Help with Siemens software

Can i get some help/advice with Siemens software. I'm a Rockwell guy, but have on site one siemens S7-1500. I wont go into how this plant has a siemens PLC instead of Rockwell, but its here.
I've been doing some research for what software is needed for this PLC. I cant seem to tell the difference between TIA portal or Step 7. Is TIA portal a "container" for Step 7? Can i use one or the either?
I have watched a few youtube videos which suggest using TIA portal and performing "upload device as new station (hardware and software)". This suggests i will get a full upload from the PLC which i can go online with and use as a backup.
Then the is the issue of software versions. Is this the same as ControlLogix versioning, in that i need exact the version of software to match the hardware? Or can i get the latest which is backwards compatible with the older versions.

Apologies so many questions, i literally have no idea with siemens

Where is the backup of the software for this plc ? - if you can find that then it will tell you what version of TIA was used.

Unfortunately there was no software handed over with this. The project team didn't have any software commissioning engineer, everything came pre configured from the supplier. The supplier did provide a maintenance service for a few years, but have since pulled out of the EU market, hence I'm trying to get up to speed with Siemens should something go wrong.

Oceansoul said:

Unfortunately there was no software handed over with this. The project team didn't have any software commissioning engineer, everything came pre configured from the supplier. The supplier did provide a maintenance service for a few years, but have since pulled out of the EU market, hence I'm trying to get up to speed with Siemens should something go wrong.

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Ok got your point, hope it will be better soon!

I'm in a similar situation; an A-B expert with some S7's I have to work with.

You're going to need TIA Portal. Think of "Step7" as equivalent in terminology to "RSLogix"... you would immediately ask "well, 5, 500, or 5000 ?" to an RA novice.

Users of legacy Siemens controllers like the S7-200, -300, and -400 would use standalone Step7, launched from within Simatic Manager.

The S7-1200 and S7-1500 are programmed with the modern Step7 that is part of TIA Portal. In my case, I have TIA Portal 17 and can launch the tools that I have licenses for, including "Step7 Professional v17.0".

So which version of Step7 will you need ? It depends on the firmware in your S7-1500. In general, it's backward-compatible.

In my case I had TIA Portal v16, and some S7-1500 controllers with firmware 2.8, and they all worked fine.

Then along came an S7-1500 with firmware 2.9, and some features that required TIA Portal 17, so I had to upgrade.

If there's an active webserver on your controller, or if it's equipped with a display with a diamond keypad/OK/ESC buttons, you should be able to determine the firmware without any other tools.

It is indeed a bit confusing. To be precise:

Old S7 software tool collection package: Simatic Manager (only for S7-300/400)
New S7 software tool collection: TIA Portal (for S7-300/400/1200/1500)
Old S7 programming language tool: STEP7 (LAD, FBD, SCL, GRAPH, CFC)
New S7 programming language tool: STEP7(LAD, FBD, SCL, GRAPH, CEM, more ?)

No-one uses the term Simatic Manager, instead it has become the norm to call it STEP7 Classic.

I think the equivalent to Simatic Manager / TIA Portal is RSLogix Studio with RSNetworx.

To upload an S7-1200/1500 program to TIA, TIA must be the same version as the program in the CPU, down to service pack.
If you have TIA of any version, you can read out CPU information and the TIA version by searching for 'reachable nodes'.
Not all S7-300/400 hardware is supported by TIA. Generally only the latest generations are supported. And for example S7-300T CPUs (motion veriant) are not supported at all.
And TIA cannot upload an S7-300/400 program made with STEP7 Classic.

Thanks Ken & Jesper. That's really helpful. My S7-1500 does have the LCD screen/keyboard so I'll check the firmware then download TIA portal. There appears to be a trial period before getting licence's.

I'm a Rockwell guy, but have on site one siemens S7-1500. I wont go into how this plant has a siemens PLC instead of Rockwell, but its here.

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For a minute, I thought you were speaking of me. LOL

This being said, if a vendor sells machines with their preferred platform, be what it may, it's always worth sticking with it rather than being a fanboy and pushing them to re-engineer the software thus leading to bugs and possibly causing the machine to destroy itself.

I've seen this in two industries and it's mindboggling how we let our fanboyism get in the way of productivity.