Ethernet Switch recommendation???

Greenfield project...."all ethernet" plant with approximately 30 Contrologix L73s, 140 1200 centerline MCCs with 755 drives and E300 starters. FactoryTalk View SE for HMIs. A few applications with CIP motion, everything else is pretty standard. First time putting together an "all ethernet" plant. Will have a fiber ring around the facility. I understand that the MCCs will be supllied with Stratix 5700s. Will use EN2Ts in the chassis. Thinking of separate physical networks for MCCs, I/O, HMI and plant network. Any recommendations for switches? Thanks!

http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/manufacturing/top_10_recommendations_plantwide_ethernet_deployments.pdf

I think that this may help you out.

Regards,
Garry
http://www.accautomation.ca

Thanks Garry!

Do you mean for your plant floor level switch or your core switch?

Since it sounds like you have all Rockwell gear I would use the Stratix Line of industrial switch for the plant floor level which is really a re-branded Cisco switch with Rockwell extras in the firmware.

I would use a managed switch in all areas if you can just for the diagnostics capabilities.

For you core switch to tie it all together I would look at the Cisco Catalyst series.

i've got nothing bad to say about ruggedcom switches other than they are expensive, but ruggedcom are about 1/2 as much as the cisco IE 4000 one of our client's IT departments decided they had to have. Ruggedcom also have much more sensible and flexible mounting arrangements.

why seperate physical networks for MCC, I/O, HMI and 'plant' networks?
the PLC has to talk to the IO, presumably the PLC controls the MCC, the HMI has to talk to the PLC. I could see having seperate ethernet modules in the PLC for the HMI to talk to the PLC, then all the 'control' stuff (PLC, IO, MCC) on a separate PLC only network.

I'd probably still use one (or two if you are doing redundant switches) switch per panel and using VLANs instead of physically seperate networks though. I don't see the advantage unless there is some delineation of responsibility and ownership between different departments (controls/IT)?

If you are already using RSLogix 5000...
Nice thing about Stratix is you can monitor what it is doing from the PLC.
If you get a managed Stratix switch, you can also configure and monitor from PLC.

You can use fiber optic Control Net adapters for your I/O and MCC centers on the same physical network, and then combine your HMI and Plant Network on a separate network.

If you use Ethernet for you I/O and MCC centers, I would separate those into two physically different networks.

I like the NTron 700 series.

If I was able to setup a plant from scratch I would do the following:
- Place multiple Cisco switches out on the plant floor. Group areas of PLC together on a subnet. xxx.xxx.001.xxx for the first area then xxx.xxx.002.xxx for the next each with a mask of 255.255.0.0. Then they can all communicate to each other.
- Connect the Cisco switches using a fiber ring.
- For IO (Drives Valves remote racks etc) use a separate EN2T for IO via a Stratix switch on each PLC.
- Keep everything isolated from any office network. But get friendly with the IT people to get an external login with a route to your plant network.
- NEVER try to mix the office and plant network other then a router to get into the plant network.

AB has some good manuals on setting up a plant network. Also checkout the whole rotatable vs UN-routable IP and subnet masking (Wiki). Also it can be usful to talk to the Cicso people and get some advice on setting up their equipment properly.

In that you are considering doing both Ethernet and a Fiber ring, you may want to consider the Lynx from Westermo. They offer both layer 2 and layer 3 models.

http://www.eternity-sales.com/Westermo/lynx_managed_ethernet_switches.htm

Another product that you may want to consider for your Ethernet network is the iSNMP driver from Kepware for management of your network devices.

http://www.eternity-sales.com/Kepware/snmp.htm
http://www.eternity-sales.com/kepware/snmp_agent.htm

Documentation, software and firmware are available for download from our web site directly. KepserverEX offers a 2 hour run time license for evaluation.

http://www.eternity-sales.com/Kepware/kepwaredownloads.htm

If you have any questions feel free to post, pm or email through the link provided below.



Disclosure - ESI is an authorized distributor for both Westermo and Kepware.

Cisco and Rockwell are partners on Ethernet for the industrial sector. Straitx switches are made by Rockwell, but have the Cisco chipset, are designed for harsher industrial environments and have the direct interface to Logix built-in. If you buy the Cisco "industrial" version and want it to talk to Logix 5000, it's going to be the Stratix switch with a Cisco label on it. If you get one that does not have the Logix 5000 direct connect ability, you have to build it yourself. if you want a switch for your server room and ask Rockwell to supply it, you get a Cisco switch.