Connect Alteryx to OSIsoft PI Server

[mattcoleman]

I found a similar question to this from 2018, but I was wondering if anyone has connected their OSIsoft PI server to Alteryx? The previous response recommended using the PI ODBC driver to connect to an Input Data in Alteryx, but I can't seem to download the driver. Any recommendations?

[BrandonB]

It looks like you have to log into their site to access the driver. The support page is here: https://livelibrary.osisoft.com/LiveLibrary/content/en/bi-v2/GUID-E3CAFD0D-FD80-4C91-9905-105738784A... 

And the download page appears to be here: https://techsupport.osisoft.com/Downloads/All-Downloads/ 

[mattcoleman]

I did create a login and followed the link to the downloads page, but the driver is not listed for download.

[BrandonB]

Maybe try emailing their support email at CustomerService@osisoft.com 

Technically you could use their API, but if they already have an ODBC driver built that may be the easiest approach: https://docs.osisoft.com/bundle/pi-web-api-reference/page/help.html 

I have an "APIs for Beginners" blog post that I wrote up if you want to take this approach: https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Engine-Works/APIs-for-Beginners-Integrate-All-the-Systems/ba-p/8074... 

In any case, I'd encourage you to take the easier approach with less work of trying to get that ODBC driver if possible. Please note that this data source isn't officially supported or listed on Alteryx's data sources page, but I have seen examples of a couple customers getting it to work. 

[mattcoleman]

Thanks Brandon! I was able to get the ODBC driver and get everything working. The DB I'm working off of is on a VM and I want to connect to the ODBC via Alteryx on my local machine. I'm guessing I have to use the "Connect In-DB" tool to connect to an ODBC on another machine? Are there easy instructions on how to do that?

[BrandonB]

That depends on how the machines are able to communicate and whether or not the VM is otherwise isolated. There are methods by which you can establish an SSH connection and then execute a query, but I'm not sure if this is what you need. What happens when you try to set up the ODBC Driver on your local computer in the same way? Is it able to connect to the database? 

[mattcoleman]

I was able to connect to the PI server on my local machine and via the Connect In-DB tool via Alteryx. Now I'm getting an error when I try and browse the values via my query, which is the same query that is returning values in the PI SQL Commander Lite. See below.

[Josh_Metro]

I use the PIWebAPI to get data from PI into Alteryx. It's works very well. There are some specialized searches that work better with the SDK. I'm working on using that.