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Network flooded by ICMP (echo) ping - the ping was activated Simatic shell dialog

Created by: starcraff at: 4/17/2007 9:37 AM (7 Replies)

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4/17/2007 9:37 AM	Rate (0)
starcraff Posts: 8 Rating: (1)	Dear All The program version that I have here is i) Simatic WinCC V6.0 SP3, Runtime, 1024 Power Tags ii) Simatic S7, Step 7 v 5.3 incl SP2 After installing both programs, I notice that the network is frequently floodedespecially when the host system with both programs installedkeep on sending ICMP (echo) ping toother systems in the network with the PLC programs. The entire network end up congested with the frequent ping activities and subsequently, the switches connected to this computer will hang. The program in discussion is the SCSDialogX whereby we can find it in 2 directories: a) C:\Program Files\Common Files\Siemens\ace\bin b) C:\Progrram Files\Common Files\Siemens\ace\interfaces SCSDialogx will pop up when there is a change in the network adapters. If there's no change, the SCSDialogx box will not pop up. The pop up is labelled "Settings" Users are required to key in Multicast time to live: Current parameter is 1 Compatibility: Current setting v6.0 checked And press OK to apply the settings Since we have no multicast proxy, there's not settings there. The system in discussion contains 2 NIC cards: - One on 101.0.101.X subnet - PLC system - The other is on 192.168.10.x subnet - internal network Basically, we just want the system to be able to grab the info from Siemens PLC CPU and access the internal network at the same time. The system is not merged to the domain for policy access reasons which may render some of the Siemens program deactivated. The user has administrative rights to the local system. I notice that this broadcasting - continous ping will only start after SCSDialogX loads. The ping will not happen if the SCSDialogX pops up (if there are changes in the NIC adapter) and we just leave it be without pressing OK or Cancel. Is there any way I could stop the ICMP ping caused by this program which will subsequently flood the network?I believe withoutthis ping, the grabbing of data from the Siemens PLC CPU still works well. If anyone knows the solution, kindly assist. Thank you. star
starcraff Posts: 8 Rating: (1)
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4/17/2007 11:22 AM	Rate (0)
J_Bell Posts: 5822 Rating: (412)	Hello Starcraff, to admit I am a bit confused because I have in my installation only a .tbl file in the Interface directory, but anyway. I wonder how your settings look like in the PG/PC Interface settings. Do you use TCP/IP (Auto)? If so change this please. Best regards J_Bell
J_Bell Posts: 5822 Rating: (412)
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4/17/2007 1:08 PM	Rate (0)
starcraff Posts: 8 Rating: (1)	Dear J_Bell What should be the proper settings for this parameter instead of TCP/IP (Auto)? Kindly advise. star
starcraff Posts: 8 Rating: (1)
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4/17/2007 1:19 PM	Rate (0)
J_Bell Posts: 5822 Rating: (412)	Hello, please use TCP/IP -> (your NIC) instead. This prevents the System from searching a free IP Address. Best regards J_Bell
J_Bell Posts: 5822 Rating: (412)
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4/18/2007 9:19 AM	Rate (0)
starcraff Posts: 8 Rating: (1)	Dear J_Bell As advised, I've changed the PG/PC interface to select the NIC card. Initially, no card was selected.Under "Access Point of the Application", the drop down menu showed "S7Online" but WinCC still manage to grab the data from PLC CPU. After selection of the NIC card, the title was updated to S7Online Step 7 ---> NIC card. I notice there are couple of NIC under "Inteface parameter assigment used" option. There are ISO Ind Ethernet, TCP/IP and TCP/IP(Auto). Each of these 3 types have an extension of the NIC card, e.g. ISO Ind Ethernet --> NIC card 1, TCP/IP --> NIC card 1 and TCP/IP(Auto) --> NIC card 1. What is the difference between them? For my case, I've chosen the ISO Ind Ethernet --> NIC card 1 option and restarted the system and WinCC for all affected WinCC systems. When I analysed the traffic, the ICMP (echo) ping has ceased. I will monitor and update whether the ICMP (echo) ping will recur. Thank you for your kind advise. star
starcraff Posts: 8 Rating: (1)	Last edited by: starcraff at: 18.04.2007 09:20
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4/18/2007 11:44 AM	Rate (0)
J_Bell Posts: 5822 Rating: (412)	Hello Star, well, the three different points you mentioned are 3 different types of Stacks the Communication is based upon. The ISO Transport does not use TCP/IP. The TCP/IP is using TCP/IP based on the settings of the PC and the TCP/IP (Auto) is auto detecting the settings... what I thought are used by your system. To tell you the truth, I have no idea why the system behaved like this, especially as you have not used TCP/IP at all. I am a bit confused. Maybe the system hung at some point. I am not sure. Best regards J_Bell
J_Bell Posts: 5822 Rating: (412)
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4/18/2007 1:10 PM	Rate (0)
starcraff Posts: 8 Rating: (1)	Dear J_Bell In this case, I will try to select the TCP/IP setting for the Set PG/PC interfaceand see whether problem reccur (excessive ICMP ping to other machines with WinCC). Honestly, if it is inthe context of WinCC to be successful in comunicating with PLC CPU, the Set PG/PC interface setting did not seem to play a signification role but its the TCP/IP System Parameter under the activeWinCC project subtree.As long as this parameter points to right NIC card with the right TCP/IP settings, the live data from the PLC CPU will show in the WinCC runtime. However, after encountering the excessive ICMP ping from the systemsdue inappropriate setting, I believe Set PG/PC interface setting controls the proper behaviour how data is grabbed from PLC CPU instead of random broadcasting. Is there any where I could read on how to do a proper setup for the PC? Our consultants did not give us any written guidelines on how to reconstruct the PC system environment in the event of disaster recovery. I'm trying to pick up the pieces from the installation manual. Thank you for your kind advise again. star
starcraff Posts: 8 Rating: (1)
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4/18/2007 1:35 PM	Rate (0)
J_Bell Posts: 5822 Rating: (412)	Hello, I am sorry, but there is no smal manual for this. I would use the following Manual: Industrial Communication with PG/PC I hope this will help a bit. Best regards J_Bell
J_Bell Posts: 5822 Rating: (412)
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