Configuration Tool Overview

The MTConnect Server Configuration Tool is your main configuration utility for setting up and maintaining the MTConnect Server Service. It provides a means to specify the properties of the MTConnect agents. The configuration tool is a client of the MTConnect server service. The MTConnect server service maintains the driver’s agent objects and performs all required functions for communicating with the agents. The configuration of the MTConnect server service is stored in a XML configuration file which is read by the server service at start-up or by request by the configuration tool. The configuration tool is the user front-end to modify the XML configuration file of the server service.

The following image shows this relation between Configuration Tool and Driver Service:

The MTConnect Server Configuration Tool reads its configuration from the configuration file MTConnectServerConfigTool.exe.config.

Note: The configuration file of a program always has the same name as the program executable (EXE) file with the extension .config. It has to be located in the same folder as the program’s EXE file.

MTConnect Server Service reads its configuration from the configuration file MTConnectServerService.exe.config. This configuration contains all OPC UA related parameters as well as the entire MTConnect configuration like agents, event types, trace settings etc.

The configuration settings are read on start-up of the server service.

The server configuration tool edits the configuration file of the server service.

Note: The configuration file of the server service contains a well-formed XML structure, To keep this structure consistent, only the configuration tool is allowed to make changes in the server service’s configuration file.

Do not modify the configuration file “by hand” via a XML- or text editor!

The path and name of the server service’s configuration file is stored as a configuration value in the configuration tool’s configuration file. The following figure shows the

key (MTConnectServerServiceConfigFilePathAndName) and

value (C:\Program Files (x86)\GE Digital\MTConnect\MTConnectServerService.exe.config)

within the appSettings section of the configuration tool’s default configuration file.

The path (left) portion of the value is automatically set by the setup program to the selected installation folder. The file name (right) portion is fixed. It is built by the fixed name of the server service program name "MTConnectServerService.exe" and the extension ".config". This configuration value may not be changed "by hand". If you want to move the MTConnect Server to another folder, you must uninstall and reinstall the program via the setup program!