Allen Bradley Micrologix 1100 Ethernet Configuration

Before we can connect to the Micrologix 1100 through the Ethernet port we must assign it an initial IP address. There are two ways to do this.

1. Go online with the Micrologix through the serial port and configure it. For this method see the “Micrologix 1100 Serial Configuration” article, follow the instructions, then come back to this article.
2. Use a BootP or DHCP server – RsLinx comes with a BootP server so below is an example of configuring it with the BootP server that you should already have
1. Connect your Micrologix 1100 and your PC to an Ethernet switch
2. Go to Start Menu > Rockwell Software > BOOTP-DHCP Server and select the program BOOTP-DHCP Server. Your shortcut may vary on your computer but this is the default for this shortcut.
   
3. Within a few seconds you will see your device begin to make requests for an address
   
4. Select one of the requests out of the “Request History” and press the “Add to Relation List.” Enter the IP Address you wish to assign to the device and press OK For this example the IP Address is 192.168.210.100 but yours will be different depending on your network configuration
   
5. In the lower half of the screen you will now see your device added to the “Relation List”
   
6. Within a few seconds you will see your device request an IP Address again only this time you will see the IP Address you assigned in the “IP Address Column. You are now ready to configure RsLinx.
   
7. Note that this is only a temporary assignment of the IP Address and you still must assign the device a permanent IP Address. You may now close the BootP Server. I would not worry about saving your changes on the BootP Server as these setting were temporary just to set the IP Address so that you can connect to the device with RsLinx

Now that we have initially set the IP Address using one of the above methods we are ready to configure RsLinx to connect to the device. First let’s open RsLinx. This program is already running as a service and all you need to do is find the RsLinx icon in the bottom right hand corner and click on it

There are two drivers that can be used in RsLinx to connect to the device

1. Ethernet/IP Driver – This driver is by far the easiest to use because it requires no configuration. Each device broadcast information across the Ethernet network with RsLinx uses to discover device. The downside to this method is depending on your network setup Firewalls and VPN configurations may block these broadcast. If you can’t see your device using this method use the Ethernet Driver described in method 2
1. First let’s see if you already have an Ethernet/IP driver configured
2. From you menu at the top of RsLinx go to Communications > RsWho. Look at the pane to the left and look for a driver saying “ETHIP-1.” If you see this driver then you are all set, go to step e. If not proceed to step c
   
3. From your menu at the top of RsLinx go to Communications > Configure Drivers…
   
4. Under “Available Drive Type” select “Ethernet/IP Driver” and click “Add New.” The default name for the device is “ETHIP-1.” If you wish to change it you may do so now and click “OK.” Close the “Configure Drivers” dialog
   
5. From you menu at the top of RsLinx go to Communications > RsWho. Look at the pane to the left, find your “ETHIP-1” driver, and select it. In a few moments you should now see your device in the right pane.
   
6. If you do not see the device, verify that you have followed the previous steps. If you have then try the Ethernet Driver below as you may have something on the network blocking the request.



2. Ethernet Driver – This driver is not plug and play like the Ethernet/IP driver. You must configure the IP Addresses you wish RsLinx to look for devices on.
1. From your menu at the top of RsLinx go to Communications > Configure Drivers…
   
2. Under “Available Drive Type” select “Ethernet Devices” and click “Add New.” The default name for the device is “AB_ETH-1.” If you wish to change it you may do so now and click “OK.”
   
3. Now you will see the “Station Mapping dialog come up
   
4. Enter the IP Address of your device and click “OK”
   
5. From you menu at the top of RsLinx go to Communications > RsWho. Look at the pane to the left, find your “ABETH-1” driver, and select it. In a few moments you should now see your device in the right pane.
   
3. All that is left now is to set your communications path in RsLogix 500.
1. From the top menu of RsLogix 500 go to Comms > System Comms.
   
2. Select the Ethernet driver in the left pane that you chose to configure in step 2 and click on your device in the right pane
   
   
3. From here select OK and you are ready to go. Also you may select “Online” instead of OK to immediately go online or “Upload” to upload the image out of the processor
4. Now you are online with your device but we may not have permanently set the IP Address. You may do this by either setting the IP Address in your offline file and then downloading it or you may set it while online with the processor. The steps are the same. The only difference is if you do it with your offline file then don’t forget to download it.
1. Open your file in RsLogix 500
2. On the left pane go to Project > Controller and double click Channel Configuration.
   
   
3. Select the Channel 1 tab and configure the IP Address, Subnet and Gateway. Uncheck the “BOOTP Enable” and click Ok. Your IP Address is now permanently set
   

Article written by TWControls