Cloud and Datacenter Management Blog

Microsoft Hybrid Cloud blogsite about Management


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Thank you #Community and #Microsoft for this Awesome Year 2022! Happy Holidays

What a Year 2022!!

I like to thank you Community for Supporting, Sharing and Reading New Microsoft technologies on my Blog, Twitter, Facebook and
LinkedIn Community Groups 💗 I wish you all happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year 2023 may the Best Wishes comes true ! 🎄🥂

I’m very proud and Honored  on the Microsoft Global MVP Awards 2022-2023 !

  • MVP Award for Cloud and Datacenter Management
  • MVP Award for Windows Insiders
  • MVP Award for Azure Hybrid

Thank you Microsoft Product Groups, MVP Award Program, Windows Insider Team, Azure Hybrid Team, Windows Server and Azure Stack HCI Team for all your support, NDA PGI sessions, and for the Awesome software, Features, solutions you are building 🙂
Wish you all Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year 2023 may the Best Wishes comes true ! 🎄🥂

Here are some Great links for Reading and Sharing :

JOIN these LinkedIn Community Groups for free and Share New Microsoft Technologies Together:

Windows Admin Center Community Group

Containers in the Cloud Community Group

Microsoft Azure Monitor & Security for Hybrid IT Community Group

Azure Hybrid Community Group

Azure DevOps Community Group

What I really love is the Microsoft Tech Community platform


For Microsoft Azure Hybrid:

Azure Arc Jumpstart site

Azure Hybrid and Multi Cloud documentation

Microsoft Azure Arc Community monthly Meetup (GitHub)

Follow on Twitter for Azure Hybrid:

——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
For Windows Insiders:

Microsoft Windows Insiders Blog

Windows Insider Team on YouTube

The Windows Insider Program Team is really active on Twitter:
@WindowsInsider

@JenMsft

@NorthFaceHiker

@brandonleblanc

@amanda_lango


Get started with the Windows Server Insider program

What’s New in Windows Server 2022

Overview of Windows Admin Center

What’s New in SQL Server 2022



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#MVPLABSerie Azure Defender for Cloud with #AzureArc enabled SQL Server #AzureHybrid #Security

Azure Arc enabled SQL Servers Architecture

To keep your Business running, It’s important to secure and monitor your data. One of the security measures is doing Vulnerability assessments in your datacenter(s) to see the status and results for remediation. With Microsoft Azure Arc Defender for Cloud you can do a SQL Server vulnerability assessment in your on-premises datacenter or anywhere with the Azure Arc agent running.
Here you find more information about Azure Arc enabled SQL Server

Microsoft Defender for Cloud on Azure Arc enabled SQL Server

Here I activated Microsoft Defender for Cloud on Azure Arc enabled SQL Server, and Azure Defender for Cloud is doing a SQL vulnerability assessment to get the security status and results for remediation.

On this same Azure portal page you will see the Vulnerability assessment findings.

When you Open a Vulnerability finding, you get more information and the remediation for the issue.

Here you see the complete Resource Health of the Azure Arc enabled SQL Server.
Look at the Status of each severity.

Here you see all the vulnerability findings on these four databases.

When you do the remediation you will see the healthy status.
on the Passed tab.

Here I open only the OperationsManager database.
Now you see only the Vulnerability findings on this database.

Here you see a vulnerability finding on the SCOM database with the Remediation 🙂

You can make your Own Workbooks or use them from the Gallery.

Workbook example of Vulnerability Assessment findings.

Conclusion

With Azure Defender for Cloud vulnerability assessment and management you will learn a lot to set your Security Baseline on a higher level in your datacenter(s). Getting the right remediation of Microsoft to solve security issues is Great! You can do your assessments frequently to show your current status on demand. I Really like these Azure Hybrid Tools to make my work easier and the data more secure for the business.


Please join the Azure Hybrid Community Group on LinkedIn for free ( Sharing is Caring together )


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#MVPLABSerie Azure Arc enabled SQL Server Health Assessment #AzureHybrid #AzureArc #SQLServer

Azure Hybrid

In earlier MVPLABSerie blogpost I wrote about making your on-premises Servers hybrid with Azure Arc enabled Servers.
In my mvplab.local domain, there is a SQL 2022 Cluster running which also has the Azure Connected Machine Agent version 1.24.

One of the benefits of Azure Arc enabled Servers for SQL is that you can do on-demand SQL Health assessments on your SQL Environment in your On-premises Datacenter. In the following step-by-step guide we will prepare the SQL Cluster nodes.

Go to this link to watch the video

In my mvplab.local domain I’m doing the following steps :

Go in the Azure Portal to Azure Arc
Click on SQL Servers
under Infrastructure.
Click on Add

I Choose for Connect Servers
because both SQL Nodes are already connected in my MVPLAB.local domain.

Prerequisites
Click on Next Server details.

Select the right Azure Subscription and Resource Group
Select the region and Operating System
Set Proxy server URL
if you need one
Click on Next.

Set your owner tags if needed.
Here you can find more information about Tags Management

From here you have to download the Script
and Run it locally on both SQL Nodes. ( or your Single SQL Server )

Run the script in administrator modus of Powershell ISE.
go to page https://microsoft.com/devicelogin
and enter the Code

Login and continue.

Here you see that the Azure Connected Machine Agent already is installed.
But it will now add the SQL Extension.

Installation Completed Successfully.

Now we have two Azure Arc enabled SQL Servers connected.

Overview of SQL 2022 Node in Azure Arc.

You can see the Databases running.

Here you can set your Admin from Azure Active Directory.

But we want to do a SQL Assessment, but the Azure Monitoring Agent is still missing.

Here you see that the SQL extension is installed.
Now we will add the Azure Monitor Agent to my existing Log Analytics Workspace.
Click on Add

Select Log Analytics Agent – Azure Arc.

Add your Workspace ID
Add your Workspace Kay
Click on Review + Create

Validation Passed.

Azure Monitoring Agent is Installed.

From here you can do the On-Demand SQL Assessments via
Microsoft Azure Arc enabled SQL Servers.

The SQL Server Assessment focuses on several key pillars, including:

  • SQL Server configuration
  • Database design
  • Security
  • Performance
  • Always On
  • Cluster
  • Upgrade readiness
  • Error log analysis
  • Operational Excellence

Example of SQL Server Assessment results.

On each assessment result you get a recommendation from Microsoft so you can make your SQL environment Health and Secure!

Conclusion

To get these health results of your SQL environment is Awesome 🙂 You are in control of your Azure Hybrid Arc enabled SQL Servers to keep them Healthy and Secure. The following Azure Arc enabled SQL Server blogpost is about Azure Defender for Cloud for your SQL Servers. With these two Azure Arc for SQL Server features you get the best Insights to keep your data as save as possible.


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MVPLAB Serie Installing SQL Server 2022 CTP on Windows Server Insider Cluster #SQLServer #WIMVP

SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1

In this blogpost of MVPLAB Serie, we are going to install Microsoft SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 on my Windows Server Insider Preview Cluster in mvplab.local domain. Before this blogpost I installed the following basics in mvplab.local domain :

Now we are going to install the Backend of the datacenter, and that is SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 on a Cluster resource with the first SQL Instance for databases which is High Available (HA).

First we download SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1

SQL Server 2022 Preview is the most Azure-enabled release of SQL Server yet, with continued innovation in security, availability, and performance.

  • Integration with Azure Synapse Link and Azure Purview enables customers to drive deeper insights, predictions, and governance from their data at scale.
  • Cloud integration is enhanced with disaster recovery (DR) to Azure SQL Managed Instance, along with no-ETL (extract, transform, and load) connections to cloud analytics, which allow database administrators to manage their data estates with greater flexibility and minimal impact to the end-user.
  • Performance and scalability are automatically enhanced via built-in query intelligence.
  • There is choice and flexibility across languages and platforms, including Linux, Windows, and Kubernetes.

Mount the ISO file and Copy the files to a local disk location, then run Setup as Administrator with your personal Domain Administrator Account to install SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1. Before the installation read Configure Cluster accounts in Active Directory (AD)

Click on Yes.

Click on the left on Installation
Then Click on New SQL Server Failover Cluster Installation

Here I choose for the Developer edition.
Click on Next

Accept the License terms
Click on Next

Check for Updates (recommended)
Click on Next

Check the Warnings and solve issues.
Click on Next

I Installed only the default for SQL Database.
(You can install later Shared SQL Features if you need them.)
Click on Next

Specify a network name for the New SQL Server Failover Cluster.
mvpsql01
Click on Named Instance and type INSTANCE01
Click on Next

Click on Next

Select your Cluster disk
Click on Next

Select IPv4 and type the IP-Address of your Cluster Resource
mvpsql01
Then Click on Next

Select your domain Service accounts and type the passwords.
Select if you want Maintenance Tasks privilege to your SQL Server Database Engine Service.
Click Next

Here you can add the SQL Admin Group from Active Directory (AD)
Click on top tab Data Directories

I Changed the User Database Log Directory.
Here you can set your directories.
Have a look at the Other TAB fields, I set Memory later.
When you finished all the Tabs then click Next

Check the Summary and click on Install

SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 Installed Successfully Click on Close.

This was on the first mvpfs01.mvplab.local, now you have to do the installation on the other node mvpfs02.mvplab.local.
Here we will add a SQL Node to the Cluster.

 

Click on the left on Installation
Then Click on Add Node to a SQL Server Failover Cluster

Add Node in Progress

Add Node to SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 Failover Cluster is Successful
Click on Close

Here you see your SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 Cluster Instance Running in Failover Cluster Manager.

Here I installed the new Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) version 19 preview 2

Connecting the High Available SQL 2022 CTP2.1 Cluster Resource Instance01.

And you can connect the SQL Instance with Azure Data Studio 😉

With Azure Data Studio you can install marketplace extensions working with your SQL Instance.
Here you find more information about Microsoft Azure Data Studio

+


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MVPLAB Serie Windows Server Insider Cluster with ISCSI Target Server #WindowsServerInsider #Winserv

mvplab.local Domain

I have made a new MVPLAB with Microsoft Windows Server Insider Preview Build 25158 to install Services and Features for learning but also to give Microsoft feedback about the products. When the MVPLAB domain and Clusters are ready in basic then I can use new Microsoft Azure Hybrid solutions as well, like Azure Arc Kubernetes services and Azure Cloud Defender for Servers and SQL.
Before we start, you need to become a Windows Server Insider so that you can download the newest Windows Server Insider Builds ISO.
Here you get more information for the Windows Server Insider Program registration 

After the free registration you can download the new Microsoft Windows Server Insider Builds here :

While I’m writing a new blogpost, Microsoft published a new Build 25169.
Here you can download the ISO or VHDX file

To Build your Test and innovation LAB with the newest Microsoft technologies, you need a platform to Build on. Of course Microsoft Azure Cloud Services is Awesome to work with and Great to make test environments but I like to make a Azure Hybrid scenario with Azure Cloud and On-premises datacenter services like for example a Microsoft SQL Cluster with Cluster resources / Instances.
So my MVPLAB will be Azure Hybrid and for On-premises I use Windows Server Hyper-V to make virtual servers.

It’s Great when your hardware provider like Dell is Microsoft Azure Stack HCI compliant to build your Hyper Converged Infrastructure in your on-premises datacenter.

Microsoft Azure Stack HCI Solution

When you work with Microsoft Azure and Azure Stack HCI, you really need Windows Admin Center for Hybrid IT Management.
This is a Great Administrator tool for managing your Windows Servers, Clusters, Azure Stack HCI, and Azure VM’s in a Hybrid environment.

Windows Admin Center Cluster Overview

Now that we have everything and Hyper-V is running, we will build the Following Windows Servers with the Insider Preview Build:

  • MVPDC01 ( the first domain controller for mvplab.local domain )
  • MVPStore01 ( ISCSI Target Host for deploying ISCSI Virtual Disks to my Cluster)
  • MVPFS01 ( Cluster Node 01 of Cluster MVPCL01 )
  • MVPFS02 ( Cluster Node 02 of Cluster MVPCL01 )

I install all the virtual servers with 50GB local harddisk for OS and start with 4GB of Dynamic Memory and a Nic.
Only the Cluster nodes get two Nics (One for Heartbeat of the Cluster)
This is for my MVPLAB, but for Production environments I always start with 3 Nics ( 1 = Production 2 = Heartbeat 3 = Storage )

In Hyper-V we make a New Virtual Machine with these specifications and we attach the Windows Server Insider Preview Build ISO.
We install Windows Server Insider Preview Build default and after the installation we set the NIC IP-Address on static and gave the Server the name MVPDC01. Then I installed all the Windows Updates, and after that I started Server Manager to install the Active Directory Feature :

Active Directory just follow the wizard and don’t forget to run DCPromo to
build your domain.

Active Directory and DNS is running locally like
mvplab.local

So now is my domain and DNS running in my MVPLAB, but what do I need more first to build a Windows Server Insider Cluster?
We need Shared storage, so we build a Windows Server Insider ISCSI Target Host to provision Shared VHD’s via ISCSI Initiator to the Cluster Nodes.

The Next member Windows Server Insider is MVPStore01.mvplab.local joined in our new domain. Here I installed the iSCSI Host features:

Start Server Manager and the Add Server role :
– iSCSI Target Server
– iSCSI Target Storage Provider

Click on Install

In Hyper-V Settings of the Virtual Machine MVPStore01, I have installed a extra disk of 25GB so that we can use that for iSCSI Target Host which is now running on this Server. Now we can provision storage when the new Windows Server Insider Cluster MVPCL01.mvplab.local is installed with the iSCSI Initiator to get Cluster storage. So now we are first going to build a Windows Server Insider Cluster and after that we will provision the Cluster Storage.

Installing a Windows Server Cluster with Insider preview Build 25158.

I deployed two member servers MVPFS01.mvplab.local and MVPFS02.mvplab.local into the new domain. they have static IP-Address and are working fine with DNS resolving. On both Servers I installed the Feature Failover Clustering

Failover Clustering Installed.

from here we are going to install the new Windows Server Insider Cluster MVPCL01.mvplab.local

Start Failover Cluster Manager.
Create Cluster.

Click on Next

select the two new Cluster Nodes
Click on Next

Select Yes, run configuration validation tests
Click on Next

Click on Next

Run all tests
Click Next

Confirmation
Click Next

Type in the new Cluster name => mvpcl01
IP-Address => 192.168.2.43
Click Next

Confirmation
Click on Next

Creating Cluster….

We now have a Cluster mvpcl01.mvplab.local running, but without storage and without the witness disk. the iSCSI initiator is running on both Cluster nodes, so now we have to provision storage to the Cluster via the iSCSI Target Host MVPStore01.mvplab.local.

iSCSI Storage provisioning to Windows Server Insider Cluster

via the Server Manager of the iSCSI Target host, we are going to create a new iSCSI Virtual Disk for both Cluster Nodes :

Click on New iSCSI Virtual Disk

iSCSI Virtual Disk Name
Click on Next

Type in the Size I’m using 20GB of 24,9 because I need also a Quorum disk for the Cluster.
Select Fixed Size.
Click on Next.

New iSCSI Target
Click on Next

Give the iSCSI Target a Name
Click on Next

Add the Access Servers via iSCSI Initiator
Click on Next

Here you can set Authentication if you want.
Click on Next

Confirmation
Click on Create

the iSCSI Virtual Disk is successfully created.

the iSCSI Target VHD is not connected yet.
Now we connect with iSCSI Initiator from the Cluster Nodes.
The work on iSCSI Taget Host MVPStore01.mvplab.local is Done.

When you start the iSCSI Initiator it will set the services and the firewall settings on the Server.
You have to do this on both Cluster nodes.

First we add the Target portal and that is our iSCSI Taget Host MVPStore01.mvplab.local with
IP-Address 192.168.2.46 with port 3260.
This is under the discovery tab.

Select Targets tab
you see the Target mvpstore01 Inactive.
Select and click on Connect.

If you had Multi-path IO running, you could enable Multipath too.
Click on Ok

The iSCSI Taget Virtual Disk is connected.

On the iSCSI Target Host MVPStore01.mvplab.local is the target now also in Connected status.

You now can now bring the 20GB disk Online via Disk Management and give it a drive letter
for the Cluster.
Then you can add the 20GB disk via Storage of Cluster Manager tool.

 

 

You can make Cluster Shared Volume.

I made a Cluster for a SQL Instance and I made
a 2GB iSCSI Taget VHD for the Witness Disk.

So Now we have Cluster storage running and failovers are working, now we need to configure Quorum witness disk via
Failover Cluster Manager.

Go to more actions on the Cluster.
Configure Cluster Quorum

Click on Next

Select the quorum witness
Click on Next

You can configure your witness on different locations.
I will select our 2GB witness disk on our Cluster

Select the Quorum disk
Click on Next

Confirmation
Click on Next

You have successfully configured the quorum settings for the Cluster
Click on Finish

Witness disk is running.

So my Microsoft Windows Server Insider Cluster is ready for workloads, if you want to you can run a Cluster validation to see
if everything is okay. Now my MVPLAB is ready for the next installation on my Cluster and that is :

Installing the Newest SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 on my Windows Server Insider Cluster.

But that will be a next Blogpost : Installing SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 on a Windows Server Cluster 😉
Follow me on Twitter : @Jamesvandenberg

 


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Today is Microsoft Ignite 2021 Event of the Year #MSIgnite #Azure #Cloud #AzureStackHCI #Winserv and More

JOIN Microsoft Ignite 2021 Event

You don’t want to miss this Live Awesome Virtual Global Event of Microsoft 😉


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Download the Microsoft Azure Migrate E-Book for your Cloud Migration #Azure #Migrate #Cloud

Microsoft Azure Migrate E-Book

Download this e-book to learn about Azure Migrate, Microsoft’s central hub of tools for cloud migration. In this e-book, Microsoft will cover:

  • What is Azure Migrate
  • How Azure Migrate can help your migration journey
  • Running a datacenter discovery and assessment
  • Migrating your infrastructure, applications, and data
  • Additional learning resources

Download the Free Azure Migrate E-Book here

More information about Microsoft Azure Migrate Tools on my Blog :

Microsoft Azure Migrate Assessments in Action VMWare to Cloud


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Microsoft Azure ARC for Hybrid Infrastructure Management #Cloud #Azure #Hybrid

Microsoft Azure ARC and Manage your Infrastructure

Azure Arc for servers (preview) allows you to manage your Windows and Linux machines hosted outside of Azure on your corporate network or other cloud provider, similarly to how you manage native Azure virtual machines. When a hybrid machine is connected to Azure, it becomes a connected machine and is treated as a resource in Azure.

Azure ARC

Generate a script to onboard target machine.
Read more here for connecting hybrid Machine.

Connect hybrid machines to Azure from the Azure portal

The latest Azure ARC 2020 Updates via Microsoft Mechanics with Travis Wright


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#Microsoft Azure Migrate Assessments in Action #VMWare to #Cloud

Azure Migrate

This blogpost is about the Microsoft Azure Migrate tool in the Cloud doing Azure Migrate assessments to see if your on-premises Datacenter is ready for Azure Cloud Services. Before you migrate your workloads with Azure Migrate to the Microsoft Azure Cloud, you want to know the costs before the migration and what your options are in the transition. For example when you have hardware in your on-premises Datacenter which is too high qua hardware specs like Memory, CPU and storage and you can do with less Compute power, then the performance assessments are really interesting. From here you see a step-by-step guide for VMWare workload assessment(s) to Azure Cloud.

Azure Migrate preparation for VMware workload

When you search for ‘Azure Migrate’ in your Azure Subscription and click on the services you will see the Azure Migrate Overview screen. When you don’t have a Microsoft Azure subscription yet, you can get one here

Click on Assess and Migrate Servers.

Before we go further with the server migration assessments for VMware, there are more Azure Migration tools available to do assessments and migrations like the following goals :

 

For Databases Microsoft Azure Migrate uses the Data Migration Assistant for the Assessment and the Data migration to Azure SQL Cloud.
The Data Migration Assistant (DMA) helps you upgrade to a modern data platform by detecting compatibility issues that can impact database functionality in your new version of SQL Server or Azure SQL Database. DMA recommends performance and reliability improvements for your target environment and allows you to move your schema, data, and uncontained objects from your source server to your target server.

 

To identify the right Azure SQL Database / Managed Instance SKU for your on-premises Database you can use the CLI with a Script :

Here you find more detailed information about the Data Migration Assistant

When you have a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure on-premises and you want to migrate to Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) you can use this Azure Migrate tool :

ISV Lakeside with SysTrack

You can vote for the tools or scenarios that you would like to be integrated with Azure Migrate via this Online form

When you are in the beginning of your Cloud Transition journey, what will go first to the Cloud?

  1. On-premises mail to Microsoft Office 365
  2. File Server Clusters to Office 365 into Teams, Onedrive for Business
  3. From Apps On-premises to SaaS or Paas solutions
  4. From On-premises Websites to Azure Cloud Solutions like Azure Web App.
  5. From SQL Clusters On-Premises to Azure SQL Managed Instances in the Cloud
  6. And at last Migrate Servers to Azure IaaS

Of course there are much more scenarios like Lift and Shift or modernize your workload in the Cloud like moving to Azure Kubernetes Services for example instead of IaaS Virtual Machines.

So when you want to start moving your On-premises Website(s) or WebApp, Microsoft Azure Migrate Services has a tool for that too :

Assess any app with an endpoint scan. Download the Migration Assistant and start your .NET and PHP app migration to Azure App Service.

Click on Assess

and from here you can plan your migration.

At last when you have to move a big enterprise On-premises Datacenter to the Azure Cloud with a lot of Servers for example 10.000, you can use Azure Data Box Migration
The Microsoft Azure Data Box cloud solution lets you send terabytes of data into Azure in a quick, inexpensive, and reliable way. The secure data transfer is accelerated by shipping you a proprietary Data Box storage device. Each storage device has a maximum usable storage capacity of 80 TB and is transported to your datacenter through a regional carrier. The device has a rugged casing to protect and secure data during the transit.

Azure Data Box

When you want to read more about Microsoft Azure Migrate go to the website.

Microsoft Azure Migrate assessment for VMware platform

First we make the Azure Migrate Project ready in the Microsoft Azure Portal.

Select the right Azure Subscription and Resource group to collect the metadata reported by your On-premises environment. Give your Migrate project a name and select the geography.

Here you can select from different Assessment Tools
Select Azure Migrate Server Assessment

Here you can select from different Migration Tools
Select Azure Migrate Server Migration

Add your Tools in the Azure Portal.

Here you see both Microsoft Azure Migrate tools for the Assessment and the Migration as well.
We are going for the Assessment quick start, so click on discover

From here we select with VMware vShere Hypervisor, so you can download the Azure Migrate Appliance for VMware ( 12GB Ova file).

You can also work with an Import CSV file but that’s Preview.

Now you can download and Install the Azure Migrate Virtual Appliance on VMware.
Follow the instructions here

When you have installed the Microsoft Azure Migrate Virtual Appliance for VMware successfully in your environment and has access to all the Virtual Machines then you can run the setup in the Appliance to make connectivity with your Azure subscription.

This will check all the prerequisites and get the updates.

Getting access to vCenter Server with the right permissions.

Now when your Azure Migrate Virtual Appliance for VMware is ready and collecting metadata, we see in the Microsoft Azure Portal the discovery running :

Discovery is in Progress.

After a view minutes we have discovered the Servers running on VMware platform On-premises.

Discovered Servers

Now we have the Servers in our metadata, we can do the Assessment(s) to get all the information we want for preparing to migrate to Azure Cloud Services. Click on Assess.

From here you give the Assessment a name and then you go to the properties of the assessment by clicking on View All

Here you can set the parameters for the assessment for example based on :

  1. Reserved instances
  2. Storage types
  3. Sizing criterion like Performance-Based
  4. Percentile Utilization
  5. Azure VM series to use
  6. Discount
  7. VM Uptime
  8. Offer pricing like Enterprise Agreement Support or Pay-As-You-Go
  9. Hybrid Benefit offer.

Here I made different Azure Migrate Assessment groups with different parameters to see the difference in Costs.

Here you see for example Migrate As Is On-Premises and Performance-Based, but also an Azure Migrate Assessment without SQL Cluster Nodes. In this way you can make your own Azure Migrate Assessment with all your Servers or just a view Servers of your On-premises solution which you want to Migrate to Azure Cloud Services.

Overview of your Azure Migrate Assessment

Server is ready for migration

 

Server Ready but with conditions

Microsoft Azure Migrate gives you all the information to make the right decisions to migrate you workload from VMware to Microsoft Azure Cloud. When the Azure Migrate Assessment(s) are ready you can make a CSV export file to check the information before you migrate.

Overview of the Azure Migrate Assessment

Azure Migrate Assessment based on Performance for the VM
and there is a separated tab for Storage.

When your assessment is done, you can do the migration by replicating them to Microsoft Azure.

Here you can see the Azure Migrate for VMware (Agentless) steps

More Microsoft Azure Feature resources :

Dependency mapping helps you to visualize dependencies across machines

Setup Agentless Dependency visualization for assessment (Preview) 

Assess the readiness of a SQL Server data estate migrating to Azure SQL Database using the Data Migration Assistant

Conclusion

Microsoft Azure Migrate gives you insight information about your own On-Premises Datacenter by doing assessments to get the right migration information to move to Microsoft Azure Cloud. It gives you Azure Cloud costs before you do any migration at all, based on Total Cost of Owner (TCO) ship you can calculate if your solution in the Microsoft Azure Cloud is cheaper or not. Realize that’s it is not always about the money but also :

  • Innovations
  • Time to market
  • New Features
  • Flexibility
  • Scalability
  • Availability
  • Not owning hardware anymore
  • Less management (Hardware)

Hope this blog post helps you by your transition journey to Microsoft Azure Cloud


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#Microsoft SQL Always-On Cluster vs #SQL Managed Instance in #Azure

SQL Always-On Cluster in Azure

Before we start with building this SQL Always-On Cluster we already have some Azure SDK Components Active in the Azure Subscription to work with:

  • Virtual Network VNET-001 is already installed
  • Subnet-SQL and Subnet-Domaincontrollers
  • Network Security Groups (NSG) with the right rules active
  • Two domain controllers
  • Azure Keyvault ( for disk Encryption)

We deployed three Virtual Machines in an Availability Set :

  • Primary SQL Node VM01
  • Secondary SQL Node VM02
  • Witness Server

The deployment was with ARM Template :

VM Deployment

Copy and paste the JSON in your template editor like Visual Studio Code for Example or in the Azure Portal Template builder.

Visual Studio Code

Azure Portal Template

Read more how to deploy ARM Templates via Microsoft Azure Portal here

You also can create a Private or Public Repository on GitHub and store your ARM Templates there in a Library.

GitHub Learning Lab
Learn new skills by completing fun, realistic projects in your very own GitHub repository. Get advice and helpful feedback from our friendly Learning Lab bot.

Create a SQL Server 2014 Always On Availability Group in an existing Azure VNET and an existing Active Directory instance via GitHub :

https://github.com/Azure/azure-quickstart-templates/tree/master/sql-server-2014-alwayson-existing-vnet-and-ad

Configure Always On Availability Group in Azure VM manually :

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/sql/virtual-machines-windows-portal-sql-availability-group-tutorial

Important Tip :

Don’t forget to get the right connectivity between Azure Load Balancer and the SQL Always-On Listener :

## Get the Cluster Resource Information:
Clear-Host
Get-ClusterResource `
| Where-Object {$_.ResourceType.Name -like “IP Address”} `
| Get-ClusterParameter `
| Where-Object {($_.Name -like “Network”) -or ($_.Name -like “Address”) -or ($_.Name -like “ProbePort”) -or ($_.Name -like “SubnetMask”)}

#############################################################

## Set Cluster Parameters:
$ClusterNetworkName = “Cluster Network 1” # the cluster network name (Use Get-ClusterNetwork on Windows Server 2012 of higher to find the name)
$IPResourceName = “IPlistener” # the IP Address resource name
$ListenerILBIP = “10.x.x.x” # the IP Address of the Internal Load Balancer (ILB). This is the static IP address for the load balancer you configured in the Azure portal.
[int]$ListenerProbePort = 80

Import-Module FailoverClusters

Get-ClusterResource $IPResourceName | Set-ClusterParameter -Multiple @{“Address”=”$ListenerILBIP”;”ProbePort”=$ListenerProbePort;”SubnetMask”=”255.255.255.255″;”Network”=”$ClusterNetworkName”;”EnableDhcp”=0}

############################################################

Before you start with your SQL workloads from On-premises Datacenter on Microsoft Azure, have a look if PaaS Azure SQL Managed Instances is something for your Organization with all the benefits.

What is Microsoft Azure SQL Managed Instance?

Managed instance is a new deployment option of Azure SQL Database, providing near 100% compatibility with the latest SQL Server on-premises (Enterprise Edition) Database Engine, providing a native virtual network (VNet) implementation that addresses common security concerns, and a business model favorable for on-premises SQL Server customers. The managed instance deployment model allows existing SQL Server customers to lift and shift their on-premises applications to the cloud with minimal application and database changes. At the same time, the managed instance deployment option preserves all PaaS capabilities (automatic patching and version updates, automated backups, high-availability ), that drastically reduces management overhead and TCO.

Read here more on Microsoft Docs about Azure SQL Services

Conclusion :

When you have a lot of SQL workloads and want to go to Microsoft Azure Cloud Services, analyze your existing workloads well and have a look first at Microsoft Azure SQL Managed Instances. With this Azure PaaS Service, you don’t have to manage the Complete Infrastructure like in a SQL Always-On Cluster (IaaS).

Have a good look at the requirements and Microsoft Data Migration Services can help you out.

SQL Server instance migration to Azure SQL Database managed instance