On a Geo SCADA Expert system, you configure the Geo SCADA Expert database so that entries in the database correspond to the plant, measuring instruments, and control devices on your system. This section summarizes the database items that you need to configure in order to represent the EtherNet/IP devices on your system. The EtherNet/IP devices are Allen-Bradley controllers with which Geo SCADA Expert is to communicate using the EtherNet/IP protocol. (For information about the ranges of Allen-Bradley controllers that the EtherNet/IP driver supports, see Configure an EtherNet/IP Outstation.)
In order to represent EtherNet/IP devices, the EtherNet/IP Driver has to be installed and running on the Geo SCADA Expert servers on your system. The driver is represented by the EtherNet/IP component in the Geo SCADA Expert Installation Wizard’s Setup window. The component is located within the Server branch of the tree that is displayed in the window (see Install a Driver in Geo SCADA Expert).
When you configure EtherNet/IP items in the Geo SCADA Expert database, many of the settings for those items need to correspond to the settings of the relevant EtherNet/IP devices on your system. Some settings are either fixed (incorporated into the design of the Allen-Bradley controller), or are configured by an engineer. You need to have access to, or an understanding of, the settings of the EtherNet/IP devices on your system before you can configure the EtherNet/IP database items successfully. For example, you need to be aware of which Tags exist on each controller and the type of data that they represent.
You also need to be aware of which optional features are required for each driver item. Such features might include:
- Alarm views
- Alarm redirections
- Historic data storage
- User methods.
You can also use core Geo SCADA Expert features with driver database items, including Lists, Trends, actions, and Mimics. For actions that are specific to this particular driver, see the relevant section in this driver guide. For information on core actions, see Actions that are Common to Many Drivers in the Geo SCADA Expert Guide to Drivers. For information about Lists, Trends, and Mimics, see the core documentation.
For each device with which Geo SCADA Expert is to communicate using EtherNet/IP protocol, you need to configure:
- EtherNet/IP Channels to represent the communication connections between an Allen-Bradley controller and the Geo SCADA Expert server (see Configure an EtherNet/IP Channel).
- EtherNet/IP Outstation Sets to define groups of controllers (see Configure an EtherNet/IP Outstation Set).
- EtherNet/IP Outstations to define the controllers - the units that monitor data and control plant (see Configure an EtherNet/IP Outstation).
- EtherNet/IP Points of the appropriate type to represent the measuring instruments and control devices that are connected to each controller (see Points Used on EtherNet/IP Outstations).
To minimize the time that it takes to configure the required driver items, you may want to configure them in the order listed above, as set configuration requires you to specify a channel, and controller (outstation) configuration requires you to specify a set, and so on.