CIP / EtherNet/IP Suite

The Problem

#

Allen-Bradley PLCs dominate North American manufacturing — but integrating them with modern edge and IoT platforms means dealing with the CIP protocol stack, legacy PCCC addressing for older PLCs, and a completely different programming model than Siemens or OPC-UA. Existing Node-RED solutions cover only basic tag reads, leaving out legacy hardware, raw CIP access, I/O scanning, and advanced objects like motion and energy.

The Solution

#

A comprehensive Node-RED package for EtherNet/IP that covers the full range of Rockwell Automation hardware — from modern ControlLogix and CompactLogix to legacy SLC 500, MicroLogix, and PLC-5 — plus raw CIP access for any EtherNet/IP device.

blanpa/node-red-contrib-cip-suite

node-red-contrib-cip-suite

TypeScript

0

0

Supported Hardware

#

Core CIP Nodes

#

8 nodes for modern Logix controllers:

• cip-endpoint — Shared TCP session with auto-reconnect and multi-hop routing
• cip-read — Read tags with bit access, array elements, ranges, and batch operations
• cip-write — Write tags with atomic bit operations and partial UDT merging
• cip-browse — Tag discovery with glob/regex filtering and program-scoped tags
• cip-subscribe — Cyclic multi-tag scanning with deadband filtering
• cip-controller — Read identity, mode, faults; execute runtime commands
• cip-raw — Send raw CIP service requests with Multiple Service Packet support
• cip-discover — UDP broadcast for network device discovery

Legacy PCCC Nodes

#

3 nodes for SLC 500, MicroLogix, and PLC-5:

• cip-pccc-endpoint — Raw TCP session with PCCC encapsulation
• cip-pccc-read — Read PCCC addresses (N7:0, F8:0, B3:0/5, T4:0.ACC)
• cip-pccc-write — Write with bit-level read-modify-write support

Advanced CIP Object Nodes

#

8 nodes for specialized CIP objects:

• cip-io-scanner — Implicit I/O via ForwardOpen + UDP for cyclic exchange
• cip-security — TLS/DTLS status and security profiles (Class 0x5D)
• cip-sync — IEEE 1588 PTP time synchronization (Class 0x43)
• cip-motion — Motion Axis: jog, move, home, stop, enable/disable (Class 0x42)
• cip-energy — Power/energy monitoring and electrical measurements (Class 0x4F/0x4E)
• cip-file — Firmware upload/download with fragmented transfer (Class 0x37)
• cip-param — Device parameterization with discovery scan (Class 0x0F)

Tag Addressing

#

CIP Symbolic (Logix)

#

MyTag              → Simple tag
MyDint.5           → Bit access
MyArray[3]         → Array element
MyArray[0..9]      → Array range
Program:Main.Tag   → Program-scoped

PCCC (SLC/MLX/PLC-5)

#

N7:0      → Integer       T4:0.ACC  → Timer accumulator
F8:5      → Float         C5:0.ACC  → Counter accumulator
B3:0/5    → Bit           O:0/3     → Output
S:1/5     → Status        I:1/0     → Input

Docker Simulation Environment

#

Multi-profile PLC simulator for development and testing:

Reliability

#

• Auto-reconnect with configurable intervals
• Backpressure protection — skips requests while one is in-flight
• Atomic bit operations via CIP Read-Modify-Write (0x4E)
• Connection metrics (response times, error counts, uptime)
• Admin HTTP endpoints for tag browsing and diagnostics