siemens new portal software , big problem

[irondesk40]

after about a half day working with a rep from siemens today because I could not get my new tia portal ver 13 software to connect to a plc only to find out that the software will not work with Nortons Antivirus software.
Said he has seen it many times before. To prove to our IT group it was the Nortons was able to convince them to uninstall it and then the Siemens would work fine.
Not sure what is going to happen now. A lot of money and already purchased some software and plc and hmi components to start doing some training.
Hard to believe I can run the Allen Bradley, Omron, Automation Direct, Mitsubishi, Control Technique, Emerson and Red Lion software with no problem but Siemens will flat out not work.
You would think since they know its a big problem they would fix it.
Anyone else run into this type of problem

[JRW]

What ethernet ports does norton block?
You shouldn't have had to uninstall- just disable
Check this out
http://support.automation.siemens.co...ew/en/37571060



Here's a list of ports used

http://support.automation.siemens.co...ew/en/21873998


Do you really think they can test every antivirus with every piece of software?

[mk42]

From one of JRW's links:

RFC 1006 is based on the TCP protocol and permits a reliable connection between two systems.
RFC 1006 is used for standard connections in the SIMATIC environment.

Areas of application:
STEP 7 remote programming via LAN
STEP 7 remote programming via ISDN
ISO-on-TCP connections
S7 connections via Industrial Ethernet

The TCP Port 102 must be enabled in all areas of application.

Note
Port 102 is blocked by default in routers and firewalls and must be enabled for the complete transfer route.

Port 102 is the port that Siemens PLC's use to communicate, and that includes communication to the programming software. If you can get it unblocked, then you should be good to go.

However, blaming Siemens for the problem is like blaming Google because your firewall was incorrectly configured, and blocked port 80 (http) by default. Its completely out of their control.

[boneless]

A while back somebody advised me to use virtual machines in case of many plc programming environments. I do it for my older programs, and it seems to work quite well..

[irondesk40]

Virtual machine is what I am looking into at the moment. Actually looking at getting another PC and just keep it off the network.
Which virtual software is the best to use?
A question I have about that is if running virtual machine on a laptop and that laptop has a virus scanner running on can it still cause the type of issues I am seeing?
We use mostly Dell equipment but looking at HP as well. Have had good results with using HP at home.

[Ken Roach]

I had a heck of a time getting my Step7 5.5 Profinet configuration to browse the network until I specifically disabled all but one of the virtual network adapters on my VM and all but one of the physical network adapters on my host PC.

In my opinion Siemens uses some badly non-intuitive configuration for their Ethernet connections. If you're familiar with MPI and Profibus connections you probably can see the heritage in them, but if you're expecting something as simple as "type in an IP and connect to the controller" you're facing a challenge.

I am a big fan of VMWare Workstation. It's one of the best values I've ever spent money on in software.

[boneless]

I have only been using the free virtual PC that windows offers. It is running XP and works well with my older software.

On my mac I have got VM Ware running, works very well to, I am just not using it for any PLC programming.

[irondesk40]

Never used any virtual pc software and have a couple of dumb questions.
If my pc that i have for work is running windows 7 and you load a virtual machine software do you then have to get a copy of Windows XP and load it on the pc and load it onto the virtual machine?
Thanks

[irondesk40]

Have one more question.
You have a corporate PC that is running Windows 7 and anti virus software and whatever other security features they may have. You then load a VM software to be able to load and run the Siemens software, would you still not have the same issues with connections etc. with the Siemens software since the PC the virtual machine is on still has the Norton antivirus software and IT security.
Also, yesterday I found out from Siemens that TIA portal 13 has not been tested with Nortons antivirus.
I was able to get the IT group to uninstall Nortons and was then able to connect to a S71200 plc, but only if you knew the ip address that was already in the plc.
If you did not know the IP address the siemens software would not be able to connect. Had something to do with the fact that the siemens software uses the the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) and IT security possibly had something that would not allow the software to use the service.
At this point looking at possibly purchasing a seperate PC with windows 7 to load the Siemens software on and trying to find out more about how everyone else is using the VM software.
Thanks

[boneless]

XP mode is free if you have pro or higher version of W7.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...e-in-windows-7

I hate NORTON. Always had problems with it, and honestly haven't given it a try in years. Al my PC's come pre-installed with it, and it is the first thing that comes off.

I have not had any major problems with AVG Free or AVAST, so you might consider that. If your company allows you...