Channel Properties — General
Channel Properties — General
This server supports the use of multiple simultaneous communications drivers. Each protocol or driver used in a server project is called a channel. A server project may consist of many channels with the same communications driver or with unique communications drivers. A channel acts as the basic building block of an OPC link. This group is used to specify general channel properties, such as the identification attributes and operating mode.
Identification
Name: Specify the user-defined identity of this channel. In each server project, each channel name must be unique. Although names can be up to 256 characters, some client applications have a limited display window when browsing the OPC server's tag space. The channel name is part of the OPC browser information. The property is required for creating a channel.
For information on reserved characters, refer to "How To... Properly Name a Channel, Device, Tag, and Tag Group" in the server help.Description: Specify user-defined information about this channel.
Many of these properties, including Description, have an associated system tag.
Many of these properties, including Description, have an associated system tag.Driver: Specify the protocol / driver for this channel. Specify the device driver that was selected during channel creation. It is a disabled setting in the channel properties. The property is required for creating a channel.
Note: With the server's online full-time operation, these properties can be changed at any time. This includes changing the channel name to prevent clients from registering data with the server. If a client has already acquired an item from the server before the channel name is changed, the items are unaffected. If, after the channel name has been changed, the client application releases the item and attempts to re-acquire using the old channel name, the item is not accepted. Changes to the properties should not be made once a large client application has been developed. Utilize proper user role and privilege management to prevent operators from changing properties or accessing server features.Diagnostics
Diagnostics Capture: When enabled, this option makes the channel's diagnostic information available to OPC applications. Because the server's diagnostic features require a minimal amount of overhead processing, it is recommended that they be utilized when needed and disabled when not. The default is disabled.
Note: This property is not available if the driver or operating system does not support diagnostics. For more information, refer to Communication Diagnostics and Statistics Tags in server help.Tag Counts
Static Tags: Provides the total number of defined static tags at this level (device or channel). This information can be helpful in troubleshooting and load balancing.