RetroBridge on Windows¶
RetroBridge on Windows offers the full protocol set: OPC Classic DA, Modbus TCP, Emerson ROC Plus, and DNP3. OPC Classic DA is only available on Windows, because the DA protocol is built on COM.
Supported platform¶
- Windows on x86-64.
- The RetroBridge node itself is a single native service binary, the same platform code as a Flowgate node. For OPC Classic DA it launches one supervised bridge process per DA server, and those bridge processes require the .NET Framework 4.8 runtime. The other protocols do not use .NET.
- There is no packaged installer yet; installation is currently manual, done together with H2 Innovations. The planned installer will bundle the runtime prerequisites, register the service, and apply the file permissions described below in one step.
OPC Classic DA specifics¶
- The DA server must run on the same machine as RetroBridge. Wrapping a DA server on a remote machine over DCOM is not yet supported.
- RetroBridge resolves a DA server by its ProgID through the standard OPCEnum service, which is present on machines where OPC Classic servers are installed.
- Each configured DA server gets its own supervised bridge process, so one failing server never takes down the node or the other bridges.
Service¶
The node runs as the Windows service RetroBridgeNode. Registration is currently a
manual step; configure the service recovery options to restart on failure, which is
also how a restart requested from the management console takes effect.
Network¶
| Port | Direction | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 17080 | Inbound | The node's OPC UA endpoint. Deliberately different from Flowgate's 17070 so both products can share one machine. |
| 8080 (or as configured) | Inbound | Web management console, HTTPS. When RetroBridge shares a machine with a Flowgate node, configure a different port, for example 8081. |
| 17071 | Outbound | Optional uplink to a parent Flowgate node's Reverse Connect listener. |
| Device ports | Outbound | Modbus TCP, ROC Plus, and DNP3 connections dial the address and port you configure per device; these protocols have no fixed default port in RetroBridge. |
The OPC Classic DA link is local COM on the same machine and uses no network port.
Storage¶
The working layout keeps everything under one tree, for example C:\RetroBridge:
the node configuration file, the PKI directory (the node provisions its own identity
there on first run), state, and log files.
Locking down the install tree is required
By default, files created under a fresh directory inherit permissions that let any local account read them, including the node's private key and configuration. Restrict the install tree to SYSTEM and Administrators before putting the node into service:
icacls C:\RetroBridge /inheritance:r /grant:r "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F" "BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)F"
Hardware¶
No formal minimum specification has been published yet. RetroBridge nodes in the validation lab run alongside vendor DA servers on ordinary Windows machines.