Method for Configuring a Communication Device Within an Industrial Automation System and Distribution Unit for a Configuration Server of the Industrial Communication Network

A method for configuring a communication device within an industrial automation system, comprising:

• communicating from a configuration unit of the communication device a datagram with a configuration request to a configuration server upon start-up of the communication device;
• forwarding the datagram with the configuration request to the configuration server when communicated via at least one subnetwork-specific distribution unit;
• allocating to the communication device at least one first topological device name component assigned to a spatial or hierarchical arrangement of the configuration server by the configuration server in response to the configuration request, each forwarding distribution unit adding a further topological device name component assigned to a spatial or hierarchical arrangement of a respective forwarding distribution unit;
• creating, by the configuration server, configuration information comprising at least a first topological device name component and communicating a datagram with the configuration information to the communication device;
• forwarding the datagram with the configuration information to the communication device when communicated via the at least one subnetwork-specific distribution unit;
• generating, by the configuration unit of the communication device, a device name thereof from the topological device name components and a name component that is unique within the subnetwork of said device.