Stuck tag values in PCo

[Former Member]

We have had sporadic problems where PCo seems to be "stuck" for certain tag values.

In these instances, the tag values are changing; our OPC server accurately reflects this; but in PCo the values are not changing. Again, this is only for a few tags. When this happens, we have been able to resolve this only by restarting the service for the PCO agent instance, or restarting the PCo server. This has happened four times in the last week. It is causing us major headaches, and we need to prevent this.

Has anyone had issues like this before, and how have they overcome the issue?

We have:
MII 12.2.4 Build(92) on a Linux server
which connects to
PCo 2.2 (2.203.1195.1058 Patch level 32808) on a Windows 2008 server
which connects to
FactoryTalk Gateway, an OPC DA server (OPC-DA 2.05a) running on the same Windows 2008 server

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

If anyone else has this issue, check to see which OPC client and which OPC specification you are using.

For our OPC connections, we *were* using FactoryTalk Gateway, which uses the OPC-DA 2.05A specification. This gave us repeated intermittent "stuck tag" problems of the sort described above. Upgrading PCo did not help (contrary to what I erroneously said above), nor did anything else.

That is, nothing helped until we switched over to KepServer EX 5, which uses the OPC-DA 3.00 specification. Since then, we have not had any problems.

Therefore, if my experience is any indication, if you plan to use PCo, I would strongly advise against using any OPC-DA 2.05A client, especially FactoryTalk Gateway.

I want to sincerely thank Steve Stubbs for recommending KepServer EX and for all the rest of his help over the course of many months. My company's whole manufacturing department is very grateful.

Greg

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

If money is not an issue, install Kepware. With its OPC DA/HDA 3.0 protocol, works flawlessly.

[Former Member]

It has come to my attention that I should have posted the log files. I have indeed found errors in the log files but not ones that mean anything to me.

I will attach the the logs in case anyone has the opportunity to look and comment (.csv file attached as .txt).

FTGatewayAgent_2013.04.17_13.48.19.txt.zip

[Former Member]

Greg,

This is definitely a threading issue that I believe has been fixed the latest available version of PCo on Service Marketplace.

Regards, Steve

[Former Member]

Thanks for the very helpful comment. I didn't suspect I needed to be looking for new releases of PCo so soon after installing it in the first place.

I will try upgrading to PCo 2.3. If it solves the issue, I'll mark your reply as a correct answer.

Greg

[Former Member]

Greg,

PCo 2.3 will not be available for General Release until Mid May of this year.  Go ahead and download the most recent Upgrade for PCo 2.2, should be SP3 Patch 5.

Regards, Steve

[Former Member]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I had the following errors when installing SP3 Patch 6 for PCo 2.2:

Could not copy OPC file: Opc.Ua.Client.dll

Could not copy OPC file: Opc.Ua.Core.dll

Please check the log for details.

Not sure which log file it is referring to. Within C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP\Plant Connectivity\Logs, the only recent logs are as follows, and none of them include any instances of "opc." or anything I was able to identify as being related to those errors.

C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP\Plant Connectivity\Logs\ManagementHost_2013_Apr_18.csv

C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP\Plant Connectivity\Logs\PCoMigrationUtility_2013.04.18_10.16.14.csv

C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP\SapSetup\LOGs\NwSapSetup.log

C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP\SapSetup\LOGs\PCo22SP03P_6-10008692.log

C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP\SapSetup\LOGs\NwSapSetup1.log

C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP\SapSetup\LOGs\PCo22SP03P_6-1.log

I tried rebooting the server and re-running the patch, but it wouldn't run again - said it was already installed.

Any advice? I am concerned about the failure to copy OPC-related .dll's because the OPC client logic is exactly what I was hoping to upgrade.

Greg

Edit: it is referring to this log file, which I am attaching:

C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP\Plant Connectivity\PCoInstallUtility_2013.04.18_10.15.04.csv

PCoInstallUtility_2013.04.18_10.15.04.txt.zip

[Former Member]

In case anyone has similar "could not copy OPC file" errors when installing a patch, check the most recent log file in "C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP\Plant Connectivity" or similar (not the Logs subdirectory thereof) for the log file it is referring to.

In my case, the file copy errors had to do with OPC UA, and since we're not using OPC UA, I'm happy -- patch successful.