Quick reference

Maintained by: Michael Oberdorf IT-Consulting

Source code: GitHub

Container image: DockerHub

Supported tags and respective Dockerfile links

• latest, 1.3.1
• 1.3.0
• 1.2.0
• 1.1.5
• 1.1.4
• 1.1.3
• 1.1.2

What is Modbus TCP Server?

The Modbus TCP Server is a simple, in python written, Modbus TCP server. The Modbus registers can be also predefined with values.

The Modbus server was initially created to act as a Modbus slave mock system for enhanced tests with modbus masters and to test collecting values from different registers.

The Modbus specification can be found here: PDF

QuickStart with Modbus TCP Server and Docker

Step - 1 : Pull the Modbus TCP Server

docker pull oitc/modbus-server

Step - 2 : Run the Modbus TCP Server

docker run --rm -p 5020:5020 oitc/modbus-server:latest

Step - 3 : Predefine registers

The default configuration file is configured to initialize every register with a 0x0000. To set register values, you need to create your own configuration file.

docker run --rm -p 5020:5020 -v ./server_config.json:/server_config.json oitc/modbus-server:latest -f /server_config.json

or you mount the config file over the default file, then you can skip the file parameter:

docker run --rm -p 5020:5020 -v ./server_config.json:/app/modbus_server.json oitc/modbus-server:latest

Configuration

Container configuration

The container reads some configuration via environment variables.

Environment variable name	Description	Required	Default value
CONFIG_FILE	The configuration file that that should be used to build the initial Modbus slave.	OPTIONAL	/app/modbus_server.json

Parameter

Alternatively, the container can also be configured with a command line option -f <file> instead of an environment variable. By default, the script will use /app/modbus_server.json.

Configuration file

Default configuration file of the container

The /app/modbus_server.json file comes with following content:

{
"server": {
  "listenerAddress": "0.0.0.0",
  "listenerPort": 5020,
  "tlsParams": {
    "description": "path to certificate and private key to enable tls",
    "privateKey": null,
    "certificate": null
    },
  "logging": {
    "format": "%(asctime)-15s %(threadName)-15s  %(levelname)-8s %(module)-15s:%(lineno)-8s %(message)s",
    "logLevel": "INFO"
    }
  },
"registers": {
  "description": "initial values for the register types",
  "zeroMode": false,
  "initializeUndefinedRegisters": true,
  "discreteInput": {},
  "coils": {},
  "holdingRegister": {},
  "inputRegister": {}
  }
}

Field description

Field	Type	Description
server	Object	Modbus slave specific runtime parameters.
server.listenerAddress	String	The IPv4 Address to bound to when starting the server. "0.0.0.0" let the server listens on all interface addresses.
server.listenerPort	Integer	The TCP port number of the modbus slave to listen to.
server.tlsParams	Object	Configuration parameters to use TLS encrypted modbus tcp slave. (untested)
server.tlsParams.description	String	No configuration option, just a description of the parameters.
server.tlsParams.privateKey	String	Filesystem path of the private key to use for a TLS encrypted communication.
server.tlsParams.certificate	String	Filesystem path of the TLS certificate to use for a TLS encrypted communication.
server.logging	Object	Log specific configuration.
server.logging.format	String	The format of the log messages as described here: https://docs.python.org/3/library/logging.html#logrecord-attributes
server.logging.logLevel	String	Defines the maximum level of severity to log to std out. Possible values are DEBUG, INFO, WARN and ERROR.
registers	Object	Configuration parameters to predefine registers.
registers.description	String	No configuration option, just a description of the parameters.
registers.zeroMode	Boolean	By default the modbus registers starts at 1 (false) but some implementation requires to start at 0 (true).
registers.initializeUndefinedRegisters	Boolean	If true the server will initialize all not defined registers with a default value of 0.
registers.discreteInput	Object	The pre-defined registers of the register type "Discrete Input".
registers.coils	Object	The pre-defined registers of the register type "Coils".
registers.holdingRegister	Object	The pre-defined registers of the register type "Holding Registers".
registers.inputRegister	Object	The pre-defined registers of the register type "Input Registers".

Pre-define Registers within the configuration file

Pre-define registers always starts with the register number. We use a json format as configuration file, so the "key" needs to be a string. So, the register number needs also to be a string. During server initialization, the json key that represents the register number will be converted to an integer.

As by the modbus spec, the "Discrete Input" and "Coils" registers contains a single bit. In the json configuration file, we use true or false as register values.

Example configuration of pre-defined registers from type "Discrete Input" or "Coils":

[..]
  "<register_type>": {
    "0": true,
    "1": true,
    "42": true,
    "166": false
  }
[..]

As by the modbus spec, the "Holding Registers" and "Input Registers" tables contains a 16-bit word. In the json configuration file, we use a hexadecimal notation, starting with 0x, as register values. With v1.2.0 of the modbus-server, you can also use integer values (0-65535) instead.

Example configuration of pre-defined registers from type "Holding Registers" or "Input Registers":

[..]
  "<register_type>": {
    "9": "0xAA00",
    "23": "0xBB11",
    "142": "0x1FC3",
    "2346": "0x00FF"
  }
[..]

Configuration file examples

• src/app/modbus_server.json
• examples/abb_coretec_example.json
• examples/test.json

Docker compose configuration

version: '3.8'

services:
  modbus-server:
    container_name: modbus-server
    image: oitc/modbus-server:latest
    restart: always
    command: -f /server_config.json
    ports:
      - 5020:5020
    volumes:
      - ./server.json:/server_config.json:ro

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License

Copyright (c) 2020-2023 Michael Oberdorf IT-Consulting

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.