For Live data, Historical data logging, Datalogging to MQTT broker, and Alarms & Notifications you'll need to set up a data source and add variables. This article shows you how to do this for communication via Plain-text TCP (previously called LoggerAPI).

Contrary to the other supported protocols, with Plain-text TCP the machine data is not requested by the edge gateway but needs to be actively sent by the machine to the edge gateway. This effectively means that from the machine you'll need to establish a TCP connection to the edge gateway and then send data over that connection using plain-text. Plain-text TCP is a line based protocol where each line is terminated by a newline (\n), or carriage return (\r).

Manufacturers that support Plain-text TCP: Beckhoff, Lenze, Sigmatek and more.

For help and solutions with issues, see Plain-text TCP data source issues and solutions.

• Add a data source
• Add variables
• Send data from the machine to the edge gateway
• Live data, Historical data logging, Alarms & Notifications

• Remove a data source

Add a data source

The machine will need to be added as a Plain-text TCP data source.

1. Go to Fleet Manager > Devices and click on your device name.
2. In the left menu, go to Data sources.
   • Tip: You can switch between the Card view , with useful data source information at a glance, and the List view . For more information, see Data sources overview FAQ.
3. Click onAdd data source and select Plain-text TCP.
4. Enter the requested information (details below) and click on Add.

   Field	Description
   Name	Enter a name for the data source.
   Identifier	The identifier is entered automatically and ensures that every data source remains unique, even if they share the same name.
   IP address	Enter the IP address of your machine. Leave empty for localhost, if you're using an IXagent, or if you're adding this data source for a Docker container on a SecureEdge Pro.
   Password	Choose a password of at least 6 characters. You will need this later on.
   Polling sleep time	The polling sleep time is the time that the machine can wait between sending data to the edge gateway. It is optional, but recommended to prevent flooding the edge gateway with data. A polling sleep time of 100ms is recommended to minimize CPU load on the edge gateway. This value can be requested by the machine by sending an INFO request to the edge gateway after establishing a TCP connection to the edge gateway, there it is called pullDelay. The rest of the INFO request's response can be ignored. It returns the entire data source configuration, which can be viewed in a user-friendly manner in the IXON Cloud. INFO
   Error grace period	Supported hardware SecureEdge and SecureEdge Pro, firmware 5.0 and up (upgrade) IXrouter3, firmware 3.25 and up (upgrade) IXrouter2 (unsupported) In rare situations, mainly during the startup period of a PLC, the PLC might already accept communication attempts from the edge gateway, but it may not be fully ready yet. It might then return errors or 0-values instead of the actual values. This may result in no data (missing data) or incorrect data being read. The error grace period can be configured to bridge this moment and only start receiving variables after the configured time, granting the PLC sufficient time to fully start up and maintaining the reliability of the machine data. An error grace period of 0 seconds (Off) is recommended. In the rare case that you are experiencing no data (missing data) or incorrect data during startup you can increase this setting to bridge that period.
   Use custom broker	Leave this unchecked unless you are following instructions for Datalogging to MQTT broker.

Add variables

Once you've added a data source, you can start adding variables.

5. The Variables tab of your data source should have automatically opened.
   • If it didn't: Go to Fleet Manager > Devices, click on your device name, go to Data sources, click on your data source, and go to the Variables tab.
6. Click onAdd variable.
7. Enter the requested information (details below) and click on Add.

   Field	Description
   Name	Enter a name for the variable.
   Identifier	The identifier is entered automatically and ensures that every variable remains unique, even if they share the same name.
   Type	Select the variable's data type (bool, int, float, etc). UINT64 is supported up to a value of 9.223.372.036.854.775.807 (263-1).
   Address	Choose an address for this variable (e.g. b1 or TemperatureZone6), you will need this later on.
   Factor	Multiplies the value. Leave empty if the data type is boolean. For information on where this factor is and isn't used, see How to use factors in Live Data and Historical data.
   Unit	Displayed behind the value (e.g. kg).

8. Repeat the previous steps for every variable you want to add or click Import from CSV-file near the top right corner to add variables in bulk instead.
   • The structure of the CSV file is explained here: Import variables: CSV file structure.
   • Using Export to CSV-file and Import from CSV-file enables you to easily copy variables from one device to another device. Alternatively, you can also use device templates.

You have now made the changes in the IXON Cloud, but these are not yet active in your device. You will need to push your changes to your device for them to take effect.

9. Click on Push device config in the top right corner.

Send data from the machine to the edge gateway

The edge gateway is now listening and waiting for data. From the connected machine, you'll now need to connect to the edge gateway and then send data.

Using a Beckhoff PLC? For additional information, see Tips for setting up Plain-text TCP on a Beckhoff PLC.

• Connect to the edge gateway
• Send data to the edge gateway

Connect to the edge gateway

The edge gateway is listening on port 9230 for a TCP connection. The exact steps on how to establish a TCP connection from your machine may differ per manufacturer.

10. Establish a TCP connection from your machine to the edge gateway's LAN IP address on port 9230 (use 127.0.0.1 if you're using an IXagent). For example, using netcat.

    netcat 192.168.140.1 9230

    Note that you can close the connection using the EXIT command:

    EXIT

If all went well, you should see the edge gateway's reply "HELO", together with internal version numbers that can be ignored.

Now that you have a TCP connection, you need to connect to the data source that you created. To do so you'll need to know the IP address and password you entered when you created the data source.

11. Run the following command to establish a connection to the data source. Replace  DATA_SOURCE_IP_ADDRESS and DATA_SOURCE_PASSWORD with the IP address and password you entered for the data source earlier:

    DEVC DATA_SOURCE_IP_ADDRESS DATA_SOURCE_PASSWORD

    For example:

    DEVC 192.168.140.10 123456

    If all went well, you should see the edge gateway's reply "DEVC OK".

    Are you receiving an error back from the edge gateway? Below is an overview of common errors.

    Error	Description
    deviceip not found	The entered IP address does not match with any data source. When using the DEVC command, make sure to enter the same IP address as was entered in the data source. Do not enter the IP address of the edge gateway.

Send data to the edge gateway

Now that you're connected, you can start sending data. To do so, you'll need to know the variable's address that you chose when you created the variable in the IXON Cloud.

12. Send data to the edge gateway using this syntax for one variable:

    @address=value

    Or multiple variables separated by a newline (\n) or carriage return (\r).

    @address=value\n@address=value\n@address=value\n

    Note that newlines are not allowed in arguments unless escaped. Arguments may be separated by several spaces, though recommended is the absolute minimum: no spaces if another separator was used or one space if the space is the separator.

    The syntax differs per data type. Below is an overview including examples.

    Data type	Details and example
    Boolean	t=True f=False Example: @bool=f
    Integer	Numerical value. Example: @int=153
    Float	Point separated value. Example: @float=152.7
    String	The exact string length (max. 254) separated from the string value by a comma. Example: @string=6,Halted

Live data, Historical data logging, Alarms & Notifications

Now that the data source and variables have been set up, you can continue below.

13. Click below to continue in the feature specific articles.
    • Live data
    • Historical data logging
    • Datalogging to MQTT broker
    • Alarms & Notifications

Remove a data source

Deleting a data source is permanent and cannot be undone. All logged data that is linked to this data source or its variables will also be permanently removed.

1. Go to Fleet Manager > Devices and click on your device name.
2. In the left menu, go to Data sources.
3. Click on the data source you wish to remove.
4. In the top right, open More optionsand select Remove data source.