primary setup tool Step7 5.5

CPU 317-2 PN / DP CP 343-1

Need to set up new PLC with IP address etc.

Connect to un-managed switch to CPU (and also tried direct connect to CP343 and cpu) It was a few years ago, but I seem to remember that going through the 343 was the only way to get results with Ethernet config. But not this time.

Start PST, choose PG interface , (same as the one I used last time for Ethernet setup)
TCPIP.AUTO.1 <active>

no filters are being used.

Network......browse.......nothing shows up.

"While the Primary Setup Tool browses the network, the Browse network dialog appears with a progress bar. When it has completed browsing, the Primary Setup Tools displays a list of all the devices it has found in the left-hand window."

OK what if it doesn't?

IP on host is set to obtain automatically.
Cable from PG is known good Ethernet cable.

Not running on VM ,
using PST V4.2 just loaded from Siemens,
tried with PST V4.1, same non result.

Also tried "view accessible nodes" from step7 with no luck.

I have used these tools several times without issue, I don't recall having this much trouble before.

Update, someone just came by and said they loaded the CPU and gave me the IP.
I can ping the PLC from the PG, but shouldn't the PLC also show up in the accessible nodes and PST???
No devices are listed in either place.

With the automatic configuration, is your host IP getting setup into the same subnet? I have had issues in the past where I had to manually setup my IP address and subnet on my laptop when direct connecting to a CPU.

Say your CPU IP address is 192.168.1.100/24, you will want to make sure your host is setup to 192.168.1.XXX/24 as well.

DHCP auto-configuration sometimes makes things screwy.


Pi

put the firewall and antivurs programs off, they sometimes block accessible nodes. Also rebooting PG sometimes helps.

new info

Here is some new information.

The ip of the host was tried both fixed and also in auto .

Neither worked.

I received a VM from the job host with all the correct versions of Step7 and simotion and tia portal etc. I set the IP on the VM to work with the Host PC.

After another PLC programmer told me what he set the IP in the PLC to, I could ping the PLC and the HMI and I can go online with the PLC, from the VM and the host machine.

(I have another Step7 install on the host. Only using one at any given time.)

The odd thing is, even when online with the PLC......Nothing shows up in the "accessible nodes".

I am still looking for answers.

If I didn't already know the IP, I could not find out what the IP was set to, nor could I change it or go online.

I don't recall having this issue on previous CPUs.

After going online with the PLC from the VM version of S7, after several attempts, the PLC did show up in accessible nodes."

But still will not show up in the host S7 with the same PG interface selected and with the host S7 online with the PLC!!!???

Pireciter said:

With the automatic configuration, is your host IP getting setup into the same subnet? I have had issues in the past where I had to manually setup my IP address and subnet on my laptop when direct connecting to a CPU.

Say your CPU IP address is 192.168.1.100/24, you will want to make sure your host is setup to 192.168.1.XXX/24 as well.

DHCP auto-configuration sometimes makes things screwy.


Pi

Click to expand...

And when the CPU is new, with no IP address? or when you don't know the IP?
What then?

Lare said:

put the firewall and antivurs programs off, they sometimes block accessible nodes. Also rebooting PG sometimes helps.

Click to expand...

Good idea.........tried with firewall off on both host and VM.

Same result.

Just installed the same primary setup tool, v4.2 on the VM as is running on the host.
It works perfectly!

Can ping the PLC from the host and VM, but can not see the PLC from the Host PC PST or in S7 "accessible nodes". I have used both Step7 and the PST on the host before and they are just as they were after the last time they worked.

So what could be so different from the host to the VM?

If the PLC can be pinged, it is not hardware or cable.
If both S7 and PST tool work on the VM and both S7 and the PST do not work on the host, and the PST V4.2 was just installed today on both, I don't think it is the software.

Firewall is disabled on both, all other network connections are disabled in network devices.

And when the CPU is new, with no IP address? or when you don't know the IP?
What then?

Click to expand...

it should show up at "accessible nodes", afaik it scans mac adresses, and even without ip-adres you should see the nodes, then you can assign tcp/ip parameters to the node and then connect to it to upload/download.

edit: if your host blocks any network traffic by firewall or virusscanner means, the VM probably has these problems too, but it might be possible for the VM to use the NIC directly, in virtualbox I believe it's called "bridged networking". maybe that is an option to try?

wimpiesplc said:

it should show up at "accessible nodes", afaik it scans mac adresses, and even without ip-adres you should see the nodes, then you can assign tcp/ip parameters to the node and then connect to it to upload/download.

edit: if your host blocks any network traffic by firewall or virusscanner means, the VM probably has these problems too, but it might be possible for the VM to use the NIC directly, in virtualbox I believe it's called "bridged networking". maybe that is an option to try?

Click to expand...

Yes I know how it should work, the documentation is very clear on the magical nature of everything working every time.

Pireciter said "make the IP on the host match the PLC". To which I responded, "and what if you don't have an IP in the PLC? What then?"
The whole point of these tools is to set up a CPU when you don't know the IP.

To your question.
Yes it SHOULD show up in accessible nodes and also in the browse function of the PST.
And yet it does not.
This is the purpose of this thread. Why is this happening? How can I avoid this in the future?


Both accessible nodes and the PST both work in the VM.......yes the NIC is bridged.

The host and VM firewalls are off and there is no anti virus running. The host also worked as it is last time I used it.

I can ping the PLC from both the host and the VM.
The host and the VM have different IPs.

The VM works as one might expect, the host does not.

Even though the accessible nodes and the PST work in the VM now, neither worked before I set everything in the PC to match the IP in the PLC. Someone just happened to know what the PLC was set to.

So once you can go online with S7 and the PLC, then you can see the accessible nodes???????????

The scan for node MAC addresses in STEP7 and PST requires that you have assigned the actual MAC address of the real ethernet card to the virtual ethernet card in Vmware.

In the VM settings, select the properties of the Ethernet card, it must be set to "bridged". In the same dialog there is a button "Advanced...". Use it to get to an input dialog to enter the MAC address.

I always do the hardware config over MPI when first setting up ethernet.

Too much that can go wrong otherwise.

You can use a port scanner to find ip addresses. nmap is one example. Otherwise it's arp that is used to translate MAC addresses to IP. So you can assign an IP on your machine if you know the MAC address. But that is not the same as configuring the IP in hardware config.

Pete.S. said:

I always do the hardware config over MPI when first setting up ethernet.

Too much that can go wrong otherwise.

You can use a port scanner to find ip addresses. nmap is one example. Otherwise it's arp that is used to translate MAC addresses to IP. So you can assign an IP on your machine if you know the MAC address. But that is not the same as configuring the IP in hardware config.

Click to expand...

??

That is nonsense, I havent used an MPI adapter for at least 10 years (good riddance !).
What about PLCs that only has Ethernet on board, such as IM151-8 and S7-1200 ?
If you are worried about assigning the IP to a wrong PLC, then there is a nifty "flash LEDs" function so you can be double sure that you connected to the proper CPU. Same goes for when assigning device names to Profinet stations. You could even do the same as with MPI, connect directly to the CPU from your laptop. What can go wrong ?

In VMware, in order to scan for accessible nodes, set the IP address on factory fresh CPUs etc. like I described before you have to assign the hardware MAC address of the PCs real ethernet card to the virtual ethernet card.

PST and 'View accessible nodes' use the same ethernet protocol.
Which is blocked by default on most firewalls/AV's.

We have Symantec installed due to company policy.
We've been trying to get that specific protocol unblocked by Symantec for about 6 months now, with no luck.
We've been forced to disable Symantec's firewall every time we want to use either function to reach 'unknown' Siemens network devices.

Since it works in a VM, but not on the Host, I'm thinking the Host has software blocking said protocol.

excellent information as always guys, thanks all.

I think the VM NIC needing the MAC from the physical card sounds like the issue the VM had. After setting the matching IPs everything works in the VM. So that makes sense.

I will change the MAC in the VM and do some testing.

It also makes sense that some unknown thing is blocking the protocol in the host.

That might be more difficult to track down.

Pressed for time right now, I will do an update later after some investigation.

JesperMP said:

??

That is nonsense, I havent used an MPI adapter for at least 10 years (good riddance !).
What about PLCs that only has Ethernet on board, such as IM151-8 and S7-1200 ?

Click to expand...

Yeah right. What about PLCs that don't have ethernet, such as CPU 315-2 DP, IM 151-1 ? Good luck trying to program those with an ethernet port.

What can go wrong ?

Click to expand...

Time.