TCP/IP EIE

The TCP/IP EIE communication device provides point-to-point RTU communication based on IP address and port.

Click the following image to see an example Device Editor:

A 64-bit version of this EIE is available. See 64-bit Device Drivers.

Device Properties

The following tables list and describe properties from the TCP/IP Device Editor dialog box.

Property	Description
Device ID	The unique identifier of an instance for this device. This free-form name must be unique in the DDS and the FAC. That is, it must be a name not used by any other communication device, import/export device, remote device, or facility. Valid characters are A-Z, 0-9, dash (-), underscore (_), and tilde (~). No spaces are allowed. 20 character maximum. Note: Tilde (~) is a valid character for both devices and facilities, but its use is not recommended.
Host mode	Listen This mode is remote device EIE specific and data group specific. This mode indicates that the communications device can only listen to a data stream from an external source. The supported listen mode data groups are a small subset of the overall capabilities of the EIE. NonMaster This mode is remote device EIE-specific. It is not designed to allow write messages to be sent to an RTU. However, because each remote device EIE specifies what a write message is, you might still be able to send some write messages. Master This default mode allows any message to be sent.
Description	A free-form description of the device. 32 character maximum.
IP address	The address of the remote IP device. Number and name formats are acceptable.
Port	The socket number of the remote IP comm device.
Tx baud	The transaction baud used to format messages.
Message delay (msec)	The delay (in milliseconds) to wait before sending a message to the remote IP device. If the remote IP device also has a message delay, the greater value takes precedence.
Connection
Maintain connection	Check this box to maintain connection with the remote IP comm device. Note: Maintain connection and Close on inactivity work independently of each other. If both are set, then Maintain connection takes precedence.
Attempt interval (sec)	Defines the interval (in seconds) between attempts to connect with an unconnected remote IP device if Maintain connection is enabled. Note: Do not set the value of this property below the default unless you have a good metric for changing it. If you do lower this value, take into account the Attempt Timeout.
Inactivity
Close on inactivity	Check this box to close connection to remote IP comm device when no activity has occurred for the period of time specified by Max Duration.
Max duration (sec)	The maximum duration (in seconds) to allow for inactivity. Be aware that the remote IP device may have its own duration for inactivity. If the remote IP device's period is shorter, then the connection will be closed by the remote IP device.
Keep-alive
Send character	Applicable only when Maintain connection is enabled. Check this box to send a character to the remote IP comm device when necessary to maintain a connection. This ensures that the field device on the other end does not terminate the connection. Use of this property is dependent upon the remote IP device.
Character	The character (ASCII value) to send to keep the connection alive.
Interval (sec)	The interval (in seconds) at which to send the Keep Alive Character.
Connection retries
Connect attempts	Number of attempts to try to connect to the remote IP comm device. The value of this property is always 1.
Attempt timeout (msec)	The time (in milliseconds) to wait when attempting the connection before marking the attempt as failed.
Device not ready events
Max events	The Device not ready events field sets the maximum number of failed attempts to connect to a field device before the communication device reaches a "Not Ready" state. If a communication device reaches a "Not Ready" state, the existing queue is emptied and new messages are not queued. You can reset the communication device by disabling and then re-enabling it, or you can enable the communication device using script.
Enable device	Check to enable or disable the device. The default setting is disabled. The device will automatically disable if an invalid configuration is detected. The device can be re-enabled after the invalid configuration is fixed.

Property

Description

Device ID

The unique identifier of an instance for this device. This free-form name must be unique in the DDS and the FAC. That is, it must be a name not used by any other communication device, import/export device, remote device, or facility. Valid characters are A-Z, 0-9, dash (-), underscore (_), and tilde (~). No spaces are allowed. 20 character maximum.

Note: Tilde (~) is a valid character for both devices and facilities, but its use is not recommended.

Host mode

Listen This mode is remote device EIE specific and data group specific. This mode indicates that the communications device can only listen to a data stream from an external source. The supported listen mode data groups are a small subset of the overall capabilities of the EIE.

NonMaster This mode is remote device EIE-specific. It is not designed to allow write messages to be sent to an RTU. However, because each remote device EIE specifies what a write message is, you might still be able to send some write messages.

Master This default mode allows any message to be sent.

Description

A free-form description of the device. 32 character maximum.

IP address

The address of the remote IP device. Number and name formats are acceptable.

Port

The socket number of the remote IP comm device.

Tx baud

The transaction baud used to format messages.

Message delay (msec)

The delay (in milliseconds) to wait before sending a message to the remote IP device. If the remote IP device also has a message delay, the greater value takes precedence.

Connection

Maintain connection

Check this box to maintain connection with the remote IP comm device.

Note: Maintain connection and Close on inactivity work independently of each other. If both are set, then Maintain connection takes precedence.

Attempt interval (sec)

Defines the interval (in seconds) between attempts to connect with an unconnected remote IP device if Maintain connection is enabled.

Note: Do not set the value of this property below the default unless you have a good metric for changing it. If you do lower this value, take into account the Attempt Timeout.

Inactivity

Close on inactivity

Check this box to close connection to remote IP comm device when no activity has occurred for the period of time specified by Max Duration.

Max duration (sec)

The maximum duration (in seconds) to allow for inactivity. Be aware that the remote IP device may have its own duration for inactivity. If the remote IP device's period is shorter, then the connection will be closed by the remote IP device.

Keep-alive

Send character

Applicable only when Maintain connection is enabled. Check this box to send a character to the remote IP comm device when necessary to maintain a connection. This ensures that the field device on the other end does not terminate the connection. Use of this property is dependent upon the remote IP device.

Character

The character (ASCII value) to send to keep the connection alive.

Interval (sec)

The interval (in seconds) at which to send the Keep Alive Character.

Connection retries

Connect attempts

Number of attempts to try to connect to the remote IP comm device. The value of this property is always 1.

Attempt timeout (msec)

The time (in milliseconds) to wait when attempting the connection before marking the attempt as failed.

Device not ready events

Max events

The Device not ready events field sets the maximum number of failed attempts to connect to a field device before the communication device reaches a "Not Ready" state.

If a communication device reaches a "Not Ready" state, the existing queue is emptied and new messages are not queued.

You can reset the communication device by disabling and then re-enabling it, or you can enable the communication device using script.

Enable device

Check to enable or disable the device. The default setting is disabled. The device will automatically disable if an invalid configuration is detected. The device can be re-enabled after the invalid configuration is fixed.