capture PLC-data in our LAN
Development, i5, iSeries, OS/400, PC/Windows Connectivity, Protocols, TCP, tips and tricks, Tools, UDP
Our PLC-vendor is going to provide us collected PLC-data on a server in our LAN. Are sockets (port higher then 1024) the best way to do this? As we are AS/400-minded people, will FTP resolve this with the same performance? Or are there other possibilities? Please, please, give us some guidelines.
Software/Hardware used:
Software/Hardware used:
ASKED:
June 17, 2005 7:35 AM
UPDATED:
October 26, 2009 6:46 AM
Answer Wiki:
If you give me a call at 1-800-656-5482 ext. 206, I'd be happy to provide you some information and literature on our PLC Driver for iSeries ( an IBM eServer proven tool) that allows PLC and iSeries to talk directly in real-time with no initermediate servers or store and forward operations. Our customers are using business modules on their iSeries boxes to collect data and directly control PLC attached devices on their plant floors. Tom Sullivan
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<i>Our PLC-vendor is going to provide us collected PLC-data on a server in our LAN.</i>
That makes it sound like your PLC vendor is populating a file on a network PC server. It doesn't say much about how it will be done.
Will there be a vendor client installed on the PC? or will it simply be a Windows share that the PLC device can write to?
In the first case, your AS/400 can access the PLC data through a Windows share seen in /QNTC in the IFS. In the second case, you might be able simply to have the PLC-device access a share straight from your IFS; then you wouldn't need sockets programming nor FTP -- everything would always be on your AS/400 already.
Tom
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I have seen this done a couple of different ways but TCP/IP works the best for real-time data collection. Only because once you get the data, you can do what you want with it. All real time. I have also seen data transferred via text files as well as through a serial port.
Using OZEXE Pro, you can easily receive the data (by any of the above methods) and send back a response if neccessary. Now that you have the data you can manipulate it an then programattically use ODBC, FTP, or send it elsewhere through TCP/IP, serial, or even http if that works for you.
If you give more information about the data the PLC is giving you (is it real time, batch, a string of formatted data, or something else) as well as the data’s ultimate destination, I can be more specific as to a good solution.
Hope this helps,
-James
For more information about OZEXE Pro visit http://www.ozdevelopment.com/ozpro.
Didn’t hear from you after my previous note with the phone number. If you wish to see a write-up of the product, you can go to the following webpage.
http://www.murcomp.com/murcomp.nsf/htmlmedia/plcdrv.htm
We currently have it installed in three major distributors in Canada and one large book publisher in New Jersey. The solution is capable of supporting physically remote sites in real-time.
I’ll thing you’ll find it worth a look.
Tom