Introduction¶

This document provides an overview on how to use existing MindConnect agents as a Gateway device for accessing devices like PCs, PLCs in plant network remotely via Industrial IoT. The scope of this document is valid for MindConnect Nano, MindConnect IoT2040, MindConnect IoT2050. Following are the remote devices applications accessed by Gateway device

• Remote Desktop Machine.
• Access Web Server of PLC.
• TIA Portal Download.

Overview¶

This section describes the technical overview of the solution using MindConnect agents as Gateway Application to access Remote devices. For more information on Remote Services, see Remote Services - Overview

MindConnect agent is the Gateway (GW) device required to access the devices in the secondary network as shown in the image as device networks.

Gateway device is connected to Industrial IoT on one side and to the device network on the other side. This helps to understand the network implementation required for this solution. To connect to devices in your production network, you need IP Address for example IP address of your PLC.

The PC Station in the Service Network side is the Remote PC and in the Device network side there are field devices and Gateways connected as shown.

Pre-Requisites¶

MindConnect agents such as MindConnect Nano, MindConnect IoT2040, MindConnect IoT2050 are onboarded and are ingesting data. To enable MinConnect agent to access Remote Services below are the pre-requisites

Pre-Requisites

Steps involved in configuration of Agent¶

To configure the Agent from Launchpad, follow these steps

1. Download Service Endpoint files.
2. Copy Asset ID in Asset Manager Plugin and enable Remote Services on the Agent device.
3. Enable Remote Services on the Agent device.

4. Create the Gateway Device.

5. Verifying User Grants in Remote Services application V1.

6. Configure the following applications

   • Remote Desktop application
   • Web application
   • Proxy Unaware or TIA Portal download application

Download Files from Service Endpoint¶

To download files from Service Endpoint in Remote Services V2, follow these steps

1. Open Remote Services V2 application in the Launchpad.

2. Switch to “Remote User” and click “Download”, Operating system selection window is displayed.

   

3. Select the OS windows option and click “Download”.

   

4. Extract the downloaded files.

   

5. Execute “rs-client.exe”.

6. For TIA Portal Download, execute "RStransparentProxy.msi" windows installer package for Proxy Unaware application.

   Note

   In case your application does not need Proxy Unaware application ignore skip step 6.

Copy Asset ID from Asset Manager Plugin¶

After downloading the files from Service Endpoint, copy and note the Asset ID. To copy an Asset ID, follow these Steps

1. Open Asset Manager application from Launchpad and click "View your assets".
   

   [

2. Enter your asset name in Assets search option and select the device.

3. In the Asset Manager page URL, the value after “selected=” is an Asset ID, Copy Asset ID and store the data.
   

   [

Enable Remote service from Asset Manager Plugin¶

Once the Asset ID is noted, continue the following steps to enable the Remote Service

1. Open the MindConnect agent plugin as shown in Asset manager.

   

2. Click [ as shown.

   

3. In the Remote Services section, enable MRS toggle.

   

Once the RS agent is enabled proceed to configure the secondary device for applications.

Creating the Gateway device¶

To Create Gateway device in Remote Services V2 application, follow these Steps

1. Open Remote Services V2 application in the Launchpad and switch to Tenant Admin role.
   

2. Click "Create Device".

   

3. Enter the following details in the create device window and click “Enter”.
   

   Field	Details
   Device Name	MindConnect Nano
   Device Type	Gateway
   Asset ID	Enter the Asset ID noted
   Company	Company name
   Product	All
   Billing ID	Specify
   Email	Specify mail for contact at site and contact for Device.

4. Specify country, city and fill optional parameters required and click “Save”.
   

Verifying User Grants in Remote Services application V1¶

Check for Attribute based grants or Single System Grants in the user management of the Remote Service V1 application before accessing the remote devices in remote user role in Remote Service V2 application in case of an error, error message is displayed.

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