working with the tia portal cloud connector...the tia portal cloud connector enables central...

Working with the TIA Portal Cloud Connector

TIA Portal V14 SP1

https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/ww/en/view/109747305

Siemens Industry Online Support

https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/ww/de/view/109747305

Warranty and Liability

Working with the TIA Portal Cloud Connector Entry ID: 109747305, V1.0, 05/2017 2

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Warranty and Liability

Note The Application Examples are not binding and do not claim to be complete regarding the circuits shown, equipping and any eventuality. The Application Examples do not represent customer-specific solutions. They are only intended to provide support for typical applications. You are responsible for ensuring that the described products are used correctly. These Application Examples do not relieve you of the responsibility to use safe practices in application, installation, operation and maintenance. When using these Application Examples, you recognize that we cannot be made liable for any damage/claims beyond the liability clause described. We reserve the right to make changes to these Application Examples at any time without prior notice. If there are any deviations between the recommendations provided in these Application Examples and other Siemens publications – e.g. Catalogs – the contents of the other documents have priority.

We do not accept any liability for the information contained in this document. Any claims against us – based on whatever legal reason – resulting from the use of the examples, information, programs, engineering and performance data etc., described in this Application Example shall be excluded. Such an exclusion shall not apply in the case of mandatory liability, e.g. under the German Product Liability Act (“Produkthaftungsgesetz”), in case of intent, gross negligence, or injury of life, body or health, guarantee for the quality of a product, fraudulent concealment of a deficiency or breach of a condition which goes to the root of the contract (“wesentliche Vertragspflichten”). The damages for a breach of a substantial contractual obligation are, however, limited to the foreseeable damage, typical for the type of contract, except in the event of intent or gross negligence or injury to life, body or health. The above provisions do not imply a change of the burden of proof to your detriment. Any form of duplication or distribution of these Application Examples or excerpts hereof is prohibited without the expressed consent of the Siemens AG.

Security informa-tion

Siemens provides products and solutions with industrial security functions that support the secure operation of plants, systems, machines and networks. In order to protect plants, systems, machines and networks against cyber threats, it is necessary to implement – and continuously maintain – a holistic, state-of-the-art industrial security concept. Siemens’ products and solutions only form one element of such a concept. Customer is responsible to prevent unauthorized access to its plants, systems, machines and networks. Systems, machines and components should only be connected to the enterprise network or the internet if and to the extent necessary and with appropriate security measures (e.g. use of firewalls and network segmentation) in place. Additionally, Siemens’ guidance on appropriate security measures should be taken into account. For more information about industrial security, please visit http://www.siemens.com/industrialsecurity.

Siemens’ products and solutions undergo continuous development to make them more secure. Siemens strongly recommends to apply product updates as soon as available and to always use the latest product versions. Use of product versions that are no longer supported, and failure to apply latest updates may increase customer’s exposure to cyber threats. To stay informed about product updates, subscribe to the Siemens Industrial Security RSS Feed under http://www.siemens.com/industrialsecurity.

http://www.siemens.com/industrialsecurity



Table of Contents


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Table of Contents Warranty and Liability .............................................................................................. 2

1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 4

1.1 Overview ........................................................................................... 4 1.2 Components used ............................................................................. 5

2 Engineering .................................................................................................... 6

2.1 Hardware setup ................................................................................. 6 2.2 Configuration ..................................................................................... 7 2.2.1 Creating a development environment on a server .............................. 7 2.2.2 Creating users in a virtual environment .............................................. 7 2.2.3 Allowing remote access to virtual environment ................................... 8 2.2.4 Centrally storing user and project settings .......................................... 9 2.2.5 Configuring TIA Portal Cloud Connector on a PG/PC ....................... 12 2.2.6 Configuring TIA Portal Cloud Connector in the virtual

environment..................................................................................... 15 2.3 Operation ........................................................................................ 18 2.3.1 Establishing a remote desktop connection to the virtual

environment..................................................................................... 18 2.3.2 Establishing an online connection via the TIA Portal Cloud

Connector ........................................................................................ 19 2.4 Error handling .................................................................................. 20

3 Appendix ....................................................................................................... 21

3.1 Service and support ......................................................................... 21 3.2 Links and literature .......................................................................... 22 3.3 Change documentation .................................................................... 22

1 Introduction


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1 Introduction The TIA Portal Cloud Connector enables central management of your engineering software on a server. From an engineering workstation, you can work with TIA Portal (which is installed on a server) via a remote desktop connection. For this, the TIA Portal Cloud Connector serves as communication tunnel.

1.1 Overview

In this application example, TIA Portal is installed in a virtual environment on a server. TIA Portal is not installed on the engineering workstation (PG/PC). The hardware for the automation systems is directly connected with the PG/PC. Via a remote desktop connection from your PG/PC to the virtual environment, you can work with TIA Portal as usual. TIA Portal Cloud Connector can be used to ensure access to the local PROFINET or PROFIBUS interface of the PG/PC of your engineering workstation and to the connected SIMATIC hardware from the virtual environment.

Figure 1-1: Overview

The application example describes the following aspects:

Configuring a remote desktop connection

Centrally storing user and project settings

Configuring TIA Portal Cloud Connector on the PG/PC

Configuring TIA Portal Cloud Connector in the virtual environment

Establishing an online connection via TIA Portal Cloud Connector

1 Introduction


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Restrictions

The following restrictions apply to the TIA Portal Cloud Connector:

Cannot be used with 32-bit operating systems.

Cannot be enabled if SIMATIC NET is installed.

Cannot be used if WinCC Runtime is active.

Cannot be used if the CPU display of the software controller is active.

The secure connection via HTTPS is only supported as of Windows 8.1.

1.2 Components used

This application example has been created with the following components:

Table 1-1: Hardware and software components

Component Quantity

Article number Note

SIMATIC Field PG M5 1 6ES7717-.....-0... Engineering workstation. Alternatively, another computer can also be used.

STEP 7 Professional V14 SP1

1 6ES7822-1..04-.. -

TIA Portal Cloud Connector

1 6ES7823-1C.00-0YA0 -

Server 1 - PC with virtual environment

This application example consists of the following components:

Table 1-2: Components

Component File name

Documentation 109747305_TIAPortalCloudConnector_DOC_v10_en.docx

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2 Engineering

2.1 Hardware setup

The figure below shows how to use TIA Portal Cloud Connector in a virtual environment. The hardware is connected to the engineering workstation (PG/PC).

Figure 2-1: Hardware setup

Communication tunnel

PROFINET

IE

Server

PLC HMI

Engineering workstation

Remote connection

Note To be able to work with a remote desktop connection, a network considering Windows settings, IP addresses, firewalls etc. has to be set up already.

The network may also be organized within a Windows domain.

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2.2 Configuration

2.2.1 Creating a development environment on a server

Set up your TIA Portal development environment in the virtual environment as you do it for every PG/PC.

You can use the following virtualization platforms:

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) V6.0

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V

Microsoft Windows Azure Pack V1.0

2.2.2 Creating users in a virtual environment

To create users in the virtual environment, administrator rights are required.

You can create the user accounts in the Windows 10 Control Panel as follows:

1. In the "Control Panel”, click "User Accounts > Manage Accounts > Add a user account".

2. Enter the "User name", e. g. "User", and the "Password" of the engineering workstation.

3. Click "Next" and then "Finish".

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to create further user accounts.

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2.2.3 Allowing remote access to virtual environment

To be able to access the virtual environment from your PG/PC via remote desktop, you have to allow remote access to the virtual environment.

To do this, proceed as follows:

1. Go to "Control Panel > System" and open the "Remote settings".

2. Enable the option "Allow remote connections to this computer". Now, via default setting, all users with administrator rights can establish a remote desktop connection to the virtual environment.

3. If standard users shall also be granted remote access, you have to add them to the "Remote Desktop Users" group. To do this, click the "Select Users" button.

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4. In the following dialog, click "Add".

5. In the "Select Users" dialog, enter the user name, e. g. "User".

6. Click "Check Names" to check the names.

7. Confirm your entries by clicking "OK" in both dialogs.

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2.2.4 Centrally storing user and project settings

In the TIA Portal settings, you can specify user-defined settings such as e. g. paths for storage locations, window layout, colors and fonts. The TIA Portal settings will be stored by default in the "settings.xml" file in a defined path. The projects will be stored in a defined path as well. You can use the "TiaUserSettingsPath" and "TiaDefaultProjectPath" environment variables to set storage locations for the user and project settings that deviate from the system selection. Doing this, you can store the user and project settings centrally on a server outside the virtual environment. Thus, you can work with the same settings from different engineering workstations and your settings and projects will not get lost when the virtual environment is deleted.

In this application example, the projects and the TIA Portal user settings are stored on the local PG/PC instead of a server. To do this, the "TIACloud" folder with the subfolders "Projects" and "UserSettings" has been created.

Figure 2-2: Folder structure on PG/PC

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Sharing folders on PG/PC for users

To be able to access the local folder "TIACloud" from the virtual environment via the network, you have to share the folder as follows:

1. In the properties of the folder, click "Share".

2. Select the user, e. g. "User".

3. Click "Add" to add the user.

4. Confirm your entries by clicking "Share".

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Setting environment variables in a virtual environment by means of a script

In the virtual environment, you can set environment variables with the storage locations for user-specific settings and projects. With the environment variable "TiaUserSettingsPath", you can specify the path for the user-specific settings. With the environment variable "TiaDefaultProjectPath", you can specify the path for the projects. As path, specify the directory in the network for shared subfolders on your local PG/PC.

In this application example, the environment variables are set with the script "setPath.bat". In this example, "UserDevice" is the computer name of the PG/PC. "%USERNAME%" is the variable for the user name. When the user logs on, this variable will be resolved and the environment variable will be changed correspondingly. If this shall apply to several users, it is recommended to store the script in the autostart directory. Thus, the environment variable will be set again with each logon and the storage location for the settings will be adapted to the logged on user.

Figure 2-3: Script "setPath.bat"

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To set the environment variable by means of a script, proceed as follows:

1. Adjust the script to your conditions (server/computer name, folder etc.).

2. Copy the script into the Windows Startup directory, e. g. "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup".

3. Then, you have to log on again.

Note Set the environment variables before starting TIA Portal for the first time. If the environment variables are not available when starting TIA Portal for the first time, TIA Portal will store the "settings.xml" file for the setting in the standard directory and will always use this file in the future. As long as this file is available, TIA Portal will ignore environment variables that are set later. Delete the "settings.xml" file if it is already available in the folder "C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Siemens\Automation\Portal V14\Settings".

Note You can also set the environment variables manually in the Windows dialog "Environment Variables". You open the dialog under "Control Panel > Advanced system settings > Environment Variables…".

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2.2.5 Configuring TIA Portal Cloud Connector on a PG/PC

Note TIA Portal Cloud Connector supports the secure connection via HTTPS as of Windows 8.1.

For safety reasons, always use a HTTPS connection to your virtual environment. To ensure security of the HTTPS connection, TIA Portal Cloud Connector uses certificates. The following certificates are required for establishing a connection between user device and remote device:

Certificate for data encryption

Certificate for user authentication

If a certificate is not available or the certificates of user device and remote device do not match, it is not possible to establish a connection.

To configure an HTTPS connection for the PG/PC, proceed as follows:

1. Open the TIA Portal Cloud Connector.

2. Go to the "General" tab and select the option "User device".

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3. Go to the "Protocol" tab and select the option "HTTPS endpoint".

4. Click "Create" to create a new certificate. The "Create certificate" dialog opens.

5. Select a storage location and enter a name for the certificate. In this application example, the certificate is stored in the shared folder.

6. Click "OK" to create the certificate.

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Note If the computer is organized in a domain, the domain name and the computer name have to be added to the list.

Note If you already have a certificate, you can select it by clicking "Select".

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Note Before you can import the certificate for user authentication, you first have to create it on the remote device. How to create the certificate is described in chapter 2.2.6.

7. Go to the "Settings" tab. Import the certificate for user authentication that you created on the remote device. In this application example, the certificate is stored in the shared folder. You can also add an already available certificate from the Windows certificate storage to the list of trusted certificates.

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8. Go to the "General" tab again and click the "Enable communication" button.

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2.2.6 Configuring TIA Portal Cloud Connector in the virtual environment

Note TIA Portal Cloud Connector supports the secure connection via HTTPS as of Windows 8.1.

To achieve more security, you can use an HTTPS connection. To ensure security of the HTTPS connection, TIA Portal Cloud Connector uses certificates. The following certificates are required for establishing a connection between user device and remote device:

Certificate for data encryption

Certificate for user authentication

If a certificate is not available or the certificates of user device and remote device do not match, it is not possible to establish a connection.

To configure an HTTPS connection for the virtual environment, proceed as follows:

1. Establish a remote desktop connection to the virtual environment (see chapter 2.3.1).

2. Open the TIA Portal Cloud Connector.

3. Go to the "General" tab and select the option "Remote device".

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4. Go to the "Protocol" tab and select the option "HTTPS settings".

5. Enter the "User device address" or select the entry "Automatic configuration" from the drop-down list to determine the address automatically.

6. Import the certificate for data encryption that you created on the user device. In this application example, the certificate is stored in the shared folder. You can also select an already available certificate from the Windows certificate storage.

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7. Go to the "Settings" tab. Click "Create" to create a new certificate for user authentication. The "Create certificate" dialog opens. If you already have a certificate, you can select it by clicking "Select".

8. Select a storage location and enter a name for the certificate for user authentication. In this application example, the certificate is stored in the shared folder.

9. Click "OK" to create the certificate.

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Note Before you can enable communication on the remote device, the configuration on the user device must be completed.

10. Go to the "General" tab again and click the "Enable communication" button. If communication has been enabled successfully, the color of the status icon changes to yellow.

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2.3 Operation

2.3.1 Establishing a remote desktop connection to the virtual environment

To be able to work with TIA Portal in the virtual environment from your PG/PC, you have to establish a remote desktop connection.


1. Open the remote desktop connection, click the Windows Start button. Enter "Remote Desktop Connection" in the search field and then click "Remote Desktop Connection" in the results list.

2. Enter the IP address of the virtual environment in the "Computer" dialog box and then click "Connect". You can also enter the name of the computer instead of the IP address.

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3. Enter the password for the user in the following dialog box.

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2.3.2 Establishing an online connection via the TIA Portal Cloud Connector

If you are using the TIA Portal Cloud Connector for connection to the hardware, working in TIA Portal does not differ from an ordinary online connection to the hardware. As soon as you have enabled the tunnel communication, you thus can compile, load or monitor your data as usual.

To establish an online connection, proceed as follows:

1. Use TIA Portal to open a project from the defined project path (see 2.2.4) and go to the project view. The color of the TIA Portal Cloud Connector status icon changes to green.

2. In the project tree, select a controller to which you want to establish an online connection.

3. Click "Go online".

4. In the interface settings, select the local PROFINET or PROFIBUS interface of your PG/PC.

5. Select the target device and click "Go online".

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2.4 Error handling

Overview of status icons

If you establish an online connection via the TIA Portal Cloud Connector, status icons indicating the connection status are displayed in the info area of the Windows taskbar. The table below shows an overview of the status icons and their meaning:

Table 2-1: Overview of status icons

Status icon Meaning

Communication is disabled.

Communication is enabled, but no data exchange is taking place between TIA Portal and the SIMATIC automation hardware.

Communication is enabled and data exchange is taking place between TIA Portal and the SIMATIC automation hardware.

Data exchange between TIA Portal and the SIMATIC automation hardware has been interrupted. The status display is shown and offers further details regarding the cause.

Status display

You can show a status display both on the remote device and the user device via the info area in the Windows taskbar.


1. Right-click the status icon of the TIA Portal Cloud Connector.

2. Click "Status display". The status display opens. It shows all information, warnings and error messages of the TIA Portal Cloud Connector. In addition, it shows how long a TCP or HTTPS connection already is established.

3 Appendix


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3 Appendix

3.1 Service and support

Industry Online Support

Do you have any questions or need support?

Siemens Industry Online Support offers access to our entire service and support know-how as well as to our services.

Siemens Industry Online Support is the central address for information on our products, solutions and services.

Product information, manuals, downloads, FAQs and application examples – all information is accessible with just a few mouse clicks at https://support.industry.siemens.com

Technical Support

Siemens Industry's Technical Support offers quick and competent support regarding all technical queries with numerous tailor-made offers – from basic support right up to individual support contracts.

Please address your requests to the Technical Support via the web form: www.siemens.de/industry/supportrequest

Service offer

Our service offer comprises, among other things, the following services:

Product Training

Plant Data Services

Spare Parts Services

Repair Services

Field & Maintenance Services

Retrofit & Modernization Services

Service Programs & Agreements

Detailed information on our service offer is available in the Service Catalog: https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/sc

Industry Online Support app

Thanks to the "Siemens Industry Online Support" app, you will get optimum support even when you are on the move. The app is available for Apple iOS, Android and Windows Phone: https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/ww/en/sc/2067

https://support.industry.siemens.com/

http://www.siemens.de/industry/supportrequest

https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/sc

https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/ww/en/sc/2067

3 Appendix


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3.2 Links and literature

Table 3-1

No. Topic

\1\ Siemens Industry Online Support

https://support.industry.siemens.com

\2\ Link to the entry page of the application example


\3\ Operating manual

Instructions on the TIA Portal Cloud Connector


\4\ FAQ

What are the conditions for using the TIA Portal Cloud Connector?


3.3 Change documentation

Table 3-2

Version Date Modifications

V1.0 05/2017 First version

https://support.industry.siemens.com/

https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/ww/de/view/109747305



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