Configuring ETHIP driver using RSLinx

[ccamp]

Ken,
Yes all of your previous post is correct. I believe I am close to solving this issue. this afternoon I found out a few weeks ago there was a power loss. I was not present when all of this went down. Anyway I found out that the servers did not get started back in the right sequence, but they were able to get everything running.

Could not getting the domain controller started up first cause the browse packets to never reach the network?

This would then make sense of why all of my working computers cannot browse as well.

Would a server shutdown and re-boot in the correct order help me to solve this issue?

 

[ccamp]

By the way thanks for the wireshark link. good stuff!

 

[Timbert]

Sorry, I'm kind of late to the party here.

I know from personal experience that the router between the subnets needs to have directed-broadcast enabled to use ETHIP in RSLinx. This has the exact symptoms you describe, unable to browse remote subnet, but able to ping each component singly.

In my case I have a PC on 192.168.0.90 (192.168.0.0/24 subnet) and I can browse all the equipment in the 192.168.4.0/24 subnet for example. But only after enabling directed-broadcast at the router.

Since a ping is not broadcast but rather sent directly to the destination the router passes it along. RSLinx sends out a broadcast which every address should respond to. One of the functions of a router is to limit the broadcast range so that a request from RSLinx doesn't
go to every machine in your company (or the entire Internet for that matter).

Directed broadcast is typically NOT enabled because it can be used in Smurf denial of service attack.

I don't quite understand how your computer is configured as a server and router so this may not be of too much help. But a power cycle could have caused directed broadcast to be disabled again.

 

[ccamp]

I've looked through the services on the server and did not see one related to directed broadcast. Is there a specifc location for this option?

 

[Timbert]

I've looked through the services on the server and did not see one related to directed broadcast. Is there a specifc location for this option?

I'm sorry I'm not sure where it would be when you are using a PC to act as a router.

It's a pretty esoteric command to setup, even a Stratix 8300 you have to muck around with the command line interface.

 

[ccamp]

1. I am having trouble getting a new computer set up on RSLinx using the ethernet/ip driver. I have VLAN with multiple subnet's, PC's, Servers, Devices (PLC's), ect.


2. When I go in to driver configuration in linx and select Ethernet/IP driver I choose "browse remote subnet" (which is how all of my working computers are set up) I put in my subnet IP address for the devices i'm looking for and mask and press OK. When I go into RSWho and browse nodes it never finds anything.

On a working computer already configured with the ethernet/ip driver set up the exact same way I can find all nodes on the subnet. BUT, if i take a working computer and create a new identical ethernet/ip driver it doesn't work.

So I have working computers with this same driver set up in the past and everything works perfectly. But if I try and create a new ethernet/ip driver on any of my working or non-working computers it fails to work.

If IP directed broadcast or any other broadcast service was disabled on my router none of my computers would be able to browse any of the subnets thus everything would not be working.

Does anyone have any ideas??

 

[rdrast]

Just for a chance to make things simpler, especially since now you are tossing VLAN's into the mix..
Why not just use the Ethernet (not Ethernet/IP) driver, and directly enter the IP's of your target devices into the configuration box?

 

[OkiePC]

Firewall settings and router security can screw things up. This can happen after a dns hosts file is created and so things that should not work, will go ahead and keep working for a while. And new stuff simply can't get resolved. I have only seen this situation once or twice though.

First, though, I would make sure that when you choose the new Ethernet IP driver, you make sure to choose the correct physical adapter. "Widows Default" may give mixed results.

And it never hurts to blow away the harmony files. I think there is a batch file somewhere that does this with a double click.

 

[ccamp]

As of now i am using the "ethernet" driver the only conflict with long term use of this driver is since im using FactoryTalk if i check out a project file and try to save it's going to set a new path to the file in RSLogix. So every computer that uses etherent ip will have to set the path back to i/p driver, not ideal for my shift guys at 3am.