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Working with Controller Networks

With the following functionalities, CODESYS supports communication between controllers (PLC) and the insertion of a safety controller below a PLC:

  • Symbol Configuration: CODESYS creates symbols with specific access rights for the variables in an application. With these symbols, you can access the variables from outside, for example from an OPC server.

  • Data Source Manager: Manages the connection settings and the data transmission to remote devices (data sources)

    The transmitted data is mapped in data source variables that are accessed in the visualization or local application. An example of this is a control panel that controls remote devices and displays the state of the device as an HMI application.

  • Network Variables: Network variables are variables whose values are accessible to different controllers in the network. The variables have to be defined in rigid, identical lists in both the transmitter device and the receiver device. These lists are assigned to applications, but can be located in different projects.

  • A safety controller can be inserted below a PLC in the device tree. The communication links of the safety controller to the field devices, controller networks, and development system are routed through this controller. For more information, see: Subordinate Safety Controller

Tip

The DataServer object is obsolete.

The data link with CODESYS DataServer has already been superseded by a data link with data sources in SP10 and higher. The functionality has now been completely removed in CODESYS 3.5 SP17 and higher.

In case you want to adapt an existing project with a DataServer object, you can do the following: Open the existing project with CODESYS V3.5 SP16, select the data server object, and click Convert Data Server to Data Source Manager in the context menu. After the conversion of the data link to a data source connection, you can open the project with a current CODESYS version.

For more information, see: Address Structures and Addressing and Routing