What kind of industrial Ethernet switch is best for your plant's current application? This is really an nuisance because of the many factors that need to be considered, such as the work environment, redundancy, network management and non-network management, future maintenance and scalability. So here are some suggestions on how to choose an industrial Ethernet switch.
Industrial Ethernet switches are used to connect Ethernet devices. It first receives the data frames sent by a device and then transfers those frames to the appropriate switch ports that are connected to other Ethernet devices. As it transmits these frames, it learns and grasps the location of the Ethernet device and uses this information to determine which ports to use to transmit frames. This helps reduce network usage.
According to a survey by ARC, the Industrial Ethernet Equipment Market Survey covers the global industrial Ethernet switch market and predicts a compound annual growth rate of 49.9% over the next three years. In 2004, the number of industrial Ethernet equipment was 840,000 sets (sets), and by 2009 it will reach 6.7 million sets (sets).
Pre-sale considerations The factors to consider before purchasing are:
â– Work environment considerations: temperature range, EMC electromagnetic compatibility, protection level, installation method and power supply. Industrial Ethernet switches are designed for environments that are not suitable for commercial switches, such as environments with extreme temperatures, high vibration, and strong electromagnetic noise.
â– Choose a network management type or a non-network management type switch: If the network is relatively simple, you can use a plug-and-play non-network management type switch; if it is convenient for future maintenance, you may need to select the network management type. Only the network management type switch can achieve the ring topology. connection.
â– It is also necessary to meet relevant industry standards: for example, marine switches should meet the ship's structural standards; if it is used in hazardous applications, it must comply with the corresponding certification standards; rail transportation and highways also have their own standards.
Network management and non-network management One of the key issues when selecting an industrial Ethernet switch is whether to choose a managed switch or an unmanaged switch. Although managed switches are usually more expensive, they offer some extra power. Managed switches contain the characteristics of unmanaged switches.
Managed switches generally support Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Of course, most managed switches do not only have this (SNMP) feature. Basically, managed switches allow you to control the network, while non-managed switches typically only allow Ethernet devices to communicate. Managed switches also allow you to monitor your network. With SNMP, you can view various network statuses, including the number of bytes received/transmitted, the number of frames received/transmitted, the number of errors, and the port status. All of this can be viewed port by port. "The ability of the switch to apply high priority to specific data frames.
â– VLANs allow switches to logically group devices, and even if all devices share a single physical switch, they can isolate traffic between these device groups.
â– Port mirroring allows one port of the switch to monitor traffic sent or received by one or more ports of the switch. This feature facilitates real-time monitoring of communication data and is a common fault finding method for Ethernet.
â– IGMP Snooping automatically sends multicast frames only to those devices that request these frames. This prevents multicast frames from being sent to devices that do not request them.
â– SNMP is a simple network management protocol that allows network management applications to communicate with switches in a standard manner, request status information, and set configuration. Some vendors also offer a network management program that converts SNMP data into OPC data used in the hmi system.
â– Ring redundancy is a common feature of managed Ethernet switches.