Intellution Fix DMACS (FIX32) / Dynamics (iFIX)
Intellution Fix DMACS (FIX32) / Dynamics (iFIX)
Interface to the PI System
Version 2.2.0.0
OSIsoft, Inc.
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Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Reference Manuals 1
Supported Features 1
Diagram of Hardware Connection 3
Principles of Operation 3
Data Updates 4
Alarm/Event Message Data Collection 4
Point for Point Alarm/Event Message Data 4
All Alarm/Event Message Data to a Single PI String Tag 4
Data Redundancy 5
SCADA Node Failover 5
Interface Cluster Failover 5
Installation Checklist 7
Interface Installation 9
Naming Conventions and Requirements 9
Microsoft DLLs 9
Interface Directories 10
The PIHOME Directory Tree 10
Interface Installation Directory 10
Interface Installation Procedure 10
Installing the Interface as an NT Service 10
Installing the Interface Service with PI-Interface Configuration Utility 11
Installing the Interface Service Manually 12
Digital States 15
Point Source 17
PI Point Configuration 19
Point Attributes 19
Tag 19
PointSource 19
PointType 19
Location1 19
Location2 20
Location3 21
Location4 21
Location5 21
InstrumentTag 22
SourceTag 22
ExDesc 23
Scan 23
Shutdown 23
Performance Point Configuration 25
Configuring Performance Points with PI-ICU 25
Configuring Performance Points Manually 26
I/O Rate Tag Configuration 27
Monitoring I/O Rates on the Interface Node 27
Configuring I/O Rate Tags with PI-ICU 27
Configuring I/O Rate Tags Manually 28
Configuring the PI Point on the PI Server 28
Configuration on the Interface Node 29
Startup Command File 31
Configuring Startup Parameters with PI-ICU Control 31
Command Line Parameters 35
Interface Node Clock 45
Security 47
Starting / Stopping the Interface 49
Starting Interface as a Service 49
Stopping Interface Running as a Service 49
Buffering 51
Configuring Buffering with PI-ICU 51
Configuring Buffering Manually 54
Example piclient.ini File 55
Appendix A: Error and Informational Messages 57
Message Logs 57
System Errors and PI Errors 57
Interface-Specific Troubleshooting 57
Interface Startup and Point Loading Errors 57
Data Collection Errors 58
Appendix B: FIXtoPI Configuration Transfer Utility 61
Overview 61
User Instructions 62
Parameters 62
Sample Command Lines 63
Sample FixToPI.scr File 63
Sample Output 64
Appendix C: Cluster Failover 67
Principles of Operation 67
Cluster Failover Configurations 68
Configuring APIOnline 68
Configuring the Interface 69
Buffering Data on Cluster Nodes 75
Group and Resource Creation Using Cluster Administrator 75
Cluster Group Configuration 75
Installation of the Resources 78
Testing Cluster Configuration 80
Appendix D: FIX Redundancy and PI-EDA 82
Principles of Operation 82
FIX32 Redundancy Setup 82
FIX32 View Node 82
FIX32 Primary SCADA Node 83
FIX32 Backup SCADA Node 83
FIX32 View Node’s Network Status Display 84
FIX32 Node \winnt\system32\drivers\etc Host File 84
PI Tag Configuration for FIX32 Tag 84
iFIX Redundancy Setup 84
iFIX View Node 84
iFIX Primary SCADA Node 86
iFIX Backup SCADA Node 86
iFIX Network Status Redundancy Display 87
iFIX Node \winnt\system32\drivers\etc Host File 87
PI Tag Configuration for iFIX Tag 87
Introduction
The following interface moves data between Intellution FIX/iFIX software platforms and PI. The interface program reads the PI point database to determine which points to read. It then queries FIX/iFIX for current values and sends exception reports to the PI system. The interface can also write values back to the FIX/iFIX database.
The interface runs on Windows NT platforms (NT 4.0 sp6a, Windows 2000 & XP). It communicates using Intellution’s EDA (Easy Data Access) library and can be run on either a View or SCADA node if the eda.dll and fixtools.dll are installed
Reference Manuals
OSI
• UniInt End User Document
• PI Data Archive Manual
• PI-API Installation Instructions
Intellution
• Intellution Electronic Books
Supported Features
|Feature |Support |
|Part Number |PI-IN-INT-FIXD-NTI |
|Platforms |NTI |
|PI Point Types |Float32 / Int32 / Float16 / Int16 /Digital / String |
|Sub-Second Timestamps |Yes |
|Sub-Second Scan Classes |Yes |
|Automatically Incorporates PI Point Attribute |Yes |
|Changes | |
|Exception Reporting |Yes |
|Outputs from PI |Yes |
|Inputs to PI: Scan-Based / Unsolicited / Event |Scan-Based / Event Tags |
|Tags | |
|Maximum Point Count |Unlimited |
|Uses PI-SDK |No |
|PINet to PI 3 String Support |N/A |
|* Source of Timestamps |PI server or PI-API node |
|History Recovery |No |
|* Failover |Yes |
|* UniInt-Based |Yes |
|* Vendor Software Required on PI-API / PINet Node|Yes |
|* Vendor Software Required on Foreign Device |Yes |
|Vendor Hardware Required |No |
|* Additional PI Software Included with Interface |Yes |
* See paragraphs below for further explanation.
Source of Timestamps
Default behavior is for all data to receive the PI server system timestamp. The interface can be configured to use the local system time for the timestamp of data by specifying the /LS parameter in the interface startup file.
Failover
The interface supports failover through Microsoft cluster services. See Appendix C:
Cluster Failover for a complete discussion on how this works.
It’s also possible to apply SCADA node redundancy through configuration of Intellution View nodes. See Appendix D:
FIX Redundancy and PI-EDA.
UniInt-Based
UniInt stands for Universal Interface, and it is an OSI-developed template used to create many of our interfaces. UniInt is not a separate product or file, it is solely a template used by our developers, and is integrated into the interface. The purpose of UniInt is to keep a consistent feature set and behavior across as many of our interfaces as possible. It also allows for the very rapid development of new interfaces. UniInt is constantly being upgraded with new options and features. In any UniInt interface, UniInt uses some of the supplied configuration parameters, and some parameters are interface-specific features of the interface.
The UniInt End User Document is a supplement to this manual.
Vendor Software Required
The interface can be run on either a View or SCADA node if the eda.dll and fixtools.dll are installed.
It’s compatible with FIX 6.15 and greater, and iFIX 2.1 and greater. The following table lists what we have tested internally:
|**Intellution Software Compatibility Testing |
|FIX Dynamics 6.15 |
|FIX Dynamics 7.0 |
|iFIX 2.1 |
|iFIX 2.21 |
|iFIX 2.6 |
|iFIX 3.0 |
** We will continue to test new releases of iFIX as they become available.
Additional PI Software
This interface comes with the FixToPi Configuration Transfer Utility for extracting the FIX database in a format ready for exporting to PI. A complete discussion of this utility can be found in Appendix B:
FIXtoPI Configuration Transfer Utility.
Supported Data Types
The interface can read analog, digital and string data types. Each Intellution tag has a block type which is also associated with several fields. Each field represents kind of data for that block. For example, Analog Input block types have a F_CV field for current value. A complete listing of the different fields associated with each block can be viewed in the Intellution Database Manger Online Help file, Block Field Reference section.
Diagram of Hardware Connection
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Principles of Operation
The interface uses Intellutions’s EDA (Easy Data Access) library. The EDA library is common to both FIX and iFix making this interface compatible with both platforms. The interface must run on either a SCADA or VIEW node where eda.dll and fixtools.dll are installed.
Data Updates
Point updates are either scan or event based. Scan based events are collected at a frequency specified by the scan class (defined in the interface startup file). Event based updates mean an update is requested when the specified source tag receives an update (event-triggered updates). The interface reads the PI point database using the point source and id to identify the interface points. It then processes the PI tag definition to identify which Intellution point it references using the "node-tag-field" (NTF) identifier. The node references the Intellution node name which reads data for the specified tag. Tag references the tag name within the specified node, and field defines the type of data this tag references. It then groups these points according to scan class, with one EDA group defined for each scan class. In addition, if output tags are defined they will be placed in a separate group.
To optimize performance, tags belonging to a particular node should be grouped into the same scan classes for more efficient polling. By keeping all tags for individual nodes within the same group, EDA does not have to poll multiple nodes in order to read values for a single scan. Note that event-triggered tags take much longer to process since a separate group is defined for each event tag, which is less efficient than scan based updates.
Alarm/Event Message Data Collection
The interface also has the ability to access alarm/event message data. In order to enable this functionality, either WUSERQ1.exe or WUSERQ2.exe must be added as a startup task for the Intellution View or SCADA node. These tasks are responsible for making alarm/event message data available to clients. We recommend running a separate copy of the interface specifically for alarm/event message data collection to maximize performance.
Point for Point Alarm/Event Message Data
If enabled, the interface uses scan class one to group all PI tags that will receive alarm/event message data on a tag for tag basis. It is therefore critical that when alarm/event message data collection is enabled, only tags intended for collection of alarm/event data belong to scan class one. In this configuration the interface recieves a alarm/event message string and checks the Intellution tag name. If a PI tag that belongs to scan class 1 is configured for this point it attempts to extract the data value from the string message and send it to PI. The interface startup file contains paramters for defining the string position for the data within the alarm/event message (see Startup Command File for details).
All Alarm/Event Message Data to a Single PI String Tag
The interface can also be configured to send all alarm/event messages to a single PI string tag. The entire alarm/event message string for all events pulled from the WUSERQ are sent to the PI string tag. The PI string tag is specified in the interface startup file.
Data Redundancy
There are two levels of data redundancy; SCADA node failover and interface cluster failover.
SCADA Node Failover
Both FIX32 and iFIX support failover (starting from FIX32 version 6.15 and FIX Dynamics version 2.0). The interface can take advantage of this functionality by running on a View node. A View node can look at a pair of SCADA nodes that have the identical databases (and are connected to the same PLC) and obtain data from the active node. More information on Failover can be found in Intellution’s documentation for FIX32 or iFIX. Although FIX allows a backup SCADA configuration that involves two SCADA servers and without the use of a View node the interface does not support this configuration. A complete discussion of SCADA node failover, including configuration procedures can be found in Appendix D: FIX Redundancy and PI-EDA.
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Interface Cluster Failover
Interface-level failover is supported through Microsoft clustering. A cluster is composed of two or more nodes. Each member of the cluster has a copy of the interface installed and running, with only one node sending data to PI at any given time. Microsoft provides a Cluster Administrator program which is used for configuration and management of failover resources. A system failure (hardware or software) on the active cluster node will cause the Cluster Administrator to initiate a failover. On failover ownership of a cluster resource is shifted from the node of failure to another available cluster node. In this way we ensure that the only one cluster node owns the active interface at any given time.
Note that failover activity does not apply with respect to alarm/event message data collection. If enabled, alarm/event data will be collected on each interface node independent of cluster failover. However it is strongly recommended that you run a separate copy of the interface specifically for collecting this type of data to maximize performance. A complete discussion of cluster failover operation and configuration can be found in Appendix C:
Cluster Failover.
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Installation Checklist
This checklist should help you get the interface up and running. The steps should be followed in the order outlined below.
This should have enough detail to get the interface running quickly by an experienced installer.
The typical example below is followed by sections of the document that describe these steps in more detail.
Install the interface (Follow the installation procedure below, including the section on installing the interface as service).
1. Install the PI-Interface Configuration Utility (which installs PI-SDK and PI-API)
2. Verify that PI-API has been installed.
3. Install the interface.
4. Test the connection between the interface node and the foreign device.
5. Define digital states.
6. Choose a point source. If PI 2 home node, create the point source.
7. Configure PI points.
Location1 is the interface instance as specified in the startup file (/id=#).
Location2 is the I/O type (Input=0, Output=1).
Location3 is not used at this time.
Location4 is the scan class. Event based and output tags should have Location4=0. Alarm/event-message tags must have Location4=1.
Location5 is not used at this time.
ExDesc is used to specify a ‘trigger tag’. Takes the format event=trigger tag.
InstrumentTag is used to specify the NTF address (Node-Tag-Field). For example: LocalNode,TagX,F_CV
8. Configure performance points.
9. Configure I/O rate tag.
10. Edit startup command file with the ICU or manually.
11. Set interface node clock.
12. Setup security.
13. Start the interface.
14. Verify data.
15. Stop interface, start buffering, start interface.
Interface Installation
OSI recommends that interfaces be installed on API nodes instead of directly on the PI Server node. An API 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 Installation Instructions manual). With this approach, the PI Server need not compete with interfaces for CPU time. 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-API node (once again, see the PI-API Installation Instructions 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-API 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 a power failure.
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 interfaces as manual services that are launched by site-specific command files when the PI Server is started. Interfaces that are started as manual services are also stopped in conjunction with the PI Server by site-specific command files. This typical scenario assumes that Bufserv is not enabled on the PI Server node. 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
In the installation procedure below, it is assumed that the name of the interface executable is pi-eda.exe and that the startup command file is called pi-eda.bat.
It is customary for the user to rename the executable and the startup command file when multiple copies of the interface are run. For example, one would typically use
pi-eda1.exe and pi-eda1.bat for interface number 1, pi-eda2.exe and
pi-eda2.bat for interface number 2, and so on. When an interface is run as a service, the executable and the command file must have the same root name because the service looks for its command-line arguments in a file that has the same root name.
Microsoft DLLs
The following Microsoft DLLs are distributed on the installation CD-ROM. The install kit will copy these files to the winnt\system32 directory only if the files in the winnt\system32 directory are older than the files on the CD-ROM.
|MSVCIRT.DLL |
|MSVCRT.DLL |
|MSVCRT40.DLL |
|MSVCP50.DLL |
|MSVCP60.DLL |
The following additional Microsoft DLLs are also distributed on the CD-ROM. These DLLs are only used by a debug version of the interface. The install kit will copy these files to the Winnt\system32 directory only if the files in the winnt\system32 directory are older than the files on the CD-ROM.
|MSVCIRTD.DLL |
|MSVCRTD.DLL |
|MSVCP50D.DLL |
|MSVCP60D.DLL |
Interface Directories
The 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, which is located in the WinNT directory. A typical pipc.ini file contains the following lines:
[PIPC]
PIHOME=c:\pipc
The above lines define the \pipc directory as the root of the PIHOME directory tree on the C: drive. OSI recommends using \pipc as the root directory name. The PIHOME directory does not need to be on the C: drive.
Interface Installation Directory
Place all copies of the interface into a single directory. The suggested directory is:
PIHOME\interfaces\pi-eda\
Replace PIHOME with the corresponding entry in the pipc.ini file.
Interface Installation Procedure
The PI-EDA interface setup program uses the services of the Microsoft Windows Installer. Windows Installer is a standard part of Windows 2000. When running on Windows NT 4.0 systems, the PI-EDA setup program will install the Windows Installer itself if necessary. To install, run the PIEDA_x.x.x.x.exe installation kit.
Installing the Interface as an NT Service
The PI-EDA interface service can be created with the PI-Interface Configuration & Management Utility, or can be created manually.
Installing the Interface Service with PI-Interface Configuration Utility
The PI-Interface Configuration & Management Utility provides a user interface for creating, editing, and deleting the interface service. The service name will be eda and the display name will be PI-EDA.
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Service Configuration
Service Name
The Service to Add box shows the name of the current interface service. This service name is obtained from the interface 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 OSI suite of products.
Service Startup Type
The Service Startup Type indicates whether the interface service will start automatically or need 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.
Interface Dependencies
The Installed Services list is a list of the services currently installed on this machine. Services upon which this Interface is dependant should be moved into the Interface Dependencies list using the “Add>>” button. For example, if API Buffering is running, then “Bufserv” should be selected from the list at the right and added to the list on the left.
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.
Add>>
To add a dependency from the list of Installed Services, select the dependency name, and click the Add button.
” where # corresponds to the /id startup parameter.
Location2
This parameter identifies the direction of data flow for the point.
Inputs
Location2 = 0
Defines tag as an input (data goes from Intellution to PI).
Input Update Methods
Values are requested from FIX at a given frequency or after an "event," depending on the configuration of the input tag.
Configuration 1: Values are requested at a given frequency, defined by the associated scan class. The scan class is defined through the Location4 attribute. Configuration 1 is the most efficient update method and enabled if no "triggertag" is specified the input tag’s extended descriptor.
Configuration 2: Values are requested after an event is detected for a "trigger tag." The trigger tag is specified in the input tag’s extended descriptor. An event occurs whenever a value reaches the snapshot of the trigger tag.
For both configuration 1 and configuration 2, ‘IO TIMEOUT’ is written to the input tag if a communication error occurs.
Outputs
Location2 = 1
Defines tag as an output (data goes from PI to Intellution).
Output Update Methods
Outputs are sent to FIX only upon an event. An event is triggered in one of two ways, depending upon the configuration of the output tag.
Configuration 1 (Recommended): For trigger method 1, a separate trigger point must be configured. The output point must have the same point source as the interface. The trigger point can be associated with any point source, including the point source of the interface. Also, the point type of the trigger point does not need to be the same as the point type of the output point.
The output point is associated with the trigger point by setting the SourceTag attribute equal to the tag name of the trigger point. An output is triggered when a new value is sent to the snapshot of the trigger point. If no error is indicated, then the value that was sent to the trigger point is also written to the output point. If the output is unsuccessful, then an appropriate digital state that is indicative of the failure is written to the output point. The advantage of using a source tag is you have a record of the output value sent to Intellution (via the source tag value) and an indication of whether or not the write was successful (via the output tag value).
Configuration 2: For trigger method 2, a separate trigger point is not configured. To trigger an output, write a new value to the Snapshot of the output point itself.
Trigger method 2 may be easier to configure than trigger method 1, but trigger method 2 has a significant disadvantage. If the output is unsuccessful, there is no tag to receive a digital state that is indicative of the failure, which is very important for troubleshooting.
When do "events" occur? An event is defined as a value sent to PI that has a timestamp that is more current than what was previously recorded. This event can have the same value because it’s the timestamp that determines whether or not the value is a new event.
For example, the snapshot of a SourceTag tag is 51 and the exception maximum time is set to the default 600 seconds. This means that is a new event does not get sent to the source tag, after 600 seconds one will be forced to the snapshot. This will trigger an output value to be sent to Intellution. It may be desired to disable exception max time for output points and output source points by setting exception max time to 0.
Location3
Location3 is not used by this interface.
Location4
Location4 defines the scan class for the PI point. The scan class defines the frequency at which input points are scanned for new values. For more information, see the description of the /f flag in the section called “The Startup Command File”.
Trigger-Based Inputs and Output Points
Location4 should be set to zero for these points.
Note on Alarm/Event Message Data Collection
If alarm/event message data collection is enabled scan class 1 is used for alarm/event message data collection EXCLUSIVELY. All tags with Location4=1 will be used for this purpose.
Performance Considerations
The absolute limit on resolution is 0.01 second. With high data resolution (fast scan rates) users should monitor CPU loading. The higher the data resolution, the more CPU time the interface will need.
To optimize performance, tags belonging to a particular node should be grouped into the same scan classes for more efficient polling. By keeping all tags for individual nodes within the same group, EDA does not have to poll multiple nodes in order to read values for a single scan. Note that event-triggered tags take much longer to process since a separate group is defined for each event tag, which is less efficient than scan based updates.
Location5
Not used by this interface.
InstrumentTag
InstrumentTag is used to specify the "node,tag,field" (NTF) identifier. The node references the Intellution node name which reads data for the specified tag. Tag references the tag name within the specified node, and field defines the type of data this tag references. The NTF identifier is used to map PI points to the corresponding Intellution point.
The following table shows the field values to obtain current values for given data types.
|Intellution Data Type |Field Value |Possible PI Point Types |
|Analog or Integer |F_CV |Float, Integer or Digital |
|Digital or Boolean |D_CV |Digital or Integer |
|Multistate Digital |M_CV |Digital or Integer |
|String |A_CV |String |
The interface has the ability to obtain a wide range of data for each block type. A complete listing of the field options for each Intellution block type see the Intellution Dababase Manger Online Help, Block Field Reference section.
The InstrumentTag attribute requires the following format;
Node,Tag,Field
The following table provides examples of how to configure the InstrumentTag given the Intellution node, tag name and block type.
|Intellution Node |Tag Name |Block Type |PI InstrumentTag Definition |
|PLANT1 |FLOW_PV |Analog Input |PLANT1,FLOW_PV,F_CV |
|PLANT1 |VALVE_PV |Digital Input |PLANT1,VALVE_PV,D_CV |
|PLANT2 |CONTROL_SP |Multistate Digital Input |PLANT2,CONTROL_SP,M_CV |
|PLANT2 |COMMENT |String |PLANT2,COMMENT,A_CV |
Note that the interface is not limited to the block types listed in the above table.
The InstrumentTag is limited to 32 characters. If the NTF definition exceeds this limit the Extended Descriptor field can be used for defining the Node and Field values. If the NTF entry in the InstrumentTag is not complete, the ExDesc will be checked. If the full NTF is specified in the instrument tag, then the interface does NOT check the ExDesc field for additional information - the interface already has all the information required. Utilizing the ExDesc for this purpose means the InstrumentTag field will contain the tag name and the field and node definitions are defined in the ExDesc.
SourceTag
A SourceTag is used in conjunction with an output tag. An output tag has Location2 set to 1.
ExDesc
The extended descriptor (ExDesc) is used to configure input tags that are event based updated. For these points the “trigger tag” is specified using the following format:
EVENT=[trigger tag]
By specifying a trigger tag, the associated input tag is updated after an "event" instead at a given frequency. See the Location4 description for essential details on event based input tags.
The extended descriptor can also be used for defining the Node and Field definitions when the NTF definition exceeds 32 characters (see InstrumentTag description for more details).
The following format should be used for defining the Node and Field attributes.
NODE=[node name], FIELD=[field name]
All three (event=, node=, and field=) can be defined in the extended descriptor. The following example shows the syntax for a tag specifying a trigger tag along with the node and field names (the order that the parameters are defined is not important):
EVENT=[trigger tag],NODE=[node id],FIELD=[field id]
Scan
By default, the Scan attribute has a value of 1, which means that scanning is turned on for the point. Setting the scan attribute to 0 turns scanning off. If the scan attribute is 0 when the interface starts, SCAN OFF will be written to the PI point. If the scan attribute is changed from 1 to 0 while the interface is running, SCAN OFF will also be written to the PI point after the point edit is detected by the interface.
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.
The Scan field is used by the interface to determine whether or not the tag is to be scanned. This allows the user to turn a tag on or off while the interface is on-line.
Shutdown
PI 2 Server Nodes
The Shutdown attribute is not used if the server node is a PI 2 system. For information on configuring shutdown events for PI 2, see Data Archive (DA) section 4.2.3 of PI System Manual I.
PI 3 Server Nodes
The shutdown attribute is used only if the server node is a PI 3 system.
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 Data Archive for NT and UNIX.
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 command-line argument is specified.
One can disable SHUTDOWN events from being written to PI when PI is restarted by setting the Shutdown attribute to 0 for each point. Alternatively, one can change the default behavior of the PI Shutdown Subsystem 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 Data Archive for NT and UNIX.
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 shutdown, 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
One can configure performance points to monitor the amount of time in seconds that an interface takes to complete a scan for a particular scan class. The closer the scan completion time is to 0 seconds, the better the performance. The scan completion time is recorded to millisecond resolution
Configuring Performance Points with PI-ICU
The PI-Interface Configuration & Management Utility (PI-ICU) provides a user interface for creating and managing Performance Points.
[pic]
To create or delete a Performance Point, right mouse click the line belonging to the tag to be created, and click Create or Delete. If a tag already exists, the status is marked “Created”, the Delete option will be enabled. If a tag does not exist, the status is marked “Not Created” or “Deleted”, and the Create option is enabled.
The Performance Points are created with the following PI attribute values:
|Attribute |Details |
|Tag |Tag name that appears in the list box |
|Point Source |Point Source for tags for this interface, as specified on the first tab |
|Compressing |Off |
|ExcMax |0 |
|Descriptor |Interface name + " Scan Class # Performance Point" |
Status
The Status column in the Performance Points table indicates whether the Performance Point exists for the scan class in column 2. If a Performance Point does exist, a status of “Created” is displayed. If the Performance Point does not exist, a status of “Not Created” is displayed. If a Performance Point exists, and is deleted, a status of “Deleted” is displayed.
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.
Configuring Performance Points Manually
Performance point configuration is the same on all operating system platforms. Performance points are configured as follows.
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 flag 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.
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 flag for a description of scan classes.
Set the PointSource attribute to correspond to the /ps flag on the startup command line of the interface.
Set the PointType attribute to float32.
I/O Rate Tag Configuration
An I/O Rate point can be configured to receive 10-minute averages of the total number of exceptions per minute that are sent to PI by the interface. An exception is a value that has passed the exception specifications for a given PI point. Since 10-minute averages are taken, the first average is not written to PI until 10 minutes after the interface has started. One I/O Rate tag can be configured for each copy of the interface that is in use.
Monitoring I/O Rates on the Interface Node
For NT and UNIX nodes, the 10-minute rate averages (in events/minute) can be monitored with a client application such as ProcessBook. For Open VMS nodes, the rate (events/minute) can be monitored with the PISysExe:IOMonitor.exe program or with another client program such as Process Book. The IOMonitor program is discussed on page DA-71 of PI System Manual I.
Configuring I/O Rate Tags with PI-ICU
The PI-Interface Configuration & Management Utility (PI-ICU) provides a user interface for creating and managing IORates 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 Rates tags.
Enable IORates for this Interface
The Enable IORates for this interface check box enables or disables IORates for the current interface. To disable IORates for the selected interface, uncheck this box. To enable IORates for the selected interface, check this box.
Tag Status
The Tag Status column indicates whether the IORates 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 ICU is not able to access the PI Server
In File
The In File column indicates whether the IORates 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 IORates tag.
Right Mouse Button Menu Options
Create
Create the suggested IORates tag with the tag name indicated in the Tagname column.
Delete
Delete the IORates tag listed in the Tagname column.
Rename
Allows the user to specify a new name for the IORates tag listed in the Tagname column.
Add to File
Adds the tag to the IORates.dat file with the event counter listed in the Event Counter Column.
Search
Allows the user to search the PI Server for a previously defined IORates tag.
Configuring I/O Rate Tags Manually
There are two configuration steps.
Configuring the PI Point on the PI Server
PI 2 Server Nodes
A listing of the I/O Rate Tags that are currently being monitored can be obtained with the command:
@PISysDat:
Create an I/O Rate Tag using one of the existing I/O Rate Tags as a template.
PI 3 Server Nodes
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
For the following examples, assume that the name of the PI tag is pieda001, and that the name of the I/O Rate on the home node is pieda 001.
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 \WinNT directory. If both are specified, the PIPCSHARE entry takes precedence.
Since the PIHOME directory is typically C:\PIPC, the full name of the iorates.dat file will typically be C:\PIPC\dat\iorates.dat.
Add a line in the iorates.dat file of the form:
pieda001, x
where pieda001 is the name of the I/O Rate Tag and x corresponds to the first instance of the /ec=x flag 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.
Set the /ec=x flag 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
Configuring Startup Parameters with PI-ICU Control
The PI-EDA interface on Windows has an ICU Control that will aid in configuring the PI-EDA interface startup command file.
[pic]
Figure 1: Intfix Configuration Menu for the PI-ICU Utility
General
Startup delay (seconds)
Enabling the check box allows you to specify how many seconds the interface waits on startup before connecting to Intellution. The default is 120. The delay allows the Intellution software to fully start before trying to connect.
Enable Local System Time
The default behavior of the interface is to use the PI server system time for the data timestamp. Enable this check box to have the interface use the local interface node system time for timestamp source.
This option must be used with caution. If the local system time is ahead of the PI server the data may be rejected. PI discards “future” data, which is defined as any event more than 10 minutes ahead of the PI server time. This option should only be used if there is a compelling reason to do so.
Cluster Failover
The interface redundancy is supported through Microsoft Cluster server. See Appendix C: Cluster Failover for a complete discussion on operation requirements and configurations.
Enable this check box to if you wish to use failover. Upon enabling this box the failover configuration options will become active.
Cluster Mode:
The interface has the ability to operate with a preference for running on a specified cluster node if at all possible. This is referred to as running with Primary bias. This behavior maybe preferred if one of the cluster nodes has proven to be more stable or otherwise performs better than the others.
If Primary bias is selected using the drop down list, then the This node is the : option will be enabled. At this point you must specify whether this cluster node is the primary or backup. Note it is critical that only one cluster node be specified as the primary. If more than one cluster node is specified as the primary node they will compete for ownership of the cluster group resource, sending the interface into an endless loop of failovers.
A cluster mode of No bias means the interface does not attempt to control which node runs the active interface. As a result whichever node owns the cluster resource on startup will be the active interface. This will remain so until there is a problem that causes failover or a user uses the Cluster Manger to intentionally manipulate the configuration. The default value for this option is No Bias.
This node is the:
This option is enabled when Primary bias is specified for the Cluster Mode:. In this configuration you must specify whether the current node is the primary or backup node for failover operation. The default value for this option is Backup.
Failover mode:
The interface has the option of running in either warm or hot failover mode. This behavior determines whether or not an interface running as a backup will query Intellution for point updates.
Warm failover mode means the interface does not query for point updates when operating as the backup node. Hot failover mode tells the interface is should query Intellution for point updates at all times, but send them only when active.
The advantage of running in hot failover mode is you minimize the risk of missing data on failover. However to minimize loading on inactive cluster nodes we recommend running in warm failover mode. The default value for this option is Warm.
Resource number for APIOnline :
The resource number is used to indicate the name of the apionline cluster group resource for the interface. This number will be appended to ‘apionline’ and used for initialization on interface startup. For example, if you enter a value of 1, the interface will look for apionline1 as the cluster group resource. A negative number tells the interface that the resource has been defined as simply apionline. A procedure for creating cluster group resources can be found in the section Group and Resource Creation Using Cluster Administrator.
Active interface node tag :
A PI string tag can be specified to receive the name of the node where the active interface is running. The button to the right of this option can be used to launch a PI tag search for selecting the desired tag.
The active cluster tag should be configured as follows:
Table 1: Active Cluster Tag Configuration
|Attribute |Value |
|PointSource |L |
|PointType |string |
|Compressing |0 |
|ExcDev |0 |
In addition to receiving the name of the active interface node this tag will also receive shutdown events whenever the interface is stopped on any of the cluster nodes. The shutdown event will also contain the name of the machine in the following format; ‘Shutdown hostname”
Alarm/Event Messages
Note that when alarm/event message data collection is enabled, all tags belonging to scan class one will be used for this purpose in addition to the PI string tag (if specified). For a complete discussion on alarm/event message data collection see ????????.
It is recommended that a separate copy of the interface be ran specifically for the purpose of collecting alarm/event message data.
Enable Alarm/Event Msg Data
The check box allows you to configure the interface to collect alarm/event message data. Once this check box is active it will enable the radio buttons for specifying which WUSERQ to query. The remaining alarm/event message configuration options will be enabled after selecting a WUSERQ.
String Position for Alarm/Event Data
In order to collect alarm/event data on a tag by tag basis, the string position and length of the data with in the message string must be specified.
Refer to the alarm common message format configuration menu accessed through the Intellution SCADA/View node software package.
[pic]
Figure 2: Intellution Alarm Message Format Configuration Menu
Using Figure 2 as an example, the starting string position is 68 and the data string length is 13. The starting string position is calculated by adding the string length for Date, Time, Node, Tagname and Alarm Type. The Column Order does not change this calculation as the interface receives the format as specified by within the Columns menu, the Column Order is of no consequence for the interface.
String Tag for All Alarm/Event Messages
The interface can be configured to send all alarm/event message strings to a single PI string tag. This string tag must have the following configurations:
Table 2: Alarm/Event String Tag Configuration
|Attribute |Value |
|PointSource |L |
|PointType |string |
|Compressing |0 |
|ExcDev |0 |
Debug Levels
The interface has the option to enable debug messaging for specific operations. Selecting ‘max debug level’ enables messaging for all specific operations plus additional messaging. Click on the appropriate check box to enable desired level of debug messaging. Note that enabling point checking will slow interface startup proportional to the number of points (more points means slower interface startup).
Additional Arguments
The additional arguments section is provided for any other parameters that are not directly configurable from the Intfix ICU Control.
Command Line Parameters
If the Interface Configuration Utility is not used to configure the startup parameters, the following explains the parameters and their usage. For convenience, the arguments are defined in a startup command file called PI-EDA#.bat. A sample PI-EDA#.bat file is included on the installation disks. The command line in the PI-EDA#.bat file must be on a single line and cannot exceed the 255 character limit.
For NT, command file names have a .bat extension. The NT continuation character (^) allows one to use multiple lines for the startup command. The maximum length of each line is 1024 characters (1 kilobyte). The number of flags is unlimited, and the maximum length of each flag is 1024 characters.
Note: The UniInt End User Document includes details about other command line parameters which may be useful.
The following is a brief description of interface startup parameters organized by functionality. At the end of this list is a table listing alphabetically each switch along with a detailed description of it’s usage.
General
/HOST Domain name or IP address of your PI server, and its port number. For example /host=piserver:5450. PI3 servers use port 5450, PI2 uses 545.
/PS The point source for the interface.
/ID Interface instance identifier. The interface uses this number to identify which tags belong to it when running more than one instance of the interface. This number is also used as a prefix for messages written to the pipc.log file. For example, if /id=1 is used messages in the pipc.log will use this prefix “PI-EDA 1> “.
/W Startup delay. Time in seconds the interface waits on startup before connecting to Intellution allowing it to fully start.
/EC IORate tag identifier. The interface calculates the number of events per minute sent to PI and updates this tag every 10 minutes.
Alarm/Event Msg Data Collection
/EM Enable data collection for alarm/event messages. When specified all tags belonging to scan class 1 will be used to record alarm data on a tag for tag basis.
/QN Intellution WUSERQ to query for alarm/event message data (either /qn=1 for WUSERQ1 or /qn=2 for WUSERQ2).
/C Used to indicate the string position for data within the alarm/event message (/c=[start]:[length]).
/AL PI string tag to receive all alarm/event messages.
Interface Cluster Failover
/FO Enable Microsoft cluster failover support.
/RN Used to indicate the APIOnline cluster resource name.
/CM Specifies primary node bias (/cm=0) or no bias (/cm-1) for failover operation.
/PR For primary node bias, indicates whether this is the primary (/pr=0) or backup (/pr=1) cluster node.
/FM Specifies hot (/fm=0) or warm (/fm=1) failover mode.
/CN PI string tag to receive the name of the active cluster node.
Debug Messaging
/DB 1 – Maximum debug messaging
2 – Point checking on startup/edits
3 – Input data
4 – Ouput data
5 – Alarm/event message data collection
6 – Interface cluster failover
Complete Alphabetic Parameter Listing
|Parameter |Description |
|/al=[tagname] |When alarm/event data collection is enabled you have the option of writing all events|
|Optional |to a PI string tag. This parameter specifies that tag. This tag requires the |
|*Used in conjuntion with /em |following configurations: |
| |Alarm/Event String Tag Configuration |
| |Attribute |
| |Value |
| | |
| |PointSource |
| |L |
| | |
| |PointType |
| |string |
| | |
| |Compressing |
| |0 |
| | |
| |ExcDev |
| |0 |
| | |
|/c=[start]:[length] |In order to collect alarm/event data on a tag by tag basis, the string position and |
|Optional |length of the data with in the message string must be specified. |
|*Used in conjuntion with /em |Refer to the alarm common message format configuration menu accessed through the |
| |Intellution SCADA/View node software package. |
| |[pic] |
| |Figure 2: Intellution Alarm Message Format Configuration Menu |
| |Using Figure 2 as an example, the starting string position is 68 and the data string |
| |length is 13 (/c=68:13). The starting string position is calculated by adding the |
| |string length for Date, Time, Node, Tagname and Alarm Type. The Column Order does not|
| |change this calculation as the interface receives the format as specified by within |
| |the Columns menu, the Column Order is of no consequence for the interface. |
|/cm=[0 or 1] |Cluster mode, used for cluster failover. Specifies whether the interface has a bias |
|Optional |toward running on the primary node (/CM=0) or no bias (/CM=1). |
|*Used in conjuntion with /fo | |
|Default=1 | |
|/cn=[tagname] |When cluster failover is enabled, a PI string tag can be specified to receive the |
|Optional |name of the node where the active interface is running. The active cluster tag should|
|*Used in conjuntion with /fo |be configured as follows: |
| |Active Cluster Tag Configuration |
| |Attribute |
| |Value |
| | |
| |PointSource |
| |L |
| | |
| |PointType |
| |string |
| | |
| |Compressing |
| |0 |
| | |
| |ExcDev |
| |0 |
| | |
| | |
| |In addition to receiving the name of the active interface node this tag will also |
| |receive shutdown events whenever the interface is stopped on any of the cluster |
| |nodes. The shutdown event will also contain the name of the machine in the following |
| |format; ‘Shutdown hostname” |
|/db=# |The interface has the option to enable debug messaging for specific operations. |
|or |Debug options: |
|/db=#,#,... |1 – Max debug message level. |
|Optional |2 – Point checking on startup and tag edits. Note this will slow interface startup |
| |proportional to the number of points (more tags means slower startup). |
| |3 – Input data. |
| |4 – Output data. |
| |5 – Alarm/event message data collection. |
| |6 – Cluster failover. |
|/ec=x |The first instance of the /ec flag 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 flag 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 |
| |that one should either explicitly define an event counter other than 1 for each copy |
| |of the interface or one should not associate 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,” p. 27. |
| |For interfaces that run on NT nodes, subsequent instances of the /ec flag may be used|
| |by specific interfaces to keep track of various input or output operations. One must |
| |consult the interface-specific documentation to see whether subsequent instances of |
| |the /ec flag have any effect. Subsequent instances of the /ec flag can be of the form|
| |/ec*, where * is any ASCII character sequence. For example, /ecinput=10, |
| |/ecoutput=11, and /ec=12 are legitimate choices for the second, third, and fourth |
| |event counter strings. |
|/em |Enable data collection for alarm/event messages. When specified all tags belonging to|
|Optional |scan class 1 will be used to record alarm data on a tag for tag basis. In addition |
| |the interface can be configured to send all alarm/event messages to a single PI |
| |string tag (/al=[tagname]). |
| |The WUSERQ used for alarm/event data collection is specified using the /qn switch. |
|/f=SS |The /f flag 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 |
|/f=SS,SS |time with an optional time offset specified in terms of hours (hh), minutes (mm), and|
|or |seconds (ss). If HH and MM are omitted, then the time period that is specified is |
|/f=HH:MM:SS |assumed to be in seconds. |
|or |Each instance of the /f flag on the command line defines a scan class for the |
|/f=HH:MM:SS,hh:mm:ss |interface. There is no limit to the number of scan classes that can be defined. The |
| |first occurrence of the /f flag on the command line defines the first scan class of |
|Required for reading scan-based inputs |the interface, the second occurrence defines the second scan class, and so on. PI |
| |Points are associated with a particular scan class via the Location4 PI Point |
| |attribute. For 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 |
| |One can also specify sub-second scan classes on the command line such as |
| |/f=0.5 /f=0.1 |
| |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 seconds. |
| |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 NT and/or UNIX. Previously, wall |
| |clock scheduling was possible, but not across daylight savings time. For example, |
| |/f=24:00:00,08:00:00 corresponds to 1 scan a day starting at 8 AM. However, after a |
| |Daylight Savings 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 savings time), one should 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. |
|/fo |Enables cluster failover support. |
|Optional |A complete discussion on failover operation and configuration can be found in |
| |Appendix C: Cluster Failover. |
|/fm=[0 or 1] |The interface has the option of running in either warm or hot failover mode. This |
|Optional |behavior determines whether or not an interface running as a backup will query |
|*Used in conjuntion with /fo |Intellution for point updates. |
|Default=1 |Warm failover mode means the interface does not query for point updates when |
| |operating as the backup node. Hot failover mode tells the interface is should query |
| |Intellution for point updates at all times, but send them only when active. |
| |The advantage of running in hot failover mode is you minimize the risk of missing |
| |data on failover. However to minimize loading on inactive cluster nodes we recommend |
| |running in warm failover mode. The default value for this option is Warm. |
|/h |Running the interface from a command prompt with /h as the only parameter causes the |
| |interface to print its version and a list of parameters – essentially an on-line |
| |summary of this table. |
|/help or /? |Running the interface from a command prompt with /help or /? as the only parameter |
| |causes UniInt to print its version, a list of UniInt Service configuration |
| |parameters, and a list of UniInt generic interface parameters. |
|/host=host:port |The /host flag is used to specify the PI Home node. Host is the IP address of the PI|
|Optional |Sever node or the domain name of the PI Server node. Port is the port number for |
| |TCP/IP communication. The port is always 5450 for a PI 3 Server and 545 for a PI 2 |
| |Server. It is recommended to explicitly define the host and port on the command line |
| |with the /host flag. Nevertheless, if either the host or port is not specified, the |
| |interface will attempt to use defaults. |
| |Defaults: |
| |The default port name and server name is specified in the pilogin.ini or piclient.ini|
| |file. The piclient.ini file is ignored if a pilogin.ini file is found. Refer to the |
| |PI-API Installation Instructions manual for more information on the piclient.ini and |
| |pilogin.ini files. |
| |Examples: |
| |The interface is running on an API node, the domain name of the PI 3 home node is |
| |Marvin, and the IP address of Marvin is 206.79.198.30. Valid /host flags would be: |
| |/host=marvin |
| |/host=marvin:5450 |
| |/host=206.79.198.30 |
| |/host=206.79.198.30:5450 |
|/id=x |The /id flag is used to specify the interface identifier. |
|Required |The interface identifier is a string that is no longer than 9 characters in length. |
| |UniInt concatenates this string to the header that is used to identify error messages|
| |as belonging to a particular interface. |
| |UniInt always uses the /id flag in the fashion described above. This interface also |
| |uses the /id flag to identify a particular interface copy number that corresponds to |
| |an integer value that is assigned to Location1. For this interface, one should use |
| |only numeric characters in the identifier. For example, /id=1. |
|/ls |The default behavior of the interface is to use the PI server system time for the |
|Optional |data timestamp. Enable this check box to have the interface use the local interface |
| |node system time for timestamp source. |
| |This option must be used with caution. If the local system time is ahead of the PI |
| |server the data may be rejected. PI discards “future” data, which is defined as any |
| |event more than 10 minutes ahead of the PI server time. This option should only be |
| |used if there is a compelling reason to do so. |
|/pr=[0 or 1] |When cluster failover is enabled, and the cluster mode is set for primary bias this |
|Optional |switch is used to designate the local node as primary (/pr=0) or backup (/pr=1). |
|*Used in conjuntion with /fo and /cm=0 | |
|Default=1 | |
|/ps=x |The /ps flag specifies the point source for the interface. x is not case sensitive |
|Required |and can be any single character. For example, /ps=P and /ps=p are equivalent. |
| |The point source that is assigned with the /ps flag corresponds to the PointSource |
| |attribute of individual PI Points. The interface will attempt to load only those PI |
| |points with the appropriate point source. |
|/qn=n |When alarm/event message data collection is enabled, this switch is used to specify |
|Optional |whether WUSERQ1 (/qn=1) or WUSERQ2 (/qn=2) is used for the data source. |
|*Used in conjuntion with /em | |
|Default: 1 | |
|/rn=# |The resource number is used to indicate the name of the apionline cluster group |
|Optional |resource for the interface. This number will be appended to ‘apionline’ and used for |
|*Used in conjuntion with /fo |initialization on interface startup. For example, if you enter a value of 1, the |
| |interface will look for apionline1 as the cluster group resource. A negative number |
| |tells the interface that the resource has been defined as simply apionline. A |
| |procedure for creating cluster group resources can be found in the section Group and |
| |Resource Creation Using Cluster Administrator. |
|/stopstat |If the /stopstat flag is present on the startup command line, then the digital state |
|or |Intf Shut will be written to each PI Point when the interface is stopped. |
|/stopatat= |If /stopstat=digstate is present on the command line, then the digital state, |
|digstate |digstate, will be written to each PI Point when the interface is stopped. For a PI 3 |
|Default: |Server, digstate must be in the system digital state table. For a PI 2 Server, where |
|/stopstat= |there is only one digital state table available, digstate must simply be somewhere in|
|”Intf Shut” |the table. UniInt uses the first occurrence in the table. |
|Optional |If neither /stopstat nor /stopstat=digstate is specified on the command line, then no|
| |digital states will be written when the interface is shut down. |
| |Examples: |
| |/stopstat=”Intf Shut” |
| |The entire parameter is enclosed within double quotes when there is a space in |
| |digstate. |
|/sio |The /sio flag stands for “suppress initial outputs.” The flag applies only for |
|Optional |interfaces that support outputs. If the /sio flag is not specified, the interface |
| |will behave in the following manner. |
| |When the interface is started, the interface determines the current Snapshot value of|
| |each output tag. Next, the interface writes this value to each output tag. In |
| |addition, whenever an individual output tag is edited while the interface is running,|
| |the interface will write the current Snapshot value to the edited output tag. |
| |This behavior is suppressed if the /sio flag is specified on the command line. That |
| |is, outputs will not be written when the interface starts or when an output tag is |
| |edited. In other words, when the /sio flag is specified, outputs will only be written|
| |when they are explicitly triggered. |
|/w=n |This specifies how many seconds the interface waits for the FIX software to come up |
|Optional |completely since the initial startup before loading tags. |
|Default: 120 | |
Sample pi-eda.bat File
rem
rem pi-eda.bat
rem
rem Fix interface startup parameters
rem
pi-eda /host=localhost:5450 /ps=f /id=1 /w=120 /ec=2 /f=00:00:01 ^
/em /c=67:13 /al=VIEWNODE1.ALARMS /q
Interface Node Clock
The correct settings for the time and time zone should be set in the Date/Time control panel. If local time participates in Daylight Savings, from the control panel, configure the time to be automatically adjusted for Daylight Savings Time. The correct local settings should be used even if the interface node runs in a different time zone than the PI Server node.
Make sure that the TZ environment variable is not defined. The currently defined environment variables can be listed by going to Start | Settings | Control Panel, double clicking on the system icon, and selecting the environment tab on the resulting dialog box. Also, make sure that the TZ variable is not defined in an autoexec.bat file. When the TZ variable is defined in an autoexec.bat file, the TZ variable may not appear as being defined in the System control panel even though the variable is defined. Admittedly, autoexec.bat files are not typically used on NT, but this does not prevent a rogue user from creating such a file and defining the TZ variable unbeknownst to the System Administrator.
Security
If the home node is a PI 3 Server, the PI Firewall Database and the PI Proxy Database must be configured so that the interface is allowed to write data to the PI Data Archive. See “Modifying the Firewall Database” and “Modifying the Proxy Database” in the PI Data Archive Manual.
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 home node is a PI 2 Server, the read/write permissions should be set appropriately in the pisysdat:piserver.dat file on the PI 2 home node. For more information on setting permissions on PI 2, see the pibuild:piserver.txt file on the PI 2 home node.
If the interface cannot write data to a PI 3 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 Serve, it writes a –999 error. See the section “Appendix A: Error and Informational Messages” for additional information on error messaging, p.Error! Bookmark not defined..
Starting / Stopping the Interface
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.
Starting Interface as a Service
If the interface was installed a service, it can be started from the services control panel or with the command:
pi-eda.exe –start
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 arguments in the associated .bat file. For this 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 for 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 the services control panel or with the command:
pi-eda.exe –stop
The service can be removed by:
pi-eda.exe –remove
Buffering
For complete information on buffering, please refer to the Uniint End User.
PI-API 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.
Configuring Buffering with PI-ICU
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 API Buffering (Bufserv) process. The user can start and stop the API Buffering process from the Service tab:
[pic]
Service Tab
The Service tab allows for some API Buffering service configuration. For further configuration changes, use the Services applet.
Service Name
The Service name displays the name of the API Buffering Service.
Display Name
The Display name displays the full name associated with the API Buffering service.
Log On As
Log on as indicates the Windows user account under which the API Buffering service is setup to start automatically on reboot, or manually. To modify the user account or password under which Bufserv runs, use the Microsoft Windows “Services” applet.
Dependencies
The Dependencies lists the Windows services on which the API Buffering service is dependent.
Service Startup Type
The Startup Type indicates whether the 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 API Buffering service is set to start automatically.
Start / Stop Service
The Start / Stop buttons allow for the API Buffering service to be started and stopped.
After a change is made to any of the settings on the Settings tab, the Save button must be clicked, and then the service must be stopped and restarted for the changes to be picked up by Bufserv.
Settings Tab
The Settings tab allows for configuration of the 7 configurable settings used by API Buffering. Default values are used if no other value is provided.
[pic]
Enable API Buffering
Enables the 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 is calculated like this:
max = MAXTRANSFEROBJS / SENDRATE * 1000
Default value is 5000.
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 (typically c:\pipc\dat) under Windows NT. 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 the default PI server and an optional time offset change that may occur between the client and server.
|Keywords |Values |Default |Description |
|PIHOMENODE |string |none |Windows default server is in pilogin.ini |
|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 NT 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 NT 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
A string NameID is pre-pended to error messages written to the message log. Name is a non-configurable identifier that is no longer than 9 characters. ID is a configurable identifier that is no longer than 9 characters and is specified using the /id flag on the startup command line.
Message Logs
The location of the message log depends upon the platform on which the interface is running. See the UniInt End User Document for more information.
Messages are written to PIHOME\dat\pipc.log at the following times.
• When the interface starts many informational messages are written to the log. These include the version of the interface, the version of UniInt, the command-line parameters used, and the number of points.
• As the interface retrieves points, messages are sent to the log if there are any problems with the configuration of the points.
System Errors and PI Errors
System errors are associated with positive error numbers. Errors related to PI are associated with negative error numbers.
Error Descriptions on NT
On NT, descriptions of system and PI errors can be obtained with the pidiag utility:
\PI\adm\pidiag –e error_number
Interface-Specific Troubleshooting
If the interface is behaving in an unexpected manner, check the pipc.log file. Even when the interface runs in interactive mode, not all error messages are written to the screen.
Interface Startup and Point Loading Errors
[pic]
Check that the NT Environmental Variables (Control Panel -> System) contain the path to the eda.dll and fixtools.dll (assuming Intellution software is installed on the machine).
EDA Failed to add tag [NODE, TAG, FIELD] to the group. NDK:Network Command Table (NCT) full.
Interface failed to initialize because the Intellution program TCPTask.exe has hung or is not running. Verify TCPTask is part of the startup list for the Intellution software. Restart the Intellution software and interface.
EDA Failed to add tag, [tagname], to the group. Location2 out of range.
Location2 defines whether the tag is an input (0) or output (1). Verify the PI tag definition has a Location2 value of either 0 or 1.
Complete NODE:TAG:FIELD information unavailable for PI tag: [tagname]
Verify that either the complete Node, Tag, Field (NTF) definition has been defined. The tag definition uses the IntrumentTag. If the NTF definition requires more than 32 characters use the Exdesc tag attribute to define the Node and Field parameters.
EDA Failed to add tag [NODE,TAG,FIELD] to the group. [tagname]
When debug is enabled for point checking, the interface attempts to verify the tag with Intellution during startup. If this fails it prints this message to the pipc.log file. Check the tag configuration for this point, in particular the NTF definition. Launch the Intellution Database Builder program and verify you can view current values for this point.
Data Collection Errors
The following list of error codes describe the common return values the interface receives from Intellution when a tag update request fails. They can grouped into two general categories; network errors and non-network errors.
Non-Network Errors
When the interface receives a non-network error from Intellution in response to a data request it writes “Bad Input”, prints the error to the pipc.log file and continues scanning for data. The tag does not get dropped from the scan list (the interface will continue to try and read data for the point) but the error message will not be repeated in the pipc.log file, it’s only printed the first time the read fails.
Read failed. Error 1209 returned calling eda_get_float(); [tagname]
This error gets returned to the interface from Intellution on an update request and translates to "Illegal block field". Verify the NTF definition (InstrumentTag) for the PI tag configuration.
Read failed. Error 1212 returned calling eda_get_float(); [tagname]
This error gets returned to the interface from Intellution on an update request and translates to “Field's value not known". Verify that the Intellution software is currently scanning data for that point. Run Intellution Database Builder program and check that it is on scan and you can view a current value.
Read failed. Error 1750 returned calling eda_get_float(); [tagname]
This error gets returned to the interface from Intellution on an update request and translates to "Tag name is not defined". Run Intellution Database Builder program and verify that the tag exists on the defined node. Verify the NTF definition (InstrumentTag) for the PI tag configuration.
Network Errors
When the interface receives a network error from Intellution it writes “IO Timeout”, stops scanning for updates and goes into a wait loop while trying to re-establish a connection to Intellution.
Read failed. Error 1914 returned calling eda_get_float(); [tagname] [Node,Tag,Field]
This error gets returned to the interface from Intellution on an update request and translates to "Connection NOT established with node". Verify the local Intellution software is running. If the tag data is coming from a remote Intellution View/SCADA node check the network connection.
Appendix B:
FIXtoPI Configuration Transfer Utility
Overview
A utility is provided to transfer configuration information contained in the FIX EDA database to tags in the PI Data archive. This utility must be considered as an aid rather than a total solution for configuring the PI Data Archive to work with the FIX EDA database.
The utility is a command line program called FIXToPI.exe.
The utility transfers the configuration information of the active raw data points in the FIX database, and formats them in a text file of appropriate commands for entry into the piconfig program.
The text file is named FIXToPI.scr, and it may be utilized in either of two ways. The first method is to run the piconfig utility with input redirected from this file. The second method is to use the @INPUT command of the piconfig utility.
The configuration transfer utility is designed to transfer information contained in Analog Input, Analog Output, Analog Register, Digital Input, Digital Output, Digital Register, and Multiple Digital Input blocks. If you wish to archive information contained in other than those blocks, this must be done manually. In addition, the "Register" type blocks are configured as PI input points and thus will be read by the interface instead of being able to write to the Registers. If the client wishes to configure "Register" type blocks as PI output tags, the tag must be edited manually in piconfig.
The utility must be run on a FIX SCADA node, as it uses FIX functions that will not work on a simple VIEW node.
The program is designed to be flexible, allowing the transfer of all the information contained for the above type blocks as a default, and allowing the user to restrict that transfer in a manner of the user's choosing.
• The user can choose to allow the program to transfer configuration information from the SCADA node that the utility is running on and all the attached SCADA nodes, or he can choose to restrict it to any subset of those nodes.
• He can choose to allow it to transfer all tags of the types described above, or he can restrict that to any subset of those types.
• He can choose to allow transfer of all tags on the specified nodes, or he can exclude certain tagnames based on a simple pattern-matching scheme.
• He can also choose to only include tagnames that match a particular pattern. The pattern-matching scheme is simple - it is the one used in MS-DOS to match filenames; the '?' character matches any character, the '*' character matches all characters from that point on, and any other character is an exact match. Please note that the pattern matching is case sensitive, so "ONE" is not the same pattern as "one".
The utility creates a unique digital set for each unique digital set in FIX when building the file to create the PI tags. The digital set names assigned to the digital sets all start with the prefix dmFIXds. The suffix XXXX is appended where XXXX is a value from 0000 to 9999. The first digital set will be named dmFIXds0000, the second digital set will be named dmFIXds0001, etc. The user should edit the digital state set names in the file where appropriate.
All digital output tags are assigned a source tag with the same name as the tag tame. This should be edited and the appropriate source tag name used.
User Instructions
The format of the command line for using the utility is:
FIXToPI /p= [/n= [/n=…]] [/t= [/t= …]]
[/I= [/I= …]]
[/e= [/e= …]]
Parameters
|Parameter |Description |
|/p |The PI point source that you would like these points to have. |
|Required |This is a required parameter, and if not included, the program |
| |will exit with nothing done. |
|/n |Name of a node. This parameter may be repeated for each node that|
|Optional |the user wishes to include in the list of nodes. If no parameter |
| |of this type is specified, the program defaults to all nodes |
| |accessible by the machine on which the program is running. |
|/t |Name of a block type. This parameter may be repeated for each |
|Optional |block type that the user wishes to include in the list of block |
| |types. These can be any of "AI","AO","AR","DI","DO","DR","MDI, |
| |"AA", "DA". If no parameter of this type is specified, the |
| |default is to include all the above in the list of types. |
|/e |Pattern to match to the FIX block name to exclude from |
|Optional |configuration transfer. The parameter may be repeated for each |
| |pattern the user wishes to exclude. If any of these type of |
| |parameters appears, the utility attempts to match each block name|
| |as encountered, and if the pattern match succeeds, the |
| |configuration information is NOT transferred. If multiple |
| |patterns are included, if the block name matches ANY of the |
| |patterns, the configuration information is NOT transferred. |
|/I |Pattern to match to the FIX block name to transfer configuration |
|Optional |information. This parameter may be repeated for each pattern that|
| |the user wishes to include. If no parameter of this type is |
| |specified, the default is to include all the tags with the |
| |exception of the above exclude list. |
| |If one or more of these parameters are included, the |
| |configuration Information is transferred for any block whose name|
| |matches any of the patterns in the list. |
Note: Exclude processing is done before include processing, and therefore, if a block name matches the pattern of something on the exclude list, it will not be subjected to include list processing.
Sample Command Lines
FIXToPI /p=E /n=SCADA1
Transfer all tags on node SCADA1
FIXToPI /p=G /t=AO /t=AI /t=AR
Transfer all the analog points for all connected SCADA nodes
FIXToPI /p=x /I=I* /I=J* /n=LOCAL /t=DI
Transfer the Digital Input block information on node "LOCAL" whose names begin with the letters 'I' or 'J'
FIXToPI /p=k /e=1??CHK*
Transfers all configuration information of all blocks on all connected nodes except for the blocks with names containing a '1' as the first character, anything in the next two characters, "CHK" as the next three characters and anything after that.
Sample FixToPI.scr File
Once the Utility has been run, the user should first edit the file FIXToPI.scr prior to creating the PI tags and digital sets. The following example output shows the file that will be created in order to create a PI tag for each FIX point type.
FIX Tag Name FIX Point Type
AI1 AI
AO1 AO
AR! AR
DI1 DI
DO1 DO
DR1 DR
MDI1 MD
AA1 AA (supported but not shown)
DA1 DA (supported but not shown)
Sample Output
Sample output from the utility is:
@table pids
@mode create, t
@istructure set,state,...
dmFIXds0000,OPEN,CLOSE
dmFIXds0001,OPENUP,CLOSEUP
dmFIXds0002,state0,state1,state2,state3,state4,state5,state6,state7
@endsection
@table pipoint
@ptclass classic
@mode create, t
@istructure
tag,pointsource,descriptor,pointtype,digitalset,ptaccess,dataaccess,
archiving,scan,instrumenttag,location1,location2,location4
DAVID:DI1,E,Digital Input 1,Digital,dmFIXds0000,o:rw g:rw w:rw,o:rw g:rw
w:rw,1,1,"DAVID,DI1,D_CV",1,0,1
DAVID:DO1,E,Digital Output 1,Digital,dmFIXds0001,o:rw g:rw w:rw,o:rw g:rw
w:rw,1,1,"DAVID,DO1,D_CV",1,1,1
DAVID:DR1,E,Digital Register 1,Digital,dmFIXds0000,o:rw g:rw w:rw,o:rw g:rw
w:rw,1,1,"DAVID,DR1,D_CV",1,0,1
DAVID:MDI1,E,,Digital,dmFIXds0002,o:rw g:rw w:rw,o:rw g:rw
w:rw,1,1,"DAVID,MDI1,M_CV",1,0,1
@endsection
@istructure tag,sourcetag
DAVID:DO1,DAVID:DO1
@endsection
@table pipoint
@ptclass classic
@mode create, t
@istructure
tag,pointsource,descriptor,pointtype,zero,span,typicalvalue,engunits,
excdev,excmin,excmax,compdev,compmin,compmax,ptaccess,dataaccess,archiving,
compressing,scan,instrumenttag,location1,location2,location4
DAVID:AI1,E,Analog Input 1,Float32,0.000000,100.000000,50.000000,,1.000000,
0, 600, 2.000000, 0, 28800,o:rw g:rw w:rw,o:rw g:rw
w:rw,1,1,1,"DAVID,AI1,F_CV",1,0,1
DAVID:AO1,E,Analog Output
1,Float32,0.000000,100.000000,50.000000,ao1,1.000000, 0, 600, 2.000000, 0,
28800,o:rw g:rw w:rw,o:rw g:rw w:rw,1,1,1,"DAVID,AO1,F_CV",1,1,1
DAVID:AR1,E,Analog Register
1,Float32,0.000000,100.000000,50.000000,,1.000000, 0, 600, 2.000000, 0,
28800,o:rw g:rw w:rw,o:rw g:rw w:rw,1,1,1,"DAVID,AR1,F_CV",1,0,1
@endsection
@istructure tag,sourcetag
DAVID:AO1,DAVID:AO1
@endsection
@bye
Once the editing has been done, the last step is to utilize the text file generated by this utility to generate tags in the PI Data Archive itself. There are two methods of doing this. The first involves standard input redirection, which means that you run the piconfig utility but instead of accepting input from the keyboard, you redirect that input so that it comes from the file.
Piconfig < FIXToPI.scr
The second way of utilizing this file is to use the @INPUT command of the piconfig command set. To do this, start the piconfig utility:
Piconfig
Then, at the command prompt, enter the command @INPUT followed by the file name:
(Ls - ) PIconfig>@INPUT FIXToPI.scr
In both cases, ensure that you prepend the correct path information if this file is not in the current subdirectory.
Note: FixToPI utility is not a tag auto-synchronization program. Once it is run and changes are made later in FIX point database, it is the user’s responsibility to check that the changes are still compatible with PI point attributes and if necessary, PI point database is appropriately modified.
Appendix C:
Cluster Failover
Principles of Operation
[pic]
Figure 1: Cluster Failover Configuration Diagram
Interface-level failover is supported through Microsoft clustering. A cluster is composed of two or more nodes. Each member of the cluster has a copy of the interface installed and running, with only one node sending data to PI at any given time. Microsoft provides a Cluster Administrator program which is used for configuration and management of failover resources. A system failure (hardware or software) on the active cluster node will cause the Cluster Administrator to initiate a failover. On failover ownership of a cluster resource is shifted from the node of failure to another available cluster node. In this way we ensure that the only one cluster node owns the active interface at any given time.
Note that failover activity does not apply with respect to alarm/event message data collection. If enabled, alarm/event data will be collected on each interface node independent of cluster failover. However it is strongly recommended that you run a separate copy of the interface specifically for collecting this type of data to maximize performance.
Setting up interface failover requires creating cluster groups and resources. These configurations are accomplished using the Cluster Administrator (see Group and Resource Creation Using Cluster Administrator, page 75). The interface installation will distribute the program apionline into the install directory whose purpose is to run as a cluster group resource. On startup the interface checks to see if the designated apionline cluster resource is running. If this is true it tells the interface the local node owns the cluster group resource and is responsible for sending data to PI. The basic idea is which ever cluster node owns the group resource is also the node where the active interface runs.
The apionline program serves two purposes: It indicates to the interface that it is currently active and it also prevents the Cluster Administrator from having an active node where the interface is not running.
The interface will query the Cluster Administrator to see if the apionline service is active. Since apionline is configured as a cluster group resource, it will only be active if the Cluster Administrator designates the local node as the group resource owner. In turn, when the apionline service is active it checks to see that the interface service is running. If at anytime the interface service terminates, apionline will shut itself down, thus initiating a failover. In this way apionline prevents the Cluster Administrator from designating a node where the interface is not running to be owner of the cluster resource group.
The interface has the option of running in either warm or hot failover mode. Warm failover means an inactive interface will not request data updates from Intellution, but otherwise functions normally (processing tag edits, alarm/event data collection, etc.). Hot failover means an inactive interface will request data updates but does not send them to PI. The advantage of running in hot failover mode is you minimize the risk of missing data on failover. However to minimize loading on inactive cluster nodes we recommend running in warm failover mode.
The interface can be configured to operate with a preference for running on a particular cluster node. This is referred to as running with primary node bias. In this configuration the interface will attempt to run on the primary node whenever possible. This behavior maybe preferred if one of the cluster nodes has proven to be more stable or otherwise performs better than the others.
Note that the Intellution software must also be installed on each cluster node. Redundancy should be enabled on both nodes so they share the same point database. See FIX Redundancey and PI-EDA for information on how to set this up.
Cluster Failover Configurations
Configuring APIOnline
The interface installation kit will distribute the apionline files (apionline.bat and apionline.exe) into the interface install directory. Configuring apionline is a three step process. The fist step is to configure the apionline.bat file so it includes the name of the interface service used for failover. The second step is to install the apionline program to run as a service. The last step is to define apionline as a cluster group resource.
The apionline.bat file is where you specify the name of the interface service. This file requires two parameter definitions. The first parameter is the name of the apionline executable. The /proc parameter is used to define the interface service. For example, if the interface service is installed as pi-eda and the apionline executable is apionline.exe then the apionline.bat file would contain the following:
[pic]
Note that apionline uses the same parameters whichever node it runs on. This means that you must have the same installation directory and executable name on each cluster node. For example if on one node you install the interface here:
c:\Program Files\pipc\interfaces\pi-eda\pi-eda.exe
Then on the other cluster nodes the install directory and interface name must match. Here is an example of how this might look on another cluster node:
d:\pipc\interfaces\pi-eda\pi-eda.exe
However to keep things simple it’s recommended that you use the same name and installation path across all systems.
The apionline application must also be installed as a service. Installing a program to run as a service is done from the command prompt at the path where the program resides. The following is an example of installing the apionline service:
d:\pipc\interfaces\pi-eda>apionline –install –depend tcpip
The apionline.bat and apionline.exe file should reside in the same directory. By default these files are located in the interface install directory, however this is not required. Once apionline has been installed as a service the files should not be moved without first removing the service, then reinstalling after relocating the files. The following is an example of removing an installed apionline service:
d:\pipc\interfaces\pi-eda>apionline –remove
The final configuration step requires that a unique cluster group be created for each unique instance of apionline. Each group should have its own copy of apionline defined as a resource. Resources are moved between cluster nodes by group. Please see Group and Resource Creation Using Cluster Administrator for information on how to setup cluster group resources.
Configuring the Interface
Configuring with the PI-ICU Control
The ICU simplifies configuration and maintenance, and we strongly suggest using it if you can. PI-ICU can only be used for interfaces which are collecting data for PI3 systems, version 3.3 and up.
[pic]
Figure 2: PI-ICU Configuration Screen for PI-EDA Interface
Enable interface cluster failover
Enable this check box to if you wish to use failover. Upon enabling this box the failover configuration options will become active.
Cluster Mode:
The interface has the ability to operate with a preference for running on a specified cluster node if at all possible. This is referred to as running with Primary bias. This behavior maybe preferred if one of the cluster nodes has proven to be more stable or otherwise performs better than the others.
If Primary bias is selected using the drop down list, then the This node is the : option will be enabled. At this point you must specify whether this cluster node is the primary or backup. Note it is critical that only one cluster node be specified as the primary. If more than one cluster node is specified as the primary node they will compete for ownership of the cluster group resource, sending the interface into an endless loop of failovers.
A cluster mode of No bias means the interface does not attempt to control which node runs the active interface. As a result whichever node owns the cluster resource on startup will be the active interface. This will remain so until there is a problem that causes failover or a user uses the Cluster Manger to intentionally manipulate the configuration. The default value for this option is No Bias.
This node is the:
This option is enabled when Primary bias is specified for the Cluster Mode:. In this configuration you must specify whether the current node is the primary or backup node for failover operation. The default value for this option is Backup.
Failover mode:
The interface has the option of running in either warm or hot failover mode. This behavior determines whether or not an interface running as a backup will query Intellution for point updates.
Warm failover mode means the interface does not query for point updates when operating as the backup node. Hot failover mode tells the interface is should query Intellution for point updates at all times, but send them only when active.
The advantage of running in hot failover mode is you minimize the risk of missing data on failover. However to minimize loading on inactive cluster nodes we recommend running in warm failover mode. The default value for this option is Warm.
Resource number for APIOnline :
The resource number is used to indicate the name of the apionline cluster group resource for the interface. This number will be appended to ‘apionline’ and used for initialization on interface startup. For example, if you enter a value of 1, the interface will look for apionline1 as the cluster group resource. A negative number tells the interface that the resource has been defined as simply apionline. A procedure for creating cluster group resources can be found in the section Group and Resource Creation Using Cluster Administrator.
Active interface node tag :
A PI string tag can be specified to receive the name of the node where the active interface is running. The button to the right of this option can be used to launch a PI tag search for selecting the desired tag.
The active cluster tag should be configured as follows:
Table 1: Active Cluster Tag Configuration
|Attribute |Value |
|PointSource |L |
|PointType |string |
|Compressing |0 |
|ExcDev |0 |
In addition to receiving the name of the active interface node this tag will also receive shutdown events whenever the interface is stopped on any of the cluster nodes. The shutdown event will also contain the name of the machine in the following format; ‘Shutdown hostname”
Configuring the Interface Manually
If the PI-ICU is not used, then the interface startup bat file must be manually configured. The following table lists the parameters that are concerned with interface-level failover. A complete discussion on these parameters is included the following sections.
Table 2: Startup Command File Parameters for Cluster Failover
|Interface Parameter |Description |
|/FO |Tells the interface to enable cluster failover support. |
|(required) | |
|/RN=# |Specifies the number used for the matching apionline resource. |
|(required) | |
|/CM=# |Specifies the Cluster Mode, whether the interface has a bias toward running |
|(optional) |on the primary node (/CM=0) or no bias (/CM=1). |
|default: 1 | |
|/PR=# |Specifies that this is the primary (/PR=0) or backup (/PR=1) node. This |
|(required if /CM=0) |parameter need only be defined if the cluster mode is set for primary bias |
| |(/CM=0). |
|/FM=# |Specifies either hot (/FM=0) or warm (/FM=1) failover mode. This parameter |
|(optional) |determines whether the backup interface will query Intellution for point |
|default: 1 |updates. |
|/CN=PI string tag |Specifies a PI string tag which receives the name of the node which is |
|(optional) |currently active. This tag will also receive a shutdown event for each node |
| |whenever the interface is stopped. |
/FO : Enable Cluster Failover Support
This parameter must be specified to enable cluster failover support. If it’s not specified, and other failover parameters are included in the startup file the interface will print a message to the pipc.log file and exit.
/RN=# : APIOnline Resource Number
The resource number is used to indicate the name of the apionline cluster group resource for the interface. This number will be appended to ‘apionline’ and used for initialization on interface startup. For example if /RN=1, the interface will look for apionline1 as the cluster group resource. A negative number tells the interface that the resource has been defined as simply apionline. /RN is a required parameter for failover operation. If this parameter is missing or an invalid definition is specified the interface will print an error in the pipc.log file and exit. A procedure for creating cluster group resources can be found in the section Group and Resource Creation Using Cluster Administrator.
/CM=# : Cluster Mode
If the interface is configured for a cluster mode of primary bias (/CM=0) then the designated primary node will run the active interface if at all possible. This means if the interface on the primary node is up, running and connected to Intellution it will be the active interface. In this configuration the interface checks on startup to see if it is designated as the primary or a backup node (/PR). For this reason it’s required the interface startup file contain the /PR parameter if the cluster mode is configured for primary bias. Note it is critical that only one cluster node be specified as the primary. If more than one cluster node is specified as the primary node they will compete for ownership of the cluster group resource, sending the interface into an endless loop of failovers.
A cluster mode of no bias (/CM=1) means the interface does not attempt to control which node runs the active interface. As a result whichever node owns the cluster resource on startup will be the active interface. This will remain so until there is a problem that causes failover or a user uses the Cluster Manger to intentionally manipulate the configuration. The default setting for cluster mode is no bias (/CM=1).
/PR=# : Primary or Backup Node
This parameter need only be specified if the cluster mode is set for primary bias (/CM=0). With the cluster mode is set to primary bias the interface checks on startup to see if it is designated as the primary or backup node. For this reason it’s required the interface startup file contains the /PR parameter when configured for primary bias.
/FM=# : Failover Mode
There are two possible configurations for failover mode; warm failover (/FM=0) or hot failover (/FM=1). The failover mode determines the behavior of the backup interface, whether to query Intellution for input data (hot failover) or not (warm failover). The advantage of hot failover is to minimize the chance for data loss on failover. The advantage of warm failover is to minimize loading on the Intellution system. We recommend testing the interface first in hot failover configuration and if the loading on the Intellution is too great to use warm failover.
/CN=PI String Tag : Active Cluster Node Tag
A PI string tag can be specified using the /CN parameter to receive the name of the node where the active interface is running. The active cluster tag should be configured as follows:
Table 3: Active Cluster Tag Configuration
|Attribute |Value |
|PointSource |L |
|PointType |string |
|Compressing |0 |
|ExcDev |0 |
In addition to receiving the name of the active interface node this tag will also receive shutdown events whenever the interface is stopped on any of the cluster nodes. The shutdown event will also contain the name of the machine in the following format; ‘Shutdown hostname”
Sample Startup File Configurations
The following are sample startup file configurations for a two node cluster. The first set of files show the configurations for running with a cluster mode of no bias. The second set of files show the configuration for running with a cluster mode of primary bias.
Sample Startup File Configurations: No Bias Cluster Mode
Cluster Node 1:
[pic]
Cluster Node 2:
[pic]
The configuration files specify the interface should look for cluster group resource apionline (/RN=-1) to indicate when the interface is active. It also specifies the interface is to run in warm failover mode and write active cluster node information to the PI string tag active.cluster.
Sample Startup File Configurations: Primary Bias Cluster Mode
Cluster Node 1:
[pic]
Cluster Node 2:
[pic]
The configuration files specify the interface should look for cluster group resource apionline2 (/RN=2) to indicate when the interface is active. Cluster node 1 is specified as the primary node (/PR=0), meaning it will be active if at all possible. Cluster node 2 is designated as the backup node and will only be active if cluster node 1 cannot run. It also specifies the interface is to run in hot failover mode (meaning the backup interface will query Intellution for point updates) and write active cluster node information to the PI string tag active.cluster.
Running Multiple Instances of the Interface
Running multiple instances of the interface on each cluster node requires a unique instance of apionline for each instance of the interface. Each copy of apionline must also belong to a unique cluster group and installed to run as a service. Running multiple instances of the interface is useful for tracking problems or for distributing interface loading.
To differentiate between copies of apionline append an integer to the name. This integer gets passed to the corresponding interface through the /RN interface parameter. For example, if we were to run two copies of the interface we would also need two copies of apionline on each cluster node. The following table displays a list of the files and configuration parameters required for each cluster node to run in this configuration:
Table 4: Required Files and Configuration Parameters
|Program Executable |Configuration File |Required Configuration Parameters |
|apionline1.exe |apionline1.bat |apionline1.exe /proc=pi-eda1 |
|pi-eda1.exe |pi-eda1.bat |/FO /RN=1 /ID=1 * |
|apionline2.exe |apionline2.bat |Apionline2.exe /proc=pi-eda2 |
|pi-eda2.exe |pi-eda2.bat |/FO /RN=2 /ID=2 * |
* This is not a complete listing of the necessary interface startup parameters to run the interface. Please see Startup Command File section for a complete listing and definition of the available parameters.
Note it’s not required that each interface use a unique /ID parameter. However it is highly recommend for differentiating interface messages to the pipc.log file. The interface appends the /ID parameter to each message it print to this file:
PI-EDA #> - where # corresponds to the /ID=# definition in the interface startup file
Without using a unique /ID parameter for each instance of the interface it is nearly impossible to tell which copy of the interface printed what message. Note that the Location1 point attribute for interface tags must match the /ID parameter. The /ID is used by the interface in conjunction with the point source to identify which points belong to it.
The final configuration step requires that a unique cluster group be created for each unique instance of apionline. Each group should have its own copy of apionline defined as a resource. MSCS moves resources between cluster nodes by group. For this reason it’s required that a unique cluster group resource be defined for each unique copy of apionline. Please see Group and Resource Creation Using Cluster Administrator for information on how to setup cluster group resources.
Buffering Data on Cluster Nodes
Buffering is fully supported on cluster nodes. In order to take advantage of buffering, bufserv.exe should be installed on all participating cluster nodes at the time of PI-API installation. No special configurations are required to enable buffering on a cluster node. It should be noted that there is a risk of incurring a substantial amount of out or order data in the scenario a failover occurs at a time where both interfaces are disconnected from PI (thus buffering data). Upon reconnection each cluster node will send buffered data simultaneously which will result in out of order data. This will cause the PI server to increase resource consumption, particularly the PI Archive Subsystem, as it attempts to process these out of order events. For a complete discussion on how to configure buffering, see Buffering.
Group and Resource Creation Using Cluster Administrator
Before this step, make sure that MSCS is installed and configured. You should test and verify that Clustering is functioning correctly prior to creating groups and resources for interface failover. We'll also specify some steps for verifying correct cluster configuration at the end of this section. Apionline should also be installed and configured as described in the section Configuring APIOnline.
Cluster Group Configuration
Note: Interfaces must not be run under the Local System account if you are using Cluster Failover. You must set up the service to run under an account that has administrator privileges.
Installation of Cluster Group
From the desktop, click on Start-> Programs-> Administrative Tools(Common)-> Cluster Administrator. Click on File-> New-> Group. Enter the name of the group and description.
[pic]
Click Next. Do not add any to the Preferred owners box, since owner preference is built into the interface through the cluster mode. Below, Grommit and Wallace are the cluster nodes.
[pic]
Click Finish.
Right click on the group you just created and select Properties. Fill out the name of the cluster and the description. Do not select the Preferred owners since these are the nodes on which you prefer the group to run. Preferred ownership is built into the interface through the cluster mode. Therefore you should not set this from the Cluster Administrator.
[pic]
Set the Threshold and Period as follows. Threshold is the maximum number of times you want to allow the group to fail over in the time specified by Period.
[pic]
For the Failback tab, select Prevent failback, since failback mechanism is also built into interface through cluster mode.
[pic]
Click on Apply and then OK.
Installation of the Resources
Right click on the group in Cluster Administrator, select New and then Resource. Type the name of the resource, and description. Select the Resource type Generic Service.
[pic]
Running this resource in a separate Resource Monitor is not necessary, unless this resource seems to be causing a lot of problems and you are trying to isolate the problem.
Click on Next and verify that the cluster nodes are in Possible owners list. These are the nodes on which the resource can run, and therefore the nodes onto which the group can fail over.
[pic]
Click Next and skip Dependencies. Move on to Generic Service Parameters.
[pic]
This resource (in the example above, it is called apionline1) should have been installed as a service prior to cluster resource as described in the section Configuring APIOnline.
Click on Next and skip Registry Replication. Click on Apply and OK.
Right click on the resource and then select Properties. In Advanced tab, set the entries as below. Note that we're telling MSCS to pass ownership of the resource to another cluster node before attempting to start it.
[pic]
Click Apply and then OK.
Repeat the group and resource creation process for each instance of the interface on the node. Now you are ready to configure the interface.
Testing Cluster Configuration
You can save yourself a lot of potential frustration if you verify things step by step. Here's a simple configuration procedure that will help you identify any problems quickly. This is written for just one copy of the interface on each node. If you're configuring multiple copies, the first 5 steps only need to be done for the first copy of the interface that you test. When it says "matching" below, it means that if you're working with pi-eda3.exe, look for apionline3.exe, and the apionline3 service and resource.
1. Configure the interface on each node with a dummy pointsource, one which is not currently used by any tags, or with a pointsource and ID number that don't match the pointsource and Location1 pair of any tags. The idea is to bring up both interfaces with no tags at all. Do not configure any failover-related parameters.
2. Start both interfaces, check pipc.log to verify that both of them come up completely and sit there with no tags. Any errors reported in pipc.log must be corrected before continuing with the next step.
3. Using Cluster Administrator, bring the matching cluster resource online by selecting the matching cluster group, then right-clicking on the resource and selecting Bring Online. You should be able to use Task Manager to see that the matching apionline process is running on the node that Cluster Manager says owns the resource. We'll call that node OriginalOwner.
4. Still using Cluster Administrator, fail over the resource by selecting Initiate Failure in the right-click menu of the resource. You should see the resource state go to Failed and then Online Pending and then Online, with the other node now the owner. Depending on your system, you may not see the intermediate states, but you should definitely see the resource end up Online with the other node as the owner. If not, you have a configuration problem and you must correct that before continuing the test.
5. Use Task manager to verify that the matching apionline on the OriginalOwner node is no longer running, and that the matching apionline service is now running on the other node (OriginalBackup node). If all this is good so far, move the resource to whichever node will be your primary node.
6. Now use Cluster Manager to take the resource Offline, then shut down both copies of the interface. Configuring the Interface the way you intend to have them run (don't forget to reset the pointsource and /ID to the correct values).
7. Bring up the interface on the node that does not currently own the group. You should see in pipc.log that it says
Cluster resource not online, state 4, waiting
8. Bring the resource online. You should see the resource failover to the node where the interface is running. Once apionline is running on the same node as the interface, you should see in pipc.log
Cluster Resource apionline1 on this node
or possibly
Resource now running on this node
9. Now bring up the other interface. If the interface is configured with a cluster mode of primary node bias and the interface is currently running on the backup node, you will see the resource failover to the primary node. In pipc.log on the primary node, you will see again one of the two messages listed in the last step.
If you've gotten this far, you should be configured correctly. You could try failing the resource over a time or two, and shutting down one interface at a time, just to make sure that the interfaces do what you expect them to do
.
Appendix D:
FIX Redundancy and PI-EDA
Principles of Operation
Both FIX32 and iFIX support failover (starting from FIX32 version 6.15 and FIX Dynamics version 2.0). PI-EDA can take advantage of this functionality by running on a View node. A View node can look at a pair of SCADA nodes that have the identical databases (and are connected to the same PLC) and obtain data from the currently active node. More information on Failover can be found in Intellution’s documentation for FIX32 or iFIX. Although FIX allows a backup SCADA configuration that involves two SCADA servers and no View node, PI-EDA, as of version 2.0.0, does not support this configuration.
Note: iFIX does not synchronize the process databases on the SCADA servers. You must ensure that both databases are identical. It is also important that the failover-paired SCADA nodes’ clocks are synchronized in order to ensure that the tags get the same data regardless of which SCADA the values are pulled from.
Note: FIX32 version 7.0 and iFIX 2.1 have been tested at OSI for failover support and PI-EDA compatibility with FIX redundancy. The redundancy system tested consisted of pure FIX32 or pure iFIX combinations, i.e., 2 FIX32 SCADA nodes and 1 FIX32 VIEW node, or 2 iFIX SCADA nodes and 1 iFIX VIEW node. The average time the VIEW node took to fail over from one SCADA node to the other was about 20-30 seconds. This is reflected in the data gap in PI Archive.
This section describes the setup on VIEW node and the failover-pair SCADA nodes and PI tag configurations so that PI-EDA can seamlessly collect data regardless of which SCADA node is active. Configurations are slightly different depending on whether the system is FIX32 or iFIX.
FIX32 Redundancy Setup
FIX32 View Node
In Configure/Network dialog, enter remote node names with which the VIEW node communicates.
Note: Only the primary node of the pair SCADA nodes needs to be entered here.
Click on Configure … button and get the following screen.
Enter the backup node name for this remote SCADA node.
FIX32 Primary SCADA Node
In SCU........
In Configure/SCADA screen, fill in the database name. This database must reside both on the primary SCADA node and the backup SCADA node with the identical tag definitions. Define Partner SCADA in Redundancy box.
Then in Configure/Network dialogue,
Enter the View node name and the SCADA partner node name in Remote Nodes box. Then highlight the SCADA partner node (i.e., this node’s backup node) and click on Configure… Then enter its backup node’s name in redundancy box (since this is the backup nodes’s backup, it would be primary node’s name).
FIX32 Backup SCADA Node
Do the same thing as on the primary node, except that the local node name is the backup node name, Partner SCADA is the primary node, and the remote node’s backup node is the backup node.
FIX32 View Node’s Network Status Display
In FIX View, when you open nsdredun.odf you will see which SCADA node is active currently. This is the SCADA node from which PI-EDA will be getting tag values. For details on how to set this up, see FIX documentation.
FIX32 Node \winnt\system32\drivers\etc Host File
View node and both SCADA nodes must all have host files with the View node name, primary and backup SCADA node names and IP addresses. For example,
xxx.xxx.xxx.1 FIXVIEW
xxx.xxx.xxx.2 FIXPRMRY
xxx.xxx.xxx.3 FIXBAKUP
PI Tag Configuration for FIX32 Tag
All configuration settings are the same as when no redundancy is required except that the NODE field in InstrumentTag attribute must be the primary node name.
iFIX Redundancy Setup
iFIX View Node
In SCU/Configure/Network screen, enter the logical name that the View node is to communicate with in the Remote Node Name field. Click the Add button. The logical node name appears in the Configured Remote Nodes list.
Then click on Configure button and check Enable Logical Names box. Enter the local node name of the primary node in the Primary Node field. Enter the local node name of the backup node in the Backup Node field.
iFIX Primary SCADA Node
In SCU/Configure/LocalStartup screen, enter the logical name for the primary node and the backup SCADA pair.
Then in SCU/Configure/SCADA screen, enter the backup SCADA name.
Then go to SCU/Configure/Network screen and enter the logical name for this SCADA and its backup SCADA nodes in the Remote Node Name box. Click Add.
Then click on Configure button and check Enable Logical Names box. Enter the local node name of the primary node in the Primary Node field. Enter the local node name of the backup node in the Backup Node field.
Go back to SCU/Configure/Network screen and add the View node name in Remote Node Name box.
iFIX Backup SCADA Node
Do the same thing as on the primary node, except that the local node name is the backup node name, and the Partner SCADA name in Configure/SCADA is the primary node name. The Configure/Network setting is identical to that of the primary SCADA node.
iFIX Network Status Redundancy Display
NetworkStatusRedundancyDisplay.grf file can be setup to show which SCADA node is currently active. PI-EDA gets its data from this active node.
iFIX Node \winnt\system32\drivers\etc Host File
View node and both SCADA nodes must all have host files with the View node name and primary and backup SCADA node names and IP addresses. For example,
xxx.xxx.xxx.1 FIXVIEW
xxx.xxx.xxx.2 FIXPRMRY
xxx.xxx.xxx.3 FIXBAKUP
PI Tag Configuration for iFIX Tag
All configuration settings are the same as when no redundancy is required, except that the NODE field in InstrumentTag attribute must be the logical SCADA node name for the failover (a.k.a. redundancy) SCADA pair.
Revision History
|Date |Author |Comments |
|21-Oct-97 |MH |First draft |
|22-Oct-97 |MH |First version reviewed |
|11-Nov-97 |DM |Data type revisions |
|12-Nov-97 |DM |Local failure detection |
|23-Jan-98 |DM |Added configuration transfer utilities |
|09-Apr-98 |DM |Offloaded NTF components to ExDesc field in PI |
|15-Apr-98 |JFZ |Re-added utility info from version 1.3 manual. |
|13-May-98 |DM |Additional information on string tags |
|16-Jun-98 |HAO |Fixed table of contents, page nums were all listed as 0 |
|17-Jul-98 |KL |Noted changes since version 1.4. |
|08-Aug-98 |KL |Corrected descriptions in /L switch and logging tag sections. Deleted |
| | |Logging Tag section. Modified /L description to reflect the change in |
| | |code which causes the interface to abort instead of hanging (v1.8). |
|10-Sep-98 |KL |Corrected the error in manuals up to version 1.8.2 regarding the |
| | |delimiter after event=xxxx entry in the PI extended descriptor. Now |
| | |both ‘,’ and ‘;’ are allowed to end NODE name and FIELD name. However, |
| | |a comma must still be used to end event tag name. |
|03-Dec-98 |KL |Added a more detailed message list under Trouble-shooting section. |
| | |Added comments on added features (optional local server time switch). |
|29-Mar-99 |KL |Added descriptions of enhancement features. |
|15-Apr-99 |KL |Modified explanation for eda error 1212. Included debug symbol |
| | |installation instructions. Added descriptions of more debug switches in|
| | |command line. |
|03-Aug-99 |KL |Added explanation for new data type support (FIX float to PI digital |
| | |mapping) . |
|25-Jan-00 |KL |Added FIX redundancy information. |
|03-Jul-00 |KL |Corrected Location1 range from 1 to 99 to 0 to 98. |
|28-Jul-00 |KL |Added more comments about user queue in /qn section |
|09-Aug-02 |POW |Updated for alarm/event msg data collection. Changed manual format to |
| | |meet new standard. |
|2-Oct-02 |CG |Updated to skeleton 1.11 |
|21-Apr-03 |POW |Added Appendix C: Cluster Failover. Included failover parameters in |
| | |startup file section. |
|11-Jun-03 |POW |Updated version on title page to 2.1.3.0 |
|13-Jun-03 |POW |Updated for new ICU, incremented version to 2.2.0. Moved FIX redundancy|
| | |section to Appendix D. Revised command line startup switches section. |
|18-Jun-03 |POW |Revised Point Attribute, Principles of Operation & Supported Features |
| | |sections. Revised Hardware Diagram. Removed Logging section from |
| | |Appendix A (now supported through debug startup switch). Revised Error |
| | |Messages in Appendix A. |
|19-Jun-03 |POW |Added alarm/event message data and redundancy subsections to Principles|
| | |of Operation. Added diagrams for redundancy architecture to Principles |
| | |of Operation section. |
-----------------------
REM sample pi-eda.bat
pi-eda.exe /host=piserver:5450 /ps=f /id=1 /f=5 /w=60 /fo /rn=-1 /cm=1 /fm=0 /cn=active.cluster
Microsoft Cluster Sever Server
PI-API
Architecture of SCADA/View Node Redundancy
Active
SCADA Node
View Node Software
Architecture of the Intellution FIX/iFIX Interface
Remote PLC
Or
SCADA Node
Intellution View/SCADA Node
REM sample apionline.bat
apionline.exe /proc=pi-eda
PI-FIX Interface
PI-API
NT Operating System
(NT 4, Windows 2000 or XP)
PI Home Node
(NT, Unix or Open VMS)
REM sample pi-eda.bat
pi-eda.exe /host=piserver:5450 /ps=f /id=1 /f=5 /w=60 /fo /rn=-1 /cm=1 /fm=0 /cn=active.cluster
REM sample pi-eda.bat
pi-eda.exe /host=piserver:5450 /ps=f /id=1 /f=5 /w=60 /fo /rn=2 /cm=0 /pr=0 /fm=1 /cn=active.cluster
REM sample pi-eda.bat
pi-eda.exe /host=piserver:5450 /ps=f /id=1 /f=5 /w=60 /fo /rn=2 /cm=0 /pr=1 /fm=1 /cn=active.cluster
Cluster Administrator
Cluster Group: pi-eda
Group Resource: apionline
Resource Owner
apionline
Is the interface running??
pi-eda
Is apionline running?
apionline
Is the interface running??
pi-eda
Is apionline running?
Cluster Node 1
Cluster Node 2
Shared Cluster Disk
PI-FIX Interface
PI-API
NT Operating System
PI Home Node
(NT, Unix or Open VMS)
View Node Software
PI-FIX Interface
Architecture of Interface Cluster Failover
View Node Software
Intellution View Node
Redundant SCADA Nodes
Backup
SCADA Node
PI-FIX Interface
PI-API
NT Operating System
PI Home Node
(NT, Unix or Open VMS)
NT Operating System
Cluster Node 1
Cluster Node 2
Remote View or SCADA Node
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