RSLinx over Internet

RoTaTech

Member
Join Date
May 2003
Location
Cobourg, ON, Canada
Posts
418
If someone knows how to do this, he or she will be on this forum.

Scenario:

Machine programmer owns RS5000, Linx, etc. and is three plus hours from machine.

At the machine we have a PC available with Internet access and Ethernet cable to PLC. Optional - we can get RSLinx if needed. No desire to buy RS5000 to support a single machine.

Requirement:

To set up the local PC as a gateway / router / firewall / what-have-you so that the programmer can point his/her RSLinx at that PC and route through to the PLC for programming, support.

No, PCAnywhere, Teamviewer, VNC, et. al. remote control software will not work, as the local PC has no RS5000.

Most likely we will use a mobile phone in tethered or hot-spot mode to the local PC, to bypass the local network completely. Allowing a single IP ports, etc. through to the PC can be arranged if no alternative, but local network access is discouraged.

Has anyone here tried a similar set-up, or have any input?
 
Last edited:
I like the simplicity of the VPN appliance made by Stridelinx. It takes less than 5 minutes to set up which for us makes the cost worthwhile. We deal mostly with Micrologix and SLCs so we will use the Ethernet Devices driver. Once the VPN is connected, RSLinx will see those remote PLCs through that type of driver and connect readily. No need for RSLinx or RSLogix or even a PC at the other end...

https://www.automationdirect.com/ad..._-_vpn/stridelinx_vpn_routers/wired/se-sl3011
 
I like the simplicity of the VPN appliance made by Stridelinx. It takes less than 5 minutes to set up which for us makes the cost worthwhile. We deal mostly with Micrologix and SLCs so we will use the Ethernet Devices driver. Once the VPN is connected, RSLinx will see those remote PLCs through that type of driver and connect readily. No need for RSLinx or RSLogix or even a PC at the other end...

https://www.automationdirect.com/ad..._-_vpn/stridelinx_vpn_routers/wired/se-sl3011

+1
I just set up one of our machines with a Stridelink using teamviewer. Only drawback for me was only one client can log in at a time. But this shouldn't be a problem for you.
 
I use the VPN and Remote Desktop features of TeamViewer extensively, along with a USB-over-IP utility.

The VPN allows me to connect my local Studio 5000 session to a remote ControlLogix; the HMI acts as the VPN endpoint and the router. A guide from our colleague JesperMP is how I set it up.

I prefer to edit the HMI on the remote system itself because it's tightly integrated with the local SQL server and Windows domain. So I have Indusoft Web Studio installed on the PC (both runtime and development) and connect my local Development USB dongle via a Eltima Software's FlexiHub utility.

Both of these are pricey annual subscriptions, but they save us tens of thousands of dollars in travel and save our customers days of waiting or downtime on very expensive machine systems.

I'd like to have a simple way to set up a VPN endpoint so that a customer could occasionally connect their own mobile phone to an HMI and give me easy temporary access via VPN, but so far I haven't done enough research to find a reliable and inexpensive way.

I have learned from experience that VPN is the minimum reasonable layer of security to connect to a control system over the Internet; port forwarding to the PLC will buy you a few minutes of reliable connection before the bots get to it, while ten years ago you could run in obscurity for days or weeks.
 
+1
I just set up one of our machines with a Stridelink using teamviewer. Only drawback for me was only one client can log in at a time. But this shouldn't be a problem for you.
Could you please explain why you use Stridelinx AND Teamviewer?
 
EW ON is another good von appliance for this purpose.
You can also use a shared license you check out for the day each time you needed from. Your server to the clients pc
 

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