Re: [foxboro] FoxAPI and AIM*API

FoxAPI and netFoxAPI are NOT used to support any of the AIM*AT Suite
products.

AIM*API and NetAIM*API are the APIs used by the AIM*AT Suite products.

In general, one installs AIM*AT OPC DA Server on the same PC as the OPC
DA client. In this configuration, you would use NetAIM*API to reach to
the I/A Series system. This avoids the use of DCOM and the related
configuration complexity. Matrikon refers to this as "OPC tunneling."
That is NetAIM*API is our tunneling software.

Here's a "sketch":

Generic PC                        --Network-- AW70            ---Mesh---
CP
OPC DA Client - AIM*OPC DA Server             (net)AIM*API/OM
OM


AIM*OPC DA Server includes the required license for NetAIM*API and
AIM*API. It also includes the required media, but be sure to use the
latest released QF for (net)AIM*API. The one on the media is probably
old.


You can use an intermediate PC and DCOM if you wish, but I don't see the
benefit.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
 
Alex Johnson
Invensys Process Systems
10900 Equity Drive
Houston, TX 77041
+1 713 329 8472 (desk)
+1 713 329 1600 (operator)
+1 713 329 1944 (SSC Fax)
+1 713 329 1700 (Central Fax)
alex.johnson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Ainuddin Ali
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 4:10 AM
To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [foxboro] FoxAPI and AIM*API

Alex
A follow-up questions would be

Do i need a FoxAPI or netFoxAPI for my project (refer below diagram).
This
API will be installed in Box B below.

*Box A (OPC Client) *<Eth RJ45 >* Box B (OPC Server) *< Eth RJ45 >* Box
C
(P91 WinXP AW IA Ver 7.1)*

Regards.
AINUDDIN ALI
PRAI POWER PLANT

On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 5:02 AM, Johnson, Alex P (IPS) <
alex.johnson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Re: We have FoxAPI ver 4.2.6 installed in our AW1003 (P91 WinXP box).
> Where can we get the latest version for FoxAPI ? Can it be downloaded
?
>
> Depending on your support contract, you can get the latest from the
> Global Client Support website - http://support.ips.invensys.com.
>
>
> Re: Noted that OPC server from Foxboro utilizes AIM*API - whereas
> Matrikon's
> OPC server utilizes FoxAPI. Any particular reason why there's 2
> different
> API in existence?
>
> They meet two different needs. The OM API is a very low level
interface
> that requires more sophisticated programming skills. FoxAPI is
intended
> to serve as a simpler interface for developers allowing them to
> concentrate on their value added work rather than the API.
>
> Now for some history:
>
> When the I/A Series system was released, a device called the INI-10
was
> one of the standard modules. The INI-10 supplied an X.25 interface to
> the I/A Series system.
>
> Our gateway group developed and supported a product called Application
> Interface Software that ran on HP-UX and VMS OSs. This software could
> communicate to the I/A Series using the INI-10. The supplied API was
> designed for FORTRAN programs.
>
> A number of applications were developed for the AIS API, e.g., a
OSIsoft
> PI data collector. When the I/A Series system added support for Sun
> workstations (I/A Series 3.0), we decided to support the AIS API on
the
> Solaris box as well. This resulted in the first on-platform version of
> AIS. The software was included on every AW, but it was not started by
> default.
>
> A little later, the networked version of AIS became available
(AISnet).
> This product provided a client API on a variety of non-Foxboro
platforms
> (Sun, HP, DEC) that talked to a server process that runs in the
> 50-Series box over an Ethernet network. The transport protocol was
> either TCP/IP or DECnet. Eventually, this offering became the basis
for
> products like Data for Windows. It is AISnet that added the process
> an_server to the set of standard AIS processes.
>
> AISnet was a superset of AIS, i.e., it had all of AIS's calls and some
> extras. The extras included historian and CSA query calls.
>
>
> A little more time passed and a Marketing group was assigned to the
> Information Technologies business of which the AIS development and
> support group are a part. This marketing group decided that AIS was
not
> a very useful name. They changed things so that we had:
>
> (local) FoxAPI V4.x which was AIS 3.0 with some enhancements
> netFoxAPI V4.x which was AISnet
>
> though the names were changed the products were not.
>
>
> More time passed and a new version of FoxAPI (V5.x) was developed to
> support the AIM*AT Suite of products (Historian, OPC DA Server,
> DataLink, FoxExplorer, etc.). However, this version caused problems
with
> existing programs because it required those programs to be re-linked.
>
> The issue was serious enough that V5.x of FoxAPI was withdrawn and
later
> released as AIM*API.
>
> Still later, the NetFoxAPI client was replaced with a new and more
> functional client - netMFC. This new client offers a totally different
> API to the client programs.
>
> Thus, we actually have several families of APIs for the I/A Series
> system:
>
> Base APIs
>   OM API
>   IPC API
>   Historian API
>   CSA API
>   HI API
>   Others
>
> FoxAPI/netFoxAPI using the FoxAPI client which supports OM, Historian,
> and CSA calls.
>
> AIM*API/NetAIM*API using the netMFC client which supports OM,
Historian,
> and CSA calls.
>
> AIM*API is a superset of FoxAPI though the general scope of support is
> similar.
>
> So, to answer your question, there are many APIs to meet the various
> client needs for access to I/A Series data. The base APIs are
generally
> higher performance, but require more work to develop software than the
> higher level APIs.
>
>
> Re: Matrikon claimed that their OPC Server can communicate with
Foxboro
> systems on Solaris or Windows using either the FoxAPI, or OM (Object
> Manager). How this OM is different w/ FoxAPI in terms of data flow.
>
> Anything that I offered would be pure speculation. However, I wonder
if
> their OM-based OPC DA Server is actually supported on V8.x since it
> requires headers and libraries that are not shipped with the system.
>
>
> I hope this helps.
>
> Regards,
>
> Alex Johnson
> Invensys Process Systems
> 10900 Equity Drive
> Houston, TX 77041
> +1 713 329 8472 (desk)
> +1 713 329 1600 (operator)
> +1 713 329 1944 (SSC Fax)
> +1 713 329 1700 (Central Fax)
> alex.johnson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of Ainuddin Ali
> Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 9:52 PM
> To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [foxboro] FoxAPI and AIM*API
>
> Hi Sir
> 1. We have FoxAPI ver 4.2.6 installed in our AW1003 (P91 WinXP box).
> Where
> can we get the latest version for FoxAPI ? Can it be downloaded ?
>
> 2. Noted that OPC server from Foxboro utilizes AIM*API - whereas
> Matrikon's
> OPC server utilizes FoxAPI. Any particular reason why there's 2
> different
> API in existence?
>
> 3. Matrikon claimed that their OPC Server can communicate with Foxboro
> systems on Solaris or Windows using either the FoxAPI, or OM (Object
> Manager). How this OM is different w/ FoxAPI in terms of data flow.
>
> Regards.
>
> Ainuddin Ali
> Operation Dept
> Prai Power Plant
>
>
>
>
>
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> This mailing list is neither sponsored nor endorsed by Invensys
Process
> Systems (formerly The Foxboro Company). Use the info you obtain here
at
> your own risks. Read
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>
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_______________________________________________________________________
This mailing list is neither sponsored nor endorsed by Invensys Process
Systems (formerly The Foxboro Company). Use the info you obtain here at
your own risks. Read http://www.thecassandraproject.org/disclaimer.html
 
foxboro mailing list:             http://www.freelists.org/list/foxboro
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** Confidentiality Notice:
This e-mail, including any associated or attached files, is intended solely for 
the individual or entity to which it is addressed. This e-mail is confidential 
and may well also be legally privileged. If you have received it in error, you 
are on notice of its status. Please notify the sender immediately by reply 
e-mail and then delete this message from your system. Please do not copy it or 
use it for any purposes, or disclose its contents to any other person.

This email is from the Invensys Process Systems business unit of the Invensys 
Group, a group of companies owned by Invensys plc, which is a company 
registered in England and Wales with its registered office at Portland House, 
Bressenden Place, London, SW1E 5BF (Registered number 166023).  For a list of 
European legal entities within the Invensys Group, please go to 
http://www.invensys.com/legal/default.asp?top_nav_id=77&nav_id=80&prev_id=77.  

You may contact Invensys plc on +44 (0)20 7821 3848 or e-mail 
inet.hqhelpdesk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx This e-mail and any attachments thereto may be 
subject to the terms of any agreements between Invensys (and/or its 
subsidiaries and affiliates) and the recipient (and/or its subsidiaries and 
affiliates).


 
 
_______________________________________________________________________
This mailing list is neither sponsored nor endorsed by Invensys Process
Systems (formerly The Foxboro Company). Use the info you obtain here at
your own risks. Read http://www.thecassandraproject.org/disclaimer.html
 
foxboro mailing list:             http://www.freelists.org/list/foxboro
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