Guide to PI Data Archive 2015 Beta

Guide to PI Data Archive 2015 Beta

Version 3.4.395.11

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Version:

Published: 9/22/2014

Contents

Overview ....................................................................................................................................................... 1

Installation .................................................................................................................................................... 1

Storing Future Data ....................................................................................................................................... 1

Introducing future tags .......................................................................................................................... 1

Data storage for future tags ...................................................................................................................... 1

Create future tags ..................................................................................................................................... 2

Write future data ...................................................................................................................................... 2

Read future data ....................................................................................................................................... 2

Using PI SMT Archive Editor .................................................................................................................. 2

Using PI SMT Current Values ................................................................................................................ 2

PI Data Archive Administration ................................................................................................................. 2

Restrictions with future tags ..................................................................................................................... 3

Beta Limitations ........................................................................................................................................ 3

Features that remain to be completed ................................................................................................. 3

Testing and Capturing Results .................................................................................................................. 3

Migrating PI Batch Data to PI Event Frames ................................................................................................. 5

PI Batch Database will become read-only ................................................................................................ 5

Mapping batch records to Event Frames .................................................................................................. 5

Batches vs. Event Frames ...................................................................................................................... 5

Security on Event Frames...................................................................................................................... 6

Beta Limitations ........................................................................................................................................ 6

Features that remain to be completed ................................................................................................. 6

Features that will not be implemented ................................................................................................ 6

How to Migrate ......................................................................................................................................... 6

Requirements ........................................................................................................................................ 6

Set up the test environment ................................................................................................................. 6

Upgrade to PI Data Archive 2015 .......................................................................................................... 7

Analyze batch data before migration ................................................................................................... 7

Initiate Migration .................................................................................................................................. 8

Testing and Capturing Results .................................................................................................................. 8

Contact Us ..................................................................................................................................................... 8

Page | 1 2014 OSIsoft, LLC

Overview Thank you for taking the time to evaluate PI Data Archive 2015 Beta (3.4.395.11).

Your feedback is critical to helping maximize the value and the quality of the final release.

PI Data Archive 2015 introduces two major features: (1) the ability to store future data and (2) the ability

to migrate PI Batch data to PI Event Frames.

Beta still contains a few limitations, so please be sure to review these before proceeding too far.

Installation The installation for PI Data Archive 2015 is very similar to PI Data Archive 2012 (3.4.390.16). However,

there are a couple notable exceptions:

Windows 2008 R2 or later is required

NOTE: If you are installing on Windows Server 2012 R2, please be sure to install Microsoft Hotfix

KB 2963918. For more information, see OSIsoft Support Bulletin AL20069.

64-bit is required

Both PI AF Client 2015 Beta (2.7.0.6298) and PI SMT 2015 Beta (3.5.0.12) are also included in the PI Data

Archive 2015 Beta installation kit.

PI AF 2014 R2 (2.6.1.6238) for AF Server is recommended, but not required.

Storing Future Data Previously, the PI Data Archive would reject data with timestamps more than 10 minutes into the future

relative to the servers clock. Beginning with PI Data Archive 2015, the PI Data Archive can now accept

data with timestamps up until January 2038. January 1970 remains the past limit for all tags.

Introducing future tags In order to store future data, a tag must be created with the new future point attribute set to 1. Such

tags are referred to as future tags throughout the rest of this document. By default, the future

attribute is set to 0 and cannot be modified after a tag has been created. Tags with the attribute set to 0

referred to as historical tags are identical to the tags in all previous versions and will reject data

with timestamps more than 10 minutes into the future.

Generally speaking, future tags should be used when storing data that is not collected sequentially in

chronological order. For example, process or operational data should be kept in historical tags because

it is measured and collected in real time. On the other hand, forecasts or any form of predictive data

over an arbitrary time range are perfectly suited for future tags.

Data storage for future tags Data for all future tags is stored in completely separate archive files. Future data never moves to the

historical archive files even after the future data ages into the past. The archive files for future tags will

be created automatically as data is written to the tags. All future archive files will be created in the


directory specified during installation, and this location can be changed any time afterwards using the

new Archives plug-in included with PI SMT 2015 Beta.

All future archives are created automatically when data is received. Each future archive has an initial

size of 1 MB and grows dynamically, and the duration of the archive is always one calendar month. If

neither the initial size nor the duration are acceptable, archives can be manually created and registered.

Create future tags There are a few options to create future tags. From within PI SMT 2015 Beta, use the new Point Builder

plug-in: on the General tab, set Future Data to Allow. From within Microsoft Excel, using the PI

Builder or PI TagConfigurator add-ins, set the new future attribute to 1.

By default, future tags are created with the step attribute set to 1, disabling interpolation, and the

compressing attribute set to 0, disabling compression.

Write future data Writing data to future tags is just like writing data to historical tags just with different timestamps.

Thus, in general, you should be able to use all your favorite programs and tools for writing data. Again,

the allowed timestamp range is January 1970 to January 2038. Some common options are the

following:

1) PI SMT Archive Editor

2) Standard OSIsoft interfaces like the PI UFL or PI RDBMS Interfaces

3) Your own application using AF SDK, PI Web API, or PI OLEDB Enterprise

Read future data There are a variety of options for reading future data. However, unlike when writing data, many

released applications may be limited when reading future data. For a short guide to using future data

with PI DataLink, PI ProcessBook, and PI Coresight, please consult the accompanying document Guide

to Using Future Data with PI Visualization Clients.

Using PI SMT Archive Editor Data for future tags can be retrieved with PI SMT Archive Editor by specifying the tag name and an

appropriate time range.

Using PI SMT Current Values When using PI SMT Current Values that comes with PI SMT 2015 Beta current values for future tags will

be displayed correctly.

NOTE: Current values for future tags will not update automatically, so a manual refresh is required to

update them.

PI Data Archive Administration The best way to manager archives is with the new Archives plug-in that comes with PI SMT 2015 Beta.

The new plug-in organizes archives by server, and also by type of archive: historical or future.


If you would like to change the location of your automatically created archives, you can do so by

expanding the Review and update parameters section. Any change will take effect the next time an

archive gets created. Existing archives are not moved.

As mentioned previously, all future archives are created automatically when data is received. Each

future archive has an initial size of 1 MB and grows dynamically, and the duration of the archive is

always one calendar month. If neither the initial size nor the duration are desirable, archives can be

manually created and registered.

If you would prefer to use command-line utilities to manage the PI Data Archive, all the existing tools are

still valid, and they have been enhanced with additional options where necessary. Most command-line

tools now take an extra switch: -hist or -future. This switch restricts each command to perform its

action against the respective tags and/or archives. For example, consider the following piartool

command for listing archives:

piartool -al Lists all archives

piartool -al -hist Lists only archives relevant to historical tags

piartool -al -future Lists only archives relevant to future tags

Restrictions with future tags Future tags have some point class and usage restrictions. These restrictions will be enforced even in the

released version of PI Data Archive 2015:

1) Future tags cannot be members of the point classes Alarm, SQC_Alarm, Totalizer, or

COM Connector

2) Future tags cannot be used as output, input, or trigger tags for PI Performance Equation

Scheduler (PIPESCHD)

3) Future tags cannot be used anywhere in the PI Batch Database (BDB) or the PI Batch Subsystem

(BSS)

Beta Limitations

Features that remain to be completed PI Data Archive 2015 Beta is not feature complete. The following list of future data features remain to

be completed before final release of PI Data Archive 2015:

Support for annotating future tags. In Beta, the server rejects annotation write attempts and

returns error [-11170] Annotation not supported for future tags.

PI Collective Manager support of future archives.

Testing and Capturing Results The main goals of this beta version are to give you an opportunity to evaluate the software and to help

OSIsoft capture information about any failures or user experience issues. To assist in the data gathering

effort, lots of debugging information will be sent to the PI Message Log. When reporting an issue, we


will request your message logs in their raw format (%PISERVER%\log\pimsg_*.dat). We are interested in

your answers to questions like the following:

1) Did you encounter any errors?

2) How difficult was it to create and use future tags?

3) Are the default values for the step and compressing attributes reasonable for your primary

scenarios?

4) How would you describe your experience with archive administration?

5) What was your experience like using released OSIsoft products with future data, especially our

PI Interfaces and PI Visualization products?

6) What are some of the observed behaviors that differed most significantly from your

expectations?


Migrating PI Batch Data to PI Event Frames PI Data Archive 2015 introduces the ability to migrate existing PI Batch data to PI Event Frames. This is

a one-time migration conducted by the PI AF Link Subsystem, and once completed, there is no

synchronization between the two databases.

PI Batch Database will become read-only Once PI Batch database migration is initiated as described in Initiate Migration section, the PI Batch

Database will become read-only. After migration has completed, attempts to edit PI Batch data will

return the error [-19601] PI Batch Database is read-only because migration to PI Event Frames has

completed. For this reason, it is important to use this Beta only on a test server.

Mapping batch records to Event Frames

Batches vs. Event Frames PI AF Link subsystem will create Event Frame templates before migrating any batch data. These

templates will define the characteristics of Event Frames that represent PI Campaigns, PI Batches, PI

UnitBatches and PI SubBatches. The templates will define the minimum required attributes like

Product, Procedure Name, Recipe, etc. to represent various fields within the batch record.

All PI Campaigns will be migrated to Event Frames that derive from a template named

PICampaignMigrated, and all their PI Properties will be migrated as AF Attributes.

All PI Batches will be migrated to Event Frames that derive from a template named PIBatchMigrated,

and all their PI Properties will be migrated as AF Attributes.

All PI UnitBatches will be migrated to Event Frames that derive from a template named

PIUnitBatchMigrated, and the appropriate AF Element will be assigned as the asset.

All Level 1 PI SubBatches will be migrated to Event Frames that derive from a template named

PISubBatchMigrated_L1. Level 2 PI SubBatches will be migrated to Event Frames that derive from a

template named PISubBatchMigrated_L2. All Level 3 PI SubBatches will be migrated to Event Frames

that derive from a template named PISubBatchMigrated_L3. All other Levels of PI SubBatches will be

migrated to Event Frames that derive from a template named PISubBatchMigrated_L4. A PI Heading

associated with a PI SubBatch will not be migrated to Event Frames because there is no equivalent

object in AF database.

The same hierarchy defined by the batch records will be preserved in Event Frames.

Do NOT target a production AF Server for the migration.

Instead, install a test AF Server for use with the Beta.


Security on Event Frames PI Data Archive and PI AF have different security models. Security on PI AF objects like Event Frames is

directly tied to Windows users and groups, while security on PI Data Archive objects like PI Batch

Database records is directly tied to PI Identities. To convert between the two models, PI Identity

Mappings are used to define the relationship between Windows users and groups and PI Identities.

In the PI Data Archive, both PI Campaigns and PI Batches inherit their security from their respective

DBSecurity entries, and PI UnitBatches and PI SubBatches inherit their security from their corresponding

PI Unit.

NOTE: For PI Units, the security conversion happens when the PI Module Database gets migrated to PI

AF, not when migrating the PI Batch Database to PI Event Frames.

Beta Limitations

Features that remain to be completed PI Data Archive 2015 Beta is not feature complete. The following list of features remain to be

completed before final release of PI Data Archive 2015:

Migration of batches generated by the PI Batch Subsystem.

Features that will not be implemented The following list of features will not be implemented before final release of PI Data Archive 2015:

Continuous synchronization of batch data to Event Frames after migration.

Migration of PI Transfer Records, and write access to PI Transfer Records as soon as migration

starts. If you need support for PI Transfer Records, please contact [email protected].

How to Migrate Migration to Event Frames can be initiated only after completing all of the following steps detailed in

this section:

Requirements

A test PI Data Archive and a test PI AF Server (these can be on the same computer)

Set up the test environment 1) Create a full backup of the existing PI Data Archive and include all the archives for which the

batch migration will be tested

2) Install PI AF Server 2014 R2

3) Install the same version of PI Data Archive that was used to take a backup

4) Restore this backup on the test PI Data Archive.

IMPORTANT: If the backup is from PI Data Archive 2010 or greater, do not copy the

pimdbafmapping.dat file from backup.

5) If the test PI Data Archive version is 3.4.380.70 or older, install PI SMT 2010 or later and run the

PI MDB to AF Preparation Wizard. Once complete, skip Steps 6-8 in this section and proceed

to Upgrade to PI Data Archive 2015.


6) Start the basic services of the PI Data Archive by running pisrvstart.bat -base from a command

line in the directory %PISERVER%\adm. Start PI AF Service if it is installed on the same machine.

IMPORTANT: Please do not start the PIAFLINK service without first running the PI MDB to AF

Migration Wizard in the next step.

7) Perform PI MDB to AF Migration:

a. Run the PI MDB to AF Migration Wizard

b. Select the test PI Server and Analyze

c. When prompted, say YES to do re-migration.

d. Continue with the wizard to select the test AF Server as the target.

e. Finish the wizard.

f. If the file %PISERVER%\dat\pimdbafmapping.dat still exists, manually delete it.

g. Restart the PI Base Subsystem (PIBASESS)

h. Start the PI AF Link Subsystem (PIAFLINK).

i. Wait for the MDB-AF synchronization to be completed

8) At this point, the PI Data Archive has the module database synchronized with AF, and the AF

Elements created will be the reference elements for Event Frames. The same AF Database will

also be the target database for event frames.

9) Restart the rest of the PI Server.

Upgrade to PI Data Archive 2015

Run the setup kit for PI Data Archive 2015 Beta, which also installs PI AF Client 2015 Beta.

Batches will not be migrated during the installation process.

Analyze batch data before migration 1) Open PI SMT AF Link plugin. Connect to the test Data Archive and select the Data server on

the right hand pane.

2) The General tab should now display an Analyze button next to Batch database status.

3) Click Analyze and this will run an analysis of the online batch data to determine potential

problems with migration. This might take a few minutes depending on the size of the online

archives.

Note: PI Batch Subsystem is required to be running for the analysis to work even if there are no

Batch Subsystem batches. This is a known-issue for this beta and will be addressed before

release.

4) Once the analysis has completed, a button to view the report (and migrate) will be enabled.

Click the button to see the analysis report. This report will display the time range of online

archives and identify any gaps; any PI Identity Mappings that need to be created; and any

missing links between batch objects.

5) Create the necessary PI Identity Mappings.

6) Address any archive gaps by going to the PI SMT Archives plugin and registering archives that

cover the gaps. While avoiding archive gaps is recommended to ensure a complete batch

database is online for the given time range, doing so is not required.


7) If you made any changes, re-analyze the PI Batch Database.

Initiate Migration 1) On the analysis report, click on the Migrate button. This will setup the required permissions

on the AF Server (for PI AF Link subsystem) to generate Event Frames and initiate the migration.

2) The plugin will display the migration progress. Look for the status to say that the migration is

completed.

3) Migration can take a while depending on the amount of PI Batch data online. Other factors like

the resources available on the test machine and whether the AF server is local or remote can

also impact migration time. On average, migration can take approximately 1 hour for each year

of PI Batch data.

4) Once the migration is completed, a button to view the migration report will be enabled. Click

this button to view the errors encountered during migration.

Testing and Capturing Results The main goals of this Beta are to give you an opportunity to evaluate the software and to help OSIsoft

capture information about any failures or user experience issues. To assist in the data gathering effort,

lots of debugging information will be sent to the PI Message Log. When reporting an issue, we will

request your message logs in their raw format (%PISERVER%\log\pimsg_*.dat). We are interested in

your answers to questions like the following:

1) Did you encounter any errors during your migration?

2) How long did your migration take?

3) Manually cross-check some of the batch data with the generated event frames. Did all the data

migrate correctly (e.g., start time, end time, attributes, element references, hierarchy, etc.)?

4) How large is your test batch database?

5) How large is your production batch database?

6) Will you be migrating all of the production data or just part of it? If just part of it, what is your

criteria to determine what to migrate?

Contact Us Please send your feedback to [email protected].

OverviewInstallationStoring Future DataIntroducing future tagsData storage for future tagsCreate future tagsWrite future dataRead future dataUsing PI SMT Archive EditorUsing PI SMT Current Values

PI Data Archive AdministrationRestrictions with future tagsBeta LimitationsFeatures that remain to be completed

Testing and Capturing Results

Migrating PI Batch Data to PI Event FramesPI Batch Database will become read-onlyMapping batch records to Event FramesBatches vs. Event FramesSecurity on Event Frames

Beta LimitationsFeatures that remain to be completedFeatures that will not be implemented

How to MigrateRequirementsSet up the test environmentUpgrade to PI Data Archive 2015Analyze batch data before migrationInitiate Migration

Testing and Capturing Results

Contact Us

Documents

Guide to PI Data Archive 2015 Beta