SQL Server 2014 – The Hybrid platform

Integration with Windows Azure features in SQL Server 2014

About meShy Engelberg, SQL Server consultant.

shy.engelberg@hynt.co.il054-7717115@ShyEngelbergwww.blogs.Microsoft.co.il/ShyEngelwww.hynt.co.ilwww.facebook.com/HYNTil

Disclaimer• This presentation is mostly an overview of capabilities, not a

technical drilldown.• I will talk a lot about cost, but I will not go into detailed pricing.• The demos are to show you how it’s done, not to dive in.• Some or all of the DBs in the demos are empty.• There are some demos that fail. Bugs are opened in Connect.

(it’s a CTP after all)• I will try to answer questions, but not sure if time permits.

if I will not answer your question, feel free to contact me after the presentation or in any other way.

Agenda• About the Cloud• Windows Azure storage• Deploy DB to Azure VM• Windows Azure VMs• Data files in windows Azure• Backup to Azure• DR to the cloud

The Cloud

• Has been around since the internet became public. (almost forever)• It’s just a trendy buzzword that means receiving services

from a remote provider, usually over the internet.

How and why did it start?Demand - IT Organizations and End users• No hardware acquisition costs• No software licenses or

upgrades to manage • No facilities to lease • No capital costs of any kind —

and no hidden costs. Just a metered, per-use rate or a fixed subscription fee. Use only what you want, pay only for what you use.

Supply – Technology companies and one large book shop• Large-scale Internet service

providers built out their infrastructure. Architecture emerged: massively scaled, horizontally distributed system resources, abstracted as virtual IT services and managed as continuously configured, pooled resources.

Service Models

IaaS

PaaS

SaaS

The cloud market• 2013: 40% Of CRM Systems Sold Are SaaS-Based. • Cloud growth is 5X that of the IT industry overall.  • Global cloud computing services revenue is expected to hit

$148.8 billion come 2014• Public IT cloud services spending will reach $98 billion in

2016• early-stage companies (less than five years in business) are

the most eager buyers of cloud and plan to increase their spend on public cloud by 24% over the next few years.

Windows Azure in the cloud market• Visionary in the market of Cloud Infrastructure as a Service

(Gartner, August 2013)• Leader in the Enterprise Application Platform as a Service market

(Gartner, January 2014)• Averaging 8,000 new customers a week• Windows Azure uses more server compute than the entire planet

used in 2000• More information is stored in Windows Azure than has been

printed in history• Commercial cloud services revenue more than doubled.

Azure customers both grew triple-digits. (2014 Q2 report)

Hybrid - The Power of ‘And’• Customers don’t want to rip and replace their current

infrastructure to benefit from the cloud; they want the strengths of their on-premises investments and the flexibility of the cloud

• The cloud should be an enabler for innovation, and an extension of your organization’s IT fabric

• by 2020, about 80% of the world’s 2,000 largest companies will still have greater than 50% of their IT onsite.

Windows Azure

Windows Azure

DEMO

Azure Storage• Scalable, durable, and available• Anywhere at anytime access• Only pay for what the service uses• Use from Windows Azure Compute• Use from anywhere on the internet• Support Geo-Replication

Blob Storage Concepts

BlobContainerAccount

http://<account>.blob.core.windows.net/<container>/<blobname>

hyntstorageaccount

HYNT2012.bak

HYNT2014.bak

backups

datafiles

Azure Storage

DEMO

SQL 2014 and Azure

Deploy DB to Windows Azure VMA new wizard in the SSMS

Azure Virtual machines• Choose the right size for you, you can scale at any time.• Choose a location.• Choose an image or create one of your own.• Attach storage disks (blobs).• Open ports using Endpoints.

Deploy DB to Windows Azure VM• Nothing new technology-wise, it’s just a new wizard.

Deploy DB to Windows Azure VM

DEMO

Basic VM management

DEMO

Hybrid DBData files in the cloud

Hybrid DB• New in SQL Server 2014- you can put any data file in

the cloud.• Create Credentials to allow access of the windows

service to the storage account\container.• Create you data files directly on a URL, no changes or

additions to the T-SQL syntax.

Hybrid DB - Advantages• Almost Bottomless storage with very low cost.• Data redundancy is included for free.• No storage maintenance overhead.• Separate compute and storage.

Hybrid DB – concerns• Yes, I know, performance is an issue:• Choose wisely what data to place in the cloud:

DB that is not IO intensive.Better to place files that has more reads than writes.• When the server (compute) is on Azure VM, performance is

good.

• Security might be a concern:• Use TDE• Choose the right geo location.

Hybrid DB – use cases• Simple DR solution for cases that the server hardware

or software is failing (no data loss)• Migration between servers in different locations• Large DWH with ColumnStore indexes - read once from

cloud, and keep in server memory.• If data loss is possible, use in combination with delayed

durability (new in SQL Server 2014)• Large read-only Filegroups

Hybrid DB

DEMO

Backup to Azure storage

Backup to Azure storage• Also known as backup to URL• Exists since SQL Server 2012 SP1 CU2 (build

11.00.3339) but only through T-SQL, SMO and PowerShell.• New in SQL Server 2014 – support in the Backup and

Restore wizard and maintenance plan.• Flexible, reliable (3- copies, geo-DR), limitless off-site

storage.

Backup to Azure storage - Advantages• Reduced cost for storage that is usually not used.• No Media and hardware management.• Can be used as a Backup Archive by offering a better

alternative to the often used tape option to archive backups (backup to tape is deprecated)• Near bottomless.• Off-site storage for backups.• Built-in Geo redundancy.• Remote accessibility.• For the security lovers: Backup now supports Encryption.

Backup to Azure storage

DEMO

Microsoft® SQL Server® Backup to Microsoft Windows® Azure®Tool

• Allows backup of DBs from other SQL version to Azure (2005-2012)• Supports DB encryption and compression as well• Free!• Runs as a windows service with a specific hard-coded

account name

Microsoft® SQL Server® Backup to Microsoft Windows® Azure®Tool

DEMO

DR in the cloud

DR in the cloud• DRP is a must for mission critical applications and

databases.• DR cost a lot of money to create and maintain.• Creating a DR in the cloud can save most of the cost of

initial building the environment.• The maintenance is easier, and cost a lot less.• You can choose your geo location.• Use the DR site to off-load some of your workload from

the main site.

Always-on Availability group replica in Azure VM• Not new in SQL Server 2014, but complicated to

implement till now.• In 2014 – a new Wizard that allows us to save time on

configuration.• Still requires some infrastructure work and

configurations:• VPN from ON-premise domain to the Azure virtual network.

Always-ON Availability group Replica on Azure wizard

NO DEMO

Questions?

Thank you.