Documentation

Install SyncNode Gateway, bring an OPC DA server (or a PLC) into OPC UA, and activate a licence. Everything is done from the browser dashboard — no programming.

Requirements

• Windows 10 / 11 or Windows Server, 64-bit.
• For an OPC DA source: the source's own OPC Core Components — already present on a WinCC / Honeywell QCS / TwinCAT station. Install the gateway on that same station where possible; reading a server on another PC needs DCOM configured on both sides.
• Network access from the gateway PC to the PLC / OPC server it reads.
• The OPC UA port (default 49321) open to your SCADA / historian.

1 · Install

1. Download the installer and run it. No dependencies — no Python, no OPC toolkit.
2. Accept the defaults. The installer offers to start the OPC DA source automatically at logon — leave it ticked on a station that always runs signed-in.

2 · Open the dashboard & sign in

1. Open http://localhost:8003 in a browser.
2. First sign-in: user admin, password admin123.
3. Change the password immediately from License & Tiers before connecting the gateway to the plant network.

3 · Start the OPC DA engine

The OPC DA engine is a separate process. The dashboard shows a source page for each slot (OPC DA Server 1 / 2). If the engine is not running, press Start engine now in the yellow notice — that launches it. It can also be started three other ways:

• Start Menu → SyncNode Gateway → Start OPC DA Server 1 — the ordinary way, for now.
• At every logon (no console, no password) — the installer offers this; it runs as the signed-in account.
• As a Windows service — only if it must survive a reboot with nobody signed in (see Run permanently).

4 · Connect your source

On the OPC DA source page:

1. OPC DA server (ProgID) — the COM name of the server, not its display name. Examples: OPCServer.WinCC.1 (Siemens WinCC), Hmx.RaeServer_O (Honeywell QCS), BECKHOFF.TwinCATOpcServerDA (TwinCAT). Press Scan for servers to list what is actually registered on the machine.
2. Computer running that server — leave empty for this machine.
3. Under Tags, browse the server's folders (or search), tick the tags to publish, and Save tag list.
4. Press Start (top of the page) to begin publishing.

OMRON FINS or Siemens S7 — direct to the PLC

No OPC DA server involved. Open PLC & Tags and add the PLC:

• OMRON FINS — CJ2M / CJ2H over FINS/UDP (port 9600). This PC and the PLC must be on the same IP segment; the FINS node number is the last octet of the PLC's IP (e.g. 192.168.0.20 → node 20). Memory areas: DM, CIO, WR, HR, AR, TIM, EM0–EMC.
• Siemens S7 — S7-300/400/1200/1500 over Snap7. On the PLC: enable PUT/GET (TIA Portal → Protection & Security → Connection mechanisms) and un-tick "Optimized block access" on the data blocks you read. Rack/Slot: S7-1200/1500 = Rack 0, Slot 1; S7-300/400 usually Slot 2.

Add the tags (area, address, data type) in the tag database, then press Start. They publish on the same OPC UA endpoint as everything else.

Cross-Bridge — copy values between two PLCs

To move data directly between an OMRON and a Siemens PLC (no extra ladder logic), open Bridge Router and add a rule: source tag → destination tag. Turn on the watchdog heartbeat so the destination ladder can tell if the bridged data goes stale (add an INT tag with the heartbeat name to each destination PLC). Cross-Bridge is a data mover — it transfers register to register and does not publish OPC UA itself.

5 · Publish to OPC UA

Everything the gateway reads is republished on one OPC UA server. Point your SCADA / historian at the endpoint shown at the top of the dashboard:

opc.tcp://<this-PC-IP>:49321

Security is None (anonymous) by default — simple, and adequate on an isolated plant network. Choose Basic256Sha256 — Sign & Encrypt when the network is shared with office IT; the server generates its certificate into the certs/ folder on first start.

6 · Buy & activate a licence

1. In the dashboard, open License & Tiers and copy your Machine ID — it looks like SNG-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX.
2. On the website, choose your licence(s), pay, and send us that Machine ID.
3. We e-mail you an activation key (a single line). Paste it into the activation box on License & Tiers and press Activate.

Each licence is perpetual, node-locked to that one machine, and activation is offline — nothing phones home. Activation is additive: buying a second source later adds it without touching the first.

7 · Trial & evaluation

• OMRON FINS, Siemens S7, Cross-Bridge — free 7-day trial, no key. Install and run; after day 7 the source stops until activated (your configuration is kept).
• OPC DA Server 1 / 2 — protected by the licence vault, so they need a signed key even to evaluate. Send us your Machine ID and we issue a free 7-day evaluation key for that machine.

8 · Run permanently

On a WinCC / QCS station the data source lives in the operator's signed-in session, so run at logon is usually the right choice — no stored password, no Session-0 crossing. Run once as the account that operates the station:

powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Program Files\SyncNode Gateway\tools\run_at_logon.ps1" -Tier wincc

Use a Windows service only if the engine must run with nobody signed in (rare for WinCC). It then needs a Windows account that can open the OPC DA server — it refuses LocalSystem. See install_service.bat in the install folder.

9 · Troubleshooting

Every station also has a built-in System Check page and a diagnostics collector (tools\collect_diagnostics.bat) that packages the logs for a support request.

Support

Stuck on a specific server or DCOM setup? Send the diagnostics bundle and a short description — happy to help.

SyncNode Works · support@syncnodeworks.com · syncnodeworks.com