Direct PI AF Application Service to another PI AF SQL Server database

Before you begin, make sure to review the security considerations described in Security configuration for the PI AF Application Service account. If local groups are not permitted on SQL Server, refer to the Knowledge Base (KB) article: How to assign a domain group proper permissions on SQL Server after removing AFServers local group.

If you need to direct your PI AF Application Service to a different PI AF SQL Server database, you can configure PI AF server to specify a new SQL Server instance and enable communication.

1. On the PI AF Application Service computer, edit the AFService.exe.config file in the %PIHOME64%\AF folder and replace the server information with the name of the remote SQL Server to be accessed.

2. Choose one of the following actions:

   If ...	Do one of these ...
   PI AF Application Service is running on a different machine from the PI AF SQL Server database	On the PI AF SQL Server database computer, add Domain\Machine Name of the remote PI AF server to the local AFServers group. On the PI AF SQL Server database computer, if the PI AF Application Service is running under a domain account, add that account to the local AFServers group.
   PI AF Application Service is running on the same machine as the PI AF SQL Server database	If the PI AF Application Service is running under a virtual account, on the PI AF SQL Server database computer, add this virtual account's Domain\Machine Name to the local AFServers group. If the PI AF Application Service is running under a domain account, add that account to the local AFServers group.

3. Using an account with sufficient privileges to run the PI AF Application Service, perform one of the following actions:

   • If the PI AF Application Service is running, restart the service for your changes to take effect.

   • If the PI AF Application Service is not running, start the service for your changes to take effect.