Cannot connect to the ION Enterprise 5.5 server using the PI OPC Tool

Goals and Symptoms

PI OPC tool and Matrikon OPC Explorer are reporting errors when connecting to the ION Enterprise OPC Server. The ION Enterprise server was previously correctly reporting data to the PI Historian.
The following error is obtained when trying to connect to the ION Enterprise server:

• 
  CoCreateInstanceEx returns 80070057 Or
  
  Error 80070057 on CoCreateInstance()

PI OPC tool :


Error reads:

• Unable to Connect to 'ION.OpcDaServer.1'; CoCreateInstanceEx returns 80070057

The Matrikon OPC Explorer:


Error reads:

• Matrikon OPC Explorer - COM Error
  An error was encountered while using COM services.
  The error may indicate incorrect configuration.
  Is the problem persists, contact your system administrator.
  
  COM/OPC error 0x80070057 on CoCreateInstance()
  Error string: The parameter is incorrect.
  Additional: Could not connect to server 'ION.OpcDaServer.1'

The Simple Subscriber returns Null for all tags. There no DCOM errors are associated to the OPC connection.

Facts and Changes

This error is associated to the .Net version which is installed on the server. The above errors will occur if the 1.1 .Net framework used by ION Enterprise has been deleted during a Windows update and replaced by the 2.0 or 3.0 .NET version.

Causes and Fixes

Check which .Net framework version is installed on the machine:

• Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs
• Scroll down Microsoft .NET framework and check the version number
• If the Microsoft .NET framework 1.1 has been removed, this version will need to be re-installed since ION Enterprise 5.5 components, including OPC, require this .Net framework version to operate properly.

The Microsoft .Net 1.1 framework is available for download on the Microsoft Support website at: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/1.1