SQL Server® Virtualisation and Consolidation: Hands-On

• Course Info

  You Will Learn How To

  • Implement SQL Server in a virtual environment
  • Select the appropriate consolidation method for your enterprise
  • Deploy databases and achieve high availability
  • Migrate to Virtual Machines (VMs) to maximise uptime and performance
  • Monitor your virtual SQL Server and optimise performance through resource controls

  Hands-On Exercises

  

  • Migrating from a physical to a virtual environment
  • Clustering physical servers for fault tolerance
  • Relocating virtual machines with VMotion and live migration
  • Configuring virtual hardware allocations
  • Performing a recovery using virtualisation tools
  • Monitoring VM performance internally and externally

  Course Content

  Analysing the SQL Server Environment

  Preparing for the virtual environment

  • Dispelling virtualisation myths
  • Investigating the effects of licensing
  • Leveraging the benefits of virtualisation

  Assessing your current environment

  • Defining the characteristics of a virtualisation candidate
  • Determining reasons not to virtualise

  Selecting a Hypervisor

  Contrasting hypervisor architectures

  • Identifying the limiting factors of hosted virtualisation
  • Meeting enterprise demands with bare metal hypervisors

  Differentiating vendor features

  • Microsoft
  • VMware
  • Xen
  • Public vs. private clouds

  Migrating to Virtual Machines (VMs)

  Converting physical to virtual (P2V) platforms

  • Setting the stage for P2V
  • Employing appropriate tools
  • Validating the results

  Transferring databases to virtual machines

  • Choosing a migration strategy
  • Backup/Restore
  • Detach/Attach
  • Mirroring/Log Shipping

  Streamlining future deployments

  • Sysprepping preconfigured systems for cloning
  • Expediting deployments with templates

  Provisioning Virtual Hardware Resources

  Satisfying CPU requirements

  • Increasing performance with virtual processors
  • Distributing workload to optimise performance

  Optimising memory utilisation

  • Allocating memory to SQL Server
  • Locking pages in memory
  • Managing memory from the hypervisor

  Configuring storage for optimum efficiency

  • Stress testing the storage subsystem
  • Reducing disk latency through raw disk access
  • Placing SQL Server files for redundancy and throughput

  Networking SQL Server VMs

  • Increasing availability and performance with multiple interfaces
  • Isolating traffic with dynamic VLANs
  • Considering networking components

  Alleviating bottlenecks

  • Enabling VM portability
  • Automating workload redistribution

  Achieving High Availability

  Surviving host failures

  • Implementing fault tolerance at the hypervisor level
  • Leveraging SQL Server features to increase uptime

  Developing a disaster recovery strategy

  • Evaluating backup solutions
  • Safeguarding backups with SANs and offsite storage
  • Validating your disaster recovery strategy

  Taking snapshots for rapid recovery

  • Minimising the exposure to downtime during upgrades
  • Realising the limitations of snapshots

  Optimising for Performance

  Monitoring SQL Servers

  • Gathering performance metrics from the VM
  • Evaluating resource allocations

  Maximising resource efficiency

  • Managing waits and queues
  • Tuning queries
  • Scheduling tasks effectively

  Virtualising the Business Intelligence (BI) Stack

  • Virtualising a server for Reporting Services
  • Increasing network performance using Affinity
  • Differentiating BI and traditional database usage

  Who Should Attend

  Database administrators and network administrators who are responsible for implementing and managing SQL Server in a virtual environment who have previous experience with SQL Server administration.

  Related Courses

  • SQL Server 2012 Comprehensive Introduction - Course 2107
  • SQL Server 2012 Database Administration - Course 2108
  • SQL Server 2008 Database Administration - Course 138
  • High-Performance SQL Server Databases - Course 535
  • Virtualisation Technologies Comprehensive Introduction - Course 170
  • Deploying VMware vSphere - Course 171
  • Troubleshooting VMware vSphere (5.x) - Course 2701
  • Cloud Computing Comprehensive Introduction - Course 1200

  Training Hours

  First Day Orientation:
  8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

  Standard Class Hours:
  9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

  Last Day Class Hours:
  9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

  Free Optional Course Exam Last Day:
  3:45 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

  Each Class Day:
  Upon Request: Informal discussion with instructor about your work-specific projects or areas of special interest:
  4:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

• More Course Info

  What is this course about?

  As virtualisation and cloud technologies become mainstream there is a drive to run SQL Servers in a virtual environment. Virtualising and consolidating servers allows organisations to access and manage data more efficiently. In this course, you gain the skills needed to leverage the benefits of running SQL Server in a virtual environment. Through hands-on exercises you gain practical experience migrating, configuring and troubleshooting virtualised SQL Server databases.

  Who will benefit from this course?

  This course is designed for database professionals who are tasked with running SQL Server in a virtual environment or system administrators who have responsibility for administering SQL Server in a virtual environment. Typical participants include database administrators and system or network administrators.

  What background do I need?

  It is assumed that participants will have experience administering a SQL Server environment and a working knowledge of the Windows operating system. Specifically, you should have basic SQL Server administrative experience, including:

  • Familiarity with backups and restores
  • Performed daily maintenance on SQL Server databases
  • Database installation
  • Proficiency on the Windows Server OS

  Why should I migrate SQL Server to a Virtual Machine (VM)?

  There are several advantages to running SQL Server in a virtual environment such as inexpensive high availability. Moreover, virtualisation offers flexibility to correct capacity planning issues easier than in a purely physical environment and allows you to “do more with less."

  Does SQL Server performance suffer when moved to a VM?

  Not necessarily. When planned and implemented correctly, performance can be similar and in some cases improved by migrating servers that are well-suited for virtualisation.

  My organisation is not currently running SQL Server 2012 and is planning to virtualise. Is this course valuable to me?

  Yes! Although this course uses servers that are running SQL Server 2012 on Windows Server 2008 R2 many of the techniques used and demonstrated can also be used on older versions of the software.

  Does this course cover the components in Microsoft's Business Intelligence platform?

  The focus of this course is on migrating a SQL Server platform to a virtual environment. While considerations for virtualising BI are discussed, the configuration, management and use of the components are not covered. For more information on BI components, please refer to Course 146, SharePoint^® 2010 Business Intelligence: Hands-On. For more information on Analysis Services, see Course 139, SQL Server^® Analysis Services for Business Intelligence: Hands-On. For Integration Services, see Course 134, SQL Server^® Integration Services for Business Intelligence: Hands-On, and for additional information on Reporting Services, see Course 140, SQL Server^® Reporting Services: Hands-On.

  What platform is used for the hands-on exercises?

  SQL Server 2012 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be used on classroom servers. VMware (ESXi, Workstation), Microsoft's Hyper-V and Xen will be the hypervisors used.

  How much time is spent on each topic?

  Content	Hours
  Introduction to SQL Server virtualisation features	2.0
  Analysing the SQL Server environment	2.0
  Selecting a hypervisor	1.0
  Transferring to Virtual Machines	2.0
  Provisioning virtual hardware resources	4.0
  Achieving high availability	3.0
  Optimising for performance	2.0
  Considering virtualisation of the Business Intelligence stack	1.0

  Times, including the workshops, are estimates; exact times may vary according to the needs of each class.

  How much time is devoted to the hands-on exercises?

  Hands-on exercises provide practical experience managing SQL Server in a virtual environment. Approximately 40 percent of the course is spent on hands-on exercises, which include:

  • Migrating from a physical to a virtual environment
  • Designing a consolidation plan for various scenarios
  • Clustering physical servers for fault tolerance
  • Relocating virtual machines with VMotion and live migration
  • Configuring virtual hardware allocations
  • Performing a recovery using virtualisation tools
  • Monitoring VM performance internally and externally

  How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses?

  Learning Tree offers a complete SQL Server curriculum. The courses you consider depend on your specific job responsibilities. Please refer to the Learning Tree SQL Server Curriculum Q&As for more details. You may be interested in these related courses:

  • 2107, SQL Server® 2012: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction
  • 2108, SQL Server® 2012 Database Administration: Hands-On
  • 138, SQL Server® 2008 Database Administration: Hands-On
  • 535, Developing High-Performance SQL Server® Databases: Hands-On

  If you are interested in courses on virtualisation the following courses may be of benefit to you:

  • 170, Virtualisation Technologies: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction
  • 171, Deploying VMware® vSphere: Hands-On
  • 2701, Troubleshooting VMware® vSphere (5.x): Hands-On

• Certification/Credits

  Many Learning Tree courses provide college credit and industry continuing education credits. You can also earn a Learning Tree Professional Certification in your area of expertise and prepare for popular industry certifications. For continuing professional development information, click here.

• Tuition

  3-Day Fee	New Attendee	Returning Attendee	Notes
  Fee Per Course	£1,595	Call 0800 282 353	Click here for multi-course savings plans. Tuition payment is not required at time of enrolment.