PI Protocol Converter for

Emersons DeltaV System

Release Notes
Version 1.0.0.0
Rev F

How to Contact Us
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Converter_readme.doc

PI_Protocol

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................... 1
Prerequisites............................................................................................................. 2
Architecture............................................................................................................... 2
Functionality of the PI Protocol Converter...................................................................5
Installing the PI Protocol Converter..............................................................................9
Installation Dialogs..................................................................................................11
Uninstalling the PI Protocol Converter.......................................................................21
Performance Expectations..........................................................................................23
DeltaV Workstations Used for Testing.....................................................................23
Tests Performed......................................................................................................24
Results.................................................................................................................... 24
Problems and Technical Support................................................................................27
Restarting the PI Protocol Converter.......................................................................27
Contacting OSIsoft Technical Support.....................................................................27
Revision History........................................................................................................... 29

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

iii

Introduction
The purpose of the PI Protocol Converter is to provide forward compatibility for new and
existing PI client applications (PI DataLink, PI ProcessBook, PI ActiveView,
RtPortal, and the PItoPI interface) with the Emerson DeltaV Continuous Historian
introduced in v7.4. The DeltaV v7.3 and earlier releases contained an embedded PI
Historian from OSIsoft that provided native support for PI clients. The DeltaV
Continuous Historian released in DeltaV v7.4 is an Emerson product that does not
contain native support for PI clients.
The PI Protocol Converter is an interface between the DeltaV Continuous Historian and
the PI clients that provides the same level of PI client integration for the DeltaV
Continuous Historian that existed with the embedded PI Historian. The key difference is
that historical data that was stored in the embedded PI Historian is now stored in the
DeltaV Continuous Historian and accessed via the PI Protocol Converter. The following
figure shows the data flow from the DeltaV system to the PI clients for the two cases.

The DeltaV Continuous Historian uses the OPC Historical Data Access interface as the
means to access historical data. The PI Protocol Converter uses the DeltaV OPC HDA
Server to retrieve data from the DeltaV Continuous Historian. The PI Protocol Converter
translates the data requests from PI clients into corresponding requests for data from the
DeltaV OPC HDA Server.

New DeltaV systems sold with the v7.4 or later releases contain the DeltaV
Continuous Historian. These systems require the use of the PI Protocol Converter for
PI client connectivity.

DeltaV v7.3 or earlier systems contain the embedded PI Historian and do not require
the use of the PI Protocol Converter because the PI clients have native connectivity to
the embedded PI Historian.

DeltaV v7.3 or earlier systems that contain the embedded PI Historian may be
upgraded to DeltaV v7.4.1, v8.3, or v8.4 and choose to retain the embedded PI
Historian on the DeltaV Application Station.

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

The PI Protocol Converter is not required on the DeltaV v7.4.1, v8.3, or v8.4 systems
if the embedded PI Historian is available.

In DeltaV v9.x, the option to retain the embedded PI Historian will be removed, and
the embedded PI Historian will be replaced by the DeltaV Continuous Historian.
When this occurs, the PI Protocol Converter will be required to provide PI client
connectivity.

Prerequisites
The PI Protocol Converter requires the following versions of software and operating
systems:
1. DeltaV v7.4.1 or later Professional Plus or Application Station with the DeltaV
Continuous Historian enabled, downloaded, and collecting data.
2. The PI Protocol Converter requires Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP with
Service Pack 2. Note that DeltaV v7.4.1 is not supported on Windows XP with
Service Pack 2. Therefore, the PI Protocol Converter can only be used on a DeltaV
v7.4.1 system that is installed on Windows Server 2003.
3. The PI Protocol Converter must be installed on a DeltaV workstation with a 2 GHz or
faster CPU and a minimum of 1 GB memory. More memory will be required on
workstations with many history tags configured.
4. PI ProcessBook clients must be version 3.0.14.x or later. Using earlier versions of
PI ProcessBook with the PI Protocol Converter will result in heavy CPU usage on the
DeltaV Continuous Historian.
5. The DeltaV OPC HDA Server on the DeltaV v7.4.1 and v8.3 releases must be
upgraded with the DeltaV OPC HDA Server hot fix for the appropriate version. The
required hot fix for the DeltaV OPC HDA Server is:
DeltaV v7.4.1:
DeltaV_741_73024
DeltaV v8.3:
DeltaV_83_73024

Architecture
The DeltaV OPC HDA Server is the programming interface for the DeltaV Continuous
Historian. The DeltaV OPC HDA Server maintains an OPC item (the OPC terminology
for a point or tag in the OPC server) for every DeltaV parameter field configured for
history collection in the DeltaV Continuous Historian., Configuration changes are made
off-line in the DeltaV system and the process of replacing the configuration settings for a
component is referred to as downloading. When history collection configuration changes
are made to the DeltaV Continuous Historian, the Continuous Historian must be
downloaded before the changes are committed to the Continuous Historian. The DeltaV
OPC HDA Server has access to all changes made to the history collection.
The PI Protocol Converter has two major subcomponents, a Data Engine and a
AutoPointSync (PI-APS) Connector, as shown in the following diagram.
PI Protocol Converter
OPC HDA
Server

Data Engine

PI Client(s)

APS Connector

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

Data Engine
The main subcomponent is the PI Protocol Converter Data Engine that responds to
requests from PI client applications. When a PI client makes a request, the Data Engine
uses the DeltaV OPC HDA Server to obtain the underlying data from the DeltaV
Continuous Historian and sends the results to the PI client. The concepts of points and
attributes are fundamental to PI clients. Therefore, the PI Protocol Converter Data Engine
emulates the PI points (and their attributes) such that the PI Protocol Converter looks like
an embedded PI Historian to the PI clients. This allows existing PI clients that were used
with the embedded PI Historian to be used with the DeltaV Continuous Historian with
little or no reconfiguration.
PI-APS Connector
The points in the Data Engine are created and kept in synchronization with the DeltaV
Continuous Historian by the PI Protocol Converter PI-APS Connector. The Connector
monitors the DeltaV OPC HDA Server for the addition of new items, changes to existing
items, and deletion of items. The Connector makes corresponding changes to the
configuration of points and attributes in the Data Engine as necessary to maintain
consistency. The degree to which attributes of PI Protocol Converter points
reproduce the original embedded PI Historian points depends on the attribute information
available from the DeltaV OPC HDA Server. See the section Functionality of the PI
Protocol Converter for the attributes that can be synchronized with DeltaV.

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

Functionality of the PI Protocol Converter

After installing the PI Protocol Converter, the PI clients (PI DataLink, PI ProcessBook,
PI ActiveView, RtPortal, and the PItoPI interface) can be used to obtain data from the
DeltaV Continuous Historian. For PI clients used on existing DeltaV systems, the points
in the PI Protocol Converter will have tag names identical to the points in the embedded
PI Historian, thus PI client tags will not need to be updated. The PI Protocol Converter
will automatically add, update, and delete tags as they are changed in the DeltaV
Continuous Historian. Changes to DeltaV Continuous Historian configuration are
detected by the PI Protocol Converter each time the Continuous Historian is downloaded
and also rechecked every 8 hours.
Update Interval
The PI Protocol Converter Data Engine update interval is 5 seconds. The update interval
indicates the frequency with which the Data Engine requests data from the DeltaV
Continuous Historian. The default setting of 5 seconds can be changed by means of a
Windows Registry setting. Decreasing the time between updates will increase the CPU
usage on the DeltaV workstation hosting the PI Protocol Converter. Before changing the
update interval, the system performance should be monitored to obtain a reference point
for CPU usage. After the interval is changed, the CPU usage should also be monitored to
ensure that CPU usage is within an acceptable range. The interval between updates is
under registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PISystem\Interfaces\opchdactr. Under this
key, the update interval is named UpdatesLimit and the value is in seconds.
Caution: You must be extremely careful when using the registry editor. If used incorrectly,
serious problems can occur that require reinstallation of the operating system or
applications.

Point Names
When the embedded PI Historian is replaced with the DeltaV Continuous Historian, the
configuration from the embedded PI Historian is transferred to the DeltaV Continuous
Historian. As a result, most ItemIDs in the DeltaV OPC HDA Server have the same
names as the embedded PI Historian points that they replace. In two cases, the ItemIDs
are different from the embedded PI Historian tag names:
1. DeltaV parameter fields with an array data type require one PI point for each
element of the array. In the embedded PI Historian, each tag name contained the
element number enclosed in parentheses, ( and ). The corresponding ItemIDs in
the DeltaV OPC HDA Server contain the element number enclosed in square brackets
[ and ].
2. The DeltaV system permits control module names to begin with non-alphanumeric
characters, like underscore, _. When a DeltaV parameter with a non-alphanumeric
first character was configured for history collection in the embedded PI Historian, a
leading lower case x was added to the embedded PI Historian tag name. The
corresponding ItemID in the DeltaV Continuous Historian does not have a leading
x.
The key to making the PI Protocol Converter (almost) indistinguishable from the
embedded PI Historian is that the emulated PI Protocol Converter points have the same

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

tag names as the embedded PI Historian points. The PI Protocol Converter derives names
for its emulated points from the DeltaV OPC HDA ItemIDs. If an ItemID contains [ or
], they are replaced by ( and ), respectively, before using the ItemID as the tag
name for a PI Protocol Converter point. As a result, the tag name assigned to a
PI Protocol Converter point will be the same as it was with the embedded PI Historian,
except for points that that had a leading lower case x in the embedded PI Historian tag
name (case 2 above). Since the leading lower case x is not part of the ItemID in the
DeltaV OPC HDA Server and is no longer necessary for its original purpose, the
PI Protocol Converter tag names do not contain the lower case x.
Note: PI clients that are using points with tag names containing the artificially added x
will need to remove it from the tag names.

PI PointType for DeltaV OPC HDA Items

When the PI Protocol Converter PI-APS Connector creates an emulated point in the
PI Protocol Converter for an item in the DeltaV OPC HDA Server, it selects the PI
PointType that best matches the data type of the underlying OPC HDA item. PI Protocol
Converter points for OPC HDA floating-point items have PI PointType float32.
PI Protocol Converter points for OPC HDA string items have PI PointType string.
PI Protocol Converter points for OPC HDA integer items will generally be PI PointType
int32. Except for unsigned integer values greater than 231-1 in the DeltaV Continuous
Historian, which will appear as negative when interpreted as a PI int32 type, integer
values will have the expected representation. The OPC HDA signed or unsigned 64-bit
integer types are exceptions because their ranges exceed the range of PI PointType int32.
Therefore, PI Protocol Converter points for signed or unsigned 64-bit integer OPC HDA
items have PI PointType float32 and 64-bit integer data from the DeltaV Continuous
Historian is converted to floating-point by the PI Protocol Converter.
OPC HDA Data Type

PI PointType

Comment

Floating-point

Float32

PI type equivalent to OPC type

String

String

PI type equivalent to OPC type

Integers
(32-bit or smaller)

Int32

Unsigned values greater than 231-1

(2,147,483,647) will appear as negative
numbers in the clients.

Signed 64-bit Integer

Float32

Range of values is greater than what can be

stored in an int32. Magnitude (high-order
digits) is preserved but precision (low-order
digits) will be lost if the absolute value exceeds
224-1.

Unsigned 64-bit Integer

Float32

Range of values is greater than what can be

stored in an int32. Magnitude (high-order
digits) is preserved but precision (low-order
digits) will be lost if the value exceeds 224-1.

Attributes that can be Synchronized

For other attributes of the emulated points in the PI Protocol Converter, the PI Protocol
Converter PI-APS Connector is limited by the information available from the DeltaV
OPC HDA Server. Using the required hot fix versions (see the section Prerequisites for
DeltaV versions) of the DeltaV OPC HDA Server, the PI Protocol Converter PI-APS

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

Connector can keep the following PI Protocol Converter point attributes synchronized
with the DeltaV Continuous Historian:

Step

CompMin

CompMax

Descriptor

EngUnits

Zero (from DeltaV EU0)

Span (from DeltaV EU100 minus EU0)

In the DeltaV system, the settings that provide information for the Step, CompMin, and
CompMax attributes are part of the DeltaV Continuous Historian configuration. Each
time the DeltaV Continuous Historian is downloaded, the PI Protocol Converter is
triggered to scan for changes in the DeltaV OPC HDA items and the corresponding
PI Protocol Converter point attributes will be changed soon thereafter.
The DeltaV settings that provide information for the Descriptor, EngUnits, Zero, and
Span attributes are part of the control module configuration. When the control module is
downloaded, the new settings are applied to the DeltaV run-time system but the
PI Protocol Converter receives no notification of the change. Therefore, the
corresponding PI Protocol Converter point attributes will not be updated until the next
8-hour scheduled synchronization. A utility program is included with the PI Protocol
Converter that can change the interval between scheduled synchronizations or initiate an
immediate synchronization. Contact OSIsoft Technical Support for advice and
instructions on using this utility program.
Note: The DeltaV OPC HDA Servers shipped with DeltaV v7.4.1 and v8.3 are not
supported for use with the PI Protocol Converter. The DeltaV OPC HDA Servers in these
releases must be upgraded by applying the appropriate hot fix. See Prerequisites for
the required hot fix information.

The DeltaV OPC HDA Server version can be found using DeltaV tools or from the file
properties of the DeltaV OPC HDA Server executable (DOPCHDA1.exe in the DeltaV
bin folder).
Getting Values from an Old Data Set
In DeltaV v7.4.1 and v8.3, requesting data during time periods where there is no data
available between Data Sets may result in an error status. This error occurs if there is a
'gap' in the Data Sets that are available in the DeltaV Continuous Historian and the
application tries to retrieve values in the gap. It may also occur when a history tag has
been collected in the past, but is no longer configured to be collected so that there is a
gap for that tag.
For example, using PI DataLink to retrieve a tag's Current Value, when the tag is no
longer being collected will return no data. However, if performing a PI DataLink
Compressed Read for a time range where data exists for the offline tag, then a valid
value will be returned.

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

Functionality of the PI Protocol Converter

Summary Calculations
Summary calculations change. Summary calculations in the PI Protocol Converter come
from the DeltaV OPC HDA Server. Certain summary calculations are not yet
implemented in the DeltaV OPC HDA Server and when requested will result in a
message, NOT IMPLEMENTED. The summary calculations not yet implemented in
the DeltaV OPC HDA Server are: Total, Mean, StdDev, and Range. The summary
calculations currently available from the DeltaV OPC HDA Server are: Time Average,
Minimum, Maximum, Count, and Interpolation.
Of the summary calculations that are available in the DeltaV OPC HDA Server, some of
the summary calculation results may be different from the corresponding results provided
by the embedded PI Historian. The differences are due to the differences between how
the OPC HDA specification defines these summary calculations and how the embedded
PI Historian defines these summary calculations. The summary calculations whose
results may differ in the PI Protocol Converter are: Minimum, Maximum, and Count.

Installing the PI Protocol Converter

The PI Protocol Converter is required for PI client connectivity with the DeltaV
Continuous Historian. The PI Protocol Converter is supported for use on the DeltaV
Professional Plus and Application Station for DeltaV v7.4.1 and later releases.
PI Protocol Converter Operating System Compatibility
for DeltaV Professional Plus and Application Station Workstations
DeltaV Release

Windows XP Professional

Windows Server 2003

v7.4.1

No

Yes

v8.3 and later

Yes

Yes

Note: Before installing the PI Protocol Converter, the DeltaV Continuous Historian must
be enabled, configured, downloaded, and running. Also, any PI client applications must
be installed after installation of the PI Protocol Converter.

Installing from CD-ROM

To install the PI Protocol Converter from CD-ROM, run setup.exe. Proceed to the
Installation Dialogs subsection below.
Installing from Downloaded Installation File
If youve been provided a download file, it is a self-extracting executable. The
downloadable installation kit is named PIProtocolConverterSetup_x.x.x.x.exe.
Simply run the executable file, which will extract the files and run the setup program.
The following series of dialog boxes are specific to the self-extraction process.

This dialog box identifies the PI Protocol Converter self-extracting installation kit. Click
OK to continue with extraction of the installation files or close the dialog box to cancel.

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

The next dialog box suggests a folder where the installation files can be extracted and
provides an opportunity to select an alternate location:

The default folder usually contains many temporary files from other applications, making
it difficult to identify the component files for the PI Protocol Converter. Therefore,
OSIsoft recommends that you choose an empty folder to receive the extracted PI Protocol
Converter installation files, which will facilitate removal of the temporary files after
installation. The disk containing this folder must have 100 Mb of free space to extract the
files. You can click Browse to open a dialog box that allows navigation to a folder of
your choice. Or, you can type a folder path directly into the Unzip to folder: box. A
simple option is to add a subfolder name to the default path as shown in the following
dialog box:

Click Unzip to extract the PI Protocol Converter installation files into the temporary
folder. A dialog box opens after the extraction:

Click OK to continue the actual installation of the PI Protocol Converter, which the
self-extractor initiates by default.

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

10

Installation Dialogs
The install begins with a welcome screen:

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

11

Installing the PI Protocol Converter

The following image of the welcome screen shows the remainder of the list of
PI Protocol Converter subcomponents:

Click OK to begin installation of the PI Protocol Converter.

12

The next dialog box in the installation sequence is:

Note: The recommendation in this dialog is inaccurate for the PI Protocol Converter.
DeltaV must be running during installation.

Unfortunately, this dialog is deeply integrated into the installation setup framework and
could not be removed. The DeltaV system can run concurrently and will not interfere
with PI Protocol Converter installation. In fact, DeltaV must be running to support the
initial creation of points in the PI Protocol Converter. Click Next to continue.

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

13

Installing the PI Protocol Converter

The installation process will:
Install the files needed for the creation of an interface node, including the
PI SDK and the PI API. If the PI Protocol Converter is installed on a DeltaV
computer that previously had an embedded PI Historian, these files are installed in
the \PIProtocolConverter folder. Otherwise, the default path for these files is
\Program Files\PIPC. The following dialog shows the default path and allows
selection of an alternate location:

14

 Create a PI Protocol Converter folder (\PIProtocolConverter) for the

PI Protocol Converter base services files. If the PI Protocol Converter is installed on
a DeltaV computer that previously had an embedded PI Historian, this folder is
created on the drive where the PI Server was previously installed. Otherwise, a dialog
box opens to allow you to select the location for this folder:

Create a PIPC\Interfaces\OPCHDActr folder for the PI Protocol Converter

Data Engine files. This folder is created either in \Program Files, which is in the
same folder as the files for an interface node, or \PIProtocolConverter.
Create a PIPC\APS folder for all of the PI Protocol Converter PI-APS
Connector files. This folder is created either in \Program Files, which is in the
same folder as the files for an interface node, or \PIProtocolConverter.

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

15

Installing the PI Protocol Converter

Click Next to proceed with the PI Protocol Converter installation.

16

After core components of the PI Protocol Converter are installed, the following dialog
box is displayed:

Click Finish to continue with installation of the remaining components of the PI Protocol
Converter.
Several dialog boxes similar to the following example will pop up and disappear as the
installation installs the remaining components of the PI Protocol Converter.

The last component is the PI APS Interface Registration Utility:

Unlike the earlier components, which install in seconds, installation of this component
typically takes several minutes. Also, the progress bar is not a true indication of activity
by the installation utility. Be patient when this dialog appears.

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

17

Installing the PI Protocol Converter

The installation ends with the following dialog:

If the following dialog appears, click No:

Note: The notice in this dialog is inaccurate for the PI Protocol Converter. Click No to
prevent the computer from being rebooted.

18

Unfortunately, this dialog is deeply integrated into the installation setup framework and
could not be removed. For initial installations of the PI Protocol Converter, rebooting the
computer is unnecessary and will actually interfere with initial point creation.
Immediately after the installation, the PI Protocol Converter discovers the historized
parameter fields in the DeltaV system (by browsing the items in the DeltaV OPC HDA
Server) and automatically configures an emulated point in the PI Protocol Converter for
each item found. Depending on the number of historized parameter fields, the initial
creation of PI Protocol Converter points can take a few minutes or several hours. For
example, on a 3 GHz computer with 2 GB of memory, the PI Protocol Converter created
150 points per minute.
Note: If you started with a self-extracting executable, the extracted files in the temporary
folder are not needed after installation. To recover disk space, you can delete the
extracted files.

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

19

Uninstalling the PI Protocol Converter

To uninstall the PI Protocol Converter, run Add/Remove Programs from the Windows
Control Panel. Begin by removing the PI Protocol Converter:

After removing the PI Protocol Converter program, the following programs should also
be removed:

PI Protocol Converter Data Engine

PI Protocol Converter APS Connector

PI APS Interface Registration Utility

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

21

Performance Expectations
The PI Protocol Converter is installed on the DeltaV Professional Plus or Application
Station where the DeltaV Continuous Historian and DeltaV OPC HDA Server are
running. The DeltaV Continuous Historian, DeltaV OPC HDA Server, and PI Protocol
Converter all consume computing resources, as does any other application which may be
running on these workstations. The computing resources required by the DeltaV
Continuous Historian, DeltaV OPC HDA Server, and PI Protocol Converter consist of
their baseline requirements plus the additional resources to satisfy requests from other
DeltaV workstations and PI clients. Care must be taken to ensure that the resources
required to service all clients do not overload the host computer. Overloading the host
computer may result in a loss of history collection in the DeltaV Continuous Historian
and/or loss of data to the PI client application. If the DeltaV workstation does not have
enough idle resources to support additional PI clients via the PI Protocol Converter, PI
clients can be offloaded to a PI Server that maintains a copy of the data from the DeltaV
Continuous Historian.
Performance testing of the PI Protocol Converter was completed using several different
DeltaV workstations and PI client applications. All of the possible combinations of
DeltaV workstations and PI client applications were not tested, but the following
examples will provide an idea of the performance expectations when using the
PI Protocol Converter.

DeltaV Workstations Used for Testing

The DeltaV workstations used for the performance testing and the test cases run on the
workstations are listed below.
Workstation 1: Dell Precision 330, 1.5 GHz P4, 1 GB RAM
Windows Server 2003
DeltaV Professional Plus, v7.4.1
Continuous Historian configuration: 250 tags configured at 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, and 60-second
sample rates, average sample rate 76 parameters/sec
Workstation 2: Dell Optiplex 620, 3.0 GHz P4, 1 GB RAM
Windows XP Professional, SP2
DeltaV Professional Plus, v8.3
Continuous Historian configuration: 250 tags configured at 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, and 60-second
sample rates, average sample rate 76 parameters/sec
Workstation 3: Dell Optiplex 620, 3.0 GHz P4, 1 GB RAM
Windows XP Professional, SP2
DeltaV Application Station, v8.4 (pre-release)
Continuous Historian configuration: 5000 tags configured at 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, and
60-second sample rates, average sample rate 1600 parameters/sec
Workstation 4: Dell PowerEdge 2600, 2.0 GHz Xeon, 2 GB RAM
Windows Server 2003
DeltaV Application Station, v8.4 (pre-release)
Continuous Historian configuration: 20000 tags configured at 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, and
60-second sample rates, average sample rate 2500 parameters/sec

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

23

Tests Performed
Test Case 1: Open 12 PI ProcessBook trend displays.
PI ProcessBook display configuration: 8 pens per trend display, 8 hour time scale,
2 trends each of 1-second, 2-second, 5-second, 10-second, 30-second, and 60-second
sample data from the DeltaV Continuous Historian (96 pens total)
Test Case 2: Open 24 PI ProcessBook trend displays.
PI ProcessBook display configuration: 8 pens per trend display, 8 hour time scale,
5-second sample data from the DeltaV Continuous Historian (192 pens total)
Test Case 3: Run the PItoPI Interface.
PItoPI Interface configuration: one scan class consisting of 5000 parameters at 1-second,
2-second, 5-second, 10-second, 30-second, and 60-second sample data from the DeltaV
Continuous Historian transferred at 15-minute intervals
Test Case 4: Run the PItoPI Interface.
PI to PI Interface configuration: one scan class consisting of 20000 parameters at
1-second, 2-second, 5-second, 10-second, 30-second, and 60-second sample data from
the DeltaV Continuous Historian transferred in real-time
Test Case 5: Run the PI Protocol Converter AutoPointSync. The PI Protocol Converter
AutoPointSync runs at reduced priority. Therefore, the point synchronization function
will use only CPU resources that are not needed by other applications on the DeltaV
workstation. Because the PI-APS function runs at reduced priority, other clients and
applications can starve the PI-APS function.
Test Case 6: Run Test Cases 1 and 3 simultaneously.
Test Case 7: Run Test Cases 1 and 5 simultaneously.
Test Case 8: Run Test Cases 3 and 5 simultaneously.
Test Case 9: Run Test Cases 1, 3, and 5 simultaneously.

Results
The results of the performance testing are shown in the following table. The results for
the various test cases are classified as acceptable, questionable, and not acceptable,
depending on the average CPU usage measured during the test.
PI Protocol Converter Test Case CPU Usage
Workstation 1

Workstation 2

Workstation 3

Workstation 4

Test Case 1

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Questionable to
Acceptable1

Test Case 2

Not run

Not run

Acceptable

Questionable to
Acceptable

Test Case 3

Not run

Not run

Acceptable2

Not run

Test Case 4

Not run

Not run

Not run

Questionable to
Acceptable

Test Case 5

Acceptable3

Acceptable3

Acceptable3

acceptable3

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

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PI Protocol Converter Test Case CPU Usage

Test Case 6

Not run

Not run

Acceptable4

Not run

Test Case 7

Acceptable

Acceptable

Acceptable

Questionable to
Acceptable5

Test Case 8

Not run

Not run

Acceptable6

Not run

Test Case 9

Not run

Not run

Acceptable7

Not run

Notes
1. The 12 PI ProcessBook displays as configured provided a large load on Workstation 4.
Due to this large load, Test Case 1 was run with only 1 of each PI ProcessBook display
(1, 2, 5, 10, 30, and 60-second sample data), 48 pens total.
2. Average time to complete one PItoPI cycle was under 4 minutes.
3. Average time to complete one PI-AutoPointSync cycle was 2.5 minutes on
Workstation1, 1.25 minutes on Workstation 2, 26 minutes on Workstation 3 and 130
minutes on Workstation 4. This is not a concern since changes are expected to be
infrequent. Note that the PI-AutoPointSync component runs at reduced priority and,
therefore, can be starved by other applications and clients.
4. Average time to complete one PI to PI cycle was under 9 minutes, which is not a cause
for concern since it is less than the 15-minute scan interval.
5. The 12 PI ProcessBook displays as configured and the operation of the
PI-AutoPointSync provided a large load on Workstation 4. The results for Test Case 7
reflect the use of only 1 of each PI ProcessBook display (1, 2, 5, 10, 30, and 60-second
sample data).
6. Average time to complete one PItoPI cycle was under 6 minutes, which is not a cause
for concern since it is less than the 15-minute scan interval.
7. Average time to complete one PItoPI cycle was under 10 minutes, which is not a cause
for concern since it is less than the 15-minute scan interval.
Testing Summary
Workstations 1 and 4 are older DeltaV workstations and represent the performance
expectations for DeltaV systems that have upgraded from a previous release (the Dell
Precision 330 dates to DeltaV v5.3.2 and the Dell PowerEdge 2600 dates to DeltaV
v6.3.2). Workstations 2 and 3 are new DeltaV workstations and represent the
performance expectations for new DeltaV systems or possibly older DeltaV systems that
have upgraded their hardware during a system upgrade.
In general, the results for the Test Cases run on Workstations 1 and 4 show a higher CPU
usage than the same tests run on Workstations 2 and 3. This is expected due to the
difference in the workstation specifications.
Workstation 4 and the Test Cases run on Workstation 4 were primarily used to stress the
workstation. The results show that this workstation is not powerful enough to support any
more than a minimal amount of PI client load on top of its base data collection and the
PI-APS load. If a significant number of historian clients are required (PI or DeltaV) on a
workstation with a large DeltaV Continuous Historian, a more powerful workstation must
be used.

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

25

Performance Expectations
Based on the test results from Workstation 4, OSIsoft recommends that the PI Protocol
Converter only be used on a 2 GHz or faster computer with a minimum of 1 GB memory.
More memory will be required as the number of DeltaV parameter fields configured in
the Continuous Historian increases.
As a general rule, Emerson recommends that the CPU load on the DeltaV workstation
should not exceed 75% for an extended period of time, regardless of what applications
are running on the workstation.
Comment on PI ProcessBook Clients
CPU usage on the DeltaV workstation can be decreased by optimizing the sample rate of
the data sent from the DeltaV Continuous Historian to PI ProcessBook. For example,
transferring 1-second sample rate data to PI ProcessBook consumes more CPU than
transferring 5-second sample rate data as there is much more data to retrieve from the
DeltaV Continuous Historian and transfer to the client.
Comment on PItoPI Interface
Even when the PItoPI Interface is running on a DeltaV workstation with excess CPU (as
seen in Test Case 3), it still takes several minutes to complete the data transfer. This limits
the extent to which the target PI Server can be considered up-to-date with real-time
information. Emerson recommends using the PItoPI Interface only to transfer data that is
absolutely required in the target PI Server, to improve this latency. In particular,
parameters in the DeltaV Continuous Historian that are collected at fast sample rates (5
seconds or less) will cause additional load on the DeltaV workstation when transferred
using the PItoPI Interface. The need for these fast sample-rate parameters in the target PI
Server should be evaluated.
In addition, Emerson recommends the PItoPI Interface be configured for periodic data
transfer as opposed to real-time data transfer. Real-time data transfer, as seen in Test Case
4, may cause an unacceptable load on the DeltaV workstation. The transfer rate of the
data should be determined based on the requirements of the clients on the target PI
Server.

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Problems and Technical Support

Restarting the PI Protocol Converter
If the PI clients stop updating, the PI Protocol Converter may need to be reset. This can
be accomplished by using a shortcut installed in the Windows Start menu. The path to
this shortcut is Start Programs PI System Reset PI Protocol Converter. (The
actual program that this shortcut executes is ResetPC.exe located in the
folder \Interfaces\OPCHDACtr found in the directory chosen during installation.)
Note: The PI Protocol Converter will need to be restarted whenever the DeltaV OPC
HDA Server is restarted.

Contacting OSIsoft Technical Support

Please report any issues to OSIsoft technical support.
Email: techsupport@osisoft.com
Phone: (510) 297-5828
Fax: (510) 352-2349

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

27

Revision History
Date

Author

Comments

28-Sep-2005

BPayne

Initial Documentation

20-Oct-2005

LDaley

Added diagrams and expanded Installation section.

11-Jan-2006

LDaley,
BPayne

Rev B: Reformatted using OSIsoft document

template. Revised for initial release.

30-Jan-2006

CFelts, LDaley,
BPayne

Rev C: Continued revisions for initial release.

6-Feb-2006

Chrys

Version 1.0.0.0 Rev D: added PointType table;

created bullets for readability; changed should to
must; preface OSIsoft products with PI.

7-Feb-2006

LDaley,
BPayne

Version 1.0.0.0 Rev E: changed diagram in

introduction, added clarity to PointType table;
changed destination folder explanation for
APS/PCDataEngine.

7-Feb-2006

Chrys

Version 1.0.0.0 Rev F: split PointType table more

reasonably.

PI Protocol Converter for Emerson's DeltaV System Release Notes

29