Factory I/O OPC Client DA/UA cannot connect to remote TwinCAT OPC UA server (But locally works)

Support
1

Hello everyone,
This is my first contribution in the community.

I’m having an issue connecting Factory I/O to a TwinCAT 3 OPC UA server running on another PC / VM.

Setup

  • Factory I/O on PC: 192.168.1.30

  • TwinCAT 3 + OPC UA Server on another PC inside VM: 192.168.1.130

  • Same subnet, VM in bridged mode

TwinCAT OPC UA Server

  • Endpoint: opc.tcp://192.168.1.130:4840

  • Security: None / Anonymous (also with username)

  • PLC in RUN, symbols exported

  • OPC UA Sample Client can connect remotely and browse nodes

Network tests

  • ping 192.168.1.130 → OK

  • Test-NetConnection 192.168.1.130 -Port 4840 → OK

Factory I/O behavior

  • Using OPC Client DA/UA

  • Works perfectly when TwinCAT & Factory I/O are on the same PC

  • Fails when TwinCAT is on another PC/VM

  • Server appears as TcOpcUaServer@DESKTOP… (UA) but connection/browse fails

Gateway test

  • Beckhoff OPC UA Gateway installed

  • Gateway UA endpoint created on port 4850

  • Port reachable from Factory I/O PC

  • Factory I/O still cannot connect via DA/UA

Error Message

Error establishing a connection: 10060 – A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or the established connection failed because the connected host has failed to respond.

Question

Is this a known limitation of Factory I/O’s OPC Client DA/UA with remote OPC UA servers?
Is there a recommended way to connect Factory I/O to a remote TwinCAT OPC UA server?

Happy to provide full technical details if needed.

2

Hello @ahmed-bayoumi93,

First of all, I apologize for taking so long to reply to your post.
We managed to replicate your issue here. When running both applications on my computer, I managed to connect Factory I/O to the OPC Server. When we tried to connect a different computer to the server running on my computer, it would fail and return the same error you had.
To solve this, I had to add an exception to the firewall so that the OPC Server was reachable by other computers.

I hope this helps!