Introduction to PI System Connector

PI System Connector provides a convenient and autonomous solution to constantly synchronize and move data from a source PI System to a destination PI System. The connector reads and moves Data Archive PI points and/or PI Asset Framework (AF) hierarchies from a source to destination PI System along with the associated asset framework library objects and the referenced PI points.

PI System Connector:

• Reads and moves selected AF objects from source to destination, which include elements, element templates, event frames, categories, digital sets, enumeration sets, internal tables, UOM objects and reference types.

• Detects all referenced PI points within the selected AF hierarchy on a source system and automatically creates corresponding PI points on a destination system. In addition to auto tag creation, the connector also continuously moves archived data for those PI points.

• Replicates selected PI points and attributes on a source system, and automatically creates corresponding PI points on a destination system.

• Identifies and automatically synchronizes changes made to the AF objects and PI points on the source, to the destination.

Key features include support for:

• Multiple data sources. See Configurations for multiple data sources for more information.

• Data buffering at the connector node during loss of connection between the connector and the PI Connector Relay.

• Encrypted and lossless compression of data between the connector and PI Connector Relay, which reduces the bandwidth required to transfer data.

• Backfill of PI point data during initial start-up and after a connection interruption between source and destination PI System. The PI System Connector supports in-order data backfill.

• Data Archive replication for selected source PI points. PI points are selected by configuring Replicate Data Archive only data source configurations. PI points associated with these configurations that have compression enabled/on as indicated by the PI point attribute compressing=1 will have archived data replicated. PI points that have compression disabled/off as indicated by the PI point attribute compressing=0 will have snapshot data replicated as described below.

• Snapshot data replication for selected PI points with compression disabled/off as indicated by the PI point attribute compressing=0 will have snapshot data replicated.

• Snapshot data is not replicated for selected PI points with compression enabled/on (PI point attribute compressing=1) unless the PI point is selected by the Send snapshot data for PI Points that match this query option in the Global Settings of the data source configuration. As indicated above, snapshot data is replicated for PI points with compression disabled/off, as indicated by the PI point attribute compressing=0, even if the PI point doesn't match a defined snapshot query.

  Note: The PI System Connector playlist on our YouTube learning channel walks you through an overview of the connector and an easy to follow step-by-step installation and configuration experience.