1. TOP Server V5 AB Suite Presenters:
Welcome everyone – I am Colin Winchester. I have Kevin Rutherford with also today.
We will be showing you the features of TOP Server Allen Bradley Suite today.
Presenters:
Kevin Rutherford – Application Engineer
Colin Winchester – VP Operations

2. Individual Drivers Detail Live Demonstration Summary and Q&A
Agenda
TOP Server V5 Overview
AB Suite Overview
Individual Drivers Detail
Live Demonstration
Product overview
Summary and Q&A
Our agenda today will be start with a quick TOP Server Version 5 overview. After that we will get into the details of the Allen-Bradley Suite.
We have also redesigned our Toolboxopc.com website, so I strongly suggest looking over the Products Details section and the specific focus section for the AB Suite and it’s drivers, as there may well be features that I don’t cover today that you might not be aware of. A greater amount of detail and resources have been added to the website to make it easier for you to find the information that you need.

3. What is TOP Server?
TOP Server is a Data Server. (click) It lets your Client Software connect using OPC DA, OPC UA, Suitelink, iFix native interface or DDE. We have also added a Plug-in for OPC Alarms and Events. These can be used individually or in combination (click) so all these different types of Clients can get the data they need. (Click) The TOP Server driver plug-ins let you gather data though over a 100 different protocols depending on the licenses you have, giving you an enormous number of potential data sources.

4. TOP Server Gets You Connected!
The complete listing of drivers and suites can be found at the url listed or clicking on the Drivers List tab at the toolboxopc website. Just click on the individual listing to get all the detailed information about the item. The image on the screen is about half of the full list.

5. New User Interface Same Driver and Tag Configuration
The User interface has for TOP Sever V5 has expanded. There are now two control interfaces. The Administration interface and the Configuration interface. The Administration interface, which you open through the Icon shown, controls settings someone without administration privileges on operating system should not be changing. The Configuration interface looks very much the same as the TOP Server version 4 interface, but now has two modes of operation.
The default is runtime mode which behaves exactly like TOP Server V4 where you can make live changes to the Server runtime. When the Configuration interface is disconnected from the server runtime process, you can make changes to the project without affecting the live server configuration.
Some settings have changed locations and some features have been added.
Same Driver and Tag Configuration
Some settings locations change
New Administration Features – More Secure
New Offline Editing ability
Enhanced Project Management

6. What value does this add?
Supported:Vista/Win7, Server 2007/08 & 64-bit
Event Log secure from clearing
Edit Configuration files offline
Improved Project Management
Improved Terminal Service support
Improved Remote Desktop Support
Improved Configuration Security
Users opening configuration logged
Automatic Project backup
License system separate from runtime
Platform for future enhancements
Now that I have covered the interface differences, lets talk about some additional changes and what these changes get you in results.
The changes made to Version 5 have significantly improved the TOP Server and paved the way for future enhancements, like the OPC UA Support added in the last update. Those of you on support got this major enhancement for free.
All newer operating systems, including 64-bit. V5 was also designed to work more effectively with Terminal Services and Remote Desktop.
To keep abreast of the most recent changes and enhancements for TOP Server, visit the News section of the toolboxopc.com where there is a full list of current features under the V5 release notes. Now, we will take a specific look at what you get with the TOP Server AB Suite.

7. TOP Server V5 AB Suite Suite of 5 drivers AB DF1 AB Ethernet
AB Slave Ethernet
ControlLogix Ethernet
AB Data Highway
The TOP Server AB Suite includes 5 different drivers with one License. This includes all of the server level features and functions that we have covered briefly. This Suite of drivers gives you a variety of ways to connect to the PLC 5 family, SLC Family and MicroLogix, The ControlLogix family as well as CompactLogix and FlexLogix.
We’ll start by looking at the DF-1 driver.

8. Allen-Bradley Connectivity – Networks
Serial communications
DF1 Protocol – half and full duplex
Sometimes also called “DF1 Channel 0”
Available on many PLC CPUs directly and also via KF3, KF2, and KE interfaces
Proprietary networks
DH+ (via KT, KTX, KTX, PKTX, PKTXD, PCMK or SST cards)
DH-485 (via KTX, KTX, PKTX, PKTXD, or PCMK cards)
ControlNet (via ControlLogix Gateway)
Ethernet
Standard TCP/IP with AB proprietary protocol in Layer 7 (application layer)
AB Ethernet protocol
ControlLogix - EtherNet/IP (CIP over Ethernet)

9. TOP Server V5 AB DF1 AB DF1 RS-232 Serial Full-duplex Half-duplex
Radio Modem
Ethernet Encapsulation
Allen Bradley DF-1 is a protocol used for RS-232 Serial connections to SLC, PLC5 and MicroLogix series PLC’s.
The TOP Server DF-1 driver provides more then may other 3rd party driver’s because of it’s support for Half-duplex and Radio Modem protocol as well as support for Ethernet Encapsulation which let’s you use Ethernet to Serial Convertor without the need for comm redirection software. We’ll go into a lot of detail with this driver as may of the features that we will cover are common to all the drivers. As we cover the other drivers, we’ll focus on things that are unique about them.
Let’s take a look at the configuration for this driver.

10. TOP Server V5 Channel Settings -AB DF1
A number of the steps are common to all the driver’s so we will go over these detail in the DF-1 driver.
The TOP Server comes with a simulation example project, so click on file new or click on the new file icon to start a new project. When starting a new project you will see the Click to add a Channel text in the configuration window. We click on the text (Click).
And the New Chanel, Identification Dialog will open. You can call this anything you want, but we recommend you avoid spaces or special characters if you can as many client applications have problems with these. Because the Channel represents an outgoing communications thread you might want to call it Comm1 for example. Click on the Next button to advance (Click).
The device driver dialog is where you choose which of the TOP Server driver’s you have installed will be used for this channel of communications. We are choosing the Allen-Bradley DF1 driver. If you enable the diagnostics you can open a window when testing communications and view the transmitting and receiving packets. We’ll cover this more later. Now we click Next (Click).
The dialog moves to the Communications setting. It’s critical that these match the settings of your serial device, but you don’t need to adjust the comm settings in the operating system. If you have a modem configured in the PC the Use Modem check box will be available. If you have multiple serial devices that you are configuring all using the same comm port you can set the ID to None and change the ID to the Com you are using through the special channel system tags. This lets you control which device your communicating with and can be useful will connecting to a number of devices with a signal modem. (Click)
This is also where you set the configuration to use Ethernet encapsulation if you are using an Ethernet to Serial converter like a digi, Latronix, Molex or comptrol device (Click). Since the serial port is not used these setting will be grayed out. If your using a Allen-Bradley NET ENI device you actually want to use the ControlLogix Ethernet driver we cover later, not the DF-1 driver. Once these settings are done we click next (Click).
If you are using Ethernet Encapsulation you will see the Network Interface dialog. You can choose which network card you want to use if you have more then one. These network cards can be selected by writing to a special system tag also, so redundant Ethernet cards can be supported. If your not using Ethernet Encapsulation you will see the Write Optimization dialog next (click).
These settings let you control how the TOP Server will react when receiving writes from your client application. By default the server will perform 10 writes before making a read request since write are normally more critical then reads. The driver is trying to optimize reads you might be getting a number values back in one read request. The Optimization Methods control how the server treats multiple write requests that happen faster then the write to the device can happen. The default setting is to Write only the latest value for all tags. This protects the device from getting bombarded by writes which can significantly slow communications. A script that writes the same value over and over again even though that value is already in the PLC is in example of when this setting can help. A slider or gauge control that writes lots of values when your moving it, but you only really need the value once it in the final position can also cause lots of excess communications which this setting will minimize. The Write only latest value for non-boolean tags will protect you against the slider example, but will let you write 1 repeatedly to the same address. The Write all values for all tags setting will write every value requested. None of these optimizations methods will affect writing to a 100 different addresses if your sending batch information for example. Large batch writes will affect read performance and with many pure Ethernet drivers you can set up a separate channel and device for batch writes and minimize this affect.
We normally suggest using the default settings to start with and adjusting them based on the project needs and testing.
We click next (Click) to move to the Link Settings Dialog. The Station Number is the Node number the PC is representing. If you are going through a KF unit this needs to match the settings of the unit your going through. You then have an option of which Link Protocol you want to use. Direct peer to peer serial communications are normaly Full Duplex and this is the default setting. The PLC comm port or channel 0 port needs to be set to the same type as this Link Protocol which is done using the Programming software. The Half duplex Protocols are what is normally used in Modem communications. There is a Slave Re-Poll Delay setting that is enabled if you choose a Half Duplex protocol. The Delay is used to give a wait time after a reply is received to let the receiving modem clear it’s buffer before the server sends it’s next request. If you are using Radio Modem communication we highly recommend using the Radio Modem Protocol. This has two key advantages. The first is that is supports Multidrop communications. Most DF-1 devices expect peer to peer communications, so they ignore the Node address. The result in the field is only one device will respond and all the others ignore the requests or you might get more then one device responding to a single request. The Radio Modem protocol uses the node address requested, so a single broadcasting radio can communicate to multiple receiving radios. The Radio Modem Protocol also has less over head then the Half Duplex protocol, so the risk of lost messages do to interference is lower. Once these settings are configured we click next (Click)
The summary dialog lets us do a quick review of our channel settings before we finish. Let’s move to our device configuration next (Click).

11. TOP Server V5 Device Settings -AB DF1
Once you have configured a Channel you will see the text to Configure a Device. Click on the text (Click) to open the dialog.
You can name the device anything you want like the Channel. Click next (Click)
The Device Model Dialog will let you select what device type your connecting too. The configuration for the Micrologix, SLC 500 Fixed I/O and PLC 5 are all the same. For the SLC’s with I/O expansion racks, you have to configure the I/O if you plan on reading these values directly. Click next once the Model is selected (Click)
The Device ID or Node of the PLC is next. If your using DF-1 directly this is normally Decimal, but if your going through a KF unit to a DH 485 network you can set this to Octal if needed. If your using Ethernet Encapsulation the next dialog will let you set the IP Address and Port number for your converter. The dropdown menu for the Port will let show you the two most common ports used, but you can type one in also. Otherwise the timing settings are opened when you click Next (Click)
The Timing setting or you might here us call these the timeout settings are next. The Request timeout in how long the server will wait for a reply until it repeats the request. The Fail after setting is how may times it will repeat the request before it considers the communications lost and will log an error in the event log. When attempting dialup or radio modem communications you may have to adjust these defaults to minimize the number of “device failed to respond” messages. It can be a good idea to start at 10,000 milliseconds and then reduce the number once you see how fast the device normally responds. If you are using Ethernet Encapsulation you will also be able to set the connection timeout settings which is the time the server will wait for the TCP connection message. The Inter-request delay is not used in this driver. Click Next when done (Click)
The Auto demotion dialog will open. The default setting of disabled is shown and recommend leaving this disabled until you have verified that the communication is working. (Click)
When enabled you will be able to set how many times you want the sever to throw a communications error for this device before it skips polling. The Demote for setting is how long you want the server to wait before it tries to poll this device again. You will also see in the Event log when the device has been auto demoted. The event log does not show when the communications are good, but there are system tags that will let you know when there is a communication failure and if the device is in the autom demotions state or not. Next we go to the Protocol Settings for the device. (Click)
The error checking needs to match what you have configured in your device. The Request size defaults to large, but dial-in or radio modem communications can benefit from setting this to small. The actual size of the requested information depends on the file type requested. For B, S and N file types you would get 80 elements back with a large request and 32 for a small request for example. We will leave the defaults and click next (Click).
If you are using a SLC with I/O you will get this slot configuration dialog. If you are using a MicroLogix you will get the option to do block writes to the Real Time Clock instead of this dialog. If you are not accessing any of the I/O you can just click next without adding any Modules. If you planning on accessing any of the I/O addresses directly you need to configure every slot upto the last slot you plan to access. If there is no card in the slot you still need to configure a Generic Module with 0 words. The server uses this configuration to determine the actual address location to be accessed with the protocol. While the word or bit you want to read my be addressed by the slot and word number for that slot, the actual protocol addressing is based on the total number of input or output words prior to the one you want to access. If you want to read from the first work in slot three, the server needs to know how many words are in all the cards before slot three to be able to send the right request because slot number is not part of the protocol information that gets sent to the PLC. Once this is finished you can click Next. (Click)
Like the channel configuration the device configuration ends with a summary before you click Finish. (Click Next)

12. TOP Server V5 Data Highway
AB Data Highway
PC Card Required
DH+
DH 485
The TOP Server Data Highway driver supports DH+ and DH485 networks though PC cards for the PLC5 and SLC families. Both of these networks are token passing networks that require something to help manage the network token logic. We do not support PIC communication that require software to manage this as the communication through a PIC unit are to slow for most data collection needs.
The old ISA slot card are supported as well as the PCI and PCMK cards. This driver does not support the 64-bit operating systems at this time while the other AB Suite drivers do. (Click)

13. TOP Server V5 Data Highway
\Program Files\Software Toolbox\TOP Server 5\Drivers\Allen-Bradley DH+
KSE_PCMK.inf
KSE_PKTX.inf
KSE_SST.inf
If you are using a PCI or PCMK card it’s important that you install the card drivers that come with the TOP Server before you try to communicate to the device or you will just get errors. The help file topics on these are very good and this slide shows you were these drivers will be installed on your PC. This is by far the most common problem we see when people are trying to use this driver.
The Timing settings, Auto Demotion, and Slot configuration are all the same we saw on the DF-1 driver. The request sizes have more options as Data Highway protocols allow larger request sizes.
Next we will take a look at AB Ethernet. (Click)

14. TOP Server V5 AB Ethernet
PLC 5
No 5/250 support
SLC 5/05
The AB Ethernet driver support all PLC 5’s except for the or pyramid integrator as well as the SLC 5/05 with Ethernet. We do support MicroLogix Ethernet and SLC Ethernet through the NET ENI unites, but this is done with the ControlLogix Ethernet driver as these protocols are closer to ControlLogix communication.
Let’s take a look at the unique configuration settings (Click)

15. TOP Server V5 AB Ethernet
The Channel settings are the same with the naming option and selecting the driver. The Network Interface settings and Write Optimization are the same we saw with the DF-1 driver Ethernet Encapsulation.
The device configuration give you the same timing settings and auto demotion feature as well as the SLC Slot configuration. The Communications Parameters are a bit different as you can see on the left. The Port number is the default Allen Bradley Ethernet port number and should not be changed unless you have changed this on the PLC. As you can see there are a lot of Request Size options with the default setting at The value of changing this really depends on how much contiguous information you have to read. If your only reading two tags 500 words apart in a N7 file your better off with a smaller request size, but if you are reading 100’s of tags from single file type the larger request size will work better. One of the nice things about this protocol is the communications is fast, because all the addressing is by data type and ordered in blocks.
The AB Ethernet driver also supports reading through an AB Ethernet device to a downstream DF-1 device. So you could communicate with a MicroLogix that is connected to an SLC 5/05, but this does not support Data Highway connections. To do the downstream DF-1 communications you just put the destination node address in the dialog on the right.
Let’s take a look at the AB Ethernet Slave Driver next.

16. TOP Server V5 AB Slave Ethernet
PLC-2 type unsolicited
PLC 5 & SLC 5/05
The AB Slave Ethernet driver let the TOP Server receive unsolicited PLC-2 type messages. This does not support CIP unsolicited messaging. The configuration in the TOP Server is simple, because most of the work is done on the PLC side. This does require tag configuring in the TOP Server to receive the messages as there is no polling of the device.

17. TOP Server V5 Tag Creation
To create tags in the TOP Server if you are not adding them dynamically in the Client you just highlight the device and the text in the tag window will say click to add a static tag. The dialog shown will then open. The address in this window is one used with the AB Slave Ethernet driver. For the other AB drivers other than ControlLogix Ethernet we have covered the address is the typical N7:0 addressing. The dialog lets you add a description and set the Data type as well as control the Client access rights for the tag. The scan rate here should only be used if your using a DDE or Suitelink client connection, so ignore it unless you going right to Excel via DDE. To create a large number of tags quickly you can click on the duplicate icon and it will increment the name field by one each time and create a new tag. You can also Export the tags under a particular device and modify the csv file and re-import it. For those of you who are handy with XML, the TOP Server configuration can be saved as and XML file and modified with and XML editor. We recommend care if you want to do this and to save back ups of the project file.
Next we will cover the ControlLogix Ethernet Driver (Click)

18. TOP Server V5 ControlLogix Ethernet
ControlLogix Family
MicroLogix Ethernet
NET-ENI
MicroLogix
SLC
ControlLogix Gateway
The ControlLogix Ethernet driver is probably the most widely used of the AB Suite drivers included. It is an extremely flexible driver, allowing some diverse types of communication. It supports communication with Logix family controllers including ControlLogix, CompactLogix, FlexLogix and SoftLogix controllers. It also supports communications with MicroLogix family devices whether by onboard Ethernet or with DF-1 models using a NET-ENI module.
The driver also allows ControlLogix gateway operations to a wide range of AB devices using a wide variety of configurations involving at least one ControlLogix backplane with a variety of communications modules. We will cover ControlLogix gateways in more detail shortly. Now I’ll cover the different protocol modes this driver supports to give you more options for performance.
(CLICK)

19. ControlLogix Ethernet Protocol Modes
Three Different Protocol Modes:
Symbolic Mode
The traditional protocol when Logix processors were first introduced
Uses the full ASCII character name of an address
Used exclusively through Driver Version xx
Physical Modes (Non-Blocking and Blocking)
Upload sequence at beginning pre-maps addresses in the controller using their physical address.
Slower startup, but much higher performance with larger address counts, as more data can be retrieved in a single request
Avoids Symbolic Address parsing and lookup for greater efficiency in communications.
The ControlLogix Ethernet driver supports three different protocol modes used for requesting data from a Logix controller, each of which has it’s own benefits and should be used in specific circumstances based on your project, as you will see in our optimization recommendation shortly.
Symbolic mode is the original communications mode used when Logix processors debuted and was the only mode available when this driver was first available. Best for smaller tag counts, this mode passes the full ASCII character tag name of an address in requests.
After V4.6 of the ControlLogix driver, two physical modes became available. The two supported physical modes work using an upload sequence when communications are initialized that pre-maps addresses in the controller using their physical addresses.
While slower at initialization, once complete, this pre-mapping substantially enhances the performance of the driver, as these modes avoid the costly symbolic address parsing and lookup necessary with the Symbolic mode, which is why we recommend a physical mode for larger tag counts.

20. ControlLogix Ethernet Configuration Optimizations
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 Non-Blocking
Using > 1/3 of items in a structure – Physical Blocking
Atomic tags – Physical Non-Blocking

21. AB ControlLogix Addressing
Special Considerations for ControlLogix Addressing
PLC addressing is not traditional “N7:0” style – it’s 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 structures, the potential for explosion to thousands of tags is high

22. ControlLogix Ethernet Tag Import
Two Import Options:
Import from the Controller
Pros: Fast / All tags including I/O imported
Cons: Controller access required / Descriptions are not imported
Import from L5K / L5X File
Pros: No Controller Access Necessary / Descriptions imported
Cons: Slow / No I/O Tags imported
Importing Ensures Proper Tag Syntax
With the ControlLogix Ethernet driver, you have several options for tag creation making it an easy process to ensure you have the correct syntax in your configuration for your tags. This is extremely important with this driver, given the symbolic tag names are user defined and a single typo will result in unsuccessful communications for a tag. (CLICK)
The first option is to import your tags directly from the Logix controller. This is the fastest and easiest way to get all of your tags if you have network access to the Logix controller. TOP Server will connect and import the entire tag database directly from the Logix controller, giving you all of the tags in your configuration with the proper syntax.(CLICK)
If you do not have network access to the controller, the next best option is to export an L5K file from your RSLogix 5000 program. TOP Server can build a tag database by importing that L5K file. (CLICK)
Each method has pros and cons. Direct import is fastest and imports all tags, including I/O tags, however descriptions are not imported.
L5K import is slower and does not import I/O Tags, but access to the controller is not necessary and descriptions are imported.
The actual requests for addresses to the controller require the full tagname in the packet. (CLICK)
Along with that requirement, a request packet is limited to a size of 500 bytes, which fills quickly with symbolic address names. (CLICK)
Additionally, if tags being requested are in Local Programs, as opposed to being Global Tags, this adds additional overhead because of the hierarchy that is then involved. (CLICK)
Also, with the number of different types of structures with their many sub-elements, and the ability to nest structures within structures, the tag counts can skyrocket. This is why physical modes are so efficient with larger tag counts. (CLICK)

23. ControlLogix Connectivity – More 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 don’t need it, don’t read it!
Be particularly careful to group your tags by required scan rate – don’t 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%

24. TOP Server V5 ControlLogix Gateway
DH+
ControlNet
Ethernet
Not Remote I/O

25. TOP Server V5 ControlLogix Gateway
Routing Path
IP Address
Port to Backplane = 1
Slot of Comm. Module
Additional “Hops”
Example: PLC-5 on DH+
Data Highway Module in Slot 1 of Logix
Module Port B on DH+ Network of PLC-5
PLC-5 is Node 9 on the DH+ Network
IP Address,1,1.B.9
Note: Node 9 is in Decimal (RSLogix Nodes are in Octal)

26. Live Demo
ControlLogix Ethernet Settings

27. 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.

28. Channel Diagnostics / Event Log
Capture all Send / Receive Data for a Channel
Useful for Troubleshooting Problems in Comms.
Event Log
Displays meaningful errors
Reference Driver Help File for Possible Causes

29. Tips & Tricks
Lots of free help at
Quick Start Guide
Training Videos
Papers and Utilities – Trouble Shooting Guide
More information on the Product Details tab
Contact Software Toolbox while you are in the planning stage, so we can help
We have loads of free documentation to help make connectivity easier, including our Trouble Shooting Guide.
Please do send us s and get us involved at the beginning, we love to help you find solutions.
(Click)

30. What Tools are Needed? TOP Server Standard Drivers
US$795
License for a single computer
No limits on # of devices you can connect to
Annual support and free upgrades – US$155
TOP Server Premium Drivers and Plug-ins
See for pricing
New Industry Packs
The Product license for the TOP Server Version 5 has stayed the same. Support will get you access to all the future enhancements. Including Remote configuration, OPC Alarms and Events tags for the Event Log and OPC UA

31. Contact Information & Other Learning Opportunities
Questions later? or
Other learning opportunities
Visit
Now I’ll answer any question you have that Kevin didn’t have a chance to answer or other’s you would like to ask now.