Ethernet/IP

The plugin is designed to read data from configured tags within Rockwell Automation PLCs that support the CIP protocol over Ethernet/IP, such as ControlLogix, CompactLogix, and Micro820. It uses the gologix driver — a native Go implementation modeled after pylogix — to establish and maintain communication with the controller.

Currently, the plugin behaves similarly to the s7comm plugin: you must explicitly configure the tag names and data types you want to read. Automatic browsing or discovery of tags is not yet implemented. As such, you should already know the tag names and structures from the PLC program (e.g., via Studio 5000 or Connected Components Workbench).

⚠️ Support is limited to modern controllers that use CIP over Ethernet/IP. Legacy PLCs such as PLC-5, SLC-500, or MicroLogix models using PCCC are not supported.

In future versions, support for browsing and listing available tags directly from the controller may be added to improve usability and reduce manual configuration. Datatypes

The plugin is being tested with multiple datatypes, therefore the following datatypes are verified for compatibility:

  • Boolean

  • Byte

  • Int8

  • Int16

  • Int32

  • Int64

  • UInt16

  • UInt32

  • UInt64

  • Float32

  • Float64

  • String

  • Array of Byte

  • Array of Int8

  • Array of Int16

  • Array of Int32

  • Array of Int64

  • Array of Uint16

  • Array of Uint32

  • Array of Uint64

  • Array of Float32

  • Array of Float64

  • Array of String

Metadata outputs

The plugin provides metadata for each message, that can be used to create a topic for the output, as shown in the example above. The metadata can also be used to create a unique identifier for each message, which is useful for deduplication.

Metadata
Description

eip_tag_name

The Name of the Tag that sent the message. If an alias was specified it will replace the original naming of the tag.

eip_tag_path

A dot-separated path to the tag, which is usually used for TagSets and Tags.

eip_tag_type

The data type of the node optimized for benthos, which can be either a number, string or bool.

Configuration Options

The following options can be specified in the benthos.yaml configuration file:

input:
  ethernetip:
    endpoint: '127.0.0.1:44818'
    pollRate: 1000 # optional (default: 1000) The rate in milliseconds at which to poll the EthernetIP plc
    listAllTags: false | true # (currently not supported)
    useMultiRead: false | true # (currently not supported)
    attributes:
      - path: "1-1-1" # specify the path like `Class-Instance-Attribute`
        type: "int16"
        alias: "vendorID" # optional (default: unset)
    tags:
      - name: "tagName"
        type: "bool"
        alias: "tagAlias" # optional (default: unset)
        length: 1 # optional (default: 1) you only need to set this for arrays

Endpoint

You can specify the endpoint in the configuration file. Node endpoints are automatically discovered and selected based on the authentication method.

input:
  ethernetip:
    endpoint: '127.0.0.1:44818'
    tags:
      - name: "tagName"
        type: "bool"

Attributes

You can specify the Attributes in the configuration file:

input:
  ethernetip:
    endpoint: '127.0.0.1:44818'
    attributes:
      - path: "1-1-1" # specify the path like `Class-Instance-Attribute`
        type: "int16"
        alias: "vendorID" # optional (default: unset)

  • Key: path

  • Description: The path always consists of this pattern: "Class-Instance-Attribute". Path to the specific attribute you want to read. Attributes are usually used for some device specific information, therefore you have to check your device's manual to check whether a specific attribute exists.

  • Example: 1-1-1

  • Key: type

  • Description: The type specifies the attributes type, which has to be set correctly otherwise you will receive an error. You can also get this from your device's manual.

  • Example: int16

  • Key: alias

  • Description: The alias is an option to store your data into a specific name, so you can later easilier access this attribute.

  • Example: testAlias

Tags

You can specify the Tags in the configuration file:

input:
  ethernetip:
    endpoint: '127.0.0.1:44818'
    tags:
      - name: "testInt16" # specify the path like `Class-Instance-Attribute`
        type: "int16"
        alias: "counter" # optional (default: unset)

  • Key: name

  • Description: The name is basically the name of the tag you want to read data from. This is specified in your device's software and you have to know the name of that.

  • Example: testInt16

  • Key: type

  • Description: The type specifies the tags type, which has to be set correctly otherwise you will receive an error. You can also get this from your device's software.

  • Example: int16

  • Key: alias

  • Description: The alias is an option to store your data into a specific name, so you can later easilier access this tags data.

  • Example: testAlias

  • Key: length (only if you read from a type e.g. arrayofint16)

  • Description: The length is an option to set the length of the data you want to read. This is only needed when reading arrays. Otherwise you will receive an error here.

  • Example: 3

Important: The functionality of reading tag-sets in specific is not yet implemented and will need further investigation.

List all tags (not yet implemented)

This is not yet implemented and currently not set to a specific timeline.

MultiRead (not yet implemented)

This is not yet implemented and currently not set to a specific timeline, but will improve reading time out of your plc if it supports this service.

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