This service is supposed to maintain connections to a PLC4X Server, within its configured boundaries. It also offers a common interface towards the compatible processors, to initiate a connection. The set of usable drivers depend on the proxy server configuration, on the remote computer.
If the device is unreachable from the NiFi node, for some reason (eg. it is attached to a serial port of another computer), then a proxy application should be set up, which relays the communication through a TCP/IP connection.
You can use any proxy application, that understands the PLC4X Proxy protocol, but an example implementation is 'factory' included in the PLC4X source code distribution.
PLC4X has a dedicated Authentication API, which enables easy configuration, and secure usage of credentials. This requires explicit support from the Device Driver, and by the time of writing, only a handful of them support it. Please check the Driver Documentation about authentication options. There are cases, when the driver requires credentials provided as connection parameters, in which case "No Authentication" should be chosen from the menu, and the credentials must be specified as dynamic properties.
You need to enter here the name of a loaded driver, which is defined by the driver itself. There is no conventional naming, so you need to refer to the Driver Documentation, to find out what value is correct.
You must specify the location of the device, from the perspective of PLC4X Server. The format can vary by Transport Driver, so it can be anything from a simple IP:port, through a serial device, to a filesystem path. Please check the Driver Documentation.
Connection Parameters are essentially key-value pairs, added in a form of query string, to the connection URI.
You can specify any number of parameters, by adding them as dynamic properties on the configuration panel. These
parameter names must be prefixed with 'driver.', otherwise they will be ignored. For sensitive values,
like credentials, the respective option should be chosen, to avoid unexpected leak of these information.