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Databases

Antigen Plus supports both cloud databases hosted by Antigen Plus in a Microsoft Azure datacenter, and local databases hosted within your own network. You may mix and match local and cloud databases within the limit of your software license. One cloud database named “default” is provided automatically during software registration.

You may wish to configure additional databases if you have multiple laboratory locations with independent test cell inventories. You may also want to have separate databases for evaluation, validation, and production.

Cloud databases

Cloud databases have a some advantages over local databases:

  • Antigen Plus takes responsibility for hosting, provisioning, and backing up cloud databases.
  • Users can access a cloud database regardless of their location. For instance, a lab manager working from home can access the database to review panels created by other technologists.
  • If you have questions or techinical difficulties, our staff can examine your database to troubleshoot the problem. (Note that all PHI is encrypted, so we do not have access to patient information.)

When you register the software, a cloud database named default is automatically created that you can use immediately. Contact customerservice@antigenplus.com for additional cloud databases.

Microsoft Azure manages our cloud SQL Server and is responsible for availability, security, upgrades, and backups. By default, all databases provide point-in-time restoration for the previous 7 days, which allows us to undo catastrophic changes to your database as long as they are caught within 1 week. This period can be extended up to 35 days for an additional fee.

We do not normally keep long-term backups of cloud databases beyond the point-in-time restoration period. However, weekly, monthly, and yearly long-term backups are available for an additional fee.

Local databases

If you prefer to host your databases locally, you can create one or more databases on a local SQL Server and configure Antigen Plus to use them by default.

All users of the database should have db_owner access to the Antigen Plus database. The database schema is installed automatically when the first user connects to the database. We recommend creating an Active Directory group for users of Antigen Plus, and then creating a SQL Server login based on this group that has db_owner access to the Antigen Plus database(s).

Backups of local databases are the responsibility of the customer.