OSI PI Distributor

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About the OSI PI Distributor

The Historian OSI PI Distributor gathers data from Historian, and writes it to an OSI PI data server. Data can be written directly to the OSI PI Data Archive v3.2 or greater, via the OSI PI v 1.3.4 or greater. Typically, the distributor is installed on the Historian server, distributing data to a remote OSI PI Data archive.

The OSI PI Distributor uses unsolicited distribution, whereby changes in Historian tags values are detected, and are forwarded to a remote OSI PI data server. The distributor is intended to duplicate data from an Historian archive to an OSI PI data archive.

One OSI PI Distributor can distribute data to a single OSI PI data archive. To distribute to multiple OSI PI archives from an Historian archive, you need to configure multiple OSI PI distributors. You can also configure multiple OSI PI distributors to a single OSI PI data archive.

OSI PI Distributor Features

Feature	Capability
Browse Source For Tags	Yes
Browse Source For Tag Attributes	Yes
Polled Collection	No
Minimum Poll Interval	N/A
Unsolicited Collection	Yes
Time stamp Resolution	milliseconds or seconds
Accept Device Time stamps	Yes
Floating Point Data	Yes
Integer Data	Yes
String Data	Yes
Binary Data	No
Array Data	No
Collector Status Outputs	Yes

Getting Started

Before you begin using the OSI PI Distributor, you should read the System Requirements and Configuring OSI PI Data Archive for OSI PI Distributor topics.

System Requirements

The following software is required to use the PI Distributor:

OSI PI Data Archive v 3.2 or greater
OSI PI v 1.3.4 or greater
Historian 3.0 or greater

About Configuring OSI PI Data Archiver for OSI PI Distributor

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In order for the OSI PI Distributor to write data to the OSI PI data archiver, make the following configuration changes to the OSI PI data server:

Before using the OSI PI Distributor, you must create writable tags in the OSI PI data archive.
In order for the OSI PI Distributor to write data to a OSI PI data archive, the destination tags must first be given write access in OSI PI. Consult your OSI PI documentation for more details.
The OSI PI user must have write privileges.
In addition to making the destination OSI PI data tags writable, you must also ensure that the OSI PI user the OSI PI Distributor is logging into the OSI PI data server has write access to the OSI PI data archive.
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If PI Trust or PI Mapping security is used, the corresponding PI users/Identities/Groups must also have write access to the OSI PI data archive. Consult your OSI PI documentation for more details.

OSI PI Distributor Installation

The OSI PI Distributor is automatically added to Historian when you install it, however, it is not configured for auto discovery of local OSI PI Data Archivers.

In order to start distributing data to your OSI PI Data Archiver, the OSI PI Distributor must first be configured to connect to your OSI PI server. See Configuring an OSI PI Distributor.

If you want to distribute to more than one OSI PI Data Archive from Historian, you will need to install multiple OSI PI Distributors, one per OSI PI data archive. See Configuring Multiple OSI PI Distributors to use Registry Keys.

Configuring Multiple OSI PI Distributors to use Registry Keys

Note: This procedure is for advanced Windows users only. If you are not familiar with Windows Registry editing, contact your Network Administrator for assistance.

To configure Multiple OSI PI Distributors to use Registry Keys

From a command prompt, run the Registry Editor (regedit.exe).
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Intellution, Inc.\iHistorian\Services\PIDistributor 3.
Create a new key and give it a unique name. For example, AlbPI01.
Edit the new registry key and add a string value named InterfaceName.
In the InterfaceName value, enter a name for the OSI PI Server's interface.
The string OSI PI is reserved, and should not be used.
Add a second string value to the new key named Historian NodeName.
In the Historian NodeName value, enter the name of the Historian archive server to which the new distributor will be sending data.
Close the Registry Editor.
Open a command window.
From the command prompt, run the OSI PI Distributor and command it to use the new registry key, with the -multiple and REG= parameters.
For example, if you named the registry key AlbPI01, you would use the following command:
```
iHPIdistributor.exe -multiple REG=AlbPI01
```
Note: On a 64-bit Windows Operating System, all 32-bit components (such as collectors, client tools, and APIs) related registry keys will be located here:
```
 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\\Intellution, Inc.\iHistorian\
```