The N-tron 708TX Ethernet switch is a managed Ethernet switch which means it's able to be custom configured for various network management and monitoring. When Yasakwa purchases the unit, a custom configuration is loaded into it. This custom configuration includes things like a Yaskawa user account and password, some broadcast limits, and ring configuration settings. Details of some of these will be detailed below along with some debugging tools helpful for troubleshooting the network and software development. The main homepage containing all the details and accessory software for the device is: N-Tron 708TX Homepage
708TX Highlights:
- 8 Port Managed Industrial Ethernet Switch
- Eight 10/100BaseTX RJ-45 Ports
- -40°C to 85°C Operating Temperature
- ESD and Surge Protection on all Built-in Ports
- Auto Sensing 10/100BaseTX, Duplex, and MDIX
- Fully Managed Features:
- SNMP v1, v2, v3 and Web Browser Management
- EtherNet/IP™ CIP Messaging
- Web configuration
- IGMP Auto Configuration
- 802.1Q tag VLAN and Port VLAN
- 802.1p QoS and Port QoS
- Port Trunking
- Port Mirroring
- 802.1d, 802.1w, 802.1D RSTP
- DHCP Server with Option 82 Relay, Option 61, and IP Fallback
- Local Port IP Addressing
- 802.1AB-2005 LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol)
-
Port Security - MAC Address Based Filtering
Web Access to 708TX:
The default IP-address of the switch as provided by Yaskawa is:
- 192.168.1.100
Access to the webpage is possible by entering the IP-addess above into modern browser (assuming the PC/laptop is on a similar 192.168.1.*** IP-address). The resulting webpage should appear in the browser:
The following username and password will provide access to the configuration screens:
- UserName = "YAI-Admin"
-
Password = "55559999"
Enabling Port Mirroring:
Software and controls engineers often find it useful to see the network traffic shared between various devices for debugging purposes. WireShark is the industry standard basic tool for snooping on the network transmissions. Since monitoring is often done on a PC or laptop independent of the source and/or destination for the network traffic, the 708TX can be setup so copy certain port traffic from various parts to a monitoring port for your laptop or PC to capture within WireShark. This is called "mirroring"
The following shows the standard cabling of the TED unit's 708TX Ethernet switch and the devices connected to each port:
The port mirroring configuration screen can be found under "Ports" - "Morroring" as shown below.
Example#1:
As an example if we want to monitor the network traffic between the programming pendant (Port#1) and the robot's LAN#1 (Port#2) we would want to configure "Port Mirroring" as follows so it outputs the mirrored data onto port#8 which is labeled "PP3E75J140" on the front of the enclosure:
Example#2:
As a second example, if we wanted to simply "mirror" all traffic to Port#8 for mirror we would want to configure as follows so network data is passed to port#8 which is labeled "PP3E75J140" on the front of the enclosure:
Saving Changes Made to Switch Configuration:
Any changes to the 708TX switch will be lost unless they are intentionally saved prior to cycling power. This is shown in the "NOTE....: seen at the bottom of the screen capture shown above. Saving changes to the switch can be achieved by going to the "Config" link on the left-side of the screen and pressing "Save" as shown below.
Once saved, the following confirmation screen should appear: