• Integrated redundancy manager for constructing Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet ring topologies with high-speed media redundancy. Reliable communication is achieved by closing an optical or electrical line in combination with SCALANCE X-400, X-300 or X-200 switches to form a ring. The redundancy manager (RM) integrated in the SCALANCE XR-300WG switch monitors the network functioning. It recognizes the failure of a transmission link or of a SCALANCE X switch in the ring and activates a substitute path within a maximum of 200 milliseconds.
• Redundant connection to corporate networks;
  SCALANCE XR-300 switches support the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) standardized redundancy procedures. This enables a subnetwork to be connected redundantly to a higher level corporate network with reduced requirements for the reconfiguration time (in the order of seconds).
• Support of virtual networks (VLAN);
  for structuring Industrial Ethernet networks with a fast-growing number of nodes, a physically existing network can be divided into several virtual subnetworks.
• Load limiting when multicast protocols (e.g. video transmission) are used;
  through learning the multicast sources and targets (IGMP Snooping), SCALANCE XR-300WG switches can also filter multicast data traffic and therefore limit the load in the network. Multicast and broadcast traffic can be limited.
• Time synchronization;
  diagnostic messages (log table entries, emails) are time-stamped. The local time is standardized throughout the network by means of synchronization with a SICLOCK time transmitter, SNTP or NTP server, thereby simplifying the assignment of diagnostic messages from multiple several devices.
• Quality of Service (IEEE 802.1p) for prioritization of network traffic

Network topology and network configuration

The network topology can easily be adapted to the structure of the plant using SCALANCE XR-300WG Industrial Ethernet switches.

The following network topologies and combinations of topologies can be implemented:

• Fast Ethernet with fast media redundancy;
  To increase network availability, as many as 50 linear cascaded XC-200, X-300/XR-300, XM-400 or XR-500 switches be configured into a ring.
• Several rings can be redundantly coupled through the standby function (HRP)
• In addition, SCALANCE XR-300WG supports redundant connection of the ring topology to the corporate network with the rapid spanning tree protocol.
• Star structure with SCALANCE XR-300WG switches:
  Each SCALANCE XR-300WG switch represents a star point which can interconnect up to 28 nodes or subnets electrically or optically.

When configuring the network, the following boundary conditions must be observed:

• Maximum cable length between two switches for multimode fiber-optic cables:
  • 750 m at 1 Gbps
• Maximum cable length between two switches for single-mode fiber-optic cables:
  • 10 to 120 km at 1 Gbps
• Maximum cable length of the TP cable between two switches:
  • Max. 100 m with IE FC cable 2x2 and IE FC RJ45 plug 180 2x2
  • Max. 100 m at 1 Gbps with IE FC standard cable 4x2 (AWG 24) and IE FC RJ45 plug 4x2
  • Max. 10 m using patches with TP cord or 50 m without patches

Commissioning and diagnostics

Setting options:

• Redundancy manager RM;
  to establish a ring, a SCALANCE XR-300 is switched to RM mode. The Gigabit ports (electrical or optical) are preferably used as ring ports. The non-ring ports of the RM can be used freely for the connection of terminal devices and networks. If the redundancy procedure MRP standardized by PROFINET is used, the RM is adjusted automatically.
• IP address; the IP address is assigned via DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). If there is no corresponding server in the network, the IP address can be assigned using the software tool provided.

Diagnostic options on site:

• The following status information is displayed by LEDs on site:
  • Port status at port (link, data traffic)
  • Status of the two power supplies
  • RM mode
• Monitoring via the Industrial Ethernet network;
  the following options are available:
  • Remote via standard browser (web-based management):
    Selection of SCALANCE XR-300WG switches via the network from a PC with browser
  • Remote via SNMP V1, V2c, V3:
    Reliable integration of SCALANCE XR-300WG switches via the network into a network management system, e.g. SINEMA Server
  • Remote via PROFINET diagnostics;
    PROFINET diagnostic interrupts of SCALANCE XR-300WG switches can be displayed with the appropriate SIMATIC engineering tools and processed in the control unit. The engineering outlay for the PLC and HMI have been drastically reduced due to the complete integration in the SIMATIC concept for system error messages.

Network management

The network management provides the following functions:

• Password-protected dial-up for "Administrator" (read and write authorization) and "User" (read only)
• Read-out of version and status information
• Setting the standby mask and address information
• Fixed parameterization of the ports (data rates, half/full duplex)
• Setting of Spanning/Rapid Spanning Tree parameters
• Parameter assignment for web management services
• Security
  • Ports can be connected or disconnected
  • Port-based network access control according to IEEE 802.1x
  • Support of Access Control List (ACL) (available soon)
• Output of statistics information
• Diagnosis of data traffic by means of a parameterizable mirror port with a standard commercial network analyzer
• Loading of new firmware versions or configuration data via the network by a TFTP server or directly via HTTP/HTTPS using a web browser
• Saving of configuration data or log table via the network on a TFTP server

If faults occur in the network, the SCALANCE XR-300WG switch can independently send error messages (traps) to a network management system or emails to a predefined network administrator.

Remote monitoring (RMON) provides the following functions:
The SCALANCE XR-300WG switch can collect statistical information according to the RMON groups 1 through 4. These include, for example, fault statistics that are kept for each port. This information can be read out through web-based management in the statistics sub-area.