PRONETA Basic’s Network Analysis gives you a quick overview about which devices are installed in your PROFINET network, and how they are connected with each other. The Network Analysis also lets you view and change various network parameters of the devices, like IP addresses, device names etc.
Different networks can be compared with each other, and the devices can be configured automatically or manually.
In Online mode, PRONETA Basic will scan the PROFINET network for present devices, in either a single sweep or continuously. The main screen is divided in three sections:
A Graphical View (1)
A Device Table (2) of accessible devices
The Device Details (3) showing the parameters of a particular device
Display of the Device Table and Device Details can be toggled by clicking on the triangles on the separator bands in the PRONETA Basic window.
|
NOTE |
If the network size exceeds 500 devices, not all devices may be reliably detected during a scan. Crashes of PRONETA Basic may occur in this case. |
Function Bar
The following functions are available in the function bar:
|
Icon |
Name |
Function |
|
|
Refresh |
Performs an immediate update of the network scan. |
|
|
Export Topology |
Performs a Topology Export to disk. |
A topology export can be performed in several different formats:
As an XML file, for later use as a reference Topology File when working in Offline Mode, Comparison Mode or Configuration Mode, for example to quickly and conveniently duplicate a configuration.
For documentation purposes to create reference files documenting the state of the network:
This is useful to:
Quickly establish the required hardware when a network configuration is to be duplicated, and to
Document and easily reference information about all plugged devices and modules employed in a certain installation, including detailed information like order number, Firmware Version and serial number.
The "Include device details" option will add information about port configurations and modules to the resulting file.
The data fields contained in an exported configuration are the same as the fields currently visible in the corresponding Device Table.
When including the Graphical View, the network topology representation will be distributed over several pages in the PDF, for larger networks.
Depending on the selected mode, only some of the export options will be available:
|
|
Online |
Offline |
Comparison |
Configuration |
|
XML |
✔ |
x |
x |
x |
|
Graphical View |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
x |
|
Device Table (CSV) |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
x |
|
Graph.View + Device Table (PDF) |
✔ |
✔ |
x |
x |
On the right of the function bar, there is an input box (1) which allows you to search for particular devices. The search term you enter will be matched against all information fields (e.g. device names, types, network parameters, …)..
Search is case-insensitive and does not allow for wildcards or regular expressions.
Your search matches are highlighted in the Graphical View (1) and the Device Table (2) in orange.
On the far right of the function bar, there is a scanner status indicator (1) which displays the status of the current network scanning cycle.
Each network scanning cycle is divided into four phases, represented by the segments of the scanner status indicator. A network scan is complete when the indicator has gone through all four segments.
A right-click on the status indicator brings up a context menu with a single item Stop Scanner:
|
Icon |
Name |
Function |
|
|
Start Scanner |
Toggles the network scan: If it is currently running, it will be stopped, and vice versa. |
|
|
Stop Scanner |
While the scanner is stopped, no network load is generated, and no changes to the topology are acquired. In the General Settings dialog you can control whether PRONETA Basic will scan the network only once or continuously when it is started.
The Graphical View is a graphical display of the PROFINET network, its devices and their connections to each other either during a current network scan or from a previously stored reference network. The Graphical View occupies the top left of the PRONETA Basic window.
Click on an empty space, keep the mouse button pressed and subsequently drag to shift the visible network segment. Hovering the mouse pointer over a device will change the open hand symbol to an arrow and bring up a Device Tooltip with basic information about that device.
Device Display
The device status is indicated by different colors of the device symbol and its borders:
Field colors:
Borders:
Tool Bar
In the top section of the view, there is a tool bar with a number of function icons:
|
Icon |
Name |
Function |
|
|
Show Overview of Topology |
Toggles a topology overview within the Online View. (See Topology Overview) |
|
|
Zoom Selection |
Lets you draw a rectangle inside the Graphical View. Once you release the mouse button, the view will zoom to display the rectangle area. |
|
|
Zoom to Fit Screen |
Zooms the view back so that all network devices fit inside the view. |
|
|
Zoom Bar |
Zoom into the network or back by dragging the handle to the right or the left, respectively, or clicking on "-" or "+". (You can also zoom into and out of the Graphical View by placing the mouse over the view and using the scroll wheel.) |
|
|
Show Physical Connection Types |
Indicates the different transmission mediums used in different colors. (See Device Connection Types) |
The Topology Overview is a view in the top left segment of the Graphical View which helps with the examination of large networks. It shows a schematic of all devices found during the current network scan, regardless of the zoom factor selected for the Online View.
The network segment currently visible in the Online View is indicated by a light blue partly transparent rectangle. Drag the rectangle across the Topology Overview to move the visible network segment into the Online View.
Drag the right or bottom border of the Topology Overview to change the size of the view.
If the "Show Physical Connection Types" option from the tool bar has been selected, connections between devices appear color-coded as follows:
Black: Copper Ethernet wiring
Orange: Fiber optical connection
Two parallel lines indicate a ring topology.
For devices which are displayed without any connection to other devices, the required information could not be gathered.
Hovering the mouse pointer ver a device will bring up a tooltip which displays:
Device name
Device type
IP address
Firmware Version (where applicable)
Hovering the mouse pointer over a device port displays:
Interface name
IP address
Port ID
Name of the neighboring device
By right-clicking on any device in a Graphical View or in the corresponding Device Table, you can bring up a context menu with various functions.
Not all menu items are available for all devices can also depend on the status of the respective device. When scanning more than one subnet in PRONETA only three menu items are available for the devices of the additional subnets: "Open Web Browser", "Edit Additional I&M Data", and "Use as Starting Point in Graphical View".
|
Icon |
Name |
Function |
|
|
Start Flashing LED LED |
Sets the LEDs on the physical device to flashing for easy identification. |
|
|
Start IO Test |
Immediately launches an IO Test for the selected device. |
|
|
Open Web Browser |
Opens your PCs web browser and establishes a connection to the device’s web server. |
|
|
Set Network Parameters |
Opens a popup window which allows you to set various networking parameters of the selected device. For details, see Set Network Parameters. |
|
|
Reset Network Parameters |
Allows you to reset various networking parameters: device name, IP address and network mask for the selected device. |
|
|
Reset to factory |
Resets the device configuration to factory settings. If the command is selected from the Device Table, it is possible to reset multiple selected devices at the same time. |
|
|
Reset PROFIsafe Addresses |
Resets PROFIsafe addresses of all failsafe IO modules in the selected device. The addresses can then no longer be restored in PRONETA. Resetting can take a few seconds. |
|
|
Edit Additional I&M Data |
Opens a popup window which lets you enter identification and maintenance ("I&M") data for the device, like location and date of the installation. |
|
|
Use as Starting Point in Graphical View |
Redraws the Graphical View with the chosen device in the upper left corner. |
If you have enabled the additional provision of "Diagnostic information for all devices in the network overview" in General Settings and the diagnostic buffer is not empty, the device in the "Graphical View" is marked by a number of failures (1, 2, …, 9+). The tooltip shows the actual number of entries (1, 2, …n).
The device in the Device Table is marked by a red strip. The tooltip shows information about where to find details for the entries in the diagnostic buffer.
The device property "Interfaces" shows port-specific information including the statistics for sent and received frames:
For PROFINET devices which provide an Asset Management Record (AMR), data from the AMR is displayed in the Device Details, too.
This table lists the devices found either during your current network scan (Online mode only), or in a stored reference network. It is displayed below the Graphical View of the PRONETA Basic window.
The table can display a large amount of different device data. Right-click anywhere in the table header fields to bring up a menu from which you can select the information fields you wish to display.
Orange borders around table cells indicate duplicate device names or IP addresses.
You can enter information in the white cells inside the table. The new values will be written to the respective device immediately when the cell loses focus. (This is an alternative to using the context menu entry "Set network parameters")
A left click on a column header will sort the table according to the data in this column in ascending order, another click reverses the order. Small triangles "▲" or "▼" in the column header indicate the sorting criterion.
Dragging a column header with the mouse rearranges the table columns accordingly.
Right-clicking on any table entry brings up the context menu for the current device.
A Device Details view is displayed on the right of the PRONETA Basic window.
This view shows additional device information for a device which was previously selected in the Device Table
Branches of the tree with device properties can be opened and collapsed by clicking the triangular symbol of the corresponding branch.
The port status of IO-Link devices is also displayed in the Device Tables.
PROFIenergy-conform devices have their specific status data displayed here as well.
This popup window allows the direct input of the following parameters for an individual device:
Device name
Static or DHCP IP configuration
Plus, where applicable:
IP address
Network mask
Address of the gateway router
Checking the box "Apply settings permanently" will ensure that the new parameters are retained across a power-off of the device.
This function allows reset of the following parameters for the selected device:
Device name
Static or DHCP IP configuration
Plus, where applicable:
IP address
Network mask
Address of the gateway router
