A plant LAN can be connected to the DeltaV system through the third Network Interface Card (NIC) on the Application Station to provide a gateway between the DeltaV Control Network and other networks. It is highly recommended that you use a firewall such as the Emerson Smart Firewall to protect the DeltaV network from potential security issues and to help ensure reliable operations.
To improve the security of the DeltaV system, Emerson recommends that you do not connect the DeltaV Professional, Operator, and Base workstations to a plant LAN or gateway. Because the engineering database is on the ProfessionalPLUS station and should be protected from possible unauthorized external access, Emerson also recommends that you do not connect the ProfessionalPLUS station to the plant LAN.
The following image shows the recommended network architecture.
