Setup OPC XML-DA on a Windows 7 computer

All necessary files for OPC XML-DA will be automatically installed by the setup routine. This chapter describes the required IIS (Internet Information Services) configuration for OPC XML DA on Windows 7.

Please note: The configuration may be different in other Windows Operating Systems, for example Windows XP.

Step 1: Installing IIS on Windows 7

By default, IIS is not part of the Windows 7 installation. Therefore you need to add this functionality manually. For more information see http://technet.microsoft.com/de-de/library/cc725762%28v=ws.10%29.aspx.

Please note: When installing IIS, the following extensions need to be activated:

ISAPI Extensions
ISAPI Filters

Setup OPC XML-DA on a Windows 7 computer 1:

Step 2: Create "Virtual Directory" in IIS (Internet Information Service)

Usually this step will be performed automatically by the Setup.

Open "Internet Information Service (IIS) Manager" which can be found under "Control Panel\Administrative Tools\"
Right click on "Default Web Site"
Select "Add Virtual Directory..."
Please enter the alias "TcOpcXmlDa" and the physical path to your TwinCAT OPC XML DA Server installation. By default, this folder should be under C:\TwinCAT\OPC\Server4\Server XMLDA. Click on "OK".
Double-click the "Authentication" icon, select "Anonymous Authentication" and click on "Edit". Instead of specifying a user account, select the "Application pool identity" and click on "Ok".

Setup OPC XML-DA on a Windows 7 computer 3:

Next, you need to set execute permissions on that virtual directory. Select the added directory and double-click on "Handler Mappings"

Setup OPC XML-DA on a Windows 7 computer 4:

Click on "Edit Feature Permissions" and select the "Execute" permission. Click on "OK".

Setup OPC XML-DA on a Windows 7 computer 5:

As a next step you need to create an ISAPI allowance. Please select the root node in IIS Manager (named after your computername) and then double-click "ISAPI and CGI Restrictions".
Click on "Add" to create a new enabled extensions. In the "ISAPI or CGI path" textbox, please specify the path to TcOpcXmlDa.dll, which normally is "C:\TwinCAT\OPC'Server4\Server XMLDA\TcOpcXmlDa.dll". Also select the checkbox "Allow extension path to execute".

Setup OPC XML-DA on a Windows 7 computer 6:

Restart your system.

Please note: If you use Windows 7 64-bit, you need to explicitely enable 32-bit ISAPI-DLLs in IIS. In this case, please perform the following steps:

Open "Internet Information Service (IIS) Manager" which can be found under "Control Panel\Administrative Tools\"
Click on "Application Pools"
Select the "DefaultAppPool" and click on "Advanced Settings..." from the Actions panel
Set the entry "Enable 32-bit Applications" to "True", then click on "OK" to commit the changes

Setup OPC XML-DA on a Windows 7 computer 7:

Step 3: Testing OPC-XML DA configuration

The URL of the OPC-XML DA Server on the PC system can be accessed locally or from a remote computer. In both cases, open the web browser (e.g. Internet explorer) and enter the URL of the OPC-XML DA Server, for example:
http://<ip-adress or name of PC device>/tcopcxmlda/tcopcxmlda.dll

Examples:

http://192.16.17.5/tcopcxmlda/tcopcxmlda.dll
http://localhost/tcopcxmlda/tcopcxmlda.dll

The OPC-XML DA Server will reply with a status page containing the product version. If you see this page, the installation and configuration of OPC-XML DA has been successful.

Setup OPC XML-DA on a Windows 7 computer 8:

Please note:
In case of problems (like receiving no HTML status data) please check if your system uses a proxy server. After deactivating the proxy and reloading the URL, the OPC-XML DA Server should reply with the status info above.