For integrators installing and configuring OPC, MatrikonOPC Sniffer is an objective investigator for troubleshooting OPC client/server interoperability issues. MatrikonOPC Sniffer does away with finger-pointing when OPC servers and clients don't communicate properly. It seamlessly logs the activity between OPC servers and clients to isolate interoperability issues and help solve problems quickly and easily.

Background Information
The creation of the OPC Foundation and the development of the OPC Specification have been essential to the progress of the interface market in process control industries to date. OPC provides a set of common interfaces for communicating with diverse process-control devices.

Sometimes, however, small differences in the interpretation of the OPC specification can lead to problems with interoperability between clients and servers. Even with compliance testing and certification, a number of issues may still arise.

How it Works
MatrikonOPC Sniffer is a drop-in component that transparently logs all client/server activity on standard OPC interfaces. This information is key to diagnosing, pinpointing and resolving OPC compliance, compatibility and interoperability issues in a non-biased and objective way.

The MatrikonOPC Sniffer is intended to be as simple as possible, both in terms of design and use. Conceptually, the component "shims" in between the OPC client and the OPC server to generate a log of detailed information about the interactions between the two pieces of software. The uncomplicated design of the OPC Sniffer allows it to perform this function transparently without influencing the system's behavior or introducing new errors.