Introduction The Mitsubishi FX5U (aka iQ-F) Programmable Logic Controller takes all the Mitsubishi goodness of simplicity and backwards compatibility then adds a wealth of connectivity options with its built-in Ethernet port. These include a basic graphical Web Server, FTP Server, MODBUS/TCP and SLMP (aka MC Protocol) drivers. Example of Web Page served up by the FX5U The Mitsubishi User Web Page Design Tool is the software app that you can use to quickly develop out the Web Server aspect of the PLC, to include web pages, user access control, and direct monitoring and control of PLC values. All the heavy lifting of CGI, JavaScript, Web Controls and CSS are done for you with this app. This guide serves as an introduction to the tool, basic settings and procedures, with the intention to get the simplest web page up and running from your FX5U PLC. Software Your hurdle is actually discovering the tool exists (helping you with that here!) ...and then getting a copy. It's actually free s

Preamble OpenVPN is an open source project to provide Virtual Private Networking connections between clients and remote networks via the Internet (as an example). There are many use cases for VPN, today though we'll look at using VPN to connect a remote engineers laptop/PC to a site LAN for the specific purpose of remote monitoring and control using Mitsubishi tools such as GX Works and GT Designer, which is a mode I refer to as "device mode". An example of a VPN in “ device mode ”… Devices on both ends of the tunnel will be as though on the same network. Note! If OpenVPN is built into your device, as in this case a TP-Link ER605 VPN Router, then it can be used for free, and in conjunction with the remote client also using the free OpenVPN Connect app. Requirements There are three aspects to creating a VPN solution… Establish a VPN Server (whether home with hardware or a cloud service) Download and install a VPN Client for the required operating system/device Utilise a