Simatic Net OPC price question

Does anyone know the licence cost of the Simatic Net opc server and if a licence is required for each client that access server.

Hello Brett;
I may be wrong (it's been a while since I bought comm. software for Siemens) but I think the OPC server and configuration software (OPS Scout) came bundled with every NCM enabled card Siemens has on the market. The CD rhat comes with the cards holds drivers, manuals, and OPC sw. What interface are you planning to use: Industrial Ethernet, Profibus, Profinet?

Since this is purely from memory, I hope others will correct or clarify this if I am making a mistake.

Hope this helps,

Daniel Chartier

SOFTNET-S7 LEAN costs 3670 SEK (400 EURO) for one license . With the LEAN package you can have up to 8 connections.

Thanks for the information! I searched for Simatic Net instead of softnet on the Siemens site.......

1. Only one license is required per OPC server.
There may be limitations on how many connections are possible with each license though.
Simatic Softnet LEAN gives you max 8 connections (not exactly the same as max 8 clients, but it is a limitation).
There are two more Simatic Softnet packages for ethernet that gives you 16 and 32 connections and they are comparatively more expensive.

2. Simatic Softnet ethernet LEAN is an exception in that it is specially cheap. Expect the other licenses to be 50% - 200% more expensive. Depending on if it is for Softnet or hardnet, for ethernet or Profibus, or on the number of connections.

Ok so maybe its better to use libnodave or some other component for communication. Its for a project where 20 computers should talk with one Siemens plc. We tried with a LUCA dll from Langer but that dll used 2 connections for each computer and that should result in three cp cards. Plc (317-2DP) is already in place and it should cost alot to rebuild the cabinet for a 400 series cpu.

Whats the diffrence between hardnet and softnet???

Hello Bratt;

Hardnet refers to software drivers developped for CPs that have their own communication processors onboard, such as CP1613 (Ind. Ethernet) or CP5613 (Profibus). These cards have all the hardware to handle the communication interfaces with the field (parse messages, buffer the data, interrupt the PC to send data on the bus...).
On the other hand, Softnet is designed for communication cards that do not have dedicated buffers and processors of the same power, and need the PC processor to handle the communication interfaces. This could be a standard 3-COM or D-Link Ethernet card, talking Industrial Ethernet to a S7 PLC, for example. The PC processor would be more loaded in thios case, compared to using a Hardnet card/software.
For example, you can connect WinCC to a S7 CPU withSoftnet, it will work. But the performance of your computer would be greatly reduced, because the processor would be interrupted too often to handle the messages between the SCADA and the PLC.
Hope this helps,
Daniel Chartier

Thank you all for the information it was very helpful!

Maybe a Cp1613 and an OPC server would be the best alternative. I like the fact that the Siemens opc server can handle the Send/Receive interface so the opc server dont have to poll the plc. But maybe the telegrams are so small so the network can handle the polled traffic with no problem.

With 1 PLC and 20 PCs, then the bottleneck will be the PLC.
Go with the standard ethernet CP343-1 (6GK7343-1HX00-0XE0) and not the "lean" model (6GK7343-1CX00-0XE0).

Unless you have extreme communication requirements for each PC, then I think that a Softnet Ethernet Lean (6GK1704-1LW63-3AA0) in combination with the onboard standard ethernet NIC on each PC will be more than enough.

Bratt said:

We tried with a LUCA dll from Langer but that dll used 2 connections for each computer and that should result in three cp cards.

Click to expand...

I think that you refer to the max 16 connections with the CP343 card:
For the CP343-1 the max number of connections is 48, but only 16 with TCP and/or 16 with S7 and/or 16 with PG functionality.

You should look into using SEND/RECIEVE that doesnt use any connections resources at all when the protocol is "TCP" and not "S7". This is from memory on some manual I have read sometime. I havent tried it myself though.

Thanks Jesper i will look into that. I have always belived that 16 was the absolut maximun so that was very interesting information.

Bad news Bratt !

I have finally located the information about the unconfigured TCP data transfer, and it is only possible on a CPU with an integrated ethernet interface: http://support.automation.siemens.com/WW/view/en/19553230

So, to connect to that many PCs, you will have to spend at least 2 CP343-1 modules, or exchange the CPU for a 317-2 PN/DP !

If all these PCs do not have to be online at the same time, then you could possibly do it with only one CP343-1.

Thanks to Jörg on Siemens' own forum, I can tell you that there is also the possibility to setup connections in runtime with the CP343-1 module.
http://support.automation.siemens.com/WW/view/en/21988384
I havent got the time to examine it myself, so give it a go yourself.

Gotta go now.

Bratt said:

Thank you all for the information it was very helpful!

Maybe a Cp1613 and an OPC server would be the best alternative. I like the fact that the Siemens opc server can handle the Send/Receive interface so the opc server dont have to poll the plc. But maybe the telegrams are so small so the network can handle the polled traffic with no problem.

Click to expand...

I would stay away from the CP-1613 if I could. The card costs 2 -3 times more than the PC you're insatlling it in. I have a system with ten PLCs talking to 4 HMI nodes. We just got rid of the CP-1613 cards and the H1 Industrial ethernet and replaced it with a standard fiberoptic TCP/IP network. The communication is much faster and I can now use the on-board NIC on a $500 PC. Big advantage for me in our corrosive atmosphere - we go through a lot of PCs.

Thanks Jesper and Juice76 as always very useful and money saving information.
Luckily i have a I have 317 PN cpu on my desktop i try the test project first thing tomorrow. It was also interesting to know that you could connect connections on the fly i have to give that a go as well and examine the time it takes to connect and reconnect to another computer. Its funny with Siemens you can do so much with the hardware but the information on how to do it is always harder to get than it is to set up the actual configuration. Lucky for me that i have nice persons here in this forum that gives me a lot of possibilites that i have never been able to come up with on my own http://support.automation.siemens.com/WW/view/en/19553230