The Agenda

Most companies have a virtualize and/or cloud-first approach to deploying SQL Server, with physical hardware only used if absolutely required. For those with a sizeable on premises footprint, they are looking to dip a toe into the cloud pool with hybrid architectures that span on premises and their public cloud of choice (Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform). For physical architectures, hyperconverged platforms are all the rage. One thing does not change in all of this: SQL Server must be made highly available.

This full day session will help you transition your SQL Server availability skills that are often tied to physical (and sometimes outdated) concepts and modernize them for the architectures you will be deploying today and tomorrow, whether you are using Windows Server or Linux as the operating system, SQL Server versions up to SQL Server 2019, or Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, Hyper-V, or vSphere as your underlying platform of choice.

Things you will lean include the topics below and more:

• When to use platform-based availability vs. SQL Server features such as Always On Availability Groups when virtualizing or using the public cloud
• How hyperconverged platforms change the approach to physical deployments
• How to understand security, networking, and storage for virtualized and cloud-based architectures
• What not to do when modernizing your SQL Server availability strategies
• How Linux and Windows Server impact the availability choices
• Tips, tricks, and best practices

Venue permitting, there will be a lab for this precon.

Pre-requisites
A basic understanding of the SQL Server availability features and a functional understanding of things like networking and storage.
Laptop Required: Recommended

• Software: There will be a lab exercise done via a browser. Your laptop must comply with these requirements: https://learnondemandsystems.github.io/TMS-Documents/troubleshooting/connectivity-requires.html
• Subscriptions: No subscriptions necessary.