What is N3uron: IIoT edge platform, nodes and modules, Allen-Bradley PLCs, Links, Historian, redundancy and licensing

N3uron is an industrial edge platform for IIoT and DataOps: it collects data from PLCs, meters and other devices, gives the data a structure, and delivers it to historians, MQTT brokers, databases, SCADA systems and cloud platforms. It is often installed next to a running control system rather than in place of it. This article explains how N3uron is built, from the N3uron Knowledge Base for versions 1.21 and 1.22: nodes and modules, tags and quality codes, the EtherNet/IP Client for Allen-Bradley PLCs, Links between nodes, the Historian and Web Vision, redundancy, the WebUI and licensing. For historians in general, see What is a process historian.

1. A node and its modules

An N3uron installation is a node, and what the node does depends on the modules it runs. N3uron groups its modules in three sets:

• Data acquisition: drivers that read devices and systems, for example Modbus, Siemens S7, OPC UA, OPC DA, DNP3, IEC 60870-5-104, BACnet, SNMP, MQTT, SQL and REST, plus a Custom Client for building other protocols.
• Data delivery: modules that pass data on, for example MQTT and Sparkplug publishing, OPC UA Server, Modbus and DNP3 servers, SQL Client, REST API Server, file exporters and a one-way Data Diode module.
• Edge computing and visualisation: Historian, Derived Tags for calculations and aggregation, Linked Tags, Scripting based on Node.js, an Audit Trail, a Redundancy Agent and the Web Vision HMI.

2. Tags, quality and templates

Every tag in N3uron carries a value, a timestamp and a quality, and can also have alarms, history and metadata. Quality codes follow levels of Good, Uncertain and Bad with a number, for example:

A node holds local tags, which belong to its own data model, and remote tags, which come from another node through a Link. Templates build tags in an object-oriented way: a change to the template definition is inherited by every instance.

3. Reading Allen-Bradley PLCs

From N3uron version 1.22, the EtherNet/IP Client module connects to devices that use EtherNet/IP. Its supported controller types include ControlLogix-class PLCs (CompactLogix included), PLC-5, SLC 500, MicroLogix and Micro800, as well as Omron NJ and NX. It offers a browser with drag and drop to bring controller tags into the N3uron data model, unlimited tags and devices, and an array block size setting that reduces the number of separate reads.

4. Links between nodes

Nodes exchange data through N3uron Links. According to the Knowledge Base, a Link:

• encrypts data with TLS 1.3, and each node's certificate must be approved by a user on both sides;
• stores data locally during an outage and sends it when the connection returns; 100 million events take about 1 GB of disk;
• is bi-directional once connected, so commands can be sent back to a remote node;
• needs no open ports at the remote site, because the remote node can start the connection outward;
• is compressed to work over slow links such as 2G and satellite.

Inbound connections listen on TCP port 3001 by default. The Knowledge Base recommends naming each remote node that may connect, rather than accepting non-specific nodes.

5. Historian and Web Vision

The Historian module stores time-series data in MongoDB. On x64 systems a MongoDB instance is embedded, but it does not run on recent operating systems such as Debian 12 or Ubuntu 22 and later, where an external MongoDB is needed; on 32-bit and ARM systems an external MongoDB is always required. N3uron states more than 100,000 inserts per second, and about 150 million value changes per GB of disk. Data collected on other nodes keeps its store-and-forward protection when it reaches the Historian through Links. Stored data is read in the WebUI, exported to CSV, or retrieved as JSON through the REST API Server module.

Web Vision is the HMI module: screens run in any modern browser without plug-ins, and like other N3uron modules it is unlimited in tags, connections, devices, designers and clients.

6. Redundancy

From version 1.21, two N3uron nodes can run as a redundant pair: a primary node, which is always active when available, and a backup node, which takes over while the primary is down. The two nodes may run on different operating systems, but must use the same versions of modules and bootstrap, and N3uron recommends a dedicated connection between them. The pair talks over TCP port 3002 by default. Two points from the Knowledge Base deserve care: after the redundancy mode changes, the primary overwrites the configuration and stored data of the backup when they reconnect; and if the backup does not connect within the initial standby time, the primary becomes active without synchronising, so data stored or configuration changed while the backup was active can be lost.

7. WebUI and licensing

The WebUI configures and monitors a node in a browser, by default on port 8003 for HTTP and 8443 for HTTPS, and HTTP can be switched off to force secure connections. N3uron ships with two default accounts, admin and user, whose default password is published in the documentation; we change it when the node is set up. Licensing is per module and tied to the node: the licence file is generated for the node's UID and host name. A module that uses tags from another node through a Link needs a remote licence rather than a local one. Unlicensed modules run in a two-hour trial that can be restarted any number of times, side by side with licensed modules. Before uninstalling N3uron or moving to a new computer, the node must be unlicensed first, or the licence is lost.

What we settle before installing a node

These are TDL's working habits, not N3uron requirements:

• Which PLCs and protocols each node reads, and the N3uron version that supports them.
• Where the data goes: a historian, an MQTT broker, a SCADA system or a cloud platform, and which delivery module that needs.
• Which node starts each Link, so that no inbound port has to be opened at the plant.
• The node UID and host name before ordering licences, and the unlicensing step before any computer change.

How TDL approaches it

TDL Industrial Automation is a Certified Integrator of N3uron, listed on N3uron's partner page. We add N3uron alongside the existing control system for data collection, without changing the programs that run the plant. For an N3uron to Canary Historian setup over MQTT Sparkplug B, see N3uron to Canary Historian. More on this service: N3uron integrator in Vietnam.