DNP3 Managed Outstation Service
SolarNetwork has added a fully-managed Distributed Network Protocol 3 (DNP3 ) Remote Substation (often referred to as an Outstation) server service, that DNP3 compliant Control Center (often referred to as Master) applications can integrate with. DNP3 is commonly used in the energy and water utility industries, and provides a convenient method of monitoring and controlling distributed industrial equipment in real time such as power inverters, meters, switches, and dynamic parameters.
A DNP3 outstation presents a list of readable measurement data points and a list of modifiable control data points to the connected client. In SolarNetwork, the measurements are configured as SolarNode datum stream properties, and controls are configured as node controls. A single outstation can thus expose measurement and control data points across any node associated with your SolarNetwork account.
The measurement and control entities can be defined using a simple comma separated values (CSV) formatted file. You can also see our example Google Sheet to use as a starting point.
Robust management API
The new SolarUser DNP3 API provides a complete API for managing DNP3 outstation servers within your SolarNetwork account. Each outstation is independently configured with authorization, measurement, and control settings.
Strong network security
SolarNetwork uses TLS based encryption with mutal authentication (often referred to as X.509 client certificates) to provide both an encrypted connection and client authorization. You configure a set of “trusted” certificate authorities in your SolarNetwork account, and then a set of allowed client certificate identities on each outstation. Only clients with the certificates that you specify, signed by a certificate authority you trust, are allowed to connect to your DNP3 outstations.
Simple management UI
We have added an easy-to-use management user interface to SolarNetwork. With point-and-click simplicity you can provision as many DNP3 outstation servers as you like. They become available immediately.
Get started with DNP3 in SolarNetwork
If you are interested in using SolarNetwork’s DNP3 support, reach out to us and we’ll be happy to help you get started!
