A-F
- A -
access path
An access path defines the computer, driver, networks, and communication devices used to communicate with a destination device or processor in Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control (OPC) conversations.
acknowledgment (ACK)
An ASCII control character is used to acknowledge the reception and acceptance of a transmission block.
activate
To make a Rockwell Software product active so that it can run without the limitations imposed by demonstration mode. Without activation, some Rockwell Software products will not run, some will run with diminished functionality, and others will run for a limited period of time and then shut down with or without warning.
activation file
A text file that contains all of the activation information that is required to license a software product and allow it to function properly. While the file is simply plaintext, the contents of the file are protected by a signature.
activation host
The device associated with an activation by a unique ID.
activation server
An activation server is any computer that hosts concurrent activations. The activation server manages the activations and shares them with other configured computers on the network.
alias
A logical name for a variable in a device or memory. Similar to a tag.
application
A machine or process monitored and controlled by a controller or the use of computer-based or controller-based routines for specific purposes.
API
API stands for Application Programming Interface. APIs are mechanisms that enable two software components to communicate with each other using a set of definitions and protocols.
area
An area organizes and subdivides a distributed Network application into logical or physical divisions.
- B -
baud
A unit of signaling speed equal to the number of discrete conditions or signal events per second. Where one bit is encoded on each signaling event, the number of baud is the same as the number of bits per second.
Block Check Character (BCC)
An error checking method developed to improve error detection in data communications. The BCC is added to the end of each block of data before the block is transmitted.
- C -
Certificate
A digital certificate is an electronic representation of an identity. A certificate binds the identities public key to its identifiable information, such as name, organization, email, username, and/or a device serial number. A certificate is used to authenticate the connection to other devices. Selected by default when CIP security is enabled.
CIA Messaging
To access information inside of devices that support the Open Device Vendors Association (ODVA) Common Industrial Protocol (CIP), using the Class, Instance, and Attribute (CIA) messaging with the CIP Object - Class/Instance/Attribute Message shortcut type.
client
A component or subsystem that uses data or functionality provided by some other component or subsystem (the server). The term can also refer to the computer that executes this software, connecting to a server computer across a communication network.
Common Industrial Protocol (CIP)
The Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) is an industrial protocol for industrial automation applications supported by ODVA. Previously known as Control and Information Protocol, CIP defines messages and services for the collection of manufacturing automation applications – control, safety, synchronization, motion, configuration, and information. It is used in EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet, CompoNet, and ControlNet. Extensions to CIP are CIP Safety, CIP Motion, CIP Security, and CIP Sync.
CIP security
CIP security has multiple layers of security that enables a CIP-connected device to protect itself from malicious CIP communications. Then the device can reject data that has been altered, reject messages sent by untrusted people or untrusted devices, and reject messages that request actions that are not allowed. CIP security defines the notion of a security profile, which is a set of well-defined capabilities to facilitate device interoperability and end-user selection of devices with the appropriate security capability.
concurrent activation
A type of activation that allows multiple computers across a network to use Rockwell Software products at the same time. Concurrent activations include floating activations and borrowed activations.
configuration
A file that contains information about the physical structure you defined for your system. This file includes all network paths, defined drivers and devices, Data Providers, and object protocols.
connected messaging
A connected message opens a persisted link from the computer to a target device. This form of communications allocates resources in every device in the route to ensure responses and subsequent exchanges of information are able to pass more efficiently.
custom namespace
Custom namespace permits the customers to define the structure definitions and tags that will be exposed to an external client and then map these defintions to underlying system data. This can improve the organization of the automation system data, organize scalar data into structures, combine data from multiple sources or programmable controllers into a structure, apply a different naming convention for the automation system data, and limit or secure the automation system data that is available to clients.
cyclic redundancy check (CRC)
A Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) is an error checking technique used by computers.
- D -
DA
See
OPC DA
.data element
An individually addressable item of data. For example, an OPC tag, an HMI tag, a graphic display, an event file, a node, and a channel.
data provider
One of the building blocks of
FactoryTalk Linx
, a data provider acts as a multiplexer for multiple clients and optimizes what data can be read together for more efficient handling.data server
Data servers serve tags, or data items, contained in OPC-DA (Data Access) servers. Clients that need access to data items use data server application elements to locate the computers that are hosting OPC-DA 2.0 compliant data servers.
DCOM
Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) is a proprietary Microsoft technology for communication between software components on connected computers. It allows a computer to run programs over the network on a different computer as if the program was running locally.
DDE
Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) is a standard inter-application communication protocol built into Microsoft Windows operating systems and supported by many applications that run under Windows. DDE takes data from one application and gives it to another application. It allows Windows programs that support DDE to exchange data between themselves.
Data transmission library
Data transmission library (DTL) is an application programming interface (API) definition that provides communication between a computer and an automation device using the CIP or PCCC protocols.
dongle
A dongle is a security or copy-protection device for commercial computer programs. When required by a program, a dongle must be connected to an input/output port, such as a USB or parallel port of the computer, to allow the program to run. Programs that use a dongle query the port at startup and programmed intervals thereafter, and close if the dongle does not respond with the expected validation code.
Device Transport System Access
The Device Transport System Access (DTSA) is a cache utilized by the DTL interface to hold route information and state information to communicate with a device.
- E -
Endpoint
An endpoint represents the set of configuration settings on an
OPC
UA Server that determine how OPC
UA clients will interface with the server. This includes a Universal Resource Locator (URL) string, Transport Control Protocol (TCP) port, security and data access settings.Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decipher a ciphertext back to plaintext and access the original information. Encryption does not itself prevent interference but denies the intelligible content to a would-be interceptor.
Excel RTD
Microsoft Excel provides a worksheet function, Real-time Data (RTD), that allows you to call a Component Object Model (COM) Automation server for the purpose of retrieving data in real-time. RTD components are introduced so that real-time data can stream into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The RTD server communicates with Excel in a hybrid push-pull mechanism, greatly increasing the efficiency of the update.
External Access
A property that allows you to specify the level of access (Read-Only, Read/Write, or None) external applications and devices have to tags.
- F -
floating activation
A type of concurrent activation that requires a continuous network connection and allows multiple computers to use Rockwell Software products concurrently. An activation server manages a predetermined number of activations in a pool and makes these activations available to any configured computer on the network.
When a computer connects to the network and runs a Rockwell Software product, it automatically "checks out" an activation from the pool of available concurrent activations. When the product shuts down, the activation is automatically freed and returns to the activation server's available pool. Checking out activations from the pool and returning them to the server happens automatically, without any user intervention.
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