Simple PI AF deployment

For systems with few assets (10,000 or less) and low to moderate workloads (25,000 PI points or fewer), we recommend that you follow these guidelines:

• If using SQL Server Express, install Data Archive, PI AF server, and SQL Server on the same computer.

• If using SQL Server Standard or Enterprise, consider installing SQL Server on a different computer from the Data Archive computer. Installing SQL Server Standard or Enterprise edition on the same computer as the Data Archive computer can significantly degrade Data Archive performance.

  Note: Review the PI AF Release Notes for a current list of SQL Server Versions and Editions that are supported for the PI AF server.

Possible deployment scenarios include:

• Deploy the PI AF application service and PI AF SQL database on the same computer, and deploy a PI AF client on the same computer or on a different computer.

• Deploy the PI AF application service and PI AF SQL database on separate computers, and deploy a PI AF client on one of these computers or on a different computer.

• Deploy the PI AF application service on multiple computers that point to a single PI AF SQL database, and deploy a network load balancer between the PI AF client and the PI AF application services.

For example:

In the preceding configuration, both PI AF servers connect to a single SQL Server. Both PI AF servers run continuously. Because PI AF servers are stateless, even if one PI AF server fails and the load balancer diverts traffic to the other PI AF server, everything continues to work. In addition, the PI AF server is designed to ensure that multiple users cannot write to the same record at the same time.

If the load balancer were removed from the preceding configuration, traffic from clients could only reach one PI AF server. If it failed, a manual intervention would be necessary to make configuration changes in the clients to divert their traffic to the other PI AF server.