Virtualizing SQL Server with VMware: Doing it Right (Vmware Press Technology)

The start-to-finish guide to virtualizing business-critical SQL Server databases on VMware vSphere 5

By virtualizing business-critical databases, enterprises can drive far more value from existing IT infrastructure. But squeezing maximum performance out of a virtualized database instance is an art as much as a science. This indispensable start-to-finish guide brings together all the techniques, tips, and insights you need to succeed.

Drawing on unsurpassed personal experience, three leading experts share complete best practices for deploying business-critical database servers in virtualized vSphere 5 environments. They cover the entire project lifecycle, bridging technical and communications gaps between SQL Server and VMware professionals that often make database virtualization more difficult than it needs to be.

You’ll find specific guidance for architects and administrators responsible for systems, storage, databases, applications, or VMware virtualization. The authors also present detailed, start-to-finish coverage of performance baselining and testing: all you need to make your virtualized databases as fast as they are cost effective. Although this book focuses on SQL, the authors’ proven guidance for enhancing performance can be leveraged by any IT professional virtualizing a demanding Tier 1 application.

Coverage includes

  • Business cases for database virtualization: consolidation, Database as a Service (DaaS), efficiency, and “SLAs on steroids”

  • Using the redundancy inherent in virtualization  to improve availability

  • Constructing a careful, conservative implementation plan

  • Balancing disk, CPU, memory, and network for superior performance

  • Mastering the five key principles of database storage design

  • Leveraging memory: SQL MAX, page locking, NUMA, reservations, swapping, large memory pages, and more

  • Ensuring responsiveness by providing a fast, reliable, low-latency network

  • Supporting advanced AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instances and Availability Groups

  • Baselining physical systems and properly determining resource requirements

  • Configuring performance tests from beginning  to end

  • Migrating existing SQL Server databases  onto a vSphere platform

  • Avoiding traps and pitfalls in virtualizing production databases

  • Managing and monitoring virtualized database instances and resources

Michael Corey (@Michael_Corey) is the President of Ntirety, a division of Hosting. Michael is an experienced entrepreneur and a recognized expert on relational databases, remote database administration, and data warehousing. Microsoft named Michael a SQL

Server MVP, VMware named him a vExpert, and Oracle named him an Oracle Ace. Michael has presented at technical and business conferences from Brazil to Australia. Michael is a past president of the Independent Oracle Users Group; he helped found the Professional Association of SQL Server, is a current board member of the IOUG Cloud SIG, and is actively involved in numerous professional associations and industry user groups. Michael currently sits on the executive committee for the Massachusetts Robert H. Goddard Council for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

Jeff Szastak (@Szastak) is currently a Staff Systems Engineer for VMware. Jeff has been with VMware for over six years, holding various roles with VMware during his tenure. These roles have included being a TAM, Systems Engineer Specialist for Business-Critical Applications, Enterprise Healthcare Systems Engineer, and a CTO Ambassador. Jeff is a recognized expert for virtualizing databases and other high I/O applications on the vSphere platform. Jeff is a regular speaker at VMworld, VMware Partner Exchange, VMware User Groups, and has spoken at several SQL PASS events. Jeff holds a Master of Information Assurance degree as well as the distinguished CISSP certification. Jeff has over 13 “lucky” years in IT and is passionate about helping others find a better way to do IT.

Michael Webster (@vcdxnz001) is based in Auckland, New Zealand. He is a VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX #66), author of longwhiteclouds. com (a top-15 virtualization blog), and a Top 10 Vmworld Session Speaker for 2013. In addition, he is a Senior Solutions and Performance Engineer for Nutanix, vExpert, MCSE, and NPP. Michael specializes in solution architecture and performance engineering for Unix-to-VMware migrations as well as virtualizing business-critical applications such as SQL, Oracle, SAP, Exchange, Enterprise Java Systems, and monster VMs in software-defined data centers. Michael has more than 20 years experience in the IT industry and 10 years experience deploying VMware solutions in large-scale environments around the globe. He is regularly a presenter at VMware VMworld, VMware vForums, VMware User Groups, and other industry events. In addition to this book, Michael was technical reviewer of VCDX Boot Camp and Virtualizing and Tuning Large-Scale Java Platforms, both published by VMware Press.