Setting up Always On Availability Groups for SQL Server in Azure

11th of August, 2016 / / 5 Comments

Almost all organisations rely on data, be it in the form of files or databases (SQL, Oracle…). The most challenging aspect of managing data for any organisation is high-availability and disaster recovery. Starting with the release of SQL Server 2012 (Enterprise Edition) Microsoft introduced “Always On Availability Groups”.

This powerful capability ensures your databases are synchronised through one or more replicas (SQL Servers).

While Azure offers an Infrastructure as a Service capability, the mechanisms used to setup many of the requirements for an Always On Availability Group are different to those in a traditional environment.… [Keep reading] “Setting up Always On Availability Groups for SQL Server in Azure”

Highly Available SQL 2012 across Azure VNET (Part 2)

5th of August, 2014 / / 1 Comment

Part 1 can be found here.

In this Part 2 we will discuss:

  • Create DC on Azure and confirm VNET to VNET connectivity
  • SQL VMs
  • Configure WSFC and lastly configure AAG

DC and Connectivity VNET to VNET

First thing first, we need VMs for the Domain Controller (DC) and SQL Server 2012. I will use my script below to create few VMs

I created 2 DC , one on each VNET: AZSEDC001 and AZUSDC001
I registered both as DNS on Azure.… [Keep reading] “Highly Available SQL 2012 across Azure VNET (Part 2)”

Highly Available SQL 2012 across Azure VNET (Part 1: VNET Peering)

1st of August, 2014 / / 1 Comment

Just over a year Microsoft announced the support of SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups (AAG) on Microsoft Azure IaaS. Last month, Microsoft announced the support of SQL AAG between Azure Regions. This is a great news for great technology like SQL Server 2012 for highly available and disaster recovery scenario. SQL AAG released in SQL 2012 and enhanced in SQL 2014. AAG will detect anomaly which will impact SQL availability. When We will discuss how to do this in two blog posts:

  • Part1: Design SQL 2012 AAG across Azure VNET and How to create Microsoft Azure VNET to VNET peering
  • Part2: SQL, WSFC, Configure Quorum and Voting (SQL) and Configure AAG

Part1 SQL 2012 AAG across Azure VNET SQL 2012 AAG is designed to provide high availability for SQL database and Azure IaaS is great place where this technology can live.… [Keep reading] “Highly Available SQL 2012 across Azure VNET (Part 1: VNET Peering)”