The GagePort Mitutoyo OPC Server is implemented as a Microsoft COM (Component Object Model) object. DCOM (Distributed COM) provides the framework and the services required to deploy COM objects in a distributed environment. One of these services is security. DCOM security leverages the underlying Microsoft® Windows® operating system security services. If you are familiar with Windows security issues, you will find that there are a few security issues unique to the distributed environment.
To better understand the security issues that can affect a connection between an OPC client and the GagePort Mitutoyo OPC Server, this section provides an overview of DCOM related security. The topic of DCOM security (and Windows security for that matter) is extensive and can be confusing. There are several books dedicated to these topics alone. What is presented here is a synopsis of the issues that affect OPC client / server interactions.
DCOM security topics can be broken down into four areas (for definition purposes):
Authentication. |
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Authorization. |
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Activation and |
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Launch identity. |
Note: Activation security is unique to DCOM.
Registry settings for off-node clients. |
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OPC Servers. |
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Getting Started with the GagePort Mitutoyo OPC Server. |