Create Supported SQL Server 2008 Virtual...
Transcript of Create Supported SQL Server 2008 Virtual...
Create Supported SQL Server 2008Virtual MachinesRely on Server Virtualization to run SQL Server 2008
SPONSORED BYBy Nelson Ruest & Danielle Ruest A Report by Resolutions Enterprises Ltd.
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Abstract
Virtualizationistakingthemarketbystormeveninthesetougheconomictimes.Itmakessense—virtualizeanapplicationanditautomaticallybecomesliberatedfromaparticularphysicalmachine.But,inordertoproperlyvirtualizetechnologies,youmustbeawareofthesupportpolicyfromtheproductvendor.InthecaseofMicrosoftSQLServer,thesupportteamhaspublishedguidelinesforvirtualizingthisdatabaseengine.ReadthispapertolearnhowtomoveforwardwiththeprocessandcreatesupportedSQLServervirtualmachines(VMs)thatcanbehostedonDellPowerEdgeservers.
About the Authors
NelsonRuestandDanielleRuestaretechnologyfuturistsfocusedondatacenteroptimizationandcontinuousserviceavailability.Theyareauthorsofmultiplebooks,notablytwobookspublishedbyMcGraw‐HillOsborne:“WindowsServer2008:TheCompleteReference”(2008)and“Virtualization,ABeginner’sGuide”(2009).Theyarecurrentlyworkingon“TrainingKit70‐652:ConfiguringWindowsServerVirtualizationwithHyper‐V,”publishedbyMicrosoftPress.In2007and2008,theyvisitedthousandsofITprofessionalsinmultiplecitiesacrosstheUnitedStatestodiscussthebenefitsofservervirtualization.
www.Reso‐Net.com
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Table of Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................1
ServerVirtualizationBasics ...........................................................................................2
DatabaseVirtualizationBasics.......................................................................................3
CreateSupportedSQLServerInstallations...................................................................4
AdditionalInformation ..................................................................................................5
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Introduction
Servervirtualizationistakingthemarketbystormeveninthesetougheconomictimes.Itmakessense—virtualizeanapplicationanditautomaticallybecomesliberatedfromaparticularphysicalmachine,lettingyourunitonanyhost—internalorexternal.Thefactthattheapplicationresidesinsideavirtualmachine(VM),andthatthisVMcanrunprettywellanywhere,bringsawholenewdefinitiontothewords“applicationavailability.”
Inthepast,organizationshavetriedtoensurethattheircriticalapplications—applicationssuchasdatabaseserversore‐mailservers—arealwayson.High‐availabilityinfrastructures,continuousdatareplication,disasterrecoverystrategiesandmulti‐sitedata‐distributiontacticsareonlyafewexamplesofthemethodsorganizationsputinplacetoprotecttheirmostprecioussystems.Butallofthesemethodsarecomplextoimplementanddifficulttorun.Someevenrequirecustomhardwareorspecialsoftwareproducts,addingtotheburdenorganizationsalreadyfacetoruntheirinfrastructures.
Virtualizationtransformsthetraditionaloperationalparadigmsand,becauseofthis,introducesnewwaystoprotectyourorganization’smostvaluableassets.But,inordertoproperlyvirtualizetechnologies,youmustbeawareofthesupportpolicyfromtheproductvendor.Forexample,inthecaseofMicrosoftSQLServer,theMicrosoftCustomerSupportTeamhaspublishedguidelinesforvirtualizingthisdatabaseengine.TheseguidelinesarepublishedinMicrosoftKnowledgeBasearticle956893.
YoushouldtaketheseguidelinesintoconsiderationbeforeyouvirtualizeinordertoliberateyourSQLserversfromtheirphysicalconstraints.
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Server Virtualization Basics
Whenorganizationsvirtualizetheirapplications,databasestendtobesavedforlast.Organizationsdothiswithreason:databasesusuallyrequirehighlevelsofInput/OutputOperationsPerSecond.Whenorganizationsareunfamiliarwithservervirtualizationtechnologies,theyfeeltheymustgainacertainlevelofconfidenceinthetechnologybeforemovingtheirmostpreciousapplicationsontothevirtualinfrastructure.Therefore,theyrightlybeginwithnon‐criticalapplicationssuchasfileservers,Webservers,printserversandthelike.Oncethey’vegainedconfidenceinthenewoperationalmodelvirtualizationbrings,theymovetheirmostpreciousanddemandingsystemsontothenewinfrastructure.
However,whenyoumovetoavirtualinfrastructure,youshouldalwaysdosowithapplicationsupportinmind.Whilemanyvendorshavebeenslowtoadapttheirapplicationsupportpoliciestovirtualization,thisisnotthecasewithMicrosoft.Infact,Microsofthasupdatedmostofitsapplicationsupportpolicies.AsummaryofthevariousapplicationsMicrosoftsupportsinvirtualenvironmentscanbefoundinKBarticle957006.
Microsoftsupportsvirtualizationofitsapplicationsontwotypesofvirtualinfrastructures.First,itsupportsservervirtualization—thepartitioningofthephysicalhardwareintomultiplecontainerscalledvirtualmachines(VMs)—onitsownhypervisor,Hyper‐V.Hyper‐Voffershardware‐assistedvirtualization.Microsoftalsosupportsservervirtualizationonvalidated,third‐partyhypervisorsrunninginspecificconfigurations.Theseconfigurations,andthesupportedthird‐partyhypervisors,aredocumentedundertheMicrosoftServerVirtualizationValidationProgram.
Becausehypervisorsrelyonhardware‐assistedvirtualizationbuiltintoprocessors,youmustbecarefulwhenselectingthehardwareusedtosupportservervirtualization.Hardware‐assistedvirtualizationisavailableinbothIntelandAMDprocessors.DelloffersaselectionofPowerEdgeServersrunningeitherprocessortypeincertifiedconfigurationsfortheimplementationofservervirtualizationplatforms.
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Database Virtualization Basics
BecauseMicrosoftnowsupportsservervirtualizationforitsmostpowerfulapplications,ithasbegunbuildingvirtualization‐enabledintegrationcomponentsintobothitsserveroperatingsystemsanditsserverapplications.ThisisthecaseforbothWindowsServer2008andSQLServer2008.RunningthetwotogetherinaVMletsyoutakefulladvantageofthevirtualizationmodelwithoutlossofperformance,becauseboththeOSandtheapplicationareawareofthefactthatthey’rerunninginaVM.
OneofthemajoradvantagesyougainbyvirtualizingyourSQLServerinstallationsisphysicalserverconsolidation.Infact,youcanusetwodifferentconsolidationmodelswhenyoutransformphysicalSQLServerinstallationsintoVMs.
VirtualizationConsolidationThisconsolidationmodelreliesonservervirtualizationtoruneachSQLServerinstallationinsidesegregatedguestOSes.EachguestOSiscompletelyisolatedfromtheothers.HardwareisvirtualizedandpresentedtoguestOSesthroughsyntheticdevices.DevicedriversarestreamlinedbecauseeachguestOSaddressesthesamesyntheticdevices.
OncetheguestOSisinstalled,youcaninstallSQLServer2008intotheVManduseittoconsolidateyourdatabases.EachVMcanrunanynumberofdatabases.Theadvantagesofvirtualizationareundeniable.EachharddiskdrivefortheVMsiscontainedwithinvirtualharddrives—drivesthatarecontainedinfilesonthephysicaldisk—whichmakesthemveryeasytobackup,duplicateorreplicateinordertoprotectthem.Inaddition,virtualizationconsolidationwillprovideabsoluteisolation,whichisrequiredbetweenallSQLServerinstancesbecauseeachVMisamachineinitsownright.
HybridConsolidationTheHybridconsolidationmodelmixesconsolidationmodelsbasedonthefeaturesofSQLServer2008,suchasdatabaseandinstanceconsolidationwithvirtualizationconsolidation.BecauseeachguestOShasthesamecapabilitiesasaphysicallyinstalledOS,youcanrelyonSQLServerfeaturestoeitherrunmultipledatabasesinasingleSQLinstanceorrunmultipleSQLinstances,eachwithitsownpolicies,backupschedulesandconfigurationsettings.
Ifyou’reusingmultipleinstancesandyourVMneedsmoreresourcestorunthem,simplyshutitdown,addmorevirtualresourcesandpoweritbackup.Or,ifyou’reusingthelatesthypervisortechnologies,youcansimplyhot‐addtheresourceswhiletheVMisrunning.EachVMcanrunupto16instancesifyou’reusingtheStandardEditionofSQLServer.Youcanrunupto50instancesinaVMifyou’reusingtheEnterpriseorDeveloperEdition.
Byrelyingontheseconsolidationmodels,youcangreatlyreducethephysicalfootprintofyourSQLServerinstallations.ITprofessionalsindatacenterseverywherearequicklydiscoveringthatthe“oneOS,onephysicalserver”modeldeliversverypoorutilizationratios.Witha“multipleOS,onephysicalserver”model,youcanincreasehardware‐utilizationratiosandtransformthemfrom10percentor15percentutilizationtomorethan70percentutilization.Whenyouconsiderthateachphysicalserverrequiresspace,powerandcooling,youcanquicklyseetheallureofphysicalserverconsolidationthroughvirtualization.
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Create Supported SQL Server Installations
KBarticle956893outlinesseveralkeyfactorsforthecreationofsupportedvirtualinstallationsofSQLServer2008.WhileMicrosoftwillsupportrunningolderversionsofSQLServerandtheWindowsServerOSinVMs,youshouldreallyendeavortoupgradeandconvertallofyourSQLinstancestoSQLServer2008andrunitonWindowsServer2008toobtainoptimumperformancelevelsinVMs.
Article956893alsooutlinesseveralothercaveats:
1. AllphysicalhardwaremustbecertifiedforWindowsServer2008whetheryourunWindowsServer2008withHyper‐Voranothersupportedhypervisor.DelloffersseveralPowerEdgeconfigurationsthatincludethiscertification.Table1outlinesthebestPowerEdgeconfigurationsthatsupportSQLServervirtualization.
2. Youcan’tcreateaGuestFailoverCluster.AGuestFailoverClusterisaclusterthat’screatedattheVMlayerbetweenVMs.GuestclustersareoftencreatedtoprovidehighavailabilityfortheapplicationcontainedwithintheVMs.Youcan,however,createaHostFailoverClusterandrunindividualSQLServerVMsontopofthehostcluster.ThisautomaticallyprovideshighavailabilityfortheVM.Note:WhenaVMismadehighlyavailablethroughhostserverclustering,theapplicationwithintheVMwillnotbeawareofthehigh‐availabilityfeature.
3. YoumustpairtheappropriateWindowsServerOSwiththeversionofSQLServeryouintendtovirtualize.Asmentionedearlier,youshouldendeavortorunSQLServer2008onWindowsServer2008.
4. YoumustrunaversionofSQLServerthat’ssupportedunderacurrentMicrosoftSupportLifecyclepolicy.IfyourunSQLServer2008,you’llfallunderthecurrentsupportlifecyclepolicyforthisproduct.
5. YoucanalsorelyonSQLServerfeatures,suchasdatabasemirroring,toprovideprotectionforcriticaldatabasesrunninginVMs.DatabasemirroringautomaticallyduplicatesallofthecontentsofadatabaseintoanotherSQLServerinstallation.Itwillalsoautomaticallyfailovertothesecondarydatabaseshouldtheprimarydatabasenolongerbeavailable.Anadditionaladvantageofthemirroreddatabaseisthatitcanbeusedtoprovideadditionalfunctionalitysuchasreportingservices.Youcanalsoperformbackupsfromthemirroredcopyavoidinganyperformanceimpactsontheproductiondatabase.Note:IfyouchoosetorundatabasemirroringinyourVMs,youshouldnotmaketheVMshighlyavailablethroughhostserverclustering.
UsingDellPowerEdgeServerstorunSQLServerVMscanbedoneoneitherMicrosoftHyper‐VoronServerVirtualizationValidationProgram(SVVP)hypervisorssuchasVMware’sESXServer.Intheseeconomictimes,everyonewantstoreducecostsandincreaseserver‐utilizationratios.CombiningthepowerofDellPowerEdgeServerswithvirtualizationthroughahypervisorwillsignificantlyreducethecostperinstanceforyourSQLServerinstallations,andallowyoutoachievetop‐levelperformancewhilereducingcosts.
ServerModel CPU/Cores
FormFactor
PowerEdgeR710 2x4‐core
2U
PowerEdge2970 2x4‐core
2U
PowerEdgeR905 4x4‐core
4U
PowerEdge900 4x4‐core
4U
Table1.DellPowerEdgeServermodelssupportingSQLServervirtualization.
Host Failover Clustering supports the creation of highly available virtual
machines.
Database Mirroring within virtual machines is fully supported.
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Additional Information
SQLServer2008HomePagewww.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/default.aspx
SQLServeronDellPowerEdgeServerswww.dell.com/sql
DellPowerEdgeR900Serverwww.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/server‐poweredge‐r900?c=us&l=en&s=biz&cs=555
DellPowerEdgeR905Serverwww.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_r905?c=us&l=en&s=biz&cs=555
DellPowerEdgeR710Serverhttp://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/server‐poweredge‐r710?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
DellPowerEdge2970Serverwww.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_2970_rack?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
RunSQLServer2008inVMsonHyper‐VwithDellServerswww.dell.com/downloads/global/solutions/public/white_papers/Virtualization_Guide_for_SQL_Server_2008.pdf
VirtualizingSQLServeronDellPowerEdgeServershttp://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/business~solutions~power~en/Documents~ps4q08‐20080334‐muirhead.pdf.aspx