Functionalities
This page outlines the high-level features provided by the Device Mirroring Module.
Core Features
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Gateway-to-Gateway Architecture: The solution relies on two components. A "Tag Mirroring Module" is installed on the source (Production) gateway, and the "Device Mirroring Module" is installed on the destination (Development/Test) gateway.
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Whitelist / Blacklist Filtering: Administrators don't have to mirror everything. You can configure whitelists and blacklists to strictly limit and control exactly which devices should be watched and mirrored to the destination server.
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"Fake Driver" Replication: On the destination gateway, the module creates the exact same number of devices (than whitelisted/blacklist) with the exact same names as the source. Instead of polling a physical PLC, it uses a "fake driver" to receive the data.
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Real-Time Data Streaming: OPC tag data updates are streamed live from the source to the destination gateway in real-time, providing an unadulterated feed of machine data.
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Total Isolation: The data stream acts as a one-way mirror. The destination gateway is perfectly isolated, ensuring there is zero risk of damaging or slowing down the production server regardless of what developers do on the destination side.
Integration Points
Rather than acting as a bolted-on external tool, the Device Mirroring Module is deeply embedded into Ignition’s core architecture. It interacts with the platform across five critical layers:
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Raw Device Driver Replication (via OPC-Tags) : The module bypasses Ignition's standard tag database (Ignition Tags) and taps directly into the raw data stream. It is capable of replicating data from any native Ignition device driver (Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Modbus, etc.) strictly at the OPC-Tag level. This ensures the data is mirrored exactly as it comes from the PLC, before any scaling, scripting, or alarming is applied.
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Universal OPC-UA Data Replication : In addition to native device drivers, the module can also mirror any third-party OPC-UA data source connected to the gateway. Just like the device drivers, this data is replicated entirely through raw OPC-Tags, guaranteeing an unadulterated feed of information from the source to the destination server.
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Native Device Lifecycle Management (Fake Drivers) : The module interacts directly with the destination gateway's internal architecture to manage connections. It natively and automatically handles the creation and removal of "fake" device drivers on the destination gateway. If a device is added to the watch list on the production server, the module natively generates the corresponding fake driver on the dev server with an identical structure.
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Seamless Webserver and Network Integration : To transfer the data, the module natively utilizes Ignition's main internal webserver. The source gateway streams the data to the destination gateway via a webservice that piggybacks on the exact same port configured for the destination gateway (typically 8088 for HTTP or 8043 for HTTPS). This makes IT and network integration incredibly simple, as it requires no new firewall rules or custom port openings.
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Native Gateway UI Presence : The module is fully integrated into the standard Ignition Gateway web interface. Administrators do not need to use a separate application to manage the mirroring; the module injects its own configuration menus and real-time monitoring metrics directly into the native Status and Config pages of the Ignition Gateway.