dcooper33
Lifetime Supporting Member + Moderator
I've run into a real PITA trying to set-up company laptops to be compatible with our new FT AssetCentre security scheme.
We have a server PC running RSLinx Classic Gateway 2.59 and FT AssetCentre 4.10. This server resides on a VLAN with about 60 Nodes. Each node is a 1756-ENBT in a CLX rack. A separate ENBT exists in each rack that communicates with a Local Subnet (PV+'s, CLX PLC's, and PFlex Drives). The local subnet IP's are the same from Node to Node, and are isolated by the backplane from the plantwide VLAN.
We have an Ethernet Devices driver in Linx Classic, and an Ethernet driver in Linx Enterprise all set-up and mapped out with the remote subnets, and it all works fine.
The problem is this: since AssetCentre has to grab all the .ACD and .MER files over the VLAN, then the project comms path reflect this. Until now, all the technicians have been using programming ports on the local subnets. They will now need to go online via the VLAN, either wirelessly, or from dedicated drops we have for this purpose. Which of course means that the Linx Classic and Enterprise driver configs needs to be set-up on all company (and contractor) programming PC's. In the case of some of our contractor's, they may need to switch Linx configurations when working at other plants.
Approximately 80% of the devices are located on the subnets, and the RSLinx Classic Backup/Restore Utility does not preserve the remote subnet mapping
I have RA Tech Support working on a work-around at the moment, and the guy I spoke to said he would enter this issue as a "defect" with their internal engineering group to see about a permanent fix. But I thought I'd run this past the experts to see if any of you guys have had to deal with a similar situation. Setting up this driver takes hours of tedious work, and is not sustainable on a regular basis.
What really gets me is that transferring the Enterprise config file from one PC to another (the "RSLinxNG.xml" file) restores all subnet mapping. I tested this today to verify. Seems like a major oversight to build a backup/restore feature into the linx classic software and not have it restore EVERYTHING.
Sorry for the long-winded question. If you need me to provide any more details about the topology, I'd be happy to do so.
Thanks in advance.
Dustin
We have a server PC running RSLinx Classic Gateway 2.59 and FT AssetCentre 4.10. This server resides on a VLAN with about 60 Nodes. Each node is a 1756-ENBT in a CLX rack. A separate ENBT exists in each rack that communicates with a Local Subnet (PV+'s, CLX PLC's, and PFlex Drives). The local subnet IP's are the same from Node to Node, and are isolated by the backplane from the plantwide VLAN.
We have an Ethernet Devices driver in Linx Classic, and an Ethernet driver in Linx Enterprise all set-up and mapped out with the remote subnets, and it all works fine.
The problem is this: since AssetCentre has to grab all the .ACD and .MER files over the VLAN, then the project comms path reflect this. Until now, all the technicians have been using programming ports on the local subnets. They will now need to go online via the VLAN, either wirelessly, or from dedicated drops we have for this purpose. Which of course means that the Linx Classic and Enterprise driver configs needs to be set-up on all company (and contractor) programming PC's. In the case of some of our contractor's, they may need to switch Linx configurations when working at other plants.
Approximately 80% of the devices are located on the subnets, and the RSLinx Classic Backup/Restore Utility does not preserve the remote subnet mapping
I have RA Tech Support working on a work-around at the moment, and the guy I spoke to said he would enter this issue as a "defect" with their internal engineering group to see about a permanent fix. But I thought I'd run this past the experts to see if any of you guys have had to deal with a similar situation. Setting up this driver takes hours of tedious work, and is not sustainable on a regular basis.
What really gets me is that transferring the Enterprise config file from one PC to another (the "RSLinxNG.xml" file) restores all subnet mapping. I tested this today to verify. Seems like a major oversight to build a backup/restore feature into the linx classic software and not have it restore EVERYTHING.
Sorry for the long-winded question. If you need me to provide any more details about the topology, I'd be happy to do so.
Thanks in advance.
Dustin