Additional Setup Instructions for

Modbus: RTU, ASCII, TCP, Omni &

Enron

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 Table of Contents

Setup Instructions for Modbus RTU, ASCII, TCP, Omni, and Enron _______________________________ 1
Setup for Modbus RTU and ASCII _______________________________________________________ 1
Setup for Modbus TCP _______________________________________________________________ 2
Modbus Register Display Format Settings ________________________________________________ 3
Register Display Settings _____________________________________________________________ 3
Default Display Format_Bits_________________________________________________________ 3
Station Address __________________________________________________________________ 3
Register Type ____________________________________________________________________ 3
Bytes Per Register ________________________________________________________________ 4
Register Start Address _____________________________________________________________ 4
Display Format_Bits _______________________________________________________________ 4
Length __________________________________________________________________________ 4
Example ________________________________________________________________________ 4
Setup for Modbus Omni ______________________________________________________________ 5
Setup for Modbus Enron _____________________________________________________________ 7

Table of Figures
Figure 1 Modbus Cable Connection Diagram ............................................................................................... 1
Figure 4 ‐ Omni.............................................................................................................................................. 5
Figure 5 ‐ Load Register Display Settings for Modbus‐Omni ........................................................................ 6
Figure 2 ‐ Enron ............................................................................................................................................. 7
Figure 3 ‐ Load Register Display Settings for Modbus‐Enron ....................................................................... 8

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SETUP INSTRUCTIONS FOR MODBUS RTU, ASCII, TCP, OMNI, AND ENRON

Setup for Modbus RTU and ASCII

Modbus ASCII and Modbus RTU protocols have three selections on the launcher menu. The appropriate
selection depends upon physical characteristics of your network.
If your system is running over a physical layer that is 2‐Wire RS‐422/485, select either the Modbus RTU
on 2Wire RS422/485 or the Modbus ASCII on 2‐Wire RS422/485, depending upon which protocol your
system is using. In this case there are no special wire‐tapping instructions. If your system is not a 2‐wire
RS422/485 system, you must select the correct launcher item based upon the following information.
There are two decodes for Modbus RTU: Modbus RTU Master and Modbus RTU Slave. Similarly, there
are two decodes for Modbus ASCII: Modbus ASCII Master and Modbus ASCII Slave. The Master and
Slave refer to where in the circuit NetDecoder is connected. The rest of this topic will simply refer to
Modbus Master or Modbus Slave, as the principles are the same.
Modbus Master assumes that data from the Master is on the DTE side (i.e. master data is on the TxD pin
and slave data on the RxD pin). If NetDecoder is connected to a Master device, choose the Modbus
Master decode.
Modbus Slave assumes that data from the slave is on the DTE side (i.e. slave data is on the TxD pin and
master data on the RxD pin). If NetDecoder is connected to any Slave device, choose the Modbus Slave
decode.
The diagram below illustrates conceptually which decoder to choose. Your configuration may be
different from the diagram. The important thing is to choose Modbus Master if the master data is on
the transmit line, or Modbus Slave if the slave data is on the transmit line.
Once you have selected the correct protocol, be sure to set the Register Display Settings so your data is
decoded correctly. See the section titled Modbus Register Display Format Settings below for
information.

Figure 1 Modbus Cable Connection Diagram

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Setup for Modbus TCP
Generally, Modbus conversations tend to be between just two devices and it’s easy to define Master
and Slave. On more complex TCP networks, the relationship can be less certain. It is possible for a
device to function as both Master and Slave. It is certainly possible to have more than two devices in a
Modbus TCP conversation.
NetDecoder uses two methods to determine whether a frame is from a Master or a Slave. If an IP
address is explicitly defined then NetDecoder will always decode frames that way. If an IP address is not
defined then NetDecoder will still make an attempt. The first time it encounters the combination of IP
Address+Transaction ID+Modbus Function Code, it will assume that it came from a Master. When it
sees that same combination again, the decoder will assume that it came from a Slave. For this method
to work, Modbus TCP transaction IDs must be unique.
To explicitly define an IP Address as Master or Slave, follow the steps below to enter this information
into NetDecoder.
1. Start NetDecoder. Choose NetDecoder from Start | Programs | Frontline NetDecoder [version#]
| Frontline NetDecoder | Frontline NetDecoder. Then from the Choose Protocol to Analyze
dialog, expand the Modbus folder, select the Modbus TCP icon, and click the Run button. Then
choose Set Initial Decoder Parameters from the Options menu on the Control window and select
the Modbus TCP tab.
2. Enter the IP Address of the Master in the IP Address box.
3. In the Node Type box, select Master.
4. Click Add.
5. Enter the IP Address of a Slave in the IP Address box.
6. In the Node Type box, select Slave.
7. Click Add.
8. Repeat for each additional Slave.
9. When finished, click OK.
10. Set the Register Display Format Settings below.
That's all the information NetDecoder needs. You can fill in the rest of the information if you choose,
but it isn't required. When you start NetDecoder, Modbus TCP frames should be correctly decoded
depending on whether their type is Master or Slave. Follow the above steps to add or delete nodes as
needed.
You can include nodes for more than one location. For example, if you have 3 sites, each with a Master
and Slaves, you can include the IP Addresses for all 3 sites in one node file.

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Modbus Register Display Format Settings
Modbus protocol messages do not provide data formatting information but simply transmit holding and
input registers as byte streams. The Modbus Register Display Settings dialog provides a method for
users to define display formats to be utilized when displaying the values in these registers.
To access this dialog, go to the Options menu on the Control window and choose Set Initial Decoder
Parameters, and select the Modbus tab.
To add a new entry, fill in the fields and click the Add button.
Double‐clicking a setting copies its values to the input fields.
To replace a setting with a new setting created from the input fields, click the setting to replace and
then click the Modify button.
When you close a capture file, you will be asked whether you want to save the current register settings
into it. To save settings independent of a specific capture file, type any string in the "Apply Template"
field and click Save. To restore those settings to the dialog, select the desired setting in the "Apply
Template" dropdown list.
New settings will not take effect in a currently opened capture file until the frame display is closed and
then reopened.

Register Display Settings

Default Display Format_Bits

This field specifies the default display format for registers that have no user defined setting (such
registers are always assumed to be 2 bytes long). The default display format is limited to single‐register
display formats to prevent implicit register range overlap and to ensure that explicitly defining a setting
in which one display format item uses multiple registers does not change the locations of subsequent
default settings.

Station Address

The IP Address or Station Address field (its name changes to reflect the loaded decoder) is used to enter
the desired IP or station address for each setting. Enter an asterisk to specify that a setting applies to all
IP or station addresses. Station address ranges are from 0 to 248 and IP address ranges can be any valid
IP Address.

Register Type

The Register Type field specifies the type of register, either HOLDING or INPUT.

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Bytes Per Register

This field will default to 2, indicating that standard Modicon registers are 2 bytes each. If you are
dealing with a third party implementation of Modbus, you may need to adjust this field to reflect the
actual number of bytes in a single register.

Register Start Address

Enter the address of the first register you want to specify settings for.

Display Format_Bits

The Display Format_Bits field specifies the desired display format. Display formats ASCII and HEX are
variable‐length and display a char or hex byte respectively for each byte in a register. The other display
formats (INT_16, FLOAT_32, etc) have a bit count suffix in their names and use as many registers as they
need, based on the bytes per register field. Choose a format for the specified register range.

Length

This field is the desired number of data items (e.g. INT_32s), not the number of registers. The number
of registers will be calculated and displayed in the text description.

Example

If you want to specify Station 3's input registers 0‐99 as INT_16s, you would enter 3 for the Station
Address, INPUT for the Register Type, 0 for the Start Address, 2 for Bytes Per Register, INT_16 for the
Display Format and 100 for the Length, indicating that you have 100 INT_16s starting at Input Register
Address 0 where each register is 2 bytes long.

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Setup for Modbus Omni
As discussed in Section 1.3, Modbus protocol messages do not provide data formatting information but
simply transmit holding and input registers as byte streams. The Modbus‐Omni standard defines a
particular display format for the values in the registers. To make it easy for the end‐users, Frontline
provides a predefined template that users can load while monitoring Modbus‐Omni networks.

The Modbus Register Display Settings dialog provides a method for users to load the Modbus‐Omni
template.

1. To access this dialog, go to the Options menu on the Control window and choose Set Initial
Decoder Parameters.

2. Select the Modbus tab.

The File Open icon should now be enabled.

3. Click on it and select Omni.

Figure 2 ‐ Omni

This should load up the register display settings for Modbus‐Omni standard.

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 Figure 3 ‐ Load Register Display Settings for Modbus‐Omni

4. Click OK and continue with your data capture and analysis.

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Setup for Modbus Enron
As discussed in Section 1.3, Modbus protocol messages do not provide data formatting information but
simply transmit holding and input registers as byte streams. The Modbus‐Enron standard defines a
particular display format for the values in the registers. To make it easy for the end‐users, Frontline
provides a predefined template that users can load while monitoring Modbus‐Enron networks.

The Modbus Register Display Settings dialog provides a method for users to load the Modbus‐Enron
template.

1. To access this dialog, go to the Options menu on the Control window and choose Set Initial
Decoder Parameters.

2. Select the Modbus tab.

The File Open icon should now be enabled.

3. Click on it and select Enron.

Figure 4 ‐ Enron

This should load up the register display settings for Modbus‐Enron standard.

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 Figure 5 ‐ Load Register Display Settings for Modbus‐Enron

4. Click OK and continue with your data capture and analysis.

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