SharePoint 2013 & SQL Server 2012

Alexander Meijers

A talk about what SQL Server version you want to use from a SharePoint 2013 perspective

Introduction• Name: Alexander Meijers• Workplace: Portiva• Role: SharePoint Lead Architect / Project

Lead• Experience: 10+ Years SharePoint

(2003/2007/2010/2013)• SharePoint Enthusiast• Projects: Internet facing websites, Intranet

design, Architecture, Migration, Advisory on infrastructure and development.

Our talk of today…A talk about what SQL Server version you want to use from a SharePoint 2013 perspective

What version of SQL Server?Your customer wants to have SharePoint 2013. So what version of SQL Server you are gonna suggest?

What version of SQL Server?• Obviously you want to go for SQL Server 2012.• Latest released technology• In your mind the best there is

What version of SQL Server?• But is it?• Your customer wants to know why• Why not just use SQL Server 2008 R2?

What version of SQL Server?• You need to convince your customer. • Explain the benefits• Look at the future• Take into account the customer needs

Agenda

The agenda of the presentation

Agenda• The choices you have• Dependencies to make the right choice

Advantages using SQL Server 2012:• Software• Infrastructure• Functional

The choices you have

What are the requirements for SharePoint 2013?

The choices you haveMinimum database requirements for SharePoint 2013

So what do you choose?

SQL Server 2008

• Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2012 and higher

• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1

• All 64 bit

SQL Server 2012

• Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2012 and higher

• Microsoft SQL Server 2012

• All 64 bit

Dependencies

What has influence on the choice between the two SQL Server versions?

Influencers• Roles which could influence the choice between the SQL Server versions• Decisions are based on requirements, infrastructure and used solutions

Developers

Business

IT Departme

nt

Levels of dependencies• Infrastructure• Functional Requirements• Knowledge level• Costs

Infrastructure• Are there other solutions inside the organization

depending on SQL Server• Shared SQL Server platform• There could be a shared platform based on SQL Server 2008

• Do we comply to the governance rules set by the IT department?

• Backup & Recovery• Updates & Service Packs• Multiple versions of SQL Server

• Is it possible to grow at our current infrastructure location?

• On premise / Virtual• Cloud• Hosting Service

• Monitoring tools (SCOM, etc.) should support SQL Server 2012

Functional requirements• Do some requirements need SharePoint

2013 Enterprise functionality?• Excel Services• Performance Point Services• Reporting Server• Access Services

• Performance requirements• Blob storage

• Scalability• International organization with multiple farms at different geographic locations

• Future • To prevent SQL Server version upgrades from 2008 to 2012

• Depending on functionality it is possible that developers use technology depending on the SQL Server version

Knowledge level• What is the current level of knowledge

at the IT Department?• Is additional training required and possible?• Does the hosting service support the new technology?

• Time• Are employees available for training?

Costs• Licenses• Differences in CALs depending on SQL Server version

• Additional hardware due to higher specifications

• Training• Change in Service Level Agreement and

contracts• Possible when infrastructure is hosted at a hosting service

• More FTE needed at IT Department• Temporarily two versions of SQL Server when doing a migration to SharePoint 2013• More servers due to an extra farm because other solutions use other SQL Server

versions

And then?• All the things we just discussed have to be considered when making a decision

• But to convince the business and the IT Department and to get your story right, you will need to know what the advantages are of using SQL Server 2012 at different levels• Software• Infrastructure• Functional

Software level

The advantages of SQL Server 2012 at software level

Advantages - Software• SQL Versions• SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 will only have standard support (at October 2013)• SQL Server 2012 is released for over a year now and is seen as “proven” technology

• Licensing• SQL Server 2008 R2 is Server+CAL or Processor based• SQL Server 2012 is Server+CAL or Core-Based

• Much faster due to xVelocity• Primarly in-memory processing• Enabled when you choose “Tabular mode”, a new type of analysis services database

structure• Replacement of “VertiPaq” in SQL Server 2008 called “xVelocity in-memory analytics

engine”

Advantages – Mixed Licenses• SharePoint 2013 allows you to use

partly enterprise license functionality.• For example; one division of 20 people

inside an organization of 1000 people uses the BI functionality.

• Only 20 Enterprise CAL’s are needed, the other 990 CAL’s are standard

• This increases the chance that enterprise functionality is going to be used which needs SQL Server 2012

Infrastructure level

The advantages of SQL Server 2012 at infrastructure level

AvailabilitySQL Server 2008 R2 SQL Server 2012

Application Level

Database LevelMirroring

Log shippingAlwaysOn

Availability Groups

Instance Level ClusteringAlwaysOn Failover Cluster

Instances

Machine Level

Advantages – (High) Availability

AlwaysOnAlwaysOn provides a high-availability and disaster-recovery solution for SQL Server 2012.

• Designed to support “High Availability”• Uses WSFC to perform failovers• Failover takes place automatic, manual or forced• Creates up to 4 readable secondary replicas• Built-in compression & encryption• Introduction of Availability Groups• Part of SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition

AlwaysOn Availability GroupsAlwaysOn Availability Groups allow you to configure groups of databases you would like to failover all together when there is a problem with the host server

• It replaces database mirroring • Has more features due to AlwaysOn• Allows failover of multiple databases which are related to each other

AlwaysOn Availability Groups

• Multi-database failover

• Multiple secondary's – Total of 4 secondary's– 2 synchronous

secondary's

• Synchronous and asynchronous data movement when high latency is required

• Built in compression and encryption

• Automatic page repair for corrupt pages

• Automatic and manual failover (new design)

• Flexible failover policy

• Application failover using virtual name for faster failover

• Configuration Wizard

• Dashboard

• System Center Integration

• Rich diagnostic infrastructure

• File-stream replication

• Replication publisher failover

• Active Secondary– Readable Secondary– Backup from

Secondary– Improves primary

server performance by offloading work to secondary

• Monitoring and Troubleshooting enhanced

• Automation using PowerShell

AlwaysOn SQL Failover Cluster InstancesIs intended to replace the SQL Server clustering technology

• It uses WSFC to provide high availability• Automatic failover when application, operating system or hardware fails• Minimizes downtime during a failure• Allows across multiple subnets

“High Availability” in comparisonHigh Availability and Disaster Recovery

SQL Server Solution

Potential Data Loss

(RPO)

Potential Recovery

Time (RTO)

Automatic Failover

Readable Secondaries(1)

AlwaysOn Availability Group - synchronous-commit

Zero Seconds Yes(4) 0 - 2

AlwaysOn Availability Group - asynchronous-commit

Seconds Minutes No 0 - 4

AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instance NA(5) Seconds-to-minutes

Yes NA

Database Mirroring(2) - High-safety (sync + witness)

Zero Seconds Yes NA

Database Mirroring(2) - High-performance (async) Seconds(6) Minutes(6) No NA

Log Shipping Minutes(6) Minutes-to-hours(6)

No Not duringa restore

Backup, Copy, Restore(3) Hours(6) Hours-to-days(6)

No Not duringa restore(1) An AlwaysOn Availability Group can have no more than a total of four secondary replicas, regardless of type.

(2) This feature will be removed in a future version of Microsoft SQL Server. Use AlwaysOn Availability Groups instead.

(3) Backup, Copy, Restore is appropriate for disaster recovery, but not for high availability.

(4) Automatic failover of an availability group is not supported to or from a failover cluster instance.

(5) The FCI itself doesn’t provide data protection; data loss is dependent upon the storage system implementation.

(6) Highly dependent upon the workload, data volume, and failover procedures.

Source: Whitepaper “Microsoft SQL Server AlwaysOn Solutions Guidefor High Availability and Disaster Recovery”

Advantages – Cross-Cluster Migration• Moves one availability group or a batch

of availability groups to a new, destination Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) cluster with minimal downtime

• Only available with SQL Server 2012 SP 1 and AlwaysOn enabled

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Advantages – Windows Azure Blob Storage Windows Azure Blob storage is a service for storing large amounts of unstructured data that can be accessed from anywhere in the world via HTTP or HTTPS. Use for example as a backup strategy for SharePoint databases.

• SQL Server Backup / Restore with WABS service• Better alternative for tapes

• backup file which is stored through WABS service is directly available to either an on-premises SQL Server or another SQL Server running in a Windows Azure Virtual Machine• Without the need for database attach/detach• Without downloading and attaching the VHD

Advantages – Windows Azure Blob Storage When backup file is stored through WABS service

• Cost Benefits because you use an off-site backup archive option. • You only pay for the service that is used

• When off-site there is no overhead of hardware management

Advantages – BLOB storageFilestream data type allows you to store unstructured data such as documents and images on a file system.

• Storage of BLOBS• Copying files to disk

• SQL Server 2008 was insecure due to storage in files which allows people with the right permissions to open them

• With SQL Server 2012 BLOBs are stored with the SQL Server shell and are only available through SQL Security

• Dramatic increase of speed• Document insertion• Document retrieval

Functional level

The advantages of SQL Server 2012 at functional level

Advantages – Report Server• Use of Report Server and Reporting Services Add-in with SharePoint 2013• Direct Access from within SharePoint 2013• Running 30-60% faster

• Alert users when data in a report has changed

• Single dashboard for data in SharePoint

• SQL, Excel, PerformancePoint, Report Services all together

• Only available in combination with SQL Server 2012 SP 1

Advantages – Power PivotAllows users to manipulate large data sets, integration of data and possible analysis through SharePoint 2013• New Excel 2013 features like • Filter data when importing or just import a subset• Advanced data models which allows you to enhance the data model, create

relationships and use drag and drop• Define you own calculate fields (workbook)• Define KPI’s

• Only available in combination with SQL Server 2012 SP 1 CPT3 Analysis Services

Advantages – Power ViewPower View enables quick and easy visualization of your data while allowing sharing and collaboration of business insights in a familiar SharePoint Server environment

• Based on Silverlight to enhance report appearances

• Cross-reference related data

• Only available in combination with SQL Server 2012

Wrap up

Wrap up• Take into account the dependencies like

governance, current infrastructure, knowledge and costs

• Faster, more functionality and “proven” technology

• High Availability due to AlwaysOn technology• Tighter integration with SharePoint 2013 with

Power Pivot and Power View• At a functional level for future purposes it is

better to have SQL Server 2012. (use mixed licenses)

THANK YOU