Introducing the Protect object

Purpose and use

A Protect object is a special digital object used to protect other objects in the configuration from unauthorized use. Once an object is protected, the rights defined for the current user in the User Administration program will determine which operations he can perform on the object.

When you create a new configuration, two objects related to user administration are predefined:

The PROTECT template
The Protect object

The PROTECT template

This special digital template contains the security levels associated with user administration. The template has the following states and commands:

Do not change the template name or the bit patterns. We recommend that you keep the state and command names, but they can be renamed. Do not copy the template. Only the original template will work.

State	Description	Command	Description
Unprotected	Means that there is currently no protection.	Open access	Sets the state to Unprotected.
Security level 1	Sets the Protect object to security level 1.	Set security level 1	Sets the state to Security level 1.
Security level 2	Sets the Protect object to security level 2.	Set security level 2	Sets the state to Security level 2.
Security level 3	Sets the Protect object to security level 3.	Set security level 3	Sets the state to Security level 3.
Security level 4	Sets the Protect object to security level 4.	Set security level 4	Sets the state to Security level 4.
Fully secured	Means that no object values can be changed at all.	Close access	Sets the state to Fully secured.

The Protect object

This predefined object is based on the PROTECT template. If required, the template can be used to define additional Protect objects. Click here for an example.

By default, the I/O mode for the object is set to Local. However, if you want to control the security level from the PLC, this is possible. Click here for details.

Protecting objects in Definition

Click here for a step-by-step procedure where you first protect the objects in Definition, then define the user rights in User Administration.