Provision a Blue Prism database server

This guide provides guidance for the provisioning of a database server to host a Blue Prism database.

The instructions and recommendations contained within this document should be considered as a guide only. There are a large number of options available when provisioning databases that may relate not only to database specific settings, but also the host instance, as well as all instances on a given server.

It is recommended that both industry standard best practice; and recommendations from an experienced database administrator are sought. These should be reviewed in light of the wider impact that they may have on the overall environment.

Blue Prism databases

The Blue Prism database is a central repository which holds process definitions and audit information as well as configuration data such as environment-wide system settings. The database is specific to a Blue Prism environment and therefore within an organisation there may be a requirement to host a number of databases based on:

  • The number of independent production environments
  • Requirements for development, test, staging and pre-production environments.

From a co-existence perspective Blue Prism databases may reside on a single SQL instance or conversely may each be situated on an independent instance. Additionally, subject to capacity and performance considerations, Blue Prism databases may share a SQL instance with other application databases.

Selecting a SQL Server/instance

When selecting the SQL Server or SQL Server instance to host the Blue Prism database(s) the following should be considered:

  • Proximity of the SQL Server to the Blue Prism Application Server(s), and other Blue Prism resources, particularly when implemented across large or multi-site networks.
  • The number of existing databases that share the underlying hardware (CPU, RAM etc.), the utilization of those databases, and the capacity available.
  • If relevant, whether any existing SQL Server instances are already configured to offer high-availability or disaster recover capabilities (such as SQL Clustering, Replication, Mirroring etc.) which may be desirable for the production Blue Prism databases.
  • Availability of disk space whilst also considering the level of resilience, performance and capacity for expansion (e.g. SAS disks versus SATA, RAID type, SAN based or direct attached storage etc.)