As applications grow, every database eventually hits scaling limits. Whether it's storage capacity, concurrent users, query throughput, or I/O bandwidth, single-server architectures have inherent constraints. This guide explains fundamental approaches to database scalability and shows how InterSystems IRIS implements these patterns to support enterprise-scale workloads.

We'll explore two complementary scaling strategies: horizontal scaling for user volume (distributing computational load) and sharding for data volume (partitioning datasets). Understanding the general principles behind these approaches will help you make informed decisions about when and how to scale your IRIS applications.

The examples in this guide use InterSystems IRIS in Docker containers.

RIP Neil Pappalardo

Hi Community! 👋

You’ve asked for easier ways to connect with other Global Masters and we heard you!
Random Coffee Chat is an easy way for Global Masters to connect and have an informal 1:1 conversation. ☕

🗓 When: January 26 – February 15

IPM version 0.10.5 has been released on January 15, 2026. This new version contains a ton of improvements and bug fixes so be sure to check it out either directly from the GitHub page or from the Community Registry!

The big changes include the following:

10:47 AM — Jose Garcia's creatinine test results arrive at the hospital FHIR server.
2.1 mg/dL — a 35% increase from last month.

What happens next?

• Most systems: ❌ The result sits in a queue until a clinician reviews it manually — hours or days later.
• This system: 👍 An AI agent evaluates the trend, consults clinical guidelines, and generates evidence-based recommendations — in seconds, automatically.

No chatbot. No manual prompts. No black-box reasoning.

This is event-driven clinical decision support with full explainability:

✅ Triggered automatically by FHIR events
✅ Multi-agent reasoning (context, guidelines, recommendations)
✅ Complete audit trail in SQL (every decision, every evidence source)
✅ FHIR-native outputs (DiagnosticReport published to server)

Built with:
- InterSystems IRIS for Health — Orchestration, FHIR, persistence, vector search
- CrewAI — Multi-agent framework for structured reasoning

You'll learn: 🖋️ How to orchestrate agentic AI workflows within production-grade interoperability systems — and why explainability matters more than accuracy alone.

Hello everyone,

My team lead mentioned that users can sometimes create globals directly without associating them with tables or classes. In this case, these globals would not be accessible via SQL.

Is this correct? Can a global exist independently in this way, and if so, is there a specific approach to access or manage them without SQL?

Hi folks!

Is there any way to know the text of the SQL queries executed against the IRIS server?

My case: I have an SQL class query with a few parameters and and some combination of values causes unexpected results.

It'd be great if I could just copy the query from some log of queries done vs my IRIS the server. Cannot find it easily, though. Any advice?

Hi Community! 👋

You’ve asked for easier ways to connect with other Global Masters and we heard you!
Random Coffee Chat is an easy way for Global Masters to connect and have an informal 1:1 conversation. ☕

🗓 When: January 26 – February 15

How can I programmatically retrieve a SQL query execution plan and analyze its results?

Hello Community,

I am facing a JDBC connection issue after migrating from Caché 2016 to Caché 2018.1. When I attempt to connect using the following connection settings:

CACHE_DATASOURCE_URL=jdbc:Cache://localhost:1972/TEST

CACHE_DB_USERNAME=test

CACHE_DB_PASSWORD=test

I consistently receive the following error:

[Cache JDBC] Communication link failure: Access Denied

This configuration worked perfectly with Caché 2016. I have verified the following:

How many times have you had to receive or generate a JSON and wished you could work on it using DTLs without having to deal with DynamicObjects trying to remember the name of each field? Do you want to break down and make your giant JSON file more digestible?

In my case, never, but I thought that someone might find it useful to have a feature that captures your JSON and breaks it down into a series of ObjectScript classes that you can work with more easily and conveniently.

Well then...behold JSON2Class in all its glory!

In Part 1, we laid the technical foundation of MAIS (Multi-Agent Interoperability Systems). We have successfully wired up the 'Brain', built a robust Adapter using LiteLLM, locked down our API keys with IRIS Credentials, and finally cracked the trick code on the Python interoperability puzzle.

Hey Community,

Enjoy the new video on InterSystems Developers YouTube:

⏯ Innovations in FHIR Data Management@ Ready 2025

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q5CrlqcJAkA
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Hello InterSystems EHR community,

InterSystems Certification is currently developing a certification exam for CCR Tier 2 users, and if you match the exam candidate description below, we would like you to beta test the exam! The exam will be available for beta testing starting January 27, 2026.

Beta testing will be completed March 28, 2026.