Learn about edits that are not allowed in PI MDB

On PI Server 2010 and later, you cannot make changes to PI MDB that are incompatible with PI AF. There are also some PI MDB edits that you should not make, even though you may be allowed to.

Changes you cannot make in PI MDB:

• You cannot create an PI MDB object with a name longer than 259 characters. PI AF limits the length of object names to 259 characters. If you try to create a module with over 259 characters, you get an error message.

  Note: For PI property names, the maximum length is 259 characters minus the length of the replacement suffix (for more information, see Replacement suffix). For example, if the replacement suffix has 5 characters, then the maximum length of a property name is 254 characters.

• You cannot grant access permissions to an PI MDB object for a PI identity (or PI user or PI group) that does not have a mapping.

• You cannot edit properties or aliases on a PI Module if the corresponding PI AF element is based on a PI AF template. PI AF templates impose restrictions on the elements that use them. MDB allows no edits on properties or attributes of the corresponding modules.

• You cannot create links into or out of %OSI, %OSI_MCN or %OSI_ManagedPI. The same is true for %OSI_MCN and %OSI_ManagedPI hierarchies. You can create links only if both objects are under the %OSI, %OSI_MCN or %OSI_ManagedPI hierarchies or if neither object is under the %OSI, %OSI_MCN or %OSI_ManagedPI hierarchies.

• When multiple versions of a module exist, you cannot change the effective date of an existing version to be inconsistent with dates on other versions.

• Specifically, the effective date cannot be modified such that it is older than the previous version (if it exists) and newer than the next version (if it exists). The obsolete date for any of these versions cannot be older than the effective date for that version.

• There are no restrictions on adding new versions and what effective date is used for these new versions.

Changes you can make in MDB, but should avoid:

• Create a PI property or alias name that contains any of the following characters:

  ; { } [ ] \

• The above characters are not valid in PI AF. PI AF Link uses replacement characters (see Replacement characters) when it creates the objects in PI AF. In some rare cases, it is possible to name objects in MDB such that the substitution of the replacement character would create a naming conflict in PI AF. It is safest to avoid illegal characters in new MDB object names.

• Create a PI property name that ends in the replacement suffix (for more information, see Replacement suffix). In rare cases, it is possible to name objects in MDB such that the substitution of the replacement suffix would create a naming conflict in PI AF. It is safest to avoid using the replacement suffix in new MDB object names.