RSlinx issues with scada channels(honeywell)

lalas

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May 2011
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canada
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Using Rlinx 2.5 we were testing connectivity from the PLC's to experion using scada. There are three channels configured for each plc on the same experion server. When we disconnect completely one plc, its channel fails (RSlinx can not communicate with the plc) and the channel in experion fails. However after a few minutes the other 2 channels fail as well. The rslinx logs show that they lose communication too although they are connected. PLC are logix5000 processor types. So casically when on plc fails (power shutdown or network loss) the other channels fails as well. This is not making sense and would appreciate any input or feedback to this issue. More information: when the primary network is disconnected, rslinx fails over to the other network as the alias configurations are setup in rslinx (ver 2.5) and vice versa but when both network cables are disconnected its channel fails as well as the other.

the rslogix ver is 17

Any input would be greatly appreciated

The network is FTE and the plcs are connected using cisco indutrial switchs with @Mbps hrottling(maybe this could cause it)
 
RSlinx issues with scada channels and comms

To ellaborate rslinx ver 2.51 is what we are using on a server 2003 32 bit machine.Also we removed all restrictions with the switchs and still had the issue.
 
Time to toss on a packet sniffer like Wireshark/Ethereal, use an Ethernet debugging tool like a Fluke Netttool (I carry one with me all the time), or just install a router with logging to see what's dying.

Possibilities are endless. CompactLogix/ControlLogix processors can quickly suck up all a 10/100 network's bandwidth if using much remote IO. Maybe with a description of your complete network, someone here could take an educated guess. But you can't beat the value of a packet sniffer when things like this happen.
 
Remember, fellow readers, that this is a Honeywell Experion Fault-Tolerant Ethernet (FTE) network; these use specific switches configured and connected in specific ways to Honeywell-proprietary network modules.

I'm not very familiar with Experion. Is a "Channel" a configuration item in Experion SCADA, or do you mean an Ethernet port or Ethernet module ?

lalas, are you using ordinary Rockwell 1756-ENBT or -EN2T modules, or the Honeywell FTE modules to connect to the ControlLogix ? Is this an Experion with the "C200" type (physically identical to RA 1756-series ControlLogix) I/O or a new C300 ?

I agree with nwboson that sticking with the ordinary testing mechanisms is a good strategy: PING the 1756-ENBT's, use HTTP to verify HTTP connectivity, and use something like TCPING to verify that TCP Port 44818 remains available.

If you can't get TCP Port 44818 working after the "failover", you can concentrate on the FTE network. If it does work, you can concentrate on RSLinx Classic.
 
Remember, fellow readers, that this is a Honeywell Experion Fault-Tolerant Ethernet (FTE) network; these use specific switches configured and connected in specific ways to Honeywell-proprietary network modules.

I'm not very familiar with Experion. Is a "Channel" a configuration item in Experion SCADA, or do you mean an Ethernet port or Ethernet module ?

lalas, are you using ordinary Rockwell 1756-ENBT or -EN2T modules, or the Honeywell FTE modules to connect to the ControlLogix ? Is this an Experion with the "C200" type (physically identical to RA 1756-series ControlLogix) I/O or a new C300 ?

I agree with nwboson that sticking with the ordinary testing mechanisms is a good strategy: PING the 1756-ENBT's, use HTTP to verify HTTP connectivity, and use something like TCPING to verify that TCP Port 44818 remains available.

If you can't get TCP Port 44818 working after the "failover", you can concentrate on the FTE network. If it does work, you can concentrate on RSLinx Classic.
Hello Ken

thanks for your input.

yes, a channel is a configuration item in experion scada .
Yes we are using rockwell 1756-ENBT module with c200 honeywell controllers.

Failover between the primary network and secondary network(green,yellow) works fine as we have configured the alias topics in rslinx.Its when we disconnect both primary and seconday network cables from one PLC that all the other PLC communications and channels on the scada system ont he same server fail.With this information could it stil be a network issue?

I will also look at your advice above.

thanks
 
Are you using the native PLC5 driver or OPC? The OPC was much easier to use and I dont recall having the issues you describe.
 
Hello bwheat

Are you refering to the drive in the scada system .if so we are not using alen-bradley channel configs,we are using opc channels.

Could it be that since the plcs are sending messages to eahc other the failure of one is resulting in the failure of all the channels in the scada system.

We simulated the same thing without an FTE infrastructure and it did the same.

We also installed a few patches from rockwell for rslinx 2.51 since we are using a multicore machine and a patch to prevent rslinx from crashing with comms are lost with no avail.we are still geting the same issue .

Thanks
 
More information:

This issue seems to be because honeywell channels communicate Synchrously while the rslinx asyn .It seems when the PLC goes down the channel is holding and waiting for a respons from the downed plc .Is anyone familiar with any solutions such as matrikonopc server fro alen-bradley.
 

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