SD cards

In this topic you see the main features and compatibility of the available SD cards for PLCnext Control devices.

These SD cards come with an underlying file system, which is necessary for proper operation in PLCnext Technology. Do not use other SD cards available on the market, nor reformat a Phoenix Contact SD card you want to use with your PLCnext Control further on.

Note: In the following cases, all LEDs except the D and E LEDs begin to flash red (1 Hz):

Unauthorized removal of the SD card during operation
Invalid SD card license
Enabled write protection on the inserted SD card
In case of the 32 GB SD card: firmware release on the controller is pre-2022.0 LTS

Regular SD cards

Program and configuration memory for storing the application programs and other files in the file system of the PLC:

SD FLASH 2GB PLCNEXT MEMORY (item no. 1043501)
SD FLASH 8GB PLCNEXT MEMORY (item no. 1061701)

LIC SD cards

Note: Only from firmware release 2022.0 LTS or newer.

Program and configuration memory for storing the application programs, other files, and licenses in the file system of the PLC:

SD FLASH 8GB PLCNEXT MEMORY LIC (item no. 1151112)
SD FLASH 32GB PLCNEXT MEMORY LIC (item no. 1151111)

Note:

Known for all firmware versions on RFC 4072S:

LIC SD cards SD FLASH 8GB PLCNEXT MEMORY LIC (item no. 1151112) and SD FLASH 32GB PLCNEXT MEMORY LIC (item no. 1151111) are only supported from firmware release 2022.0 LTS or newer (see LIC SD cards for further information).

If you use a LIC SD card with your controller and perform a reset to default setting type 2, the firmware version of the delivery state that is activated by this reset might not support the LIC SD card. Updating to a higher firmware version is then no longer possible.

In this case, proceed as follows:

Connect to the controller, e.g. via WinSCP (see Connecting to the controller)
Upload the firmware container to /var/volatile/tmp. The folder is located in the RAM of the controller and has about 4 GB free memory.
Perform an update with the following command via SSH console:
rauc install /var/volatile/tmp/<updatecontainer>.raucb
↪ The update is executed.

Partitions on LIC SD cards

LIC SD cards produced up to February 2023:

Partition	Label	Filesystem	Mount point	Available amount of data space	Usage
Partition 1	system	EXT4	/media/card/system	53 MB	License container storage
Partition 2	overlay	EXT4	/media/rfs/rw (Overlay file system)	8 GB SD card: ~1.8 GB 32 GB SD card: ~3.7 GB	Overlay file system
Partition 3	user_ext	EXT4	/media/card/userdir	8 GB SD card: ~5.1 GB 32 GB SD card: ~24 GB	Additional storage (e.g. Docker engine/containers in order to store persistent data or any other customer's application-related data)

LIC SD cards produced from March 2023:

Partition	Label	Filesystem	Mount point	Available amount of data space	Usage
Partition 1	system	EXT4	/media/card/system	64 MB	License container storage
Partition 2	overlay	EXT4	/media/rfs/rw (Overlay file system)	8 GB SD card: ~7.5 GB 32 GB SD card: ~29.7 GB	Overlay file system

Binding licenses to the LIC SD card

The licenses for function blocks, firmware functions or apps can be bound to a LIC SD card. This considerably simplifies a device exchange for the user. See next section for details. Previously, the binding of licenses was only possible to the device.

The binding of licenses to the LIC SD cards is supported as follows:

as of firmware 2021.9 of the AXC F 1152, AXC F 2152, and AXC F 3152 controllers
as of firmware 2022.0 LTS of the RFC 4072S controller

The licenses can be transferred to the SD card by means of the "offline activation" procedure via the WBM page License Management or via the PLCnext Store interface. In both cases, the SD card must be inserted in the controller.

Find more information on how to transfer licenses to the SD card:

in the License Management topic in this Info Center for transferring via WBM
in the PLCnext Store Info Center for transferring via PLCnext Store interface

Exchanging devices with licenses bound to an SD card

To transfer the licenses on an SD card from one device to another, proceed as follows:

Transfer licenses to an SD card
1. Ensure that the support of an external SD card is activated in the WBM on both devices (see SD Card Settings ).
2. Make sure that you use a LIC SD card (see the item list).
3. Bind your licenses to the SD card.
4. Transfer licenses already bound to the controller to the SD card by unbinding them from the controller and creating a new license binding to the SD card. For more information on the procedure, see section Offline Activation.
Exchange an SD card between devices
Note: Insert and remove the SD card only when the controller's supply voltage is disconnected. An SD card needs to be recognized during the initialization phase of the controller. If you insert the SD card during operation, the SD card will not be recognized.
1. Disconnect the supply voltage at both controllers in question.
2. Remove the SD card from the device and insert it to the other device.
3. Reconnect the controller's supply voltage at both controllers.
  ↪ The SD card with the licenses and further data will be recognized during the initialization phase of the controller.