SLC 5/05 Ethernet Communications

I don't use the SLC platform often. But I had a SLC 5/05 on a small ethernet network. Everything worked fine, all devices on the network could communicate with the SLC 5/05, but RSLinx would not discover the 5/05 processor using the Ethernet/IP driver. It would find the Micrologix 1400 processors on the same network without issue.

I could ping the device address, and when I switched to using the Ethernet Devices driver and told it the specific address of the SLC 5/05, RSLinx found it without any issue.

I verified IP Addresses, Subnet masks, and even took a look at the binding order of the network adapters on the laptop used (which was an issue with some other PLC software I had used in the past). Nothing seemed to work. The SLC 5/05 never showed up with the Ethernet/IP driver in RSLinx.

This is the only 5/05 I've tried to connect to using this method, so I don't know if I have a problem, or if this is something to do with the 5/05 in general.

Any insight on to where my problem may be, or what I am doing wrong? Thanks.

Correct me if I am wrong please. But I don't believe that the 5/05 is an "ETHENETIP" device. I also add them to my Ethernet driver as they do not appear in the IP driver. It does however have the EthernetIP logo on the processor label so one would think it should be visible in the EthernetIP driver.
I am connecting my 5/05 s through an IT managed switch. Do we have this in common?
I do know that when connected to my IT managed switches any device (logix controller) that I put on the network without a default IP is not visible in the EthernetIP driver either.

What is your network scenario? Managed IT switch? Default IP configured?

You do not mention the hardware / firmware version of your 5/05.
The 5/05 has been around a long time, and there are different firmware and hardware versions.

Some of them are Ethernet/IP, some (older) are not.

Use the Ethernet driver in RSLinx and configure it with the IP address you have set the 5/05 to.

Mike is correct. Older processors with older firmware revisions are not found using the EthernetIP driver.

Helliana said:

Mike is correct. Older processors with older firmware revisions are not found using the EthernetIP driver.

Click to expand...

Correct but he can flash it with the firmware update / OS Update module and get those functions.

Thanks. At least now I know it wasn't the network.

The network is small. An unmanaged switch, a SLC5/05, an HMI, a couple other ML1400s. Nothing connected to a plant network, and everything set with Static IP Addresses.

The machine is half way across the world. I could have sworn my laptop when I made it connected to it via Ethernet/IP. But I must be wrong. I think I'll leave it be with Ethernet Devices for the time being.

Are you trying to connect to it remotely from halfway across the world? Any remote access solution won't find anything at all with the Ethernet/IP driver, only the Ethernet devices driver. The only exception as far as I'm aware is if you'd previously connected to it locally, the devices had showed up on the ethernet/IP driver, and then those IP's were still "remembered" in the list for your Ethernet/IP driver to go looking for...

Some older 5/05 only support 10Mb half duplex too, and no firmware can fix that!

See also this post:
http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showpost.php?p=286338&postcount=4

Doesn't SLC 5/05 Ethernet comms require an entry in the "Hosts" file on the PC also?

Example of a HOSTS file usually located here:
"%SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts"

____________________________________________________________
# Copyright (c) Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows NT.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

3.0.0.1 1-2196-PC
3.0.0.10 12196PLC

______________________________________________________

@Nathan: You only need an entry in the Hosts file if you want to substitute a Host Name in the Ethernet Devices driver host list instead of an IP address. You can tell an A-B veteran programmer if she has a Hosts list set up and a script on her desktop to change it out.

@OkiePC: Exactly right. If an SLC-5/05 is old enough to have 10 Mb/s only, odds are good that it also doesn't have dual-stack CSPV4 and EtherNet/IP.

@ASF: Bingo !

The EtherNet/IP driver browses the network by transmitting a command called "List Identity" and broadcasts it onto the network. Virtually all VPN networks and Internet links will block that broadcast.

A very common Tech Support call was "I could see the controller when I was plugged in at the site, but now that I'm home trying to do remote access I can't browse it".

50% of the time it was an incorrectly-configured Default Gateway, and the other 50% it was EIP vs. CSPv4 browsing.

Ken Roach said:

@Nathan: You only need an entry in the Hosts file if you want to substitute a Host Name in the Ethernet Devices driver host list instead of an IP address. You can tell an A-B veteran programmer if she has a Hosts list set up and a script on her desktop to change it out.

Click to expand...

Ken do you happen to have an example of how to set this up? Sounds very slick I would like to learn more about it.

Tim Ganz said:

Ken do you happen to have an example of how to set this up? Sounds very slick I would like to learn more about it.

Click to expand...

You have an example of a Hosts file in my earlier post.
The 3.0.0.1 and 3.0.0.10 are the IP addresses assigned to host names.
You can now use address 3.0.0.1 OR 1-2196-PC

You can also block or redirect sites through the hosts file.

Info....
www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/78266-hosts-file-use-windows-7-vista.html

More good info..
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-surprising-uses-for-the-windows-hosts-file/

What about the script to change them as Ken was saying?

ASF said:

Are you trying to connect to it remotely from halfway across the world? Any remote access solution won't find anything at all with the Ethernet/IP driver, only the Ethernet devices driver. The only exception as far as I'm aware is if you'd previously connected to it locally, the devices had showed up on the ethernet/IP driver, and then those IP's were still "remembered" in the list for your Ethernet/IP driver to go looking for...

Click to expand...

I wasn't trying to connect to it directly from half way across the world. When it was in my factory, I connected to it with my programming laptop. Then we sent it over to the other facility. I was remotely logged into their programming laptop and trying to connect to the PLC from their laptop connected directly to the local network.

It had been probably 7+ years since I had connected to it with my laptop. It's very possible that I either didn't use the Ethernet at all, and was using serial, or was using Ethernet Devices all along.