Lightweight PROFINET discovery and commissioning tool written in Python.
FreeNeta allows you to quickly discover and configure PROFINET devices using DCP without needing heavyweight vendor tools.
The project started because downloading Siemens PRONETA requires creating an account and registering personal details just to access a "free" tool. FreeNeta aims to provide a simple, lightweight, open-source alternative for basic discovery and diagnostics.
FreeNeta is meant as a lightweight quick-scan tool, not a full replacement for Proneta.
- Discover PROFINET devices via DCP
- View station name, MAC, vendor, IP, subnet, gateway
- Vendor lookup via MAC OUI
- DCP access detection (read-only vs read-write) using raw DCP response analysis
- Ping monitoring for device reachability
- Set device IP address
- Set station name
- Reset communication parameters
- Quick connect actions (HTTP / HTTPS / SSH)
- Visual topology overview of discovered devices
FreeNeta v1.5 uses packet capture to determine DCP access levels.
👉 This requires Npcap to be installed:
Recommended install options:
- Install Npcap in WinPcap API-compatible Mode
- Device discovery still works
- Read-only / read-write detection will NOT work
- Running FreeNeta as Administrator may be required for packet capture
- If devices show no access status, check that Npcap is installed correctly
- Linux support is in progress – the application may work, but DCP access detection may be unreliable due to platform differences in packet capture (Npcap is Windows-only)
