The Basic GE Digital APM System Architecture

In its most basic implementation, the GE Digital APM system consists of the machines shown in the following image.

The following are critical elements of the GE Digital APM system.

The GE Digital APM Server

A computer on which the GE Digital APM Server software is installed. The GE Digital APM Server machine contains Internet Information Services (IIS), which serves as the host for communication between the various systems. The GE Digital APM Server:

Contains and executes the GE Digital APM business objects implemented using the .NET transaction management framework.
Receives requests from a client, processes those requests, connects to the database to retrieve information, and returns that information to the client.
Executes and enforces the business logic and business rules.
Processes data.
Performs calculations.

Your GE Digital APM system could include multiple GE Digital APM Server instances.

GE Digital APM Server machines that will receive and process requests from users are referred to as dedicated GE Digital APM Servers. You can have one or more dedicated APM Servers in your implementation. The number of dedicated APM Servers that you need will depend upon the number of users you have.
GE Digital APM Server instances that exist to support other GE Digital APM components are referred to as supporting GE Digital APM Servers. We recommend that you install a supporting instance of the GE Digital APM Server on every GE Digital APM Server machine.

Consult the documentation on Redis for information about its incorporation into server configurations.

GE Digital APM Database Server

The computer on which the database software (Oracle or SQL Server) and the physical GE Digital APM databases or schemas reside. Your Database Server may contain multiple GE Digital APM databases or schemas (e.g., a test database and a production database). The GE Digital APM Database Server answers requests for data from GE Digital APM Servers. The GE Digital APM database or schema contains the metadata (information about Entity families, fields, System Codes, etc.) and the tables containing actual data. The GE Digital APM system allows for a single, central database. This approach enables cross-site and cumulative analyses.

SQL Server Report Server

The computer on which the SQL Server Reporting Services is installed. The SQL Server Report Server stores SQL Server reports. Reports can be developed via GE Digital APM, and when they are saved to the GE Digital APM Catalog, they will be simultaneously uploaded to the SQL Server Report Server. After they exist on the SQL Server Report Server, they can be easily viewed by other GE Digital APM users.

In addition to the custom reports that can be created using SQL Server Reporting Services, the GE Digital APM database contains baseline SQL Server Reporting Services reports.

Note that, while the SQL Server Report Server is part of the basic GE Digital APM architecture, it is not considered a GE Digital APM Server. Therefore, you are not required to install a supporting instance of the GE Digital APM Server on the SQL Server Report Server machine. You will, however, need to install the GE Digital APM Adapter for SSRS on this machine.