PLC program management

Hello, i'm still fairly new in this field and I'm trying to figure out if there is any way or free programs in which multiple pc's can access, so that there is a controlled copy of a program. Currently I just have the other PC's link to mine over the network, but my PC always get the blue screen of death on it so I'm assuming the clock is ticking on this thing. Of course i could always put it on a shared network folder, but don't want people to tampering with the files.

I'm using primarly Allen Bradley so I don't know if it makes a difference.

ly83 said:

I'm using primarly Allen Bradley so I don't know if it makes a difference.

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If you mainly use AB, you want FactoryTalk AssetCentre. It's a bit shy of cheap, though. Kind of a trend with AB.

If you're looking more to the low cost side.

Subversion works a treat but takes some getting used too.

low cost to free would be great as i don't think management would want to spend money on something like this. Open to any other software too, just to test it out.

So, no matter what you end up using, get a backup solution, back those files up, and test your backups.

If MGMT won't pay for that, start looking elsewhere.

Doesn’t hurt to request it. Worst they can say is no get back to work.

Generally, PLC program managagement/version control/change control packages are project level only, not code level. Engineer A checks out the project for machine 5, makes some changes, checks it back in, system increments the version. Sometimes they also do automatic online/offline comparison, to make sure the PLC is in the expected state before you make changes.

What you don't often see is something that tracks the internal state of a file, or allows for multiple people editing the same file simultaneously.

They are generally pretty good tools for plant/process engineers, but they tend to suck for commissioning engineers.

Tools from PLC vendors or focused on PLCs will definitely cost $$$. Open source tools for general programming stuff may be free/cheaper, but will require a kludgier workflow.

Subversion should be taken out back and shot in the head!

I would recommend GitHub (just bought by Microsoft!) for source program control. Public repositories are free and unlimited private ones start at $7/month. I've been using them for years for my software and I probably have about 2 dozen repositories of very small control projects.

ly83 said:

Hello, i'm still fairly new in this field and I'm trying to figure out if there is any way or free programs in which multiple pc's can access, so that there is a controlled copy of a program. Currently I just have the other PC's link to mine over the network, but my PC always get the blue screen of death on it so I'm assuming the clock is ticking on this thing. Of course i could always put it on a shared network folder, but don't want people to tampering with the files.

Click to expand...

Someone mentioned versionDog once here on the forum and I have tried to get a demo without luck.

One thing to bear in mind, Automation is usually a decade behind good IT practices and some times even more than that. So it's pointless to have a fancy source code control system if no one respects it. Asset Centre has the (paid separately) capability of surveying the PLC's for changes and notifying a set number of people. But at the end of the day, any source code control is as good as the people using it.
I would very much rather have technicians that understand and have good source control practices on files in a folder than the opposite and a state of the art version control system.

there is also MDT tools