Understand the PI AF requirement

PI AF server is included in the PI Server Installer, but also has a separate installation kit. If you do not have an PI AF server, you can download and install one. PI AF requires Microsoft SQL Server. See the Microsoft website for information about Microsoft SQL Server.

Multiple Data Archive servers can use the same PI AF server, so you only need one PI AF server installation. For complete PI AF installation instructions, including supported versions of SQL Server, see PI AF server installation and upgrade. For complete Data Archive installation instructions, see Overview of an AVEVA PI Server Installation. Here are some general recommendations for installation:

• You can install PI AF server on the same computer as the Data Archive server, the same computer as SQL Server, or on a different computer altogether.

• If PI AF will aggregate assets from multiple Data Archive servers, or if you need PI AF server redundancy for high availability, then we recommend that you install PI AF servers on different computers than the Data Archive servers.

• For best performance and improved security isolation, we recommend that you install SQL Server on a different computer from Data Archive.

  Note: If you are upgrading a Data Archive server that does not use MDB, you do not need a PI AF server connection.