ioBroker.rockwell_ethernetip

Tests:

rockwell_ethernetip adapter for ioBroker

ioBroker adapter for Rockwell CompactLogix/ControlLogix PLCs via Ethernet/IP

⚠️ Disclaimer

THIS SOFTWARE COMMUNICATES WITH — AND CAN WRITE TO — INDUSTRIAL CONTROL EQUIPMENT. IT IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. THE AUTHOR ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY WHATSOEVER FOR ANY DAMAGE TO EQUIPMENT, LOSS OF PRODUCTION, DATA LOSS, FINANCIAL LOSS, INJURY OR DEATH ARISING FROM ITS USE OR MISUSE. IT IS NOT DESIGNED, TESTED OR CERTIFIED FOR SAFETY-CRITICAL OR LIFE-SUPPORT APPLICATIONS AND MUST NEVER BE USED AS PART OF A SAFETY FUNCTION. YOU USE THIS SOFTWARE ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Writing tag values changes the state of a running machine. Always validate the complete configuration against a non-production controller (e.g. FactoryTalk Logix Echo) before connecting to a live plant, and make sure only authorized personnel can access the ioBroker host.

Features

• All PLC communication runs in a high-performance native protocol engine — no JS protocol stack
• Driver modes: standard, plantpax_v4 (bulk AOI reads), plantpax_v5 (member-by-member reads, ExternalAccess-filtered writes)
• Tiered polling (fast/normal/slow per tag) with batched change events
• PlantPAx v5 tag-based alarms (@Alarms tree) from the project file, live state over standard CIP reads — no FactoryTalk dependency
• L5K/L5X project parsing for tag browse, alarm definitions and UDT layouts
• On-demand reads, tag leases and stats over sendTo

Requirements

• A license key for the host machine. The engine does not poll without a valid license — see Licensing.
• One of the supported platforms below.

Installation & platform binaries

The PLC engine is a native binary. It is not bundled into the adapter package — each platform's engine is published as its own npm package that declares its os and cpu, so npm downloads only the one matching the installing machine (≈7.5 MB instead of all five):

| Platform | RID | Package | | -------------------------------------- | ------------- | ------------------------------------------- | | Windows x64 | win-x64 | iobroker.rockwell_ethernetip-win32-x64 | | Linux x64 | linux-x64 | iobroker.rockwell_ethernetip-linux-x64 | | Linux arm64 (Raspberry Pi 4/5, 64-bit) | linux-arm64 | iobroker.rockwell_ethernetip-linux-arm64 | | macOS Apple Silicon | osx-arm64 | iobroker.rockwell_ethernetip-darwin-arm64 | | macOS Intel | osx-x64 | iobroker.rockwell_ethernetip-darwin-x64 |

They are listed as optionalDependencies, so an install on an unlisted platform still succeeds — the adapter then starts, logs which paths it searched, and stays idle instead of crashing.

The adapter loads the platform package automatically; when it is missing it logs which locations it searched and stays idle instead of crashing.

Licensing

A license is issued for the machine that runs the adapter, identified by its Hardware ID. Open the adapter settings → Connection tab → Check License to see this machine's Hardware ID, then send it to gokturk413 to obtain a key.

Paste the key into the License Key field and press Check License again — it reports whether the key is valid for this machine. The engine does not poll the PLC until it is.

Configuration

| Field | Default | Meaning | | --------------------- | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | plcHost | — | PLC/gateway IP | | plcSlot | 0 | CPU slot (connection path 1,<slot>) | | mode | standard | standard | plantpax_v4 | plantpax_v5 | | licenseKey | — | license key for this machine | | projectFile | — | absolute path of the uploaded L5K/L5X (set by the admin upload) | | projectFormat | — | l5k | l5x | live — browse source (file upload or live controller) | | pollTiers | 250/1000/5000 | fast/normal/slow poll periods, ms | | cipPayload | 0 (auto) | CIP payload size: 0 auto, 508, 4002 | | parallelConnections | 1 | parallel CIP sessions (2–4 multiply read throughput on L8x) | | pushMode | false | change-driven push over TCP (needs the generated PLC program) | | pushPort | 44819 | TCP port the engine listens on for the push agent | | connectionTimeout | 5000 | PLC request timeout, ms | | tags[] | [] | {name, address?, type, tier?, write, unit} |

name is the ioBroker state path, address the PLC tag path (when absent, name is used for both). Only tags with write: true may be written back to the PLC.

*Note on source-protected AOIs (PlantPAx P* blocks):_* the L5K export stores these as encoded blobs without member structure, so their tags appear without children. Upload the L5X export instead — it carries the full member tree and values for every tag, including source-protected AOIs.

PLC push mode (Phase G)

Polling has a ceiling: per-read cost grows with the number of monitored tags, so a 12k-tag project sweeps in seconds, not milliseconds. Push mode moves change detection into the controller — the PLC streams only changed values over a TCP socket, so pushed tags update in well under a second with near-zero traffic on a quiet process.

Flow:

1. Browse and add your tags as usual (they get initial values by polling).
2. Export PLC push program (L5X) on the Connection tab. The adapter generates a partial-import L5X (shadow buffers + IOB_PushAgent AOI + a generated IOB_PushMap routine that copies each selected tag into its slot).
3. Import it in Studio 5000, wire JSR IOB_PushMap + the IOB_PushAgent call into a ~100 ms periodic task, point IOB_Push_Cfg at the ioBroker host/pushPort, download.
4. Enable PLC push mode and restart the adapter. Pushed tags leave polling; the engine falls back to polling automatically if the socket goes silent (>10 s) and resumes push on reconnect.

Supported by every PlantPAx-5-capable controller (5580/5380/5480, EP/ERMP process variants) via the embedded Socket Object. v1 pushes BOOL/SINT/INT/DINT/REAL/LINT; STRING and @Alarms/@AlarmSet leaves stay on CIP polling. Writes (ioBroker→PLC) always use the CIP path.

sendTo API

browseTags (model-based, needs projectFile), browseController (live symbol list + controller templates over EtherNet/IP; alarm conditions and extended properties come from the configured project file when present, otherwise the standard PlantPAx v5 conditions are live-probed per template), parseProject {content, format}, parseProjectPath {path, format?} (parses a saved file from disk — preferred for large exports), generatePushProgram {hostIp} (returns the partial-import L5X for the current push selection), parseL5K {fileContent} (legacy), testConnection, reloadTags {tags}, readValues {paths}, leaseTags {paths, ttlMs}, getAlarms {tag?}, getStats, getLicenseInfo {licenseKey?}, saveProjectFile {name, content}.

Native engine

The PLC protocol engine is developed in a separate private repository. Its per-platform binaries are published to npm as the platform packages listed above and are pulled in automatically on install — nothing to build for adapter users or contributors.

Development

| Command | Description | | -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | npm run build | build the admin React UI | | npm test | adapter unit + package tests | | npm run test:integration | boot the adapter against a temporary ioBroker | | npm run check | TypeScript type check |

Changelog

0.0.12 (2026-07-16)

• (gokturk413) Push auto-recovery after controller outages and Studio downloads
• (gokturk413) Instructions tab fixes (own scrollbar, dark-theme chips), original adapter logo
• (gokturk413) Admin translations for 10 languages; license changed to CC BY-NC 4.0

0.0.11 (2026-07-16)

• (gokturk413) License editions with a keyless free tier: Free = all features, up to 1000 tags, instance 0 only; Standard = instances 0..1 with 3000 tags each; Professional = instances 0..2 with 10000 tags each; Unlimited
• (gokturk413) New Instructions tab with step-by-step setup and downloadable source-protected Add-On Instructions

0.0.10 (2026-07-16)

• (gokturk413) Group-based PLC push v2: change flags polled over plain CIP (works on FactoryTalk Logix Echo and physical controllers)
• (gokturk413) Engine-managed watch lists that survive Studio downloads, batched shadow reads and change events
• (gokturk413) Hidden AOI internals excluded automatically, scan class "none", group-level scan-class dropdown, fast recursive tag deletion

0.0.9 (2026-07-12)

• (gokturk413) Security: the push Add-On Instruction logic no longer ships in any artifact

0.0.8 (2026-07-12)

• (gokturk413) PLC push mode over a TCP socket (physical controllers); parallel CIP connections

0.0.7 (2026-07-12)

• (gokturk413) Live @Alarms/@AlarmSet, EP properties as file-served states, parallel CIP connections, importTags bulk config

0.0.6 (2026-07-10)

• (gokturk413) Live controller browse, batch polling via Multiple Service Packets

0.0.5 (2026-07-10)

• (gokturk413) Extended-property nodes, 48-attribute @Alarms tree, commercial license

0.0.3 (2026-07-10)

• (gokturk413) Project-file browse for source-protected PlantPAx v5 AOIs (decorated L5X data)

0.0.2 (2026-07-09)

• (gokturk413) initial release

License

Copyright (c) 2026 gokturk413 [email protected]

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) — see LICENSE.

• Non-commercial use is free of charge (the adapter additionally ships a built-in free tier: all features, up to 1000 tags, adapter instance 0).
• Commercial use requires a per-machine license key — see Licensing; contact gokturk413.

The native protocol engine is distributed as prebuilt binaries via the npm platform packages and enforces the license key at runtime.