The Turbo Chain Concept - Weidmuller IE-SW-VL08M Series User Manual

IE-SW-VL08M Series User's Manual

The Turbo Chain Concept

The Turbo Chain is an advanced software-technology that gives network administrators the
flexibility of constructing any type of redundant network topology. When using the "chain" concept,
you first connect the Ethernet switches in a chain and then simply link the two ends of the chain to an
Ethernet network, as illustrated in the following figure.
Turbo Chain can be used on industrial networks that have a complex topology. If the industrial
network uses a multi-ring architecture, Turbo Chain can be used to create flexible and scalable
topologies with a fast media-recovery time.
Setting Up Turbo Chain
1. Select the Head switch, Tail switch, and Member switches.
2. Configure one port as the Head port and one port as the Member port in the Head switch,
configure one port as the Tail port and one port as the Member port in the Tail switch, and
configure two ports as Member ports in each of the Member switches.
3. Connect the Head switch, Tail switch, and Member switches as shown in the diagram.
The path connecting to the Head port is the main path, and the path connecting to the Tail port is the
backup path of the Turbo Chain. Under normal conditions, packets are transmitted through the Head
Port to the LAN Network. If any Turbo Chain path is disconnected, the Tail Port will be activated to
continue packet transmission.
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