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Status Declined
Categories Asset Framework (AF)
Created by Guest
Created on Aug 19, 2022

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Support AWS RDS SQL Server instances as backend DBs for AF and PI Vision

Our company is progressively superseding the deployment of hosts with SQL Server installed, while moving towards the usage of SQL Server instances provided by AWS' Relational Database Service as the DB backend. Although currently OSISoft does not officially support the usage of RDS instances as backends for AF and PI Vision, we performed some internal tests with both AF and Vision and they seem to be promising. We would like OSISoft to study this kind of solution and, if there are no major obstructions, provide official support for such scenarios.
  • ADMIN RESPONSE
    Mar 1, 2023

    We have reviewed this item, and it is not something we plan to implement at this time. Even though we are declining this idea for now, the comments will remain open.

    I also wanted to update to state one of the reasons why this is not feasible for AVEVA. When we receive a call from a our customers, we require the ability to troubleshoot their issue - both from the perspective of the software we make and the perspective of the dependent software. Because we have no way to troubleshoot AWS RDS SQL, we cannot identify and attribute issues as effectively as if we were using MS SQL Server. This is why we require users who have chosen to implement PIFD on AWS RDS SQL to reproduce any issue they have on a standard MS SQL Server.

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  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Nov 14, 2023

    Can you define the items required for troubleshooting, that you can't obtain from a managed database?

    You can obtain a lot of data from the managed servers (including message logs and metrics). Most companies lean toward managed databases to streamline teams.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Aug 19, 2022
    Another customer requesting to use RDS is Biogen. As with many other customers, RDS is easier to maintain and far lower cost than running traditional SQL Server in VMs. Biogen would like OSIsoft official support for RDS.
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Aug 19, 2022
    Since the first release of Asset Framework v2.x in December of 2007, it has always supported only Microsoft SQL Server as the database backend. As such we have a very large investment both in software code and testing infrastructure to support this configuration. We have recently received some customer requests for Asset Framework to additionally support AWS RDS as the database backend, as evident by this User Voice idea. We have not tested Asset Framework with AWS RDS as the database backend and thus it is currently not a supported configuration. The product management team at OSIsoft continually evaluate customer requests and feedbacks. This idea will be assessed and prioritized along with all the other ideas for Asset Framework and if we decide to start work on this idea, we will adjust the User Voice status accordingly. Please continue to vote and provide detailed use cases to help us prioritize our backlog.
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Aug 19, 2022
    Key points • Cost - cost is a function of supportability, lean methodology, on demand usage and end to end automation. • Automation - our organisation requires our platforms to be “single click” deployments we can build on demand for testing and are representative of our production environment. • Support - consistent environments that are standard driven and IaC managed makes support significantly easier. We run a lean support team and need as much of the platform left for AWS • Agility - we need to be able to test, deploy and evaluate platform changes much more quickly than we currently can • In essence, we prefer our platforms to be self healing and light touch RDS is a known quantity and we don’t believe our request is unique. Support for RDS is well documented by AWS and we have provided some key points. We don’t believe any of the current limitations of RDS are requirements of the PI AF system but are open to a conversation on this. Our DBA advises that PI AF and PI Vision Databases are the last two remaining databases hosted on an EC2 instance of SQL Server. In the immediate timeframe, our pain point is around AF PIFD, and PI Vision SQL Server Databases. The BA Integrator and other SQL Server databases are not of concern at this stage. We would prefer to progress the support for AF Server and PI Vision in the first instance, and do not feel it necessary to wait for all SQL Server components of the PI System to be qualified. We are committed to working with OSIsoft and AWS to assist in the testing and qualification process.
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Aug 19, 2022
    is there any update on this ?
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Aug 19, 2022
    Just to have a rough cost estimate a) m5a.4xlarge (incl. SQL Server Ent) costs roughly 65 kUSD per Year 6 Servers = (2 x (test, prod, dev) = 390 KUSD per Year b) RDS = 10 KUSD per Year (x 6) = 60 KUSD per Year if Osisoft Supports RDS this would save about 330 KUSD per Year!
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Aug 19, 2022
    On behalf of the customer: Can this item be investigated again now that AWS offers a RDS custom? AWS RDS Custom may enable functions that may have prevented implementation before: https://aws.amazon.com/rds/custom/
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Aug 19, 2022
    Another customer requesting RDS is Regeneron. As with other customers, the lower cost of ownership and ease of deployment are very attractive. They also referenced RDS custom as being an enabler for RDS to now be used where it was previously not supportable.