Tips & practical notes

Tips and practical notes for operating the FINS connector.

This page collects tips and practical notes for operating the FINS connector with Omron controllers via the FINS protocol.

Find a controller with an unknown address

Situation

Sometimes neither the IP address nor the FINS node of a controller is documented. Without these values, you cannot create a data source.

Approach

FINS over Ethernet accepts connections on TCP port 9600. Instead of guessing addresses, scan the machine network from a computer with access to that network using a port scanner, looking specifically for devices with port 9600 open:

• Scan the relevant subnet with a port scanner. Suitable tools include Nmap (e.g. nmap -p 9600 --open 192.168.0.0/24), masscan for large address ranges, or Angry IP Scanner with a graphical interface.

• Each hit is a candidate for a FINS-capable controller. From the discovered IP address you can then derive the FINS address.

Narrow the scan range as much as possible beforehand and scan the known subnet specifically (e.g. a /24 range). Blindly scanning the entire address space is possible but takes a very long time.

Derive the address

Once the IP address is known, derive the FINS address as follows:

• Node: often the last octet of the IP address (e.g. IP 192.168.0.220 → node 220).

• Network: usually 0.

• Unit: 0 for the CPU.

For a full example, see Local and remote address.

No connection despite a correct IP

If the controller does not respond even though the IP address is reachable, check the following:

• Network address: in most setups 0 is correct. In rare cases, for example when additional modules are occupied on the rack, 1 is required. Try both values.

• Unique local address: the FINS address of the Edge Device must be unique on the network and must not collide with the node of the controller or other devices.

• IP-to-node table: for controllers with a fixed IP-to-node mapping, the Edge Device node must be entered in the controller configuration for communication to succeed.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at [e-mail].