Siemens SIMATIC S7 User Manual page 22

Prerequisites and communication setup
2.5 Communication setup
5. View the description of the network interface.
Assigning the network interface card in the SIMATIC Automation Tool
You must assign the network interface card to a new project, before communication can
begin. Start the SIMATIC Automation Tool, click on the Network Interface Card drop-down
list, and select the network card that is connected to your Siemens device network.
You may see different network cards from those shown in the following image, because the
list shows the network interfaces that are available in your PG/PC.
If the network interface card is selected, but the devices do not have valid IP addresses, then
you cannot use the IP address operations. However, you can use the MAC address based
operations and set up valid IP addresses for your network.
MAC address operations
● Scan for CPUs and modules
● Flash LEDs to locate devices
● Set Ethernet IP addresses
● Set PROFINET names
● Reset to factory default values (for PROFINET I/O devices only)
As seen in the preceding image, there can be two entries for one network card and the
difference is the addition of the characters ".Auto".
"Auto" refers to the auto-negotiation between two Ethernet stations for communication mode
and speed.
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SIMATIC Automation Tool V2.1 user guide
Manual, V2.1.1 07/2016, A5E33042676-AC