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SIMATIC PLC Discovery
In increasingly dynamic automation environments and the merging of IT with OT, the SIMATIC PLC Discovery can help with the connection of newly added S7/S7+ devices by showing you all the devices in the network
Configuration

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- SIMATIC PLC Discovery
  In increasingly dynamic automation environments and the merging of IT with OT, the SIMATIC PLC Discovery can help with the connection of newly added S7/S7+ devices by showing you all the devices in the network
  - Requirements and Installation
  - Configuration
- WinCC OA JavaScript Manager for Node.js
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- XML-RPC
  XML-RPC (Extensible Markup Language Remote Procedure Call) allows software on different operating systems to make procedure calls over the internet. XML-RPC uses HTTP for the transport and XML for the encoding. It sends the procedure call to a remote server through HTTP. The call is an XML document and it receives the response as XML.
- REST Reporting API
  The REST Reporting API is integrated into the Standard web server and can be activated via the config entry enabled in the [restReporting] section.
- Distributed systems
  Distributed systems in WinCC OA allow to connect two or more autonomous WinCC OA systems via a network.
- Dist-Management
  Configuring and maintaining a distributed system in WinCC OA requires a high amount of engineering effort due to a high number of settings and configuration steps that must be applied on several systems. The Dist-Management reduces the engineering effort and simplifies the necessary settings.
- XMPP
  XMPP (formerly Jabber) is mostly used in chat (instant messaging) applications and allows near real time communication between two or more parties. It can, e.g., be used to push information from a WinCC_OA project server to one or more persons, even allowing the recipient to send a confirmation back to the server.
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Configuration

The SIMATIC PLC Discovery can be opened from within the System Management: System Management > S7 Driver > SIMATIC PLC Discovery

Figure 1. SIMATIC PLC Discovery Panel

Interfaces

The available network interfaces that can be used to search for PLCs. They are listed with the current IP and MAC address.

Note: Only active interfaces will be displayed within the list.

Timeout

The time in seconds that should be waited for a reply of the network interface before the connection is considered "Not available".

Filter Options

IP: Filter for specific IP addresses
Type: Filter for the device type, e.g. S7-1500.
Name: Filter for the configured device name.
MAC: Filter for the MAC address of the PLC
State: Filter for the current state of the PLC.

By using the button the selected filter options can be cleared.

PLC Information

IP Address

The IP address of the PLC.

Device Type

The device type of the PLC.

Device Name

Device Name configured for the PLC. Can be adjusted within the overview.

Note: The device name will be used as name for the created data point.

MAC Address

The MAC address of the PLC.

State

The current state of the PLC.

Note: If a connection has not yet been established, the entry "Not configured" is used.

S7 / S7+

Indicates if the Device is an S7 or S7+ PLC and influences which type of connection will be created within wincc_oa_path.

The protocol is set by default, depending on the available device information. The protocol can be changed by double clicking within the corresponding column of the PLC list.

Note: If the available information to select either of the protocols is not sufficient, no protocol is selected and must be set manually.

Buttons

Create: By clicking the Create button, the selected PLC will be configured and the required data points will be created.
Important: The first available driver of the selected type (S7/S7+) is used, when creating a new data point.
Close: Closes the panel without saving any changes.