5 Device communication model 
5.3 Network 
A Network is the logical representation of wired and wireless technologies and represents the communication means for Devices that are connected to it. A Network instance is qualified by its Communication Profile components.
Figure 19 shows the type hierarchy and the NetworkType components. It is formally defined in Table 37.
Figure 19 – NetworkType
Table 37 – NetworkType definition
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| BrowseName | NetworkType |
| IsAbstract | False |
Subtype of the BaseObjectType defined in OPC 10000-5.
| References | NodeClass | BrowseName | DataType | TypeDefinition | ModellingRule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HasComponent | Object | <ProfileIdentifier> | ProtocolType | MandatoryPlaceholder | |
| ConnectsTo | Object | <CPIdentifier> | ConnectionPointType | OptionalPlaceholder | |
| HasComponent | Object | Lock | LockingServicesType | Optional | |
| Conformance Units | |||||
| DI Network |
The <ProfileIdentifier> specifies the Protocol and Communication Profile that this Network is used for.
<CPIdentifier> (referenced by a ConnectsTo Reference) references the ConnectionPoint(s) that have been configured for this Network. All ConnectionPoints shall adhere to the same Protocol as the Network. See also Figure 22 for a usage example. They represent the protocol-specific access points for the connected Devices.
In addition, Networks may also support LockingServices (defined in 7).
Clients shall use the LockingServices if they need to make a set of changes (for example, several Write operations and Method invocations) and where a consistent state is available only after all of these changes have been performed. The main purpose of locking a Network is avoiding concurrent topology changes.
The lock on a Network applies to the Network, all connected TopologyElements and their components. If any of the connected TopologyElements provides access to a sub-ordinate Network (like a gateway), the sub-ordinate Network and its connected TopologyElements are locked as well.
If InitLock is requested for a Network, it will be rejected if any of the Devices connected to this Network or any sub-ordinate Network including their connected Devices is already locked.
If the Online/Offline model is supported (see 6.3), the lock always applies to both the online and the offline version.