David,

Yes, the connectin can be kept continually until "close" function is called or network is disconnected. And the connecting to xSystem is to check and establish the network connection to Centera through Centera VIM. Centera returns all ip addresses of access node during the connection and Centera VIM selects automatically an access node for read/write operations based on workload of each access nodes. It means Centera VIM can support automatic load balancing againg multiple access nodes and you can use mutiple access nodes.

PEA file is jsut for the authentication of xSystem and not for connection.

YT