Azure SQL Database for the SQL Server DBA - Azure Bootcamp Athens Apr 21, 2018

1. Azure SQL Database
for the
SQL Server DBA

3. https://tinyurl.com/y9opcae5
EVALUATIONS

4. Ask your
Questions

5. PRESENTERINFO
1982 I started working with computers
1988 I started my professional career in computers industry
1996 I started working with SQL Server 6.0
1998 I earned my first certification at Microsoft as
Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (3rd in Greece)
1999 I started my career as Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) with more than
30.000 hours of training until now!
2010 I became for first time Microsoft MVP on Data Platform
I created the SQL School Greece www.sqlschool.gr
2012 I became MCT Regional Lead by Microsoft Learning Program.
2013 I was certified as MCSE : Data Platform
I was certified as MCSE : Business Intelligence
2016 I was certified as MCSE: Data Management & Analytics
2017 Certified as MCSA : Machine Learning
Recertified as MCSE: Data Management & Analytics
Antonios
Chatzipavlis
Data Solutions
Consultant & Trainer
MVP on Data Platform
MCT, MCSE, MCITP, MCPD, MCSD, MCDBA,
MCSA, MCTS, MCAD, MCP, OCA, ITIL-F

7. Μια πηγή ενημέρωσης για την Microsoft Data Platform
προς τους Έλληνες IT Professionals, DBAs, Developers,
Information Workers αλλά και απλούς χομπίστες που
απλά τους αρέσει ο SQL Server.
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10. http://www.sqlsaturday.com/731/eventhome.aspx

11. LET’S START

12. WHAT IS A ZURE SQL DATABASE?
The service users pay
according to their usage
of the service.
The service is paid by
the hour.
The hourly rate is based
on the highest service
tier selected during that
hour.
Users can scale up or
down on demand
User can create and
destroy environments
on demand
The service provider
manages and owns the
database software.
The service provider
doing common
administration tasks
(backups, HA, OS etc.)

13. CLOUD FIRST RELEASE MODEL

14. • The service provides a database engine.
• You can’t restore a SQL Server backup directly to Azure SQL Database.
• You are not the Sysadmin of your server.
• The service provides its own High Availability
• There’s no SQL Agent service.
• System views like sys.dm_exec_requests operate at the database scope, not
server scope like SQL Server.
• There is no Error log file to open, but a system log view instead.
• TDE is an Enterprise feature on SQL Server, available in all tiers on Azure SQL
Database.
• Auditing is an Enterprise feature available in all tiers of Azure SQL Database.
• Azure also has a threat detection service that can alert you if it detects SQL
injection attempts, logins from new locations or other unusual patterns.
A ZURE SQL DATABASE VS. SQL SERVER

15. DBA’S TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Classic DBA
• Maintain the Operating System
• Maintain SQL Server
• Setup Backups
• High Availability
• Disaster Recovery
• Performance
• Change Control
• Security
Azure DBA
• Choosing the right service tier
• Test the HADR
• Performance
• Change Control
• Security

16. • Azure SQL DB offers 3 service tiers:
- Basic (2GB, 7d RTO, 5 DTU)
- Standard (250GB, 35d RTO, 10-100 DTU)
- Premium (1000GB, 35d RTO, 125-4000 DTU,
In-Memory, Columnstore Indexes)
• The service tiers defines:
- Size
- Performance
- Concurrency
- Recovery
- Features
UNDERSTANDING THE SERVICE TIERS
• Performance is measured in DTUs.
- DTU = CPU + Memory + Data IO +
Log IO
• Multiple databases can share
resources through elastic database
pools.
• The service also offers other elastic
database capabilities.
- Elastic DB .NET Library
- Elastic DB Jobs
- Elastic Query

17. For an initial estimate, there is a DTU Calculator at
http://dtucalculator.azurewebsites.net
HOW DO I KNOW HOW MANY DTUS I NEED TO
MIGRATE MY SQL SERVER DATABASE ON AZURE?

18. DTU CALCUL ATOR

20. GET TING STARTED
Create an Azure SQL
Database Server
• A server is a logical entity for
grouping databases.
• Pick a Name
• Pick a Region
Create a Database
inside the Server
• Pick a DB Server
• Pick a DB Name
• Pick a Service Tier

21. PROVISIONING A ZURE SQL DATABASE
• Create a resource > Databases > SQL DatabaseAzure Portal
• New-AzureRmSqlDatabase CmdletPowerShell
• CREATE DATABASE commandT-SQL

22. PROVISIONING
A ZURE SQL DATABASE

24. CONNECTING TO A DATABASE
SQL Authentication
Individual accounts only.
Multi-server access requires multiple users.
No built-in password expiration.
Azure AD Authentication
Individual and group accounts.
One identity can be granted access to
multiple servers.
Password expiration follows the AAD policy.

25. CONFIGURING
THE FIREWALL RULES TO
CONNECT TO THE DATABASE

27. • Backups happen automatically as part
of the service
• Retention Period of Backups
- 7 days for Basic tier
- 35 days for Standard tier
- 35 days for Premium tier
• Backups are Geo-Replicated
- Backups are replicated to a paired Azure
region by the service.
- In the event of a region outage, you can
restore your backups to another region.
• Backup Schedule
- Weekly Full Backup
- Hourly Differential Backup
- Every 5 min Transaction Log Backup
BACKUP CAPABILITIES
• In case of Archiving
- Manually export the database to BACPAC and keep
copies on Azure Blob Storage.
• All databases support Point in Time Recovery
with a 12 Hour RTO and 5 minute RPO for the
in-region backups
• Azure provides 2x your max storage size as
included backup storage.
• What happens if you reach this amount of
backup storage?
- Reduce the retention period by contacting Azure
support.
- Pay for extra backup storage billed at the standard
Read-Access Geographically Redundant Storage
rate.
• If you delete a database, you can restore as
long as you’re still inside the retention period.
• If you delete the server, all backups are
deleted with no restore capability.

28. • Restores can be done to the logical server hosting the database or to another
region.
• Local Restores
- A new database on the same logical server recovered to a specified point in time
- A database on the same logical server recovered to the deletion time
- You cannot overwrite an existing database
- If you want to replace a database with a restored copy, you can rename the original and then rename
the restored database.
• Geo Restores
- A new database on any server on any region up to the latest geo-replicated backup
- Full and differentials are geo-replicated
- Geo-Restores have an 1 hour RPO due to the possible delay in geo-replication.
RESTORE CAPABILITIES

29. Azure keeps 3 local high available copies
in the server region
In case of region disaster we can use
geo-restore or Azure Database Geo-
Replication
BUILT-IN HIGH
AVAILABILITY

30. • A component of Azure SQL Database that provides service managed database
replicas that can be used for read-only scale and failover.
• Provides up to four readable database replicas.
- The service does not provide the option for synchronous replication.
- Because the replication is asynchronous, there’s always a risk of data loss due to
network latency.
- If you want to make a session wait until the current log has been completely replicated
you can use the sp_wait_for_database_copy_sync procedure.
• Active Geo-Replication provides a 30 second RTO and 5 second RPO.
• Each active geo-replication secondary is billed at full price.
A ZURE DATABASE GEO-REPLICATION

31. DATABASE FAILOVER METHODS
PLANNED
• ALTER DATABASE FAILOVER
• Initiated by an administrator
• The system switches to synchronous
mode temporarily to avoid data loss
• The old primary becomes a
secondary and starts syncing
immediately
UNPLANNED
• ALTER DATABASE
FORCE_FAILEOVER_ALLOW_DATA_
LOSS
• Triggered by a real region outage
• The role is changed immediately so
data loss is possible
• When the old primary eventually
comes back, an incremental backup
is taken and it becomes a
secondary
The user configuring Geo-Replication or executing the FAILOVER command must be DBManager on both the primary server and the secondary server.

32. ACTIVE GEO-REPLICATION

34. • A proper migration methodology will ensure a successful migration project.
• Direct backup restore from SQL Server is not supported.
• Migrating to the service can be done with a variety of tools.
• Short downtime migrations can be done with Transactional Replication.
• Migrating from the service can be done with a BACPAC file export.
MIGRATION TO A ZURE SQL DATABASE

35. MIGRATION METHODOLOGY
Benefits
Stoppers
Service
Model
Service
Tier
Region
Migration
Tool

36. MIGRATING TOOLS
Migration Wizard on
SSMS
• All-in-one process
• Big Downtime
• Not suitable for Large
Databases
Transactional Replication
• Multi-step process
• More control in process
• Complex process
• Small Downtime
• Suitable for Large
Databases
• Source must be
• SQL 2012 SP2 CU8
• SQL 2014 SP1 CU3
• SQL 2016
• SQL 2017
Manual Export/Import
• Multi-step process
• More control in process
• Large Downtime
• Suitable for Large
Databases
• if downtime is
acceptable

37. USING
MIGRATION WIZARD
ON SSMS

39. • Azure Metrics Alerts
• System Views to track performance
• Tuning Tools and Automation
MONITORING A ZURE SQL DATABASE

40. • Blocked by Firewall
• Failed Connections
• Successful
Connections
A ZURE METRICS ALERTS
• DTU Percentage
• DTU Limit
• DTU Used
• CPU Percentage
• Log IO Percentage
• Data IO Percentage
• Deadlocks
• Sessions Percentage
• Total Database Size
• Database Size
Percentage
• Workers Percentage
• In-Memory OLTP
Storage Percentage

41. CREATE
A ZURE METRIC ALERT

43. • Resource Usage Views
- Average CPU %
- Average Data IO %
- Average Log Write %
- Average Memory %
• Wait Stats View
PERFORMANCE SYSTEM VIEWS
• Server scope (master)
• Measures in 5 minute intervals
• Retains 14 days of history
• Captures when resource usage changes
sys.resource_stats
• Database scope
• Measures in 15 second intervals
• Retains 1 hour of history
• Captures even with no activity
sys.dm_db_resource_stats

44. • Performance Overview
• Performance Recommendations
• Query Performance Insights
• Automatic Tuning
A ZURE PERFORMANCE TOOLS

49. Thank you

50. SELECT KNOWLEDGE FROM SQL SERVER
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