[00:00] While Ignition has built in drivers that allow it to connect to some devices, it doesn't have a driver for every single type of device. Ignition's OPC UA server can act as both an OPC UA server and an OPC UA client, allowing it to connect to third-party OPC UA servers such as Kepware. This can greatly expand the range of devices that we can connect to. To connect to a Kepware OPC UA server, let's go to the config section of the gateway and scroll down to the OPC Client section. There, we'll select OPC Connections. Here, you can see our built-in Ignition OPC UA server in the list of OPC connections. We'll click on Create New OPC Connection so we can connect to Kepware. I'll leave OPC UA selected and click next. Here, Ignition can actually discover the OPC UA server for us, provided we give it an IP address and a port number. My Kepware OPC UA server is installed locally, so I'll enter localhost, then a colon, then the port number. 49320 is the default port that Kepware uses.

[01:13] If Kepware isn't using the default port, I can figure out which port it is using by coming down to the start bar and finding the Kepware icon. I can then right-click on it and go to OPC UA Configuration. It'll ask for my credentials, so I'll just enter the information I set up when I installed the Kepware server. Here, under the Server Endpoints tab, you'll notice that it has an endpoint with the port number 49320. The IP address here is 127.0.0.1, which is localhost, so that's the one I'm going to be communicating over. I can go ahead and close this out for now and click the Next button when I'm done. I'll leave that server selected and click next. A list of available endpoints with security policies and security modes options will appear. You may have more to choose from than I do in this case, so choose the one with the security level that best fits your needs.

[02:09] I'll leave this selected and hit next. Now we need to manage the certificate. We'll click yes to trust the certificate, and then next. The following screen allows us to confirm the settings we've chosen, and then we can click finish. This takes you to the new OPC Connection screen. In this screen, you first have the option to change the name of the connection if you'd like. I think I'll just keep the default name for now. In the authentication section, I'll enter my credentials and confirm my password. Most current installations of KEPServer require a login and won't connect without one. In my case, the connection succeeded. If yours reads as faulted, you'll need to complete Kepware installation by trusting the Ignition certificate. To do this, let's go down to the start bar and right-click on the Kepware icon. I'll select OPC UA Configuration. It will ask me to sign in with my credentials again, and we'll go to the Trusted Clients tab.

[03:09] Mine looks like this. If your OPC UA client has a red X to the left of it, as in this example, it means it's not trusted yet. Make sure it's selected and click trust and the red X will disappear. Then you can close the Kepware window and return to your gateway where it should read as connected shortly. To ensure your changes are persisted, right-click on the Kepware icon in the start bar, and select Reinitialize from the menu. It will ask for confirmation of the action you want to take, and then ask again for your credentials. To confirm that the certificate is not quarantined and is being recognized as a trusted certificate, go back to the Ignition gateway webpage. In the config section, scroll down to OPC UA and select Security. Here in the Client Security tab, you should see both the Ignition OPC UA server and Kepware server certificates under the Trusted Certificates section.

[04:06] If the Kepware server certificate is quarantined for some reason, you can simply hit the trust button, as in this example, to add it to the trusted list. The status of your KEPserver connection should then be connected. For more information about how to connect to Kepware OPC UA, please visit the Ignition User Manual link below this video or check the respective server's documentation. Now that we're connected, let's scroll down to the OPC client section and select Quick Client. Along with Ignition's built-in internal OPC UA server, we also have the Kepware OPC UA server listed here. With that successful connection, expanding the folder gives you access to whatever devices are associated with Kepware.