Web access

rory

Member
Join Date
Nov 2005
Location
NELSON
Posts
29
Am I close, you buy a fixed IP address to a factory, you sit a server at that address running a webserver and sql database runing an opc web server connecting you to your whatever. I am going to have a go at that very shortly.

The part I fall down on and have little experience is using default gateways, can you buy routers that have mini websererves for logging in and allow them to be used as a default gateway for for another ip address.

Eg
I have a plc and touchscreen sitting on a ip network, the touch screen has a built in web server, if you are on the local network you can type in the ip address and naviagate with IE.

I want to be able to acess this through the fixed IP address to the factory from home to check the status of the plant.

If I could make program changes from home even better.
 
Hi Rory

It's a common problem trying to get remote access to a private network via the Internet and as we get more networks in the factory it's going to get more common. There are two issues:

The first is to get the Router that you have connected to the Internet to pass data to a device inside the local network.

The second and by far the most important is to do it securely, you don't want someone to hack the system and re-program or crash your machine.

The method I prefer is to use a Router that will accept VPN connections. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, and although the connection is via the Internet, to your computer it looks as though it has joined the local network on the machine. So pretty much anything you can do when connected directly you can also do remotely, though because the connection is slower timing issues can arise. VPN can be a pain to set up, and if you get one parameter wrong the connection fails and gives a cryptic error message that no-one understands. If you are happy to pay extra you can get Indutrial versions of VPN routers though they tend to limit incoming connectionc to one remote IP address, more secure but it means you can't log-in when you are not in the office. Before commiting to VPN I would suggest you have a play, buy a cheap VPN router such as Netgear FVS114 £50.00ish and try to make connections from home to the office, or between houses. Once you have a little confidence and knowledge progress to the machine comms.

Regards

Bryan
 
Bryan's advice is good. To expand on it, you can get a home router and the default address scheme will be perfect. It will use NAT to connect the devices to the Internet. If you are using a VPN, you will not even need to set up the default gateways of the industrial devices (if they don't need to access the internet). What matters is that you set up a VPN server (could be the consumer router, or could be software running on a computer) such that it can talk to the touchscreen on one adapter, and can talk to the internet on the other.

To connect from home (or anywhere over the net), you simply use a VPN client to connect to the VPN server. It will provide you with a virtual adapter on the network as the touchscreen and you will be able to communicate with it directly.
 

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