Emerson Exchange 365

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Use of VLAN with Delta V

We are working with a client on upgrading their systems to Emerson Delta V DCS.  They have two plants within a mile of one another.  There is a pair of available dark fiber between the two plants that we can use.  However, our understanding is that to connect the two plants we'll need four dark fiber lines.  There is significant added costs to have the ISP pull additional fiber and we are wondering if we could utilize VLAN between the two plants as shown in the attached drawing and just use the one dark fiber line we have available.

Thanks for any advice you may be able to provide.

Tom

Thomas Fass

• 14 Dec 2023 8:54 PM
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2 Replies

• Andre Dicaire

  

  • 15 Dec 2023 9:38 PM

  The short answer is yes, but don't tell anybody.
  
  All kidding aside, the VLAN portion of your situation must be transparent to the DeltaV system. This would be considered an engineered solution, and you would have to own the support of this dark fiber VLAN infrastructure. Emerson GSC and Guardian support would not be able to support this part of the network.
  
  You have to understand that with unique engineered solutions, the factory is unable to reproduce any anomalies that are indeed caused by your hardware solution. As long as DeltaV Communications are 100% reproduced and error free on both sides of the VLAN's it will work.
  
  Emerson currently does not deploy VLANs. I strongly recommend you use someone familiar with DeltaV network requirements. You should discuss with your local Emerson service provider if they offer services to assist in setting up the VLAN's.
  
  From your diagram, looks like you plan to pass the redundant DeltaV ACN and redundant Thin Client? With a simplex hardware connection (switches and Fiber pair) a loss of this hardware would segregate the plants and Thin Clients on the remote side would lose connection. I would recommend:
  - at least one physical HMI on the remote network segment. I
  - all IO in each site be assigned/connected to a Controller on that segment.
  - recommend an EJournal running on that Operator station at the remote plant.
  - consider licensing the continuous Historian on this Operator station (supports up to 3250 tags
  
  VLAN's have been deployed for DeltaV networks, but they are engineered and supported by others, not the GSC/Emerson (unless Emeron services were used to design and deploy) Good luck.

  Andre Dicaire

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• MPHymel

  

  • 15 Dec 2023 9:46 PM

  In reply to Andre Dicaire:

  Having had to rely heavily on the type of support Andre has mentioned, I would discourage you from pursuing this option. The stakes are extremely high should you encounter problems at the networking level, you will not want to be in a position where GSC support is not an option.

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