Protocol support files are exposed as Variables organised in the ProtocolSupport folder. They may represent various types of information as defined by a protocol. Examples are a GSD or a CFF file. The “ProtocolSupport” Folder is formally defined in Table 23.

Table 23 – ProtocolSupport definition

Attribute	Value
BrowseName	ProtocolSupport
References	NodeClass	BrowseName	TypeDefinition	DataType	ModellingRule
HasTypeDefinition	ObjectType	FolderType (defined in OPC 10000-5)
HasComponent	Variable	<ProtocolSupportIdentifier>	BaseDataVariableType	ByteString	MandatoryPlaceholder

All protocol support files are transferred as a ByteString. The BrowseName of each Variable shall consist of the complete filename including the extension that can be used to identify the type of information.