Tips from the TrenchesRebekah Atkinson

Steve Nye, Kathy Kennedy

Overview

OSI Resources

Troubleshooting – The Big Picture

Backups

Buffering

Archive Sizing

Q&A

OSI Resources

OSI Resources

Log FilesPIPC.Log (client & server)

NT only, usually located in \PIPC\Dat

PIMessLogFile Unix only, located in $PIHOME/log

PI Server Log PI - Healthcheck

PIGetMsg (PI3)

PISysMgr:PIMessLog.Txt (PI2)

OSI Resources

DocumentationInterface Manuals (interfaces.osisoft.com)

Point attribute section

Startup file flags section

Troubleshooting section

Client Manuals

Server Manuals

OSI Resources

Support Web Site (support.osisoft.com)Online Call Center

Tracking of callsNew call entrySearchable knowledge base

Bug reportsEngineering PlanNew Release Announcements

Feel Free to call us at Tech Support

OSI Resources

Support Web Site (support.osisoft.com)Online Call Center

Tracking of callsNew call entrySearchable knowledge base

Bug reportsEngineering PlanNew Release Announcements

Feel Free to call us at Tech Support

Troubleshooting

The Big Picture

Consider Big Picture

Ask yourself…Did it ever work?

If so, what changed?

New software? New hardware? Etc…

Use Log Files to help isolate problemNo errors in client logs - Server problem

Always an error message somewhere!

Know your utilities

Know Your Nodes

API Node PI Server

Client

Client

Client

Connection Troubleshooting

YES NO

YES NO

YES

YES

NO

NO

C heck C lient Log,A dd P IServer to H O STS file

C lient Problem

C heck C lient Log,Increase N etw ork

Tim eout,C heck speed of D N S

C heck Server Log,Look for L istener,

See w hat is connected(N etstat -a)

R un A PISN A P onPIServer

A dd P IServerto H O STS file

C ontact N etw orkA dm instrator

P ing Serverby N um ber

P ing Server by N am e?

N etw ork Problemor Server Problem

C an any other PC connect to P I?

Common Network Issues

DNSIf DNS is slow, connection may time out

Check HOSTS file

Multiple NIC cards

WAN trafficKnow your routers!

Port 5450 not initialized

Backups

Backups

ArchivesNightly & After Shift

Pi\dat DirectoryNightly & when server is shutdown

Site specific files & log filesNightly

Recommend Test Recovery

Backups

Known problems with PI 3.2 SR1 Script

Piartool –be ignored if system is busyOne Subsystem would stop while another was starting

New Beta ScriptVerify that the subsystem is responsive

Schedule piartool -be to run 30 minutes after backup

Example Script ChangeRem Backup files owned by pibasess

%BinPath%\pibasess -stop

set BaseFiles=pipoints.dat piptattr.dat piptclss.dat pidigst.dat pidignam.dat piusr.dat piusrgrp.dat piusrctx.dat piptunit.dat piptalia.dat

for %%i in (%BaseFiles%) do ( copy %DatPath%\%%i %BackupPath% )

Rem Restart pibasess and wait for it to become responsive

Rem Record timestamps before and after to document the time this requires

%BinPath%\pibasess -start

%BinPath%\pidiag -t "*"

%AdmPath%\piartool -block pibasess -verbose

%BinPath%\pidiag -t "*"

Buffering

Buffering Basics

Why Buffer?Avoid data loss during PI server shutdowns

Optimize your PI network transactions

Faster throughput

Set up a PI-API nodeData collection is not affected by the PI server

Configuring Buffering

Must configure PICLIENT.INITurn Buffering ON

Define Maximum Buffer Size

Size for down time and recovery time

(size in KB)

Define how frequently it will attempt to reconnect

(time in seconds)

Example PICLIENT.INI

[APIBUFFER]

BUFFERING=1

MAXFILESIZE=500000

RETRYRATE=120

Buffering Issues

Remember Configuration required, NT/Unix

Have plenty of disk space available

Buffering isn’t working?Check BufServ Service Login

Make sure /host entry matches Default PI Server in PILOGIN.INI

All API programs must be stopped before bufserv can be restarted

Use bufutil program

BUFUTIL Example

Archives

Archive Sizing

Why Change Sizes?Added a new interface

Added more tags to an existing interface

Changed exception & compression on many tags

Added Performance Equations, Totalizers, Alarm tags, and/or Manual Entry tags

Archive Sizing

Rules of Thumb…

10-20 MB per 1000 tags

Smaller than the system RAM

Smaller than the backup media

Example Bat File

REM Create New Archives

REM Specify path and size.

d:\pi\adm\piarcreate d:\pi\archives\piarch.004 50

d:\pi\adm\piarcreate d:\pi\archives\piarch.005 50

d:\pi\adm\piarcreate d:\pi\archives\piarch.006 50

REM Register the new archives

d:\pi\adm\piartool -ar d:\pi\archives\piarch.004

d:\pi\adm\piartool -ar d:\pi\archives\piarch.005

d:\pi\adm\piartool -ar d:\pi\archives\piarch.006

Conclusion

Know Your Resources

Consider the Big Picture

Develop Your Backup Strategy

Buffer Your Data

Optimize Your Archive Size

Questions???

Ready for lunch?

(if you applaud, we will let you go to lunch)