24380 - Ethernet/IP, Switches, and Multicast Frames.

Access Level: TechConnect

Date Created: 03/20/2003 12:00 AM

Last Updated: 08/18/2009 12:11 AM

Ethernet/IP, Switches, and Multicast Frames

I:

Subject:

Ethernet/IP, Switches, and Multicast Frames

II:

Discussion:

a. TCP and UDP: Ethernet/IP uses UDP for Implicit, or I/O control messages. UDP is a protocol designed for speed. We do not When we are controlling I/O, we stay on one subnet, and construct the network so to limit collisions. allow you to route I/O messages, so UDP is an ideal choice for I/O since it uses less overhead and allows for faster communication than TCP. There may be some cases where you hear someone refer to UDP as an unreliable protocol. This is due to the fact that UDP, when used on the internet, does not have the ability to reassemble packets like TCP does. When transmitted over the Internet, packets can arrive in a different order than the order they were sent, or packets in the middle of a message can get lost. This is due to the packets having to travel through Since we only use UDP for various routers and networks.

local communications, and I/O messages are limited to 1 packet, this problem does not occur. b. The key to a successful implementation of an Ethernet/IP network is to implement the following best practices:

Best Practices: - Minimize device load due to unwanted IP multicast traffic - Minimize switch load due to unwanted IP multicast traffic - Minimize network load due to unwanted incoming IP multicast or broadcast traffic - Block IP multicast traffic generated within the Ethernet/IP sub-net from propagation into the plant network - Implement standard network troubleshooting tools

Multicast frames: Most of the issues with EtherNet/IP are the result of multicast frames. multicast. The multicast issue stems from the fact that all input data from I/O devices is sent Therefore, each frame will be broadcast throughout the system to make sure it reaches all the possible devices in the multicast group.

Since I/O devices generally produce at very fast rates (i.e 10 ms), it is easy to flood the network with multicast traffic and force each end device to spend time dealing with the need to discard numerous multicast frames. If there are a number of I/O devices, they can easily use up a significant part of a routers CPU time, which will not be appreciated by the IT staff.

Not only do you have to be concerned with control network traffic propagating onto the plant information network, but you must also be concerned with plant information network traffic propagating onto the control network. broadcast frames. Of particular concern is streaming audio and video, which is sent as

Switches: In order to follow the best practices, the selection of the switches used in the architecture is critical. There are several features available in switches that will allow you to follow the best practices. Switches with the following features should be selected when designing an EtherNet/IP network: Required: - Full-duplex capability on all ports - IGMP Snooping

- Port Mirroring Recommended: - VLAN - Autonegotiation and manually configurable speed/duplex - Wire-speed switching fabric - SNMP

Full-duplex capability on all ports: Full duplex capability eliminates collisions. Combined with the speed of switches available today, delays related to collisions or traffic in the switch can be eliminated. The end result is that EtherNet/IP becomes a highly deterministic network that works well for I/O control. NOTE: If the device is forced to a specific duplex, Therefore, it is

(auto-negotation is disabled), then the switch will default to 1/2 duplex. best to let the device auto-negotiate.

IGMP Snooping: IGMP snooping constrains the flooding of multicast traffic by dynamically configuring switch ports so that multicast traffic is forwarded only to ports associated with a particular IP multicast group. Switches that support IGMP snooping "learn" which ports have devices that are part of a particular multicast group and only forward the multicast packets to the ports that are part of the multicast group.

You have to be careful as to what level of support of IGMP snooping a switch has. In some cases a layer 2 switch that supports IGMP snooping still needs a router (which could be a layer 3 switch) to send out IGMP polls in order to learn what devices are part of the multicast group. Some layer 2 switches can use IGMP snooping without a router sending polls. Look for layer 2 switches that works without queries.

Port Mirroring: Port mirroring refers to the ability to direct the frames being transmitted on one port to another port. ability to monitor the traffic on a given port. ports. This allows Without port a traffic analyzer to connected to a switch and have the mirroring, an analyzer is not able to see frames on other With hubs this is not an issue, since all frames are transmitted out all ports. Traffic analyzers are used extensively by people who support Ethernet networks. Therefore, it is critical that a switch is selected that supports port mirroring so that a traffic analyzer will function correctly on the network.

VLAN: The benefits of VLANs are that a switch can be configured to share two isolated networks without the traffic from one network burdening the other. VLAN 1 will not reach VLAN 2. IP multicast traffic from However, For multicast traffic, you

could accomplish the same thing with IGMP snooping. of security between networks.

a VLAN will also block broadcast traffic, and adds a measure

Autonegotiation and manually configurable speed/duplex: Autonegotiation allows devices to select the most optimal way to communicate without the user having to configure the devices. However, as discussed previously, if a manually configured device is attached to an autonegotiation device there can be problems which result in a high rate

of CRC errors. While all 100 Mbps devices are required to support autonegotiation, most existing 10 Mbps devices do not. Therefore a switch that supports both modes is recommended because it allows you to connect to existing devices such as the 1756-ENET modules.

Wire-speed switching Fabric: The switch fabric is a measure of the maximum traffic that a switch can handle without dropping a packet and without storing a packet in memory. Wire speed switching fabric refers to a switch that can handle the maximum data rate of the network on each of its ports. Switches are typically rated in Gbps. For a 10 port switch Therefore,

connected to EtherNet/IP products, the maximum data rate needed is typically in the 100 -200 of Mbps range. for an EtherNet/IP implementation. a 10 port switch rated at least 1 Gbps should be adequate

SNMP: SNMP, Simple Network Management Protocol, is a TCP/IP protocol used to obtain statistical information about a device. SNMP software is very popular with network managers. It allows a network manager to view and modify a wide variety of network parameters, and also provides a common way to manage many diverse vendor products.