I am migrating an existing ProSys DA custom OPC Provider service to the UA platform. The service provides a large point database for a network analysis platform which subscribes to the points provided by this service. We publish about half of our 160,000 available SCADA points via OPC DA currently, but now have issues since the network analysis platform has moved to the UA platform. Thus I have taken our existing OPC Provider custom service and retro fitted it to the UA server much like I did the original DA OPC Provider. I used the sample DA server before to model our custom service and also did so for the UA server. What I am noticing is that the process of adding the TUaVariable Node to the NodeManager via the AddComponent() call seems to be a large bottleneck in this process. I am seeing the progress bar for the build process move along well for the first one-third of the points, but then slow to a crawl afterwards. I’m assuming what’s possibly going on is further memory allocations for the larger address space for the additional points/nodes. The build finally get finished but only after 30 minutes or more, which is unacceptable. The DA OPC Provider also shows this performance issue, but typically completes in 5 minutes or less. Thus I’ve attached some of the sample code below and screenshots of the app with the timings I’m reporting.

// Then create the Tag’s RTU & Area prefex name
RtuTag = Area + “_” + Strutils::RightStr((“0000″+RtuNum),4);

// Now check that the SDT is addressable
// Otherwise it will skip this RTU
// The SDT is used to determine the that the
// point exists via the RTUnum is in Pt Src RTUnum
SDT* Sdt = SdtGet( StrToInt(RtuNum) );
if( Sdt != NULL )
{
// Now select the point Class Analog (4)
ptcnt = RtuRow->Strings[7].ToInt();
if (ptcnt > 0)
{
// Create the Point Class tagname prefex and loop thru these
ClsTag = RtuTag + “04”;
for (int j = 0; j Algi( j );
if ( ( Algi != NULL ) && (Algi->SrcRtu() == StrToInt(RtuNum)) )
{
// build the name of the point tag name
TagName = ClsTag + RightStr((“0000″+IntToStr(j)),4);
// For analogs use a Float type variable – ODMS only uses
// two types of variables – so create and assign the tagname
TPsFloat *Analog = new TPsFloat(this);
Analog->Name = TagName.c_str();
UaAnalog = MyNodeManager->CreateVariable(TagName.c_str());
UaAnalog->DataTypeId = Id_Double;
//UaAnalog->Value = TUaVariant::Create(0.0);
// Place this into three structures or lists:
// 1. the OPC Server’s Address Space
// 2. the internal TPsVar Tag List
// 3. UaVars sorted list for quick ref used for point updates
// 4. Tags sorted list for quick ref used for point updates
MyVars->AddComponent(UaAnalog);
MyTags->Add(Analog);
UaVars->AddObject(TagName,(TObject *)UaAnalog);
TagList->AddObject(TagName,(TObject *)Analog);
}
}
} //End of test for point count greater than zero for Analogs

[not able to show screen shot of app] The above loaded 68,277 points in 2141 seconds.

But if the variables are simply built but not added to the NodeManager via the Addcomponent() call as show here:

// Then create the Tag’s RTU & Area prefex name
RtuTag = Area + “_” + Strutils::RightStr((“0000″+RtuNum),4);

// Then create the Tag’s RTU & Area prefex name
RtuTag = Area + “_” + Strutils::RightStr((“0000″+RtuNum),4);
// Now check that the SDT is addressable
// Otherwise it will skip this RTU
// The SDT is used to determine the that the
// point exists via the RTUnum is in Pt Src RTUnum
SDT* Sdt = SdtGet( StrToInt(RtuNum) );
if( Sdt != NULL )
{
// Now select the point Class Analog (4)
ptcnt = RtuRow->Strings[7].ToInt();
if (ptcnt > 0)
{
// Create the Point Class tagname prefex and loop thru these
ClsTag = RtuTag + “04”;
for (int j = 0; j Algi( j );
if ( ( Algi != NULL ) && (Algi->SrcRtu() == StrToInt(RtuNum)) )
{
// build the name of the point tag name
TagName = ClsTag + RightStr((“0000″+IntToStr(j)),4);
// For analogs use a Float type variable – ODMS only uses
// two types of variables – so create and assign the tagname
TPsFloat *Analog = new TPsFloat(this);
Analog->Name = TagName.c_str();
UaAnalog = MyNodeManager->CreateVariable(TagName.c_str());
UaAnalog->DataTypeId = Id_Double;
//UaAnalog->Value = TUaVariant::Create(0.0);
// Place this into three structures or lists:
// 1. the OPC Server’s Address Space
// 2. the internal TPsVar Tag List
// 3. UaVars sorted list for quick ref used for point updates
// 4. Tags sorted list for quick ref used for point updates
//MyVars->AddComponent(UaAnalog);
MyTags->Add(Analog);
UaVars->AddObject(TagName,(TObject *)UaAnalog);
TagList->AddObject(TagName,(TObject *)Analog);
}
}
} //End of test for point count greater than zero for Analogs

[not able to show screen shot of app] The above shows that 68,277 points/TUavariables were built in 37 seconds.

Please advise any possible remedy, we are currently thinking living with the periodic restart of the old DA OPC Provider may be more acceptable. Just a bit of background, we are a large regional transmission and generation control facility in the USA covering an 8 state area, thus the large point count.

Thank you,

Randall Chilson