3 Network Analysis Task

PRONETA’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.

3.1 Online Mode

In Online mode, PRONETA will scan the PROFINET network for present devices, in either a single sweep or continuously. The main screen is divided in:

A Graphical View  (1)

A Device Table  (2) of accessible devices

NOTE

If the network size exceeds 500 devices, not all devices may be reliably detected during a scan. Crashes of PRONETA may occur in this case.

 

Function Bar

The following functions are available in the function bar:

Icon

Name

Function

Export Topology

 

Topology Export

A topology export can be performed in a number of different formats:

This is useful to:

 

The option “Include device details” 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, if the network is sufficient large.

Depending on the current mode, only some of the export options will be available:

 

Online

Offline

Comp.

Conf.

 

Device Search

To 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 the information fields (e.g. device names, types, network parameters, …), currently displayed in the Device Table only.

Search is case-insensitive and does not allow for wildcards or regular expressions.

 

Matches of your search are highlighted in the Graphical View and the Device Table through orange shading.

Scanner Status Indicator

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 one item:

Icon

Name

Function

 

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 will scan the network only once or continuously upon start of the scanner.

Graphical View

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.

While over empty space, clicking and subsequent dragging will shift the visible network segment. Hovering the mouse pointer over a device will change the open hand 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:

 

Tool Bar

In the top section of the view, there is a tool bar with a variety of function icons:

Icon

Name

Function

Device Connection Types

If the option “Show Physical Connection Types” from the tool bar has been selected, connections between devices are 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.

Device Tooltips

Hovering over a device will bring up a tooltip which displays:

Device name

Device type

IP address

Firmware Version (where applicable)

Hovering over a device port displays:

Interface name

IP address

Port ID

Name of the neighbor

Device Context Menu

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 entries are available for all devices with the actual entries depending on the state of the device.

Icon

Name

Function

Device Table

This table lists the devices found either during your current network scan (Online mode only), or in a stored reference network.

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.

White cells inside the table allow information to be entered. The new values will be written to the respective device immediately when the cell loses focus. (This is an alternative way to the use of 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 current device context menu.

 

Device Details

In the lower part of the table, a details view for a selected device can be opened and collapsed by clicking the triangular symbol of the view header.

This view shows additional device information complementing the information in the table, in particular port and module configuration data.

Branches of the tree can be opened and collapsed by clicking the triangular symbol of the corresponding branch.

Set Network Parameters

This popup window allows the immediate 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.