PROFINET is the PROFIBUS International (PI) open Industrial Ethernet Standard that uses TCP/IP and IT standards for automation control. PROFINET is particularly useful for industrial automation systems and process control networks, in which motion control and precision control of instrumentation and test equipment are important. It emphasizes data exchange and defines communication paths to meet speed requirements. PROFINET communication is scalable on three levels:

• Normal non-real-time communication uses TCP/IP and enables bus cycle times of approximately 100 ms.

• Real-time communication enables cycle times of approximately 10 ms.

• Isochronous real-time communication enables cycle times of approximately 1 ms.

PROFINET I/O is a modular communication framework for distributed automation applications. PROFINET I/O uses cyclic data transfer to exchange data, alarms, and diagnostic information with programmable controllers, input/output (I/O) devices, and other automation controllers (for example, motion controllers).

PROFINET I/O recognizes three classes of devices:

1. I/O devices

2. I/O controllers

3. I/O supervisors

• PROFINET feature set is available with Network-Essentials license.

• The minimum Cisco IOS XE Release version required to configure PROFINET is:

  • IE-9310-26S2C & IE-9320-26S2C - Cisco IOS XE Release 17.8.1 and later versions

  • IE-9320-22S2C4X - Cisco IOS XE Release 17.11.1 and later versions

  • Rest of the PIDs - Cisco IOS XE Release 17.12.1 and later versions

• Cisco IE-9300 series switches support only PROFINET I/O, RT (Real-Time) but not IRT (isochronous real-time) communication.

• Profinet can be enabled only on standalone IE-9300 series switches. Profinet is not supported when IE-9300 series switches are stacked

An I/O controller is a programmable logic controller (PLC) that controls I/O devices and exchanges data such as configuration, alarms, and I/O data through an automation program. The I/O controller and the I/O supervisor exchange diagnostic information. The I/O controller shares configuration and input/output information with the I/O device and receives alarms from the I/O device.

PROFINET is designed to be the sole or primary management system platform. Because the I/O controller detects the switch with the Discovery and Configuration Protocol (DCP), and sets the device name and IP address, you do not need to enter Cisco IOS commands for the basic configuration. For advanced configurations (for example, QoS, DHCP, and similar features) you must use Cisco IOS commands on the switch because these features cannot be configured by using PROFINET.

An I/O supervisor is an engineering station, such as a human machine interface (HMI) or PC, used for commissioning, monitoring, and diagnostic analysis. The I/O supervisor exchanges diagnostic, status, control, and parameter information with the I/O device.

An I/O device is a distributed input/output device such as a sensor, an actuator, or a motion controller.

Note	If Profinet DCP cannot detect the switch/PLC/IO mac addresses, temporarily disable the firewall/virus scan from the Window PC that installed the Siemens STEP7 or TIA Portal.

In a PROFINET I/O system, all the I/O devices communicate over an Ethernet communication network to meet the automation industry requirement for bus cycle times of less than 100 ms. The network uses switches and full-duplex data exchange to avoid data collisions.

After PROFINET uses DCP to discover devices, including the switch, they establish application relationships (ARs) and communication relationships (CRs). After a connection is established and information about device parameters is exchanged, input and output data is exchanged. The switch uses non-real-time CRs to exchange the data attributes listed in the tables.

PROFINET devices are integrated by using a general station description (GSD) file that contains the data for engineering and data exchange between the I/O controller, the I/O supervisor, and the I/O devices, including the switch. Each PROFINET I/O field device must have an associated GSD file that describes the properties of the device and contains all this information required for configuration:

• Device identification information (device ID, vendor ID and name, product family, number of ports)

• Number and types of pluggable modules

• Error text for diagnostic information

• Communication parameters for I/O devices, including the minimum cycle time, the reduction ratio, and the watch dog time

• Configuration data for the I/O device modules, including speed, duplex, VLAN, port security information, alarms, and broadcast-rate-limiting thresholds

• Parameters configured for I/O device modules for the attributes listed in the Profinet I/O Port Attributes table.

The GSD file is on the switch, but the I/O supervisor uses this file.

Note	You must use the GSD file that is associated with the Cisco IOS release on the switch to manage your PROFINET network. Both the I/O supervisor and the Cisco IOS software alert you to a mismatch between the GSD file and the switch Cisco IOS software version.

The IE-9300 does not behave same as other IE platforms when it comes to Vlan 0 tags. You need to add the voice vlan dot1p command to the interface to allow the vlan 0 tagged packets.

The following example shows the configuration:

Interface gi1/0/2
description connection to PLC device
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
switchport voice vlan dot1p

The highlighted command above allows the vlan 0 tagged packets to be accepted on vlan 10 along with the COS values of ingress frames.

Example:

Switch#show profinet status
Profinet : Enabled
Connection Status : Connected
Vlan : 1
Profinet ID : Switch
GSD version : Match
Reduct Ratio : 128

The PLC has LEDs that display red for alarms, and the I/O supervisor software monitors those alarms.

To troubleshoot PROFINET use the debug profinet privileged EXEC command with the keywords shown in Commands for Troubleshooting the PROFINET Configuration. Be aware that the output of a debug command might cause a serial link to fail. You should use these commands only under the guidance of a Cisco Technical Support engineer. When you use this command, use Telnet to access the Cisco IOS command-line interface (CLI) by using Ethernet rather than a serial port.

The following sections provide references related to device administration: