SPRING 2018 Softchoice Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Migration Guide 1
Contents ABOUT THE AUTHORS 3 STEVE THOMPSON 3 PATRICK O LEARY 3 SQL SERVER 2017 MIGRATION GUIDE 4 BUSINESS VALUE OF SQL SERVER 2017 ENHANCEMENTS 4 MIGRATION OPTIONS 5 In-place Upgrade 5 Side-by-side Migration 6 Azure Migration 7 OTHER CONSIDERATIONS 8 SSRS (SQL Services Reporting Services) 8 SQL LICENSING 9 What does Server/CAL licensing mean? 9 Should I use Per User or Per Device? 10 What does Per Core licensing mean? 11 Should I License Per Core or S/CAL? 11 Software Assurance for SQL 12 License Mobility Rights 13 Unlimited Virtualization 13 SQL in Test/Dev Environments 13 FAQ 14 HOW WE CAN HELP SQL SERVER TECHCHECK ASSESSMENT 15 Develop better insights into your SQL environment 15 HOW TO GET STARTED 16 2
ABOUT THE AUTHORS Steve Thompson PROFESSIONAL SERVICES SENIOR CONSULTANT Steve has achieved MVP (Microsoft Valuable Professional) every year since 1995. With a background in Windows Server, SQL Server, as DBA and advocate for SQL Server technology, started working with Systems Management Server when it was a v1.1 release. Steve tends to specialize in System Center products, however, has a deep and wide knowledge of the Microsoft infrastructure. Industry speaker has presented at numerous Microsoft Management Summit events.first awarded MVP in Microsoft Access in Dec 1995, transitioned into SQL Server MVP for a few years before joining the System Center team as a Configuration Manager MVP Author: System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager: A Practical Handbook for Reporting. Contributing author for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Unleashed (SAMS) and expert on SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services). Presented at Microsoft TechEd 2014 event to over 1,100 attendees. Patrick O Leary MICROSOFT PRACTICE LEAD Patrick O Leary is Microsoft Practice Leader at Softchoice with over 18 years of IT management, consulting and administration experience. He has been an IT manager as well as a consulting engineer focused on deploying hosted, private and public cloud solutions as well as on premise infrastructures and collaboration systems. 3
Business value of SQL Server 2017 Enhancements Technology is at the forefront of the transformation of all businesses. The disruptive transformation is driven by three major trends: The explosion of data, Intelligence from machine learning and advanced analytics and Economics and agility of cloud computing Databases were not designed with such disruption in mind, until now. Microsoft built SQL Server 2017 for this new world, and to help businesses get ahead of today s continuous evolution. It supports advanced analytics and machine learning, hybrid transactional/analytical processing, mobile BI, data integration, always encrypted query processing capabilities and in-memory transactions. It s cloud-first approach allows its features to be first deployed and tested in Azure, across 22 global datacenters and billions of requests per day. Not only does SQL Server 2017 offer 100X faster analytics, it is also the only commercial database that leads simultaneously in both transaction processing and data warehousing. Therefore, it allows you to realize incredible performance against massive data sets and gain real-time insights across all workloads. Its unique hybrid capabilities enable deployment on private clouds, hosted clouds and public clouds including Microsoft Azure. New Stretch Database technology allows you to dynamically, transparently and securely stretch your transactional data to Azure, creating a massive database with great price performance. With the proliferation of the latest security threats, the SQL Server 2017 is designed with security in mind. SQL holds the honors of being be the industry s least vulnerable database, six years running, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) public security board. Superior capabilities in SQL Server 2017 help protect data at rest and in memory (Always Encrypted), encrypt all user data with low performance overhead (Transparent Data Encryption), mitigate attacks with support for Transport Layer Security version 1.2. The new SQL Server 2017 delivers not just a relational database, but an entire data platform for your business with incredible TCO. We ve written this guide to help you with your migration journey. We cover migration, licensing options best suited for your business and services available to help you in that process. 4
Migration Options One of the challenges of upgrading SQL Server to the latest version, is deciding the proper upgrade path. There are several options available, these will be described next along with advantages and disadvantages. Planning a SQL Server migration is an essential part of the process to minimize potential downtime and data loss. In-place Upgrade An In-place migration from SQL Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012 and 2014 (on premise) to SQL Server 2017 is supported. The proper way to implement an in-place upgrade is to use the SQL Server Installation Wizard, to upgrade existing SQL Server components to SQL Server 2017. When SQL Server is upgraded, the previous SQL Server instance will be overwritten and will no longer exist on your server. Before upgrading, be sure to have a reliable back up of your SQL Server databases and files associated with your SQL Server Instance. Advantages: Simple, wizard driven process SQL Server upgraded upon completion May be appropriate for lab or development environments Disadvantages: Possible binaries left behind due to upgrade No real back out plan if upgrade fails No recourse if applications can no longer access SQL Instance Existing Operating System remains (disadvantage if previous version) 5
Side-by-side Migration The side-by-side migration involves setting up a new SQL Server 2017 instance on a new Windows Server. Additional planning is required to implement this migration option, however, there are a number of advantages. There are several approaches for the side-by-side migration of the databases. 1) Use the traditional SQL Server database backup and restore 2) Detach the database files, copy database files to the new server and reattach the database files 3) Use the Copy Database Wizard to migrate the databases to the new server Note: Of the three methods, backing up and restoring databases is the authors favorite. Advantages: Easier rollback strategy, if something goes wrong, change connection strings to point back to the prior server. Excellent opportunity to refresh server hardware (or introduce virtualization!) Excellent opportunity to refresh the operating system. (Chances are that SQL Server 2008 R2 instance is running on Windows Server 2008) Ability to run SQL Servers side-by-side for testing and verification Best for large databases because restore time could be sizable Disadvantages: Does not preserve SQL Server 2008 (or 2005) functionality Instance name will need to change for connecting applications 6
Azure Migration Prior versions of SQL Server are supported in Microsoft Azure, however SQL Server 2017 has added a number of new features and options for cloud based support. These options will be discussed next. Azure Options Azure SQL Database part of PaaS (Platform as a Service) offering allows migration of a SQL Server database (and a few non-sql Server databases as well) to Azure SQL Database. This solution may be appropriate for databases that are external facing. Use the Deploy a SQL Server Database to a Microsoft Azure SQL Database wizard to assist in your database migration. Azure SQL Server on IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) this offering provides a Windows Server Operating system virtual machine with a full version of SQL Server running on this VM. This platform gives you complete control over the Operating System and SQL Server. Virtual machine workloads can be scaled up or out as needed. There are a few techniques to achieve this service offering: Use the Deploy a SQL Server Database to a Microsoft Azure VM wizard, Traditional backup and restore to the Azure SQL Server Instance Detach, copy and reattach database files Convert existing on-premise machine to Hyper-V VHDs and upload to Azure Extended Database also known as a stretch database, stretch warm and cold transactional data dynamically from SQL Server to Microsoft Azure with SQL Server Stretch Database. Unlike typical cold data storage, your data is always online and available to query. Applications do not need to change queries to access data in either local or remote databases. Can reduce on-premise data maintenance as cold data is automatically transferred to Azure based on defined settings. Hybrid DR / High Availability Always On Availability Groups (AOAG) - SQL Server 2017 AlwaysOn Availability Groups use Windows Azure in a couple of different ways. On-premises SQL Server instances can use the new Windows Azure configuration options in the AlwaysOn Availability Group wizard (Add Azure Replica Wizard) to create one or more asynchronous secondary replicas on Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) services. This enables you to manually fail over to a SQL Server instance running on Windows Azure. As with a typical secondary replica, Windows Azure replicas can be used to offload reporting workloads and to perform backups. 7
In addition, you can also use SQL Server 2017 AlwaysOn Availability Groups to provide high availability for SQL Server databases hosted in Windows Azure. SQL Server 2017 instances running on Windows Azure IaaS Services can configure a synchronous secondary replica in Azure for automatic failover in case of server or VM failure. Other Considerations SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) Include a migration plan for Reporting Services as well. There are two general paths to upgrade a SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) environment, Upgrade or Migrate. Upgrade Using the in-place upgrade technique mentioned earlier, upgrade the SSRS components where they are installed. This technique cannot be used to move the SSRS instance between Modes. For example; an in-place upgrade could not be used to migrate the SSRS instance from Native Mode to SharePoint Mode. Migrate Similar to the side-by-side migration strategy, a new SSRS instance is enabled; either in Native or SharePoint Mode. A copy of the existing SSRS reports, encryption keys and required configuration files are copied to the new SSRS instance. Microsoft has provided a number of techniques to upgrade or migrate SQL Server from previous versions. With proper design, planning and selection of available SQL Server migration options, downtime can be kept to a minimum. More importantly, business critical applications will have a more robust and reliable data platform when complete. Continue >>> 8
SQL Licensing SQL Server is licensed in two different models depending on the edition of SQL. The licensing models are Server/CAL and Per Core. The different editions are Standard edition, Business Intelligence edition, and Enterprise edition. 2017 Licensing Options Server/CAL Per Core Microcoft SQL Server Standard Microcoft SQL Server Business Intelligence Microcoft SQL Server Enterprise Available Available Not Available Available Not Available Available What does Server/CAL licensing mean? Server/CAL licensing is very common among Microsoft products. A SQL Server license is required for each server (either a physical server or a virtual machine) that SQL will be installed on. A CAL (Client Access License) is then required for every end user or end device that will be accessing that SQL instance directly or indirectly. Directly is a simple enough concept as it would mean anyone that logs into the SQL Server to directly update data or to create rows, columns, or queries. Indirectly accessing SQL is something many are not aware of, but means if an end user or end device is accessing an application that has SQL as a backend database that is either storing or querying the data. This even applies to multiple intermediary devices or applications. For example: a customized CRM solution is built on top of SharePoint and SQL is a backend requirement for SharePoint. Even though end users would only be directly accessing the custom CRM solution and even though there are possibly multiple physical servers/devices between the SQL backend and the end user, a CAL is still needed. The CALs can be licensed for either per user or per device, and are the same cost regardless. Per User A licensed user can access SQL directly or indirectly from any device they need. This is a good option when a single user will be accessing SQL via multiple devices. Per Device Any user can access SQL directly or indirectly from that licensed device. This is a good option when a single device is shared between multiple users and those users will not be accessing SQL from other devices. 9
Should I use Per User or Per Device? The following diagram shows where per user licensing would be most effective. A single end user is accessing SQL indirectly (multiplexing through multiple other servers), but using multiple devices. The single user CAL is more cost effective than purchasing three device CALs. SQL Application Server Application Server The following diagram shows where per device licenses would be most effective. Multiple end users are using the same single device to access SQL indirectly (multiplexing through multiple other servers). SQL Application Server Application Server Softchoice Tip: While SQL CALs are the same cost whether they are per device or per user, other CALs (like Windows Server) are not. Please contact Softchoice for advice on your particular use case to ensure you re optimally licensed across your entire solution. 10
What does Per Core licensing mean? Per Core licensing negates the need for CALs and instead requires licensing of the number of cores on the server. With this licensing model, you must determine if SQL is installed in a physical environment or a virtual environment. For SQL installed on a physical server (so a non-virtualized instance), you must license all of the physical cores on the machine. For example: a two processor, 6 cores per processor machine would require 12 cores of SQL licensing (2 proc * 6 cores each = 12 cores required). For SQL installed on a virtual server, you must license the number of virtual cores (v-cores) that are allocated to the VM that SQL is installed on, with a minimum of 4 cores of licensing per VM. What is a v-core? A v-core is a virtual processor, virtual CPU, or virtual thread depending on the terminology you re familiar with and the terminology that your hyper-visor uses. For licensing purposes, a v-core maps to a hardware thread on the physical processor. Should I License Per Core or S/CAL? There are two considerations to think about when answering this question: 1. Is the solution that SQL is a part of externally facing or not? If it is externally facing, it should be licensed per core as providing a CAL for a large number of external user would be cost prohibitive, and likely impossible to compliantly track. 2. Compare the cost of the number of cores in question versus the number of servers and CALs required. At Softchoice, we are happy to do this comparison for you, walk you through the results, and help you make an informed decision. 11
Software Assurance for SQL Software Assurance (SA) grants much more than simply upgrade rights when it comes to SQL. SA includes benefits that are very important when it comes to how you use and license SQL within your environment. Free Passive Instance SQL and the data that is contained and processed by SQL is usually critical to the business and downtime is very rarely acceptable. As such, a best practice is to have both an Active SQL instance and a Passive SQL instance running in the event of a crash of the Active SQL instance. The Passive instance, which has had data replicated to it can pick up where the primary left off which enables minimal interruption to the business until the primary instance is back up and running. Most Microsoft licensing requires an individual license be purchased for each instance if they are both turned on and running at the same time. With SQL with SA, the passive instance is free so long as there is no active workload being put on the passive instance, except in case of failure of the primary. Below you see an active/passive SQL diagram in which only the Active SQL with SA needs to be licensed. The passive instance is free. Application Server Active SQL with SA 12 cores Passive SQL 12 cores 12
License Mobility Rights Software Assurance gives a right called License Mobility which allows for SQL Server licenses to move dynamically from one physical host to another physical host within a server farm as often as needed. It also allows you to host your own SQL license on a 3rd party server (Azure for instance). License Mobility within Server Farms One benefit of virtualization is the ability for a VM to move from physical host to physical host depending on fault tolerance, load balancing, or failover. The right for a SQL VM to move dynamically from physical host to physical host as often as desired is a function of software assurance. Without SA, the VM is only able to move to a new physical host once every 90 days. For SQL installed on a VM, we always recommend software assurance. Licensed Mobility within 3rd party datacenters As hosting and public cloud solutions become more and more common, Microsoft has provided a Software Assurance right to help clients maximize their IT investment around SQL by allowing a Bring Your Own License (BYOL) option for SQL with SA. When you use a VM in the cloud, you pay for two things on a per/minute basis; cost of the hardware and cost of the operating system. You can also provision a VM within cloud providers like Azure to include a product like SQL. This adds to your cost per minute by including the license cost for SQL. Alternatively, you can BYOL of SQL to Azure, install it on the VM you have provisioned, and still only pay for the hardware and OS cost (you have already paid for your license of SQL). Unlimited Virtualization Specific to SQL Enterprise Per Core licensing with SA, if you license all of the physical cores on a host server, you can have unlimited SQL on that host server upon which you have just licensed all of the physical cores. SQL in Test/Dev Environments When licensing a test/dev environment, an organization should use MSDN licenses instead of production licenses. MSDN licenses are user based licenses and allow for licensed users to deploy, use and access Microsoft products for test/dev use, without having to purchase full production licenses. 13
FAQ Q: If I only have one component of SQL Server installed on a server, do I need a license? A: Yes, any component of SQL Server installed on a server requires that the server be licensed. However, if you have already licensed a server, you can install multiple components on that already licensed server. Q: For Test/Dev, what specific MSDN license do I need? A: Different MSDN subscriptions have different Test/Dev allowances, I recommend speaking with Softchoice to discuss your unique situation to ensure you re optimally licensed. Q: What is the Microsoft definition of Test/Dev? A: If a system or environment is connected to live production data, it is production. Q: If I have multiple SQL Servers in the S/CAL model, do I need multiple CALs for a single User before I access those? A: No, a single SQL CAL will license the User to access ANY of your SQL Servers that you have in your production environment. Q: If I own SQL Enterprise, can I deploy and run Standard? A: Yes, SQL is one of the few Microsoft products with down-edition rights in which you can license with Enterprise but run the lesser version, Standard, instead. 14
How we can help SQL Server TechCheck Assessment Develop better insights into your SQL environment The Softchoice SQL Server TechCheck is a consultative engagement designed to arm you with better insights into your existing SQL deployments, and to optimize your use of existing SQL Server licenses. Additionally, it maximizes the conversion from the Processor to Core model. We also look at consolidation scenarios as a way to maximize your licensing both for on-premises and hosted cloud scenarios. Milestone Client Benefit Data Collection Discovery scan via the free Microsoft MAP Tool, an agentless scanning tool that does not transmit data outside of your network. Discover your entire SQL footprint, including unknown and zombie servers, utilizing a Microsoft-approved tool. Baseline Current State We analyze the resulting data, taking into account SQL-specific concerns such as virtualization, clustering, and edition-specific use rights. Understand the current-state of SQL deployments and their impact on licensing requirements. Evaluate Entitlements Detailed comparison and analysis of existing licenses to current installed footprint. Know whether you are under or over-licensed based on your current state. Identify areas to maximize your existing licensing. Conversion from Processor to Core Model Prepare a conversion table from Processor to Core model. Provides a report you can send to Microsoft to maximize your processor-to-core grant at SA renewal More accurately forecasts your future licensing entitlement and costs. Evaluate Existing Performance Requirements Optionally, we will analyze the performance of your SQL servers to generate a consolidation scenario. Understand the potential benefits of building a dedicated SQL VM environment, for license optimization and cost control. Understand the potential impact of cloud-hosting with Azure. 15
About Us Softchoice is a leading North American services and solutions provider, offering professional services, procurement and architecture excellence in all areas of the data center. With a deep bench of Microsoft technical experts, we are the leading Enterprise Agreement reseller in the United States and Canada, and we offer a series of non-biased data-driven assessments that help our clients chart the best path for their business needs. How to get started Contact your Softchoice Account Manager today to understand the best path forward and how to accelerate your organization s journey to SQL 2017. Connect with us today. 1.800.268.7638 softchoice.com/microsoft/sql @softchoice facebook.com/softchoice 16