Infrastructure Recommendations
This page provides general recommendations for deploying Ignition + Kanoa MES and Microsoft SQL Server.
Gateway server environment
The Ignition Gateway server can be:
- On-premises or in the cloud
- Physical or virtual
- Windows-based or Linux-based
Minimum starting point
We recommend at least 3 CPU cores and 16 GB of memory for the Ignition Gateway server.
Start small, then grow
Kanoa generally recommends that teams start small and grow as they push the system. Many manufacturers overspec servers or add redundancy layers early, increasing cost without corresponding value during pilots and early production rollouts.
For more detailed sizing guidance, refer to Inductive Automation’s resource:
Database and Gateway separation
The database server and Ignition server can be the same machine, which is fine for testing and trials.
For production deployments, Kanoa generally recommends separating:
- a server responsible for Microsoft SQL Server
- a server responsible for Ignition + Kanoa MES
Development and test environments
Once you are running Kanoa MES in production, Kanoa strongly encourages maintaining at least one additional environment for development and/or testing.
The goal is to provide a safe place to validate:
- Kanoa MES upgrades and Ignition upgrades
- configuration changes
- new customizations and extensions
…before deploying to your production system of record or risking manufacturing interruptions.
Depending on your organization and change-management needs, you may choose:
- a single Development server, or
- separate Development, Test, and Production servers
Licensing for DEV/TEST
Development and test environments can be licensed, but they don’t have to be.
Kanoa supports a resettable two-hour trial, similar to Ignition, which can be used for DEV/TEST in many cases. If that approach is inconvenient or incompatible with your workflow, Kanoa can provide discounted licensing for DEV/TEST servers compared to a standard production server license.
Redundancy and resiliency
Kanoa can support redundancy, and redundant server licensing can be provided at a discounted rate. That said, Kanoa encourages customers to think holistically about system resiliency.
In practice, an MES Gateway being redundant is not very helpful if other dependencies are not resilient, such as:
- the database server
- network connectivity
- equipment/PLC connectivity and data availability
- site-to-central communication links
Redundancy planning is often more complex than adding “one redundant MES server.”
Store-and-forward as a practical resiliency option
For many manufacturers, the resiliency objective is primarily to ensure data is not lost during intermittent connectivity issues. In those cases, store-and-forward data patterns (commonly implemented using CirrusLink MQTT modules) may provide sufficient resiliency without the complexity of full MES redundancy.
Ignition redundancy vs MES redundancy
Ignition redundancy is often most compelling in SCADA-style use cases where fast failover supports near real-time control and visualization needs.
MES workloads typically operate on different time scales and are more human-paced. Short interruptions can be tolerable depending on the process, but the overall resiliency plan still needs to account for databases, connectivity, and data recovery mechanisms—not just the application server.
If redundancy is a requirement, Kanoa recommends evaluating resiliency end-to-end and aligning the approach to your operational needs and risk profile.