Administrators and regular users of PI are mainly concerned with these PI client programs:
• PI System Management Tools
• PI System Explorer
• PI Builder
• PI DataLink

However, the install kits are not beginner-friendly:
• Many users think that PI DataLink can do what PI Builder does, since both are Excel add-ins.
• PI System Explorer and PI Builder are grouped as a single program called "PI AF Client" in install kits, including the install kit of the same name. This makes it difficult for users to find these programs.
• The PI System Management Tools install kit actually contains PI AF Client, but there is no indication of this until the user runs the install kit.
• The PI System Management Tools install kit also contains the PI Interface Configuration Utility, which is not needed at all on users' computers and adds clutter and confusion.

This whole situation is a nightmare. 4 programs should not be this hard to understand.

Please retire the install kits for PI System Management Tools, PI AF Client, and PI DataLink and replace them with 2 new install kits:
• PI System Client, which should contain:
— PI System Management Tools
— PI System Explorer
• PI For Excel, which should contain:
— PI Builder
— PI DataLink

Both new install kits should be like those of PI Server or PI AF Client in that the user gets to choose which programs are installed. These new install kits are much simpler to understand. If the user needs to browse or configure the PI system, they use PI System Client. If the user needs to get PI data into Excel, they use PI For Excel.

An additional benefit of grouping together PI Builder and PI DataLink is that it will be the only install kit that will need Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools For Office Runtime, whereas currently, it is contained in many install kits.

Currently, install kits such as those of PI DataLink, PI AF Client, PI API, PI SDK, PI OLEDB Provider, and PI OLEDB Enterprise always install both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Most of the time, one of these versions is unused and simply wasting disk space, cluttering the list of installed programs, and making the user wonder why they have 2 versions of the same program. Uninstalling the unused versions is only a temporary fix, since any upgrade to the programs will cause both versions to be installed again.

In future install kits, please allow the user to choose the versions of the program that they want to install. By default, select the version based on the bitness of the operating system, or, in the case of PI DataLink, based on the bitness of Microsoft Office. If this default is not feasible, then select all versions by default.

As a PI System Administrator, I would like the PI Server Installation kit to list out any PI Software that will be included with a selected role or feature before the Summary step so that I can determine what will be installed without having to first go through the configuration steps.

PI software that is required for selected features should be included in the Summary section on the Feature Selection step instead of only at the Summary step.

For example, the PI SDK is included with the PI Data Archive and is listed in the "Summary of requirements for selected features" in the Summary step but is not listed in the Summary section on the Feature Selection step.

When PI AF Client is installed, it includes a program called "PI System Explorer (Legacy 32-bit)". Please remove this from PI AF Client.

The continued support of 32-bit PI AF SDK makes sense, since 3rd-party programs may still depend on the 32-bit version. Also, because the 32-bit version of Microsoft Office was the recommended and default version until recently, many users are still using 32-bit Office and therefore 32-bit PI DataLink and 32-bit PI AF SDK.

PI System Explorer is in a different boat because no other programs depend on it. As long as a 64-bit operating system is being used, the 32-bit version of PI System Explorer will never be needed.

Because PI Server has been 64-bit only for a while now, most businesses that use or will use PI are already running 64-bit operating systems on their servers, and so 32-bit PI System Explorer will never be needed on them. Also, most businesses replace their workers' computers every few years, and new computers have all been 64-bit for the past while. If anyone is running 32-bit Windows on a modern computer, it is probably a mistake—one that should be corrected and not accommodated. So there is not much reason to keep 32-bit PI System Explorer around for the clients either.

Please remove 32-bit PI System Explorer from PI AF Client. This will reduce the size of the many install kits that contain PI AF Client, reduce the download and installation time, reduce the network traffic, reduce wear on the disk, reduce energy consumption, etc.

After installation, the PI Analysis Service can run under a local account even if the PI Asset Framework is installed on a different computer, since NTLM authentication can be used between both computers. However, the PI Server install kit does not recognize this and instead forces a domain account to be used for PI Analysis Service if the PI Asset Framework is installed on a different computer. See the attached screenshot.

If the computer running the install kit is part of a domain, then each time the user wants to upgrade the PI Analysis Service, they must use a domain account temporarily and then switch back to the local account after installation, which is a pain. If the computer running the install kit is not part of a domain, then the PI Analysis Service cannot be installed or upgraded on that computer.

Please allow local accounts to be used during the installation of the PI Analysis Service if the account can be NTLM authenticated against the PI Asset Framework server.

For more information on NTLM authentication and PI, see this article:
https://customers.osisoft.com/s/knowledgearticle?knowledgeArticleUrl=KB00354