Opc interface to the pi system

OPC
Interface to the PI System

Version 2.3.8.0
Revision A


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Table of Contents

Terminology 1

Introduction 5

Reference Manuals 5

Supported Features 5

Configuration Diagrams 9

Principles of Operation 11

Overview of OPC Servers and Clients 12

Connections - Creating, Losing, and Recreating 13

The OPCEnum Tool 13

Timestamps 14

Writing Timestamps to the Device 14

Plug-in Post-processing DLLs 15

Polling, Advising and Event Tags 15

Data Types 16

Transformations and Scaling 18

Quality Information 21

Questionable Qualities -- Store the Status or the Value? 21

Storing Quality Information Directly 22

Installation Checklist 27

Data Collection Steps 27

Interface Diagnostics 28

Advanced Interface Features 28

Interface Installation on Windows 29

Naming Conventions and Requirements 29

Interface Directories 29

PIHOME Directory Tree 29

Interface Installation Directory 30

OPCEnum Directory 30

Plug-ins Directory 30

Tools Directory 30

Interface Installation Procedure 30

Installing Interface as a Windows Service 31

Installing Interface Service with PI ICU 31

Installing Interface Service Manually 34

Upgrading an Installation 35

DCOM Configuration Details 37

General Steps for DCOM Configuration 37

DCOM Configuration for Windows XP (SP1/SP2) and Windows 2003 37

DCOM Configuration for Windows 2000 45

Notes and Recommendations on DCOM Configuration 50

DCOM Security Configuration for the Interface 53

PI OPC Tools 55

PI OPCClient 55

PI OPCTool 55

Digital States 57

PointSource 59

PI Point Configuration 61

Point Attributes 61

Tag 61

PointSource 62

PointType 62

Location1 62

Location2 62

Location3 64

Location4 64

Location5 65

InstrumentTag 65

ExDesc 66

SourceTag 67

TotalCode 68

SquareRoot 68

Convers 68

Userint1 68

Userint2 68

Scan 69

Shutdown 69

Exception Processing 70

Output Points 70

Trigger Method 1 (Recommended) 70

Trigger Method 2 71

Sample Tag Configurations 71

Scan Classes 71

Output Tags 71

Polled Tags 72

Advise Tags 72

Event Tags 72

Array Tags 73

Arrays as Event Tags 75

Reading Basic Quality as a Digital Tag 75

Startup Command File 77

Configuring the Interface with PI ICU 77

OPC Interface Tab 80

Command-line Parameters 96

Sample OPCInt.bat file 111

Interface Node Clock 113

Windows 113

Security 115

Starting / Stopping the Interface on Windows 117

Starting Interface as a Service 117

Stopping Interface Running as a Service 117

Buffering 119

Which Buffering Application to Use 119

How Buffering Works 119

Buffering and PI Server Security 120

Enabling Buffering on an Interface Node with the ICU 121

Choose Buffer Type 121

Buffering Settings 122

Buffered Servers 124

Installing Buffering as a Service 126

Interface Diagnostics Configuration 129

Scan Class Performance Points 129

Performance Counters Points 129

Interface Health Monitoring Points 133

I/O Rate Point 139

Interface Status Point 140

Appendix A:
OPC Server Issues 143

Browsing 143

Timestamps 143

Disconnecting 143

False Values 143

Access Path 144

Appendix B:
Notes on Some OPC Servers 145

Honeywell APP Node 145

DeltaV System 145

Appendix C:
Debugging 147

Debugging Options 147

Using the opcresponse.log, opcscan.log, and opcrefresh.log Files 149

Appendix D:
List of Startup Parameters Grouped by Usage 153

UniInt Parameters (Commonly Used) 153

DCOM Security 153

OPC Server 153

Advanced Options 153

Data Handling 155

Miscellaneous 156

Server-level Failover 156

Interface-level Failover 156

UniInt Interface-level Failover 157

Plug-Ins (Post-processing dlls) 157

Debugging 157

Obsolete 157

Appendix E:
Error and Informational Messages 159

Message Logs 159

Messages 159

System Errors and PI Errors 166

Appendix F: PI SDK Options 167

Revision History 169