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KNOWLEDGE BASE / TECHNICAL NOTES

Configuration of CIP Paths

Using VIMNet Explorer
By Geoff Nash
PRODUCT FAMILY: DELTAV VIRTUAL IO MODULE
In some cases there is no direct connection between a VIM and a remote device,
the messages must be passed through intermediary devices. This technical note
details conguring this path in a connection using a Ethernet/IP VIM with generic
rmware.
All Ethernet/IP messages require a path. This is a list of modules (or nodes) that
will forward, or process the message (and return the response). This path may be
as simple as the IP address of the target device, or may include multiple hops
from the initial module specied as CIP Ids or IP addresses. In any path, the rst
element is always the device number/IP address relating the DeltaV VIM module
to the remote Ethernet/IP module. Any remaining hops are specied with two
elements for each hop, these elements are the output port of the current module
and the address is the identier of the next module or node. The port is
dependent on the module, for an ENBT module, port 1 is the backplane, port 2 is
the Ethernet port. This document will use the rack conguration in Figure 1 as the
basis for the examples of how to congure paths in VimNet Explorer. This setup
consists of two ControlLogix IO racks, one with a controller, one (or more) PLCs
on a DH+ network connected to one ControlLogix rack with a 1756-DHRIO
module, and two DeltaV Controllers connected to separate ControlLogix Racks
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with a Generic Ethernet/IP VIM. The message to be used for these examples will
be an Unconnected DF1 message (using the Rockwell embedded PCCC
commands)

For all congurations, you must add a VIM to the IO tree of VimNet Explorer. First
add the Controller Node below the I/O Net branch, then on the node select New
IO VIM.

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In the dialog, select type I/O VIM Ethernet IP and rmware version 4.x
button. Specify the IP address of the VIM (note subnet mask must match the
subnet of the network containing the VIM. The generic rmware (4.x) does not
support redundant communications.

Path configurations

Connection 1 Direct Connect

The simplest method is the DF1 connection to a PLC5 using an Ethernet port on
the PLC or on an Ethernet side-card (ENET module). This connection has only the
IP address of the receiving module required.
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This connection is show in Figure 4 with the red line. This connection runs
directly from the DeltaV1 VIM Ethernet connection to the PLC5/xxE Ethernet
connection, with only a switch between.

Add a Device

Start by adding a device to the VimNet explorer IO tree under the card and port
desired. Right click on the port and select Add Device (Figure 5). The Device
properties dialog box (Figure 6) is dierent for version 4.x, it includes the ability

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to exclude types of messages connections from selection box for the device, as
well as the Device Extended Address: and DF1 Extended Address elements.

Select the Device number for DeltaV and the Add button to create a new IP
address for the device. For this example, the ENBT module is assigned a device
number of 1 and IP address of 10.22.6.21 that matches that of the PLC5/xxE
module. Selecting OK to both dialogs will create the device branch on the IO tree.

Add the connection

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Next create a denition of the connection message to the PLC5. This may be
selecting Add Connection Denition from the Ethernet IP Connection Library
branch of the IO tree (Figure 8).

Select either UCMM or Class3 from the Msg Type section of the dialog (Figure 9),
make sure DF1 is checked, then select Msg Parameter button to open the DF1
conguration dialog.

In the message denition (Figure 10) select the processor, type access type, and
service type required as well as the le parameters. For a direct connection to a
PLC5, the Slot Address check box should be un-checked. This makes the PLC IP
address for the device this is added to the nal destination. Finally, select OK to
all dialogs, then on the device congured above, select the context menu option
Add Connection, select this library denition and OK to place it in the IO tree.

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Connection 2, slot addressing

Next in simplicity example is that of a DF1 connection From DeltaV 1 to the Logix
5000 controller in slot 0 of rack 1 via the ENBT module in slot 2 (IP address
10.22.6.55). This requires only one hop from the ENBT module to the controller
over the rack backplane.

This connection is show in Figure 11 with the red line. This connection runs from
the DeltaV VIM Ethernet connection through the switch to the ENBT card in
chassis 1, then nally over the backplane to the Logix controller in slot 0.
There are two methods to connect with the controller, one is to address the nal
slot in the connection denition, the other in the device denition.
Either of these methods will work with the generic rmware 4.1.5 or above. If all
connections to a device are expected to be to the same address, then the Device
Denition Addressing method will be simplest to use. If the device specied will
have other connections attached that are addressed to dierent slots, then the
Message Denition Addressing method allows individual slots to be assigned to
each connection message under the device.

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Message Definition Addressing

The rst, all of the conguration steps in this may be the same as the simple
direct connection to the PLC5/xxE above, except for the last step of conguring
the message parameters (Figure 12) where the Slot Address is selected and set to
Port 1 (ENBT backplane) and Slot 0 Controller Slot on the backplane.

Device Definition Addressing

The second method (requires rmware 4.1.5 or above and VimNet Explorer
9.0.12.6 or above) uses the same message conguration as the PLC5/xxE (i.e., no
slot address at the connection level) but uses the device properties dialog to
specify the address that will be used for the connection. For this just open the
device properties dialog (Figure 13) and enter a 1,0 in the Device Extended
Address eld. The rst parameter species the ENBT port backplane, the second
the ID of the slot that will be addressed. The parameters are separated by a
comma.

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Connection 3, network hops

If there is not a direct Ethernet connection to the target device, such as from
DeltaV 2 to the ControlLogix in rack 1, then the use of the ControlNet bridge may
be used for the connection. This requires four hops in the connection. This
method requires rmware 4.1.5 or above and VimNet Explorer 9.0.12.6 or above.

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This connection is show in Figure 14 with the red line. The rst step is from
DeltaV 2 to the ENBT module in slot 1 of rack 2. This is similar to the normal
Ethernet/IP connection used in Connection 1.
Next the message is directed to slot 3 (ControlNet module 2), and to ControlNet
module 1 in rack 1 over the ControlNet network. This requires two hops and is
congured using the device properties dialog in the same manner as Connection
2.
Note: for ControlNet, RSNetworx for ControlNet is required for conguring the
connections in the Logix conguration utility.
The Device Extended Address for the two intermediate hops will be 1,3,2,11
where 1 directs the message to the backplane of the rack from the ENBT, then to
slot 3 (the ControlNet module), and then over ControlNet (port 2) to the
ControlNet module in rack 1 (address 11).

An alternative path would be from the ENBT module to the ENBT module on the
same subnet as rack 1 then via Ethernet/IP to rack 1. This path would be
1,0,2,10.22.6.55. This path dissects as packplane port of the ENBT to slot 0 of the
rack (ENBT module 3), then over Ethernet/IP port (2) on the ENBT, and over
Ethernet to address 10.22.6.55 (ENBT module 1 in rack 1).

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The nal hop is to slot 0 in rack 1 over the backplane. This may be congured
using either of the methods from Connection 2, slot addressing. If Device
Denition Addressing is used, then the format in the device properties dialog
Device Extended Address will be either 1,3,2,11,1,0 or 1,0,2,10.22.6.55,1,0. If the
Message Denition Addressing approach is used, then the address in the device
properties is left as is and the slot is addressed in the individual messages.

Connection 4, DH+ extensions

To create a connection to remote PLCs (either PLC5s, or SLCs) using the 1756DHRIO module (shown in Figure 16 rack 1 slot 6), requires a single hop from
DeltaV 1 using a similar conguration as Connection 2 but with slot 6 as the nal
address. From DeltaV 2 the same addressing as connection 3 is uses, with nal CIP
address being slot 6 rather than the controller in slot 0. This method requires
rmware 4.1.5 or above and VimNet Explorer 9.0.12.6 or above.

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To address the PLC over the DH+ network, the message must be adapted to use
Class3 messages to the DHRIO module (Figure 17), and in the Msg Properties
dialog select the DHRIO A or DHRIO B service to access the A or B ports on
the module (Figure 18).

Finally, the DH+ address must be specied at the device level (device properties
dialog). To add the DH+ addressing, check the DF1 Extended Address checkbox
as shown in Figure 19, then enter the node number on the DH+ network to access
(3 in this example).

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