Yes it’s possible to connect a PCD directly to the internet, but you have to protect your PCD against unauthorised access or cyber-attacks.

To protect the PCD against unauthorised access or cyber-attacks, it’s imperatively needed to take some protective measures.

Information about protective measures can be found on the support hp

If you need a PCD with cyber security levels SL3+ and based on ANSI ISA 62443 then checkout our PCD3.M6893 (QronoX PCD), this PCD was developed for cybersecure applications.

Information's can be found here.

When importing the symbols of a PG5 2.0 project into the OPC configuration the floating point registers are not correctly detected (if PG5 2.0.210 or earlier is used).

Symptom
When importing the symbols of a PG5 2.0 project into the OPC configuration the floating point registers are not correctly detected (if PG5 2.0.210 or earlier is used). Instead of floats they are configured as integers.

Reason
The symbol files generated by PG5 2.0.210 (and earlier) are missing the indication to be a floating point register (a {F} in the comment of the symbol). As this indication is missing, the OPC Server can not figure out it is a floating point value.

Solution
PG5 2.0.220 adds the indications again to the symbol files. If only an older version of PG5 2.0 can be used the following work-around could be applied: 

• the configuration can be corrected manually by modifying the "Type" to "Float":
  

This FAQ lists the main differences between the latest currently available OPC server and its predecessor.

OPC Server version 2.02.18.03 (June 2017)

New features

• Support of PG5 2.2.130 or later
• Possibility to export/import the header line on the export/import file.

OPC Server version 2.02.17.20 (January 2014)

New features

• Support of PG5 2.1.120 or later
• enhance the possibility of the integrated OPC-client
• support of IEEE32 and IEEE64 float format.

OPC Server version 2.02.17.10 (December 10)

New features

• Support of PG5 2.0.150
• Support of up to 14336 flags
• Supports the directly configuration of S-Energy counter with serial S-Bus interface:
  - AWD3
  - ALE3
  - AWD1.

OPC Server version 2.02.16.14 (April 09)

New features

• Support of PG5 1.4.300

The S-Bus OPC-Server does run on 32 bit and 64 bit Computers:

• Windows Vista
• Windows Server 2008 (also R2)
• Windows 7
• Windows 8
• Windows 8.1
• Windows 10
• Windows 11

Remark:

Since it is not possible to use the Scomm.dll (which is used to communicate between the PC and the PCD) as service it is necessary that a user is logged in on the PC.

News:
Since the version 2.02.17.10 of the OPC Server the USB driver supports also the 64 bits system!

After the import of a configuration from a csv file, the OPC-Server does change the configuration on the common settings tab of the OPC-Server to "Logical configuration", independent if the configuration before was set to "Physical configuration".

After the import of a configuration from a csv file, the OPC-Server does change the configuration on the common settings tab of the OPC-Server to "Logical configuration", independent if the configuration before was set to "Physical configuration".


If the OPC-Server was configured as "Physical configuration" before the import of the csv file, then the user has to change the configuration manually to "Physical configuration".
 


Note:
If the configuration is set to "Logical configuration" whiteout that user has defined the logical configuration of the OPC-Server items then the quality of the items will be shown as "bad quality" if an OPC-Client access the OPC-Server items.

Since the version 2.02.16.06 of the S-Bus OPC-Server there is the possibility to set a new parameter “delay” on the station settings page.

This parameter defines the waiting time between two connections, if the preceding connection was not finished correctly.

The main idea behind this parameter is to avoid that the S-Bus OPC-Server does call a PCD over a modem connection to fast, if the PCD does not respond to the call of the PCD or if the PCD has a bad modem connection.
If the PCD does not respond or if the connection is closed incorrectly then a new call to the PCD is only possible after that the delay time is elapsed.

The option “Use per channel” allows to define how the delay time should be used.
If for example on the OPC-Server there are three stations A, B and C which are configured and all stations does use the same modem channel (and therefore the same modem)

If the option “Use per channel” is selected and the communication to the station A does fail, then it’s not possible to make a new connection to the stations A, B and C until the delay time is elapsed.
 If the option “Use per channel” is not selected and the communication to the station A does fail, then it’s not possible to make a new connection to the station A until the delay time is elapsed.
But it’s possible to make a new connection without waiting the delay time to the stations B and C.

Most probably the reason of the problem is in the settings of the DCOM.

If on the DCOM settings the application is defined as “Launching User” then this will invoke the start of multiple instances of the OPC server.

More information’s could be found on the manual of the OPC-Server “DCOM_Setup.pdf” which is distributed together with the OPC-Server. 

On the chapter Setting up DCOM for Merz OPC Server Properties under Windows XPof the DCOM_Setup.pdf you will find the following information: 

“In the Identity tab set the user from whose account it will be possible to start Merz OPC Server (there is no relation to the setting of who can start and access Merz OPC Server).
The Interactive User or This User option can be chosen with Merz OPC Server.
The difference is that if you use the Interactive User option, you will not be able to operate Merz OPC Server if nobody has logged on the computer on which it has to be started.
The Launching User option is not applicable since with this setting more than one Merz OPC Server installation are started for more than one user and only the installation started as the first one has access to the unshared system tools (e.g. serial interface).”

If you make a online modem connection with PG5, OPC-Server, S-Web-Connect or Visi+ to a PCD then the modem settings of the TAPI (Telephony Application Programming Interface) are used.

TAPI is a Windows standard interface and the TAPI settings are accessible under the control panel, “phone and modem options”.
There you have the possibility to adapt different modem parameters like baud rate, data protocol and so on.

The channel settings menu of PG5 allows modifying the modem parameters of TAPI settings which are used without that the TAPI settings of Windows are changed.

Please not that the channel settings menu of PG5 does store the modified TAPI settings in the registry of Windows under the key name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SAIA-Burgess\PG5\x.y\Channels\S-Bus Modem\TapiSettings

PG5 does not change the TAPI settings of Windows.

The registry entry mentioned above is updated after that you have open the menu point “configure line” and you have stored the configuration settings of the modem.



 

PG5 does apply the following rules:

- If PG5 don’t have any entry on the registry key mentioned above or if the registry key mentioned above don’t exist, then PG5 does use the default TAPI settings (defined under the control panel, “phone and modem options”) of the selected modem.

- In the other case PG5 does use the modified TAPI settings stored under the registry key mentioned above.

An external device like scada or supervision sytem can know the status of the PCD (Run, Halt, Stop or Conditioanl Run) by using a special item of the S-Bus OPC-Server or by using a special S-Bus telegram.

If a OPC-Server is used then you can use the item "status" of the station.

§ix100539§

The status will be shown as follwoing on the Scada System:

R    Run
C    Conditional Run
H    Halt
S    Stop
           

If the supervision system don't use the OPC-Sever then the status of the PCD can be knwon with the use of a special S-Bus telegram.
SRXM S-Bus channel
            0
            7
            Destination_register

More informations can be found on the S-Bus manual 26/739, chapter 3.4.1

The OPC server crashes with the error message "SaSBus has generated errors..."

Problem
The OPC server crasehs or the item has always bad quality.

Reason
If  "Logical configuration" is chosen instead of "Phisical configuration" in the common settings and no logical configuratin is present, the OPC server will probably crash or show bad quality for the selected items.

Solution
Change to "Phisical configuration"

The Fbox internal variables can be defined by user. This is done in the Fbox parameters window (click on the key button, defined by user) give a base address and a name can also be given there. The symbol editor create than a local symbol with an array. Eg; PID HVC Fbox has 24 registers as internal variables, the name could be "internalRegName R [24]!

So it isn't easy to acces in fupla directly each register!

The best way is to make system sysmbols out of these internal variables.
How to do: Give the FBox a name (click right on the FBox, chose Properties et type a name. Eg: PID1. So after a build the system symbols are created with the names:
A.HVC.PID1.Action
A.HVC.PID1.Disable
etc..

In this way each symbol can be access individualy.

If a supervision has to access them a static address is necessary, this address has to be given in the FBox parameter window as descript above

When trying to import system symbola from a PG5 CPU (file: _system.sy5) no symbols are imported. In order to use system symbols in OPC server, those symbols need to have a static address, but even the system symbols have a static address when importing no symbols are imported.

The OPC server allows to import resources from a PG 4/5 project. There is the possibility to import files of 2 different types: _.sy5 and _.pcd. When importing _global.sy5 file, it works OK!
If system symbols are needed in OPC server, those symbols (with static adress) can also be imported when the file typ _pcd is selected in the import window. How to import:

• Select the PCD (click on the icon PCD)
• Click on the button "Import from PG"
• Choose the file typ *.PCD
• Browse the CPU PG5 and choos the ____.pcd file from the PG project
• Select the symbols typ
• Use a filter in order to import only the needed symbols

See attached document with screen shots.
Furhter information regarding the system symbols of application symbols can be found in FAQ 100250: "How to create system symbols with static adress for HVC Fboxes?" internal resources.

If you want to use the S-Bus OPC-Server and PG5 on the same PC then you have to make attention to use the correct version of the S-Bus OPC-Server which fit with the corresponding version of the scommdll.

Nerveless it’ possible to run for example the S-Bus OPC-Server v 2.02.09.01 on a PC where PG5 V1.3 was installed.
In this case the S-Bus OPC-Server doesn’t have to use the scommdll of PG5 V1.3 but he has to use the scommdll (V 1.2) stored on the S-Bus OPC-Server installation package.
If PG5 and the OPC-Server use two different version of the scommdll then it’s not possible to go online with a PCD simultaneously with both tools.
To install the scommdll which is stored on the S-Bus OPC-Server installation package, during the installation of the S-Bus OPC-Server you have to select “Install SBC communication driver”.

If the SBC S-Bus OPC server was launched by a request of an OPC client located on another machine, the SCommDll (or SCommDrv) is not available for the user working on the PC where the OPC server is running.

This problem is caused by the fact that the Merz SBC S-Bus OPC Server (SaSBus.exe) was launched under the "Interactive User". As result the SaSBus as well as the SCommDrv and SCommDll will not appear in the system tray of the user (logged in). Nevertheless an instance of the SCommDll is running (under the "Interactive User") and it can't be started again by the logged in user.

The error messages will be something like "The driver is not available" or "Another instance of the driver is already running".

As workaround the logged in user has to launch the SaSBus before the OPC client will request data from the OPC server. Once the SBC S-Bus OPC server is started by the logged in user, it won't be started a second time by the Interactive User and therefore it will be possible to communicate over the same SCommDrv (logged in user and OPC Server).

There is a an item called "Set station active" in the communication buffer which default value is 0. This causes the OPC server to disable the connection to the concerned PCD(s). The result is a communication quality "Bad, Comm Failure".

to avoid this problem

• either disabel the communicatino buffer (checkbox on the staion tab of the OPC server configuration, see below)
   §ix100153§

• or work with the "Set Station Active" item. At least set it to "1" by default. You have to do this for every station separately since every station has its own communication buffer.
  

When reading values of several S-Bus stations of a network only one (normally the first one) has "good communication", the others aren't updated and the communication status is "bad communication".

Very likely this problem is caused by the checked (activated) option "Auto" in the online settings of the S-bus stations. If this chechbox is activated, the SCommDll (SBC S-Bus driver) is connecting to the first S-Bus station that it can reach on the selected channel. Therefore the first station is online as it should be.

After reading this station the OPC server, wants to swich to the next station. But the SCommDll again will connect to the first staton found on the network (this either is the gateway station or the station with the lowest address).

To solve that problem you just have to uncheck the "Auto" checkbox in the online settings of the concerned S-Bus stations.

No, SBC devices are not affected from the Ripple20 zero-day vulnerabilities since none of our products uses the TCP/IP software library developed by Treck, Inc.

In case more than 32 PCDs are to be connected to a PC using serial connections (with one COM port for every PCD station) PG5 needs to be configured to allow more than 32 COM ports to be used by the SComm driver.

By default the number of accessible ComPort is limited to 32 Com ports. The reason therefore is that with more than 32 COM ports is has been observed that the process which allows to scan the available Com Port on the PC could take up to 1 minute (and more...), depending on the system or devices used. This phenomenon can be observed by clicking the "Setup" button in the dialog box of the "Online Settings" in PG5.

Procedure for increasing the maximum number of Com Ports
=====================================================

PG5 1.4: (Windows XP) 

1. Close all SBC-Software
2. Open the Registry Editor: from the Windwos start menu select "Run...", type "regedit" and click "OK"
3. Browse to --> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE --> SOFTWARE --> Saia Burgess --> PG5 --> 1.4 --> SCommDrv
4. In this folder (... --> SCommDrv) create or modify the "PcdLastCom" DWord variable with a value greater than 20 hex (32 dec) for example 40 hex (64 dec)
   This new value represents the maximum number of accessible/scanned ComPorts by PG5

PG5 2.0: (Windows XP)

1. Close all SBC-Software
2. Browse to the folder "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Saia-Burgess\PG5_20\"
3. Open the file "SCommSettings.ini" and modify the value of the "PcdLastValue" (for example write 64) and save this file under the same format.
   This new value represent the maximum number of accessible/scanned ComPort by PG5
   
   

If you make a online modem connection with PG5, OPC-Server, S-Web-Connect or Visi+ to a PCD then the modem settings of the TAPI (Telephony Application Programming Interface) are used.

TAPI is a Windows standard interface and the TAPI settings are accessible under the control panel, “phone and modem options”.
There you have the possibility to adapt different modem parameters like baud rate, data protocol and so on.

The channel settings menu of PG5 allows modifying the modem parameters of TAPI settings which are used without that the TAPI settings of Windows are changed.

Please not that the channel settings menu of PG5 does store the modified TAPI settings in the registry of Windows under the key name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SAIA-Burgess\PG5\x.y\Channels\S-Bus Modem\TapiSettings

PG5 does not change the TAPI settings of Windows.

The registry entry mentioned above is updated after that you have open the menu point “configure line” and you have stored the configuration settings of the modem.



 

PG5 does apply the following rules:

- If PG5 don’t have any entry on the registry key mentioned above or if the registry key mentioned above don’t exist, then PG5 does use the default TAPI settings (defined under the control panel, “phone and modem options”) of the selected modem.

- In the other case PG5 does use the modified TAPI settings stored under the registry key mentioned above.

Due to a problem of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, the SCOMMDRV.EXE can exhaust all available memory when using "socket communication" (Ether-S-Bus). The memory leak is related to the "Windows XP Themes" and Microsoft provides a patch for this problem.

Symptom
When using the Microsoft Windows XP Theme (see screenshot below), the Scommdrv.exe leaks memory every time a Ether-S-Bus (Socket) connection to a PCD is disconnected. This can lead to a system crash when all available memory is exhausted.


Reason
This problem occurs because of a bug in the implementation of the new Windows XP theming interface. MFC applications leak GDI objects on computers that are running Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP.

Solution
Please refer to the link below which points to the Microsoft Support page which explains the probelm and from where a patch can be downloaded.

Note
This problem concerns all applications using the SCommDrv.exe and communicating with Sockets (--> PG5, OPC Server etc.). WebConnect 2.x is only concerned if the SComm driver is selected.

There is a serious problem with AMD Athlon 64 X2 processors. The timing functions in the BIOS have a bug and can cause the SComm fail with strange status.

Symptom
On a PC equipped with e.g. an AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor it is possible that the SComm driver fails with strange status messages. We have observed this problem on AMD Athlon 64 X2 processors produced in 2006 but the problem can potentially happen on all multi-core processors.

Reason
There is a serious problem with some series of AMD Athlon 64 X2 processors. The timing functions in the BIOS have a bug and can cause the SComm fail with strange status. The problem seems to be related to the variable clock rate feature of the CPU.

Solution
Microsoft and AMD had to fix this problem. Please refer to the links attached to this FAQ and apply the mentioned update on your system if necessary.

How to detect if your CPU is affected?
There is a simple test program that allows to detect if a CPU is affected. Procede as follows:
- store the attached dll vb6fr.dll in your /windows/system32 folder unless it is already present there
- run the attached projet.exe and go to the second screen. If everything is OK the fourth value in form1 is a rather stable value in the order of 350, if you have a negative or very big value the CPU is affected by the problem

You can't connect over any channel to a PCD by using the SCommDll . The software firewall softwares "Zone Alarm Security", "Windows Defender" or "Bitdefender" block the SComm funktionality on PC's running MS XP.

Symptom
If the ScommDll is launched, the PC won't react on key strikes for more than 40 sec. After this time, an error message is displayed saying "SCommDll error, Socket not installed or wrong server IP number".

Reason
The software firewall "Zone Alarm Security" blocks the ScommDll (The SCommDll communicated to the SCommDrv over an IP stream on port 7000 that is blocked).

Solution
Zone Alarm must be uninstalled; only deactivating won't work in most cases. This phenomenon was only observed on Windows XP. On W2k it seems that the ScommDll works also with ZoneAlarm activated.
In case the Bitdefender is used either disabling or appropriately configuring should help.

Hints

• The behavior descripted above does also apply to many other Personal Firewalls (aka Desktop Firewalls, Internet Security Suites etc.). So if socket communication does not work, these security tools should be checked.
• Most Personal Firewalls can be configured by so called "rules", which allow to open certain ports for one or more applications. So instead of totally disable or uninstall der firewall software, it may be a better solution to define apropriate firewall rules which allow SCommDrv to communicate anyway.
  For the relevant PG5 parts SCommDll.dll and SCommDrv.exe to work the TCP port 7000 needs to be enabled on the local host!

It is possible to connect a PCD over a server. This means that the PCD is connected to a remote PC (server).

PG5 on the local PC will connect the SCommDrv on the remote PC and therefore reads the medias of the PCD connected to the remote PC.

• Run ScommDrv.exe on the server by double clicking the file in the installation directory of PG5 server installation.

• Once the icon is visible in the taskbar, open it (context menu of the icon, right mouse button)

• Select tab “Setup”. Set checkbox “Load on startup” (this will cause SCommDrv to be launched on system boot. This is required for that the clients can connect to it)

• Set “Server IP Address” to the interfaces address on which the clients are connected

• Set “Local IP Address” to the same interface, save and close the SCommDrv and unload it (context menu of the icon in the taskbar).

• Restart SCommDrv.exe (this is required for that the new settings will be read and applied)

Now the server is ready to answer to requests from clients (himself included) to establish a connection to a PCD connected to it’s interfaces. Several clients may connect one or several PCD’s at the same time.
The SCommDrv.exe must be running in order to answer these requests.

Setup of the SCommDrv.exe On the client PC :

If you want to use the S-Bus OPC-Server and PG5 on the same PC then you have to make attention to use the correct version of the S-Bus OPC-Server which fit with the corresponding version of the scommdll.

Nerveless it’ possible to run for example the S-Bus OPC-Server v 2.02.09.01 on a PC where PG5 V1.3 was installed.
In this case the S-Bus OPC-Server doesn’t have to use the scommdll of PG5 V1.3 but he has to use the scommdll (V 1.2) stored on the S-Bus OPC-Server installation package.
If PG5 and the OPC-Server use two different version of the scommdll then it’s not possible to go online with a PCD simultaneously with both tools.
To install the scommdll which is stored on the S-Bus OPC-Server installation package, during the installation of the S-Bus OPC-Server you have to select “Install SBC communication driver”.

If the SBC S-Bus OPC server was launched by a request of an OPC client located on another machine, the SCommDll (or SCommDrv) is not available for the user working on the PC where the OPC server is running.

This problem is caused by the fact that the Merz SBC S-Bus OPC Server (SaSBus.exe) was launched under the "Interactive User". As result the SaSBus as well as the SCommDrv and SCommDll will not appear in the system tray of the user (logged in). Nevertheless an instance of the SCommDll is running (under the "Interactive User") and it can't be started again by the logged in user.

The error messages will be something like "The driver is not available" or "Another instance of the driver is already running".

As workaround the logged in user has to launch the SaSBus before the OPC client will request data from the OPC server. Once the SBC S-Bus OPC server is started by the logged in user, it won't be started a second time by the Interactive User and therefore it will be possible to communicate over the same SCommDrv (logged in user and OPC Server).

Yes, the product Saia PCD® COSinus (PCD8.DNET-SUITE) does also contain the SBC S-Bus libraries (S-Bus Master and/or S-Bus Slave) based on the Microsoft .Net framework.

How is the Saia PCD® COSinus structured?
The Saia PCD® COSinus contains different components (S-Bus Master, S-Bus Slave, an interface for CGI calls to the PCD Web Server etc.) for easy integration of the communication interface for PCD systems into Windows applications. All the components are based on the Microsoft .Net framework.

This product (PCD8.DNET-SUITE) does contain the required libraries, documentation, examples (programmed in C#, C++ and VB) as well as access to updates and new features.

How do I get the Saia PCD® COSinus Suite?
The Saia PCD® COSinus Suite is an official product from Saia-Burgess Controls AG and can be optained from your local SBC representative (or support@saia-pcd.com)

Remarks

• The product Saia PCD® COSinus can't be found yet on the support homepage www.sbc-support.ch (the TI will be uploaded soon).
  
• The Saia PCD® COSinus suite is the replacement for the inofficial SCommDll toolkit which has been available until November 2007. The SCommDll toolkit is discontinued and is no longer available.