LinkMaster

产品概览

LinkMaster 能够在 OPC 服务器之间链接数据,从而成为 OPC 系统的一个通用桥梁。LinkMaster 既充当 OPC 服务器,又充当 DDE 服务器,因而可以在旧 DDE 系统与 OPC 启用的新应用程序之间建立连接。

不强求编程知识

LinkMaster 是一个快速稳健的 Windows 应用程序,不需要编程知识。只需要通过“拖放”来创建您的链接。内建缩放、用户访问管理器、错误跟踪和写优化功能让您完全控制数据流和应用程序访问。

通过链接组控制数据传输

链接组用于收集按指定速率在 OPC 服务器之间移动的 OPC 项。LinkMaster 让您可以利用多个链接组控制从一个 OPC 服务器向另一个服务器传输数据的速度。通过使用更新速率不同的链接组,您可以定制数据传输,以符合应用程序的需求。某个项可能需要高速发送,而应用程序中的其他项可能需要较慢的更新速率。您可以通过链接组获得这种控制力。由此带来的好处是,网络流量降低并且可靠性提高。

特性

LinkMaster 提供完整的数据桥接、拖放式创建链接、错误记录功能并支持创建自定义远程机器参考等。

内建冗余

此功能支持一对 LinkMaster 计算机以冗余对的形式运行,其中一台 LinkMaster 计算机作为“主要”节点运行,另一台计算机作为“次要”节点。当“主要”节点出故障时,“次要”节点自行升级并接管主要节点的角色。当“主要”节点重新上线时,“次要”节点自行降级,“主要”节点再次执行数据传输。

支持 COM 和 DCOM

OPC 服务器基于 Microsoft 的 COM 技术,可以使用 DCOM(分布式 COM)与远程客户端应用程序共享数据。DCOM 允许您使用一个 OPC 服务器为本地和远程机器上运行的客户端应用程序提供数据。DDE 并非没有自己的远程访问手段。使用所说的 NETDDE 也可以远程访问 LinkMaster 支持的所有 DDE 格式。指定 DDE 链接时,NETDDE 允许远程 DDE 客户端应用程序使用远程 DDE 服务器的计算机名。LinkMaster 旨在支持这两种远程服务器访问方法。就 OPC 连接而言,LinkMaster 将正确配置您的 DCOM 设置,以支持远程 OPC 客户端访问和浏览 LinkMaster。对于 DDE 客户端,LinkMaster 将自动启动 NETDDE 服务并记录需要的所有 DDE 共享,以支持远程 DDE 客户端访问设备数据。对于该应用程序,确立 DDE 共享名称需要很长时间,因此默认情况下,LinkMaster 中不启用 NETDDE 服务。

作为 Windows 服务运行

LinkMaster 支持作为 Windows 服务运行。用户完全可从“工具|选项”菜单中配置服务运行模式,而且可随时更改,因此您可以从正常的独立程序运行切换到 NT 服务模式。在许多应用程序中,LinkMaster 通过 DCOM 向 OPC 客户端提供数据,作为 NT 服务运行对于这些应用程序至关重要。这些应用程序不能容忍 DCOM 连接中断。通常情况下,当主机发生用户登录或注销时,仅支持独立运行程序的 OPC 服务器会被强行关闭。LinkMaster 作为一种服务运行时,可继续在用户登录会话期间提供 OPC 数据,并可配置为与桌面交互,以支持您更改 LinkMaster 项目。它也可以配置为运行期间不显示。

数据缩放

LinkMaster 支持直接缩放链接项数据。通过缩放可将原始数据转换为工程单位,以便在 OPC 客户端应用程序中使用。LinkMaster 提供很多独特的缩放功能,例如线性和平方根公式缩放。您也可以指定原始数据输入的范围和缩放后值的工程范围。在某些情况下,收到的原始数据输入可能超出为原始数据设置的范围。如果发生这种情况,工程值可能势必超出您期望的范围。为防止这种情况,LinkMaster 允许您将缩放后的值固定到工程范围内。大多数情况下,总是假设缩放后的值生成浮点数。LinkMaster 不做这种假设,并允许您为缩放后的工程值选择任何有效的 OPC 数据类型。这意味着您可以将 16 位整数数值放大为 32 位整数数值。

链接项管理

通过 LinkMaster 的链接管理系统,您可以创建一个符合您的应用程序性质的链接数据库结构。您可以添加并定义多个链接组,将链接项分隔为有意义的组。拖放式编辑让您可以轻松添加大量标签。独特的链接管理功能支持使用便捷的“拖放”和“标签浏览”方法即时创建新链接。

用户管理

在某些情况下,必须控制您的用户在 OPC 应用程序中可为和不可为的操作。LinkMaster 包含一个内建的用户管理器,可完全控制各个用户可访问的功能类型。默认管理员帐户支持您添加多个用户,每个都有自己的一组 LinkMaster 访问权限。任何用户登录/注销都记录在 LinkMaster 的事件记录系统 EventViewer 中。默认情况下,在您决定设置权限之前,始终可以执行所有操作。

EventViewer

LinkMaster 包中包含一个名为 EventViewer 的独立事件监控应用程序。EventViewer 是一个 32 位 Windows 应用程序,监控并显示远程或本地运行的任何 LinkMaster 应用程序上发生的事件,支持并发监控多个 LinkMaster 系统。

应用场景

OPC 服务器之间的桥接

LinkMaster 的较常见的情景是在两个(或更多)OPC 服务器之间链接数据。例如,客户可能使用 RSLinx 连接到 Allen-Bradley PLC,使用 Kepware U-CON 驱动连接到检重秤。在此例中,客户需要轻松地将比例数据发送给 PLC。

OPC 服务器收集器或网关

LinkMaster 的另一个有趣应用是,作为单一 OPC 服务器运行,提供来自多个 OPC 服务器的数据。此方法表明 LinkMaster 能够同时充当客户端和服务器。例如,客户可能有一个 OPC 连接来自 OPC 客户端应用程序,但需要从多个 OPC 服务器获取数据。

服务器桥接内的 OPC 服务器

当客户需要在两个连接到同一服务器的 PLC 之间路由数据时,通常会用到此情景。使用 LinkMaster 定义标签数据路由可能比在 PLC 中创建新阶梯逻辑(特别是旧系统中)简单得多。例如,客户可能使用 KEPServerEX 连接到 Allen-Bradley ControlLogix PLC 以及 Yokogawa DX 数据记录器。

资源

  • 可用语言
  • 应用程序支持
  • 文档
  • 发行说明
  • 操作系统
  • 系统要求

可用语言

  • 英语

应用程序支持

  • DDE Format CF_Text and AdvancedDDE
  • OPC Data Access (OPC DA) Versions 1.0a and 2.0

发行说明

3.0.94.0

2017/3/3

Configuration

  • Resolved an issue where the Configuration did not update correctly after enabling the redundancy feature.
  • Corrected an issue where the Link Item Output datatype changed after closing the Link Item properties dialog.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause slow browsing of the LinkMaster project from the Configuration.
  • Updated the Quick Browse window to automatically close after an item is selected (double-clicked).
  • Added an option to allow non-zero dead values to force Booleans to false (choose Tools | Options in the Configuration and select the Links tab).
  • Added a checkbox to the General tab of Link Item properties to allow users to ignore quality and timestamp changes and only write change of value (COV) to output items.
  • Added a deadband feature to reduce the write volume to Link Outputs. Deadband can be accessed from the Input tab of Link Item properties and is most useful for Links using floating point data types.
  • Added a rudimentary OPC diagnostic logging capability to assist with troubleshooting connectivity issues with third-party OPC servers. Diagnostics are disabled by default and should only be enabled if instructed by technical support.

Event Viewer

  • Updated event log messages to use the correct icon for client/server related connection messages instead of a bug icon.

Runtime

  • Fixed a timing issue that could cause the Runtime to hang when loading a project or saving changes.
  • Fixed an issue where connecting or disconnecting a client (including the Configuration) would incorrectly trigger a write to Link Outputs.
  • Resolved a design flaw in the client I/O refresh rate that could cause unwanted delay. This was most noticeable with a rate set to a high interval, such as five minutes or more.
  • Updated OpenSSL components to version 1.0.2j.

Install

  • Updated to the latest third-party license redistributables.

3.0.84.0

2014/9/8

Runtime

  • Resolved an issue where the Runtime was incorrectly shutting down following a File | Exit of the Configuration. This issue only affected the Runtime if the Process Mode was set to Interactive and no other OPC clients were connected to the Runtime's server interface.
  • Resolved an issue where the Runtime could lock up if a project that had redundancy enabled was loaded.
  • Updated the Runtime to respect OPC ProgID Redirect settings from KEPServerEX. Before this update, LinkMaster was unable to connect to Third-Party OPC ProgIDs that had been redirected by KEPServerEX.
  • Fixed an issue where a Link Output that was not accepted by the target OPC server would keep other links from being updated.

Configuration

  • Resolved several issues where Link Items in the Configuration View were not showing the status of the link correctly. When either the input or the output of the link is not functioning, the Link Item should appear gray to indicate a problem with the link.
    • Fixed an issue where Link Items displayed green if LinkMaster timed out while waiting for a Write Complete notification.
    • Fixed an issue where Link Items displayed green if a new value needed to be written and the WriteComplete notification came back with an error.
    • Fixed an issue where the Link Item did not change from green to gray when the remote OPC server was unavailable due to a lost network connection.

3.0.75.0

2013/4/18

Runtime

  • Fixed an issue in LinkMaster that caused some OPC Servers to report "HR=C004000C" when attempting to add groups.
  • Fixed an issue with LinkMaster's Redundancy feature where the Secondary (Hot) and Secondary (Warm) modes would not resume as expected after a broken server connection was re-established.
  • Fixed an issue where configuration changes made to LinkMaster's Redundancy feature could break links.

Configuration

  • Suppressed connection-related error messages from being posted to the Event Viewer during a Save or Save As operation.
  • Fixed an issue where the Configuration became unresponsive during a Save or Save as operation

Event Viewer

  • Fixed an issue with LinkMaster's event icon severity levels, where some events listed as errors should have been listed as warnings.

License Utility

  • Fixed an issue where the License Utility could stop running when launched on certain operating systems. The utility was using an invalid method to de-allocate specific strings.
  • Expanded support for RAID hard drive configurations, virtual environments, and operating systems.

3.0.70.0

2012/2/21

Initial release of version 3 LinkMaster

  • Improved support for Windows 7, Vista, and Server 2008
  • Separate Runtime and Configuration
  • Interactive Update mode for Configuration application
  • Security enhancements for User Manager feature
  • Stand-alone License Management Utility with enhanced Hardware Key support
  • Processor Affinity for Multicore Processors (Restrict process to specific CPUs)
  • Process Priority Management (Run process at a higher priority)
  • Enhanced Project Management (Project specific settings travel with project)
  • OPC Connection Security

2.40.132.0

2010/12/22

Enhancements

  • LinkMaster now allows a connection to an OPC server whose ProgID has been redirected.
  • Extended the Dead Value range from 0 through 65535 to -65535 through 65535.
  • Added support for LinkGroup-level CSV import/export.
  • Input items will no longer be polled when "Enable Link Transfers" is disabled in the Link Group.

Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where if LinkMaster was running in Service Mode and the desktop shortcut (or System Tray icon) was double-clicked, the UI did not come to the foreground.
  • Fixed an issue in which scaling was not being applied to writes in certain situations despite being enabled. This occurred when a link item experienced a write failure: retries would write the raw value instead of the scaled value.
  • Fixed an issue in which a deadlock could occur when attempting to import a project-level .CSV file that contains errors.
  • Fixed an issue in which changes made to the Access Path setting in the Link Item Outputs dialog would not allow users to add or update the modification unless another setting was also modified on that same page.
  • Fixed an issue with the Redundancy functionality in which the Secondary LinkMaster application would not restart the Source or Target OPC server if its secondary redundancy mode (such as Warm, Cold, or Hot) was modified.
  • Fixed an issue where the CSV Import removed embedded double quotes.

2.37.124.0

2007/11/16

Enhancements

  • Added "Redundancy" feature. This feature allows a pair of LinkMaster machines to operate in redundant pairs where one LinkMaster machine operates as the "Primary" node and the other in "Secondary" mode. When the "Primary" node fails, the "Secondary" node promotes itself and takes over the role of the primary. When the "Primary" node comes back up again, the "Secondary" node demotes itself and lets the "Primary" node perform the data transfer.
  • Increased name field length from 31 to 80 characters for link items and link groups.
  • Added ability to disable reads in inputs when link transfers is disabled.
  • Added ability to allow LinkMaster connections to itself on the local machine.
  • Added link description sub-item to our link item display.

Fixes

  • Fixed issue where LinkMaster produced an anomaly when the OPC servers it is bridging are on a remote machine and the network connection on the LinkMaster machine is reset (connect/disconnect) very frequently.
  • Fixed issue when adding a link item that contains a data type that is not supported by LinkMaster. The item would be removed twice, the second time potentially removing a valid item which would then break the link.
  • Fixed painting issue with the item value display not updating correctly if all items in the view went to bad quality at the same time and the value was passed in as the last known value.

2.20.108.0

2006/7/19

Fixes

  • Fixed issue where we would set the link group status to bad if we receive an item update for an input prior to attempting to add the output.

2.20.107.0

2006/6/13

Enhancements

  • Added project backup capabilities. This feature will always perform a backup of an existing project file prior to overwriting the file. This option can be turned on through the Tools|Options|General menu item.

Fixes

  • Fixed issue where we would send a write to an output on the first update of the input, regardless of whether or not the quality associated with the input was good.
  • Fixed issue with returning OPC array data to remote clients over DCOM when acting as an OPC server.
  • Fixed issue where we would send a bad quality write to an output if the addition of the output item(s) occurs after we originally receive the bad quality input update.
  • Fixed issue where we could send a write to an output if the input server returned a value with good quality, but also included a failure code to indicate the VQT could not be set appropriately.
  • Fixed issue where you could not close message boxes invoked from either the link group or link item property dialogs.

2.10.102.0

2005/10/8

Enhancements

  • Added support to retry AddItem requests to underlying OPC servers that previously failed the AddItems request. These are retried at a user-specified interval under Tools|Options|Links.
  • Added support for user to control how the application window is displayed when started by a client or minimized to the task tray. These settings are located under Tools|Options|View.
  • Added ability to select whether or not the application should retry writes to outputs that return a write complete failure. By default we will retry writes as this has been the default behavior prior to this feature.
  • Added support for Boolean arrays.

Fixes

  • We no longer allow users to make modifications to a project during an import CSV operation. This should have been the case in earlier releases. This prevents painting issues caused by this condition.
  • Fixed issue where LinkMaster would send repetitive Asynchronous Read requests without waiting for the previous callback to be returned from the underlying server(s). This would cause unnecessary memory usage in the server(s) and increase network traffic if used over DCOM. This issue only affected projects that had set a 'Client I/O Refresh Rate' on one or more link groups.
  • Fixed issue where the Toolbar and Status bar state was not properly saved when the application is shutdown and the window is minimized.
  • We now place double quotes around all CSV export fields that contain string data. This allows the application to re-import the same or modified CSV that contained characters that affected the parsing of the CSV file (e.g., commas).
  • Fixed performance issues when importing a CSV project that references machines and/or OPC servers which are not available but are referenced in the CSV configuration.
  • Fixed the scaling write issue where an unscaled write would be sent down initially followed by a scaled write, when scaling was enabled and the underlying OPC items were initially added or re- Added due to configuration changes.
  • Fixed issue with improper 'status' icon updates for link groups/items that contain outputs that failed the add item request. In this case, the icon displayed next to the link item would still show as green vs. gray.
  • Modified the Quick Browse window to no longer be a TOP MOST window, so that when another application's window is selected, it will fall to the background along with the main LM window.
  • Fixed anomaly that could occur while the Quick Browse window is displayed and the user obtains access to the LinkItem property dialog (by right-clicking on the application title bar located on the task bar) and issues a close.
  • Fixed issue that could cause the application to hang if the user attempts to terminate the application while it is in the middle of opening or closing a project.
  • Fixed issues which delayed the application from terminating in a timely fashion when the project being closed is currently attempting to connect to unavailable machines/servers.
  • Fixed array write marshalling issues that could occur on some systems.
  • Fixed link item status issue not reporting that it failed to write to an output item that belongs to a machine or server that is unavailable.
  • Modified browse filter to use "*" rather than a null string. Some servers do not return all leaves when sending a null string.
  • Fixed item browser paint issue that occurred if a server returned leaves with no fully qualified item ID.

2.00.89

2005/3/25

  • Fixed issue where we would not write to link item outputs after receiving a shutdown notification from the server (which owns the outputs)and performing a successful reconnect to the server. This only occurred when write optimizations was set to send last update only.
  • Fixed issues with not being able to change the machine name on the fly for link item input or output when editing the machine name, rather than selecting something from the drop down control.
  • Fixed issues with repainting the Quick Browse view if we lose communications with a server displayed in the view.
  • Fixed anomaly that could occur if LM is shutdown while there is 1 or more event viewer connections outstanding.
  • Fixed issue where dead value would not get sent to clients and LM link view pane until server reconnect attempt complete. This could take 2 or more minutes if reconnect resulted from network problem. Updates are now immediate upon detection of connection propblem.
  • Fixed issue where full connection with remote servers could not be established after a temporary network failure.
  • Added INI File option "Always Browse Servers From Local Machine". This allows LM to connect to OPC servers running on remote machines that cannot run opcenum.exe. The servers must be registered on the local machine, and local machine must be running opcenum.exe.
  • Enhanced service mode operation. No longer need to start and stop from service manager. Can access from system tray.
  • Fixed issue where dead value was not being sent to link output items.
  • Fixed issue where extended demo periods (60 day or longer) were not being honored.
  • Fixed issue where "Unknown quality" would be displayed in property view if limit bits (in OPC Quality value) were non-zero.
  • Fixed issue where items with unsupported data type would not be removed correctly.
  • Added Date data type.
  • Added license number field in Help/About dialog.

1.21.76.0

  • Added support for creating Custom Remote Machine references for machines/devices that do not expose themselves through a 'network neighborhood' interface.
  • Fixed issues with not properly reattempting to establish connections to server(s) if the initial connection partially succeeds (i.e., connect to opcenum succeeds, connect to server fails).
  • Fixed issues with not properly re attempting to establish connections to server(s) if the initial connection attempt fails.
  • Fixed byte alignment issue between DDE layer and application layer that was introduced when dead band took scaling into account.

1.18.71.0

  • Fixed ability to connect to remote inprocess servers.

1.17.66.0

  • Fixed default project open/save paths to be <product installation>\Projects.
  • Fixed window flickering issue when performing any operations which invokes a busy dialog.
  • Added necessary logic to utilize dead banding on scaled values to work with the latest OPC library.

1.16.64.0

  • Fixed object pointer validation (OPC Layer) to check to see if we have access to the specified memory location, prior to check in the object signature.

1.13.60.0

  • Fixed issue with browsing internal groups from a client.

1.12.59.0

  • Increased wait to restart period from 5-30 seconds to 5-600.
  • Fixed issue with properly observing the restart period.

操作系统

  • Windows 10, 11
  • Windows 8
  • Windows 7 专业版/企业版/旗舰版
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows Server 2008 和 2008 R2
  • Windows Vista 商用版/企业版/旗舰版
  • Windows Server 2003 SP2
  • Windows XP Professional SP3 或更高版本

系统要求

  • 2.0 GHz 处理器
  • 1 GB 安装 RAM
  • 600 MB 可用磁盘空间
  • 以太网卡
  • Super VGA (800x600) 或更高分辨率显卡
  • 订货号:KWP-LNKMS0-PRD

请联系销售人员获取临时授权

  • 电话:400 613 9938
  • 电子邮件:

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