Control Logix Rack as a network router???

cardosocea

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Hello Gents,

Where I work the network grew without any thought with regards to segregation and so on and we now have pretty much all the site's systems connected in the same subnet (10.10.XXX.XXX).

However, a packing machine was bought and it came from factory with the network defined in the 192.168.1.XXX range. One of my predecessors apparently wanted to be able to reach the PLC from the 10.10.xx.xx network and decided to put in a CLX rack with two network cards (one on each network) and a DH+ card for a legacy PLC still on site.

I have been looking into getting the PanelView to log alarms in a SQL server and am not too sure if this setup would allow the messages across. Anyone had any experience with this type of setup? I have it working between network and DH+ so suspect it may actually work, just wanted someone's feedback on it.
 
Com cards on a Logix rack is more of a gateway than a router. As long as devices can communicate across the backplane things should work. Great for jumping to alternate networks like Ethernet/IP --> DH+.

I wouldn't recommend this for general network separation. For that start looking at real devices such as layer 3 switches, or NAT devices or an actual router.
 
In general, Rockwell's CIP protocol can get routed through ControlLogix modules and backplanes, but general purpose TCP/IP routing is not done through those modules.

PanelView to log alarms in a SQL server

Let's take a step back and be sure we understand what you're trying to do.

The FactoryTalk Alarms and Events (FTA&E) feature uses an SQL server to store alarms and events. I certainly might still be behind the times (FTView Studio 8.20 is my latest install) but I'm not aware of FTA&E support being added to FactoryTalk View Machine Edition.

I'm not aware of any PanelView Plus feature that will allow you to use a remote SQL server as the repository for Alarms.

So precisely what are you trying to get done, at the end of the day ?
 
I wouldn't recommend this for general network separation. For that start looking at real devices such as layer 3 switches, or NAT devices or an actual router.
I understand, this is what I inherited and I think that apart from being able to program that PLC, there isn't much else to get from it.

The FactoryTalk Alarms and Events (FTA&E) feature uses an SQL server to store alarms and events. I certainly might still be behind the times (FTView Studio 8.20 is my latest install) but I'm not aware of FTA&E support being added to FactoryTalk View Machine Edition.
Basically get data from the system without paying for another iFix collector license. When I open FTView, the last folder available in the project navigator is System, under it there is another folder named connections and under it Databases. From what that window tells me, this is where I'd set up logging to an external SQL Server.
My SQL server is in the 10.10.128 domain, the machine is in the 192.168.1 domain and the only pathway available there is this rack. My install is 9.0 by the way, so it would be nice to know if this is a new feature or not.

Going through the Manuals, there is no information about this part of the FTView Studio. So I may be wrong, but it would definitely be great if it works.


If you use FT Historian or FT Transaction Manager (RSSQL) it can use the Logix gateway.

Using a standalone SQL Server that iFix uses to log alarms in.
 
Take a look at the very top border of your FactoryTalk View Studio window; does it say "FactoryTalk View Studio" or "FactoryTalk View Studio Machine Edition" ?

I have only Machine Edition on my computer because I don't use Site Edition. I think the SQL database connection is specifically meant for features of Site Edition; it's not even an object in the System folder on my FTView Studio installation (8.20).

I would be happy to be out of date; I have not kept up on PV+ functionality since I'm doing all of our HMI projects with Indusoft Web Studio.

I think the iFix collector license is going to be the appropriate mechanism to get data from your controllers into SQL, even thought that data is also represented in the standalone Alarms subsystem of your PanelView Plus terminal.
 
Take a look at the very top border of your FactoryTalk View Studio window; does it say "FactoryTalk View Studio" or "FactoryTalk View Studio Machine Edition" ?

I'll have to check this tomorrow... however, we don't use the FactoryTalkView Site Edition (as in never purchased that license). I retrieved what was an ME project with the FactoryTalk that I have installed (version 9.00.00). And I only recently purchased the ME edition.

Knowing Rockwell, it is highly unlikely that they gave me the Site Edition as well as the Machine Edition... but I'll confirm this as it is also true that I found zero information about this possibility.

It is also likely that perhaps this is available, but only on modern versions of the HMI.
Hopefully I'll have a way to check this soon enough.
 
Just came in the office and at the top banner I see FactoryTalk View Studio - View Machine Edition.

However, the System folder is in the very top folder which seems to be my machine. Meaning that it may work if it's my machine sending the alarms over, but quite likely that it won't do from the panel itself.
 
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