Recommended PCo Layout

[Former Member]

In all of the documents I have read about PCo's infrastructure, the "typical" layout is placing PCo and the opc server at the plant level with the control system.  Is this the recommended solution?  I agree with this solution, but there is a request to see if PCo and/or the OPC Server can reside in the cloud with the other Cloud based MII/ME Servers?  I personally would not like to see this, but what have you done in your work experience?   What does SAP recommend other than the "typical" layout. 

[alexander_teslyuk · Accepted solution]

Hi

I do not understand how OPC server can reside in Cloud and why. I think you should formulate the requirement better.

However, I can confirm that since PCo 15.1, it can post data to IoT service in SAP HANA Cloud using restful webservice calls. Then you can process any historian data in HANA Cloud if needed.

Br, Alex.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I understand and know that the OPC cannot reside in the cloud, but management wants to look into all possibilities.  I have always placed OPC Server and PCo at the plant level to remove additional points of failure.  In our case we are not looking at historian data, and I think the best layout is at the plant level.

[former_member196557 · Accepted solution]

Look at this from the technical side. OPC Device communications are very chatty, and have restrictive requirements for communications reliability. If your manufacturing automation requires low latency and fast response, it will likely be more difficult to obtain this with OPC <->WAN<->LAN<->Device than without WAN in the middle. There may also be security requirements that will impact how you expose shop floor LAN IP Addresses and ports to a cloud WAN. Many shop floor LAN are set up as non-routable subnets and these would have to be re-architected or have additional router/VPN solutions in place to provide connectivity; with PCo/OPC severs on the LAN, it is relatively simple to multi-home the PCo server to have connectivity to both LAN and WAN separately and isolated.

Regards, Steve

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks, Steve.  This is what I was looking for!