Siemens WinCC and OPC using NI Variable Engine

[Rick Booth]

We are having problems using a tried and tested remote data acquisition package, written in cvi, which acts as an OPC server to the WinCC SCADA system. This works fine when running on a Windows 2000 PC, and the user can browse via WinCC to the shared variables in the NI Variable Engine both locally on the PC on which the cvi software is running, and remotely over the network from the main server.

When we try the same remotely with the cvi software running on a Windows XP computer, we get the message "This OPC Server does not support a browser interface". We can see the NI Variable Engine over the network, but not browse to any of its variables. (As far as I am aware, we can browse locally, but this may not be correct!)

Has anyone found this issue, which seems to be OS dependent? Should we be changing any (DCOM??) settings to enable this functionality?

[John.P]

Hi Rick,

Just to let you know i am looking into this issue for you.

It seems Microsoft included a few updates with Service Pack 2  for XP that could be affecting your OCP communication.

Take a look at the following link OPC Foundation: Using OPC via DCOM with Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2

Let me know if this contains the solution to your problem.

Kind Regards, 

John P

AE
NI