TOP Server

Maximizing Your Results

Presenter: Kevin Rutherford, Senior Applications Engineer

Agenda

Overview of TOP Server

TOP Server System Tags
TOP Server Alias Map
Specific Driver Optimizations

ControlLogix Ethernet
Modbus Ethernet
Beckhoff TwinCAT

Case Study Success SAB Alrode

Questions & Answers

What is TOP Server?

TOP Server Gets You

Connected!
NEW! AB Bulletin 1609 UPS
AB Bulletin 900 Temp. Controllers
AB DF1 Full & Half-Duplex Serial
AB Radio Modem
AB Data Highway Plus (DH+)
AB PLC5,SLC5/05 Ethernet
AB 1761-NET ENI
AB ControlLogix Ethernet &
Gateway
AB CompactLogix, FlexLogix
Advanced Simulator
Analog Devices 6B
Aromat Serial & Ethernet
Automation Direct Serial DirectNet
Automation Direct Serial KSequence
Automation Direct ECOM Ethernet
Automation Direct EBC Ethernet
BACnet
Bailey Fisher & Porter
NEW! Beckhoff TwinCAT (ADS API)
Busware Ethernet I/O
Contrex/Fenner CX1000
Contrex/Fenner M Series
Cutler Hammer D50/100
NEW! Cutler Hammer ELC Ethernet
Cutler Hammer ELC Serial
Dataforth isoLynx
DDE Server to OPC Client Bridge
DeviceNet (Hilscher Universal)
DNP Serial & Ethernet Suite

Fisher ROC
Fuji Flex PLCs
GE Focas1 Ethernet
GE SRTP Ethernet
GE EGD Ethernet
GE CCM Serial
GE SNP
GE SNP-X Serial
Honeywell UDC & HC900
Idec
IOTech PointScan Ethernet
KraussMaffei MC4 Ethernet
Mitsubishi FX Serial Programming
Port
Mitsubishi FX-Net Multidrop Serial
Mitsubishi A Series Serial
Mitsubishi A Series Ethernet
Mitsubishi Q/QnA Series Ethernet
Modbus RTU & ASCII Serial Master,
Modbus RTU Serial RTU Slave
Modbus Plus
Modbus Ethernet Master & Slave
ODBC Client Driver
Omron Hostlink & FINS Serial
Omron Process Suite
Omron FINS Ethernet
Optimation OptiLogic I/O
NEW! Opto 22 Ethernet
Oracle MES Connector Plug-in
Oracle MOC Plug-in
Partlow ASCII
Philips PC8/PC20
Profibus (Hilscher Universal)
Red Prairie Logistics Systems

Sattbus & Sattbus Ethernet

Scanivalve Ethernet
Siemens S5 AS-511
Siemens 3964R
Siemens S7-200 PPI & Modem
Siemens S7-300/400 MPI
Siemens S7-200/300/400 Ethernet
Siemens S7-300 Ethernet Slave
Simatic/TI 5x5 Serial & Ethernet
Simatic/TI Unilink TIWAY Host Adapter
Driver
SIXNET UDR & EtherTRAK Ethernet
SquareD Serial
NEW! System Monitor Driver
Telemecanique Unitelway
Thermowestronics Serial & Ethernet
Torque Tool Ethernet Driver
Toshiba PLCs Serial & Ethernet
Toyopuc PC2 Serial
Toyopuc PC2/PC3 Ethernet
Triconex TSAA Ethernet
User Configurable Driver
Wago 750 Ethernet I/O
Wonderware Intouch Client Driver
Yaskawa MemoBus Plus
Yaskawa MP Serial & Ethernet
Yokogawa CX
Yokogawa DX100/200 & Darwin Serial
Yokogawa DX(P)100/200
Yokogawa Darwin Ethernet
Yokogawa DXP
Yokogawa HR
Yokogawa MW
Yokogawa MX
Yokogawa YS100 Serial

Why TOP Server?

Top 4 Reasons

Other Reasons

Broad Choice of Drivers

SINGLE Interface into your
systems
Scalability
Support
Functionality
Reliability
Flexibility
Diagnostics
Documentation
Customer Commitment
Standards Commitment

Saves You Money in

Design & Startup

Agenda

Overview of TOP Server

TOP Server System Tags
TOP Server Alias Map
Specific Driver Optimizations

ControlLogix Ethernet
Modbus Ethernet
Beckhoff TwinCAT

Case Study Success SAB Alrode

Questions & Answers

TOP Server
System Tags Overview

Informational and Functional Tags Accessible from the Client

Allow Runtime Changes to Many Channel and Device Parameters

Network Adapter
Device ID
Device Enable/Disable

Provide flexibility and ease of controlling communications

parameters from the Client
Client Scripting functionality can also make use of access to
System Tags.

System Tags: Different

Levels

Three Different System Tag Levels

Application/Server Level
Channel Level
Device Level

Every Channel has a Group of System Tags

Every Device has a Group of System Tags

System Tags: Server Level

Informational, Read-Only Tags

Some of the More Useful System Level Tags

_ActiveTagCount
_ClientCount
_Time_Second

Browseable from any OPC Client

Suitelink/DDE Clients Use Topic _ddedata and a tag
syntax of _System._TagName

System Tags: Channel Level

For Ethernet Drivers

Channel Level Tags available depends on Serial

or Ethernet
Most Useful System Tags for Ethernet Channel

_AvailableNetworkAdapters
_NetworkAdapter

Channel Level Suitelink / DDE

Topic = ChannelName__System
Tag Syntax = _TagName

System Tags: Channel Level

For Serial Drivers

Channel Level Tags available depends on Serial or

Ethernet
Most Useful System Tags for Serial Channel

Tags for COM Parameters (_BaudRate, etc.)

_ComID

Channel Level Suitelink / DDE

Topic = ChannelName__System
Tag Syntax = _TagName

System Tags: Device Level

Most Useful Device Level Tags

Timeout Based (_RequestTimeout, etc.)

_Error / _NoError Tags
_Enabled Tag
_DeviceID Tag

Device Level Suitelink / DDE

Topic = ChannelName_DeviceName__System
Tag Syntax = _TagName

System Tags: Siemens

Ethernet

Special System Tags for Siemens S7 PLCs

Used for Controllers with Redundant CPUs

_Rack
_Slot

Device Level Suitelink / DDE

Topic = ChannelName_DeviceName
Tag Syntax = _TagName

Agenda

Overview of TOP Server

TOP Server System Tags
TOP Server Alias Map
Specific Driver Optimizations

ControlLogix Ethernet
Modbus Ethernet
Beckhoff TwinCAT

Case Study Success SAB Alrode

Questions & Answers

TOP Server
Alias Map

Allows Creation of
Friendly Topic Names
Eliminates
Channel_Device Syntax
Useful for Creating
Shorter Topic Names for
Use in Clients
Can Map Multiple Aliases
to the Same
Channel/Device
Useful For Viewing Valid
Topics
Scan Rate Override

Agenda

Overview of TOP Server

TOP Server System Tags
TOP Server Alias Map
Specific Driver Optimizations

ControlLogix Ethernet
Modbus Ethernet
Beckhoff TwinCAT

Case Study Success SAB Alrode

Questions & Answers

AB ControlLogix
Addressing
Special Considerations for ControlLogix Addressing
PLC addressing is not traditional N7:0 style its in tags - also
called Native Tag Addressing which are useful for PLC
programming and save time there, but . . .
Traditional blocking of data in the PLC has little value
PLC communications protocol requires driver to put actual
tagnames into packet
Packet request size limited to about 500 bytes
PLC local program tags add additional overhead to the request
packet
Since each timer, counter, PID loop, Alarm Block is a structure
with numerous sub-elements, and you can nest structures inside
of structures and define your own strutures, the potential for
explosion to thousands of tags is high

ControlLogix Connectivity
Ways to Optimize
Special Considerations for ControlLogix needed to ensure best
performance with the new paradigm in programming and
communications:
Arrays are highly efficient means of moving large blocks of data and
circumventing request packet limits
Keep PLC tag names short
Use global tags wherever possible
If you dont need it, dont read it!
Be particularly careful to group your tags by required scan rate dont
read it faster than you need it just because its Ethernet or faster is
better!
Be careful of large numbers of Programs in a Logix project. Increased
overhead on the processor can result in no time left for actual
communications!
For Continuous Tasks, Communications Timeslice % >= 20%

AB Suite ControlLogix
Tips

Maximizing Performance

Use multiple channels on Ethernet

Put high frequency writes on a separate
channel
Use symbolic & physical modes on
ControlLogix where appropriate

Separate channels for each protocol mode

If > 1/3 of all tags in PLC requested, Physical
Blocking faster than non-blocking
Using < 1/3 of items in a structure Physical NonBlocking
Using > 1/3 of items in a structure Physical
Blocking
Atomic tags Physical Non-Blocking

TOP Server Modbus Ethernet

Key Performance Features

Configurable Protocol Settings

Zero/One Based Addressing & Bit Access

Reverse Bit/Byte/Word/Dword Ordering

Configurable Block Size (Registers & Coils)

5 Device Models (For Non-Standard Implementations)
Configurable Socket Usage per Device

Maximizes throughput for devices supporting multiple socket

connections
Can be restricted to single socket per channel for devices
only supporting a single socket connection

TOP Server
Beckhoff TwinCAT Ethernet

Uses Beckhoff ADS API

for best performance
Devices Supported

Structured Tags/Symbolic
Addressing
Automatic database
generation

TwinCAT PLC
Bus Couplers
(BC9xxx/BX9xxx)

From device if available

From *tpy file for offline
import

OPC Item Property

Filtering
AMS Routing Support

OPC,
Suitelink,
DDE

TOP Server OPC & I/O Server

Beckhoff TwinCAT Ethernet

Agenda

Overview of TOP Server

TOP Server System Tags
TOP Server Alias Map
Specific Driver Optimizations

ControlLogix Ethernet
Modbus Ethernet
Beckhoff TwinCAT

Case Study Success SAB Alrode

Questions & Answers

Case Study SAB AlrodeQuad Automation

Initial Test
Top Server

50 000 items
CPU 22%

Original
Solution

50 000 items
CPU 50%+

Case Study SAB AlrodeQuad Automation

TOP Server AB
Suite
Quad-CPU PC
Load Spread!
33% CPU
128 106 tags!
Highly Scalable
Completed
system has 350
000+ tags over 4
TOP Servers

Additional Resources

Lots of free help at

http://www.toolboxopc.com

Quick Start Guide

Training Videos
Papers and Utilities Trouble Shooting
Guide

Contact Software Toolbox

support@softwaretoolbox.com while you
are in the planning stage, so we can help!

Contact Information & Other

Learning Opportunities

Questions later?

Kevin Rutherford

support@softwaretoolbox.com
www.toolboxopc.com
www.softwaretoolbox.com
Other learning opportunities
Visit www.softwaretoolbox.com/webinars

krutherford@softwaretoolbox.com
888-665-3678 or 704-849-2773