AWS Webcast - Implementing Windows and SQL Server with High Availability on AWS

Implementing Windows and SQL Server
for High Availability on AWS

Presented by Miles Ward
Content by David Pae & Ulf Schoo
Deck by Colin White

1

Before You Get Started
This is an advanced topic. If you are new to AWS, please visit
the “Getting Started with AWS” section of the documentation.
You should also be familiar with the following:
• Amazon EC2
•
•
•
•
•

Amazon VPC
Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012
Windows Server Active Directory and DNS
Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC)
SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups
2

Introduction
The goal of a high availability configuration is to protect from failure of a single instance.
This guide discusses architectural considerations and configuration steps when launching
the necessary AWS services to run WSFC across different subnets and Availability Zones,
and also provides instructions for installing and configuring WSFC and an AlwaysOn
Availability Group. We also provide you with two sample AWS CloudFormation templates to
help deploy the necessary infrastructure predictably and repeatedly.
Implementing a WSFC cluster and AlwaysOn Availability Group in the AWS cloud is not
different from deploying on-premises as long as two requirements are met:

• Deploy the cluster nodes inside a VPC
• Put WSFC cluster nodes in separate subnets
This presentation gives an overview of the process to create the example solution. It does
not outline each step. For the detailed overview, please consult the whitepaper available
here: http://aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/microsoft-wsfc-sql-alwayson/
3

Microsoft Platform on AWS
Microsoft “License Mobility through Software Assurance” gives Microsoft Volume
Licensing customers the flexibility to deploy Windows Server applications with
active Software Assurance (SA) on Amazon Web Services.
• Partnership to support running Windows
Server-based workloads on AWS
• Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) with
Windows Server and SQL Server today that
were jointly developed by Microsoft and AWS
• SharePoint Server and other Microsoft server
products can be licensed to run on AWS
*General info on AWS and License Mobility for a variety of MS server products:
http://aws.amazon.com/windows/mslicensemobility/

Two licensing models:
Pay-as-you-go – AMI
pricing includes
software

BYOL – use existing
licenses on AWS

•Windows Server
•SQL Server Standard

•SQL Server Enterprise
•SharePoint Server
•Other qualifying Microsoft Windows Server
products*

Detail on AWS and License Mobility with SQL Server:
http://aws.amazon.com/windows/mslicensemobility/sql/

4

Summary – What You Will Learn

Part 1

Configure the Virtual Network and
Active Directory Infrastructure

Part 2

Launch the WSFC Cluster Nodes

Part 3

Install a SQL Server 2012
AlwaysOn Availability Group

5

Summary – What You Will Build
One Amazon VPC

Per Availability Zone
• 4 private subnets and 1 public subnet

One public route

• 1 private route
• 1 Windows Server 2008 R2–based Remote Desktop Gateway instance
• 1 Linux-based NAT instance to enable administrative ingress and egress

One Internet Gateway
Security Groups

• 2 Elastic IP Addresses associated with the NAT and RDGW instances

• 1 Windows Server 2008 R2–based instance to host the Active Directory
• 1 Windows Server 2008 R2–based instance to host the WSFC Node and
SQL Server 2012 Instance

to control the secure flow of traffic between
the instances deployed in the Amazon VPC

6

see whitepaper for high resolution diagram

7

Part 1: Configure the Virtual Network
and Active Directory Infrastructure

8

Introduction
Let’s start with the necessary infrastructure and virtual network setup to provide
the environment in which you instantiate and configure your servers and
database. WSFC provides infrastructure features that complement the high
availability and disaster recovery scenarios supported in the AWS cloud.

Amazon EC2 provides the ability to place instances in multiple locations,
composed of Availability Zones and regions. Regions are dispersed and located
in separate geographic areas. Availability Zones are distinct locations within a
region that are engineered to be isolated from failures in other Availability Zones.
We provide two sample AWS CloudFormation templates to help you deploy the
necessary and correctly configured infrastructure predictably and repeatedly.

Part 1: Configure the Virtual Network and Active Directory Infrastructure

9

Scripted Deployment
Sample Template-1 allows for customization
of 23 defined parameters:
KeyPairName
ADServer1InstanceType
ADServer2InstanceType
ADServer1NetBIOSName
ADServer2NetBIOSName
ADServer1PrivateIp
ADServer2PrivateIp
NATInstanceType
RDGWInstanceType

DomainDNSName
DomainNetBIOSName
RestoreModePassword
DomainAdminUser
DomainAdminPassword
SQLAdminUser
SQLAdminPassword
PublicSubnet1CIDR
PublicSubnet2CIDR

PrivateSubnet1CIDR
PrivateSubnet2CIDR
PrivateSubnet3CIDR
PrivateSubnet4CIDR
PrivateSubnet5CIDR
PrivateSubnet6CIDR
PrivateSubnet7CIDR
PrivateSubnet8CIDR
VPCCIDR

Template-1 takes about
1 hour and 20 minutes
to complete all tasks
default values for all parameters are included in the whitepaper

10


11

Part 2: Launch the WSFC Cluster Nodes

12

Scripted Deployment

Template-2 helps you deploy the
WSFC Nodes into AWS architecture
• Deploys Windows Server 2008 R2–based instances as
WSFC nodes into their respective subnets
• Renames the instance to a friendly NetBIOS name of
your choice
• Joins the Windows instances to the domain
• Adds the SQL Service Account (e.g., sqlsa) to the local
Administrator Group
• Installs the WSFC feature
• Downloads a SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition
Evaluation copy onto the instance
• Opens the TCP ports 1433, 1434, 4022, 5022, and 135


Template-2 takes about
50 minutes
to complete all tasks

13

Create the WSFC Cluster

Steps to create the cluster:
• Create private IP addresses
for both nodes of the cluster
• Test and validate configuration
• Create cluster
• Change to static IP and assign
private addresses
• Bring online
• Create file share witness and
set Quorum Configuration
(full 29 step process outlined in the whitepaper)


14


15

Part 3: Install a SQL Server 2012
AlwaysOn Availability Group

16

Introduction

The next steps are to download and install SQL Server
2012 Enterprise Edition from Microsoft, enable AlwaysOn
high availability for your database, and create a new
Availability Group.
If you have chosen the scripted deployment option, the trial
version of the software from the Microsoft download site is
automatically added to the instance for you.

Part 3: Install a SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Group

17

Part 3 in Steps

• Set Up SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition

• Enable AlwaysOn High Availability
• Create a Test Database or
Attach an Existing Database

• Create an Availability Group

18

Part 3 in Steps




19

Set Up SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition

Create service account on
primary Domain Controller
•
•
•
•

Connect with Remote Desktop
Open Server Manager
Create service account
Create and share replica folder

Install SQL on each node
• Connect with Remote Desktop
• Install SQL Server
• Follow wizard steps provided

20

Part 3 in Steps




21

Enable AlwaysOn High Availability

For each cluster node:
• Connect with Remote Desktop
• Enable AlwaysOn Availability Groups
in SQL Configuration Manager
• Restart the SQL Server service
MSSQLSERVER


22

Part 3 in Steps




23

Create a Test Database or Attach an Existing Database
• Using SQL Server Management
Studio, connect to the first cluster
node (e.g., WSFCNode1)

• Create a new database or attach
a test database
• Set the Recovery model to Full
• Run a Backup


24

Part 3 in Steps




25

Create an Availability Group
• In Object Explorer launch the New
Availability Group wizard and follow it
according to the guide provided
• Run Windows PowerShell to adjust the
Listener Host Record TTL
• Connect via Remote Desktop Gateway to
the Primary Domain Controller
• Open Server Manager and Check DNS to
ensure all availability group Listeners’ IP
addresses are listed


26


27

Conclusion
Summary
In this presentation, we gave an overview of the steps to implement the necessary
infrastructure in the AWS cloud to set up and configure Windows Server Failover Clustering
and SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups. The resulting sample implementation
supports the following scenarios:
• Protect from failure of a single instance
• Provide automatic failover between the cluster nodes
• Protect from failure of the instance placed in the secondary Availability Zone and
automatically failover to the primary one

We recommend you consult the Microsoft documentation and customize some of the steps
described in this guide to deploy a solution that best meets your HA and DR needs.
Testing
Before putting the solution into production, you should test your deployment and familiarize
yourself with the clusters behavior during a high availability automatic failover or a disaster
recovery event. There is a full testing process outlined in the whitepaper.
28

Additional Resources
Web Pages
Microsoft on AWS
http://aws.amazon.com/microsoft/
Windows on AWS (includes pricing)
http://aws.amazon.com/windows/

Whitepapers
Implementing Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clustering
and SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups
Exchange Server 2010 Planning and Implementation Guide
Microsoft SharePoint Server on AWS: Reference Architecture

SharePoint on AWS
http://aws.amazon.com/windows/sharepoint/quickstart/

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 in the AWS Cloud:
Planning & Implementation Guide

AWS Windows and .NET Developer Center (with sdk)
http://aws.amazon.com/net/

Secure Microsoft Applications on AWS

Amazon EC2 Windows Guide
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/
Microsoft Licensing
http://aws.amazon.com/windows/mslicensemobility/
Covers Exchange, SharePoint, SQL, Lync, SCOM, and Dynamics.
See page for specific details, including which versions are covered.

Relational Database Management Systems in the Cloud:
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

Contact Us
https://aws.amazon.com/microsoft/contact-us/
If you have either business or technical questions about running
Microsoft software on AWS, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

29

AWS Partner Network
A selection of APN members that specialize in Microsoft Exchange workloads

Smartronix

Booz Allen

Slalom

http://www.smartronix.com

http://www.boozallen.com

http://www.slalom.com/

AIS

RDA

Metalogix

http://www.appliedis.com

http://www.rdacorp.com

http://www.metalogix.com

Test Drive
The Test Drive program enables customers to quickly and easily explore the benefits of using Microsoft
server software on AWS. Developed by APN Consulting and Technology partners, these labs are
provided free of charge for demonstrational purposes. Each Test Drive lab includes up to 5 hours of
complimentary AWS server time. Two Exchange test drives are highlighted, the program also includes
versions for SharePoint, SQL, and storage. http://aws.amazon.com/testdrive/microsoft/
SQL Server AlwaysOn

SQL Developer Lab

This test lab demonstrates the high availability
feature of SQL Server 2012, deployed across
two Data Centers. The lab provides an intuitive
web interface to visualize and validate various
failover scenarios.

This lab gets you up and running in a Microsoft
.NET / SQL Server developer environment to
show how easy it is to publish and update a site
using the Microsoft platform, using VS Express
for Web and the C# language.

31

Implementing Windows and SQL Server
for High Availability on AWS

Thank You

32

AWS Webcast - Implementing Windows and SQL Server with High Availability on AWS

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