Step inside Opto HQ again for day 2 of groov EPIC training.

The Outside-In series brings you an outsider’s perspective into the way Opto 22 operates behind the scenes. Today, we’re back in Temecula, CA (not Australia… I know! I was surprised too) for the next day of groov EPIC® system factory training. If you missed the first day, the class was introduced to groov Manage and PAC Control™. Plus, we got to see Terry Orchard demo Linux® secure shell access on the EPIC.

Day 2 wraps-up PAC Control; and covers PAC Display™, groov View™, Ignition Edge® and CODESYS®. If you’re interested in the hands-on training available for HMI/SCADA development or IEC 61131-3 languages on the EPIC platform, keep reading.

Documenting the journey from the outside world into the world of Opto: First in a series.

After more than a decade as an automation engineer, I recently joined Opto 22’s marketing group. A few weeks ago, my workday was focused on maintaining the cell culture process automation of a world-class pharmaceutical manufacturer. This system had dozens of distributed controllers and hundreds of devices that worked together to deliver thousands of kilograms of the finest monoclonal antibodies you’ve ever seen. It was big.

What I enjoyed most about my job, though, was helping other engineers succeed. In the early years, I learned pretty quickly that you could take a group of smart people, give them bad tools, callous management, and a ridiculous schedule, and they would fail every time. I did the best I could to fix the managerial and scheduling issues, but the tools were always a limitation.

Now it’s my job to help connect other engineers with the kinds of tools and technologies I wish I’d had. I’m kicking it off with a deep-dive into the first place I visited as a new Opto employee: the training room.

If you’re wondering whether it’s worth your time and money to get some Opto training yourself, I’ll be walking through everything you can expect to experience.

In a recent blog post, Terry Orchard covered one of the programming options available on the groov EPIC: secure shell (SSH) access. If you’re familiar with Linux shell commands, you can use secure shell access to install application packages and add functionality to your groov EPIC Edge Programmable Industrial Controller.

For example, you could add a local database server.

Pick from three options to fit your time and budget.

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” — Benjamin Franklin

New technical note helps current SNAP PAC users decide if, when, and how to migrate to the new groov EPIC system.

Opto 22 customers have been relying on the SNAP PAC system for their controls and automation applications for over 10 years. But now you keep hearing about the new technology of the groov EPIC system. How is it different? Should you make the switch? What would be the benefits of upgrading, and what issues would arise from making the change?

The groov EPIC has always come pre-installed with Ignition Edge® by Inductive Automation® on board. Ignition Edge in the EPIC means you have OPC-UA drivers built in to communicate with other control systems (for example, Allen-Bradley and Siemens PLCs). It also means you can use MQTT/Sparkplug for more efficient and secure data communications. 

But starting with groov EPIC firmware version 1.4.0 (released in August 2019), that changes—in a good way. You now have the option to choose which edition of Ignition you run on your Edge Programmable Industrial Controller—either Ignition Edge or full Ignition.

Firmware update 1.4.0 is now available for the groov EPIC processor, GRV-EPIC-PR1.

Our engineering team released an exciting new update for groov EPIC this week. Here are some of the highlights.

Ready to start using your new GRV-EPIC-PR1, the groov EPIC Edge Programmable Industrial Controller? An EPIC can do so much more than a traditional controller.

But first, you'll need to activate it. Once you've activated, you can:

• Get future software and firmware updates
• Receive automatic notifications about updates
• Build and use web-based HMIs with groov View (the visualization software)

The recent announcement of security vulnerabilities discovered in the Wind River® VxWorks® IPnet TCP/IP stack has prompted questions from Opto 22 customers about what impact this discovery may have on TCP/IP-based products developed and manufactured by Opto 22.

Opto 22 would like to reassure our customers that, after careful and thorough review, we can state that none of our hardware or software products contain the VxWorks IPnet TCP/IP stack or variants of that software and are, therefore, not directly exposed to any attacks that might target these vulnerabilities. This statement applies to the recent Opto 22 product family groov EPIC® (edge programmable industrial controller), the groov® Edge Appliance (groov Box), the SNAP PAC® System, and SNAP Ethernet I/O® products.

These security vulnerabilities, dubbed URGENT/11 by Armis, an enterprise IoT security firm that made the discoveries, have far-reaching implications and affect an extremely large array of industrial, medical, and enterprise environments. These include mission-critical systems such as SCADA, industrial controllers, PLCs, PACs, and more. Other systems outside traditional industrial devices like patient monitors and MRI machines, as well as firewalls, routers, modems, VOIP phones, and printers are also affected.

As you might have read in previous blog posts, groov EPIC runs a Linux-based operating system that supports a variety of programming and operating options, including optional secure shell (SSH) access. SSH provides root access to the tools, software, and files on the groov EPIC system.

But how does SSH access work, what is it capable of, and is it right for you? In this post I’ll go into a bit more depth about secure shell and the Linux operating system (OS) on groov EPIC and provide answers to these questions.