Yes, you can move CF2 log files over Ethernet without touching the card. Enable FTP Server Service in the project's Touch Panel Network settings, download the updated project, open the panel's FTP address with an FTP client on port 21, copy the logs, and delete files on the card only after the PC copies open and read correctly.
The CF2 card in an HMI panel does not have to come out to hand over its logs. Over the panel's Ethernet connection, the card's files can be served by FTP, copied to a PC, and cleared afterwards, with the panel running the whole time. The switch that allows it lives in the project. Until FTP Server Service is enabled in the Touch Panel Network settings and the edited project is downloaded to the panel again, an FTP client sees nothing. This page walks through the full job: enabling the service, connecting to the panel, finding the log files, verifying the copies, and clearing the card safely. It ends with the order of checks that separates a transfer problem from a logging problem, so you do not power a working panel down for nothing.
Can you pull CF2 log files over Ethernet without pulling the card?
Yes: enable FTP Server Service under the project's Touch Panel Network settings, download the updated project to the panel, and open the panel's FTP address, ftp:// followed by its IP, on port 21, the default FTP port, with a desktop FTP client. The card never leaves the panel. The Ethernet cable and a reachable address do not open the card by themselves. The service has to be part of the running project, which is why the edit-and-download step comes first. The old trick of typing the ftp:// address into a web browser no longer works on current desktop machines: the major browsers removed FTP support during 2021, so plan on a desktop FTP client for this job.
What do you need before you start?
Four things: a PC with a desktop FTP client, the panel's configured IP address read from its network settings, access to the project file in the panel's configuration software, and a download route to the panel, whether that is the same Ethernet network or a service cable.
The FTP address is the panel's ordinary address: take ftp://, the panel's four numbers, and a trailing slash, and change nothing else. Read the address from the panel instead of guessing it, because a wrong address simply times out and tells you nothing about the FTP service. If the panel or its software is undocumented on your side, ask whoever commissioned the machine for the address and the project file before you touch anything.
How do you turn the FTP server on in the panel project?
The setting is FTP Server Service, and it lives in the Touch Panel Network group of the project's configuration software; enabling it on the PC changes nothing until the edited project is downloaded to the panel again.
- Open the project in the panel's configuration software on your PC.
- Open the Touch Panel Network settings group and enable FTP Server Service.
- If the project holds recipes, back them up before the download, as covered in backing up HMI recipe files before a project download.
- Download the edited project to the panel and let it restart into the updated project.
- Note the panel's IP address from the same network settings group; you need it in the next step.
On some panel families the FTP server is switched on from the panel's own terminal settings menus rather than in the project. When the project software shows no such setting, the panel's manual names the screen and its labels; check there before concluding the panel cannot serve files.
How do you connect to the panel from a PC?
Point an FTP client at the panel's own address: ftp://192.0.2.50/ is an example address only, so substitute the four numbers your panel shows. The client connects on the FTP default port unless you change it. A working connection answers with the panel's memory locations offered as folders. Browse into the storage area that holds the logs. If the client asks for a username and password, those come from whoever commissioned the panel; the FAQ below covers the lost-login case. Some panels also serve the same files through a web server, and a walkthrough of trend and alarm log files over FTP and the panel's web server shows both routes side by side.
Which files on the CF2 card are the logs?
The files are the ones the project's logging configuration creates: their names, folders and update times follow that configuration, so identify them by a recent timestamp and by opening one, never by position in the folder. Confirm a file is a log by its timestamp and its contents, and treat anything else in the folder as off limits. If the folder holds no new files, fix logging before transfer, because there is nothing to move yet. An alarm history only exists when logging was switched on, which is why an HMI alarm history downloads only if logging was on. The card's slot matters as well: picking the safe CF card slot for HMI data logging explains which slot survives a project download.
Can you show a worked example of the whole job?
Here is the whole job with real numbers: a panel at example address 192.0.2.50 serves a log folder of 14 files, 12 daily alarm logs of 128 KB each and 2 trend files of 1,532 KB and 96 KB, which is 3,164 KB in total. The arithmetic: 12 × 128 KB = 1,536 KB, and 1,536 + 1,532 + 96 = 3,164 KB. Copy all 14 files into a PC folder named for the date.
The folder properties afterwards report 14 files and 3,164 KB, matching the listing. Open the newest 128 KB alarm log and read yesterday's events correctly; open the 1,532 KB trend file and see entries running up to the last logging interval. Now delete only what you opened: remove the 11 older daily logs, refresh the listing, and it shows 3 files left, yesterday's log plus both trend files, held until the monthly report is accepted.
Once this route works, the same FTP path takes a scheduled pull, for example nightly after the last shift; a walkthrough on configuring FTP services for daily CF2 trend backups covers the scheduling pattern.
How do you verify the copies before deleting anything?
Treat copying and deleting as two separate jobs: compare file counts and sizes between the FTP listing and the PC folder, open the copies in the tool that will read them, and only then delete the exact files you opened, one at a time. Refresh the FTP listing after each deletion so the panel and the PC agree on what remains.
Two rules keep the card safe: never delete a whole folder, and never delete a file whose purpose you cannot name. If the panel refuses a deletion or returns an error, stop there; FTP deletion support varies by panel and project, and an error on a live panel is not the moment to reach for the card.
If the copied alarm logs open as strings of garbled characters, the transfer or the character encoding is at fault, and garbled characters in alarm logs moved over FTP is a known, fixable problem.
What if the FTP address will not open?
Work down one ordered list: confirm the downloaded project has FTP Server Service enabled, confirm the IP address against the panel's network settings, ping the panel from the PC, then walk the network path between them.
- Enabling the service on the PC alone changes nothing on the panel. Re-download and confirm the panel restarted into the updated project.
- Read the panel's address from its network settings and compare it with the address in the client, number by number.
- Ping the panel. If ping fails, the network path is the fault, and the checks in what to do when a project download fails through a network switch apply to FTP the same way.
- Run the test from a desktop FTP client. Browsers dropped FTP support during 2021, so a browser that will not open ftp:// addresses says nothing about the panel.
- If ping answers but FTP refuses, the fault is back in the project setting or the panel's FTP service state, so repeat step 1 first.
When is pulling the card still the right move?
Take the CF2 card out only when the panel is powered down or the project cannot be edited and downloaded: card removal on a running panel can interrupt its operation and corrupt the very log you came for. That is the one safety line in this job, and it cuts both ways: the card also comes out when the panel is dead, and then the manual's power-down and removal procedure still applies.
Move the files with a card reader on the PC, and after the card goes back in and the panel powers up, confirm logging resumed by watching a new file with a fresh timestamp appear. The HMI keeps its job running the machine; a board that plays its own loop of notices, line targets and videos is a separate screen for a separate job, and that is the job our shop-floor displays are made for.
Recommendation: For a panel that stays in service, enable FTP Server Service once, download the project, and move CF2 logs over Ethernet from then on; reserve card removal for a powered-down panel with no FTP route, and delete files on the card only after the PC copies open and read correctly.
Questions
Does the panel's FTP login have a default username and password?
There is no universal login. If the client asks for a username and password, whoever commissioned the panel set them in the project's network settings or the panel's own configuration, and the panel manual names where. Ask the integrator or the machine builder first. If the login is lost, the manufacturer's documented password-reset procedure for that panel is the legitimate route back in.
Is it safe to leave the FTP server enabled on the plant network?
FTP predates encrypted transfer and carries its login and file contents in clear text, so treat it as a maintenance tool. Pull the logs you need, then clear FTP Server Service in the project and download again if the panel sits on a network that office PCs can reach.
How often should CF2 log files be pulled from the card?
Often enough that the card never runs out of room. Read the free space the FTP listing reports, and size the interval to the logging rate: one 128 KB alarm log per day adds 3,840 KB over a 30-day month, so a monthly pull covers that rate with room to spare, and a weekly pull suits faster trend logging.
Planning information, not legal or engineering advice. Rules differ by place: check codes and permits with your local authority and your licensed trades.