NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet 21.5 Readme

January 2022

This file contains important information about NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet for Windows and LabVIEW Real-Time environment, including supported application software and hardware, installation instructions, and new features.

You can find more release information on ni.com.

Caution   The NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet 18.0 software or later requires the NI-9882 module with the updated firmware. When you upgrade your software to the 18.0 version or later, check the software version of the media shipped with your NI-9882 module. If the version is not 18.0 or later, or you are not sure of the version number, NI recommends that you update the firmware. Otherwise, when you use NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet 18.0 or later, firmware images corrupt or get mismatched. Ensure that you have appropriate hardware and software installed and complete the following task to update the firmware.
  • Double-click Firmware_Update_Instructions.html in the <National Instruments>\NI-IndCom for DeviceNet directory and follow the instructions to use a LabVIEW example project to update the firmware.

Overview

System Requirements

Installation Instructions

Product Security and Critical Updates

New Features

Accessing the Help

Finding Examples

Automating the Installation of NI Products

Compatibility with NI-DNET 1.x

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10

Legal Information


Overview

The NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet software provides the DeviceNet driver and VIs for you to configure and control DeviceNet devices on a DeviceNet network and to communicate with FPGA targets.

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems

NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet supports the following operating systems:

  • Windows 10
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2016

Note    NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet no longer supports Windows Vista/XP/7/8.1, Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, or any 32-bit Windows operating system. NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet 21.5 will not install or run on an unsupported OS. You cannot deploy or distribute applications that use NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet 21.5 to an unsupported OS. Additionally, after installing NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet 21.5 on a supported OS computer, you cannot create any installers containing any version of LabVIEW, LabWindows™/CVI™, NI TestStand™, or Measurement Studio for an unsupported OS computer.

For detailed information about NI operating system support, visit http://www.ni.com/r/win32bitsupport.

Supported Hardware and Software

Refer to KB 6CCA8MEG, Supported Hardware and Software for NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet, for a complete list of NI hardware and software supported by each version of the NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet.

The maximum number of devices you can connect to a DeviceNet interface depends on the electrical characteristics of the devices on the network. If all of the devices on the network meet the DeviceNet specifications, you may connect 64 devices to the network.

Caution  The NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet software does not support the previous generation of the DeviceNet hardware products such as NI PCI-DNET, NI PCMCIA-DNET, and NI PXI-8461/D. Those products require an NI-DNET 1.x driver.

Installation Instructions

Download the NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet installer from ni.com/downloads. NI software includes NI Package Manager to handle the installation. Refer to the NI Package Manager Manual for more information about installing, removing, and upgrading NI software using NI Package Manager.

Installing the Software on the RT Target

Complete the following steps to install the NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet software on the RT target in NI Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX):

  1. Expand Remote Systems in the configuration tree and expand the RT target.
  2. Select the Software category. Click the Add/Remove Software icon on the toolbar to launch the LabVIEW Real-Time Software Wizard.
  3. If the RT target is a CompactRIO controller, select the Custom software installation option.
  4. Select the NI-IndCom for DeviceNet item in the feature list and click the Next button.
  5. Follow the remaining installation instructions until installation is complete.

Product Security and Critical Updates

Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about NI products. For information about critical updates from NI, refer to Available Critical and Security Updates for NI Software.

New Features

DeviceNet 21.5

  • Added support for LabVIEW 2021 (32-bit) and LabVIEW 2021 Real-Time Module.
  • Added support for PXI and PXIe controllers with NI Linux RealTime through .ipk installation

DeviceNet 20.0

  • Added support for LabVIEW 2020 (32-bit) and LabVIEW 2020 Real-Time Module.

DeviceNet 19.0

  • Added support for LabVIEW 2019 (32-bit) and LabVIEW 2019 Real-Time Module.

DeviceNet 18.0

  • Added support for LabVIEW 2018 (32-bit) and LabVIEW 2018 Real-Time Module.
  • Removed support for FPGA VIs.
  • Added support for cRIO-904x/905x.
  • Updated the firmware upgrade tool for NI 9882.

Accessing the Help

Refer to the NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet Help, accessible by selecting Help»NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet in LabVIEW, for information about using the NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet software.

Finding Examples

Select Help»Find Examples from LabVIEW to launch the NI Example Finder. LabVIEW examples for the NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet software are in the labview\examples\NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet folder. You can modify an example VI to fit an application, or you can copy and paste from one or more examples into a VI that you create.

Compatibility with NI-DNET 1.x

NI-Industrial Communications for DeviceNet 2.1 or later is not an update for NI-DNET 1.x and the two products can be installed on the same system side by side. DeviceNet 2.1 or later provides NI-DNET 1.x compatible VIs, so the application using NI-DNET 1.x VIs can work with DeviceNet 2.1 or later on PCI-8532, PXI-8532 and NI 9882 with very limited code change.

Automating the Installation of NI Products

You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes.

If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.6.2, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.6.2 separately before you install NI software.

For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to Automating an Installer in the NI Package Manager manual.

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10

Microsoft Windows 10 is the latest version of the Windows operating system and features significant changes compared to previous versions. Windows 10 introduces several new capabilities and also combines features from both Windows 7 and Windows 8. For more information about NI support for Windows 10, visit ni.com/windows10.


Legal Information

Copyright

© 2009–2022 National Instruments Corporation. All rights reserved.

Under the copyright laws, this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storing in an information retrieval system, or translating, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of National Instruments Corporation.

NI respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. NI software is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Where NI software may be used to reproduce software or other materials belonging to others, you may use NI software only to reproduce materials that you may reproduce in accordance with the terms of any applicable license or other legal restriction.

End-User License Agreements and Third-Party Legal Notices

You can find end-user license agreements (EULAs) and third-party legal notices in the following locations after installation:

  • Notices are located in the <National Instruments>\_Legal Information and <National Instruments> directories.
  • EULAs are located in the <National Instruments>\Shared\MDF\Legal\license directory.
  • Review <National Instruments>\_Legal Information.txt for information on including legal information in installers built with NI products.

U.S. Government Restricted Rights

If you are an agency, department, or other entity of the United States Government ("Government"), the use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure or transfer of the technical data included in this manual is governed by the Restricted Rights provisions under Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.227-14 for civilian agencies and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Section 252.227-7014 and 252.227-7015 for military agencies.

IVI Foundation Copyright Notice

Content from the IVI specifications reproduced with permission from the IVI Foundation.

The IVI Foundation and its member companies make no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The IVI Foundation and its member companies shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

Trademarks

Refer to the NI Trademarks and Logo Guidelines at ni.com/trademarks for information on NI trademarks. Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.

Members of the NI Alliance Partner Program are business entities independent from NI and have no agency, partnership, or joint-venture relationship with NI.

Patents

For patents covering the NI products/technology, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or the NI Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.

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