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Devices
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A device is one connection from Scada.Ink to one piece of equipment: a PLC, a CNC control, a robot, a meter, a barcode scanner, a camera, or a software source such as a simulator. Each device uses one driver (protocol). Data from a device reaches the rest of the product through tag subscriptions: you pick which of the device's data points to read, and those become tags that dashboards, alarms, the historian, OEE, scripts and workflows use. See Tags.
The Devices page
Open Devices in the sidebar. The page shows one card per device, sorted by name.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Search devices... | Filters the cards by device name or IP address (not by machine name). |
| Scan Network | Opens the Network Scanner. |
| Add Simulator | Creates a simulator device named "Simulated Machine" with 15 CNC-style tags, in one click. You can click it more than once. See Simulator Devices. |
| Add Demo Device | Creates "Demo CNC Machine". Shown only while no demo device exists. See Built-in Devices. |
| Add Device | Opens the four-step wizard. See Adding a Device. |
Each card shows the device name with its device ID next to it, the protocol name, IP:port and the machine name. The device ID is what the API, scripts and Advanced Driver Settings use to refer to this device. The badge in the corner is the live connection state:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Online | The driver reports the device connected. |
| Connecting | A connection attempt is in progress. |
| Offline | Anything else: disconnected, stopped on purpose, disabled, or in error. Open the device or Driver Health to see why. |
| SIM | A simulator device (always shown instead of the connection state). |
Click a card to open the Device Detail page.
Who can do what
| Action | Roles |
|---|---|
| View devices, live values, browse tags | Any signed-in user who can open the page |
| Add, edit, connect, disconnect devices; subscribe tags; run the Tag Locator; add simulator or demo devices | admin, editor |
| Simulate / Stop (random test data) | admin only |
| Delete Device | admin only |
Buttons are shown to everyone; a user without the role gets an error when they click. The Devices and Scanner pages are part of the license's page features.
Supported drivers
The wizard groups drivers as below. Browse means the Browse Tags tab returns something useful; for several drivers it returns a fixed example list rather than reading the device (noted in each guide). UI config says whether every setting the driver needs can be entered in the UI, either in the wizard or later under Settings → Driver Settings; where it says API, some settings can only be set through the API — see Advanced Driver Settings.
| Driver (wizard name) | Default port | Browse | Write | UI config | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MTConnect | 5007 | Yes (reads /probe) | No | Complete | CNC |
| Fanuc FOCAS | 8193 | Fixed list | No | Complete, needs Fanuc library | CNC |
| ControlLogix, CompactLogix | 44818 | Yes (reads controller) | Yes | Complete | Allen-Bradley |
| SLC 500, MicroLogix | 44818 | Fixed list | Yes | Complete; tag list via API | Allen-Bradley |
| Siemens S7 | 102 | Fixed examples, or symbols imported from TIA Portal | Yes | Complete | Siemens |
| Siemens S7 (OPC UA) | 4840 | Yes (reads the CPU's tags by name) | Yes | Complete | Siemens by tag name |
| Omron FINS | 9600 | Fixed examples | Yes | Complete; tag list via API | Omron |
| Mitsubishi MELSEC | 5007 | Fixed examples | Yes | Complete; tag list via API | Mitsubishi |
| AutomationDirect | 502 | Preset list | Yes | Complete | Other PLCs |
| GE / Emerson SRTP | 18245 | Address ranges | Yes | Complete (Address Ranges) | Other PLCs |
| SECS/GEM | 5000 | From equipment | ECV/RCMD | API | SECS/GEM |
| OPC-UA | 4840 | Yes (reads server) | Yes | Complete; namespace filter via API | OPC-UA & MQTT |
| Modbus TCP | 502 | Holding registers 0–9 | Yes | Complete | Modbus |
| Modbus RTU | none | Holding registers 0–9 | Yes | Complete | Modbus |
| MQTT | 1883 | Received topics | Publish | Complete | OPC-UA & MQTT |
| EtherNet/IP (Generic) | 44818 | Identity object | Configured tags | API | EtherNet/IP |
| HTTP / REST API, Custom JSON, Custom XML | 80 | Configured tags | No | API | HTTP & Custom |
| Raw TCP | none | Configured tags | Configured tags | API | HTTP & Custom |
| Barcode / QR Scanner, Weigh Scale | 9004 / 4001 | Fixed tags | command tag | Complete (TCP or serial) | Scanners & Scales |
| Universal Robots, KUKA (KUKAVARPROXY), FANUC Robot | 29999 / 7000 / 44818 | Fixed tags | UR/KUKA | Defaults work; extras via API | Robots |
| Machine Vision (camera) | 80 | Tool tags | Settings | Vision page | Vision |
| Demo Simulator, Simulator, Local Tags | none | — | Simulator/Local | Use the Devices page buttons | Built-in |
The Scada Appliance device (the board's own I/O) is created and managed by the system, not the wizard.