TCP Response Interface to the PI System
TCPResponse
Interface to the PI System
Version 1.1.3.0
Revision B
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Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Reference Manuals 1
Supported Features 2
Diagram of Hardware Connection 4
Principles of Operation 5
Overview 5
Specific Operations 6
Indirect DNS Server Connection 6
FTP Server 6
HTTP Server 7
SMTP Server 7
Generic TCP Server 8
POP3 Server 8
IMAP Server 8
PI Server 9
Direct DNS Server Connection 9
Installation Checklist 11
Interface Installation 13
Naming Conventions and Requirements 13
Interface Directories 14
PIHOME Directory Tree 14
Interface Installation Directory 14
Interface Installation Procedure 14
Installing Interface as a Windows Service 14
Installing Interface Service with PI ICU 14
Installing Interface Service Manually 20
Digital States 21
PointSource 23
PI Point Configuration 25
Point Attributes 25
Tag 25
PointSource 25
PointType 25
Location1 26
Location2 26
Location3 27
Location4 27
Location5 27
InstrumentTag 27
ExDesc 32
Scan 33
Shutdown 34
Performance Point Configuration 35
Configuring Performance Points with PI ICU (Windows) 35
Configuring Performance Points Manually 36
I/O Rate Point Configuration 37
Monitoring I/O Rates on the Interface Node 37
Configuring I/O Rate Tags with PI ICU (Windows) 37
Configuring I/O Rate Tags Manually 38
Configuring PI Point on the PI Server 39
Configuration on the Interface Node 39
Startup Command File 41
Configuring the Interface with PI ICU 41
Manual Maintenance of the Startup Command File 43
Command-line Parameters 44
Sample PITCPResp.bat File 47
Interface Node Clock 49
Security 51
Starting / Stopping the Interface on Windows 53
Starting Interface as a Service 53
Stopping Interface Running as a Service 53
Buffering 55
Configuring Buffering with PI ICU (Windows) 55
Configuring Buffering Manually 59
Example piclient.ini File 60
Appendix A: Error and Informational Messages 61
Message Logs 61
System Errors and PI Errors 61
Appendix B: Troubleshooting 63
Location5 63
Common problems 65
Revision History 67
Introduction
OSIsoft’s PI TCPResponse Interface program measures the availability and response times of various essential services that are part of a TCP/IP network. In particular, PI TCPResponse allows the user to determine the response times of
• HTTP (Web) servers;
• SMTP, POP3, and IMAP (mail) servers;
• FTP servers;
• DNS (name resolution) servers;
• Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP Terminal Servers; and
• OSIsoft’s PI Servers.
This interface program can also obtain the actual result (and not the response time) of a DNS operation.
PI TCPResponse stores these response times into OSIsoft’s PI Server. So, users can have access to long-term historical data as well as short-term current information regarding the performance of various servers. Therefore, PI TCPResponse assists network managers in proactively managing their networks.
The PI TCPResponse Interface program runs on Windows NT 4.0 SP 6, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows 2003 Server computers. Unless otherwise noted, the remainder of this document uses the term "Windows" to refer to all these versions.
PI TCPResponse requires PI Server version 3.2 or higher. However, OSIsoft strongly recommends the use of PI Server v3.4.370.x (or higher) together with PI API v1.6 (or higher). The reason is that a PI point's InstrumentTag attribute often will need to hold more than 32 characters.
The Interface does not require any special hardware. A standard network interface card on the Windows machine is sufficient.
The direction of data flow is uni-directional; the Interface supports input PI points only.
The Interface does not support UniInt failover.
Reference Manuals
OSIsoft
• PI Server manuals
• PI API Installation manual
• UniInt End User Document
Supported Features
|Feature |Support |
|Part Number |PI-IN-OS-TCP-NTI |
|* Platforms |Windows NT 4.0 SP6/ 2000 / XP / 2003 |
|APS Connector |No |
|Point Builder Utility |Yes |
|ICU Control |Yes |
|PI Point Types |Float16 / Float32 / Float64 / Int16 / Int32 / String |
|Sub-second Timestamps |Yes |
|Sub-second Scan Classes |Yes |
|Automatically Incorporates PI Point Attribute Changes |Yes |
|Exception Reporting |Yes |
|Outputs from PI |No |
|Inputs to PI: Scan-based / Unsolicited / Event Tags |Scan-based / Event Tags |
|Supports Questionable Bit |No |
|Supports Multi-character PointSource |Yes |
|Maximum Point Count |Maximum point count of PI Server |
|* Uses PI SDK |No |
|PINet String Support |No |
|* Source of Timestamps |PI Server machine |
|History Recovery |No |
|* UniInt-based |Yes |
|Failover |No |
|Vendor Software Required on PI Interface Node / PINet |No |
|Node | |
|Vendor Software Required on Foreign Device |No |
|Vendor Hardware Required |No |
|Additional PI Software Included with Interface |No |
|Device Point Types |Not applicable |
* See paragraphs below for further explanation.
Platforms
The Interface is designed to run on the above mentioned versions of the Microsoft Windows operating systems and greater. Windows NT 4.0 requires Service Pack 6.
Please contact OSIsoft Technical Support for more information.
Uses PI SDK
The PI SDK and the PI API are bundled together and must be installed on each PI Interface node. This Interface does not specifically make PI SDK calls.
Source of Timestamps
The clock on the computer running the PI Server provides the source of the timestamps for the data sent by PI TCPResponse. The Interface writes a timestamp that reflects the time at which it started the response time measurement.
UniInt-based
UniInt stands for Universal Interface. UniInt is not a separate product or file; it is an OSIsoft-developed template used by developers, and is integrated into many interfaces, including this interface. The purpose of UniInt is to keep a consistent feature set and behavior across as many of OSIsoft’s interfaces as possible. It also allows for the very rapid development of new interfaces. In any UniInt-based interface, the interface uses some of the UniInt-supplied configuration parameters and some interface-specific parameters. UniInt is constantly being upgraded with new options and features.
The UniInt End User Document is a supplement to this manual.
Diagram of Hardware Connection
[pic]
Principles of Operation
PI TCPResponse measures the response time of various services that are part of a TCP/IP network. In particular, the PI TCPResponse Interface program determines the response time of
• HTTP (Web) servers;
• SMTP, POP3, and IMAP (mail) servers;
• FTP servers;
• DNS (name resolution) servers;
• Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP Terminal Servers; and
• PI Servers
In addition, PI TCPResponse also stores the actual result (and not the response time) of a DNS operation.
Overview
In general, the PI TCPResponse Interface measures the response time of a particular service by
• sending a connection request to the appropriate TCP port of the machine on which the service resides,
• waiting for the appropriate response message from the server machine.
For example, the Interface measures the response time of the Web server by sending a connection request to TCP port number 80 of the machine named . PI TCPResponse then waits for a connection confirmation message. The time interval between the sending of the connection request and the receipt of the connection confirmation is the response time.
If the Interface does not receive a response within a specified time limit, it writes the digital state I/O Timeout. However, PI TCPResponse does not wait for a service to respond or to time out before it performs the next measurement. For example, the user configures 3 points so that the Interface measures FTP response times to 3 FTP servers whose IP addresses are, respectively,
• 192.168.100.11
• 192.168.100.12
• 192.168.100.13
PI TCPResponse sends three FTP connection requests, one right after the other. That is, the Interface does not wait until the response time measurement for 192.168.100.11 has completed before it sends a connection request to the other two machines.
A value of 0 for a point means that the measured response time is less than 1 millisecond.
Specific Operations
Indirect DNS Server Connection
For points with Location2 set to 1, the Interface indirectly measures DNS Server response times of the default nameserver. To find out the IP address of this nameserver, use the nslookup at the Windows command prompt. For example,
C:> nslookup
Address: 192.168.100.45
Entries in the Instrument Tag determine whether the Interface performs a hostname to IP address lookup (for example, INPUT= in the Instrument Tag) or an IP address to hostname lookup (for example, INPUT=192.168.10.100 in the Instrument Tag). The Interface uses the function gethostbyname() for the former and gethostbyaddr() for the latter.
The response time measured by the Interface is the amount of time required for these functions to complete. If these functions fail, the Interface writes the value Bad Input. If the Interface does not receive a reply within a user-specified timeout duration, it write I/O Timeout.
If the PI point is of type String, PI TCPResponse writes the value of the translation; for example, 192.168.10.100. Otherwise, PI TCPResponse writes the response time value.
However, the Windows operating system caches the results from gethostbyname() and gethostbyaddr(). In addition, these functions will not directly connect to the default nameserver if the HOSTS file (located typically in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc) contains the necessary information for hostname/IP address translation. So, in order to accurately measure DNS Server response time, the user should use the direct DNS Server Connection operation (described later).
FTP Server
The Interface measures FTP Server response times for points with Location2 set to 2.
PI TCPResponse connects to the FTP port of the specified machine (for example, DEVICE= in the Instrument Tag). The FTP port is either the default (port number 21) or a user-specified (via PORT= in the Instrument Tag) port. After establishing the connection, the Interface waits for the FTP server to send a message that contains the text:
220
That is, PI TCPResponse performs a substring search for 220 in the received reply.
The reason is that RFC 959 states:
Under normal circumstances, a server will send a 220 reply, "awaiting input", when the connection is completed. The user should wait for this greeting message before sending any commands.
The user can tell the Interface to perform a substring search for another text string by specifying the case-sensitive string via REPLY= in the Instrument Tag. (The keyword REPLY= itself is not case sensitive.)
The response time measured by the Interface is the amount of time required, starting from the connection request, for the Interface to receive the message containing 220. If the Interface does not receive a message containing 220, it writes the value Bad Input. If the Interface does not receive a reply within a user-specified timeout duration, it write I/O Timeout.
HTTP Server
The Interface measures HTTP Server response times for points with Location2 set to 3.
PI TCPResponse connects to the HTTP port of a specified machine (for example, DEVICE= in the Instrument Tag). The HTTP port is either the default (port number 80) or a user-specified (via PORT= in the Instrument Tag) port. After establishing the connection, the Interface sends the following message to the HTTP server:
HEAD / HTTP/1.1\r\n
Host: \r\n
\r\n
where \r is the ASCII character whose decimal code is 13 and \n is the ASCII character whose decimal code is 10. PI TCPResponse then waits for the HTTP server to send a message that contains the (case-sensitive) ASCII text:
HTTP/1.1
That is, PI TCPResponse performs a case-sensitive substring search for HTTP/1.1 in the received reply.
The user can tell the Interface to perform a substring search for another text string by specifying the case-sensitive string via REPLY= in the Instrument Tag. (The keyword REPLY= itself is not case sensitive.)
The response time measured by the Interface is the amount of time required, starting from the connection request, for the Interface to receive a response message containing HTTP/1.1. If the Interface does not receive a message containing HTTP/1.1, it writes the value Bad Input. If the Interface does not receive a reply within a user-specified timeout duration, it write I/O Timeout.
SMTP Server
The Interface measures SMTP Server response times for points with Location2 set to 4.
PI TCPResponse connects to the SMTP port of the specified machine (for example, DEVICE=mail. in the Instrument Tag). The SMTP port is either the default (port number 25) or a user-specified (via PORT= in the Instrument Tag) port. After establishing the connection, the Interface waits for the SMTP server to send a message that contains the text:
220
That is, PI TCPResponse performs a substring search for 220 in the received reply.
The reason is that RFC 2821 defines a status code of 220 as Service Ready. The user can tell the Interface to perform a substring search for another text string by specifying the case-sensitive string via REPLY= in the Instrument Tag. (The keyword REPLY= itself is not case sensitive.)
The response time measured by the Interface is the amount of time required, starting from the connection request, for the Interface to receive the message containing 220. If the Interface does not receive a message containing 220, it writes the value Bad Input. If the Interface does not receive a reply within a user-specified timeout duration, it write I/O Timeout.
Generic TCP Server
The Interface measures generic TCP server response times for points with Location2 set to 5.
PI TCPResponse connects to the user-specified (via PORT= in the Instrument Tag) port of the specified machine (for example, DEVICE=machine. in the Instrument Tag). The Interface then waits for the server to accept the connection.
The response time measured by the Interface is the amount of time required for the connection to be established. If the connection is rejected, the Interface writes the value Bad Input.
POP3 Server
The Interface measures POP3 Server response times for points with Location2 set to 7.
PI TCPResponse connects to the POP3 port of the specified machine (for example, DEVICE=mail. in the Instrument Tag). The POP3 port is either the default (port number 110) or a user-specified (via PORT= in the Instrument Tag) port. After establishing the connection, the Interface waits for the POP3 server to send a message that contains the text:
+OK
That is, PI TCPResponse performs a case-sensitive substring search for +OK in the received reply.
RFC 1939 indicates that +OK is a positive status indication. The user can tell the Interface to perform a substring search for another text string by specifying the case-sensitive string via REPLY= in the Instrument Tag. (The keyword REPLY= itself is not case sensitive.)
The response time measured by the Interface is the amount of time required, starting from the connection request, for the Interface to receive the message containing +OK. If the Interface does not receive a message containing +OK, it writes the value Bad Input. If the Interface does not receive a reply within a user-specified timeout duration, it write I/O Timeout.
IMAP Server
The Interface measures IMAP Server response times for points with Location2 set to 8.
PI TCPResponse connects to the IMAP port of the specified machine (for example, DEVICE=mail. in the Instrument Tag). The IMAP port is either the default (port number 143) or a user-specified (via PORT= in the Instrument Tag) port. After establishing the connection, the Interface waits for the IMAP server to send a message that contains the text:
* OK
That is, PI TCPResponse performs a case-sensitive substring search for "* OK" in the received reply.
RFC 2060 indicates that "* OK" is a positive status indication. The user can tell the Interface to perform a substring search for another text string by specifying the case-sensitive string via REPLY= in the Instrument Tag. (The keyword REPLY= itself is not case sensitive.)
The response time measured by the Interface is the amount of time required, starting from the connection request, for the Interface to receive the message that contains "* OK". If the Interface does not receive a message containing "* OK", it writes the value Bad Input. If the Interface does not receive a reply within a user-specified timeout duration, it write I/O Timeout.
PI Server
The Interface measures PI server response times for points with Location2 set to 9.
PI TCPResponse connects to the PI server port of the specified machine (for example, DEVICE=piserver. in the Instrument Tag). The PI port is either the default (port number 5450) or a user-specified (via PORT= in the Instrument Tag) port. After establishing the connection, the Interface sends a low-level message that simulates a PI API connection. The Interface then waits for a response from the PI server.
The response time measured by the Interface is the amount of time required, starting from the simulated PI API connection, to the time that the PI server acknowledges the connection. If the Interface encounters errors during this sequence, it writes the value Bad Input. If the Interface does not receive a reply within a user-specified timeout duration, it write I/O Timeout.
Direct DNS Server Connection
The Interface directly measures DNS Server response times for points with Location2 set to 10. This operation is available only if the Interface runs on Windows XP.
PI TCPResponse invokes the Windows API function DnsQuery() to connect to port 53 of the specified machine (for example, DEVICE=192.168.10.20 in the Instrument Tag). The Interface uses the value of the keyword INPUT in the Instrument Tag (for example, INPUT=) as the first parameter to DnsQuery(). That is, the Interface queries 192.168.10.20 for the IP address of .
The response time measured by the Interface is the amount of time it takes for the DnsQuery() function to complete. If the response from DNS Server does not indicate a Type A record, or if DnsQuery() fails, the Interface writes the value Bad Input. If the Interface does not receive a reply within a user-specified timeout duration, it write I/O Timeout.
If the PI point is of type String, PI TCPResponse writes the value of the IP address translation; for example, 192.168.10.100. Otherwise, PI TCPResponse writes the response time value.
Installation Checklist
For those users who are familiar with running PI data collection interface programs, this checklist helps get the Interface running. Those who are not familiar with PI interfaces should read the rest of the manual in detail and then return to this section.
1. If the PI Server is version 3.3.361.43 or higher, install the PI ICU.
2. Install the PI API. (Installation of the PI ICU automatically installs these products.)
3. Confirm connectivity between the interface node and the PI Server by running the apisnap program.
4. Install the PI TCPResponse program files by running the installation program.
5. Choose a point source for use by the Interface (–ps).
6. Configure PI points.
Location1 is the interface instance (–id).
Location2 indicates the service (e.g., FTP, HTTP, etc.)
Location3 specifies the timeout duration
Location4 is the scan class.
Location5 is used for debugging
ExDesc specifies the trigger point for event-based inputs.
InstrumentTag specifies the device
7. If desired, configure performance points.
8. If desired, configure an I/O Rate point.
9. Configure the Interface to be used with the PI ICU. Alternatively, edit the Interface startup command file (PITCPResp.bat) using the supplied PITCPResp.bat.new as a template.
10. Confirm that the time and time zone settings on the interface node are correct.
11. Modify the security of the PI Server. Edit the PI Trust or PI Proxy table as appropriate.
12. Stop the PI Buffer Server
13. Interactively start the Interface.
14. Verify that data are correctly being written to the PI Server.
15. Stop the Interface and start the PI Buffer Server.
16. Start the Interface as a service.
17. Confirm that the Interface re-starts after a complete machine shutdown and restart.
Interface Installation
OSIsoft recommends that interfaces be installed on PI Interface Nodes instead of directly on the PI Server node. A PI Interface Node is any node other than the PI Server node where the PI Application Programming Interface (PI API) has been installed (see the PI API manual). With this approach, the PI Server need not compete with interfaces for the machine’s resources. The primary function of the PI Server is to archive data and to service clients that request data.
After the interface has been installed and tested, Bufserv should be enabled on the PI Interface Node (once again, see the PI API manual). Bufserv is distributed with the
PI API. It is a utility program that provides the capability to store and forward events to a PI Server, allowing continuous data collection when communication to the PI Server is lost. Communication will be lost when there are network problems or when the PI Server is shut down for maintenance, upgrades, backups, or unexpected failures.
In most cases, interfaces on PI Interface Nodes should be installed as automatic services. Services keep running after the user logs off. Automatic services automatically restart when the computer is restarted, which is useful in the event of an interruption in electrical power.
The guidelines are different if an interface is installed on the PI Server node. In this case, the typical procedure is to install the PI Server as an automatic service and install the interface as an automatic service that depends on the PI Update Manager and PI Network Manager services. Bufserv can be enabled on the PI Server node so that interfaces on the PI Server node do not need to be started and stopped in conjunction with PI, but it is not standard practice to enable buffering on the PI Server node. See the UniInt End User Document for special procedural information.
Naming Conventions and Requirements
When Configuring the Interface Manually
When an interface is configured as a Windows service, the executable file name (i.e., PITCPResp.exe) and the command file (i.e., PITCPResp.bat) must have the same root name (i.e., PITCPResp). The reason is that at service startup, the interface executable (i.e., PITCPResp.exe) looks specifically for startup parameters in a .bat file (i.e., PITCPResp.bat) that has the same root name (i.e., PITCPResp as the executable.
Thus, when manually configuring the interface and running multiple copies, the user needs to copy and rename both the executable and the startup command file. For example, copy PITCPResp.exe so that PITCPResp1.exe results and copy PITCPResp.bat so that PITCPResp1.bat results. Subsequently, PITCPResp1.exe and PITCPResp1.bat are typically used for interface instance number 1. Repeat the process so that PITCPResp2.exe and PITCPResp2.bat are used for interface instance number 2, and so on.
Interface Directories
PIHOME Directory Tree
The PIHOME directory tree is defined by the PIHOME entry in the pipc.ini configuration file. This pipc.ini file is an ASCII text file; it is located in the directory where Windows itself is installed.
A typical pipc.ini file contains the following lines:
[PIPC]
PIHOME=c:\program files\pipc
The above lines define the \program files\pipc directory as the root of the PIHOME directory tree on the C: drive.
OSIsoft recommends using \program files\pipc as the root directory name. The PIHOME directory does not need to be on the C: drive.
Interface Installation Directory
If installing the interface manually, place all copies of the interface into a single directory. The suggested directory is:
PIHOME\Interfaces\TCPResp\
Replace PIHOME with the corresponding entry in the pipc.ini file.
Interface Installation Procedure
The PI TCPResponse Interface setup program uses the services of the Microsoft Windows Installer. Windows Installer is a standard part of Windows 2000 and greater operating systems. When running on Windows NT 4.0 systems, the PI TCPResponse setup program will install the Windows Installer itself if necessary. To install, run the installation kit executable (e.g., TCPResponse_x.x.x.x.exe).
Installing Interface as a Windows Service
The PI TCPResponse Interface service can be created, preferably, with the PI Interface Configuration Utility, or can be created manually.
Installing Interface Service with PI ICU
The PI Interface Configuration Utility provides a graphical user interface for creating, editing, and deleting the Interface as a Windows service. However, before the user can create the PI TCPResponse Interface service, he first has to configure PI ICU to recognize the Interface.
From the PI ICU menu, select Interface, New Windows Interface from EXE, and then Browse to the PITCPResp.exe executable file. Select a PI Server from the Host PI System dropdown list box. Then, enter values for Point Source and Interface ID#. A window such as the following results:
[pic]
Click on Add.
A display such as the following should then appear:
[pic]
Near the top of the main PI ICU screen, the Interface Type should be tcpresponse. If not, use the drop-down box to change the Interface Type to be tcpresponse.
Click on Apply to enable PI ICU to manage this copy of the PI TCPResponse Interface.
[pic]
To install the Interface as a service, click on the Service tab.
[pic]
The above picture shows that this pitcpresp2 service is dependent on the tcpip service.
Finally, click on Create to create the interface service.
If the user wishes to remove the interface service, he should click on Remove.
To start the PI TCPResponse Interface service, click on the start button ([pic]) located on the PI ICU toolbar.
When the PI TCPResponse Interface service is currently running, the user can click on the stop button ([pic]) to stop it.
Service Configuration
Service name
The Service name box shows the name of the current interface service. This service name is obtained from the interface executable.
ID
This is the service id used to distinguish multiple instances of the same interface using the same executable.
Display name
The Display Name text box shows the current Display Name of the interface service. If there is currently no service for the selected interface, the default Display Name is the service name with a "PI-" prefix. Users may specify a different Display Name. OSIsoft suggests that the prefix "PI-" be appended to the beginning of the interface to indicate that the service is part of the OSIsoft suite of products.
Log on as
The Log on as text box shows the current “Log on as” Windows User Account of the interface service. If the service is configured to use the Local System account, the Log on as text box will show “LocalSystem.” Users may specify a different Windows User account for the service to use.
Password
If a Windows User account is entered in the Log on as text box, then a password must be provided in the Password text box, unless the account requires no password.
Confirm Password
If a password is entered in the Password text box, then it must be confirmed in the Confirm Password text box.
Startup Type
The Startup Type indicates whether the interface service will start automatically or needs to be started manually on reboot.
• If the Auto option is selected, the service will be installed to start automatically when the machine reboots.
• If the Manual option is selected, the interface service will not start on reboot, but will require someone to manually start the service.
• If the Disabled option is selected, the service will not start at all.
Generally, interface services are set to start automatically.
Dependencies
The Installed services list is a list of the services currently installed on this machine. Services upon which this Interface is dependent should be moved into the Dependencies list using the [pic] button. For example, if PI API Buffering is running, then “bufserv” should be selected from the list at the right and added to the list on the left. To remove a service from the list of dependencies, use the [pic] button, and the service name will be removed from the “Dependencies” list.
When the PI Interface is started (as a service), the services listed in the dependency list will be verified as running (or an attempt will be made to start them). If the dependent service(s) cannot be started for any reason, then the PI interface service will not run.
Note: Please see the PI Log and Operating System Event Logger for messages that may indicate the cause for any server not running as expected.
[pic] - Add Button
To add a dependency from the list of Installed services, select the dependency name, and click the Add button.
[pic] - Remove Button
To remove a selected dependency, highlight the service name in the Dependencies list, and click the Remove button.
The full name of the service selected in the Installed services list is displayed below the Installed services list box.
Create
The Create button adds the displayed service with the specified Dependencies and with the specified Startup Type.
Remove
The Remove button removes the displayed service. If the service is not currently installed, or if the service is currently running, this button will be grayed out.
Start or Stop Service
To Start or Stop an interface service, use the Start button [pic] and a Stop button [pic] on the ICU toolbar. If this interface service is not currently installed, these buttons will remain grayed out until the service is added. If this interface service is running, the Stop button is available. If this service is not running, the Start button is available.
The status of the Interface service is indicated in the lower portion of the PI ICU dialog.
[pic]
Installing Interface Service Manually
Help for installing the interface as a service is available at any time with the command:
PITCPResp.exe –help
Change to the directory where the PITCPResp.exe executable is located. Then, consult the following table to determine the appropriate service installation command.
|Windows Service Installation Commands on a PI Interface Node or a PI Server Node |
|with Bufserv implemented |
|Manual service |PITCPResp.exe –install –depend “tcpip bufserv” |
|Automatic service |PITCPResp.exe –install –auto –depend “tcpip bufserv” |
|*Automatic service with service|PITCPResp.exe –serviceid X –install –auto –depend “tcpip bufserv” |
|id | |
|Windows Service Installation Commands on a PI Interface Node or a PI Server Node |
|without Bufserv implemented |
|Manual service |PITCPResp.exe –install –depend tcpip |
|Automatic service |PITCPResp.exe –install –auto –depend tcpip |
|*Automatic service with service|PITCPResp.exe –serviceid X –install –auto –depend tcpip |
|id | |
*When specifying service id, the user must include an id number. It is suggested that this number correspond to the interface id (-id) parameter found in the interface .bat file.
Check the Microsoft Windows services control panel to verify that the service was added successfully. The services control panel can be used at any time to change the interface from an automatic service to a manual service or vice versa.
Digital States
For more information regarding Digital States, refer to the PI Server documentation.
Digital State Sets
PI digital states are discrete values represented by strings. These strings are organized in PI as digital state sets. Each digital state set is a user-defined list of strings, enumerated from 0 to n to represent different values of discrete data. For more information about PI digital tags and editing digital state sets, see the PI Server manuals.
An interface point that contains discrete data can be stored in PI as a digital tag. A Digital tag associates discrete data with a digital state set, as specified by the user.
System Digital State Set
Similar to digital state sets is the system digital state set. This set is used for all tags, regardless of type to indicate the state of a tag at a particular time. For example, if the interface receives bad data from an interface point, it writes the system digital state Bad Input to PI instead of a value. The system digital state set has many unused states that can be used by the interface and other PI clients.
PointSource
The PointSource is a unique, single or multi-character string that is used to identify the PI point as a point that belongs to a particular interface. For example, the string TCPRespPts may be used to identify points that belong to the PI TCPResponse Interface. To implement this identification, the user would set the PointSource attribute to TCPRespPts for every PI Point that is configured for the PI TCPResponse Interface. Then, if -ps=TCPRespPts is used on the startup command-line of the PI TCPResponse Interface, the Interface will search the PI Point Database upon startup for every PI point that is configured with a PointSource of TCPRespPts. Before an interface loads a point, the interface usually performs further checks by examining additional PI point attributes to determine whether a particular point is valid for the interface. For additional information, see the -ps startup command parameter.
Case-sensitivity for PointSource Attribute
The case of the PointSource character point attribute is not significant.
In addition, the PointSource character that is supplied with the -ps command-line parameter is not case sensitive. That is, -ps=P and -ps=p are equivalent.
Reserved Point Sources
Several subsystems and applications that ship with PI are associated with default PointSource characters. The Totalizer Subsystem uses the PointSource character T, the Alarm Subsystem uses G and @, Random uses R, RampSoak uses 9, and the Performance Equations Subsystem uses C. Do not use these PointSource characters or change the default point source characters for these applications. Also, if a PointSource character is not explicitly defined when creating a PI point; the point is assigned a default PointSource character of Lab (PI 3). Therefore, it would be confusing to use Lab as the PointSource character for an interface.
Note: Do not use a point source character that is already associated with another interface program. However it is acceptable to use the same point source for multiple instances of an interface.
PI Point Configuration
The PI point is the basic building block for controlling data flow to and from the PI Server. A single point is configured for each measurement value that needs to be archived.
Point Attributes
Every two minutes, PI TCPResponse checks the PI Server for changes to PI points whose PointSource is associated with the Interface. The Interface automatically incorporates these changes into its point list.
However, PI TCPResponse can process only 25 point changes every 30 seconds. If more than 25 points are added, edited, or deleted, PI TCPResponse will process the first 25 points, wait 30 seconds, process the next 25 points, and so on. As soon as the Interface has processed all point changes, it will resume checking for point updates every two minutes.
Use the point attributes below to define the response time values that the Interface measures. The most important attributes are Location2 and InstrumentTag.
Tag
A tag is a label or name for a point. Any tag name can be used in accordance with the normal PI point naming conventions.
PI documentation uses the terms tag and point synonymously.
Length
The length of the Tag field is limited by the version of the PI API, the version of the PI Server, and sometimes by a specific Interface. The table below explains this in more detail. When the maximum possible lengths differ for the software installed on site, the shortest length applies.
|PI API |PI Server |Maximum Length |
|1.6 or higher |3.4.370.x or higher |1023 |
|1.6 or higher |Below 3.4.370.x |255 |
|Below 1.6 |3.4.370.x or higher |255 |
|Below 1.6 |Below 3.4.370.x |255 |
PointSource
The PointSource is a unique, single or multi-character string that is used to identify the PI point as a point that belongs to a particular interface. For additional information, see the -ps command-line parameter and the “Point Source” section.
PointType
PI TCPResponse supports the following PI 3.x point types:
• Int16
• Int32
• Float16
• Float32
• Float64
• String
For more information on these point types, see the PI Server manual.
The value of Location2 determines whether a particular point type is supported. The table below provides a summary.
|Location2 |Supported point types |
|1 (name translation) |Int16, Int32, Float16, Float32, Float64, String |
|2 (FTP) |Int16, Int32, Float16, Float32, Float64 |
|3 (HTTP) |Int16, Int32, Float16, Float32, Float64 |
|4 (SMTP) |Int16, Int32, Float16, Float32, Float64 |
|5 (Generic application) |Int16, Int32, Float16, Float32, Float64; |
|7 (POP3) |Int16, Int32, Float16, Float32, Float64 |
|8 (IMAP) |Int16, Int32, Float16, Float32, Float64 |
|9 (PI) |Int16, Int32, Float16, Float32, Float64; |
|10 (DNS) |Int16, Int32, Float16, Float32, Float64, String |
Location1
The Location1 attribute associates a point with a particular copy of PI TCPResponse. Location1 is a positive integer. Its value is equal to the -id= parameter used in the startup command file (described later).
For example, if -id=1 then the user should set Location1 to 1.
Location2
The Location2 attribute defines the operation that the Interface will perform. The following table summarizes the acceptable values for Location2.
|Location2 |Value type |
|1 |translation of hostname to IP address; or translation of IP address to hostname; or indirect DNS |
| |(name resolution) server response time measurement |
|2 |FTP server response time measurement |
|3 |HTTP (Web) server response time measurement |
|4 |SMTP (mail) server response time measurement |
|5 |Generic TCP server application response time measurement |
|7 |POP3 (mail) server response time measurement |
|8 |IMAP (mail) server response time measurement |
|9 |PI server response time measurement |
|10 |Direct DNS (name resolution) server response time; translation of hostname to IP address; available |
| |only if the Interface runs on Windows XP |
Location3
The Location3 attribute specifies the timeout duration in milliseconds. For example, if Location3 is 500, a response time longer than 500 milliseconds causes the Interface to write I/O Timeout.
If Location3 is 0, the Interface uses the value of the –wt startup command parameter (described later) as the timeout duration.
Location4
Scan-based Inputs
The Location4 attribute specifies the scan class number. PI TCPResponse uses this attribute for scan-based input points.
A scan class number is a positive integer. It refers to the instance of the appearance of the –f= parameter (described later) in the startup command file. For example, if the file contains the following:
PITCPResp.exe –f=120 –f=180 –f=240 …
then it defines the following scan classes: 1, 2, and 3. So, for a point configured with Location4 set to 2, PI TCPResponse measures response times every 180 seconds.
For more information, see the description of the -f parameter in the section called “Startup Command File”.
Trigger-based Inputs
A trigger-based input point is a point that contains the keyword EVENT= in the Extended Descriptor (described later). Location4 should be set to zero for these points.
Location5
The Location5 attribute causes the Interface to print debugging messages. For normal operations, Location5 should be zero. However, during a first time installation of PI TCPResponse or the investigation of anomalous behavior, the user may wish to set Location5 to a non-zero value. See the Troubleshooting section of this manual for details.
InstrumentTag
Length
The length of the InstrumentTag field is limited by the version of the PI API, the version of the PI Server, and sometimes by a specific Interface. The table below explains this in more detail. When the maximum possible lengths differ for the software installed on site, the shortest length applies.
|PI API |PI Server |Maximum Length |
|1.6 or higher |3.4.370.x or higher |1023 |
|1.6 or higher |Below 3.4.370.x |32 |
|Below 1.6 |3.4.370.x or higher |32 |
|Below 1.6 |Below 3.4.370.x |32 |
Thus, in order to effectively run the Interface, the user most likely will need to have PI API v1.6 (or higher) and PI Server 3.4.370.x (or higher) installed. For example,
DEVICE=192.168.10.100; PORT=2340;
contains 34 characters.
The InstrumentTag attribute holds various keywords/value pairs (e.g., DEVICE=ftp.) that, together with Location2, uniquely define the operation that the Interface performs.
The available keywords are
DEVICE=
PORT=
INPUT=
REPLY=
A semicolon terminates a keyword/value pair. For example,
DEVICE=192.168.10.100; INPUT=;
The keywords themselves are not case sensitive; however, the values are. For example,
REPLY=HTTP;
is the same as
Reply=HTTP;
However, it is not the same as
REPLY=Http;
Not every keyword is applicable or required for each Location2 value. The following table summarizes the keywords and their applicability.
|Location2 |Applicable keywords in InstrumentTag |
|1 (name translation) |INPUT= (required); DEVICE= supported for backwards compatibility |
|2 (FTP) |DEVICE= (required); PORT= (optional); REPLY= (optional); |
|3 (HTTP) |DEVICE= (required); PORT= (optional); REPLY= (optional); |
|4 (SMTP) |DEVICE= (required); PORT= (optional); REPLY= (optional); |
|5 (Generic application) |DEVICE= (required); PORT= (required); |
|7 (POP3) |DEVICE= (required); PORT= (optional); REPLY= (optional); |
|8 (IMAP) |DEVICE= (required); PORT= (optional); REPLY= (optional); |
|9 (PI) |DEVICE= (required); PORT= (optional); |
|10 (DNS) |DEVICE= (required, must be an IP address); INPUT= (required, cannot be an IP |
| |address); |
Location2 = 1
If Location2 is 1, the required keyword is INPUT=. Based on the value of this keyword, Interface performs
• a hostname to IP address translation; or
• an IP address to address translation
Specifically, if the value of INPUT= is a hostname, (for example, INPUT=;) the Interface performs a hostname to IP address translation.
If the value of INPUT= is an IP address (for example, INPUT=63.95.45.104;), the Interface performs an IP address to hostname translation.
For either case, when the PI point type is String, the Interface writes to the point the results of the translation. When the PI point type is numeric (e.g., Int32), the Interface writes the time taken to perform such a translation.
In both cases, the Interface makes use of the default name server. The user can find out the name of the default name server by invoking nslookup at the command prompt. For example,
C:\> nslookup
Address: 192.168.100.45
However, the underlying method by which the Interface uses to perform the address translation does not always generate a connection to the default name server. So, if the user wants to directly measure the response time of the default name server (or any name server), he should use the operation associated with Location2 set to 10.
For backwards compatibility, the keyword DEVICE= is the same as INPUT= for points with Location2 equal to 1.
Location2 = 2
If Location2 is 2, the required keyword is DEVICE=. Its value specifies an FTP server; for example, DEVICE=ftp..
By default, the Interface assumes that the specified FTP server uses port 21. If the FTP server is not using port 21, specify the port number via the optional PORT= keyword. For example,
DEVICE=ftp.; PORT=2021;
By default, the Interface expects a reply that contains the text 220. If the user wants the Interface to expect another reply, specify this text via the optional REPLY= keyword. For example,
DEVICE=ftp.; REPLY=server is ready;
Location2 = 3
If Location2 is 3, the required keyword is DEVICE=. Its value specifies an HTTP server; for example, DEVICE=.
By default, the Interface assumes that the specified HTTP server uses port 80. If the HTTP server is not using port 80, specify the port number via the optional PORT= keyword. For example,
DEVICE=; PORT=2080;
By default, the Interface expects a reply that contains the text HTTP/1.1. If the user wants the Interface to expect another reply, specify this text via the optional REPLY= keyword. For example,
DEVICE=; REPLY=Forbidden;
Note that PI TCPResponse can measure the response time of an HTTP server only. That is, the Interface cannot measure the response time required to load a particular page on an HTTP server.
Location2 = 4
If Location2 is 4, the required keyword is DEVICE=. Its value specifies an SMTP server; for example, DEVICE=smtp..
By default, the Interface assumes that the specified SMTP server uses port 25. If the SMTP server is not using port 25, specify the port number via the optional PORT= keyword. For example,
DEVICE=smtp.; PORT=2025;
By default, the Interface expects a reply that contains the text 220. If the user wants the Interface to expect another reply, specify this text via the optional REPLY= keyword. For example,
DEVICE=smtp.; REPLY=server is ready;
Location2 = 5
If Location2 is 5, the required keywords are DEVICE= and PORT=. The value of the former keyword specifies a server that contains an application whose response time the user wants to measure. The value of the latter specifies the port on which the application runs. For example,
DEVICE=server.; PORT=3389;
Location2 = 7
If Location2 is 7, the required keyword is DEVICE=. Its value specifies a POP3 server; for example, DEVICE=pop3..
By default, the Interface assumes that the specified POP3 server uses port 110. If the POP3 server is not using port 110, specify the port number via the optional PORT= keyword. For example,
DEVICE=pop3.; PORT=2110;
By default, the Interface expects a reply that contains the text +OK. If the user wants the Interface to expect another reply, specify this text via the optional REPLY= keyword. For example,
DEVICE=pop3.; REPLY=server is ready;
Location2 = 8
If Location2 is 8, the required keyword is DEVICE=. Its value specifies an IMAP server; for example, DEVICE=imap..
By default, the Interface assumes that the specified IMAP server uses port 143. If the IMAP server is not using port 143, specify the port number via the optional PORT= keyword. For example,
DEVICE=imap.; PORT=2143;
By default, the Interface expects a reply that contains the text "* OK". If the user wants the Interface to expect another reply, specify this text via the optional REPLY= keyword. For example,
DEVICE=imap.; REPLY=server is ready;
Location2 = 9
If Location2 is 9, the required keyword is DEVICE=. Its value specifies a PI server whose response time the user wants to measure; for example, DEVICE=pi.. This PI server should be different from the PI Server that the holds the points that the Interface is servicing.
By default, the Interface assumes that the specified PI server uses port 5450. If the PI server is not using port 5450, specify the port number via the optional PORT= keyword. For example,
DEVICE=pivax.; PORT=545;
Location2 = 10
This operation is available only when the Interface runs on Windows XP and higher.
If Location2 is 10, the required keywords are DEVICE= and INPUT=. The value of the former keyword specifies the IP address of a name server whose response time the user wants to measure. The value of the latter specifies the hostname that the name server should translate. For example,
DEVICE=192.168.10.100; INPUT=;
When the PI point type is String, the Interface writes to the point the results of the translation. When the PI point type is numeric (e.g., Int32), the Interface writes the time taken to perform such a translation.
The value of DEVICE= must be an IP address. The value of INPUT= cannot be an IP address.
User-specified replies
Many of the operations mentioned above (e.g., HTTP server response) allow the user to tell the Interface to expect a custom text string in the reply from the server. In particular, when measuring HTTP server response time, the Interface normally expects a reply that contains the text HTTP/1.1.
However, some HTTP servers require a username/password, and the reply it sends does not contain HTTP/1.1, but perhaps a text such as 403 Forbidden. The user can tell the Interface to expect the text Forbidden via the keyword REPLY in the point’s Instrument Tag.
To find out the actual response from the server, set the point’s Location5 value to 4. The Interface then prints out the server response in PIPC.LOG. See the Troubleshooting section for more details.
ExDesc
Length
The length of the Extended Descriptor field is limited by the version of the PI API, the version of the PI Server, and sometimes by a specific Interface. The table below explains this in more detail. When the maximum possible lengths differ for the software installed on site, the shortest length applies.
|PI API |PI Server |Maximum Length |
|1.6 or higher |3.4.370.x or higher |1023 |
|1.6 or higher |Below 3.4.370.x |80 |
|Below 1.6 |3.4.370.x or higher |80 |
|Below 1.6 |Below 3.4.370.x |80 |
PI TCPResponse uses the Extended Descriptor attribute for Performance Points and event-based input points (also known as trigger-based input points).
Performance Points
For UniInt-based interfaces, the extended descriptor is checked for the string “PERFORMANCE_POINT”. If this character string is found, UniInt treats this point as a performance point. See the section called “Performance Point Configuration.”
Trigger-based Inputs
For trigger-based input points, a separate trigger point must be configured. An input point is associated with a trigger point by entering a case-insensitive string in the extended descriptor (ExDesc) PI point attribute of the input point of the form:
keyword=trigger_tag_name
where keyword is replaced by “event” and trigger_tag_name is replaced by the name of the trigger point. There should be no spaces in the string. UniInt automatically assumes that an input point is trigger-based instead of scan-based when the keyword=trigger_tag_name string is found in the extended descriptor attribute.
An input is triggered when a new value is sent to the Snapshot of the trigger point. The new value does not need to be different than the previous Snapshot value to trigger an input, but the timestamp of the new value must be greater than (more recent than) or equal to the timestamp of the previous value. This is different than the trigger mechanism for output points. For output points, the timestamp of the trigger value must be greater than (not greater than or equal to) the timestamp of the previous value.
Conditions can be placed on trigger events. Event conditions are specified in the extended descriptor as follows:
Event='trigger_tag_name' event_condition
The trigger tag name must be in single quotes. For example,
Event='Sinuoid' Anychange
will trigger on any event to the PI Tag sinusoid as long as the next event is different than the last event. The initial event is read from the snapshot.
The keywords in the following table can be used to specify trigger conditions.
|Event Condition |Description |
|Anychange |Trigger on any change as long as the value of the current event is different than the value of the|
| |previous event. System digital states also trigger events. For example, an event will be |
| |triggered on a value change from 0 to “Bad Input,” and an event will be triggered on a value |
| |change from “Bad Input” to 0. |
|Increment |Trigger on any increase in value. System digital states do not trigger events. For example, an |
| |event will be triggered on a value change from 0 to 1, but an event will not be triggered on a |
| |value change from “Pt Created” to 0. Likewise, an event will not be triggered on a value change |
| |from 0 to “Bad Input.” |
|Decrement |Trigger on any decrease in value. System digital states do not trigger events. For example, an |
| |event will be triggered on a value change from 1 to 0, but an event will not be triggered on a |
| |value change from “Pt Created” to 0. Likewise, an event will not be triggered on a value change |
| |from 0 to “Bad Input.” |
|Nonzero |Trigger on any non-zero value. Events are not triggered when a system digital state is written to|
| |the trigger tag. For example, an event is triggered on a value change from “Pt Created” to 1, but|
| |an event is not triggered on a value change from 1 to “Bad Input.” |
Scan
The Scan attribute has the default value of 1, indicating that the Interface should collect data for the point. Setting the Scan attribute to 0 turns data collection off. If the Scan attribute is 0 when the interface starts, the Interface writes SCAN OFF to the point. If the user changes the Scan attribute from 1 to 0 while the interface is running, the Interface also writes SCAN OFF.
There is one other situation, which is independent of the Scan attribute, where UniInt will write SCAN OFF to a PI point. If a point that is currently loaded by the interface is edited so that the point is no longer valid for the interface, the point will be removed from the interface, and SCAN OFF will be written to the point. For example, if the PointSource of a PI point that is currently loaded by the interface is changed, the point will be removed from the interface and SCAN OFF will be written to the point.
Shutdown
The Shutdown attribute is 1 (true) by default. The default behavior of the PI Shutdown subsystem is to write the SHUTDOWN digital state to all PI points when PI is started. The timestamp that is used for the SHUTDOWN events is retrieved from a file that is updated by the Snapshot Subsystem. The timestamp is usually updated every 15 minutes, which means that the timestamp for the SHUTDOWN events will be accurate to within 15 minutes in the event of a power failure. For additional information on shutdown events, refer to PI Server manuals.
Note: The SHUTDOWN events that are written by the PI Shutdown subsystem are independent of the SHUTDOWN events that are written by the interface when the -stopstat=Shutdown command-line argument is specified.
SHUTDOWN events can be disabled from being written to PI when PI is restarted by setting the Shutdown attribute to 0 for each point. Alternatively, the default behavior of the PI Shutdown Subsystem can be changed to write SHUTDOWN events only for PI points that have their Shutdown attribute set to 0. To change the default behavior, edit the \PI\dat\Shutdown.dat file, as discussed in PI Server manuals.
Bufserv
It is undesirable to write shutdown events when Bufserv is being used. Bufserv is a utility program that provides the capability to store and forward events to a PI Server, allowing continuous data collection when the Server is down for maintenance, upgrades, backups, and unexpected failures. That is, when PI is shut down, Bufserv will continue to collect data for the interface, making it undesirable to write SHUTDOWN events to the PI points for this interface.
Performance Point Configuration
Performance points can be configured to monitor the amount of time in seconds that an interface takes to complete a scan for a particular scan class. A scan completion time that is close to 0 seconds indicates that the TCP/IP servers are responding very quickly.
The Interface records the scan completion time to millisecond resolution
Configuring Performance Points with PI ICU (Windows)
The PI Interface Configuration Utility (PI ICU) provides a user interface for creating and managing Performance Points.
[pic]
Create
To create a Performance Point, right-click the line belonging to the tag to be created, and select Create.
Delete
To delete a Performance Point, right-click the line belonging to the tag to be deleted, and select Delete.
Correct
If the “Status” of a point is marked “Incorrect”, the point configuration can be automatically corrected by ICU by right-clicking on the line belonging to the tag to be corrected, and selecting Correct. The Performance Points are created with the following PI attribute values. If ICU detects that a Performance Point is not defined with the following, it will be marked Incorrect:
|Attribute |Details |
|Tag |Tag name that appears in the list box |
|PointSource |Point Source for tags for this interface, as specified on the first tab |
|Compressing |Off |
|ExcMax |0 |
|Descriptor |Interface name + “ Scan Class # Performance Point” |
Rename
Right-click the line belonging to the tag and select “Rename” in order to rename the Performance Point.
Status
The Status column in the Performance Points table indicates whether the Performance Point exists for the scan class in column 2.
• Created – Indicates that the Performance Point does exist
• Not Created – Indicates that the Performance Point does not exist
• Deleted – Indicates that a Performance Point existed, but was just deleted by the user
Scan Class
The Scan Class column indicates which scan class the Performance Point in the Tagname column belongs to. There will be one scan class in the Scan Class column for each scan class listed in the Scan Classes combo box on the UniInt Parameters tab.
Tagname
The Tagname column holds the Performance Point tag name.
Snapshot
The Snapshot column holds the snapshot value of each Performance Point that exists in PI. The Snapshot column is updated when the Performance Points/Counters tab is clicked, and when the interface is first loaded.
Configuring Performance Points Manually
Performance point configuration is the same on all operating system platforms. Performance points are configured as follows.
1. Set the extended descriptor to:
PERFORMANCE_POINT
or to:
PERFORMANCE_POINT=interface_id
where interface_id corresponds to the identifier that is specified with the -id parameter on the startup command-line of the interface. The character string PERFORMANCE_POINT is case insenstive. The interface_id does not need to be specified if there is only one copy of an interface that is associated with a particular point source.
2. Set Location4 to correspond to the scan class whose performance is to be monitored. For example, to monitor scan class 2, set Location4 to 2. See the -f parameter for a description of scan classes.
3. Set the PointSource attribute to correspond to the -ps parameter on the startup command-line of the interface.
4. Set the PointType attribute to float32.
I/O Rate Point Configuration
An I/O Rate point measures the throughput of an Interface. In particular, the value of an I/O Rate point represents a 10-minute average of the total number of values per minute that the Interface sends to the PI Server. Because values are averaged over a 10-minute interval, the first calculated value is not written to the PI Server until 10 minutes after the Interface has started. The user can configure one I/O Rate point for each copy of the Interface that is in use.
Monitoring I/O Rates on the Interface Node
For Windows nodes, the 10-minute rate averages (in events/minute) can be monitored with a client application such as PI ProcessBook.
Configuring I/O Rate Tags with PI ICU (Windows)
The PI Interface Configuration Utility (PI ICU) provides a user interface for creating and managing I/O Rate Tags.
[pic]
PI ICU currently allows for one I/O Rate tag to be configured for each copy of the interface that is in use. Some interfaces allow for multiple I/O Rate tags.
Enable IORates for this Interface
The Enable IORates for this interface check box enables or disables I/O Rates for the current interface. To disable I/O Rates for the selected interface, uncheck this box. To enable I/O Rates for the selected interface, check this box.
Tag Status
The Tag Status column indicates whether the I/O Rate tag exists in PI. The possible states are:
• Created – This status indicates that the tag exist in PI
• Not Created – This status indicates that the tag does not yet exist in PI
• Deleted – This status indicates that the tag has just been deleted
• Unknown – This status indicates that the PI ICU is not able to access the PI Server
In File
The In File column indicates whether the I/O Rate tag listed in the tag name and the event counter is in the IORates.dat file. The possible states are:
• Yes – This status indicates that the tag name and event counter are in the IORates.dat file
• No – This status indicates that the tag name and event counter are not in the IORates.dat file
Event Counter
The Event Counter correlates a tag specified in the iorates.dat file with this copy of the interface. The command-line equivalent is /ec=x, where x is the same number that is assigned to a tag name in the iorates.dat file.
Tagname
The tag name listed under the Tagname column is the name of the I/O Rate tag.
Snapshot
The Snapshot column holds the snapshot value of the I/O Rate tag, if the I/O Rate tag exists in PI. The Snapshot column is updated when the IORates/Status Tags tab is clicked, and when the Interface is first loaded.
Right Mouse Button Menu Options
Create
Create the suggested I/O Rate tag with the tag name indicated in the Tagname column.
Delete
Delete the I/O Rate tag listed in the Tagname column.
Rename
Allow the user to specify a new name for the I/O Rate tag listed in the Tagname column.
Add to File
Add the tag to the IORates.dat file with the event counter listed in the Event Counter Column.
Search
Allow the user to search the PI Server for a previously defined I/O Rate tag.
Configuring I/O Rate Tags Manually
There are two configuration steps.
1. Configuring the PI Point on the PI Server
2. Configuration on the Interface Node
Configuring PI Point on the PI Server
Create an I/O Rate Tag with the following point attribute values.
|Attribute |Value |
|PointSource |L |
|PointType |float32 |
|Compressing |0 |
|ExcDev |0 |
Configuration on the Interface Node
The following procedure for I/O Rate point configuration on the interface node assumes that the tag name of this point is sytcpresp001. With respect to I/O Rate point configuration, an interface node is the computer on which the Interface runs.
1. Edit/Create a file called iorates.dat in the PIHOME\dat directory. The PIHOME directory is defined either by the PIPCSHARE entry or the PIHOME entry in the pipc.ini file, which is located in the %windir% directory. If both are specified, the PIPCSHARE entry takes precedence.
Since the PIHOME directory is typically C:\Program Files\PIPC, the full name of the iorates.dat file will typically be
C:\Program Files\PIPC\dat\iorates.dat.
Add a line in the iorates.dat file of the form:
sytcpresp001, x
where sytcpresp001 is the name of the I/O Rate Tag and x corresponds to the first instance of the -ec=x parameter in the startup command file. X can be any number between 2 and 34 or between 51 and 200, inclusive. To specify additional rate counters for additional copies of the interface, create additional I/O Rate tags and additional entries in the iorates.dat file. The event counter, -ec=x, should be unique for each copy of the interface.
2. Set the -ec=x parameter on the startup command file of the interface to match the event counter in the iorates.dat file.
The interface must be stopped and restarted in order for the I/O Rate tag to take effect. I/O Rates will not be written to the tag until 10 minutes after the interface is started.
Startup Command File
Command-line parameters begin with the dash character (-). For backwards compatibility, the Interface also supports the slash character (/). For example, the /ps=M and –ps=M command-line parameters are equivalent.
Configuring the Interface with PI ICU
On Windows, the PI Interface Configuration Utility (PI ICU) is a graphical tool that allows a user to configure the Interface’s startup command file. OSIsoft strongly recommends that the user run the PI ICU to configure and maintain the Interface's startup command file.
When running the PI ICU, the user should make sure that "tcpresponse" is selected for the Type of interface. That is,
[pic]
OSIsoft recommends that the user configure this Interface to write the digital state Intf Shut at interface shutdown. So, PI ICU’s UniInt tab should look like the following:
[pic]
The interface-specific tab (i.e., "tcpresponse") allows the user to enter values for the startup parameters that are particular to PI TCPResponse.
[pic]
Time to wait for response
PI TCPResponse measures the response times of servers. By default, if a server takes longer than 5000 milliseconds (5 seconds) to respond, the Interface writes I/O Timeout to the particular interface point.
If the user wants the Interface to wait for a different duration, he should check the Enable wait time box and specify the amount of time in the text box. For example, to tell the Interface to wait 10 seconds: [pic]
The minimum allowable wait time is 100 milliseconds. In addition, a point’s non-zero Location3 attribute overrides this wait time parameter for that particular point.
Manual Maintenance of the Startup Command File
OSIsoft strongly recommends that the user run the PI ICU to configure and maintain the Interface's startup command file. However, if he chooses to do so, the user can manually edit the command file that starts up the Interface.
For proper operation, the Interface requires various command-line parameters. These parameters begin with the dash character (-). For backwards compatibility, the Interface also supports the slash character (/).
The user should put these parameters, along with the name of the Interface executable, into a startup command file. For example,
PITCPResp.exe –ps=P –id=1 –ec=11
For Windows, various filename extensions are associated with command files. For example, .bat and .cmd are both acceptable. However, only the .bat extension is valid for a command file used by the Interface.
The name of the startup command file must be the name of the Interface executable, with the .exe extension replaced by the .bat extension. Thus, the startup command file for this Interface will typically be PITCPResp.bat. (The installation program installs a sample command file named PITCPResp.bat.new. The user should use this file as a template for his own PITCPResp.bat.)
The contents of a PI interface command file may contain the caret line continuation character (^). For example, a PITCPResp.bat file with contents
PITCPResp.exe ^
–ps=P ^
–id=1 ^
–ec=11
is equivalent to the above example.
The maximum length of each line in a command file is 1024 characters. The number of parameters is unlimited, and the maximum length of each parameter is 1024 characters. If a value for a parameter contains a space, use a pair of double quotes to enclose both the parameter and its value. For example,
PITCPResp.exe –ps=P –id=1 –stopstat="Intf Shut"
Note: The UniInt End User Document includes details about other command-line parameters, which may be useful.
Command-line Parameters
|Parameter |Description |
|-ec=x |The first instance of the -ec parameter on the command-line is used to specify a counter |
|Optional |number, x, for an I/O Rate point. If x is not specified, then the default event counter |
| |is 1. Also, if the -ec parameter is not specified at all, there is still a default event |
| |counter of 1 associated with the interface. If there is an I/O Rate point that is |
| |associated with an event counter of 1, each copy of the interface that is running without|
| |-ec=x explicitly defined will write to the same I/O Rate point. This means either |
| |explicitly defining an event counter other than 1 for each copy of the interface or not |
| |associating any I/O Rate points with event counter 1. Configuration of I/O Rate points is|
| |discussed in the section called "I/O Rate Tag Configuration." |
|-f=SS |The -f parameter defines the time period between scans in terms of hours (HH), minutes |
|or |(MM), and seconds (SS). The scans can be scheduled to occur at discrete moments in time |
|-f=SS,SS |with an optional time offset specified in terms of hours (hh), minutes (mm), and seconds |
|or |(ss). If HH and MM are omitted, then the time period that is specified is assumed to be |
|-f=HH:MM:SS |in seconds. |
|or |Each instance of the -f parameter on the command-line defines a scan class for the |
|-f=HH:MM:SS, |interface. There is no limit to the number of scan classes that can be defined. The first|
|hh:mm:ss |occurrence of the -f parameter on the command-line defines the first scan class of the |
| |interface; the second occurrence defines the second scan class, and so on. PI Points are |
|Required for reading |associated with a particular scan class via the Location4 PI Point attribute. For |
|scan-based inputs |example, all PI Points that have Location4 set to 1 will receive input values at the |
| |frequency defined by the first scan class. Similarly, all points that have Location4 set |
| |to 2 will receive input values at the frequency specified by the second scan class, and |
| |so on. |
| |Two scan classes are defined in the following example: |
| |-f=00:01:00,00:00:05 -f=00:00:07 |
| |or, equivalently: |
| |-f=60,5 -f=7 |
| |The first scan class has a scanning frequency of 1 minute with an offset of 5 seconds, |
| |and the second scan class has a scanning frequency of 7 seconds. When an offset is |
| |specified, the scans occur at discrete moments in time according to the formula: |
| |scan times = (reference time) + n(frequency) + offset |
| |where n is an integer and the reference time is midnight on the day that the interface |
| |was started. In the above example, frequency is 60 seconds and offset is 5 seconds for |
| |the first scan class. This means that if the interface was started at 05:06:06, the first|
| |scan would be at 05:06:10, the second scan would be at 05:07:10, and so on. Since no |
| |offset is specified for the second scan class, the absolute scan times are undefined. |
| |The definition of a scan class does not guarantee that the associated points will be |
| |scanned at the given frequency. If the interface is under a large load, then some scans |
| |may occur late or be skipped entirely. See the section called “Performance Point |
| |Configuration” for more information on skipped or missed scans. |
| |Sub-second Scan Classes |
| |Sub-second scan classes can be defined on the command-line, such as |
| |-f=0.5 -f=00:00:00.1 |
| |where the scanning frequency associated with the first scan class is 0.5 seconds and the |
| |scanning frequency associated with the second scan class is 0.1 of a second. |
| |Similarly, sub-second scan classes with sub-second offsets can be defined, such as |
| |-f=0.5,0.2 -f=1,0 |
| |Wall Clock Scheduling |
| |Scan classes that strictly adhere to wall clock scheduling are now possible. This feature|
| |is available for interfaces that run on Windows and/or UNIX. Previously, wall clock |
| |scheduling was possible, but not across daylight saving time. For example, |
| |-f=24:00:00,08:00:00 corresponds to 1 scan a day starting at 8 AM. However, after a |
| |Daylight Saving Time change, the scan would occur either at 7 AM or 9 AM, depending upon |
| |the direction of the time shift. To schedule a scan once a day at 8 AM (even across |
| |daylight saving time), use -f=24:00:00,00:08:00,L. The ,L at the end of the scan class |
| |tells UniInt to use the new wall clock scheduling algorithm. |
| |WARNING: The user must think very carefully before setting scan frequencies for less |
| |than 2 minutes. If there are many points defined, the combination of both multiple and |
| |frequent connection requests sent by the Interface may overwhelm the network and/or the |
| |servers whose response times are being measured. |
|-host=host:port |The –host parameter is used to specify the PI Server node. host is the IP address of the|
|Required |PI Sever node or the name of the PI Server node. port is the port number for TCP/IP |
| |communication. This number is always 5450. |
| |Examples: |
| |The interface is running on a PI Interface Node, the name of the PI Server node is |
| |Marvin, and the IP address of Marvin is 192.168.8.30. Valid -host parameters are: |
| |-host=marvin |
| |-host=marvin:5450 |
| |-host=192.168.8.30 |
| |-host=192.168.8.30:5450 |
|-id=x |The –id parameter specifies the Interface identification number. Each instance of PI |
|Required |TCPResponse uses the –ps and -id parameters to identify uniquely its particular list of |
| |points to service. In addition, the Interface uses the value of this parameter in the |
| |messages that it writes to the log file. For example, if the user specifies –id=8, then |
| |the message log file will have contents such as: |
| |12-Dec-02 14:44:58 |
| |PI TCPResponse 8> 125 points found for point source P |
|-ps=ptSrc |The -ps parameter specifies the point source for the interface. ptSrc can be a single or |
|Required |multiple characters, and is not case sensitive. For example, -ps=P and -ps=p are |
| |equivalent. |
| |The point source that is assigned with the -ps parameter corresponds to the PointSource |
| |attribute of individual PI Points. The interface will attempt to load only those PI |
| |points with the appropriate point source. |
|-q |When the -q parameter is present, Snapshots and exceptions are queued before they are |
|Optional |sent to the PI Server node. |
| |The maximum queue size is close to 4000 bytes. The queue is flushed between scans if it |
| |is not filled. |
|-stopstat |The –stopstat parameter causes the Interface to write the specified digital state to its |
|or |list of points before it exits. The recommended digital state is Intf Shut. Because |
|-stopatat= |there is a space in this digital state value, the user needs to use quotation marks. For|
|digstate |example, |
|Recommended: |PITCPResp.exe –ps=P –stopstat="Intf Shut" |
|-stopstat= |If the user specifies a digital state that does not exist in the PI Server, the Interface|
|"Intf Shut" |does not write any digital state values before it exits. |
|Optional | |
|-wt=# |The -wt parameter specifies (in milliseconds) the amount of time the Interface should |
|Optional |wait for a response. If the user does not specify this parameter, the Interface waits |
| |5000 milliseconds. The lower limit for this value is 100. |
| |A point’s non-zero Location3 attribute overrides this parameter. |
Sample PITCPResp.bat File
The following is an example of the contents of a startup command file for the PI TCPResponse Interface:
REM=======================================================================
REM
REM PITCPResp.bat
REM
REM Sample startup file for the TCP Response Interface to the PI System
REM
REM=======================================================================
REM
REM OSIsoft strongly recommends using PI ICU to modify startup files.
REM
REM Sample command line
REM
.\PITCPResp.exe -ps=P -id=1 -f=300 -host=localhost:5450 -stopstat="Intf Shut"
REM
REM End of PITCPResp.bat File
The installation program installs a sample command file named PITCPResp.bat.new. The user may use this file as a template to configure the PITCPResp.bat file.
Interface Node Clock
Make sure that the time and time zone settings on the computer are correct. To confirm, run the Date/Time applet located in the Windows Control Panel. If the locale where the interface node resides observes Daylight Saving Time, check the box marked “Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes”. For example,
[pic]
In addition, make sure that the TZ environment variable is not defined. All of the currently defined environment variables can be viewed by opening a Command Prompt window and typing set. That is,
C:> set
Make sure that the TZ environment variable is not defined. All of the currently defined environment variables can be viewed by opening a Command Prompt window and typing set. Confirm that TZ is not in the resulting list. If it is, run the System applet of the Control Panel, click the Environment tab, and remove TZ from the list of environment variables.
Security
The PI Firewall Database and the PI Proxy Database must be configured so that the interface is allowed to write data to the PI Server. See “Modifying the Firewall Database” and “Modifying the Proxy Database” in the PI Server manuals.
Note that the Trust Database, which is maintained by the Base Subsystem, replaces the Proxy Database used prior to PI version 3.3. The Trust Database maintains all the functionality of the proxy mechanism while being more secure. See “Trust Login Security” in the chapter “PI System Management” of the PI Universal Data Server System Management Guide.
If the interface cannot write data to the PI Server because it has insufficient privileges, a –10401 error will be reported in the pipc.log file. If the interface cannot send data to a PI2 Server, it writes a –999 error. See the section “Appendix A: Error and Informational Messages” for additional information on error messaging.
PI Server v3.3 and Higher
Security configuration using piconfig
For PI Server v3.3 and higher, the following example demonstrates how to edit the PI Trust table:
C:\PI\adm> piconfig
@table pitrust
@mode create
@istr Trust,IPAddr,NetMask,PIUser
a_trust_name,192.168.100.11,255.255.255.255,piadmin
@quit
For the above,
Trust: An arbitrary name for the trust table entry; in the above example,
a_trust_name
IPAddr: the IP Address of the computer running the Interface; in the above example,
192.168.100.11
NetMask: the network mask; 255.255.255.255 specifies an exact match with IPAddr
PIUser: the PI user the Interface to be entrusted as; piadmin is usually an appropriate user
Security Configuring using Trust Editor
The Trust Editor plug-in for PI System Management Tools 3.x may also be used to edit the PI Trust table.
See the PI System Management chapter in the PI Server manual for more details on security configuration.
PI Server v3.2
For PI Server v3.2, the following example demonstrates how to edit the PI Proxy table:
C:\PI\adm> piconfig
@table pi_gen,piproxy
@mode create
@istr host,proxyaccount
piapimachine,piadmin
@quit
In place of piapimachine, put the name of the PI Interface node as it is seen by PI Server.
Starting / Stopping the Interface on Windows
This section describes starting and stopping the interface once it has been installed as a service. See the UniInt End User Document to run the interface interactively.
[pic]
Starting Interface as a Service
If the interface was installed a service, it can be started from PI ICU, the services control panel or with the command:
PITCPResp.exe –start
To start the interface service with PI ICU, use the [pic] button on the PI ICU toolbar.
A message will be echoed to the screen informing the user whether or not the interface has been successfully started as a service. Even if the message indicates that the service started successfully, make sure that the service is still running by checking in the services control panel.
There are several reasons that a service may immediately terminate after startup. One is that the service may not be able to find the command-line parameters in the associated .bat file. For an interface service startup to succeed, the root name of the .bat file and the .exe file must be the same, and the .bat file and the .exe file must be in the same directory.
If the service terminates prematurely for whatever reason, no error messages will be echoed to the screen. The user must consult the pipc.log file, the Windows Event Viewer, or other sources of error messages. See the section “Appendix A: Error and Informational Messages,” for additional information.
Stopping Interface Running as a Service
If the interface was installed a service, it can be stopped at any time from PI ICU, the services control panel or with the command:
PITCPResp.exe –stop
The service can be removed by:
PITCPResp.exe –remove
To stop the interface service with PI ICU, use the [pic] button on the PI ICU toolbar.
Buffering
For complete information on buffering, please refer to the PI API Installation Instruction.
PI Interface Node buffering consists of a buffering process which runs continuously on the local node, a PI API library whose calls can send data to this buffering process, and a utility program for examining the state of buffering and controlling the buffering process.
Note: Change the Local Security Policy on Windows XP.
1. Open “Administrative Tools” from the control panel.
2. Open “Local Security Policy” from administrative tools.
3. Browse to “Security Options” under “Local Policies.”
4. Double click on “System Objects: Default owner for objects created by members of the Administrators group.”
5. Change the dropdown from “Object Creator” to “Administrators group.”
The behavior of Bufserv should now be the same on Windows XP as it was for Windows NT 4 and 2000.
Configuring Buffering with PI ICU (Windows)
Buffering is enabled through the PI Interface Configuration Utility’s Tools>API Buffering… menu. Unless buffering is explicitly enabled, the PI API will not buffer data, sending data directly to the home node.
The API Buffering… dialog allows the user to view and configure the parameters associated with the PI API Buffering (bufserv) process. The user can start and stop the PI API Buffering process from the Service tab:
[pic]
Service Tab
The Service tab allows for some PI API Buffering service configuration. For further configuration changes, use the Services applet.
Service Name
The Service name displays the name of the PI API Buffering Service.
Display Name
The Display name displays the full name associated with the PI API Buffering service.
Log On As
Log on as indicates the Windows user account under which the PI API Buffering service is setup to start automatically on reboot, or manually.
Password
Password is the name of the password for the Windows user account entered in the Log on as: above.
Confirm password
Reenter the password to verify it has been typed correctly both times.
Dependencies
The Dependencies lists the Windows services on which the PI API Buffering service is dependent.
Dependent Services
The Dependent services area lists the Windows services that depend on bufserv to function correctly.
Start / Stop Service
The Start / Stop buttons allow for the PI API Buffering service to be started and stopped. If the service is not created, this box will show Not Installed.
After a change is made to any of the settings on the Settings tab, the OK button must be clicked to save these settings, and then the service must be stopped and restarted for the changes to be picked up by bufserv.
Service Startup Type
The Startup Type indicates whether the PI API Buffering service is setup to start automatically on reboot or manually on reboot, or is disabled.
• If the Auto option is selected, the service will be installed to start automatically when the machine reboots.
• If the Manual option is selected, the interface service will not start on reboot, but will require someone to manually start the service.
• If the Disabled option is selected, the service will not start at all.
Generally, the PI API Buffering service is set to start automatically.
Create/Remove Service
The Create / Remove buttons allow for the creation or removal of the PI API Buffering service. Clicking the Create button will cause the service to be created using the Log on as and passwords given. Once the service is created the Start / Stop buttons will be activated.
Settings Tab
The Settings tab allows for configuration of the 7 configurable settings used by PI API Buffering. Default values are used if no other value is provided.
[pic]
Enable Buffering
Enable the PI API Buffering feature.
Maximum File Size
Maximum buffer file size in kilobytes before buffering fails and discards events. Default value is 100,000. Range is 1 to 2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value, click the Apply button.
Send Rate
Send rate is the time to wait between sending up to MAXTRANSFEROBJS to the server (milliseconds). Default value is 100. Range is 0 to 2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value, click the Apply button.
Primary Memory Buffer Size
Primary memory buffer size is the size in bytes of the Primary memory buffer. Default value is 32768. Range is 64 to 2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value, click the Apply button.
Secondary Memory Buffer Size
Secondary memory buffer size is the size in bytes of the Secondary memory buffer. Default value is 32768. Range is 64 to 2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value, click the Apply button.
Max Transfer Objects
Max transfer objects is the maximum number of events to send between each SENDRATE pause. Default value is 500. Range is 1 to 2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value, click the Apply button.
Pause Rate
When buffers are empty the buffering process will wait for this number of seconds before attempting to send more data to the home node. Default value is 2. Range is 0 to 2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value, click the Apply button.
Retry Rate
When the buffering process discovers the home node is unavailable it will wait this number of seconds before attempting to reconnect. Default value is 120. Range is 0 to 2,000,000.
The Use Default button places the default value into the text box. To keep this value, click the Apply button.
Max Theoretical Send Rate
This is the theoretical max send rate which is calculated like this:
max = MAXTRANSFEROBJS / SENDRATE * 1000
Default value is 5000. This value is automatically calculated for the user and can not be changed.
There are no additional steps needed to install buffering after installing the PI API. The delivered PI API library supports both buffered and un-buffered calls.
Configuring Buffering Manually
Buffering is enabled through the use of a configuration file, piclient.ini. Unless this file is modified to explicitly enable buffering, the PI API will not buffer data, sending data directly to the home node.
There are no additional steps needed to install buffering after installing the PI API. The delivered PI API library supports both buffered and un-buffered calls.
Note: When buffering is configured to be on, the bufserv process must be started before other programs using the PI API, so that these programs can access the shared buffering resources. Any program that makes a connection to a PI Server has this requirement even if it does not write to PI.
Configuration of buffering is achieved through entries in the piclient.ini file. The file is found in the dat subdirectory of the PIHOME directory (which is typically c:\program files\pipc\dat) under Windows. This file follows the conventions of Microsoft Windows initialization files with sections, keywords within sections, and values for keywords. All buffering settings are entered in a section called [APIBUFFER]. To modify settings, simply edit the piclient.ini file in a text editor (Notepad on Windows) to the desired values.
The following settings are available for buffering configuration:
|Keywords |Values |Default |Description |
|BUFFERING |0, 1 |0 |Turn off/on buffering. OFF = 0, ON = 1, |
|PAUSERATE |0 – 2,000,000 |2 |When buffers are empty the buffering process will |
| | | |wait for this long before attempting to send more |
| | | |data to the home node (seconds) |
|RETRYRATE |0 – 2,000,000 |120 |When the buffering process discovers the home node|
| | | |is unavailable it will wait this long before |
| | | |attempting to reconnect (seconds) |
|MAXFILESIZE |1 – 2,000,000 |100,000 |Maximum buffer file size before buffering fails |
| | | |and discards events. (Kbytes) |
|MAXTRANSFEROBJS |1 – 2,000,000 |500 |Maximum number of events to send between each |
| | | |SENDRATE pause. |
|BUF1SIZE |64 – 2,000,000 |32768 |Primary memory buffer size. (bytes) |
|BUF2SIZE |64 – 2,000,000 |32768 |Secondary memory buffer size. (bytes) |
|SENDRATE |0 – 2,000,000 |100 |The time to wait between sending up to |
| | | |MAXTRANSFEROBJS to the server (milliseconds) |
In addition to the [APIBUFFER] section, the [PISERVER] section may be used to define an optional time offset change that may occur between the client and server.
|Keywords |Values |Default |Description |
|DSTMISMATCH |0 – 2,000,000 |0 |The time that the server and client local time |
| | | |offset is allowed to jump. Typically, 3600 if the |
| | | |nodes are in time zones whose DST rules differ |
| | | |(seconds) |
Example piclient.ini File
On Windows, the default server information is stored in the pilogin.ini file so the piclient.ini would only have the [APIBUFFER] section. The BUFFERING=1 indicates that buffering is on. The MAXFILESIZE entry in Kbytes of 100000 allows up to 100 Megabytes of data storage. Do not use commas or other separators in the numeric entries. The retry rate is set to 600 seconds, meaning “Wait 10 minutes after losing a connection before retrying”.
On Windows a piclient.ini file might look like:
[APIBUFFER]
BUFFERING=1
MAXFILESIZE=100000
; The PI API connection routines have a 1 minute default timeout.
RETRYRATE=600
Appendix A:
Error and Informational Messages
The string PI TCPResponse ID> is pre-pended to error and informational messages written to the message log. The value of the -id parameter on the startup command line determines the ID identifier.
Message Logs
The name of the message log is pipc.log. It is located in the dat subdirectory where the PI API is installed. For example,
C:\program files\pipc\dat\pipc.log
Messages are written to this file at the following times:
• At startup, the Interface writes many informational messages log. These include the version of the Interface, the version of the UniInt template, the command-line parameters used, and the version of the PI API found.
• As the Interface retrieves points from the PI Server, it writes messages to the log if there are problems with the configuration of the points.
• When a PI point's Location5 attribute is non-zero, the Interface logs debugging messages. See Appendix B, "Troubleshooting" for more details.
System Errors and PI Errors
Operating system errors are associated with positive error numbers. Errors related to the PI System are associated with negative error numbers.
The user can obtain descriptions of operating system and PI System errors with the pidiag program found on the computer running PI Server. This program is located in the adm subdirectory of the directory where PI Server is installed. Use –e command line parameter followed by the error number. For example,
C:\PI\adm\pidiag –e 100
[100] Cannot create another system semaphore.
C:\PI\adm\pidiag –e -10401
[-10401] No Write Access - Secure Object
Appendix B:
Troubleshooting
Location5
A non-zero value in a point’s Location5 point attribute tells the Interface to print debugging messages to the message log. The Interface automatically incorporates point attribute changes. Thus, the user does not have to stop and re-start the interface to enable/disable these debugging messages. (However, the user may have to wait up to 2 minutes for point changes to take effect.)
|Location5 |Meaning |
|0 |no debugging |
|1 |messages regarding point loading |
|2 |messages regarding network communications |
|3 |messages regarding code execution |
|4 |show response from server |
The effects of the value of Location5 are cumulative. That is, a debug value of 2 causes the Interface also to take the actions associated with a debug value of 1.
The examples below use a test point named tcpresptest.
Location5 set to 1
A debugging value of 1 results in messages relating to whether the Interface has loaded or rejected the point. For example,
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest) LOADED
and
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest) REFUSED; cannot find "DEVICE=" in InstrumentTag
Location5 set to 2
Set Location5 to a value of 2 to debug Bad Input or I/O Timeout values. The Interface prints the message it receives from the underlying TCP/IP software. For example,
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest) connect() failed for 192.168.100.172:3389;
err:10061 Connection Refused; is the device listening on the specified port?
Location5 set to 3
A value of 3 in Location5 causes the Interface to print out messages as it executes various portions of the program code. For example, for a point configured for the measurement of HTTP server response times,
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest) connect() to 192.168.210.40:80 good; sending HTTP msg
This message tells the user that the Interface successfully connected to port 80 of the machine with IP address 192.168.210.40. The Interface then sent an HTTP message.
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest) aMsg.rval is 160.00
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest) aMsg sent to queue
These messages tell the user that the Interface has stored the value of 160.0 into its internal queue.
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest), found matching message in queue
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest), drval=160.00 returned to UniInt
These messages tell the user that the Interface has processed the value of 160.0 from its internal queue and returned this value to the UniInt template. Thus, the value for the point should be 160.0.
If the message
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest), ... returned to UniInt
does not appear, the reason is that the response time the user is trying to measure is too long, and a timeout occurred.
In general, if the values for a point are unexpected, set the point’s Location5 attribute to 3 and examine the message log. Afterwards, the user can set Location5 back to 0 to prevent these debugging messages.
The user should not have too many points with Location5 set to 3 or higher. Otherwise, the message log will become very large very quickly.
Location5 set to 4
A value of 4 in Location5 causes the Interface to show the reply message that it received from the server. For example,
> 0000 32 32 30 20 63 6f 76 61 64 2e 6e 65 74 20 45 53 220 cova ES
> 0010 4d 54 50 0d 0a MTP..
Setting Location5 to 4 is useful for determining user-specified replies (i.e., REPLY= in the InstrumentTag). As such, this debug setting is valid only for the following Location2 values:
|Location2 |Applicable keywords in InstrumentTag |
|2 (FTP) |DEVICE= (required); PORT= (optional); REPLY= (optional); |
|3 (HTTP) |DEVICE= (required); PORT= (optional); REPLY= (optional); |
|4 (SMTP) |DEVICE= (required); PORT= (optional); REPLY= (optional); |
|7 (POP3) |DEVICE= (required); PORT= (optional); REPLY= (optional); |
|8 (IMAP) |DEVICE= (required); PORT= (optional); REPLY= (optional); |
Common problems
Interface exits on startup
If the Interface immediately exits upon startup, the most likely cause is that required command line parameters are not specified. PI TCPResponse requires the following command line parameters
• –ps= (point source character or string)
• –id= (interface identifaction number)
• -host= (PI Server name and port number)
If the user omits any of these parameters, the Interface exits.
No new value for a point
If a point does not receive new value (e.g., the value remains at Pt Created), a likely cause is that the Interface node does not have sufficient privileges to send data to PI Server. A symptom of this problem is a –10401 error in the message log file. The solution is to check the entries in the PI Proxy Table (PI Server v3.2) or the PI Trust Table (PI Server v3.3 and higher).
Another reason that a point is not getting a new value is that the Interface has not loaded the point. To confirm whether the Interface has loaded a point, set the point’s Location5 attribute to 1. Within two minutes, PI TCPResponse writes to the log file information regarding whether it has loaded the point. For example,
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest) debug setting is 1
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest) LOADED
or
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest2) debug setting is 1
PI TCPResponse 1> pt (tcpresptest2) REFUSED; -id/Location1 mismatch; -id=1, Location1=9
Value of 0 for a point
A value of 0 for a point means that the measured response time is less than 1 millisecond.
Value of Bad Input for a point
A value of Bad Input for a point means that the Interface encountered an error during the measurement of response times. A common error is the inability to translate the device specification into an IP address. For example, the user want to measure the response time of the Web server named . Accordingly, the user configures a point such that its InstrumentTag contains
device=;
Before the Interface can send an HTTP request to , it first has to find the IP address of this machine. If this IP address lookup fails, PI TCPResponse writes Bad Input to the point.
See the Principles of Operations section of this document for more reasons that the Interface writes Bad Input to a point. Also, the user can set the point’s Location5 attribute to 3 to tell the Interface to print out the reason it is writing Bad Input.
Value of I/O Timeout for a point
A value of I/O Timeout for a point indicates that the Interface did not receive a response message within the timeout time. The timeout time for a point is one of the following:
• the Location3 value, if Location3 is non zero
• the value of the –wt command line parameter if Location3 is zero
• 5000 milliseconds if Location3 is zero and the –wt parameter is not specified.
The user can set the point’s Location5 attribute to 3 to tell the Interface to print out the reason it is writing I/O Timeout.
Revision History
|Date |Author |Comments |
|17-Jun-2002 |E Tam |Version 1.0.3 |
|20-Mar-2004 |E Tam |Version 1.1.0.0; used skeleton v1.14 |
|06-Sep-2006 |E Tam |Skeleton v2.52; version 1.1.3.0 |
|07-Sep-2006 |Janelle |Version 1.1.3.0 Revision A: updated hardware diagram, minor |
| | |formatting changes. |
|11-Sep-2006 |MKelly |Version 1.1.3.0 Revision B: Fixed headers and footers, page |
| | |margins, screenshots and tables outside margins. |
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Service installed or uninstalled
Status of the Interface Service
Status of the ICU
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