Supported protocols and devices
This page lists every protocol Reniway speaks and the equipment each protocol covers. Use it to check up front whether a machine, control or system can be connected, and which connector to pick.
Click a protocol to expand the full list of supported devices.
Field protocols
Field protocols talk to machines, controls and sensors on the shop floor.
S7CommPlus: Siemens SIMATIC S7-1200 / S7-1500 controllers
Connector: Siemens S7 (S7CommPlus)
The same protocol TIA Portal and Siemens HMI panels use. Symbols are browsed directly from the controller, so no TIA project is needed.
Supported controllers:
- SIMATIC S7-1200 (all variants) and S7-1200 G2
- SIMATIC S7-1500, including the compact and fail-safe (F) CPUs
- SIMATIC S7-1500 distributed controllers: ET 200SP CPU and ET 200pro CPU
- SIMATIC Drive Controller
- SIMATIC S7-1500 Software Controller (CPU 1507S / 1508S)
- SIMATIC S7-PLCSIM Advanced (behaves as the CPU it simulates)
Not covered by this connector: S7-200, S7-300 and S7-400. They speak the older classic S7comm protocol and are handled by the Siemens S7 (S7comm) connector below.
Firmware requirements only apply when TLS or a password is used. See the Siemens S7 connector for the version table.
S7comm (classic): Siemens SIMATIC S7-200 / S7-300 / S7-400 controllers
Connector: Siemens S7 (S7comm)
Classic S7comm runs over ISO-on-TCP (RFC 1006, TCP port 102). Supported controllers:
- SIMATIC S7-300, including the compact and fail-safe CPUs
- SIMATIC S7-400 and S7-400H
- SIMATIC S7-200 and S7-200 SMART
- Third-party CPUs that speak classic S7comm, such as VIPA / Yaskawa SLIO and 300S controllers
A CPU without its own Ethernet port or CP can still be reached through a PROFIBUS/MPI/PPI-to-Ethernet adapter, for example the Helmholz NETLink PRO COMPACT. The adapter terminates the bus side and presents the CPU as an ISO-on-TCP endpoint, so Reniway connects to the adapter's IP address with the rack and slot of the target CPU. Comparable adapters from other vendors work the same way.
The important difference with S7CommPlus: a classic CPU has no online symbol table. It serves
absolute addresses only, such as DB5.DBD12, M10.3 or IW4. Tag names, data types and DB/UDT
layouts live in the engineering project, so you upload the STEP 7 V5 project (.s7p) and browse its
symbols, or enter absolute addresses by hand.
Because there are no subscriptions in classic S7comm, every property is polled on its configured interval. Connection settings are IP address, port, CPU type, rack and slot.
LOGO!, S7-1200 and S7-1500 are not part of this connector: the first is a different protocol again, the last two are covered by S7CommPlus.
TwinCAT ADS: Beckhoff controllers and IPCs
Connector: TwinCAT ADS
The ADS connector works with all Beckhoff controllers that run a TwinCAT ADS runtime, on both TwinCAT 2 and TwinCAT 3, and on Windows as well as TwinCAT/BSD. That includes:
- CX series embedded PCs (CX7000, CX8000, CX9000, CX20xx, CX52xx, CX7200, ...)
- C6xxx and C7xxx industrial and panel PCs
- Any PC or IPC running the TwinCAT runtime
- Soft-PLC and TwinCAT simulation instances
I/O terminals (EL/KL/EP/EJ) are reached through the PLC that owns them, not directly. A route between the controller and Reniway must be configured on the PLC.
Ethernet/IP (CIP): Allen-Bradley (Rockwell) and Omron PLCs
Connector: Ethernet/IP
The controller family is selected with the PLC Type setting:
| PLC Type | Covers |
|---|---|
ControlLogix | Allen-Bradley ControlLogix (1756) and CompactLogix (1769, 5370, 5380), GuardLogix, FlexLogix, SoftLogix |
Micro800 | Allen-Bradley Micro800 series: Micro820, Micro850, Micro870 |
MicroLogix | Allen-Bradley MicroLogix 1100, 1200, 1400, 1500 |
Slc500 | Allen-Bradley SLC 500 family |
Plc5 | Allen-Bradley PLC-5 family |
LogixPccc | Logix controllers addressed through PCCC (legacy tag access) |
NSeries | Omron NJ and NX series machine controllers |
CJSeries | Omron CJ and CS series controllers |
Tag browsing is available for ControlLogix, Micro800 and Omron NJ/NX controllers: the tag list is read straight from the controller.
Omron CJ and CS controllers cannot be browsed online. For those you upload the PLC program, either
a CX-Programmer project (.cxp or .cxt) or a reusable file export (.cxr). Reniway then builds
the browsable tag list from the network-published symbols in it.
For the remaining types properties are configured manually with tag name and data type.
Modbus TCP: any Modbus TCP device
Connector: Modbus
Any device that exposes a Modbus TCP server: PLCs, inverters and drives, energy and power meters, I/O couplers, temperature controllers, flow meters and gateways that bridge Modbus RTU devices onto TCP. There is no device list, because addressing is done by register rather than by tag. Modbus RTU over a serial line is only reachable through such a gateway.
HEIDENHAIN DNC: HEIDENHAIN CNC controls
Connector: HEIDENHAIN DNC
Requires HEIDENHAIN DNC (Option 18) on the control. The control is selected with the NC Type setting:
| NC Type | Control |
|---|---|
TNC7 NCK | TNC7 |
TNC6xx NCK | TNC 620, TNC 640 |
TNC320 NCK | TNC 320 |
TNC128 NCK | TNC 128 |
iTNC530 or TNC426/430 | iTNC 530, TNC 426, TNC 430 |
CNC PILOT 6xx NCK | CNC PILOT 620, CNC PILOT 640 |
ManualPlus NCK | MANUALplus 620 |
GrindPlus 640 NCK | GRINDplus 640 |
GrindPlus NCK | GRINDplus (earlier generation) |
MillPlus IT NCK | MillPlus IT (NCK generation) |
MillPlus IT | MillPlus IT |
MillPlus | MillPlus |
TurnPlus | TurnPlus |
ATeK-M NCK | ATeK-M (NCK generation) |
Atek-M | ATeK-M |
AR6000 NCK | AR 6000 |
Secure (SSH) communication is available on TNC7, TNC 6xx, TNC 320, CNC PILOT 6xx and MANUALplus controls; an SSH user must be configured on the NC. Older controls connect unencrypted. See Controller Setup.
Because HEIDENHAIN controls are used by many machine builders, this covers machines from DMG MORI, Hermle, Grob, Mikron, Willemin-Macodel, Kern and others when they ship a HEIDENHAIN control.
SINUMERIK: Siemens SINUMERIK CNC controls
Connector: SINUMERIK
The control is selected with Machine Type and Device Type:
| Control | Machine Type | Device Type |
|---|---|---|
| SINUMERIK ONE | s840d | SolutionLine |
| SINUMERIK 840D sl and 840DE sl (NCU / PCU based) | s840d | SolutionLine |
| SINUMERIK 828D | s840d | SolutionLine |
| SINUMERIK 840D pl, 840Di and 810D pl | s840d | PowerLine |
SINUMERIK ONE is supported and tested. Select machine type s840d with device type SolutionLine
for it, exactly as for an 840D sl. The connection works the same way.
Typical machines are those from DMG MORI, Index, Emag, Heller, Schwäbische Werkzeugmaschinen and other builders that fit a SINUMERIK control.
FOCAS / FOCAS2: Fanuc CNC controls
Connector: Fanuc FOCAS
Reads operational data from Fanuc CNC controls over FOCAS / FOCAS2 Ethernet (default port 8193).
The control needs the Ethernet and FOCAS options enabled.
| Control family | Interface |
|---|---|
| Series 30i / 31i / 32i / 35i, models A and B | FOCAS2 Ethernet |
| Series 0i, models B, C, D, F and F Plus | FOCAS2 Ethernet |
| Series 16i / 18i / 21i, models A and B | FOCAS Ethernet |
| Power Motion i-A / i-MODEL A | FOCAS2 Ethernet |
Fanuc ROBODRILL, ROBOSHOT and ROBOCUT use these same control generations and connect the same way. So do machines from builders that fit a Fanuc control, such as DN Solutions (Doosan), Hyundai WIA and Brother. The control is the integration target, not the machine builder.
MTConnect: machine tools with an MTConnect agent
Connector: MTConnect
Any machine or device that publishes an MTConnect agent. The controls we see most often:
| Control | Notes |
|---|---|
| Mazak Smooth (Mazatrol SmoothX, SmoothG, SmoothAi) | MTConnect agent built in |
| Mazak Mazatrol Matrix / Matrix 2 | Through an MTConnect adapter |
| Okuma OSP-P200, OSP-P300, OSP-P500 | MTConnect option; THINC API is the alternative |
| Haas Next Generation Control (NGC) | MTConnect option |
| Mitsubishi Electric M800 / M80 and M700 / M70 | MTConnect alongside EZSocket |
Haas Classic controls predate MTConnect and only offer the legacy MDC interface, so they cannot be connected this way.
Other builders such as DMG MORI, Makino, Hurco, GF Machining Solutions and Grob ship MTConnect agents on part of their range, and third-party adapters expose Fanuc, Siemens and HEIDENHAIN controls as MTConnect agents. Availability always depends on the control's software version and the purchased options, so verify against the specific machine.
See the Mazak example.
OPC UA: any OPC UA server
Connector: OPC UA
Any OPC UA server, on any vendor's hardware. Commonly used for:
- Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500 and SINUMERIK ONE (built-in OPC UA server)
- Beckhoff TwinCAT OPC UA Server
- Rockwell, Omron, Mitsubishi and B&R controllers with an OPC UA option
- Robot controllers (KUKA, ABB, Fanuc, Universal Robots)
- MES, SCADA and historian systems acting as OPC UA servers
- Legacy controls exposed through an OPC UA gateway, for example S7-300 and S7-400
Besides reading, writing and monitoring plain nodes, the connector supports:
- Events. Subscribe to OPC UA events on nodes that raise them, such as alarms and conditions, and turn them into Reniway properties through the event selection flow in the address space browser.
- Custom structured datatypes. Server-defined structures, including extension objects, are resolved from the server's datatype definitions and can be read as a whole, so vendor-specific structures do not have to be flattened on the server first.
Anonymous and username/password authentication are supported, with or without encryption.
MQTT: brokers, IoT sensors and IT systems
Connector: MQTT
The MQTT connector talks to any MQTT broker (Mosquitto, HiveMQ, EMQX, AWS IoT Core, Azure IoT Hub), and therefore to any sensor, gateway or application that publishes to one. It can be used as a field connector and as an enterprise connector.
MQTT (iCOMOX): Analog Devices iCOMOX condition-monitoring sensors
Connector: iCOMOX
A dedicated MQTT connector for the Analog Devices iCOMOX condition-monitoring sensor, which reports vibration, magnetic field, sound and temperature. The sensor publishes to an MQTT broker, and the connector subscribes to its topics and creates the sensor properties automatically.
HTTP (webhook): any system that can push values over HTTP
Connector: Webhook
Turns things around: instead of Reniway reading the device, the other side pushes values into
Reniway with an HTTP PUT on the property's value endpoint. Useful for ERP and MES systems, custom
applications, scripts and simple IoT devices that can only send data outwards.
Calls authenticate with an application token in the
X-Reniway-Token header, and the value is type-checked against the property before it is stored.
Simulated data: testing and demos without hardware
Connector: Simulation
Generates sample data inside Reniway, for testing, training, demonstrations and flow development when no physical machine, PLC or sensor is available. No device or network connection is involved.
Enterprise protocols
Enterprise protocols integrate Reniway with IT and business systems.
SQL: PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, Microsoft SQL Server
Connector: SQL
Reads from and writes to a relational database with your own queries. Supported database types are PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB, and Microsoft SQL Server.
InfluxDB line protocol: time-series storage
Connector: InfluxDB
Writes values to an InfluxDB instance, including the one that can be bundled with Reniway.
Redis (RESP): caching and pub/sub integration
Connector: Redis
Works with Redis servers and clusters, both as a key/value store (GET/SET) and as a pub/sub channel. It can be used as a field connector and as an enterprise connector.
OPC UA (internal): exposing Reniway data to OPC UA clients
Connector: Reniway OPC UA Server
Maps data into Reniway's own OPC UA server, so MES, SCADA and historian clients can subscribe to processed values.
Ultimo REST API: IFS Ultimo maintenance management
Connector: Ultimo
Sends measurement values to IFS Ultimo through its REST API, for condition-based maintenance.
Device not listed?
A machine that is not covered directly can often still be connected:
- through its OPC UA server, if it has one
- through an MTConnect adapter
- through a Modbus TCP gateway
- by reading the PLC behind the control instead of the control itself
Contact Reniway if none of these apply. New connectors are added regularly.