Connecting to PLC using VLAN/VPN

Hey guys, just wondering if any of you smart people know a way to connect to a PLC remotely. What we've done traditionally is send a VPN router on site and connecting to it.

However doing this can take some time and I was wondering if there was an easier way to connect using a laptop that would already be on site to reduce downtime without exposing our code i.e. them downloading programming software and us sending a copy of our code so that they can go online locally.

I was exploring the TeamViewer VPN service but can't seem to connect to my test PLC even after adding a route through CMD. If anyone's done something similiar with TeamViewer and got it to work the help would be greatly appreciated.

All suggestions welcome as well. Just looking for a kick in the right direction so I don't go chasing something down for days only to find out it doesn't work.

Sidenote: I'm using Beckhoff and TC3.

Thanks!

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

Teamviewer works as a single connection between 2 computers, so there are not really a good way to avoid an "Engineering workstation" or jump server on the plant.

Usually larger plants and organisations have their own IT department, who already have VPN software setup for a jump station. If you approach them with care and try to speak their language, they are usually willing to help you getting a jump server setup with the correct software and then you would be able to connect through that.

For smaller plants that might not have a organised IT infrastructure, I have used the "SiteManagers" from Secomea, which I think is what you are looking for.
This device allows you to connect remotely to your PLC or other devices, without having a physical jump station and can even be connected to via cellular networks if the plant is not able to allow your device to be on the internet.

BUT, always make sure that the plant and IT departments are OK with you adding a device like that to their plant, especially if your devices are networked to other parts of the plant.

Jobbe, it's not exactly what he's asking. Read the first two lines again.
We use the Secomeas too by the way, they are great

I've had the TeamViewer VPN tunnel set up and used it successfully connecting to a S7-1500 PLC through a techie's laptop on site. But only once. I've tried it again since, but I haven't been able to do it again. I suspect it has something with newer Windows 10 updates to do, but I don't know for sure.
JesperMP on here made a guide for it some time back.

CommissioningMan, Yes they deffently are!

Sorry, I might not have described myself clearly in my previous post

A laptop with teamviewer on it will most certainly work as a jump server to get connected to the PLC.

However, having a laptop (which has a monitor) will most certain expose their PLC code to whoever is physically standing in front of the laptop, which from OP's post I understod that he would like to avoid.

No, because you are not using TeamViewer as a remote desktop solution, but as a tunnel solution. So you connect to devices through the laptop as an intermediate point and not from software running on the laptop itself.

In the "downloads" section of this site JesperMP has added instructions on how to setup and use the Teamviewer VPN.

The documentation is for Siemens but the concept is the same for other PLC brands.

Tried it with no success.
Did everything except 3.2, as the target PLC would not be Siemens, but Omron (actually I need a device-independent Ethernet tunneling).
Never could establish communication with the PLC, even with both computers on the same LAN.
If somebody succeeded, any advice will be appreciated.

CommissioningMan said:

No, because you are not using TeamViewer as a remote desktop solution, but as a tunnel solution. So you connect to devices through the laptop as an intermediate point and not from software running on the laptop itself.

Click to expand...

My bad, I was unaware that teamviewer had a tunnel solution.
(Should have read the document you linked, before saying anything, but hey... That is not what real men do, right ) <-- Joke, should deffently do so!

There are some posts on the teamviewer forums, but mostly about people who are unable to get to shared files because windows 10 sets the teamviewer connection to public access and putting some restrictions on it. The solutions suggested are to disable IPV6 or add this key to the register

https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/Ideas/TeamViewer-VPN-Unidentified-network/td-p/46387

I dont know if this will solve anything for OP, but it is worth a try.

I use TeamViewer VPN regularly to connect to Rockwell controllers via the "service laptop" that we often include with a complex automated machine system. JesperMP's guide has been extremely valuable to me and my company.

The most common setup issue I run into is that the controller needs to respond to off-network packets, so it needs to have its "Default Gateway" address set to the LAN address of the laptop.

In systems where I had to set this up on an improvised basis, I downloaded RSLinx Lite to the onsite laptop, and was able to use that utility to reconfigure the Ethernet modules in the Rockwell controller.

I don't know if a Beckhoff controller has that modular ability to change the Ethernet settings without having local access to the configuration tools for the overall system.

I use Tosibox and **** devices depending on the application. I include a WE826 cellular router with a Tosibox in almost every panel. Be sure the client is aware. They are usually happy to forego the travel costs and time to troubleshoot issues.