The DAS for Allen-Bradley Data Highway has built into it the capability to trace PLC communications and to send this output to either a file or to a user terminal. The purpose of this tracing is to allow the troubleshooting of PLC communications.

Tracing can be enabled for a device and/or a line. If tracing is enabled for a PLC, then only communications from/to that PLC are traced. If tracing is enabled for a line, then all communications from/to that line are traced. If both PLC and line tracing is enabled, then the trace will contain the output for both the PLC and the line, so the trace output will be duplicated.

To enable tracing do the following:

• Set the TRACE attribute in the ODS definition for the path or line being traced.
• Set the DAS_TRACE_OUTPUT environment variable to the name of the file that you want to contain the trace output. The environment variable must be defined such that it will be seen by the server the DAS is a part of.

  setenv DAS_TRACE_OUTPUT /usr/users/my_dir/trace_output.log

• Reinitiate communications to the PLC/line. The ODS definition is read when a connection to the device is initiated (device tracing) or when a connection to the line is initiated (line tracing), so communications must be reinitiated in order for tracing to occur.

The trace output is flushed to the file after every 10 lines that are traced, so trace output may lag actual device I/O.

All trace output is in hexadecimal and shows both input to and output from the PLC.

When tracing data highway communications at the line level, DLE characters (hex 10) that are control codes are not included in the trace.

To turn tracing off, reverse the steps used to turn tracing on.

2.5 Failures During Product Use

If an error occurs while this product is in use and you believe the error is caused by a problem with the product, take one of the following actions:

• If you have a Software Product Services Support Agreement, contact your Customer Support Center (CSC) by telephone or by using the electronic means provided with your support agreement (such as DSNlink). The CSC provides telephone support for high-level advisory and remedial assistance. When you initially contact the CSC, indicate the following:
  • The name and version number of the operating system you are using
  • The version number of the product you are using
  • The version number of BASEstar Open you are using
  • The hardware system you are using (such as a model number)
  • The Allen-Bradley PLCs you are communicating with
  • A brief description of the problem (one sentence if possible)
  • How critical the problem is
• If you have a Self-Maintenance Software Agreement, you can submit a Software Performance Report (SPR).
• If you do not have any type of software services support agreement and you purchased this product within the past year, you can submit an SPR if you think the problem is caused by a software error.

When you submit an SPR, take the following steps:

1. Describe as accurately as possible the circumstances and state of the system when the problem occurred. Include the description and version number of the product being used. Demonstrate the problem with specific examples.
2. Reduce the problem to as small a size as possible.
3. Remember to include listings of any command files, INCLUDE files, or relevant data files, and so forth.
4. Report only one problem per SPR. This will facilitate a faster response.
5. Mail the SPR package to Compaq.