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Q. What is OSIsoft vCampus exactly?A. The OSIsoft Virtual Campus (vCampus) is a subscription-based, online offering that consists of providing everything people need to develop applications/solutions on the PI System, in a community-oriented manner and with the focus on 'doing it right'. It is intended to facilitate and encourage communication around PI programming and integration, between OSIsoft partners, customers and employees.
The OSIsoft vCampus program provides access to a number of resources, including:
OSIsoft vCampus is the way to obtain development licenses for most of PI Data Access products. You can read more about licensing in the Pricing & Licensing section of this FAQ.Q. Who exactly can join?A. Everybody! Customers, third-parties (ISVs, SIs, etc.) and OSIsoft employees can participate to this program. The idea is to create a community of developers/integrators where everybody is at the same level and ask or answer questions. (if you currently are or wish to become a Partner, make sure you read the Partner FAQ)Q. Do I need to go through any kind of subscription process?A. Yes. You first need to sign in using your Single Sign-On (SSO) account (or create one) by clicking on Sign In. Then you can click on Apply Now to enroll in the OSIsoft vCampus program.
OSIsoft Employees: you need to click on Apply Now too, as if you were to apply for a license. Then acknowledge the 2 informational pages that appear and log in using your network credentials.
Should anybody have trouble signing in, please contact SSOHelp@osisoft.com as indicated on the Sign-On page.Q. Is my subscription activated immediately after applying?A. No: all applications first go through a manual screening process. Upon acceptation of your application, you will receive an email notification with instructions to complete your registration, which includes payment. (make sure you read the Pricing/Licensing FAQ)Q. What PI software does it include?A. The vCampus PI Products Kit contains the following:
Q. Anything else I need to know on the software provided?A. The PI Server is limited to 10,000 points and HA (High Availability) Collectives of up to 3 nodes.
Because this server is meant to be used as a personal development system (i.e. isolated from production data sources), only the default interfaces & simulators installed with the PI Server and the PItoPI Interface are provided. All other PI Interfaces (such as the PI OPC Interface, the PI Foxboro Interface, etc.) will not work with this PI Server. The PItoPI Interface is included because it provides an easy way to feed production data to this development system if need be. Q. How can I download and use these PI products?A. Provided with the vCampus membership is a complete set of PI Products to install and use as your personal development PI System. The products are divided into categories for easier access. Simply select the desired category to browse and download the product you need. At each time the latest versions of the PI products are available on OSIsoft vCampus Download Center.Just like any other regular PI System, a PI Server License file is required to install the PI Server component. While you can download a 30-day temporary license, you will need to eventually download the appropriate PI Server License File which is bound to the subscriber's machine for the full length of your subscription (1 year). The binding to a specific machine is done via "Machine Signature File" (MSF), which the subscriber uploads. More details about these processes are provided in the OSIsoft vCampus Download Center.
Q. Can I install this PI System on a Virtual Machine?A. Yes
Q. Is the licensing different on a Virtual Machine?A. No: the subscriber still has to generate and upload the "Machine Signature File" (MSF) to get a PI Server License file generated. On a Virtual Machine, however, that MSF is generated with information from both the Virtual Machine and the Physical Host. This means the PI Server is bound to that "Virtual Machine + Physical Host" combination.
Please note that you are NOT licensed to run multiple copies concurrently. However, for archiving purposes you may create backups of your virtual machine in various configurations subject to your license agreement. Please note as well that changes in the virtual machine's hardware will require you to apply for a new license file. A new license file can only be issued by a request sent to vcampus@osisoft.com and approval is granted on a case-by-case basis.
Q. What is the relationship between OSIsoft vCampus and the technical support website?A. The two websites are going to function in parallel and the Technical Support website will remain as is. As in the past, the technical support site and team focus on "end users" and "PI administrators": this is where you can download your production PI Server and other products, and ask questions about using and administering PI.On the other hand, OSIsoft vCampus focuses on developers, systems architects and systems integrators: this is where you obtain your development server and PI Data Access technologies such as PI SDK and AF SDK. The OSIsoft vCampus discussion forums and webinars are the perfect places for questions pertaining to PI development and integration.
Q. What happened to DevNet?A. The OSIsoft Developers Network (DevNet, OSIDN) was decommissioned on June 30th, 2009. Some of the applications residing on the DevNet were made available in a "Legacy DevNet Content" branch on the OSIsoft vCampus Library.