As IT systems have become increasingly critical to the smooth operation of a company, the importance of ensuring the continued operation of those systems, and their rapid recovery, has increased. In this session we will take a deeper look at the new concept of AlwaysOn Availability Groups for SQL 2012 and how you can configure it with SharePoint Server 2013. Furthermore we will learn how to increase SharePoint and SQL performance by using the availability group Read-Intent and Backup Priority features. You will learn about the different Disaster Recovery Options for SharePoint 2013 as well as how they work and how to use them. I will also show you a live demo on how to configure SQL 2012 Availability groups, and we will simulate a Disaster to see how well it reacts.

1. SQL 2012 ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY
GROUPS FOR SHAREPOINT 2013
ByVlad Catrinescu

2. Thanks to our sponsors!

3. Vlad Catrinescu
Founder at www. SharePoint-Community.Net
SharePoint Consultant – Victrix, Montreal
Started working with SharePoint since 2009
MCITP: SharePoint 2010
MCSA : Windows Server 2012
Main Focus
• SharePoint Server
• PowerShell
• Disaster Recovery/High Availability
Contact
@vladcatrinescu
vladcatrinescu@hotmail.com
www.absolute-sharepoint.com
www.sharepoint-community.net

4. AGENDA
Some SQL History
High Availability
VS
Disaster Recovery
Availability Groups in
Details
SQL Server Availability
Groups
Prerequisites
Sample Topologies
DEMO

5. HIGH AVAILABILITY
VS
DISASTER RECOVERY

6. Anything and everything!
- Hardware: CPU, cards, memory, disk
-Software: OS, Services, Drivers, Updates
WHAT CAN FAIL?

7. HIGH AVAILABILITY
Software and
Hardware Failures
Very Local
Small outage
period.

8. DISASTER RECOVERY
 Natural or Human-induced Disaster
 Some Outage Acceptable to get
back running
 Needs an offsite Data Center

9. SOME SQL HISTORY

10. SQL Server
2000
• Log Shipping
• Failover Clustering
SQL Server
2005
• Database Mirroring
SQL Server
2008
• Improved DB Mirroring
SQL Server
2008 R2
• Improved DB Mirroring
SQL Server
2012
• Always On Availability Groups
SQL Server
2014
• ImprovedAlways On AG

11. DATABASE MIRRORING
Pros
• Database Stored on two different servers
• SharePoint 2010/2013 supports HA with
Mirroring
Cons
• Got to Backup/Restore
Databases Manually.
• Got to enter the server as
“Failover Database Server”
for every Database
• Database can only be stored
on two servers.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd207314(v=office.14).aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/b/praveenh/archive/2010/12/29/sharepoint-2010-is-now-mirroring-
aware.aspx

12. FAILOVER CLUSTERING
PROS
• Connect to Cluster trough
Alias = Easy!
• Easy to setup Automatic
Failover
http://elementalsql.blogspot.ca/2010/02/creating-sql-server-2008-cluster-in.html
CONS
• Data Stored on only 1
Storage
• Disaster Recovery will only
depend on BackUps
• Required SAN Storage

13. SQL SERVER 2012 ALWAYS ON
AVAILABILITY GROUPS
• Database Stored on 2+ different servers
• Connect to Cluster trough Listener = Easy!
• No need for SAN storage (Not like SQL Cluster)
• Automatic failover
• More cool features we will see later!
Windows
Server
Failover
Cluster
Availability Group Listener
SQL-SP
Primary
Replica
Secondary
Replica
Secondary
Replica

14. SQL SERVER AVAILABILITY GROUPS
PREREQUISITES

15. LICENSING
Every Node needs to have aWindows Server Enterprise License
Supported in SQL Enterprise Edition
Only
You may not need to pay for ALL
your SQL Servers.
Talk to your Microsoft Sales Rep!

16. SOFTWARE
REQUIREMENTS
All nodes must be in the same AD domain.
All servers should be in a single windows cluster.
Install individual SQL servers on each machines, not cluster aware.

17. HARDWARE
REQUIREMENTS
Minimum Hardware Requirements for SQL Server 2012
Matching Hardware between nodes NOT Required
Same Drive Letters on all Nodes otherwise you will have errors!

18. DATABASE
REQUIREMENTS
Database needs to be in FULL Recovery Mode
Database needs to have at least ONE Full Backup
You need at least one DB that meets those requirements to create your
Availability Group (Can be a dummy DB)

19. AVAILABILITY GROUPS IN
DETAILS

20. COOL NEW FEATURES
Read only secondary replicas.
Backups can occur on the replica databases.
Automatic Failover and ZERO Data Loss.
Synchronous AND Asynchronous mode in the same AG
Not Limited to only 2 nodes

21. AVAILABILITY MODES
Synchronous-commit
 Under synchronous-commit mode,
before committing transactions, a
synchronous-commit primary replica
waits for a synchronous-commit
secondary replica to acknowledge
that it has finished hardening the log.
 Zero Potential Data Loss
 Supports ALL SharePoint Databases
 Requires Conectivity of 1Gb or greater
& latency no more than 10ms
 Useful for High Availability
Asynchronous-commit
 Under asynchronous-commit
mode, the primary replica commits
transactions without waiting for
acknowledgement that an
asynchronous-commit secondary
replica has hardened the log.
 A few seconds of Potential Data Loss
 Supports Content Databases
 Works across WAN links!
 Useful for Disaster Recovery
You can have BOTH of them in the same topology

22. LIMITATIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS
Synchronous Commit – up to 2 mirrored replicas.
Asynchronous Commit – up to 4 mirrored replicas.
Read only secondary replicas & Backup on Secondary
Replicas = Additional License Costs.
Readable secondary replicas are currently not supported
for SharePoint 2013 runtime usage.

23. SAMPLE TOPLOGIES

24. HIGH AVAILABILITY
AG_Listener
Primary SQL Replica1
Synchronous
Protects you Against:
-Software Failures
-Hardware Failures (unless they’re all on same HOST)
-Synchronous Mode = Zero Data Loss and very little
downtime.
Doesn’t Protect you Against:
-Large Scale Disaster

25. DISASTER RECOVERY
AG_Listener
Primary SQL Replica1 DR Replica
Asynchronous

26. HA & DISASTER RECOVERY
AG_Listener
Primary SQL Replica1
Toronto
Montreal
DR Replica
Synchronous Asynchronous

27. DEMO

28. DEMO
 1. Create aWindows Server Cluster
 2. Enable the AlwaysOn SQL Feature
 3. Create an Availability Group & Listener
 4. Install SharePoint 2013 in that AG
 5. Simulate a Disaster!

29. SESSION SUMMARY
 SQL 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups are the new preferred design option for
HA and DR at the data tier level!
 Make sure you Understand Licensing and Limitations
 Disasters Can Happen at AnyTime. Be prepared!
 If you use Synchronous Mode, Make sure the replicas are close and have a High
Bandwith Connection between them!

30. Join our local users
groups
Toronto SharePoint Users Group
http://www.meetup.com/TorontoSPUG/
Toronto SharePoint Business Users Group
http://www.meetup.com/TSPBUG/

31. THANKS FOR ATTENDING!
Questions?
Vlad Catrinescu
@vladcatrinescu
vladcatrinescu@hotmail.com
www.sharepoint-community.net
www.absolute-sharepoint.com