Stretch Database & Managed Backups Cloud Services for your SQL Servers Andrew Loree – Solution Architect

Goals Learn about Stretch Database & Managed Backups Two Azure service supported features for on-premises SQL Servers Understand related Azure services, how to setup and capacity/cost Demo configuration and examples of using feature Cover practical use-cases that make sense today and limitations for future versions to possibly resolve

Got a question? Andrew Loree

Agenda Managed Backups Azure Storage Overview & Benefits Demo Use-cases & Limitations Stretch Database Azure SQL Server & Database Overview & Benefits Demo Use-cases & Limitations

Help!!! Patience! Azure and SSMS have fast paced release cycles Fast releases == unclear & out-of-date documentation Where to look Slack SQL Community Twitter #sqlhelp Search Connect

Azure Storage Terminology Azure Storage Account – single point of billing and rollup of invoicing for all associated storage containers Two “kinds” of accounts: Classic Resource Manager Azure Storage Container – security and access control point, within an associated storage account Shared Access Signature – delegated access (key) for an application to have limited access to a container (like a SQL Server credential) Resource Groups – grouping of associated services (not just storage accounts or SQL Databases)

Managed Backups Overview & Benefits Manages and automates SQL Server backups to Azuze Blob Storage Why? Simplified backup process, so one less thing to manage & maintain When? Fixed or custom schedules, transaction log size awareness How? Database or instance-wide configuration, just set a retention duration Where? SQL Server 2014+, standard or enterprise Edition, on-premises or IaaS What? Any recovery model, Availability Group-aware, encryption of backup

Managed Backups Requirements Azure Storage Account SQL Server Agent required & must be running - Poor SQL Express Implementation Details New schema(s) in msdb – managed_backup, smart_admin Internal “jobs” – Not visible thru SQL Agent PowerShell CMD’s: Get-SqlSmartAdmin,Set-SqlSmartAdmin,Test-SqlSmartAdmin

Managed Backups Demo!

Managed Backups Notifications Sent via SQL Agent job, with default frequency of every 15 minutes Adjust the job schedule

Managed Backups Limitations 1 to 12 TB size backup size - based upon Storage Account Maximum 30 days retention, no separate log retention No differentials or complex backup strategies After database drop/deletion, backups retained according to the retention period Ad-hoc backups and any other tooling MUST use COPY_ONLY option – don’t break the log chain No option to keep local copy – longer recovery time

Managed Backups Use-Cases Limited infrastructure locations Remote offices and closet data centers No offsite solution for disaster recovery Azure hosted virtual machines running SQL Server IaaS database migrations Others?

Azure SQL DB/Server Terminology Database Transaction Unit (DTU) – performance scaling unit Azure SQL Database Tiers – Service-level groupings, with multiple performance levels within each increasing in DTU’s Basic – think SQL Express Standard – Go-to option for most cloud applications Premium – High transactional volume databases Azure SQL Server – Hosts one or more Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL DB/Server Database Transaction Unit (DTU) Blended measure of CPU, memory, reads/writes Different “tiers” and levels within DTU “Calculator” using perf counter data

Azure SQL DB/Server Database Transfer Unit Updated 7/5/

But wait… Azure SQL Stretch Database != Azure SQL Database With RTM release, new resource type: SQL Stretch Database Database Stretch Units (DSU) Roughly like DTU, but there is no tier levels Storage and snapshot pricing separate

Azure SQL Stretch Database Database Stretch Unit Updated 7/5/

Stretch Database Overview & Benefits Lower cost “cold” storage Transparent to queries/applications* Streamlines on-premises data maintenance Faster backups Divide and conquer indexes * Assumes your tables are candidates for the limitations imposed

Stretch Database Demo

Stretch Database Gotchas! – August 2016 – SQL 2016 CU1 + SSMS July If you get the error: “The subscription is not registered to use namespace 'Microsoft.Sql‘” from the Wizard, run Azure PowerShell commandlet: Register-AzureRmResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.Sql

Stretch Database Limitations You cannot UPDATE or DELETE rows already migrated* Default and check constraints Blob data types – text, ntext, image, xml,… Foreign key constraints as the parent Orders -> Order_Detail Full text or indexed views * Only on Azure side Updated 6/14/

Stretch Database Limitations – part 2 Unique constraints not enforced Cannot INSERT rows in Azure-side No indexed views or filtered indexes No memory optimized and replicated tables No CDC or Change Tracking Updated 6/14/

Stretch Database Use-Cases Offloading log or event type data from more expensive storage Long-term compliance retention scenarios TDE is supported on the Azure Stretch Database Others?

Got a question? Andrew Loree