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Author Topic: Setting older ECOM netmask and Gateway #'s  (Read 9908 times)

Pippin

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Setting older ECOM netmask and Gateway #'s
« on: October 19, 2007, 05:23:47 PM »
I have a couple of old ECOMs which work across a subnet  (not 100's) - so I know that there is a way to specify netmask and Gateway values . . . or at least used to . . . however when I try to configure a new (older) ECOM via NetEdit 3.7,  it only gives a prompt field to set the IP #.

Only the newer ecom100's show the other settings?

Any idea how those values used to be assigned?
 







BobO

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Re: Setting older ECOM netmask and Gateway #'s
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2007, 10:36:26 PM »
<...scratching head...>

For programming purposes, original ECOMs spoke only when spoken to and replied to the address that spoke to them. If that was off of the local network, the ECOM would hear from, and then reply to, the gateway. No setup was necessary. I am a little fuzzy on the peer to peer connection, but I don't think it would cross routers. Since the original ECOM didn't generate its own traffic, a netmask and gateway wasn't necessary.

The ECOM100 can generate its own traffic (email, for instance) and therefore does require those to be configured.

It's a bit fuzzy, but I seem to remember that the ECOM had a gateway field, but I don't think it did what you think it did.
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Pippin

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Re: Setting older ECOM netmask and Gateway #'s
« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2007, 09:57:20 AM »
Well - the older ECOM I could querry from a different network subnet. I currently do it all the time. But plugging a new (older) ecom into that same subnet I can not program it, or ping it, or do anything else with it - unless I'm on the same subnet.

I had thought that the older command line utility . . . the firmware uploader before NetEdit . . . set these values . . . but haven't had to twiddle with any of these settings for years  . . . so no longer seem to have these old utilities . . . assuming they actually were the ones that twiddled these values.

But *do* have a firm memory that the process wasn't "auto-magic".

BobO

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Re: Setting older ECOM netmask and Gateway #'s
« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2007, 01:01:21 PM »
I'm at a loss then. I don't know of a netmask setting in older ECOMs, but the command line util did have...er...carnal knowledge of the inner workings of the ECOM.

Does anyone else here at Host have a clue of what might be at work here?

"It has recently come to our attention that users spend 95% of their time using 5% of the available features. That might be relevant." -BobO

MikeS

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Re: Setting older ECOM netmask and Gateway #'s
« Reply #4 on: October 22, 2007, 02:58:52 PM »
If'n I remember this correctly (and that's suspect these days) ..... the orginal ECOM only used the 'IP Netmask' field as a way to change the default broadcast address to something other than the "normal" 255.255.255.255 - specifically for use with Unix operating systems.

I found this note in the ECOM firmware revision history: "Added IP Netmask field to allow for broadcasting with address that's NOT 255.255.255.255."

NetEdit (Not NetEdit 3) could set this value in the advanced settings tab of the ECOM.
Good design costs a lot. Bad design costs even more.

Pippin

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Re: Setting older ECOM netmask and Gateway #'s
« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2007, 06:10:23 PM »
That's what I'm looking for then . . . haven't *ever* seen a network with a 255.255.255.255 netmask.  Most of the time, I'm dealing with 128's, 192's, or even 64's . . .

Don't suppose anyone knows how many years back that I would have to look for this version?

Pippin

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Re: Setting older ECOM netmask and Gateway #'s
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2007, 07:05:19 PM »
Ok - the version of NetEdit from back in 1998  . . . with a slightly later or earlier support library  . . . sets the netmask, and now I can talk with the device from a different network and across a gateway/router.

Thanks - helps to know exactly what to look for . . . or else you don't know what it is when you've found it. <Grin>


arn

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Re: Setting older ECOM netmask and Gateway #'s
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2007, 08:13:02 PM »
Pippin,

I think I have may have the same problem.  Where can I get this older version of netedit?

Arn

BobO

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Re: Setting older ECOM netmask and Gateway #'s
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2007, 09:00:15 PM »
Well...if this is something that folks need to use, then we need to put it in NetEdit3. As the author of both NetEdits and one of the design engineers that was involved in designing Host's Ethernet products, I should understand this issue better than I apparently do. I'll pow-pow with the others involved and figure out what needs to happen, and we'll release a new NetEdit3 with the appropriate additions.
"It has recently come to our attention that users spend 95% of their time using 5% of the available features. That might be relevant." -BobO

MikeS

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Re: Setting older ECOM netmask and Gateway #'s
« Reply #9 on: October 23, 2007, 04:08:56 PM »
I agree that "IP Netmask" is the wrong thing to call it, 'cause that's not what it did, probably something like "Broadcast Address" would have been more appropriate.

Regardless, I'm curious as to why this fixed your ECOM, I'm missing something. Would you care to enlighten me on the specifics of how your network is configured (like IP addresses, etc.) how the problem showed up in NetEdit 3 and/or DirectSOFT, and specifically what you did to fix the problem?

We removed access to that field in NetEdit 3 because we were fairly sure that no one was using it.
Good design costs a lot. Bad design costs even more.

Pippin

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Re: Setting older ECOM netmask and Gateway #'s
« Reply #10 on: November 07, 2007, 03:05:16 PM »
We basically have 4 different subnets,  2 with 64 addresses and 2 with 128 addresses - and for trivial reasons, the application which is used to create PLC code is on a different network segment than the PLC lives. (64 calling 128)

The corporate "Network Police" own the gateway systems, and I suspect that they block anything which they either don't like, don't understand, or look s'funny'. At any rate, while I can talk to the PLC while physically sitting on the same subnet, DirectSoft doesn't latch onto it from a different subnet. Once the broadcast address, or whatever it is called is set . . . then it works.

Worked the same way 6 or 7 years ago too . . . although then, couldn't update the firmware on the PLC's unless the netmask was correct - although could still talk with it in most other ways.

Don't really understand what the problem really is . . . but it just doesn't seem to make it across the gateway unless this paramter is set.