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PLC settings are configured in the Protocol settings section of parameters of the siemensplc device:

•IP address – IP address of PLC interrogated

The default Siemens PLC address is 192.168.0.1, and we recommend change that address in PLC. Such an address is often used by routers, and this leads to network conflicts.

•IP port – IP port of PLC interrogated

•Connection timeout (ms) – during this time, Multi-Protocol MasterOPC Server waits for connection with PLC

•Rack – PLC rack number

•Slot – rack slot where an interrogated processor is mounted

•Connection type – type of a protocol PLC supports

•Use reserve channels - switches the redundancy function on. In the Profinet protocol plugin, you can use up to 4 reserve channels in order to connect to a controller. There are 2 methods to switch to a reserve channel: the manual method (using the SpecifiedChannelNumber tag of the ReservedChannels group) and automatic method. In the automatic method, the client monitors a state of communication with the main channel, and if that communication fails, switching to the reserve channel 1 is performed; if the reserve channel 1 fails, switching to the reserve channel 2 is performed, etc. If the reserve channel 4 fails, switching to the reserve channel 1 is performed. But switching to the main channel is not performed; to do this, you should manually use the SpecifiedChannelNumber tag.

All reserve channels have the same settings:

•IP address of channel - IP address of a controller for each reserve channel

•IP port of channel - IP port of a controller for each reserve channel

•Rack channel - rack number (Rack) of the reserve channel. The default value is -1 - in this mode, the value is taken from the setting of the main channel.

•Slot channel - slot in which the polled reserve channel processor is installed. The default value is -1 - in this mode, the value is taken from the setting of the main channel.

Note. The rack and slot on the reserve channel are specified if reserve processor modules are used. If only communication channels with the controller are reserved, then you can leave the default values of these parameters (-1).

•Connection type of channel - a type of protocol, which is supported by a controller, for each reserve channel

•Automatic switch of channel - defines whether switch to this channel automatically or not (if the previous channel fails)  

In addition, the Set Quality=BAD for tags when switching setting becomes available. This setting defines whether to set the BAD quality for tags during switching to a reserve channel or not.

To control the redundancy, 2 tag groups are added to each device when creating it.  Those groups are destined to operate with reserve channels of Profinet.