Guideline for downloading on a running system (in production) sometimes remotely

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1

Downloading a new version from your project to a running system without stopping is possible if Automation studio does not need to do a restart (look for the red ! at the download window). However it not always a good idea to do this because it can result in Page fault in some rare cases.
For example changing something in a library and then downloading without a Rebuilt is not always without risks.
Are there any guidelines or do’s and don’ts out there ?

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Hi Davy,

There is this document on B&R Website : https://download.br-automation.com/BRP44400000000000000734338/TM231TRE.001-ENG_BR_Coding_Guidelines_V2000.pdf?px-hash=3afa924e8f77be215704bc70e747595a&px-time=1707749983

For my point of view, there is some point to take care when you transfer to a running system :

  1. Pointers, make sure they are refresh every cycle or protect them with semaphores.
  2. Variables scope, example Global variable write in multiple task at different cyclic.
  3. Import IECCheck library to avoid programming error, this library will stop the PLC when an error for pointers access, division per 0 …
  4. String manipulation, for example string concat can easily overflow if it’s not well define
  5. Communication protocols like OpcUa client need to be corretly handle in Exit routine, check in help for example :B&R Online Help
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Hello Davy,
We worked a lot during the last years on providing useful information about:

  • How to configure the transfer in AS (from AR >G4.33)
  • How to create a proper AS project & programming to avoid problems when updating it
  • How to know which changes would ask for a Warm Restart.

Long and accurate approach (in Spanish):
We wrote one guide and one Excel Sheet. We covered all the detailed and accurate information about the behaviour that AR and AS created in each situation.
Here you have both:
Guía Actualización Software AS4.4 V1.03.pdf (648.1 KB)
Guía Actualización Software AS4.4 - Anexo V1.03.xls.zip (14.2 KB)

Short approach (in Spanish):
We realized that those guides were too complex. Therefore, we decided to simplify both and provide clear guidelines depending on these 3 situations:

  • you cannot stop the machine
  • you cannot restart the machine
  • you may restart the machine
    In just 4 pages we were able to provide simple guidelines about the changes that you could do and the recommended settings in AS for the transfer. Here they are:
    Actualización de SW en Producción con Automation Studio.pdf (196.0 KB)

I hope that these may be useful for you.

Nice regards from Spain!
Luis Miguel Sainz Pena

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It would be nice to have an English version of the document.
Great job!

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