ProLink FAQs and HowTos: General

The modules are connected via Ethernet, using the network sockets on top of the devices (internal network). This is a private network, with a different IP address range than the one used for the front socket (external network) of the CPU module. Do not mix these two networks.

Yes, Schaeffler offers various training options for ProLink. More information on this can be found here.

No.

Yes, ProLink can be configured to send emails when certain events occur. For this, check the manual.

This is not recommended, as the front network socket is not designed for real-time communication and may introduce latency and jitter into the fieldbus network. The front network socket is intended for general Ethernet communication, such as connecting to a local network or the internet and may not meet the requirements of a PROFINET or EtherNet/IP network, where real time operation is usually required. The following picture shows an example of a network connection we don’t recommend:

Yes, you can copy measurement configurations from one product to another. For this, the product has to have the same hardware configuration, i.e. the same number and type of modules. You can download a configuration from one product via SmartWeb (File -> Save device configuration) and apply it to the next product (File -> Upload device configuration). The same can be achieved using the SmartUtility (Light) software, by downloading the configuration (More actions -> Download configurations) and uploading it to the next device(s) (More actions -> Upload configurations).

The internal ProLink communication between each module is done with standard ethernet cables. The uplink cable has to be able to transfer at least 100Mb/s. The maximum cable length is 100 meters. So yes: it is possible to install a ProLink module away from the cabinet.

Doing so can reduce the cabling cost, since this allows the user to install the ProLink module close to the position of the sensors, which can be far away from the cabinet.

The ProLink modules are connected via Ethernet, using the internal network switch in each module. However, there might be situations where you want to use an external network switch to connect multiple modules together, e.g. when the modules are far apart. This switch must support the precision time protocol (PTP, IEEE 1588v2).

No, ProLink does not support Power over Ethernet (PoE) according to the IEEE 802.3af Mode A standard. The use of a separate power supply is required to power the device, and the Ethernet cable is only used for data transmission.

The modules of ProLink can be connected in any position and in any order. The order in the cabinet might not match the order of the modules in SmartWeb, but this does not affect the functionality. In SmartWeb, the modules are ordered alphabetically by their names, which are by default the serial numbers / MAC addresses of the modules. You can change the name of the modules in SmartWeb.

SmartWeb and SmartUtility Light are included in the scope of supply. SmartUtility is a separate purchase. This is needed for data analysis. A 60-days test version is available free of charge.

When you have multiple modules installed in your ProLink cabinet it can be difficult to identify which physical module corresponds to which module in the SmartWeb interface. You can look at the serial number of each module (printed on the label on the side), but this can be difficult or impossible when the modules are installed in a cabinet or rack.

To help with this, each module has an “identify” function that you can use to make the module’s I/O LEDs blink, making it easy to locate. To do this, click on the green square of the module you want to identify in the SmartWeb interface (on the status screen or the input or output configuration screen). This will start the “identify”-mode.

See the manual for more information.

When a module has to be replaced, for example because it is defective, the following procedure has to be followed to ensure that the measurement jobs will continue to work as before the replacement, i.e. the assigned inputs and outputs in the measurement job are not changed.

Beware: you cannot exchange a module without losing the measurement data on the device.

• Download configuration and measurement data via SmartWeb or SmartUtility to have a backup of the current configuration
• Power off the ProLink device
• Disconnect all cables connected to the module to be replaced, build in the new module and reconnect all cables
• Power on the ProLink device
• Wait for the SmartWeb to be loaded and both the old (greyed out) and the new module (normal) are displayed on the status page
• Reload the SmartWeb page, since the automatic refresh might not have detected the new module
• Delete the greyed-out module (Configuration -> Input configurations -> Select the greyed out module -> Delete)
• Replay the previously downloaded configuration via SmartWeb or SmartUtility

Replace 2 modules at once:

• In this case the software has to decide, which new module will replace which old module. In this case the new module with the lower serial number will replace the module with the alphabetically lower module name (or serial number if the name was not changed)

See the manual for more information.

For the configuration of the ProLink, an internet browser is needed, which connects to the device’s SmartWeb via Ethernet. For the data handling, also SmartUtility can be used.

When you have a problem with the ProLink device and think that this might be a bug in the software, then we highly appreciate you to report this to us, so we can investigate and improve the ProLink firmware. On the top of this page, you find the link to our technical support.

When you contact us, it really helps us when you provide the following information, depending on the use case:

• Type and serial number of the device, i.e. mac address, printed on the label of the device.
• Hardware configuration.
• Connections to the outside world, e.g. is there a network connection, which protocols are used, which external signals are connected to the device, etc.
• Version number of the components involved, e.g. firmware version number of the ProLink firmware, software version of SmartUtility, if it is involved, etc. In the firmware, the version numbers are all listed in SmartWeb in the menu under Help –> Version information. This table can be copied as text and then pasted into an email or support form.

When the support requests more information, it is helpful to provide for example log files of the ProLink device, which can be analysed by the support team and the developers to investigate the problem. There are 2 ways of downloading them:

• While in SmartWeb, change the URL in the browser to /debug_info.scr and press .
• Open the maintenance system of the ProLink device, e.g. restarting the device and reloading the browser several times until the maintenance system is shown. Then enter the maintenance system by clicking on the icon and then click on the icon “Download debug log files”, then click on the symbol.

Both will download an encrypted package of all log files in the system, which can only be unpacked by Schaeffler support and R&D to investigate the issue. Some virus scanners will not allow this file type to be sent. In this case, either use a shared drive like OneDrive or Google Drive to send the file, or just rename the extension from .scr to .txt. Since the file is an encrypted .tar.gz file, and only contains log files in text form, this poses no security risk to anyone.

The device can get its IP address in one of three ways:

1. Automatically from a DHCP server on your network.
2. If set to DHCP, but no DHCP server is found, it will assign itself the default address of 192.168.1.100.
3. Manually assigned by you.

If you do not know the IP address of your device, you can try the following methods to find it:

• Use the SmartUtility (Light) software, which can scan your network and find the device. This uses a UDP broadcast to locate the device. On modern company-managed computers, this might not be allowed due to firewall settings. Then SmartUtility will not find any device. But even if the firewall allows the broadcast, it might not find the device if is on a different network section. Network switches might block broadcasts between different sections.
• Check your DHCP server’s client list to see if the device has been assigned an IP address.
• Try the default IP address of 192.168.1.100.

If these measures do not work, it will become much more difficult to find the device. You might need to log the network traffic in the hope that the device is configured to access external network resources. In this case it makes sense to use a network sniffer tool like Wireshark to log all network traffic and then filter for the MAC address of the device. The MAC address is printed on a label on the device. Or if you know that devices in your network are usually configured to a certain IP range, you can write a script to ping all addresses in that range and see which ones respond.

There are three ways to find the MAC address:

1. You’ll find a label on the device itself.
2. With Smartweb (Help -> Version information -> Serial number)
3. In SmartUtility, when you search for devices

The MAC address is equal to the serial number of the device.

ProLink offers several features that require secure, encrypted communication. The following protocols and features in ProLink use certificates:

• OPTIME: ProLink uses TLS for secure communication with the OPTIME cloud platform. This certificate is automatically installed during onboarding to OPTIME.
• MQTT: ProLink can use TLS for secure MQTT communication with an MQTT broker.
• HTTPS: ProLink’s SmartWeb interface and the status webservice use HTTPS for secure communication.
• OPC UA: ProLink can use TLS for secure OPC UA communication with an OPC UA client.

MQTT

MQTT uses its own certificates for secure communication. To use your own certificates for MQTT, you will need to import them into the device. For each MQTT-connection, you can add your own set of certificates. In SmartWeb, select the configuration screen, select Communication Channels -> Add -> MQTT and enter the data on the first configuration screen. Then click next to the following configuration screen:

Here you can upload the following:

HTTPS and OPC UA

HTTPS and OPC UA share the same SSL certificate for secure communication. By default, a self-signed certificate is installed in the factory to be used by HTTPS and OPC UA communication. However, you can also use your own TLS certificate, such as one issued by a trusted certificate authority (CA), to enhance security and ensure that your communication is trusted by clients.

To use your own certificate, you will need to import it into the device. For this, reboot into the maintenance system (in SmartWeb, click on Help -> Select device restart -> Start the device’s Maintenance System). Then enter the maintenance system, click on “Adjust system settings” and then on “Replace server certificate (PEM)”. Details on this can be found in the user manual

When using this certificate also for OPC UA, on creation of the certificate, you need to set the following “alternative subject”: “URI:urn:schaeffler:cms”

IMPORTANT: ProLink currently only supports RSA certificates. DSA or elliptic curve are not supported.

In the uploaded file, both the certificate and the private key must be included in PEM format. Both can be copied in the same file, with the private key first, followed by the certificate. An example of the file content is shown below:

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED
DEK-Info: DES-EDE3-CBC,393D6554E99EFEB5

/QpMuOG+p2uQbqVLei0D/r7wwj2nwWkkXmOfyCdyfwTDeL0g81IPcU7RBeDKNRJU
...
W3iwnw/HPgWPgJfevjq1nxXYxBzU1KpASviFPOkuZMXqZQlJTEjNucnRnW3GpUoU
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIFRjCCBC6gAwIBAgIUK9rNTCqxyJnxTR/qIiuxKotcwv8wDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEL
...

d3vOixcfSyFUdyEtyFB9TLHIszP8eYgKVtS9yT9PinGLvYSlSgVz6Qt5fmRe348K
2g4qFFBMXM5kdA==
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

For as long as there is free memory available, all measurement data is stored in the internal flash memory of the ProLink device. When there is only 5MB of free memory left, the system starts to delete the oldest measurement data to free up space for new data. But is does this in an intelligent manner, by removing single measurement points from historical data, for example by removing hourly measurements and keep only one measurement per day. The longer back in history, the fewer data points are kept. This way, the system can store data for a very long time, even with limited memory.

SmartUtility Light can download data and configurations, as well as upload configurations.

The ProLink device has an internal clock, which can drift over time, since its accuracy is depending on many factors like the temperature for example. Additionally, the system time can be off after a power-down of the system. To always have the correct time on the device, it can use a time-server using the network time protocol (NTP). See the manual on how to configure this. Aks your IT department for the address of this server.

ProLink stores all configurations directly in non-volatile memory. Measured data is cached for up to 5 minutes before it is written to non-volatile memory, so the worst case is that measurement data of the last 5 minutes may be lost in case of a power loss. The internal real time clock (RTC) of the ProLink device is buffered by a capacitor for a duration of approximately 2 weeks if the ProLink device is not powered by a power supply. When the power is lost for more than 2 weeks, the internal RTC will reset to the last time of any event stored in the non-volatile memory, e.g. the last time a measurement was stored. This may lead to incorrect timestamps for measurements after the power loss, until the RTC is synchronized again, e.g. via NTP or by setting the device manually to the correct time.

The measurements will continue as soon as the power supply is restored, and the ProLink will automatically reconnect to the network and to the configured data exchange targets.

If you use “Restore factory default settings”, no changes will be made to your own network settings. This is to prevent losing the network connection to the device.

The firmware of the ProLink device is improved over time. Certainly it is a valid strategy not to update the firmware of the ProLink device in the field. Never change a running system, right? However, updating has several benefits:

1. New features can greatly improve the benefit of the device, for example with new analysis methods or more configuration possibilities.
2. As with any complex software, also the firmware of the ProLink device contains bugs which slipped the quality assurance measures before the release of a new version. In new firmware versions, bugs which are found internally or reported by customers are fixed.
3. The firmware can have IT security issues, which will be fixed after they are reported, for example in the open-source components used in the firmware. More information on this can be found in the on IT security information document on this page.

Updates are always published on this page. For each new firmware version, we also provide the release notes, which explain in detail which changes were made to the firmware.

If you are using the SmartUtility software software or SmartUtility Light software software on your PC, you will be informed automatically whenever a new firmware version for your devices is available.