If I only have one VM in Azure I can get outtages at any time when Azure decides to reboot/reprovision my server. Therefor I have to at least two servers in an availability group to get a stable environment.
This is used by a web app (web roles) and an important aspect is that the databases are used for reading. They will get their data from sql replication from an on-premises database. The replication can be done separately to each database. Additionally using Azure Sql Database is not an option because we have not be able to implement a durable data sync solution (using Microsoft Sync Framework), Sql Database does not support sql replication, and constantly uploading the complete database would be too slow.
How should the database VMs be hosted and accessed to able to use Sql Server VMs?
One alternative is to use AlwaysOn Availability Groups. This however requires Sql Server Enterprise edition and the price is very high considering I need to have at least two servers. In this scenario I at least get one connection point behind which a sql server always should be answering. This is however beyond our reach because of the cost.
One alternative could be to use Traffic manager to round robin the connections. When the database server goes down we have to wait for TTL to expire before the webrole would refresh the ip address so that seems a big problem.
How should one host Sql Server VMs in Azure?
You can use FailoverPartner parameter in the connection string to specify the secondary replica address. You can see more in this article.
Related
My organisation is considering using Transactional Replication to Azure SQL DB but unsure where encryption and security fits in to this new capability. We are looking for documentation on how to configure security for replication to Azure SQL, perhaps with encryption and other steps to help mitigate vulnerabilities.
This resource has some details but does it also apply to Azure scenaio?
See this article especially part about creating subscription using transact-SQL. Also see this about connection encryption. So I think that when you add a subscriber all you have to do is to make sure that connection encryption is enabled. Below is a brief description how to achieve this while connecting to Azure SQL. Since when you add a subscriber you have to connect to Azure SQL database then the process is similar:
Open SQL Server Management Studio.
From Object Explorer, click Connect, then click Database Engine.
From Connect to Server, click Connection Properties.
Select Encrypt connection
Also you could consider a VPN connection between on-prem and Azure as mentioned here.
Protecting data in transit should be essential part of your data protection strategy. Since data will be moving back and forth from
many locations, the general recommendation is that you always use
SSL/TLS protocols to exchange data across different locations. In some
circumstances, you may want to isolate the entire communication
channel between your on-premises and cloud infrastructure by using a
virtual private network (VPN).
For data moving between your on-premises infrastructure and Azure, you
should consider appropriate safeguards such as HTTPS or VPN.
For organizations that need to secure access from multiple
workstations located on-premises to Azure, use Azure site-to-site VPN.
For organizations that need to secure access from one workstation
located on-premises to Azure, use Point-to-Site VPN.
Larger data sets can be moved over a dedicated high-speed WAN link
such as ExpressRoute. If you choose to use ExpressRoute, you can also
encrypt the data at the application-level using SSL/TLS or other
protocols for added protection.
I have an application running on a SQL Server cluster with active/active configuration setup on-premises. I have some knowledge as to how to replicate a SQL Server cluster that is on-premises with SIOS data keeper cluster.
But, what I am interested is if it is possible to replicate the entire SQL cluster with Azure Site Recovery to Azure.
Yes, it is, but bear in mind that you would also need a working Domain Controller in Azure (most likely) for your cluster to function properly. Also, I believe, that just extending AlwaysOn to Azure in the way to go.
Reference: http://www.azurefieldnotes.com/2017/02/01/overview-of-asr-for-multi-tier-applications-using-sql-alwayson/
The solution consists of an SQL Database and desktop application working hard with that DB. DB Deployed as Azure SQL Database, application running on Azure Virtual Machine with Windows Server onboard. What is the deployment guidelines for this two services in Azure? I want to achieve max performance. Should they both be located in same resource group?
You will need to get your app and the database located as close as possible so yes the same resource group.
Make sure you do not have Mars enabled (MultipleActiveResultSets in connection string).
Make sure you do use connection pooling.
Read this to understand what you are dealing with:
https://www.simple-talk.com/sql/learn-sql-server/improving-the-quality-of-sql-server-database-connections-in-the-cloud/
Ed
Currently our windows desktop applications run against a SQL Server instance that resides on our network. I'd like to remove the local instance and seamlessly assess the data from a remote SQL Server instance such as Azure. I could write a middle tier, such as WCF, but I'd rather not. It would be easiest just gain direct access to the SQL server. Can this be done?
Thanks.
Yes. - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ee336282.aspx
You'll need to ensure that the Azure SQL Database firewall rules are set up to allow traffic from your IP.
If you are running full SQL Server on a Windows Azure Virtual Machine you can open the port to the SQL Server. Be aware that you'd likely want to ACL the endpoints on a VM to restrict access to your IPs.
Remote SQL Server and Azure could be very different things.
First difference that you will found is the Connection String form. Azure SQL connection strings looks like:
Server=tcp:xxxxxxxx.database.windows.net;Database=xxxxxxxx;User ID=xxxxxxx#xxxxxxxxx;Password=xxxxxxxxxx;Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;
we're close to migrating our legacy MS Access app to SQL Server for our internal warehouse management system. Our customers are often asking us for access to the data for e-commerce integration and general reporting. Once the migration is complete I would like to provide open access to the data via web services and odata. However I don't want to host these services as we are on a slow ADSL connection which won't cope with the traffic.
My question is, can I replicate (one-way) to a remote DB hosted by shared-hosting companies such as Hostgator? I see they have shared windows hosting with unlimited MS SQL DBs. Are there any special requirements on the hosted-side? For instance do I need to explicitly set-up replication on hosting db or is it managed on the client-side?
If this is possible then I might be able to run all our web services and reporting apps on the host's servers, and only the replicated data need travel over WAN. What sort of control is there over replication? Such as bandwidth throttling, replication periods etc? For instance when & how often does replication take place?
I'm new to SQL Server in general and some of the topics are a little overwhelming.
Thanks for your help.
You could try setting up transactional replication with a push subscription with the distributor on your side. The relevant bit is how the distribution agent connects to the subscriber. distrib.exe supports both trusted and SQL authentication, so you should be good to go either way.