Connect to RSEmulate from another PC running RSLinx

ASF

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Hi all. TL;DR at the end.

Had a situation last week where I needed to connect a workstation running RSLinx to a running PLC code, just to extract a heap of values to excel using DDE. Trouble was, the code was for a 1769-L36ERM and all I had lying around was a 1769-L16ER-BB1B.

My first approach was SoftLogix, which I've done before and has worked, but of course SoftLogix has been more or less discontinued as far as I can tell, in favour of RSEmulate, and the program in question was too new a version and wouldn't convert back to v23 without breaking the parts of the code I needed to access. So that was a bust.

My second approach was RSEmulate, which ran the code quite happily, but I couldn't figure out how to get RSLinx on the other PC to find the emulator.

My third approach, which did the trick, was to delete 99% of the code until it would fit in the memory of the 1769-L16ER I had lying around, and just doing it that way.

So it worked, but I'd like to think there's a way to do this using RSEmulate. It seems much simpler.

Both PC's are on the same subnet and can ping each other. In fact, RSLinx on the remote PC is getting it's activations from the PC running RSEmulate, so definitely no problems with talking to each other. In SoftLogix, I could add an ethernet module to the virtual chassis, give it an IP, and then I'd point the remote RSLinx to that IP address to find the virtual controller. But it doesn't seem that you can add a virtual ethernet module to RSEmulate. Adding a virtual devices driver to the remote RSLinx session of course only shows any virtual controllers running on that machine, not the remote one.

Any ideas?

TL;DR, if I have two PC's on the same subnet, one running RSEmulate and the other running RSLinx, how do I get RSLinx to "see" the RSEmulate controller on the other PC?
 
If the machine that's running RSEmulate also has a license for RSLinx Classic Gateway, you can access RSEmulate using the Virtual Backplane driver via the "Remote Devices via Linx Gateway" driver on the client PC.

This driver was originally built to allow a computer with a specialized hardware interface (like a 1784-KTX card) to share that driver with other computers over TCP/IP.

It can do the same with a specialized software interface like the Virtual Backplane driver.
 
Aha, I've not spotted that before. Is there a manual I should look for to work out how to set up the "Remote Devices" driver? Now that I know the right search terms I've found a few threads on the subject, but none that seem to give any real detail into how to set it up. I'm sure it can't be that hard, but I always like to have a manual or something to refer to so I know I'm doing things right.

Based on my reading of the other threads, it would seem that only the PC at the end I'm connecting to needs the Linx Gateway license, correct? The end I'm connecting from could just be RSLinx Lite?
 
Yup; the PC that is sharing its local drivers needs to have RSLinx Classic Gateway license, and you need to enable the Gateway feature. I don't have Linx on my home machine so I can't tell you the exact menu clicks.

The remote computer can have RSLinx Lite, or any licensed version.

You'll need to know the IP address of the Gateway machine, and when you're configuring the "Remote Devices via Linx Gateway" driver, there should appear a list of the local drivers on that machine.

For me, enabling the Gateway feature on the Gateway computer was always the forehead-slapping moment.
 
Ken Roach said:
For me, enabling the Gateway feature on the Gateway computer was always the forehead-slapping moment

Aaaand likewise for me. I had it enabled on the remote computer, not the gateway computer.

Now that I've got that the right way around, I can see the remote virtual chassis, and assign my DDE topic to the emulator, so I'm halfway there. However, when I try to retrieve values using excel it just returns "#REF".

Is this likely to be because RSLinx doesn't recognise the emulator (yellow question mark and "unrecognised device"), and so the DDE topic doesn't know how to configure itself? When I was using the L16, Linx recognised it fine, and the excel file/VBA code hasn't changed, so that's my current working theory.

I can't work out how to get hold of the EDS files to test the theory though. I searched on the RA website and got EDS files for every version of RSEmulate up to v24, but I'm using v28, which doesn't appear in the list. I've also looked on the install media for RSEmulate, and I can't find it in there (although perhaps I just don't know where to look).

Any ideas?
 
Dropping back in because I just linked someone else to this thread and realised I never posted back with my resolution.

It was, as I suspected, the lack of EDS files that caused the problem. Once I got a hold of the EDS files, the yellow question mark in RSLinx was replaced with the proper icon, and the excel DDE topic worked as intended.

I put in a call to tech support about the missing EDS download. It got escalated all the way to the US but ultimately I had to manually extract the files from the RSEmulate installation media and install them; the idea of just uploading them along with all the rest of the RSEmulate EDS files seemed to be placed firmly in the too hard basket. I'd like to say that I can't understand why, but having seen the debacle that is the Rockwell PCDC, and having learned recently that its operation is outsourced to HP, I have a fairly good idea of why nobody wants that particular headache on their plate.
 
Hi Ken and ASF, I have my testing system setup as below:
1. station #1 setup with rsemulate running with code downloaded. OPC setup for remote access by SCADA.
2. station #2 running SCADA, remote access station #1 via remote OPC. It connects fine.
3. station #3 running studio 5k in VMware.

I have tried to setup the "Remote Devices via Linx Gateway" in Station #3 RSLINX, but all I can see is station #1 "rslinx server" in station#3 rslinx Gateway dropdown list. The emulate PLC doesnot show up.

Did I miss any configuration steps?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers
 
Station 1 needs to have have the RSLinx Gateway license, and it needs to have Gateway functionality enabled.

Configuration -> Configure Gateway, then check the "Enable RSLinx Gateway", and shutdown/restart at least once.

Of course there may be a firewall issue; I'm not too familiar with configuring firewalls for this purpose.
 
Station 1 needs to have have the RSLinx Gateway license, and it needs to have Gateway functionality enabled.

Configuration -> Configure Gateway, then check the "Enable RSLinx Gateway", and shutdown/restart at least once.

Of course there may be a firewall issue; I'm not too familiar with configuring firewalls for this purpose.

Reviving an older thread, but in case someone else has the same issue....

I just had the same issue dogyi had, and this seems to have been the fix.

On the client machine I could see the gateway RXLinx server once I enabled the gateway, but not the virtual backplane under it. I added the emulator to the firewall exceptions list and now I can see the backplane and controllers.

Thanks.
 
For the next person out there (and me in the future):

I am not 100% which single thing or multiple things fixed it, but here are the hoops I jumped through. Host = machine with emulator on it. Client = machine I am trying to go online with the emulator on the Host.

- (Host and Client) Run the Rockwell "Windows Firewall Configuration Utility" to make sure the firewall is not the issue.
- (Host and Client) Open FactoryTalk Linx Browser. Right-click each driver>> Driver Configuration>> -Uncheck "Listen on Ethernet/IP encapsulation ports". Someone mentioned that FT Linx and RSLinx Classis share some ports and this might be the issue.
- (Host and Client)(I think just host was needed) Even though the manual refer to "Checking enable gateway" in the RSLinx General Options (View > Options). I had no such line. It turns out in my version this was
- Once the above is done you can get to the RSLinx Classic Gateway Communications>> Configure Gateway. Check the box here.
- Once the above was done, one the client PC I could see the Host drivers in RSLinx under Linx Gateways, Ethernet > Host IP/Name

At this point, I was able to try uploading but got this error in the errors window in RSLogix "CIP Error: Persistent storage disabled or inactive"
- Realized I had not downloaded to the emulate controller after restarting the emulated program. Downloaded to it from the host and then tried again to upload from the Client, but had the same issue.
- Closed and opened Logix emulate a few times and removed the emulate controller from the slot and checked clear config. Put the same controller back and then everything worked. Downloaded from Host PC to emulate controller. Then was able to upload from the client PC. I don't think it matters, but when I recreated the emulate controller I change from the CPU affinity being CPU 0 to CPU 4.

At this point, it was working. One thing to note was I did not have to have to use a "Remote Devices via Linx Gateway" driver in RSLinx on either machine.

Hope this helps someone else or me in the future.
 
Newbie with Rockwell things. I've been working for quite some time and I finally stumbled upon this post. (You guys are awesome)

Right now I've got RSLinx Classic Gateway running on both the PC with the emulator and the remote PC.

Unfortunately nothing is showing up on RSLinx with in the remote PC. Both computers are on the same LAN, and Ive got the firewalls blown away and everything enabled.

Was wondering if you guys could point me towards the secret sauce? I haven't been able to locate the "Enable gateway" box that you guys have mentioned.
 
Newbie with Rockwell things. I've been working for quite some time and I finally stumbled upon this post. (You guys are awesome)

Right now I've got RSLinx Classic Gateway running on both the PC with the emulator and the remote PC.

Unfortunately nothing is showing up on RSLinx with in the remote PC. Both computers are on the same LAN, and Ive got the firewalls blown away and everything enabled.

Was wondering if you guys could point me towards the secret sauce? I haven't been able to locate the "Enable gateway" box that you guys have mentioned.

Hey. I wish I had taken better notes. I had the issue with the gateway options not being visible. There was some option somewhere in RSLinx that I had to enable before I could see the gateway drop-down option. Best of luck!
 
Oh man anything you think of to point me in the right direction? I'm in need of a shepherd right now haha. Do you know if there's any additional documentation I could look through?

I found the following "The configure gateway menu option only appears when running the RSLinx Classic Gateway."

When I open RSLinx classic, It says "RsLinx Classic Gateway" at the top, and Activation manager shows that an RSLinx Classic Gateway is in use, so I assume I've met that criteria at least.
 
Oh man anything you think of to point me in the right direction? I'm in need of a shepherd right now haha. Do you know if there's any additional documentation I could look through?

I found the following "The configure gateway menu option only appears when running the RSLinx Classic Gateway."

When I open RSLinx classic, It says "RsLinx Classic Gateway" at the top, and Activation manager shows that an RSLinx Classic Gateway is in use, so I assume I've met that criteria at least.

I don't have a machine Infront of me and I'm on PTO at the moment. There was a setting/checkbox somewhere in RSLinx that enabled/disabled the gateway menu. The crappy part about my notes is I left out this part. Haha. Just go through all the settings in RSLinx and try a bunch.

The manuals were not very helpful because they all assume you can get to the gateway config.
 
Alright I found the secret sauce. On RSLinx, under view-->options, you must have the "allow UDP messages on ethernet port" checkbox checked.

Once you do that, then you have the ability to enable the gateway. Apparently the default option since RSLinx 4.10 has been for the box to be unchecked.

Thank you so much for you help, I hope you had an excellent vacation.
 

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