SQL Server 2022 on Windows Server 2022 Core Edition

Today I’m going to install SQL Server 2022 on Windows Server 2022 Core Azure Edition. In a previous blog I installed ADDS on Windows Server Core edition.

Part 1: Install and configure ADDS on Windows Server Core in Azure
Part 2: Install and configure ADDS on Windows Server Core in Azure

I have done a large number of SQL server implementations in recent years, both in on-prem datacenter and in Azure (IaaS). Now that SQL 2022 is available, I’ve taken a look at the differences compared to previous versions. Installing on Windows Server Core edition is also supported, so I take that scenario as a starting point.

Basic Infrastructure

As a basis, it is of course important that an Active Directory environment is available. In my demo environment I ran a domain controller in Azure based on Windows Server 2022 Azure Edition. This server provides the other servers with DNS. The domain is called ‘demo.lab’.

Continue reading “SQL Server 2022 on Windows Server 2022 Core Edition”

Enable Azure Accelerated Networking

Azure Accelerated Networking is a new option for Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Virtual Machine (VM) on the NIC level providing several benefits by enabling single root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) to a VM, greatly improving its networking performance. This high-performance path bypasses the host from the datapath, reducing latency, jitter, and CPU utilization, for use with the most demanding network workloads on supported VM types. You would typically use this feature with heavy workloads that need to send or receive data at high speed with reliable streaming and lower CPU utilization. It will enable speeds of up to 25Gbps per Virtual Machine. Best of all, it’s free!

accelerated-networking

How to Enable Accelerated Networking:

You can enable this feature during initial creation of the VM, on the networking tab, you will see “Enable Accelerated Networking”. If you are unable to enable, then it is not compatible on your chosen Azure VM size. If you need to enable this feature after VM creation you will require to do so through powershell as it is not yet supported in the portal. You can do this simply with the below commands after deallocating the Virtual Machine.


Login-AzureRmAccount
$nic = Get-AzureRmNetworkInterface -ResourceGroupName “YourResourceGroupName” -Name “YourNicName”
$nic.EnableAcceleratedNetworking = $true
$nic | Set-AzureRmNetworkInterface

Then proceed to start the Virtual Machine and Accelerated Networking will be enabled.

FREE eBook – The SysAdmin Guide to Azure Infrastructure as a Service

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Many system administrators have been working with on-premises infrastructure for their whole careers so moving to a cloud-based environment can feel like a leap of faith. However, making the leap to Azure doesn’t have to be daunting. With the right preparation it can be a smooth transition, consistent with your current on-premises configuration.

This free eBook written by veteran IT consultant and Microsoft Certified trainer Paul Schnakenberg covers all aspects of setting up and maintaining a high-performing Azure IaaS environment. It starts from the very basics, introducing key terms and features you need to get started, including migration, and goes on to explain everyday maintenance and best practices before covering more advanced features.

To get the best results from this eBook, it is recommended to follow along with the step-by-step tutorials using your own Azure subscription. If you don’t currently have access, the eBook explains how to set up a free 30-day trial alongside $200 worth of Azure resources to use and 12 months of additional free resources!

Altaro consistently delivers high-quality eBooks that are packed full of valuable guidance for system administrators and this latest eBook is no exception. If you currently use Azure IaaS or are planning to use it, this is an awesome free resource that you definitely should not miss.

Download your free eBook today

Recordings webinar How to Supercharge your Infrastructure with Azure IaaS

Last month there was a webinar hosted by Altaro Software about ‘How to Supercharge your Infrastructure with Azure IaaS’. In this great webinar, Thomas Maurer (Senior Advocate on the Azure Engineering Team) and Andy Syrewicze shows you how to get the most out of Azure IaaS.

Very powerfull webinar, with a lot of fun and live demos! They also tackled several important use cases suggested by the IT community!

Special thanks to Altaro Software. Also thanks to Thomas and Andy for this great webinar!

Microsoft Ignite 2018 – Book of News

Ignite Book of News: Your Guide to All the News at Microsoft Ignite

This document contains information on all the announcements made at Microsoft Ignite 2018, including:

  • Microsoft 365;
  • Microsoft Azure IaaS;
  • Azure SQL;
  • SQL Server 2019;
  • Security;
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI);
  • SQL Server 2019;
  • Internet of Things (IoT);
  • Windows Server 2019;
  • Windows Virtual Desktops;
  • Windows Admin Center;
  • Hyper-V;
  • Storage Space Direct (S2D);
  • And many, many, many more……

Download the full document here (or click the big picture below).

List all VM sizes in Microsoft Azure per Location

Sometimes it’s realy useful to list all the different VM sizes in Microsoft Azure for one Location, for example ‘West Europe’. You can see for example: the VM size, the number of cores, Memory, Max disk count, OS disk size, Resource disk size, etc.

Very powerful to have an overview when choosing the right virtual machine within Microsoft Azure IaaS.


## Login to your subscription using PowerShell
Login-AzureRmAccount
## List all VM sizes in Location 'West Europe'
Get-AzureRmVMSize -Location 'West Europe'

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How to: Implementing Storage Spaces insides Azure Virtual Machines

Within an Azure Virtual Machine, you should never store your (personal) data on the C: drive or the temporary disk. You can attach new storage disks to the virtual machine, how many disks depends on the VM size you’ve choosen.

View all VM sizes in Microsoft Azure:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/virtual-machines-windows-sizes

In my example I’ve choosen the ‘DS1v2’ VM size, so I can attach two extra (premium storage) disks. Because the maximum size of an disk in Microsoft Azure is 1023 GB, I’ve created multiple disks. Both disks are attached to the virtual machine and we’re going to implement Storage Spaces within the virtual machine. Storage Spaces is software defined storage (SDS) from Windows Server 2012 R2 and above.

Storage Spaces is a built-in Windows Server Role. When combining all the data disks, you can create one, or more, big data volumes in your Windows Virtual Machine. Extremely powerful for example file servers.

1.) First of all I’ve created a new virtual machine using the Azure Portal

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2.) Next I’ve created two new disks (premium storage – SSD) with tthe size of 1023 GB.

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3.) Next I’ve logged in into the new created virtual machine and configured Storage Spaces.

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4.) The next step is to create a new virtual disk

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5.) The final step is to create the new volume for storing your data on.

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As you can see, there’s a new volume of 2 TBwithin the virtual machine. If you’re changing the size of the virtual machine, it is also possible to add some more disks to the virtual machine and extend the Storage Spaces with more terabytes!!

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