Siemens S7-300 Backup

[mchristisen 0]

Hello all. Is it possible to perform a backup on the S7-300 series controllers that will allow a customer to fully recover on his own in case of a hardware failure? I myself am the customer and we routinely perform backups on all of our mission critical plc's. We have recently been told by a vendor that the backups we perform will not do us any good in the event of a hardware failure. They mentioned that the configuration tables will be missing. So I ask you fine folks. Is there anyway to perform a full backup that will get us back up and running if we have to change out some hardware? If it is not possible, what exactly can not pulled pulled out of the plc and why?

[JesperMP 2]

Hi mchristisen. If you use the function "Upload station to PG" then you get both programs and the HW Configuration. One thing that I am unsure of, is if socalled "connections" are uploaded. I think yes, but I am not sure. Connections are CPU-CPU communication paths that are used to setup messaging blocks in the program. Maybe this is what the vendor means with"configuration tables".

[mchristisen 0]

Thanks Jesper. We do have plenty of CPU to CPU comms. Do you know if there is a way I could verify that the connections are or are not being uploaded?

[JesperMP 2]

If you know NetPro, then you know where to look.If you dont know NetPro, then you should study NetPro and "Connections". Btw. There is an "Upload" function in NetPro. I have never had to use it so I am not sure what it really does. You could try to use it and see if the connections are uploaded.

[mchristisen 0]

Thanks for your guidance Jesper. We are not Siemens programmers here and our familiarity with Step 7 revolves solely around setting up the MPI connection and "Upload station to PG". It looks as though the hardware and connections configurations are being uploaded, so that makes us feel better about the completeness of our backups. Maybe someone can verify from the screenshots below if the hardware and connections look like they are being uploaded. My novice eye's say they are but what do I know. We also occasionally get these errors. However it does not seem to hinder the upload any. All block comparisons pass just fine.

[JesperMP 2]

Hello again. The list you see below the graphical view of the stations in NetPro are the connections. So that looks ok. The message that you get is about an option software package needed for STEP7. It doesnt mean that you dont have a backup. It only means that you cannot modify that part. I dont know what option software it is. The "FM" and "POS" in S7H_CLASS_FM_POS_300_MPI_CT could mean it has to do with a FM module and positioning. But that is just guessing. Every time you open a project, STEP7 checks what option packages are needed, and displays a more meaningful message if one is missing. So you can save the project, and then close and open it and see if you get such a message. Edited 4 Nov 2008 by JesperMP