Spectrum Web Port

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Spectrum WebPort
Hands-On Labs
Training Lab Manual

DOCUMENT CONVENTIONS_____________________________________________________7
SPECTRUM WEB PORT___________________________________________________________8
CLASSROOM ARCHITECTURE AND SETUP___________________________________________8
ECATCHER

VPN APPLICATION________________________________________________11

RSLINX AND RSLOGIX5000 THROUGH THE VPN TUNNEL___________________________15

WEBPORT FEATURES________________________________________________________20
EXTRA TASK AND HELP THE INSTRUCTOR!_________________________________________26

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Document Conventions
Throughout this workbook, we have used the following conventions to help guide you through the
lab materials.
This style or symbol:

Indicates:

Words shown in bold italics

(e.g., RSLogix 5000 or OK)

Any item or button that you must click on, or a menu name
from which you must choose an option or command. This will
be an actual name of an item that you see on your screen or
in an example.

Words shown in bold italics,

enclosed in single quotes
(e.g., 'Controller1')

An item that you must type in the specified field. This is

information that you must supply based on your application
(e.g., a variable).
Note: When you type the text in the field, remember that you
do not need to type the quotes; simply type the words that
are contained within them (e.g., Controller1).
The text that appears inside of this gray box is supplemental
information regarding the lab materials, but not information
that is required reading in order for you to complete the lab
exercises. The text that follows this symbol may provide you
with helpful hints that can make it easier for you to use this
product. Most often, authors use this Tip Text style for
important information they want their students to see.

Note: If the mouse button is not specified in the text, you should click on the left mouse button...

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Spectrum Web Port

In this lab you explore the features of the Spectrum WebPort module. This module should be useful
for OEMs and small / medium size users without heavy IT support that need to support automation
equipment at a remote location. Using this module an OEM can connect to a controller in a
customers plant, upload, download, and view the running program using RSLogix. Once the
connection is made, its just like directly connecting to a controller locally, except the performance is
reduced. However its still much faster than driving or flying to a customer to diagnose a problem!
This lab works best when two stations are used, so work with a partner if possible. One station will
be used to represent the OEM or Local side, and the other station will be the Remote or User
location.

Classroom architecture and setup

Local or OEM side The PC running RSLogix 5000
1. Connect the lab PC to the outside world network in the classroom.
2. Change the network settings to obtain an IP address automatically

3. Make sure that you receive an IP address from the Rockwell infrastructure. It should look
similar to this:

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Remote Side Controller > WebPort > Sprint 3G network

4. Verify these IP addresses:
Lab PC 192.168.1.2 /24
CompactLogix L45 192.168.1.11 /24
5. Download and run VPN1.ACD from the LabFiles folder on the desktop to the CompactLogix
L45. This is a simple ladder program with a start/stop rung, a free running timer, and counter
that counts up each time the timer times out. There are also some other tags created that you
will be able to see once the VPN connection is established.

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6. Make sure you understand the Remote side architecture before continuing. Refer to the
diagram below:

The CompactLogix and the Lab PC are connected to a local switch so that the ACD file can
be downloaded. This would also enable some local management of the Spectrum WebPort
module. The switch is connected to the LAN side of the WebPort.

The WebPort is a router with 4 LAN ports and one WAN port which is connected to the
CraddlePoint router. The WebPort functions as the Gateway to other networks for the
192.168.1.0 /24 subnet.

The CraddlePoint router was selected for this lab because it has 4 LAN ports, and connects
to the Internet using a USB 3G broadband device.

Verify the 3G LED heartbeat on the Sprint USB broadband unit

Now that the Local PC is connected to the Rockwell Automation infrastructure, and the L45 and
WebPort are connected through the Sprint 3G, lets see what it takes to get them to communicate
via the Internet.

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eCatcher VPN application

When a customer receives a new WebPort, they are instructed to run a configuration wizard that
creates a software key that relates to that particular module. That key is used to setup an
executable called eCatcher on the Local or OEM side that allows communications with the module.
This has already been done for you.
When the WebPort accesses the Internet it tries to communicate with to a known IP address of the
Talk2m server and establishes communications. By now, the WebPort should be already connected
to the Internet, and to the Talk2m server. You now need to connect the Local PC to the same server.
7. From the desktop double click on eCatcher to launch the application.

8. Fill in the Login information as shown below.

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9. Click the Login button to display the main eCatcher screen.

10. Select the WebPort module as shown in the eWon list, the buttons will become active. This list
shows the devices you are can tunnel to. Click
are now connected to the Talk2M web server.

to establish the VPN tunnel. You

Now you are connected to the WebPort module in the classroom, that is connected to the Internet
via the Sprint 3G USB device.

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11. Verify that you can see the IP address of the WebPort module in the Active Connection list.

12. Minimize the eCatcher window. You will need it a little latter in the lab.
13. Run IP config again and note that now you now have a VPN connection, with an IP address on
the to the Talk2m network, in addition to the RA address.

14. With the CompactLogix physically connected to the eWeb, Trace Route to its IP address:
192.168.1.11. This shows one hop from your pc on the 10.8.129.160 over the router to the
192.168.1.11 address of the CompactLogix. This hop is just over the VPN tunnel. The WebPort
is on the 10.8.0.0 /15 network.
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This shows one hop from your PC on the 10.8.0.0 /15 subnet over the router to the
192.168.1.11 address of the CompactLogix. You just see a single virtual hop in the
tunnel, not every router between the PC, Rockwell, ISP, Talk2m, the Sprint network,
and the WebPort. If we could tracert to the actual address of the Sprint 3G card, we
would of course find a much more complex route. You can see why this is referred to
as a VPN tunnel.
15. You can ping the L45 as well.

RSLinx and RSLogix5000 through the VPN tunnel

OK. We can ping the controller, but what else can we do?
Creating an Ethernet Devices driver in RSLinx
16. Open RSLinx Classic
17. Select Communications

18. Choose Configure Drivers from the list

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19. Select the Ethernet devices driver from the list

20. Enter the IP address of the L45 controller

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21. Click
controller.

and drill down in RS Who to the AB_Eth-1 driver. You should see you

22. Check the network properties of the 1768-ENBT and you will find that the Default gateway has
been set to 192.168.1.1. If this gateway address was not filled in, you would not be able to
communicate to it over through the tunnel.
The Gateway addresses that we can control are 192.168.1.1 for the LAN, and 10.8.129.165 for the
WebPort WAN side.

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23. Can you see the controller under the AB_ETHIP driver? Why?

Broadcast review
Your controller has an IP address of 192.168.1.11 and your PC has an address of
10.8.1.60, or similar. The EtherNet/IP driver uses an Ethernet broadcast to
determine which devices are on its network. A broadcast message is sent to the
broadcast address, by sending a whos there? message to the broadcast address
of the LAN.
The broadcast address of a subnet is the highest address on the LAN. In this case it
would be 10.9.255.255 /15. The broadcast would need to be repeated, or directed to
a remote subnet to be able to find a device on the 192.168.1.0/24 subnet. The eWeb
is the router in this case, and it does not forward IP directed broadcasts. Therefore
you need to hardcode the address to the controller at 192.168.1.11 using the
Ethernet devices driver in RSLinx Classic.

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Running RSLogix5000 through the VPN tunnel

24. Double click on VP1.ACD in the Lab Files folder on your desktop to open the project in
RSLogix5000
25. Go Online. You may have to wait as long as three minutes. Remember you are connecting
across a corporate intranet, and internet through a 3G connection.
26.

27. Open the Main Routine and you should see this simple ladder running.
28. Note that you can view the timer accumulator changing.

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You should be able to change the timer preset quickly, and monitor the inputs when you push the
buttons on the demo.
Can you see the value of this solution for your OEM customers? They can save airfare, travel time,
and get the customer up and running quickly.

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WebPort features
Just being able to communicate to a controller over the Internet is a valuable aid, but the WebPort
has a few other features that may be of interest to OEMs that work even when they are not
connected remotely.
29. Open the eCatcher software window that you minimized earlier.
30. Under the Active Connection section in the top pane, double click on the IP address link to open
the eCatcher WebPort management software.

31. Enter the login information as shown

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One of the features of this module is that we can monitor I/O without running RSLogix5000.
32. Select View I/O from the WebPort menu bar. You should see the timer ACC tag from the PLC.
Click the Update link, and.the value will update.

Adding tags to the list

33. Click
34. Then select

in the menu bar.

, and click on the VLAN_timer acc tag.

This will bring up the tag identification screen. You can see how the tag is configured.

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35. Go back to the Tag Setup screen

36. Click in the box all the way to the left, then select Create New Tag (like first selected)

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37. To read SSW4, the alias for DI3 ( the first selector switch on the L45 demo), edit this page to
look like this:

38. Click Add/Update Only

39. Go to Main Menu, then View I/O to see the new list. Change the position of the selector switch
and then push Update in the menu to see the change.

But what if something changes when we are not looking at the screen?
40. You are going to look at the graphs that are available in the WebPort, so some history is
needed. Open and close the DI3 switch ten times over a period of a minute allowing the
WebPort to collect some data.

41. Check the boxes to the left of each tag as shown

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42. Select

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43. Enter the graph From and To times. The date form is Month / Day / Year. So enter todays
date.
44. Set the time to indicate the last five minutes.
45. Click Update Graph and you should see a graph similar to below with the timer and selector
switch overlayed.
So the module can collect data for retvival at a latter date.

Files Transfer
46. File transfer is another useful feature. Click

to open this screen

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47. Double click on the SSW4 Historical log and you can retrieve detailed information about the
operation of that switch.

Extra Task and help the instructor!

The Web Port also collects real time and historical alarm data. The alams are setup by tag
in the tag setup screen. Look at the Alarm Summary and Alarm History pages

Before going on to the next lab please delete any tags you may have added,

Please do not delete the original timer.acc tag

End of Spectrum WebPort Lab

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