PI-AutoPointSync Connector for the PItoPI
Interface to the PI System
Version 1.0.0.14 and greater
2/18/2002 1:57 PM1
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PItoPI_APS.DOC
2001 OSI Software, Inc. All rights reserved
777 Davis Street, Suite 250, San Leandro, CA 94577
2/18/2002 1:57 PM1
Table of Contents
Introduction
Principles of Operation
Installation Instructions
Installation Checklist
Un-installation Procedure
Features
Tag Attributes
Available Points
Point Types
APS Connector Updates
Troubleshooting
PI-AutoPointSync Connector for the PItoPI Interface to the PI System1
Introduction
PI-AutoPointSync (PI-APS) provides PI users with a utility that synchronizes the existing PI points for an interface with the tag definitions on the DCS, and that locates points on the DCS that do not yet exist in PI, and can be created. As DCS tag definitions change, PI points can be modified to reflect these changes automatically.
APS is versatile enough to allow the user to configure which attributes, on a per tag basis, will be synchronized with DCS. The user may also configure how PI-APS handles tags that have been created and deleted on the DCS.
PI-APS logs all actions and changes for the system administrator in order to allow for proper auditing of automated point changes. The audit logs, coupled with the versatility of tag-by-tag configuration, afford users a powerful tool for the PI system maintenance.
The PI-APS Connector for the PItoPI Interface (PItoPI_APS) is a specific module that communicates with the Target and Source Host PI Systems, gets tag attribute updates from the Source Host PI System, and locates new points on the Source Host PI System. The APS Connector and its attendant routines are called up with each synchronization scan.
The PItoPI APS Connector runs on Windows NT or Windows 2000 with the PI-APS Sync Engine and PI-APS Configuration Utility. The NT/2000 node may be a PI server node or a PI-API node. However, OSISoft recommends that PI-APS be run on a separate PI-API node and not the PI Server home node. The PI server version that PI-APS talks to must be 3.3.361.43 or greater. This version of PI ensures compatibility with the PI-SDK version 1.1.
The PItoPI APS Connector must run on a Windows platform, but the Source Host may be a PI2 server. Please see the section about PI2 Source Host for more details.
Principles of Operation
The PI-AutoPointSync Connector for the PItoPI Interface is implemented as an in-process COM object in a DLL called PItoPI_APS.dll. The COM object is registered during installation of the APS Connector.
The APS Connector will never appear in the Windows NT Task Manager process list as an independent process. It is loaded by a PI-APS process called the Synchronization Engine, that appears in the process list as piapsengine.exe. The Synchornization Engine loads the PItoPI APS Connector automatically at the schedule synchronization time.
The PItoPI APS Connector synchronizes existing PI-UDS points on the target PI-UDS server to those on the source PI-UDS server, as well as creating new PI-UDS points on the target PI-UDS server for each new PI-UDS point on the source PI-UDS server, and removing PI-UDS points whose corresponding source PI-UDS points have been deleted.
For details on how to configure PI-APS to create, edit, and delete PI-UDS points as desired, please refer to the PI-AutoPointSync Configuration & Management Utility manual.
Installation Instructions
The PItoPI APS Connector requires that PI-APS be installed on the machine on which the PItoPI APS Connector is to be run.
The PItoPI APS Connector Installation package is called PItoPI_APSSetup.msi. This installation package will install just the PItoPI APS Connector, not the PItoPI Interface or PI-APS. To install the PItoPI APS Connector, run PItoPI_APSSetup.msi on the node where PI-APS is installed.
Installation Checklist
- Install PI-AutoPointSync (PI-APS).
- Install the interface whose points are to be synchronized, if it is not already installed.
- Run the PI-Interface Configuration Utility (installed by PIAPSSetup) and configure the PItoPI interface whose tags are to be synchronized.
- Install the PItoPI APS Connector with PItoPI_APSSetup.msi.
- Run the PI-AutoPointSync Configuration Utility and select “Add an Interface”. Follow the instructions for configuring the PItoPI interface for PI-APS. The PI-APS Sync Engine will be started automatically when the PI-AutoPointSync Configuration Utility is run. For details on using the Add an Interface dialog, see the section that is titled “Add an Interface - Configure an Interface for AutoPointSync” in the PI-APSUserManual.doc.
- Configure the APS Connector for the newly added interface with the options under the Settings menu on the PI-AutoPointSync Configuration Utility main window. Review all of the following settings under the Settings menu, as it is likely that the default settings need to be changed for individual interfaces and sites:
- Rules
- Sync Schedule
- User-set Defaults
For details on using the Configuration & Settings dialog, see the section that is titled “PI-APS Configuration Utility” in the PI-APSUserManual.doc.
- Enable the Sync Engine with the Tools menu option titled “Enable Sync Engine” via the PI-AutoPointSync Configuration Utility. The PI-APS Sync Engine is installed disabled and requires the user to enable it. If this menu item has a check next to it, then the Sync Engine is already enabled, and does not need to be enabled.
- Enable the connector for the selected interface with the Tools menu option titled “Enable Connector” via the PI-AutoPointSync Configuration Utility. All PI-APS Connectors are installed disabled and require the user to enable them. If this menu item has a check next to it, then the Connector is already enabled, and does not need to be enabled.
Un-installation Procedure
To uninstall the PItoPI APS Connector, run the “Add-Remove Programs” applet (this is found from the Start Menu, Settings>Control Panel> Add-Remove Programs). The following program need to be removed:
- PItoPI APS Connector (PItoPI_APS) 1.0.0.14
Features
PI2 Source Host
If the Source Host is a PI2 server, there are a few differences in the point definitions on the source host and the receiving host that need attention. If the Source Host is a PI2 server, the following attributes should have sync set to off:
datagroup
dataowner
ptgroup
ptowner
The reason for this is that there is no PI2 equivalent of these attributes, so the value scanned in from the PI2 source host will always be blank (“”), which sets the attributes back to their default values on the PI3 receiving node:
Attribute / Default Valuedatagroup / piadmin
dataowner / piadmin
ptgroup / piadmin
ptgroup / piadmin
Tag Attributes
The following PI attributes may be managed by the PItoPI APS Connector, based on the settings that the user configures for each:
PI-UDS Attribute / Description / Syncable / Key FieldBase Attributes
tag / PI-UDS Tag Name / No / Yes
exdesc / Source Tagname / Yes / Yes
instrumenttag / Source Tagname / Yes / Yes
userint1 / Source PointID / Yes / Yes
pointtype / PI-UDS Point Type / No / Yes
archiving / PI-UDS Archiving Flag / Yes / No
descriptor / PI-UDS Descriptor / Yes / No
engunits / PI-UDS Engineering Units / Yes / No
excmin / PI-UDS Exception Min Time / Yes / No
excmax / PI-UDS Exception Max Time / Yes / No
excdev / PI-UDS Exception Deviation in engineering units / Yes / No
excdevpercent / PI-UDS Exception Deviation in percent of span / Yes / No
compressing / PI-UDS Compression Flag / Yes / No
compdev / PI-UDS Compression Deviation / Yes / No
compdevpercent / PI-UDS Compression Deviation in percent of span / Yes / No
compmin / PI-UDS Compression Min Time / Yes / No
compmax / PI-UDS Compression Max Time / Yes / No
digitalset / PI-UDS Digital Set (Digitals) / Yes / No
displaydigits / PI-UDS Display Digits / Yes / No
dataacess / PI-UDS Data Access / Yes (Note 1) / No
datagroup / PI-UDS Data Group / Yes (Note 1) / No
dataowner / PI-UDS Data Owner / Yes (Note 1) / No
ptaccess / PI-UDS Point Access / Yes (Note 1) / No
ptclassname / PI-UDS PointClass / No / No
ptgroup / PI-UDS Point Group / Yes (Note 1) / No
ptowner / PI-UDS Point Owner / Yes (Note 1) / No
typicalvalue / PI-UDS Typical Value / Yes (Note 2) / No
scan / PI-UDS Scan Flag / Yes / No
shutdown / PI-UDS Shutdown Flag / Yes / No
sourcetag / PI-UDS Source Tag / Yes / No
span / PI-UDS span / Yes / No
step / PI-UDS Step Flag / yes / No
zero / PI-UDS zero / Yes / No
Classic Attributes
convers / PI-UDS Conversion Factor / Yes / No
filtercode / PI-UDS Filter Code / Yes / No
location1 / Interface Number / No / No
location2 / Timestamp Adjustment / No / No
location3 / Digital State Suppression / No / No
location4 / PI-UDS Scan Class / No / No
location5 / PI-UDS Location5 / Yes / No
squareroot / PI-UDS Square Root code / Yes / No
totalcode / PI-UDS Total Code / Yes / No
userint2 / PI-UDS User Integer 2 / Yes / No
userreal1 / PI-UDS User Real 1 / Yes / No
userreal2 / PI-UDS User Real 2 / Yes / No
Other (Required)
Digitalstateset / States in PI-UDS DigitalSet / No / No
Note 1:If the Source Host is a PI2 server, the following attributes should have sync set to off: datagroup, dataowner, ptgroup, ptowner. The reason for this is that there is no PI2 equivalent of these attributes, so the value scanned in from the PI2 source host will always be blank (“”), which actually sets the attributes back to their default values:
datagroup: piadmin
dataowner: piadmin
ptgroup: piadmin
ptowner: piadmin
Available Points
Available points are points that PI-AutoPointSync has detected in the Source PI-UDS server that do not exist in the target PI-UDS server.
Point Types
Available Points are returned using the same point type as their corresponding source host point types.
APS Connector Updates
For information on the current version of the PItoPI_APS Connector, please see the following web site:
Troubleshooting
The following is a list of known error messages, their explanations and steps for resolving the circumstances that caused those messages to be displayed.
Glossary
Available Points
Available points are points that PI-AutoPointSync has detected on the DCS, but that do not exist in PI. Available Points are displayed grayed out.
Hidden Points
Hidden points are points that PI-AutoPointSync has detected on the DCS, but that do not exist in PI, that the user has marked to be hidden from view.
Existing Points or Existing PI Points
Existing Points or Existing PI Points refers to points that already exist in PI and belong to the current interface.
APS Connector (APS Interface Connector)
The APS Connector or APS Interface Connector is responsible for attribute data collection from the DCS.
Key Field
A Key Field is a PI attribute that is required in order to identify what point on the DCS the PI tag corresponds to.
Revision History
Date / Author / Comments27-Mar-01 / HAB / Written
01-Nov-01 / HAB / Updated for Beta 2.
18-Feb-02 / HAB / Added information on using the connector with a PI2 source.
PI-AutoPointSync Connector for the PItoPI Interface to the PI System1