give the connector a name (2.), then click 'next'.

IXON_7.png

 

Choose the connection method; 'Connect using a IXON modem' (3.) Then submit the device ID (4.) which you created in the IXON portal in part 1, step 4. Then click 'next'.

IXON_8.png

 

Select the machines you want to connect to innius via the IXON connector (5.). Then click 'Create Connector'.

IXON_9.png

 

The Connector is now created, and you can download the files (6.).

IXON_10.png

 

Part 3. Continue the MQTT configuration for connection to Innius in the IXON Portal.

Step 1. Return to the IXON portal and open the open the Admin environment.

Open the Admin environment by clicking on “Admin”. (see blue arrow)

IXON_11.png

 

Step 2. Open the Admin environment.

IXON_12.png

First click on MQTT. If you want to add a new MQTT broker, click on “Add custom broker”. If you want to edit an existing MQTT broker, click on pencil icon.

 

Step 3. Configure the MQTT broker.

IXON_13.png

Give the broker a name, in this case 'innius-test'. You can choose your own name here.

 

During the creation of an Innius connector (see Part 2 above), a connector zip file has been created and downloaded. Unzip this file. It contains the following content:

IXON_14.png

Complete the following fields:

  • Host name: Can be found in the “Connection_details” file.
  • Port number: Can be found in the “Connection_details” file.
  • CA-certificate: Upload the root-CA file from unpacked zip.file
  • Message format: Choose JSON

The next step is to configure the client. Click on “Add client”. If you want to edit an existing client, click on pencil icon.

IXON_15.png

 

Complete the following fields:

  • Name: Enter the device ID from the fleet manager URL (see point 5).
  • Username: Can be left empty.
  • Password: Can be left empty.
  • Certificate: Upload the innius.pem file from unpacked zip.file
  • Key file: Upload the innius.cert file from unpacked zip.file

 

Part 4. Configure the Data source for connection to PLC or OPC-UA-server.

In this part of the document, we will describe how to configure a connection with PLC or OPC-UA server.

 

Step 1. Adding a data source.

Open the Fleet Manager, click on the plus sign next to Services, select from the menu Data source, select from the menu OPC-UA or Siemens S7-300/400/1200/1500

IXON_16.png

 

Step 2. OPC-UA data source.

In this example we configure a data source for a connection with OPC-UA.

IXON_17.png

 

Complete the following fields:

  • Name: Give the data source a name.
  • Identifier: The identifier is entered automatically and ensures that every data source remains unique, even if they share the same name.
  • IP address: Enter the IP address of your OPC-server.
  • Port: The port number will be entered automatically (port 4840 for OPC UA).
  • Authentication: Select an authentication method that your OPC UA server supports and enter your credentials if required.
  • Polling sleep time: The polling sleep time is the time that the IXON-router waits before asking data again, after it has received data from the machine.
  • Error grace period: An error grace period of 0 seconds (Off) is recommended. In the rare case that you are experiencing incorrect machine data during startup you can increase this setting to bridge that period.

The MQTT part of this screen needs to configures as follows:

  • Send data to: Select the MQTT broker that has been created. (see chapter one of this quick guide).
  • Topic: Can be found in the “Connection_details” file. (chapter one, paragraph 8).

Now you are ready to configure which data-points will be sent to innius.

 

More details can be found here: https://support.ixon.cloud/hc/en-us/articles/360016773560-Data-source-OPC-UA

 

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