# 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.

| Field                       | Description                                                         | Required |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- |
| **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.

| Field                         | Description                                                                                                 | Required    |
| ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- |
| **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

| Policy             | Description                                                                                                                                           |
| ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **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

1. Configure an OPC UA Reader with a **URL** pointing to the plant’s OPC UA server (`opc.tcp://plant-server:4840`).
2. Set **Security Policy** to `Basic256Sha256` and upload certificate and PEM files for secure authentication.
3. Define **Source Node** as the temperature sensor node and **Event Node** as the alarm event node.
4. The pipeline ingests real-time sensor readings and triggers alerts when event conditions are met.


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