Connect to on prem PLCs

Jakob, these are my methods on connecting an on-premise device to Integration Studio - however you may encounter other avenues or vendors depending on policies set forth within your organization. The application utilized is Hamachi by LogMeIn, it's a easy to use virtual private network that is capable of establishing direct links between computers without any sophisticated configurations, with access up to 5 machines without any cost - however if you exceed this limitation they'll charge you around $49/year for 6-32 computers.

A quick workflow is indicated below and guides:

https://support.logmeininc.com/hamachi/help#__browse-tree-title-get-started--hamachi-fundamentals

​Installing Hamachi and Network Setup

1. Go to VPN.net. 
2. Click Download Now.
3. Run the installation file once it's finished downloading. Follow the installation prompts. You will click Next several times. 
4. Once the installation completes, press the Power On button within the LogMeIn Hamachi window.
5. Sign in with your LogMeIn Hamachi account you previously created.
6. Once you've signed in, users will have to create a new Hamachi Network, by selecting the Network Tab and Selecting Create a New Network
7. Enter your own unique properties for Network ID and passwords - remember to save this information as it's important for other clients to connect to the network using these credentials
8. You should now see in the client window your newly generated network and an icon indicating it's status (green is online)
9. Now proceed to the next client machine and repeat the steps up to 5.
10. Once completed, instead of Creating a new Network, you'll be joining the pre-existing one specified in Step 7, enter in your credentials and you should now see that both machines are connected to the network with their individual addresses.
11. To quickly test out the connection ping each other's IP address
12. Concludes the first part of setting up the network infrastructure.

Configurating Communication Drivers to talk to On-Premise Device

In the configuration below I'll be demonstrating connections to a Modbus simulator and using that particular data to send up to Integration Studio.

1. Within my PLC machine, I've already configured the connections to Hamachi Network and launched an instance of the Modbus simulator.     In the Hamachi client you should see the IP address configured for the systems - take note as you'll be using this to enter into the               configuration settings of the OI-Server

 2.  Within the Integration Studio environment, configure the Hamachi Client and test out the network connectivity, simple ping works as a quick test for connectivity

3. Once you've established connectivity within your integration studio environment, go to your configuration settings for the OI-Server within the Operations Control Management Console (or SMC for older versions) and configure the drivers for the device. In my demonstration we are connecting to the Modbus simulator and specifying the PLC client IP Address within the configuration.

4. You can now save and close your configuration, right-click on the MBTCP icon and activate the communication drivers. 

5. Depending if you have any clients connected you should start to see data from the devices.

Jakob, these are my methods on connecting an on-premise device to Integration Studio - however you may encounter other avenues or vendors depending on policies set forth within your organization. The application utilized is Hamachi by LogMeIn, it's a easy to use virtual private network that is capable of establishing direct links between computers without any sophisticated configurations, with access up to 5 machines without any cost - however if you exceed this limitation they'll charge you around $49/year for 6-32 computers.

A quick workflow is indicated below and guides:

https://support.logmeininc.com/hamachi/help#__browse-tree-title-get-started--hamachi-fundamentals

​Installing Hamachi and Network Setup

1. Go to VPN.net. 
2. Click Download Now.
3. Run the installation file once it's finished downloading. Follow the installation prompts. You will click Next several times. 
4. Once the installation completes, press the Power On button within the LogMeIn Hamachi window.
5. Sign in with your LogMeIn Hamachi account you previously created.
6. Once you've signed in, users will have to create a new Hamachi Network, by selecting the Network Tab and Selecting Create a New Network
7. Enter your own unique properties for Network ID and passwords - remember to save this information as it's important for other clients to connect to the network using these credentials
8. You should now see in the client window your newly generated network and an icon indicating it's status (green is online)
9. Now proceed to the next client machine and repeat the steps up to 5.
10. Once completed, instead of Creating a new Network, you'll be joining the pre-existing one specified in Step 7, enter in your credentials and you should now see that both machines are connected to the network with their individual addresses.
11. To quickly test out the connection ping each other's IP address
12. Concludes the first part of setting up the network infrastructure.

Configurating Communication Drivers to talk to On-Premise Device

In the configuration below I'll be demonstrating connections to a Modbus simulator and using that particular data to send up to Integration Studio.

1. Within my PLC machine, I've already configured the connections to Hamachi Network and launched an instance of the Modbus simulator.     In the Hamachi client you should see the IP address configured for the systems - take note as you'll be using this to enter into the               configuration settings of the OI-Server

 2.  Within the Integration Studio environment, configure the Hamachi Client and test out the network connectivity, simple ping works as a quick test for connectivity

3. Once you've established connectivity within your integration studio environment, go to your configuration settings for the OI-Server within the Operations Control Management Console (or SMC for older versions) and configure the drivers for the device. In my demonstration we are connecting to the Modbus simulator and specifying the PLC client IP Address within the configuration.

4. You can now save and close your configuration, right-click on the MBTCP icon and activate the communication drivers. 

5. Depending if you have any clients connected you should start to see data from the devices.

Great feed back. I give it a try.