Enabling Database as a Service with the Microsoft Private Cloud Stack

Hello Readers,

During the course of the last few weeks and months, we’ve been publishing many different articles related to automating database deployments, templates for database workloads in Windows Azure Pack (WAP), blog posts about how to leverage the WAP APIs to work with virtual machines and/or databases, and many others. All of these relate to specific subtopics in a larger “Database as a Service” solution.

Well, now is the time to bring everything together, and summarize some ways to enable Database as a Service with the Microsoft Private Cloud stack!

This time, instead of writing a blog post series, we’re providing the content as a downloadable document, similar to an eBook format. This will also simplify offline reading when needed.

This document

– titled Enabling Database as a Service with the Microsoft Private Cloud stack

is available here:

DownloadButton

  The document includes:

  • An actual overview of the components of a Database as a Service stack
  • When using Windows Azure Pack (WAP), a high level “how to” configure resources and plans in the context of Database as a Service, and a set of Frequently Asked Questions, sometimes redirecting to deep dive links and blog posts.
  • Alternative ways to do this with System Center – including previously released “Self-Service Kits” – are also summarized in the context of WAP
  • And, as a bonus, there is a section about “Why Windows Server and System Center to virtualize and manage SQL Server environments”.

Update : In May 2015, this paper was updated with the latest changes and enhancements in Update Rollups (UR) 3, 5 and 6 for Windows Azure Pack. There are also a few additional FAQ entries in the second part of the document. Download link remains the same, and blog post for v1.1 is here.


Full agenda

The full agenda follows:

1. First, let’s define “Database as a Service”

2. Delivering Database as a Service scenarios through System Center and the Windows Azure Pack

  • Preparing the VM Clouds fabric

                   - Templates for virtual machines with SQL Server

  • Preparing the SQL Servers fabric
  • Enabling Database as a Service for tenants, through Plans and subscriptions
  • Looking at the tenant experience

                   - Plan subscription

                   - Creating a virtual machine with SQL Server installed

                   - Creating a database

3. Some requirements that make Windows Azure Pack a good fit for Database as a Service

4. Frequently Asked Questions about Database as a Service in the context of Windows Azure Pack

  • Do I need to use both the VM Clouds and the SQL Server resource providers?
  • What if I like the shared approach, but want to provide more dedicated servers to my tenants?
  • How can I can provide additional value added services for my tenants when plans are subscribed?
  • Can I pre-provision resources for my tenants, when they subscribe to my plans?
  • Using Windows Azure Pack, can I also enable Database as a Service for other types of database software?
  • My processes are largely based on ITIL today. How can I combine ITIL with Database as a Service?
  • When using the shared model with the SQL Server Resource Provider, how can I ensure my tenants get their fair share of performance?
  • Can I get data for potential chargeback with my tenants?

5. Other options with System Center

6. Looking beyond Database as a Service: Why Microsoft to virtualize and manage SQL Server

 


And, finally, here are the links leveraged throughout the document, provided as a reference for convenience:


We hope this all up document on the Database as a Service topic will be helpful. Thanks for reading and, as always, feel free to share any feedback!