Kinetix 350 CIP on Netgear Switch?

Working on a new project with a collection of older items, and I am unable to connect RSLogix 5000 v20.01.00, using a 1756-L63 processor, to a Kinetix 350 (FW 1.55). Do I need to use an Allen Bradley Stratix network switch to do CIP motion with my Kinetix 350, or can I use an off-the-shelf unmanaged switch from Netgear? Where does the requirement start an the sales gimic end? The machine will not be connected to the factory network. The only things connected are a single ControlLogix processor via 1756-EN2T/B, PanelView Plus 700, the Kinetix 350, and an Allen-Bradley 842E Ethernet encoder. Everything connects on the network except for the Kinetix 350. RSLogix/RSLinx sees the drive, but won't connect to it. The error I get inside RSLogix is:

Code 16#0108: Connection Request Error: Connection type (Multicast/Unicast) not supported.

I have tried it with and without the "Use Unicast Connection of Ethernet/IP" block checked, but it doesn't make a difference. I have been unable to find anything relating to this online so far. I'm wondering if it's because we went cheap on the network switch, something wrong with a setting, incompatible firmware, or something else.

I can't speak for this exact setup (i've not used Kinetix before) but if I'm having issues getting two things to talk, the first thing I do is connect them directly together on the same subnet through an unmanaged switch. A managed switch can have a setting somewhere that will prevent an otherwise correct setup from communicating, but IMO an unmanaged switch will just pass through any and all data regardless. It may well be a good idea to use a managed switch, but you should definitely be able to get it to at least say hello through an unmanaged one.

You might try disconnecting everything else from the switch except PLC, Kinetix and laptop, just to see if something else is upsetting things. Make sure you don't have any IP address duplications etc. Or you could run a wireshark capture and try to pinpoint where the communication is breaking down - but for that you WOULD need a managed switch (or a hub).

I just went and checked my configuration for a Kinetix 350 with Logix 5000 v23, and saw that the "Use Unicast I/O Connection" was grayed out and could not be changed.

Are you certain you have the correct Kinetix drive in your I/O tree ? The 300 might allow unicast/multicast selection.

I've had a broken I/O connection when I tried to run my coarse update rate too fast (my two Kinetix and my other devices need about 5 ms coarse update) but not that specific I/O connection type failure.

My system works nicely without using any of the management features of my N-Tron 700 switch, but in general I do prefer to have diagnostics available to me when I'm running network-intensive protocols like CIP Motion.

I figured out that I did have the Kinetix 300 in the tree. I left off the -LM by accident when I selected it, and of course when I named the module, I called it "Kinetix_350", so it was hard to catch at that point. I corrected it and everything fired right up.

So far, everything seems to run just fine on that Netgear switch then. I Stratix might be more robust, but if I can keep a spare Netgear on the shelf as a backup, plus some extra money in my pocket, I call that a win.

You need to have managed switch because you must set IGMP Snooping and QoS at least to manage motion network traffic correctly.
Your motion traffic will overload PV+ if not filtered correctly.
And I would recommend an industrial rated switch to get an appropriate temperature and noise immunity ratings at least.

I've used quite a few AB Kinetix 300, 350, 5500, and 6500 ethernet/ip servo drives over the years and have found that getting the right switch is very important. It may not show up at first, but the netgear may not have the throughput and temperature tolerance that is needed to sustain network traffic produced by EIP drives. In my experience, the low cost switch worked fine at first but after time it failed quickly. Also, if you look in the communications section of the drive.. you will probably see late and/or missed packets. This happens much more when the switch processor heats up and the panel is hot.

The least expensive switches that worked well for me were N-Tron. I used a 100 series for programming, connection to an HMI, and one drive. If anything more than that a 500 series worked best. Those are pricey but add the Qos, IGMP, etc.. They are much less than Stratix in my case.