Introduction - Developer Documentation
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Overview of MindConnect Software Agent

MindConnect Software Agent is a pure software solution to connect industrial data sources with Insights Hub. It allows connecting with Insights Hub, collect local data and send it encrypted to Insights Hub.

MindConnect Software Agent is a virtual representation of the MindConnect firmware which can be installed on Windows 10 system which supports Hyper-V and also can be installed on Linux systems which supports Docker.

The following graphic shows the MindConnect Software Agent:

mindconnect-software-agent

Note

The online and offline firmware updates from V3.5 to V3.6 for MindConnect Software Agent are not supported. To update the firmware, you need to uninstall MindConnect Software Agent V3.5 current version and install MindConnect Software Agent V3.6 latest version manually using MindConnect Software Agent InstallShield setup.

Prerequisites

The following prerequisites apply to install MindConnect Software Agent on a Windows PC or IPC and Docker in Linux:

Operating system Windows Linux
Supported versions Windows 10 with Hyper-V support (e.g.Windows 10 Professional or Enterprise) Linux (Debian 10.8 (buster))
Supported architecture Intel 64 (amd64)
Disk space 8.5GB 1.5GB
Necessary applications - dialog
- docker
- docker-compose
- xz
Time synchronization Automatic time synchronization of the host should be switched off so that the MCSA Docker container can synchronize the system time with Insights Hub server time.
MCSA configuration MCSA Hyper-V VM MCSA Docker containers
RAM 4GB 4GB
CPU cores 2 2
Disk space 15GB 2GB

Features

The following features are supported with MindConnect Software Agent:

Windows Linux
- Install Shield based setup - Shell script based Linux installer
- MindConnect Nano core functionality, except USB stick support - Dialog based configuration script for managing MCSA Docker containers
- MindConnect Edge Analytics
Local web UI (Windows) Local web UI (Linux)
- Onboarding support - Onboarding support
- Shows current device status and information - Shows current device status and information
- Diagnosis support includes download of diagnosis, log, and system files - Diagnosis support includes the download of diagnosis, logs and system files and cloud connection check
- Manual firmware update - Manual firmware update
- Factory reset - Factory reset
- Log file upload control - Log file upload control
- Change system time support - Change system time support
- Localization in English and German - Localization in English and German
Supported protocols (Windows) Supported protocols (Linux)
- S7 - S7
- OPC UA - OPC UA
- Modbus TCP - Modbus TCP
- Rockwell (Ethernet/IP CIP) - Rockwell (Ethernet/IP CIP)
- System information - System information
- S7+ 1 - S7+ 1
- Fanuc Focas 1 - Sinumerik 1
- Sinumerik 1 - IEC61850 1
- IEC61850 1 - MTConnect 1
- MTConnect 1

Note

  • To use these (1) protocols, you need version MindConnect Software Agent V03.06.00.00 b008 and "MC Advanced package".
  • Currently Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge web browsers are supported only.

General Features Overview

Protocols Windows Docker (INTEL64)
Basics
Onboarding via USB Stick notavailable notavailable
Onboarding via WebServer available available
Diagnostics via USB-Stick notavailable notavailable
Diagnostics via Webserver available available
Local Firmware Update (Webserver) available available
Local Firmware Update (USB) notavailable notavailable
Remote Firmware Update available available
Remote Restart available available
Additional Options
Datapoint Browsing (see also data source details) available available
File Transfer (File Storage or Integrated Data Lake) available 🟒 Q1 23
Remote Service gateway (MRS) notavailable notavailable
Network routing available available
Performance
Read performance (datapoints/sec) Depends on used hardware Depends on used hardware
Maximum number of connections (data sources) Depends on used hardware Depends on used hardware
Maximum number of datapoints 1050 1050

Protocols Feature Overview

Protocols Windows Docker (INTEL64) Bi-Directional communication Minimum read cycle Browsing
Basics
S7 available available available 1 sec notavailable
OPC UA available available available 1 sec available
Modbus TCP IP available available notavailable 1 sec notavailable
Modbus RTU notavailable notavailable notavailable 1 sec notavailable
Rockwell available available notavailable 1 sec notavailable
Simatic I/O Shield notavailable notavailable notavailable 1 sec 🟒
System available available notavailable 1 sec 🟒
Advanced Drivers
S7+ available available available 50 ms available
Sinumerik available available available 50 ms notavailable
IEC61850 available available notavailable 50 ms available
MT Connect available available available 50 ms available
Fanuc Focas available available notavailable 50 ms 🟒
BACNet 🟒 Q2 23 available available available 50 ms notavailable

Note

  • available = supported
  • notavailable = not supported
  • 🟒 = in development

Last update: May 24, 2023