OPC UA
The OPC UA Reader is a pipeline component that enables secure communication with industrial devices and control systems. It is widely used for collecting and transmitting data from manufacturing environments, SCADA systems, and IoT devices into analytics or processing platforms.
By supporting real-time and batch ingestion, the OPC UA Reader is a key component for building industrial data pipelines.
Configuration Sections
All component configurations are grouped into:
Basic Information
Meta Information
Resource Configuration
Basic Information Tab
The Basic Information tab is the default configuration screen.
Invocation Type
Select execution mode: Batch or Real-Time.
Yes
Deployment Type
Displays the deployment type of the component (pre-selected).
Yes
Container Image Version
Displays the Docker image version for the component (pre-selected).
Yes
Failover Event
Select an event to handle errors or retries.
Optional
Batch Size
Maximum number of records to be processed per cycle. Minimum: 10.
Yes
Meta Information Tab
The Meta Information tab contains OPC UA–specific connection and security parameters.
URL
The OPC UA server endpoint URL (e.g., opc.tcp://hostname:4840).
Yes
Message Security Mode
Select from: Sign, SignAndEncrypt.
Yes
Security Policy
Security algorithm used for encryption and signing: Basic128Rsa15, Basic256, or Basic256Sha256.
Yes
Certificate File Name
Auto-populated after uploading a certificate file.
Conditional
Choose File (Certificate)
Upload a valid certificate file for authentication.
Conditional
PEM File Name
Auto-populated after uploading a PEM file.
Conditional
Choose File (PEM)
Upload a PEM file for establishing secure communication.
Conditional
Source Node
The OPC UA server node that originates the data/event.
Yes
Event Node
The OPC UA event node subscribed to for notifications.
Yes
Supported Security Policies
Basic128Rsa15
Provides 128-bit encryption with RSA-15 key exchange. Considered less secure compared to modern standards.
Basic256
Uses 256-bit symmetric encryption with digital signatures for confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity.
Basic256Sha256
Enhanced profile that applies SHA-256 algorithms for stronger key generation and message digests. Recommended for high-security environments.
Saving the OPC UA Reader
After configuration, click Save Component (Storage icon).
A success notification confirms that the component has been saved.
Once activated, the OPC UA Reader begins streaming data or events from the configured nodes.
Example Workflow
Configure an OPC UA Reader with a URL pointing to the plant’s OPC UA server (
opc.tcp://plant-server:4840).Set Security Policy to
Basic256Sha256and upload certificate and PEM files for secure authentication.Define Source Node as the temperature sensor node and Event Node as the alarm event node.
The pipeline ingests real-time sensor readings and triggers alerts when event conditions are met.