NetStaX v5.6.0 Has Arrived: Here’s What It Unlocks for Developers

​NetStaX v5.6.0 continues our commitment to protocol conformance, developer productivity, and platform breadth.​ 

Author: Alan Drakovich, Software Engineer​​

On April 1, 2026 Pyramid Solutions released a new version of the NetStaX EtherNet IP Stack: version 5.6.0. In the following blog, we detail the key enhancements that are a part of this update and what they mean for users.

Already a NetStaX customer and ready to update? Log in to your account to download today!

ODVA CT-22 Conformance​ 

​​NetStaX 5.6 is tested against and passes CT-22, the latest revision of the ODVA EtherNet/IP Conformance Test. Achieving each new conformance level requires addressing both new protocol requirements and any gaps uncovered by the updated test suite.  

​In this release, the Message Router was updated to return Extended Status alongside General Status 0x04 responses, and packets carrying unsupported service codes are now properly rejected. The QoS Object received new Priority Code Point (PCP) instance attributes required by CIP Volume 2 for 802.1Q frame support. We also added parsing for the User Authentication Session ID Network Segment, which is correctly rejected since User Authentication is not part of the stack’s feature set. 

​Additional protocol-level changes throughout the stack also contributed to achieving CT-22 conformance.​ 

​​LLDP Improvements​  

​​The LLDP Data Table Object and LLDP Management Object are now fully native NetStaX objects. This means LLDP support now requires only a small, stable API instead of custom event registration and object integration code, and it works with Windows DLLs and C# in addition to C and C++.  

​Version 5.6 builds on that foundation with a targeted round of stability and correctness fixes. LLDP frames can now be transmitted using only the MAC address when no IP address is yet claimed on an interface, which matters during early device initialization. Received frames are now correctly stored even when the interface’s Tx bit is disabled, and the global Tx/Rx enable setting correctly survives a power cycle reset. A new public API function gives application code direct control over enabling or disabling LLDP transmission globally or on a per-interface basis.

Docker Support​  

​​Evaluating or integrating an EtherNet/IP stack traditionally means setting up a Linux build environment, installing dependencies, and working through platform specifics before writing a single line of application code.  

​With 5.6, we’ve eliminated that barrier by adding a complete Docker setup to the distribution. A single script handles building the container image and launching either a Scanner or Adapter demo with one command. The container is based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and includes all build dependencies, so the experience is consistent regardless of what host machine you’re running on. This is equally useful for automated CI pipelines, where dropping a containerized EtherNet/IP node into a test environment is now straightforward.  

​The readme.md file walks through all available commands and options for customizing the container to your needs. 

​​Expanded Embedded Support​  

​​NetStaX now includes platform template files for STM32 microcontrollers running the SEGGER embOS real-time operating system and lwIP for TCP/IP networking. Bringing an EtherNet/IP stack onto a new embedded RTOS typically means a significant porting effort: wiring up the stack’s networking calls to your TCP/IP layer, mapping its threading model to your OS primitives, and tuning memory and feature configuration for your hardware.

The provided templates handle this foundational wiring and give customers a concrete, working starting point that they can adapt to their specific hardware and fill in any remaining platform-specific details for their application.  

​Both Adapter and Scanner roles are supported, with separate configuration files for each.​ 

​Also in 5.6.0 

​The Linux build system received several improvements for everyday SDK development. Debug builds are now a first-class target (make debug, make rebuildd), trace file output is disabled by default to keep production builds clean, and makefile variables have been renamed to the standard CFLAGS/LDFLAGS. GCC 10 and later will also benefit from -fanalyzer support, which catches a class of pointer and memory issues at compile time. Cross-compiler portability is improved with a new eipcompiler.h header that abstracts warning suppression and build-time messages across MSVC, GCC, IAR, and Wind River Diab — suppressing a warning for one compiler no longer generates noise on the others.

The C# wrapper library has been modernized to SDK-style projects that build against .NET 4.8 through .NET 9.0 from a single source tree, making it straightforward to consume NetStaX in both .NET Framework and modern .NET Core applications. The CIP-Security SDK dependency workflow has been simplified using vcpkg Manifest Mode and Overlay Ports, eliminating the need to patch the main vcpkg installation or pin to a specific commit — install is now a single command. Finally, test certificates are no longer bundled with the stack; generation scripts are provided instead, giving teams full control over their certificate chain from the start.  

​In addition to everything covered in this post, 5.6 includes numerous smaller bug fixes and improvements across all products — see the full release notes for the complete list. 

NetStaX customers can download the update today from our site.

Questions? Reach out to our team!