Voice of the DBA

Tag: Azure

  • The Subtle Push to the Cloud

    With SQL Server 2014 released, there’s the temptation to upgrade for many DBAs. However the licensing costs and debatable improvements in the product will temper the DBA’s enthusiasm with the reality of the ROI seen by management. While reading about the licensing changes, I also saw this note from Tom LaRock, where he wrote about the features most of us aren’t using. It made me think about upgrades, and perhaps the strategy Microsoft is employing.

    As Tom mentioned, the features not being used are Enterprise Edition features. This prevents many of us from upgrading to use them because Enterprise Edition is so expensive. Actually, even Standard Edition is expansive these days, given the per-core licensing, and I suspect lots of companies with SQL Server 2008, 2005, even 2000 are debating whether or not the upgrade is really worth the cost.

    The piece also mentions that Azure is much less expensive in the short term, and you should consider it. Of course at some point the money you pay will be more than buying a license and a server, but that assumes you run them for the same length of time. You’ll likely upgrade at some point, and if you upgrade both hardware and software, the cloud starts to look more attractive.

    It’s not simple to move into the cloud, nor is it appropriate for some applications, but it does seem that Microsoft would prefer to have most companies running in Azure, on a single platform they run, they patch, and they support. Many companies might prefer the same thing, though I do worry that we might find the on-premises version of many products becoming second class citizens. Vendors will spend less on development and support if too many customers move to the cloud.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

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  • If we can do it, so can you

    We hear constantly about the benefits, and potential pitfalls of cloud based applications. There are certainly reasons to move to the cloud, or stay away, depending on your particular situation and requirements. However one thing I hadn’t thought was viable was software development in the cloud. Most of the companies I’ve seen that host applications in the cloud still do the development on desktops and laptops, with a build server somewhere on site. However Microsoft wants to show us that this isn’t necessary.

    There is a push inside Microsoft to perform more of their development in the cloud. Across the last year or two, various managers inside Microsoft have been moving development to the cloud, typically starting with testing and code analysis. Those are great fits for cloud services, since they are used at discrete periods, but may requite lots of resources. One of the interesting things in the piece was that the first objectives was to speed up the continuous integration process. At Red Gate (my employer), we’ve seen a lot of benefits from implementing continuous integration, both in our applications and databases, and we’ve done a lot of work to smooth out those processes.

    Obviously Microsoft might have an advantage over many of our other companies in terms of Azure resources and cost, but I would bet the reliability is similar for their developers. If they can make it work, on products like Windows, SQL Server, Sharepoint and more, I’d think that many of us could make use of the platform as well. I know a few people that have worked with TFS on Azure, and they’ve been pleased with the performance and reliability. There are any number of other software services, like GitHub, that make use of distributed, cloud-based services for software development.

    However even if you don’t want to use the Azure platform, the idea of using virtual systems, of spinning up and down the machines you need to perform various functions makes lots of sense. You can make better use of your hardware resources, and even schedule continuous integration services (builds, tests, analysis) for different teams (or applications) at different times, improving your efficiency and not only speeding up your development processes, but hopefully improving the quality of the final code.

    Steve Jones

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  • Exploring a Database in Azure

    After creating my Azure account, I wasn’t sure where to go next. Fortunately I had an immediate project that occupied my attention: a public Adventureworks database.

    As we noted, Red Gate and SQLServerCentral agreed to host the database and cover costs. Once Jamie Thomson transferred the database to my subscription, which didn’t seem too hard, although slightly confusing, it showed up in my list of objects.

    azure_i

    I drilled down to the sql databases to ensure this was the only object there, and it was.

    azure_j

    I wasn’t sure what I could do, so I clicked on the database. I do tend to be an RTFM guy at the beginning, but I was curious how easy they’ve made things. This is what I saw:

    azure_k

    It’s a good list of things, although since I have SSDT installed, I didn’t need the first item. I guess if you have SSDT installed you would know it, and the link is handy. The interesting thing for me was the “Server” string at the bottom of the panel.

    I wonder if it works.

    Jamie had given me the admin name and password, and I plugged this into Management Studio, along with the connection string.

    azure_l

    Sure enough, it connected, and changing to the AdventureWorks2012 database, I could query the objects.

    azure_m

    I decided to test Object Explorer as well, and that was interesting. I had a very cut down version of what I normally see for a SQL Server instance.

    azure_n

    Most of the “instance” level stuff was gone. I could see the master database, and my own database, but no others.

    Since this was a new instance, one of the first things I decided to do was create my own login account. I right clicked “Logins” and selected “New Login”. I go this:

    azure_o

    A template for a script. That’s interesting. No GUI version of the login creation dialog. I used CTRL+Shift+M to fill in the template stuff.

    azure_p

    That’s not my password, but I did choose a nice, long one. I executed the script to create a login and then went to add a user. Once again, I got a script from the GUI.

    azure_q

    I changed this and created my user to map to my login.

    This let me log into the system, and set myself as a db_owner. However I wasn’t an administrator. That’s for another post.

  • The Speed of Azure

    We should be able to deploy a new SQL instance as easy as this.
    We should be able to deploy a new SQL instance as easy as this.

    As database administrators we seem to be slow to embrace new technologies and paradigms. There was a lack of enthhusiasm from DBAs for SANs years ago, and virtual machines more recently, at a time when many other technology professioanls were embracing these ideas. Even today there is resistance from some people, and sometimes with good reason. SQL Servers are not like other servers and have much different hardware requirements. Too often the virtual machine and storage administrators do not appreciate that SQL Servers need different architectures.

    Lately the cloud services push is seeing lots of resistance from DBAs. Various vendors and media hype the idea and potential savings, which then convince management that systems need to be moved or built in the cloud. There are some applications that fit better in the cloud, but not all of them. I certainly don’t want sensitive information in the cloud, at least until we work out some of the legalities for who owns, controls, and responds to subpoena about data.

    The applications that make sense seem to be those that are distributed with lots of paying clients. I ran across a blog that looked at some of the companies that have moved into the Azure cloud with pieces of their businesses and been quite pleased with the results. Quite a few of these are cost-scalable by clients, meaning that a new user or customer is paying some fee that makes it economical to add new databases and servers for that client. If they leave, you can shut down their server.

    It’s definitely easier to start an application in the cloud rather than move an existing one. The architecture is different from an on-premise application, and that means code changes. Not something many companies want to engage in, given the past success of such projects. However the cost savings can be significant for new projects, if those new projects involve investment in equipment, facilities, people, or some combination of all of those.

    However one of the biggest items I see mentioned why companies like cloud platforms like Azure is the speed of deployment. To me that means that the IT infrastructure people, from storage to admin to DBAs, are falling down on the job. There’s no reason we can’t deploy new machines as quickly as Azure these days.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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