# Description Drops support for **netstandard2.1** and **.NET Framework 4.7.2**. Libraries now target `net48`, `net8.0`, `net9.0` and `net10.0`. `Opc.Ua.Types` and `Opc.Ua.SourceGeneration.Core` still also target `netstandard2.0`, but only because the Roslyn source generators load them. There is no general netstandard2.0 support. **Preprocessor directives** (112 files) - Every `#if`/`#elif` mentioning `NETSTANDARD2_1*`, `NET472*`, `NET_STANDARD_TESTS`, `SKIP_ECC_CERTIFICATE_REQUEST_SIGNING` or `NETSTANDARD*` was evaluated against the remaining TFM set (net48, net8/9/10, plus netstandard2.0 inside `Opc.Ua.Types`/`tools`) and simplified. Dead branches were removed. - Example: `NETSTANDARD2_1 || NET8_0_OR_GREATER` → `NET8_0_OR_GREATER`. - Example: `NET8_0_OR_GREATER || NET472_OR_GREATER` → removed (always true). - Netstandard-only code was removed: `UnixFileModeShim`, the CRDT reflection path in `ReplicatedGossipOptions.CreateReaderOptions`, and the netstandard2.1-only test variants. **Custom test logic** - `targets.props` drops the `net472`, `netstandard2.0` and `netstandard2.1` `CustomTestTarget` profiles, `NetStandardTests` and `SKIP_ECC_CERTIFICATE_REQUEST_SIGNING`. Supported values are now `net48`, `net8.0`, `net9.0`, `net10.0`. - The `NET_STANDARD_TESTS` define is removed from 29 test projects. - The "build netstandard shells as net10.0" overrides are removed from 18 projects. - `RestrictForLegacyTfm` now only applies to `net48`. - `tests/customtest.bat` is updated to the new values. **Build / packaging / CI** - MSBuild TFM conditions are simplified: Kestrel package choice, MQTTnet v4 (net48 only), BouncyCastle, Di/OpenUsd/Vision/Stress test excludes, and `System.IO.FileSystem.AccessControl` (dropped from Core). - The MigrationAnalyzer nuspec drops its net472/netstandard2.1 lib groups. The Azure signing lists are updated. - `get-ci-matrix.ps1` removes the net472/netstandard test profiles (including the PR-gating `linux-netstandard2.1`) and the matching build legs. **Breaking API change (2.0 preview):** removed `HttpsTransportListener.IsWssTransportSupported` and `ReplicatedGossipOptions.IsGossipStateDecodingSupported`. They only returned `false` on netstandard2.1 and are now always `true`. The test guards that used them were removed as well. **Docs** - NuGet READMEs, `README.md`, `DeveloperGuide.md`, `PubSub.md`, the certificate/ECC/identity docs and the 2.0 migration guide (plus its `.agents` skill mirror) are updated. - The migration guide notes that 4.7.2 consumers must move to 4.8 and netstandard2.1 consumers to net8.0+. ### Reviewer notes - The `System.IO.FileSystem.AccessControl` `PackageVersion` pin is left in `Directory.Packages.props`. It has no direct reference any more, but transitive pinning is on, so it was kept to avoid shifting resolved versions. - The `#if` rewrite was done mechanically by a truth-table evaluator. The diff in the `.cs` files is limited to directive lines, removed dead branches, and stale-comment updates. ### Verified locally - `dotnet build UA.slnx -p:CustomTestTarget=net48`: 0 errors. - `dotnet build UA.slnx -p:CustomTestTarget=net10.0`: 0 errors. - Default multi-target builds (no `CustomTestTarget`) of Opc.Ua.Types, Bindings.Https, PubSub.Mqtt and Redundancy.Server succeeded. - net10.0 tests: - Opc.Ua.Redundancy.Server.Tests: 840/840 passed. - Opc.Ua.Types.Tests: 11363 passed, 1 skipped. - ModelDependencyScanner tests: 20/20 passed. - The full test suite was **not** run locally. ## Related Issues - None ## Checklist - [ ] I have signed the [CLA](https://opcfoundation.org/license/cla/ContributorLicenseAgreementv1.0.pdf) and read the [CONTRIBUTING](https://github.com/OPCFoundation/UA-.NETStandard/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) doc. - [ ] I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works and increased code coverage. - [x] I have added all necessary documentation. - [ ] I have verified that my changes do not introduce (new) build or analyzer warnings. - [ ] I ran **all** tests locally using the **UA.slnx** solution against at least .net **framework** and .net **10**, and all passed. - [ ] I fixed **all** failing and flaky tests in the CI pipelines and **all** CodeQL warnings. - [ ] I have addressed **all** PR feedback received. 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) --------- Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
31 KiB
Transport Profiles
This document is the practical companion to Profiles.md and
describes how the OPC UA .NET Standard stack ships each of the transport
profiles defined in OPC UA Part 6 §7. It is aimed at developers who need
to host or connect to OPC UA servers over something other than the
default opc.tcp:// transport — for example to traverse firewalls or
to integrate with web-based tooling.
Contents
- Transport profile matrix
- Assembly layout
- Server-side configuration
- Client-side usage
- Discovery
- Opt-in: Kestrel-hosted
opc.tcp - Implementing a custom byte transport
- See also
Transport profile matrix
| Profile | URL scheme | Wire format | UA Secure Conversation | Security modes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
uatcp-uasc-uabinary |
opc.tcp:// |
UA Binary | yes | None, Sign, SignAndEncrypt |
https-uabinary |
opc.https://, https:// |
UA Binary in HTTP body (application/octet-stream) |
yes (one chunk per POST) | None, Sign, SignAndEncrypt |
https-uajson |
opc.https://, https:// |
UA JSON in HTTP body (application/opcua+uajson) |
no — TLS only | None only |
https-uajson-openapi |
opc.https://, https:// |
OpenAPI Mapping (Part 6 §G.3): per-service POST /<service> with body = <Service>Request JSON (application/json; encoding=compact|verbose) |
no — TLS only | None only |
wss-uasc-uabinary |
opc.wss://, wss:// |
UA Binary in WebSocket binary frame (sub-protocol opcua+uacp) |
yes | None, Sign, SignAndEncrypt |
wss-uajson |
opc.wss://, wss:// |
UA JSON in WebSocket text frame (sub-protocol opcua+uajson) |
no — TLS only | None only |
wss-uajson-openapi |
opc.wss://, wss:// |
OpenAPI Mapping over WebSocket text frame (sub-protocol opcua+openapi / opcua+openapi+<accesstoken>) |
no — TLS only | None only |
The JSON / OpenAPI profiles do not negotiate a UA SecureChannel; transport
security is provided exclusively by the surrounding TLS connection.
Servers MUST advertise these endpoints with MessageSecurityMode.None
and SecurityPolicyUri = None. The https-uajson and WSS JSON
profiles use the Compact (reversible) flavour mandated by
Part 6 §5.4.9 (JsonEncoderOptions.Compact). The OpenAPI profiles
select between Compact (default, mandatory) and Verbose via
the application/json; encoding=compact|verbose media-type parameter
on Content-Type / Accept — see WebApi.md for the
full mapping table.
The OPC UA Profiles surface exposes the two OpenAPI profile URIs as
Profiles.HttpsOpenApiTransport (profile/2338) and
Profiles.WssOpenApiTransport (profile/2339); the HttpsServiceHost
emits the HTTPS twin as a discovery-only EndpointDescription
alongside each SecurityMode.None HTTPS-binary endpoint so discovery
clients see the OpenAPI route without hard-coding the URL.
Discovery retains binary, JSON and OpenAPI endpoints even when their URL and
security settings are identical. GetEndpoints profile filters select only
the requested profiles, including when translating an alternate hostname.
Managed client channels likewise include the effective transport profile in
their sharing key: equal URLs do not allow different wire encodings to share
an underlying channel.
The managed channel manager retains its own client certificate and chain. Open attempts borrow independent snapshots, and each installed transport has separate references until it is closed. Closing or rotating one channel does not retire keys still used by another channel or an in-flight open. Managed sessions prefer the active certificate registry over an older configured store entry; unmanaged sessions retain explicit configured-store selection. A session opened on a managed transport uses that transport's owned certificate snapshot, including during recreation after rotation; a later registry update cannot substitute a different key into that handshake. Reconnects recheck certificate generations before reactivating sessions and reporting readiness. Publishing identical certificate/issuer material does not force another transport replacement; a changed issuer chain still does. Rotation that supersedes successful work does not consume the failed-attempt retry allowance. Reconnect time budgets and shutdown cancellation still apply.
UA-TCP reconnect hands the new connection to the retained channel without
closing it when the temporary handshake channel is retired. ECC and RSA-DH
handoffs move the owned ephemeral nonce objects, including the private key;
public nonce bytes cannot reconstruct them. The retained token's secret is
used when deriving the replacement keys. Continued sequence numbers are
checked against the retained channel, not treated as a new secure channel.
A rejected or failed handoff closes the new connection and releases its
unadopted token rather than restarting an orphaned receive loop. The peer
certificate remains available through failure auditing. Receive loops
have separate cancellation lifetimes; a retiring connection cannot stop its
replacement. Connection admission reserves capacity before invoking channel
callbacks, retires idle channels outside the listener lock, and closes rejected
sockets. Invalid response sequences fail pending requests promptly with
BadSecurityChecksFailed; diagnostics retain BadSequenceNumberInvalid.
Raw TCP, Kestrel TCP, and UACP WebSocket listeners honor the configured
ConnectionRateLimiter before allocating a channel or accepting a WebSocket
upgrade. Kestrel and UACP WebSocket listeners reserve their configured
MaxChannelCount capacity atomically, including pending admissions. The
reservation follows the physical transport through a reverse-connect handoff
and is released on closure, cancellation, failed attachment, or listener stop.
The host retains ownership of a supplied limiter. These limits are not
per-tenant fairness policies, and HTTP/JSON requests are not counted as UASC
channels.
Committed session bindings
Managed servers expose ISessionBindingProvider to their listeners.
SessionManager maintains distinct committed session/channel membership:
reactivation does not add another session, transfer moves only that session's
binding, and closure, timeout cleanup, or shutdown removes it. Resource
eligibility no longer depends on counting activation and close responses.
TryGetSessionContext provides an immutable SessionBindingContext after a
read-only lookup of a live, activated, unexpired session and its transport
binding. It does not refresh session activity or perform service authorization.
Full service validation is still required; re-query after queueing and compare
snapshot identity and activation sequence before reusing classification.
Sequences belong to a live session instance, so a restored session's snapshot
must not be confused with the earlier instance. Anonymous sessions do not
establish trusted tenants, and identity keys must not become unbounded metric
labels.
StandardServer uses its current session manager's optional capability by
default. A custom manager without that capability grants no managed session
classification. Core-only standalone channels without a provider retain
legacy response-count hints for compatibility; those hints are not authoritative
membership and must not be used to grant trusted reservations.
Incomplete-message resource limits
UA Secure Conversation channels enforce message-size and chunk-count limits including the incoming chunk, before retaining it. Exceeding a limit releases the partial message and closes the channel; no final chunk is required to trigger cleanup. A valid Abort chunk is not additional message payload: it discards the partial message without consuming its size, chunk-count, or reassembly-budget allowance. The channel stays open; a client reports the peer's abort status for that request.
On server channels, ChannelLifetime also bounds assembly of an incomplete
message from its first retained chunk. Further chunks or other activity do not
restart that deadline. Channels sharing listener quotas and a clock share one
assembly timer, checked at half-lifetime intervals. Idle channels do not take
the partial-message lock during that check. The timer is released when the last
channel leaves the scope. This also works in bindings without an inactivity
sweep. For assembly deadlines, a zero or negative ChannelLifetime uses the
30-second transport default rather than disabling cleanup; other quota values
are not changed. Expiry attempts an ERR carrying BadTimeout before closing,
and cleanup still completes if that error cannot be sent.
Completed or discarded messages clear their assembly state,
and subsequent messages receive a fresh deadline. This applies before an OPC UA
session is created and to the UA-TCP, Kestrel TCP, and WebSocket bindings using
the server-channel pipeline.
Per-channel limits alone do not bound memory across many connections.
ChunkReassemblyBudget counts the actual arrays retained for intermediate
chunks across all listeners of a server. Its default is 64 MiB for the
reference server, with half reserved as headroom for channels carrying activated
sessions. Reservations are released on completion, replacement, abort, fault, or
closure. Final chunks and normal response allocations are not charged.
A rejected chunk releases the partial message, reports
BadTcpNotEnoughResources when an error response can be sent, and closes the
channel permanently. General buffer allocation remains unrestricted by default.
See reassembly-budget configuration for
sizing and scope. MaxSessionCount does not limit connections that have not
created a session.
Hello negotiation also updates TCP and WebSocket receive-buffer sizes. The Kestrel pipe transport rents for the actual chunk size instead of the listener maximum, avoiding unnecessary retained capacity for small chunks.
Assembly layout
Opc.Ua.Core(this is what every Server / Client application references):IUaSCByteTransport— the runtime transport boundary used by the UA Secure Conversation channel pipeline.TcpByteTransport,TcpByteTransportFactory— TCP implementation.TcpTransportChannel+TcpTransportChannelFactory— client-side channel foropc.tcp://.HttpsTransportChannel+HttpsTransportChannelFactory,OpcHttpsTransportChannelFactory— polymorphic client-side channel that handles bothhttps-uabinaryandhttps-uajsonbased on the endpoint'sTransportProfileUri.
Opc.Ua.Bindings.Https(Kestrel-dependent; pulled in automatically when an HTTPS or WSS endpoint is configured):HttpsTransportListener— Kestrel-hosted listener that dispatches requests on(Upgrade, ContentType)to the binary / JSON / WSS handlers.HttpsTransportListenerFactory,OpcHttpsTransportListenerFactory— listener factories forhttps://andopc.https://.WssTransportListenerFactory,OpcWssTransportListenerFactory— listener factories forwss://andopc.wss://.WebSocketClientByteTransport+WebSocketClientByteTransportFactory,WssTransportChannel,WssTransportChannelFactory,OpcWssTransportChannelFactory— client-side WSS+uacp.WssJsonTransportChannel,WssJsonTransportChannelFactory— client-side WSS+uajson (per-requestClientWebSocket).JsonRequestMapper— shared JSON encode / decode helper used by both server handlers.
For both WSS variants the HTTPS / WSS factories live in
Opc.Ua.Bindings.Https; consumers register them via the
AddHttpsTransport() / AddWssTransport() DI extensions on
IOpcUaBuilder or a specialized server builder, or by constructing a
DefaultTransportBindingRegistry and calling RegisterListenerFactory /
RegisterChannelFactory directly for non-DI hosts. Applications must
reference OPCFoundation.NetStandard.Opc.Ua.Bindings.Https directly; Server
and GDS packages do not pull the optional binding transitively.
AddHttpsTransport(options => ...) is available as a one-shot registration
for the Kestrel HTTPS stack. It registers HTTPS and WSS by default and can
attach the WebApi binding and authentication callbacks in the same fluent
chain. AddWebApiTransport() and AddKestrelOpcTcpTransport() are
order-independent with the underlying HTTPS/TCP registrations.
Server-side configuration
Servers declare endpoints via ApplicationConfiguration →
ServerConfiguration → BaseAddresses. Each base address yields a
single listener for its scheme.
If a discovery or hosted server has a non-TCP base address but the matching
transport binding has not been registered, startup throws a clear error that
names the missing scheme and suggested Add*Transport() method.
<BaseAddresses>
<ua:String>opc.tcp://localhost:62541/MyServer</ua:String>
<ua:String>opc.https://localhost:62540/MyServer</ua:String>
<ua:String>opc.wss://localhost:62543/MyServer</ua:String>
</BaseAddresses>
- The
opc.tcplistener uses the lightweight raw-socketTcpTransportListenerby default (no ASP.NET Core dependency). An opt-in alternative shipped inOpc.Ua.Bindings.Https(net8.0+) is described below. - The
opc.httpsandopc.wsslisteners both share a singleHttpsTransportListenerper(host, port)— Kestrel routes the inbound HTTP request to the right handler based on theUpgrade/Content-Typeheaders. Concretely:POSTwithContent-Type: application/octet-stream→https-uabinaryhandler.POSTwithContent-Type: application/opcua+uajson→https-uajsonhandler.- HTTP Upgrade with
Sec-WebSocket-Protocol: opcua+uacp→ full UASC WebSocket session. - HTTP Upgrade with
Sec-WebSocket-Protocol: opcua+uajson→ request/response JSON WebSocket session.
Security configuration
The HTTPS and WSS listeners share the same TLS configuration via
HttpsConnectionAdapterOptions. By default the listener serves
SecurityMode.None; setting
ServerConfiguration.HttpsMutualTls = true requires the client to
present a TLS certificate which is matched against the
ClientCertificate field of the UASC OpenSecureChannelRequest.
The JSON sub-profiles (https-uajson and the WSS opcua+uajson
sub-protocol) only accept SecurityMode.None regardless of the
configured security policies — see Part 6 §7.4.5 / §7.5.2 for the
spec rationale.
All HTTPS and WSS client bindings, including WebApi, require the TLS certificate to match the endpoint hostname before invoking a configured OPC UA certificate validator. Trusting a certificate or its issuer does not bypass hostname verification. This also applies to TLS-only JSON bindings.
All HTTP, WebSocket and WebApi dispatch paths forward the observed remote IP address for authentication lockout accounting. Unsecured clients cannot reset that bucket by opening a new connection or changing their ApplicationUri. When a transport cannot supply a peer address, the fallback bucket is session-local, never shared by every client of a listener.
Client-side usage
The client API is the standard Session + EndpointDescription flow;
the transport is selected automatically from
EndpointDescription.TransportProfileUri:
ITelemetryContext telemetry = NUnitTelemetryContext.Create();
var application = new ApplicationInstance(telemetry)
{
ApplicationName = "MyClient",
ApplicationType = ApplicationType.Client
};
ApplicationConfiguration configuration = await application
.Build("urn:localhost:MyClient", "urn:localhost:product")
.AsClient()
.AddSecurityConfiguration("CN=MyClient")
.Create()
.ConfigureAwait(false);
// 1) Direct connect to a known opc.wss endpoint (binary UASC):
EndpointDescription wssEndpoint = CoreClientUtils.SelectEndpoint(
application,
"opc.wss://server.example.com:62543/MyServer",
useSecurity: true);
ISession session = await Session.CreateAsync(
configuration, new ConfiguredEndpoint(null, wssEndpoint), false,
"WssSession", 60_000, null, null).ConfigureAwait(false);
// 2) HTTPS-JSON endpoint (Security Mode None):
var jsonEndpoint = new EndpointDescription
{
EndpointUrl = "opc.https://server.example.com:62540/MyServer",
SecurityMode = MessageSecurityMode.None,
SecurityPolicyUri = SecurityPolicies.None,
TransportProfileUri = Profiles.HttpsJsonTransport
};
ISession jsonSession = await Session.CreateAsync(
configuration, new ConfiguredEndpoint(null, jsonEndpoint), false,
"JsonSession", 60_000, null, null).ConfigureAwait(false);
A few notes:
- The
opc.wss://scheme is the OPC UA alias; the stack normalises it towss://(the IETF scheme) and falls back toUtils.UaWebSocketsDefaultPort(4843) when no explicit port is supplied. - The WSS client requires the server to select the requested WebSocket
sub-protocol. If the server returns anything else the connection
fails with
BadNotConnected. - The WSS-JSON client (
opcua+uajson) opens a freshClientWebSocketper request (simplest correct behaviour). A pooled / persistent-WebSocket variant can be added without changing the public shape. - The HTTPS client (binary or JSON) reuses a single
HttpClientper channel; the encoding is selected fromEndpointDescription.TransportProfileUriat request time.
The WSS OpenAPI client (opcua+openapi) keeps a persistent connection and
multiplexes requests, so an outstanding Publish does not block other services.
It assigns unique, nonzero wire request handles for that connection while
preserving caller-owned request objects and caller-visible response handles.
Concurrent requests must use distinct caller handles; a handle can be reused
after completion, cancellation or timeout. The shared ClientBase caller-handle
sequence can wrap; it is separate from the connection-local wire allocator.
Terminal requests release their pending state without waiting for a server reply, and late replies cannot
complete a newer request.
An attributable response-decoding failure, such as exceeding MaxArrayLength,
fails only that request. Other pending requests and subsequent requests keep
using the connection. Transport/framing failures and responses that cannot be
attributed to an issued wire handle still close it.
Caller cancellation and request timeout cancel send-lock admission and the pending response, not an already-started WebSocket send. An admitted send uses the connection's shutdown token and finishes independently of the caller; shutdown drains it before disposing the socket.
CancelRequest.RequestHandle is translated to the wire handle of the currently
outstanding request with that caller handle. A retired or unknown target maps
to a reserved, never-issued wire handle, so it cannot cancel an unrelated request.
Wire handles never wrap: exhaustion closes the connection with
BadConnectionClosed and requires reopening it. Shutdown closes operation
admission, cancels queued sends and close operations, and drains admitted
socket users before disposing connection resources.
HTTPS binary, JSON, and OpenAPI clients obtain response headers before
buffering the body. A positive MaxMessageSize limits the actual body bytes, including
chunked responses or misleading Content-Length values. An oversized
response fails with BadResponseTooLarge; the reader consumes at most one
byte beyond the limit to detect the overflow. HTTP error responses are
disposed without buffering their bodies.
The request deadline and caller cancellation remain active while the
response body is being read. The binary/JSON transport reports socket
connection failures as BadNotConnected, socket or request timeouts as
BadRequestTimeout, and other HTTP failures as BadUnknownResponse, while
preserving the original exception for diagnostics. HTTP 429/503 retain
their BadServerTooBusy and Retry-After handling.
Discovery
GetEndpoints and FindServers return the EndpointDescription list
declared by the listener for each base address. For TCP, HTTPS-binary,
and WSS+uacp the description includes the correct TransportProfileUri
(uatcp-uasc-uabinary, https-uabinary, wss-uasc-uabinary
respectively). The JSON sub-protocols are reachable on the same URL as
their binary counterparts and clients select them explicitly via the
Content-Type header (HTTPS) or the Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header
(WSS). The HTTPS / WSS service hosts also emit a discovery-only
JSON-twin EndpointDescription (TransportProfileUri = Profiles.HttpsJsonTransport / Profiles.UaWssJsonTransport,
SecurityMode = None) for every SecurityMode = None binary endpoint,
so JSON-aware clients see the profile in GetEndpoints without needing
to construct the description themselves. The twin is discovery-only
(no separate listener) — the existing binary listener handles content
negotiation.
Opt-in: Kestrel-hosted opc.tcp
By default the stack ships two listener implementations for
opc.tcp://:
| Package | Listener | When to use |
|---|---|---|
Opc.Ua.Core (default) |
TcpTransportListener |
Raw Socket + SocketAsyncEventArgs. No ASP.NET Core dependency. The right choice for trimmed / AOT deployments and for environments that already avoid pulling in Microsoft.AspNetCore.App. |
Opc.Ua.Bindings.Https (opt-in, net8.0+) |
KestrelTcpTransportListener |
Hosts opc.tcp:// on Kestrel via Microsoft.AspNetCore.Connections.ConnectionHandler. Lets a single IHost serve opc.tcp, opc.https, and opc.wss so consumers manage one HTTP-style runtime, share TLS plumbing, and share observability middleware. |
The Kestrel-TCP listener uses the same IUaSCByteTransport runtime
boundary as the raw-socket listener, so the UASC channel pipeline is
unchanged. It supports the full feature set the raw-socket listener
does, including:
- forward (server) and reverse-connect listener modes,
- per-listener TLS certificate hot-update via
ITransportListenerCertificateRotation, - discovery (
EndpointDescriptionemission via the sharedTcpServiceHostbase).
Swap it in by registering the factory through the DI container
before opening any opc.tcp listener (typically at application
startup):
// Standalone non-DI consumers:
DefaultTransportBindingRegistry registry =
DefaultTransportBindingRegistry.WithDefaultTcp();
registry.RegisterListenerFactory(new KestrelTcpTransportListenerFactory());
// Pass to ServerBase (via ctor / TransportBindings setter) before StartAsync.
// Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection consumers:
services
.AddOpcUa()
.AddOpcTcpTransport() // raw-socket opc.tcp default
.AddKestrelOpcTcpTransport(); // last-writer-wins: overrides with Kestrel
AddKestrelOpcTcpTransport() installs an ITransportBindingConfigurator
that runs after AddOpcTcpTransport(), so the registry resolves the
Kestrel listener factory for opc.tcp://. The same pattern applies to
AddHttpsTransport() / AddWssTransport() (HTTPS / WSS) and any custom
binding registered via AddCustomTransport<TListener, TChannel>().
AddOpcTcpTransport()is optional.AddOpcUa()already seeds the mandatory raw-socketopc.tcplistener and channel factories into the transport binding registry, so clients and servers reachopc.tcp://without it. Call it only to be explicit; theAdd*Transport()extensions above still override the seeded defaults (last-writer-wins per URI scheme) whether or not it was called.
The package targets net8.0+ only (the ASP.NET Core ConnectionContext
API surface used to bridge Socket-like semantics — LocalEndPoint,
RemoteEndPoint, ConnectionClosed — is not consistently available
on older TFMs). Consumers on net48 continue to use
the raw-socket default.
Implementing a custom byte transport
The OPC UA Secure Conversation (UASC) binary channel pipeline talks to
the wire through a narrow byte-level abstraction —
IUaSCByteTransport.
It is the public extension point for plugging in custom transports
beyond the built-in TCP and WebSocket implementations.
When you need this
Use cases that are good fits for a custom byte transport:
- Named pipes / Unix domain sockets for fast loopback IPC.
- QUIC / HTTP/3 to replace the TCP transport's congestion behaviour.
- In-process bridges for unit tests or co-located server/client pairs that want to skip the network stack entirely.
- Tunnels (SSH, custom L4) that wrap the UASC chunks in another framing.
Use cases that should NOT use this:
- A new sub-protocol that changes UASC framing — that lives inside the channel implementation, not the transport.
- HTTPS-binary or HTTPS-JSON variants — those are handled in
Opc.Ua.Bindings.Httpsoutside the UASC pipeline.
Contract summary
public interface IUaSCByteTransport
{
string Implementation { get; } // diagnostic id
TransportChannelFeatures Features { get; } // optional capabilities
EndPoint? LocalEndpoint { get; } // may be null
EndPoint? RemoteEndpoint { get; } // may be null
ValueTask ConnectAsync(Uri url, CancellationToken ct);
ValueTask SendChunkAsync(ReadOnlyMemory<byte> chunk, CancellationToken ct);
ValueTask SendChunkAsync(BufferCollection buffers, CancellationToken ct);
ValueTask<ArraySegment<byte>> ReceiveChunkAsync(CancellationToken ct);
void Close();
}
public interface IUaSCByteTransportFactory
{
string Implementation { get; }
IUaSCByteTransport Create(
BufferManager bufferManager,
int receiveBufferSize,
ITelemetryContext telemetry);
}
Each Send / Receive operates on exactly one complete UASC
MessageChunk (Part 6 §6.7.2). The channel pipeline above the transport
owns chunk-level framing — your job is to move chunk bytes across the
wire.
Implementation checklist
- Buffer ownership. Buffers returned by
ReceiveChunkAsyncare rented from the suppliedBufferManager; the caller (the UASC channel) returns them viaBufferManager.ReturnBufferonce the chunk has been processed. Do not pool or reuse the same array across receives. - Idempotent
Close. The channel may dispose a transport from multiple paths (normal shutdown, fatal error, channel-state race); every implementation MUST treatClose()as a no-op when already closed. - Cancellation.
ReceiveChunkAsyncshould observe the cancellation token while awaiting peer data — long-lived sessions rely on this to tear down cleanly. - Error mapping. Map transport-layer errors to
ServiceResultExceptionwith the matchingStatusCodes.BadXxx(BadConnectionClosed,BadTcpMessageTypeInvalid,BadTcpMessageTooLarge, …) so the channel can route them through normal UA fault paths. - Vectored Send. The
BufferCollectionoverload is called by the channel for chunks that span multiple buffers (typical for the asymmetric handshake). If your transport does not support vectored writes, concatenate the segments into a single buffer before sending (this is whatWebSocketByteTransportBasedoes). - Client vs server. Client transports implement
ConnectAsyncto dial outbound; server transports built from an already-accepted connection should throwNotSupportedExceptionfromConnectAsync(this is the contract enforced byUaSCUaBinaryClientChannel).
Wiring the transport into the channel pipeline
Client side
Implement IUaSCByteTransportFactory
and hand the factory to a subclass of
UaSCUaBinaryTransportChannel:
internal sealed class MyTransportFactory : IUaSCByteTransportFactory
{
public string Implementation => "UA-MY";
public IUaSCByteTransport Create(BufferManager bm, int rxSize, ITelemetryContext tel)
=> new MyByteTransport(bm, rxSize, tel);
}
public sealed class MyTransportChannel : UaSCUaBinaryTransportChannel
{
public MyTransportChannel(ITelemetryContext telemetry)
: base(new MyTransportFactory(), telemetry)
{
}
}
public sealed class MyTransportChannelFactory : ITransportChannelFactory
{
public string UriScheme => "opc.my";
public ITransportChannel Create(ITelemetryContext telemetry)
=> new MyTransportChannel(telemetry);
}
If your transport needs channel-level state (TLS validator, client cert,
custom credentials) plumbed in, override
UaSCUaBinaryTransportChannel.OnSettingsSaved(TransportChannelSettings, ChannelQuotas) — that hook fires after the channel binds settings but
before it tries to connect. The WSS implementation uses this pattern;
see WssTransportChannel.OnSettingsSaved for a reference.
Server side
Implement ITransportListener
plus an ITransportListenerFactory. For each accepted connection,
construct your transport directly (not through the
IUaSCByteTransportFactory, which is client-side only), then hand it to
a TcpServerChannel via Attach(channelId, transport). The WSS server
path in HttpsTransportListener.AcceptWebSocketAsync is the canonical
template.
Registering by URL scheme
Install your custom listener and channel factories into the host's
ITransportBindingRegistry. The simplest path uses the DI extension:
services
.AddOpcUa()
.AddCustomTransport<MyCustomListenerFactory, MyCustomChannelFactory>();
Both factories are resolved from the IServiceProvider (so they may
have constructor-injected dependencies) and installed under the URI
scheme reported by MyCustomListenerFactory.UriScheme. Non-DI consumers
construct a DefaultTransportBindingRegistry and call
RegisterListenerFactory / RegisterChannelFactory directly, then hand
the registry to ServerBase (via TransportBindings) or to
ReverseConnectManager.TransportBindings.
Worked example
InProcessTransport
is the public reference implementation that ships in Opc.Ua.Core. It
uses only public API: two paired transports communicate over a pair of
in-memory System.Threading.Channels.Channel<byte[]> (one per
direction). Use it directly for unit tests or co-located client/server
pairs that want to skip the network stack entirely, or as a
copy-paste starting point for a custom transport.
using Opc.Ua.Bindings;
var buffers = new BufferManager("inproc", 8192, telemetry);
(InProcessTransport client, InProcessTransport server) =
InProcessTransport.CreatePair(buffers, receiveBufferSize: 8192, telemetry);
await client.SendChunkAsync(payload, ct).ConfigureAwait(false);
ArraySegment<byte> received = await server.ReceiveChunkAsync(ct).ConfigureAwait(false);
Note that InProcessTransport.ConnectAsync throws
NotSupportedException — the pair is created up front via
CreatePair. A real network transport would implement ConnectAsync
to dial the wire.
See also
Profiles.md— supported profiles, security policies, message encodings.MigrationGuide.md— note on the breaking removal ofIMessageSocketand the newIUaSCByteTransportcontract.- OPC UA Part 6 §7.4 (HTTPS) / §7.5 (WebSockets) for the wire-format specification.