Integration of Hirschmann Bobcat Rail Switch (BRS) with ctrlX CORE

Introduction

This How-To explains the integration of the Hirschmann Bobcat Rail Switch (BRS) with the ctrlX CORE. It is a step-by-step guide to configure the BRS with two ctrlX COREs via VLANs. This guide shows you how to enable VLANs in the BRS to process the tagged packets with different priorities using different methods like strict priority and weighted fair queuing. Moreover, it also explains how a BRS can be used as an OPC UA server for the ctrlX CORE in a network. The OPC UA protocol is helpful in this scenario as BRS can gather status information from many field-level devices and makes it available for ctrlX CORE devices easily using this protocol.

This How-To focuses on the integration of BRS with ctrlX CORE, however, other Hirschman managed switches running on HiOS L2A software can also be integrated similarly. More information about the Hirschmann managed switches family can be found on Belden Website.

If you want to understand how Belden products can be used in your network, please take a look at our Genral How To which explains different network designs which are possible with Belden products. This How to will be published here soon.

Requirements

Hardware

ctrlX CORE
Bobcat Rail Switch (BRS)

Software

OPC UA Pub/Sub-App on ctrlX COREs
HiOS L2A software on BRS
HiView/Provize on user system
Unified Automation UAExpert V1.7 or higher

Step by Step guide

Setting up the BRS

Launch HiView/Provize discovery software on your system to discover the Hirschmann switches in your network. All the Hirschmann switches in the topology will be discovered and presented in the list. Configure the BRS according to your network address and subnet mask. This is required to access the web interface of the switch as you cannot access it unless your system is in the same network as the switch.

Please open the web interface of the BRS and enter your log-in credentials. The default log-in credentials for the Hirschmann switches are (username: admin / Password: private). You will be asked to change this initial password after first log-in. You can select your preferred language for the web interface here as well.

Once you are logged-in, please save your system settings immediately to keep them after the system reboot. Please do this after every change or at the end of each session otherwise these changes will be lost after the switch reboot. To understand the web interface of the switch better you can go through the software document that you can find on Hirschmann Documentation

Setting up ctrlX COREs

Once the Hirschman Switch is ready, you can setup the ctrlX COREs. A separate guide explains how you can configure ctrlX CORE with VLANs and priorities. In short, you will need to set up VLAN and priorities in the following way:

The complete guide about the above configuration of ctrlx CORE will be published soon.

VLAN Setup

The pictures from ctrlX COREs show that ports XF10 in both devices are linked to BRS and are in the VLAN 42. Therefore, please navigate to the VLAN section as shown below to create the VLAN with a similar VLAN ID of the ctrlX CORE which in this case is 42.

Creating the same VLAN ID as ctrlX COREs is important as BRS cannot identify the ctrlX COREs unless it is in the same VLAN. The below picture clearly shows that ctrlX COREs are identified only after VLAN 42 is created in the switch. Now, ctrlX CORE 1 is identified by the switch at port 1/1 and ctrlX CORE 2 at switch port 1/2.

Belden Schaubild .png — VLAN configuration

To receive tagged packets at the switch, you need to activate the VLAN tagging on ports 1/1 and 1/2 of the BRS switch. Once tagging is enabled on the respective ports, every packet received on these ports will be processed according to the information stored in that VLAN tag including priorities.

BRS forwards data packets with a VLAN tag according to the contained QoS/priority information with a higher or lower priority. The below picture shows which VLAN priority receives which traffic class and how these traffic classes are processed. BRS offers strict priority as well as weighted fair queuing for the processing of different traffic classes. Moreover, you can also define the minimum or maximum bandwidth that should be used for each traffic class.

In this way, you can integrate the ctrlX CORE with the BRS and make sure that the BRS processes the packets received from the ctrlX CORE according to the priorities defined in them.

OPC UA Server

Please activate the OPC UA server option on the BRS and create an OPC UA user who will have access to the device using an OPC UA client application. The OPC UA user account has read-only access to the device. The OPC UA user can view the OPC UA information model data of the BRS.

Once the OPC UA server is activated on the BRS, the OPC UA client can be activated on the attached ctrlX CORE device. In ctrlX CORE, you need to add user details that were added in the BRS. Once the log-in details are verified, BRS will be shown connected as an OPC UA server on the screen as shown below.

Once the BRS is added as the OPC UA server to a ctrlX CORE, you can start processing the desired information. During the demo, this OPC UA server-client relationship was successfully established as shown below:

Successfull OPC UA server-client relationship

In this way, the BRS switch can also work as an OPC UA server and provides a bridge for the data transfer between the field-level devices like sensors and actuators to the OPC UA client.

How to contact Belden

If you have any questions about the above configuration of BRS or want our support with general queries, please feel free to contact us using our ticket system Hirschmann Support

The Company

Belden is Helping organizations modernize & innovate mission-critical infrastructures for whatever comes next.

Belden offers a broad portfolio of Layer 2 and Layer 3 ruggedized Managed Ethernet Switches that are engineered for reliable performance in harsh industrial environments. The configurable product portfolio provides management functions and guarantees the high availability of complex automation solutions and the option of network monitoring.

With bandwidth and connected devices on the rise, manufacturers must maximize performance and security – while taking up less space. The Hirschmann BOBCAT Managed Switch, including high port count variants, offers more flexibility and interoperability to simplify maintenance and future-proof network operations. Its advanced security features, ruggedized design and real-time communication using TSN make the BOBCAT Switch a compact, yet powerful, networking solution for next-gen IIoT networks.

For more details, please visit our website Belden.com