# Trying to figure out ignition design **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Created:** [September 26, 2022, 3:38am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-figure-out-ignition-design/64460 "2022-09-26T03:38:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Suhas\_V](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Suhas\_V](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Suhas_V)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 3:38am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-figure-out-ignition-design/64460/1 "2022-09-26T03:38:43Z")
Hey so I’m new to ignition and trying to wrap my head around how to design an architecture for a POC that I was doing. I have mock data coming in through SCADA and I’m writing this data into a Microsoft SQL Server. I’m then connecting this db to Ignition through the database connections. I can only see data when I go to the query editor part and write some select queries. I’m not able to see the tag list in ignition or see data flow when I generate data and write to db. After this I learnt that the db is more of storage for live data coming from somewhere else? Is it possible to use the database as a source for live data? I was considering polling constantly but I don’t have the tag list to work with in the first place. Am I going about this in the right way? Any help would be much appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![Transistor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/transistor/32/3380_2.png) [@Transistor](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Transistor)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 6:16am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-figure-out-ignition-design/64460/2 "2022-09-26T06:16:19Z")
Have a look at query tags. [https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC81/Types+of+Tags#TypesofTags-QueryTags](https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC81/Types+of+Tags#TypesofTags-QueryTags) These tags query the database at a rate determined by the Tag Group setting. You will have to create these tags yourself. ---
**Author:** ![pascal.fragnoud](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pascal.fragnoud/32/24728_2.png) [@pascal.fragnoud](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pascal.fragnoud)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 6:46am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-figure-out-ignition-design/64460/3 "2022-09-26T06:46:16Z")
> [@Suhas\_V](#): > > Is it possible to use the database as a source for live data? Anything (almost) is possible. But - to make it short - we usually use opc tags to read values from devices, then store things we want to keep in a database. Databases also are a useful for saving configurations or parameters. Now, if you want to use a database as a live data source, nothing's stopping you. But it raises a question: What's populating the database ? ---
**Author:** ![Dharani\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bc8723/32.png) [@Dharani\_T](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Dharani_T)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 7:06am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-figure-out-ignition-design/64460/4 "2022-09-26T07:06:38Z")
Are you using any historian to store the live data? ---
**Author:** ![JordanCClark](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/jordancclark/32/83362_2.png) [@JordanCClark](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/JordanCClark)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 10:29am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-figure-out-ignition-design/64460/5 "2022-09-26T10:29:12Z")
> [@pascal.fragnoud](#): > > What’s populating the database ? I believe meaning through a different SCADA system. > [@Suhas\_V](#): > > I have mock data coming in through SCADA ---
**Author:** ![Suhas\_V](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Suhas\_V](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Suhas_V)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 3:18pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-figure-out-ignition-design/64460/6 "2022-09-26T15:18:58Z")
Yup the database is getting populated with device data and I’m trying to access that database through ignition. I tried to write a few query tags and I’m polling at a specific rate. If data comes in faster than that do I lose data? (Data that I get from here needs to move downstream to another process) Also I had to manually create query tags, if I have over a hundred tags will I have to manually create that many tags? Feels like what I’m doing is not a best practice ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 3:24pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-figure-out-ignition-design/64460/7 "2022-09-26T15:24:00Z")
> [@Suhas\_V](#): > > Feels like what I’m doing is not a best practice It isn't. Ignition can do some things like this, but normally Ignition _ **supplies** _ data to the database, using a predefined structure with meta-data. Having the meta-data allows Ignition to query for display with convenience functions/bindings (the tag historian). When Ignition is not the entity **storing** the data, it has no knowledge of the structure to go with it (the meta-data). You'll have to share the details of your database schema to get more useful advice. ---
**Author:** ![Suhas\_V](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Suhas\_V](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Suhas_V)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2022, 6:00pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/trying-to-figure-out-ignition-design/64460/8 "2022-09-26T18:00:48Z")
Thanks for the replies everyone! I got a good idea of what I’m doing and what needs to be done thanks to the discussions here