As introduced in 4.7, logical connection establishment may be executed by a ConnectionManager. If present on a Server, the ConnectionManager is represented in the Information Model by ConnectionManagerType (see 6.7). To start the establishment of logical connections, the ConnectionManager could be triggered by vendor-specific means or by a Client using the ProcessConnectionConfigurationSets Method. It could also be an application that is always executing. The ConnectionManager calls the EstablishConnections Method on the AutomationComponents to establish the logical connections.

For each logical connection to be established, the ConnectionConfigurationSet includes:

• address information, e.g., Server address, BrowsePath to the AutomationComponent, FunctionalEntity, etc.,
• optional parameters to be used for verifying the Assets and FunctionalEntities,
• optional parameters to be used for establishing control,
• optional parameters to be used for configuring the application behaviour,
• the definition of the data to be exchanged via the logical connection,
• communication model-specific properties for the utilized OPC UA communication model (e.g., PubSub or Client Server [future]).

For more details on the ConnectionConfigurationSetType, see 6.8. For details on ConnectionManager functionality, see 6.7.

The ConnectionManager could be triggered to close logical connections by vendor-specific means or by a Client invoking the ProcessConnectionConfigurationSets Method. The ConnectionManager calls the CloseConnections Method on the AutomationComponents to close the logical connections.