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Software Redundancy

1 Software Redundancy
Within WinCC, the software redundancy feature makes it possible to monitor
critical sections of a plant by using a redundant connection to several PLCs.
WinCC (Tag Management)
Tag 1
Tag
2
.

Redundant
Tags

Tag n

T1
Non-redundant
Connection to PLC 1

T2

T3

Redundant
Connection

Logical
Connections
Non-redundant
Connection to PLC 2

PLC 1

PLC 2
Redundant
PLC Section

Software redundancy considerably improves reliability when critical plant

sections are to be monitored. For example, a redundant connection to two
PLCs means that one PLC takes over if the other PLC fails. Using software
redundancy does not mean that you can only establish redundant connections
to the PLCs configured. It is still possible to connect any PLC in a nonredundant layout. The switchover between redundant PLCs is performed
automatically in the event of a malfunction. However, a manual switchover is
also possible by specifying a tag (@ForceConnectionState).
Note
Establishing a redundant connection requires two PLCs.

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Setting up software redundancy:

In order to use software redundancy under WinCC, the following settings are
required in the Control Center:
Step 1
The computer properties must be set to the following values:

Step 2
Within the Alarm Logging system, the "short-term archive" must be
activated:

If the "short-term archive" has not yet been activated, proceed as follows:
In the navigation window, open the pop-up menu of the "Archives" object
and select the "Add/Remove" menu item. Within the "Assign Storage
Parameters" dialog box, activate the "Short-Term Archive Active" check
box.

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Step 3
Within the Alarm Logging, the system messages must be retrieved; select
the "Options" and "WinCC System Messages" menu items for this
purpose. In the "WinCC system messages" dialog box, activate the "Create
New System Messages Only" option and press the "Create" button. This
procedure retrieves the system messages associated with software
redundancy.

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Step 4
By means of the "DynWizEdit.exe" program, integrate the Dynamic
Wizard for software redundancy into the WinCC system (Graphics
Designer). This integration procedure requires the following steps: In the
Windows Explorer, start the "C:\Siemens\WinCC\bin\DynWizEdit.exe"
program. Select the "German" language in the toolbar. Retrieve the
"C:\Siemens\WinCC\wscripts\wscripts.deu\SW_Redundanz.wnf" script by
selecting the "Dynamic Wizard" and "Retrieve Wizard Script" menu
items. The compilation progress is shown in the output window. After the
compilation has been completed successfully, the new entry "Establish
Redundant Connection" appears in the "Dynamic Wizard" window.

Step 5
Integrate the "SIMATIC S7 PROTOCOL SUITE" communications driver
within the tag management.
Step 6
Within the required bus type (e.g. MPI), create a logical connection in the
"SIMATIC S7 PROTOCOL SUITE" communications driver. Give an
expressive name to this connection.
Step 7
Open an existing picture in the Graphics Designer. Within the DynamicWizard (in the "System Functions" tab), start the "Establish Redundant
Connection" program by double-clicking.

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Step 8
Press the "More" button in the welcome screen.

Step 9
Select the main connection in the "Set Options" dialog box. Then press the
"More" button.

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Step 10
Edit the settings for the back-up connection in the "Set Options" dialog
box. Then press the "More" button. The "Automatic Switchover" check
box must be active (default setting).

The settings for the back-up connection (S7 network address) can be found
in the "Connection" tab. Access this tab via the connection properties
dialog box for the connection.

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Step 11
The settings you specified are displayed in the final "Finished" dialog box.
By pressing the "Finish" button, connection-specific internal tags are
created in a tag group. This tag group is stored within the tag management
under "SIMATIC S7 PROTOCOL SUITE" and the associated channel
unit.

Note
By pressing the "Back"u button, you can go back one step and make any
necessary changes.

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1.1 Connection-specific Internal Tags

Connection control is accomplished by means of connection-specific internal
tags. The connection-specific internal tags are created by a wizard. The name
of a connection-specific internal tag is composed of the name of the associated
connection and an identifier. The connection name is provided with a '@'
prefix to identify it as a system tag. Example: "@connection
name@identifier". All connection-specific internal tags are assembled to form
a "@connection name" tag group.
Note
Only if the associated connection is ready for operation does the WinCC data
manager permit access to connection-specific tags. However, it is possible to
have read and write access to connection-specific internal tags independently
of the connection status.

The following system tags are available for SIMATIC S7PROTOCOL SUITE
software redundancy:
@ConnectionState
Meaning:
Type:
Access:
Default:

connection status
DWORD
read
0 = "faulty"

The current connection status can be determined by means of the

'ConnectionState' tag.
0 = connection faulty
1 = connection ready for operation
@ConnectionError
Meaning:
Type:
Access:
Default:

error cause
DWORD
read
0 = "no error"

The tag contains an error cause describing the reason why the
connection was interrupted. Default = 0, i.e. connection not yet
established or without error. When establishing a connection, the tag is
loaded with 0 (no error) again. The error code is interpreted in a
channel-specific manner. The S7 channel stores the S7 DOS error code
here.
0 = no error
<> 0 = S7 DOS error code

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@ConnectionErrorString
Meaning:
Type:
Access:
Default:

error cause as string

TEXT8 [128]
read
"" = "no error"

The tag contains the error cause in the format of a string describing the
reason why the connection was interrupted. The string is put out in the
language currently selected. Default = "", i.e. connection not yet
established or without error. The following texts are entered in the S7
channel in English, without regard to the selected language.
"No Error"
"Error hhhh"
@ConnectionErrorCount
Meaning:
Type:
Access:
Default:

= No error
= hhhh error occurred
(hhhh = S7 DOS hexadecimal error code)

communication error counter

DWORD
read
0 = "no error"

The value of this tag is incremented by 1 each time a connection is

interrupted.
In the event of an overflow the count starts again with 0.
@ConnectionEstablishMode
Meaning: connect mode
Type:
DWORD
Access:
write
Default: 1 = "automatic"
This tag enables you to specify a connection to be established
automatically. The S7 channel then attempts to reestablish a failed
connection at intervals of approx. 4 seconds. If a value = 0 is entered
in this tag, the connection will not be reestablished automatically at
intervals of 4 seconds, but remains interrupted.
Writing the @ConnectionEstablishMode tag takes the following effect:
0 = manual connecting mode
-> deactivate automatic connecting
<> 0 = automatic connect mode
-> activate automatic connecting

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@ForceConnectionState
Meaning: preferred connection status
Type:
DOWRD
Access:
write
Default: 1 = "established"
This tag can be used to notify the channel of the preferred connection
status. Usually this tag has the value 1, i.e. the channel attempts to
establish the connection (at regular intervals of approx. 4 seconds, if
applicable). If the value 0 is written to this tag, the channel interrupts
the connection.
Writing to this tag takes the following effect:
0 = preferred connection status: connection interrupted
-> if connection established
-> cause connection to be interrupted
1 = preferred connection status: connection established
-> if connection interrupted
-> cause connection to be established
@ForceConnectionAdress
Meaning: selecting the connection address
Type:
DWORD
Access:
write
Default: 0 = "configured"
This tag specifies which of the connection addresses is to be used for
establishing the connection.
Writing to this tag takes the following effect:
0 = connection via configured connection parameters
-> if @ForceConnectionAddress previously 1
-> cause connection to be interrupted
1 = connection via alternative connection parameters
-> if @ForceConnectionAddress previously 0
-> cause connection to be interrupted
-> If connect mode is set to "automatic", the connection is
automatically established with the corresponding address.

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@AlternateConnectionAdress
Meaning:
Alternative connection address
Type:
TEXT8 [255]
Access:
write
Default:
"..." = "configured"
The alternative connection address string can be entered in this tag.
This is the same string as the one which is displayed as connection
parameter in the WinCC Control Center. The string is channelspecific. On system start-up (runtime), the configured address is
entered here as default for the S7 channel. If an address has not been
configured yet, the text "Illegal Address" is entered for the S7 channel.
Example of an address specified for an S7 PLC with station address 3
via MPI: MPI,3 0,,0,0,02
Writing to this tag takes the following effect:
-> If the address is changed by the write process, the "Connection via
alternative connection parameters" setting causes the connection to be
interrupted.
-> If the "automatic" connect mode has been set, the connection is
established automatically, using the address just previously written.

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2 Master-Reserve Change-over on the S7

When the Dynamics Wizard has finished setting up the redundant-backup link, you can
extend the script by adding the Master-Reserve Change-over option.
To do so, you open the script under Global Script -> Actions -> Global Actions. If your
selected connection is called CPU_3 as in the illustrations above, open @CPU_3.pas.
Control Center- (Projekt.MCP)
Projekt
Variablenhaushalt
Editoren
Global Script
Aktionen
Globale Aktionen

CPU_3.pas
CPU_4.pas
CPU_5.pas

Having opened it, you then insert the sequence printed in bold type and highlighted in
gray. Here too it is assumed that your connection is called CPU_3. If you have used a
different name, replace each occurrence of CPU_3 with the name you have used. The bit
variable SWR.Standby is the bit Reserve from the status word (DW 9.1) from the
instance DB of the call for FB101 SWR_ZYK. If you have used a different name for
this, replace the name accordingly.
...........
{
MSRTStopMsgService ( ServiceID, &Error );
}
If ( GetTagDWordWait( "@CPU_3@ConnectionState" ) == 0 )
{
SetTagDWord( "@CPU_3@ForceConnectionState", 1 );
}
else
{
if ( GetTagBitWait( "SWR.Standby" ) == TRUE )
{
SetTagDWord( "@CPU_3@ForceConnectionState", 0 );
}
}
return 1;
}
}

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Note: you can add the Standby bit to the structure for the redundant software backup
screen block (see section 7.2.2 in the user documentation for the redundant-backup
software blocks) as follows:
Name
WORD Status
BIT MasterSwitch
BIT RedTurnOn
BIT RedTurnOff
BIT Standby

Data type
WORD
BIT
BIT
BIT
BIT

Offset
0
2
2
2
0

Bit
0
0
9
8
9

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