Support PI tag renaming

I think ideally you'd be able to change things like the tag naming prefix from the connector web UI rather than going into config files as well

This is highly important for companies with Tag Naming Convetion and having a miture of User which are using Process Books with Tags and Process Books with AF Attributes

Being able change or remove the current default tag name prefix (.) through the Web UI would be really useful. We have applied the company standard tag naming convention in the OPC UA server, but then the PI Connector adds a prefix that can't be removed which spoils the tags in PI.

I am EPM for an EA customer that is requesting this functionality. They plan to migrate OPC DA Servers to OPC UA Servers and would like to keep tag names. It would be great for them to have the option to allow OPC UA Connector to perform naming convention configuration so the OPC UA Connector sends data to tags (in the PI Data Archive) that do not match the name in the OPC UA Server. Renaming all the tags in the PI Data Archive will be very time-consuming not only at PI Data Archive level but also at client level (displays and reports)

I have a case where I deliberately delete the Connector's point cache file so I can create new Point tags when I reconfigure my DAQ inputs. I would like to have a way to clear this cache other then finding the file on the drive with Windows Explorer and deleting it. I'd prefer not to have to do this but is the work around for another issue (with the Archive) where if I rename the Descriptor I can no longer query the old Descriptor. If I change the auto generated Point Name, I can continue to query the old Desciptor data. We are using the Historian for R&D so the Hardware configuration and thus the DAQ sensor configuration is constantly changing.

I have a customer who is upgrading from an OPC DA interface to an OPC UA connector. They have an existing tag naming convention, as well as many Excel spreadsheets and PI Datalink functions that already use tag names. They are considering moving to the OPC UA connector but will need a reliable and supported way of maintaining the existing tag names rather than using the connector naming convention.

@Chris, can you share the prototype and timeline of the feature set? Thanks

Hello @Chris, a customer wants to know if this feature is planned to be integrated on PI Connector for Wonderware Historian. If so, may you give an idea of the timeline of the feature set please ? Thanks!

Thanks @Diego and @Danny for your questions. We don't have a schedule yet for this item. We are in the process of researching how to best architect this underneath the hood. Our prototype is not in a sharable form so will have to show you once we get closer to beta. Recommend you vote on this item and be sure you are signed up for updates.

If we could set a tag renaming mask using regular expressions it would be extremely helpful. This piece of functionality is a must before we can move to the OPC UA connector. This issue prevents us from using other connectors as well.

Although this is more specific to the BACnet connector, it still applies under here. Currently, if network changes are made that necessitate an IP address change, tags would have to be recreated, whereas with the interface, only changes to the instrumenttag would be needed to reflect the changes to the data source.

Renaming tags for connectors would be really helpful. The tag name provided by the "source" is not always that intuitive. Eq for the IEC 60870-5-104 tha tagnames are a combo of the CA and IOA adress

My project has run into a serious difficulty due to a ‘scope gap’ between the various requirements of IEC 60870-5-104 protocol, the associated PI Connector and AF Templating. Let me explain: A wind farm incorporating about 50 identical wind turbines was completed around end-2018. The SCADA system vendor nominated IEC 60870-5-104 protocol for interfaces with our PI System – and duly configured ASDUs with Information Object Addresses (10000, 10001, 10003, etc). Although the protocol supports tag names, they are not mandatory and were not configured. Our PI System integrator made the (reasonable) assumption that all of the wind turbines could be configured via a single ‘element template’. The PI Connector has an auto-configuration feature that cannot be disabled. This feature interrogates the data source and creates PI data points according to ASDU# and IOA# found in the data source. Manually renaming these points would be futile, because the new names would be overwritten (e.g. whenever the connector is restarted). The reasonable assumption (that all of the wind turbines could be configured via a single ‘element template’) can only be realised when attributes are named such that an attribute name is the same for each turbine (apart from the turbine number). Can anyone recommend a good work-around please?

Can you predict when this option will be available for use?

By running the PI Connector for OPC UA in "tag-only mode" you can define a CustomStreamId which will be used to name a PI point. The tag only mode requires a list of manually-specified NodeIds (OPC UA variables), which the connector accesses without browsing.

In response to Danny Dijke, "By running the PI Connector for OPC UA i..." Does this same functionality also exist for PI Connector for IEC-60870-5-104?

Hi, being able to use client's tag naming convention is a must-have in my opinion. Surprised that this is not a default feature. I'd like to request that the same feature to be made available for PI Siemens PCS7 Connector as well. Thanks.

Being able to rename a point between the source and target would enable to us develop much quicker. Our lack of standard naming conventions across L3 sites is holding us back from creating global Asset Framework templates and event frames on our L4 systems.

I agree that we should be able to rename points between the source and target. I also believe that it would be beneficial to be able to determine and specify the naming convention before the connector creates those tags.

Being able to rename the tags at the PI system level using PI Builder and not having to worry of having them not updated in cache of OPC UA connector would be a great help.