# Open Protocol

## Configuring open protocol

1. In the Plant structure workspace select a controller .

2. Select the Virtual Station tab .
   The virtual station overview shows a list of virtual stations for the selected controller. The list is empty if no virtual stations have been created.

3. Double-click on a virtual station to open an existing configuration, or click Add to create a new virtual station configuration.

4. Click on Configure in the Protocols menu.

- The virtual station Open protocol configuration switch allows a user to enable or to disable Open protocol communication between a virtual station and the integrator, which is part of the factory control equipment.

  Select On or Off to enable or disable the Open protocol communication

  The Open protocol uses the same factory ethernet connection on the controller that is used for configuration or for delivering tightening results.

  Each virtual station is uniquely identified by a port number. For each virtual station using the open protocol, a port number must be entered in the port field.

- The legacy counter setting counts all tightenings in a sequence and outputs that number to secondary systems. To enable this setting, set Use legacy counter to On.

- SoftPLC Index is used to map where in the shared memory the Open Protocol commands are to be written. The default value is 1 but it is possible to enter values 1 to 6.

As the default value for SoftPLC Index is always 1 and no check is made if it already has been used, there is a possibility that you may have configured the system so that the same index is configured several times when adding Virtual stations. In this case the Soft PLC will not be able to determine from which Virtual Station the incoming MID is originating from.