Communication; Tools For Configuration And Programming - Siemens SIMATIC S7-400H System Manual

3.5

Communication

The S7-400H supports the following communication methods and mechanisms:
● System buses with Industrial Ethernet
● Point-to-point connection
This equally applies to the central and distributed components you can use. Suitable
communication modules are listed in appendix E.
Communication availability
You can vary the availability of communication with the S7-400H. The S7-400H supports
various solutions to meet your communication requirements. These range from a simple
linear network structure to a redundant optical two-fiber loop.
Fault-tolerant communication on PROFIBUS or Industrial Ethernet networks is supported
only by the S7 communication functions.
Programming and configuring
Apart from the use of additional hardware components, there are basically no differences
with regard to configuration and programming compared to standard systems. Fault-tolerant
connections only have to be configured; specific programming is not necessary.
All communication functions required for fault-tolerant communication are integrated in the
operating system of the fault-tolerant CPU. These functions run automatically in the
background, for example, to monitor the communication connection, or to automatically
change over a redundant connection in the event of error.
Further information
For detailed information on communication with the S7-400H, refer to chapter Communication
(Page 157).
3.6

Tools for configuration and programming

Similar to the S7-400, the S7-400H is also configured and programmed using STEP 7.
You only need to make allowances for slight restrictions when you write the user program.
However, there are some additional details specific to the fault-tolerant configuration. The
operating system monitors the redundant components and automatically fails over to the
standby components when an error occurs. You have already configured the relevant
information and communicated it to the system in your STEP 7 program.
For detailed information, refer to the online help, to chapter Configuring with STEP 7
(Page 179) and to Appendix Differences between fault-tolerant systems and standard
systems (Page 329).
Optional software
All standard tools, engineering tools and runtime software used in the S7-400 system are
also supported by the S7-400H system.
S7-400H
System Manual, 09/2007, A5E00267695-03
S7-400H installation options
3.5 Communication
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