Atlas2 Plus OLED Display: EtherNet/IP Permanent Monitoring Kit 100 tester

The delivery includes:

• 1 x Atlas2 Plus OLED (101-800341)
• 1 x EtherTAP: EtherNet/IP Analysis (101-700205E)
• 1 x EtherTAP 10/100 (513-00011A)
• 1 x TAP Din Rail Mount (70010057)
• 1 x USB 3.0 A -B - 1,8m
• 1 x Patch kabel CAT5E - 2m 

Industrial EtherNet/IP networks can be measured in two ways, actively and passively. Each type of measurement provides different data. The ATLAS2 Plus OLED Display analyzer measures EtherNet/IP networks in both ways. Active tests consist of the analyzer sending queries to all stations in the measured network at regular intervals and processing the information into a clear dashboard.

1. Active EtherNet/IP test

Atlas2 queries all stations on the network, usually using SNMP. To perform an active analysis, simply connect the Atlas2 to any free port in the PROFINET network. A free port is usually found on a PLC, on a Libcool switch or on the last station in the network. 

By active measurement we can find out:

• IP and MAC addresses of the stations,
• the firmware versions of the stations,
• the type of device,
• network topology,
• data flows on all ports of the stations in the network (depending on the firmware of the station),
• time since last reboot (uptime),
• station loss (ping-based only),

2. Passive test 

The passive method works by intercepting communication using a TAP adapter placed on the busiest cable in the network (usually between the PLC and the rest of the network). We only eavesdrop on the communication, we do not write anything down. The TAP adapter assigns a timestamp to each packet and then sends the data via USB to the Atlas2 analyzer.

By passive measurement, we can determine

• EtherNet/IP alarms and their characteristics,
• data exchange cycles,
• maximum and minimum communication variance (jitter),
• number of dropped packets,
• packet types.

Do you need to measure by active or passive method?

If you want to know the names of the stations in the network, their topology, information about the network, etc., then it is sufficient to measure the network by active analysis.

However, if your EtherNet/IP network is failing on some error and you want to identify (and then remove) the error, you need to measure the network both actively and passively. FOXON recommends measuring EtherNet/IP networks both actively and passively.