Matrikon and LV OPC Server

[Bertha]

Hello, I am new using OPC servers and I have been looking for help on this forum and Lava and I can't find a straight answer

I started using LV OPC server and it works fine but then I found out that I have to buy an extra licenses for DSC if I want to distribute it.

Which is fine, but the Variable Manager does not let me create or change tags from the user computer like you do if you have the OPC server configuration(we want to give the user the option to add more tags if they add more modules to the PLC).So, here are my questions..

1-) Is there a way to add Tags programaticaly using DSC in case the customer wants to add more modules to the PLC?(not connect tags to shared variables since I know how to do this)

2-I looked around and found the Matrikon OPC Server which license is cheaper than the LV OPC Server(in case I want to distribute the server instead of DSC to give customer access to add more modules), Are there any disadvantages of using this server instead of the LV OPC server?

I'll appreciate any help, Thanks 

[David_L]

You can use the Network.URL property node for a Shared Variable to change the binding of a shared variable.  Simply point this to the URL of the tag, and you should be set.

Also using the DSC Module > Tags palette you can open up a tag reader and then read/write to any tag available at a given URL using these VIs.

For your second question,  as long as the Matrikon OPC server will connect to your PLC and any future PLC you may connect to, then there is no disadvantage.  OPC is a standard in which all should work mostly the same.  The advantage of the NI-OPC servers is that you can use it to connect to a very wide range of PLCs, Modbus devices, etc.  But if you have one PLC that you will be using and it works with Matrikon, then by all means go for the cheaper one.

[David_L]

Check this out:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/2E8BAD0EA218A7558625712E0003F044?OpenDocument