Installation Manual

Page 6
Converged Plantwide Ethernet and the Manufacturing Zone
In the design of the industrial Ethernet network, one of the critical elements is to ensure the separation
between the enterprise network and the Manufacturing Zone. In terms of the Purdue Reference Model,
this is the separation between Levels 0 to 3 and Levels 4 to 5. This separation is necessary because real-
time availability and security are the critical elements for the traffic in the Industrial Automation Control
System (IACS) network.
This approach permits the Manufacturing Zone to function entirely on its own, irrespective of the
connectivity status to the higher levels. As a best practice, it’s recommend that all manufacturing assets
required for the operation of the Manufacturing zone should remain there. These assets include factory
applications as well as services such as Active Directory, and DNS.
Within the Manufacturing Zone, resides the IACS network and potentially, elements of the Cell and Area
Zones. The Level 3 Site Operations layout includes virtual servers, security and network services, and a
robust physical layer that addresses the environmental, performance, and security challenges present
when deploying IT assets,(e.g., servers, storage arrays, and switching) in industrial settings.
Figure 2: CPwE Zone Diagram