Download EMC VSPEX FOR VIRTUALIZED MICROSOFT SQL SERVER 2012 WITH VMWARE VSPHERE

Implementation Guide
EMC VSPEX FOR VIRTUALIZED MICROSOFT
SQL SERVER 2012 WITH VMWARE VSPHERE
EMC VSPEX
Abstract
This Implementation Guide describes the high-level steps required to deploy
Microsoft SQL Server on an EMC® VSPEX™ Proven Infrastructure enabled by
VMware vSphere 5.1 and EMC VNX® . The guide provides information on SQL
Server 2012 implementations.
April 2013
Copyright © 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA.
Published April 2013
EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate of its publication date.
The information is subject to change without notice.
The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC Corporation makes no
representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this
publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or
fitness for a particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software
described in this publication requires an applicable software license.
EMC2, EMC, and the EMC logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC
Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used
herein are the property of their respective owners.
For the most up-to-date regulatory document for your product line, go to the technical
documentation and advisories section on the EMC Online Support website.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Part Number H11457
2
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Contents
Chapter 1
Introduction ........................................................................ 11
Purpose of this guide................................................................................... 12
Business value ............................................................................................ 12
Scope .......................................................................................................... 12
Audience ..................................................................................................... 13
Terminology ................................................................................................ 13
Chapter 2
Before You Start .................................................................. 15
Overview ..................................................................................................... 16
Pre-deployment tasks .......................................................................................... 16
Documentation workflow ............................................................................. 17
Deployment prerequisites ........................................................................... 17
Plan and size SQL Server ............................................................................. 20
Support resources ....................................................................................... 23
Design Guide ....................................................................................................... 23
Solution Overviews .............................................................................................. 23
Top Reasons ........................................................................................................ 23
VSPEX Proven Infrastructure ................................................................................. 23
Chapter 3
Solution Overview ............................................................... 25
Overview ..................................................................................................... 26
Solution architecture ................................................................................... 26
Key components .......................................................................................... 27
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 ................................................................................... 28
EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure ......................................................................... 28
EMC VNX family .................................................................................................... 29
EMC Unisphere .................................................................................................... 30
VMware vSphere 5.1 ............................................................................................ 31
EMC Virtual Storage Integrator for VMware ........................................................... 31
VNX VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration support ...................................... 31
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
3
Contents
EMC Avamar ......................................................................................................... 31
EMC Data Domain ................................................................................................ 32
EMC PowerPath/VE .............................................................................................. 32
Chapter 4
Solution Implementation ..................................................... 33
Overview ..................................................................................................... 34
Physical setup ............................................................................................. 34
Overview of physical setup................................................................................... 34
Network implementation ............................................................................. 34
Overview of network implementation ................................................................... 34
Storage implementation .............................................................................. 35
Overview of storage implementation .................................................................... 35
Set up initial VNX/VNXe configuration .................................................................. 36
Provision storage for NFS datastore ...................................................................... 36
Provision storage for application pool disks ......................................................... 37
Example storage layouts ...................................................................................... 39
FAST Cache configuration ..................................................................................... 40
FAST VP configuration .......................................................................................... 41
EMC XtremSW Cache configuration ...................................................................... 42
ESXi and vCenter implementation ................................................................ 45
Overview of ESXi and vCenter implementation ..................................................... 45
Multipathing implementation ...................................................................... 47
Overview of multipathing implementation ............................................................ 47
PowerPath configuration for iSCSI storage ............................................................ 47
SQL Server virtualization implementation .................................................... 48
Overview of SQL Server virtualization implementation.......................................... 48
Create SQL Server virtual machines ..................................................................... 48
Install guest OS .................................................................................................... 49
Assign an IP address ............................................................................................ 49
Create SQL Server service accounts ...................................................................... 49
Create virtual disks for SQL Server........................................................................ 49
Application implementation ........................................................................ 51
Overview of application implementation .............................................................. 51
Install SQL Server 2012 instances ........................................................................ 52
Deploy SQL Server OLTP system ........................................................................... 57
Configure SQL Server 2012 .................................................................................. 58
Backup and recovery implementation .......................................................... 61
Overview of backup and recovery implementation ............................................... 61
Considerations ..................................................................................................... 61
Minimum backup software and hardware requirements ....................................... 62
4
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Avamar plug-in for SQL Server – software requirements ....................................... 62
Required account privileges ................................................................................. 64
Deploy backup software ....................................................................................... 65
Chapter 5
Solution Verification ........................................................... 71
Baseline hardware verification..................................................................... 72
Overview of baseline hardware verification .......................................................... 72
Verify ESXi functionality ....................................................................................... 72
Verify solution components redundancy .............................................................. 72
Monitor the solution’s health ............................................................................... 73
SQL Server OLTP performance verification.................................................... 73
Overview of SQL Server performance verification.................................................. 73
Baseline performance verification ........................................................................ 74
FAST Cache performance acceleration .................................................................. 76
Backup and recovery verification ................................................................. 79
Verify backup and recovery .................................................................................. 79
Chapter 6
Reference Documentation ................................................... 81
EMC documentation .................................................................................... 82
Product documentation ............................................................................... 82
Other documentation .................................................................................. 82
Links ........................................................................................................... 83
Appendix A
Configuration Worksheet ..................................................... 85
Configuration worksheet for SQL Server ....................................................... 86
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
5
Contents
6
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Figures
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Figure 4.
Figure 5.
Figure 6.
Figure 7.
Figure 8.
Figure 9.
Figure 10.
Figure 11.
Figure 12.
Figure 13.
Figure 14.
Figure 15.
Figure 16.
Figure 17.
Figure 18.
Figure 19.
Figure 20.
Figure 21.
Figure 22.
Figure 23.
Figure 24.
Figure 25.
Figure 26.
Solution architecture .......................................................................... 27
VSPEX Proven Infrastructure ............................................................... 28
SQL Server storage elements on VMware vSphere 5.1 platform .......... 36
Example storage layout for VNX .......................................................... 39
Example storage layout for VNXe ........................................................ 40
Storage Pool Properties—FAST Cache enabled .................................... 41
Expand Storage Pool dialog box ......................................................... 42
EMC Virtual Storage Integrator XtremSW Cache management ............. 44
EMC Virtual Storage Integrator XtremSW Cache monitor ..................... 44
Creating a new virtual disk.................................................................. 50
Formatting disk .................................................................................. 51
SQL Server 2012 Installation Center ................................................... 53
SQL Server 2012 Setup Role in the installation wizard ........................ 54
SQL Server 2012 Feature Selection in the installation wizard .............. 55
SQL Server 2012 Instance Configuration in the installation wizard ..... 55
SQL Server 2012 Database Engine Configuration ................................ 56
SQL Server 2012 installation completed ............................................. 57
Grant “Lock Pages in Memory” ........................................................... 58
Grant “Perform volume maintenance tasks” ....................................... 59
Set the maximum server memory ........................................................ 60
Manage All Datasets window .............................................................. 66
Edit Dataset window—Options............................................................ 67
New Group window ............................................................................. 68
Avamar Administrator Group backup .................................................. 69
Comparison between the baseline performance and the FAST Cache
accelerated performance .................................................................... 78
Fast Cache warmup ............................................................................ 78
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
7
Figures
8
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Tables
Table 1.
Table 2.
Table 3.
Table 4.
Table 5.
Table 6.
Table 7.
Table 8.
Table 9.
Table 10.
Table 11.
Table 12.
Table 13.
Table 14.
Table 15.
Table 16.
Table 17.
Table 18.
Table 19.
Table 20.
Table 21.
Table 22.
Table 23.
Table 24.
Table 25.
Table 26.
Table 27.
Table 28.
Table 29.
Table 30.
Table 31.
Table 32.
Table 33.
Table 34.
Table 35.
Table 36.
Table 37.
Terminology........................................................................................ 13
Tasks for pre-deployment ................................................................... 16
VSPEX for virtualized SQL Server deployment process ........................ 17
Deployment prerequisites checklist .................................................... 18
Storage pools ..................................................................................... 20
Example of customer evaluation—250 GB user database ................... 20
Example of required resources – medium-sized user database .......... 21
Example of storage recommendations – medium-sized user database 22
Tasks for physical setup ..................................................................... 34
Tasks for switch and network configuration ........................................ 34
Tasks for storage configuration ........................................................... 35
Example of additional storage layout for virtual machine operating
system on VNX ................................................................................... 37
Storage layout example on VNXe ........................................................ 37
Storage layout example on VNX .......................................................... 38
Steps for ESXi and vCenter installation and configuration ................... 45
SQL Server host virtual machine installation and configuration .......... 48
SQL Server reference virtual machine ................................................. 49
Example of VMDK and virtual disk storage layout ............................... 49
Tasks to implement a SQL Server deployment .................................... 51
Hardware requirements ...................................................................... 62
Services and writers used by Avamar plug-in for SQL Server VSS ........ 65
Tasks for verifying the VSPEX installation ........................................... 72
Tools to monitor the VSPEX for virtualized SQL Server solution ........... 73
Example of key metrics in a SQL Server deployment ........................... 74
SQL Server virtual machine profile ...................................................... 74
SQL Server LUN design ....................................................................... 75
Key metrics for SQL Server—250 GB ................................................... 75
FAST Cache configuration ................................................................... 76
Example of key metrics in a SQL Server deployment ........................... 76
Key metrics for SQL Server – 250 GB................................................... 77
Comparison between the baseline performance and the FAST cache
accelerated performance .................................................................... 77
Common server information ............................................................... 86
ESXi server information ...................................................................... 86
Array information ................................................................................ 87
Network infrastructure information ..................................................... 87
VLAN information ............................................................................... 87
Service accounts ................................................................................ 88
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
9
Tables
10
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 1
Introduction
This chapter presents the following topics:
Purpose of this guide ................................................................................. 12
Business value .......................................................................................... 12
Scope ........................................................................................................ 12
Audience ................................................................................................... 13
Terminology............................................................................................... 13
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
11
Chapter 1: Introduction
Purpose of this guide
EMC® VSPEX™ Proven Infrastructure is optimized for virtualizing business-critical
applications. VSPEX gives partners the ability to design and implement the virtual
resources necessary to satisfy the requirements for deploying Microsoft SQL Server
on any VSPEX Private Cloud.
EMC VSPEX for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 provides a validated system, capable of
hosting a virtualized SQL Server solution at a consistent performance level. This
Proven Infrastructure solution is layered on a VSPEX Private Cloud for VMware
vSphere architecture and uses the highly available EMC VNX® family of storage
systems. EMC Avamar® and EMC Data Domain® enable partners to adopt a purposebuilt backup appliance for SQL Server. The compute and network components, while
vendor-definable, are designed to be redundant and are sufficiently powerful to
handle the processing and data needs of the virtual machine environment.
This Implementation Guide describes how to implement the virtual resources
necessary to satisfy the requirements for deploying Microsoft SQL Server on any
VSPEX Private-Cloud platform.
Business value
VSPEX enables customers to accelerate their IT transformation with faster
deployments, simplified management, backup, and storage provisioning. Customers
can realize greater efficiency with higher application availability, increased storage
utilization, and faster and leaner backups. In addition, VSPEX provides customers
with flexibility of choice when selecting a hypervisor, server, and network to address
the requirements of their SQL Server environments.
The designed methodology and best practices of EMC backup and recovery systems
are to:

Reduce the customer’s backup storage requirements and costs

Meet backup windows

Enable fast disk-based recovery
Scope
This guide describes the high-level steps required to deploy SQL Server on a VSPEX
Private Cloud with vSphere and VNX. The guide provides guidance on SQL Server
implementations. This guide assumes that a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure already
exists in the customer environment.
This guide applies to VSPEX Proven Infrastructures virtualized with vSphere on VNX.
This document provides an example of a deployment on an EMC VNX5500. The same
principles and guidelines apply to any other VNX or VNXe® model.
12
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 1: Introduction
Audience
This guide is intended for internal EMC personnel and qualified EMC VSPEX Partners.
The guide assumes that VSPEX Partners who intend to deploy this VSPEX Proven
Infrastructure for virtualized SQL Server are:

Qualified by Microsoft to sell and implement SQL Server solutions

Certified in SQL Server, ideally with one or both of the following Microsoft
certifications:

Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA)

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE)

Microsoft Certified Solutions Master (MCSM)

Qualified by EMC to sell, install, and configure the VNX family of storage
systems

Certified to sell VSPEX Proven Infrastructures

Qualified to sell, install, and configure the network and server products
required for VSPEX Proven Infrastructures
Readers must also have the necessary technical training and background to install
and configure:

VMware vSphere virtualization platforms

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 operating systems (OS)

Microsoft SQL Server 2012

EMC next-generation backup, which includes Avamar and Data Domain
External references are provided where applicable and EMC recommends that readers
are familiar with these documents. For details, see Support resources.
Terminology
Table 1 lists the terminology used in the guide.
Table 1.
Terminology
Term
Definition
AD
Active Directory
CIFS
Common Internet File System
DBCC
Database consistency check
DNS
Domain Name System
DRS
Distributed Resource Scheduler
FAST VP
Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual
Pools
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
13
Chapter 1: Introduction
14
Term
Definition
File group
SQL Server database objects and files
group
IOPS
Input/output operations per second
LSN
Log sequence number
NFS
Network file system
NIC
Network interface card
NTP
Network Time Protocol
OLTP
Online transaction processing. Typical
applications of Online transaction
processing include data entry and retrieval
transaction processing.
Reference virtual machine
Represents a unit of measure for a single
virtual machine to quantify the compute
resources in a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure
rpm
Revolutions per minute
RTM
Release to manufacturing
tempdb
tempdb refers to a system database used
by Microsoft SQL Server as a temporary
working area during processing.
TPS
Transactions per second
VDI
Virtual Device Interface
VMDK
VMware Virtual Machine Disk
VMFS
VMware Virtual Machine File System
VSS
Volume Shadow Copy Service
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 2
Before You Start
This chapter presents the following topic:
Overview ................................................................................................... 16
Documentation workflow ........................................................................... 17
Deployment prerequisites .......................................................................... 17
Plan and size SQL Server ............................................................................ 20
Support resources ..................................................................................... 23
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
15
Chapter 2: Before You Start
Overview
Before you implement a virtual SQL Server on a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure, EMC
recommends you check and complete the pre-deployment tasks, as shown in Predeployment tasks.
Pre-deployment
tasks
Pre-deployment tasks include procedures that do not directly relate to environment
installation and configuration, but whose results are needed at the time of
installation. Examples of pre-deployment tasks include the collection of hostnames,
IP addresses, VLAN IDs, license keys, installation media, and so on. These tasks
should be performed before a customer visit to decrease the time required on site.
This guide is based on the recommendations of the EMC VSPEX Sizing Tool and the
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Design Guide.
Table 2 shows a list of pre-deployment tasks.
Table 2.
Tasks for pre-deployment
Task
Description
Reference
Gather documents
Gather the related documents
listed in Support resources.
Support resources
These are referred to
throughout this document to
provide details on set-up
procedures and deployment
best practices for the various
components of the solution.
16
Gather tools
Gather the required and
optional tools for the
deployment. Use Table 4 to
confirm that all equipment,
software, and appropriate
licenses are available before
the deployment process.
Deployment prerequisites
Gather data
Collect the customer-specific
configuration data for
networking, naming, and
required accounts. Enter this
information into the
Configuration worksheet for
reference during the
deployment process.
Configuration worksheet for
SQL Server
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 2: Before You Start
Documentation workflow
EMC recommends that you refer to the process flow in Table 3 to design and
implement your VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for SQL Server.
Table 3.
VSPEX for virtualized SQL Server deployment process
Step
Action
1
Use the VSPEX SQL Server qualification worksheet to collect user
requirements. The qualification worksheet is in the Design Guide.
2
Use the VSPEX Sizing Tool to determine the recommended the VSPEX Proven
Infrastructure for SQL Server 2012, based on the user requirements collected
in Step 1.
Note In the event that the VSPEX Sizing Tool is not available, you can
manually size SQL Server using the sizing guidelines in Appendix B of the
Design Guide.
3
Determine the final design for the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for virtualized
SQL Server. Refer to the Design Guide for guidance.
Note Ensure that all application requirements are considered, not just this
application.
4
Select and order the right solution. Refer to the appropriate VSPEX Proven
Infrastructure document in Support resources for guidance.
5
Deploy and test your VSPEX solution. Refer to this Implementation Guide.
Note This guide describes how to implement the solution. If you already
have a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure environment, you can skip the sections
for the implementation steps already completed.
Deployment prerequisites
This guide applies to VSPEX Proven Infrastructures for virtualized SQL Server
solutions with VMware on the EMC VNX family of storage systems. The example
provided and carried through this guide is for a deployment on a VNX5500. The same
principles and guidance applies to all other models in the family.
Table 4 itemizes the hardware, software, and license requirements to configure the
solution. For additional information, refer to the hardware and software tables in the
appropriate VSPEX Proven Infrastructure document listed in Support resources.
Note
If you already have a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure environment, you can skip
this section.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
17
Chapter 2: Before You Start
Table 4.
Requirement
Deployment prerequisites checklist
Description
Version
Reference notes
Physical servers: Sufficient
physical server capacity to host
the required number of virtual
machines as recommended by
the Design Guide and VSPEX
Sizing Tool.

EMC VSPEX Private Cloud
VMware vSphere 5.1 for up
to 100 Virtual Machines

EMC VSPEX Private Cloud
VMware vSphere 5.1 for up
to 500 Virtual Machines
VMware vSphere 5.1 servers to
host virtual infrastructure
servers.
Note This requirement may
be covered in the existing
infrastructure.
Hardware
Networking: Switch port
capacity and capabilities as
required by the virtual server
infrastructure.
EMC VNX/VNXe: Multiprotocol
storage array with the required
disk layout.
Note The storage should be
sufficient to support the total
reference virtual machines
required and the additional
storage layout for applications.
Software
18
Backup: EMC Avamar
Gen 4 in a single
node
configuration
VNX Operating Environment
(OE) for file
Release 7.0.53-2
VNX OE for block
Release 32
EMC Unisphere for VNX
1.2.0.1.0556
EMC Unisphere for VNXe
1.8.1.10050
EMC VSI for VMware vSphere:
Unified Storage Management
5.1
EMC VSI for VMware vSphere:
Storage Viewer
5.1
EMC vStorage API for Array
Integration plug-in
Release for
vSphere 5.1
EMC Online Support
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 2: Before You Start
Requirement
Licenses
Description
Version
EMC PowerPath® /VE (optional)
5.7
VMware ESXi
5.1
VMware vCenter Server
5.1
Microsoft Windows Server (for
SQL Server)
Microsoft
Windows Server
2012 Standard (or
higher) with latest
update
Microsoft SQL Server
2012 Enterprise
Edition Release to
manufacturing
(RTM) with latest
update
Microsoft SQL Server
2012 Standard (or
higher) edition
RTM with latest
update
EMC Avamar
6.1 in server and
client versions
Microsoft Windows Server
license keys
2012 Standard (or
higher)
Reference notes
VMware website
For backup and recovery
Note This requirement may
be covered by an existing
Software Assurance agreement
and may be found on an
existing customer Microsoft
Key Management Server (KMS)
(if applicable).
Microsoft SQL Server license
key
2012
Note This requirement may
be covered by existing
infrastructure.
VMware vSphere license keys
5.1
VMware website
Note This may covered in the
VSPEX Proven Infrastructure
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
19
Chapter 2: Before You Start
Requirement
Description
Version
Reference notes
FAST Cache enabler
N/A
FAST Cache enabler
FAST enabler
N/A
FAST enabler
Plan and size SQL Server
To plan and size your SQL Server instances, you must follow the recommendations
and VSPEX Sizing Tool proposals introduced in the Design Guide EMC VSPEX for
Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server.
In this VSPEX for virtualized SQL Server solution, we1 used the following storage pool
configuration as detailed in Table 5.
Table 5.
Storage pools
Pool name
Purpose
VSPEX private cloud
pool
This is the pool where all the virtual machine operating system
volumes reside.
SQL Server data pool
This is the pool where the online transaction processing (OLTP)
database data resides.
SQL Server log and
tempdb database
pool
This is the pool where user database log and tempdb database
reside.
The example used in this guide is the medium-sized example described in the Design
Guide - Example 2: Medium-sized SQL Server OLTP instance with single user
database. A customer wants to create a business-critical SQL Server user database on
a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure. You should complete the evaluation, as shown in
Table 6.
Table 6.
1
20
Example of customer evaluation—250 GB user database
Question
Example answer
Do you have an existing SQL Server database
that you would like to size for in the
environment?
Yes
In this guide, “we” refers to the EMC Solutions engineering team that validated the solution.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 2: Before You Start
Question
Example answer
How many databases to be deployed?
1
What is the size of the user database?
250 GB
What is the estimated annual growth rate
(%)?
10
Do you intend to use FAST Cache?
Yes
What is the maximum number of
Input/output operations per second (IOPS)
the system should support?
2,000
What is the expected transactions per
second (TPS) at peak loads (optional
question)?
500
What is the required tempdb size (optional
question)?
N/A
After you have received a completed qualification worksheet from the customer, and
entered those answers into the VSPEX Sizing Tool, you will see results similar to those
shown below.

Required resources table that lists the number of virtual machines and their
characteristics.

Storage recommendations table that lists the additional storage hardware
that is required to run the OLTP workload—this is in addition to the VSPEX
private cloud pool.
Table 7 and Table 8 are examples based on the customer information provided in
Table 6. In this guide, we used the resources shown in these tables. The suggested
storage layout is in addition to the VSPEX private cloud pool.
Table 7.
Example of required resources – medium-sized user database
SQL Server
vCPU
Memory
OS volume capacity
OS volume IOPS
SQL Server
4 vCPUs
16 GB
Less than 100 GB
(4
reference
virtual
machines)
(8
reference
virtual
machines)
(1 reference virtual
machine)
Less than 25
IOPS
Total reference
virtual machines
8
(1 reference
virtual machine)
For details on how the total number of reference virtual machine is calculated, refer to
the Design Guide.
In this guide, we used the resources shown in Table 7 for the medium-sized SQL
Server user database.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
21
Chapter 2: Before You Start
The values of individual resources (CPU, memory, capacity, and IOPS) are rounded up
to the closest whole number, to determine the equivalent reference virtual machines
required for each SQL Server instance.
For example, the SQL Server instance for the medium-sized user database requires
four vCPUs, 16 GB of memory, 100 GB of storage, and 25 IOPS. This translates to:

Four reference virtual machines for the CPU requirement

Eight reference virtual machines for the memory requirement

One reference virtual machine for the capacity requirement

One reference virtual machine for the IOPS requirement
We should use the maximum reference virtual machines to support the performance
requirement, therefore the recommended reference virtual machine number should
be eight for the designed SQL Server instance, multiplied by the number of virtual
machines needed (one in this example), which results in eight reference virtual
machines in total.
For more details about how to determine the equivalent reference virtual machines,
refer to the appropriate document in Support resources.
Table 8.
Example of storage recommendations – medium-sized user database
Recommended additional storage layout for SQL Server 2012
22
Pool name
RAID type
Disk type
Disk capacity
Number
of disks
SQL Server user
database data pool
RAID 5
SAS disks 15,000
Revolutions per
minute (rpm)
600 GB
5
SQL Server user database log and
tempdb pool
RAID 10
SAS disks 15,000 rpm
600 GB
4
FAST Cache
RAID 1
Flash drive
100 GB
2
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 2: Before You Start
Support resources
EMC recommends that you read the following documents, available from the VSPEX
space in the EMC Community Network or from EMC.com or the VSPEX Proven
Infrastructure partner portal.
Design Guide
The related Design Guide is listed below.

Solution
Overviews
Top Reasons
VSPEX Proven
Infrastructure
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server
Related Solution Overviews are listed below.

EMC VSPEX Server Virtualization for Midmarket Businesses

EMC VSPEX Server Virtualization for Small and Medium Businesses
Related Top Reasons documents are listed below.

Top Reasons Customers Virtualize with VSPEX

Top Reasons Why Customers Virtualize Their Servers with EMC VSPEX
Related VSPEX Proven Infrastructure documents are listed below.

EMC VSPEX Private Cloud VMware vSphere 5.1 for up to 100 Virtual Machines

EMC VSPEX Private Cloud VMware vSphere 5.1 for up to 500 Virtual Machines
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
23
Chapter 2: Before You Start
24
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 3
Solution Overview
This chapter presents the following topics:
Overview
..................................................................................... 26
Solution architecture ................................................................................. 26
Key components ..................................................................................... 27
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
25
Chapter 3: Solution Overview
Overview
This chapter provides an overview of the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for virtualized
Microsoft SQL Server and the key technologies used in this solution. This VSPEX for
virtualized SQL Server solution supports all VSPEX virtualization offerings for SQL
Server on VMware. This guide uses EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for up to 500
virtual machines as the working example.
This VSPEX for virtualized SQL Server solution was validated using VNX and VMware
virtualized Windows server platforms to provide storage and server hardware
consolidation.
The solution described in this guide includes servers, storage, network, backup and
recovery, and SQL Server components that are focused on midrange environments.
The solution enables customers to quickly and consistently deploy a medium
virtualized SQL Server instance in a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure.
The VNX and VNXe storage arrays are multiprotocol platforms that can support the
Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI), Network file system (NFS), and
Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocols depending on the customer’s specific
needs. The solution was validated using NFS for data storage.
This solution requires the presence of Active Directory (AD) and Domain Name System
(DNS). The implementation of these services is beyond the scope of this guide, but
these are considered prerequisites for a successful deployment.
Solution architecture
Figure 1 shows an example of the architecture that characterizes the validated
infrastructure for the support of a SQL Server platform on a VSPEX Proven
Infrastructure.
In this solution, all SQL Server instances are deployed as virtual machines on vSphere
clusters. VMware vCenter Server requires a database service to store configuration
and monitoring details. VNX or VNXe is used to provide the back-end storage
functionality, but you can use any model that has been validated as part of the VSPEX
Proven Infrastructures.
The optional backup and recovery components of the solution provide SQL Server
data protection, ranging from the entire SQL Server to various object levels.
Note
26
This solution applies to all VSPEX offerings on VMware.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 3: Solution Overview
Figure 1.
Solution architecture
For more details, refer to the appropriate document in Support resources.
Key components
This section provides an overview of the technologies used in this solution:

Microsoft SQL Server 2012

EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure

EMC VNX family

EMC Unisphere

VMware vSphere 5.1

EMC Virtual Storage Integrator for VMware

VNX VMware vStorage API for Array Integration (VAAI) Support

EMC Avamar

EMC Data Domain

EMC PowerPath/VE
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
27
Chapter 3: Solution Overview
Microsoft SQL
Server 2012
SQL Server 2012 is Microsoft’s database management and analysis system for ecommerce, line-of-business, and data warehousing solutions. SQL Server is widely
used to store, retrieve, and manage application data. Because it is used with a range
of applications and each application has different requirements for performance,
sizing, availability, recoverability, manageability, it is important to fully understand
these factors and plan accordingly when deploying SQL Server.
EMC VSPEX Proven EMC has joined forces with the industry’s leading providers of IT infrastructure to
create a complete virtualization solution that accelerates deployment of Private
Infrastructure
Cloud. VSPEX enables faster deployment, more simplicity, greater choice, higher
efficiency, and lower risk. Validation by EMC ensures predictable performance and
enables customers to select technology that uses their existing IT infrastructure while
eliminating planning, sizing, and, configuration burdens. VSPEX provides a virtual
infrastructure for customers looking to gain simplicity that is characteristic of truly
converged infrastructures while at the same time gaining more choice in individual
stack components.
VSPEX solutions are proven by EMC and packaged and sold exclusively by EMC
channel partners. VSPEX provides channel partners more opportunity, faster sales
cycle, and end-to-end enablement. By working closely together, EMC and its channel
partners can now deliver an infrastructure that accelerates the journey to the cloud for
even more customers.
VSPEX Proven Infrastructure, as shown in Figure 2, is a modular virtualized
infrastructure validated by EMC and delivered by EMC's VSPEX partners. VSPEX
includes a virtualization layer, server, network, and storage, designed by EMC to
deliver reliable and predictable performance.
Figure 2.
VSPEX Proven Infrastructure
VSPEX provides the flexibility to choose network, server, and virtualization
technologies that fit a customer’s environment to create a complete virtualization
solution. VSPEX delivers faster deployment for EMC partner customers, with greater
simplicity and efficiency, more choice, and lower risk to a customer’s business.
28
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 3: Solution Overview
Application-based solutions such as SQL Server can be deployed on VSPEX Proven
Infrastructures. The VSPEX for virtualized SQL Server was validated using VNX and
vSphere 5.1 virtualized server platforms to provide storage and server hardware
consolidation. The virtualized infrastructure is centrally managed, and enables
efficient deployment and management of a scalable number of virtual machines and
associated shared storage.
EMC VNX family
The EMC VNX family of storage systems is optimized for virtual applications delivering
industry-leading innovation and enterprise capabilities for file, block, and object
storage in a scalable, easy-to-use solution. This next-generation storage platform
combines powerful and flexible hardware with advanced efficiency, management,
and protection software to meet the demanding needs of today’s enterprises.
The VNX series is powered by Intel Xeon processors, for intelligent storage that
automatically and efficiently scales in performance, while ensuring data integrity and
security.
The VNXe series is purpose-built for the IT manager in smaller environments and the
VNX series is designed to meet the high-performance, high-scalability requirements
of midsize and large enterprises.
VNX features
VNX supports the following features:

Next-generation unified storage, optimized for virtualized applications

Capacity optimization features including compression, deduplication, thin
provisioning, and application-centric copies

High availability, designed to deliver five 9s availability

Automated tiering with FAST VP (Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual
Pools) and FAST™ Cache that can be optimized for the highest system
performance and lowest storage cost simultaneously

Multiprotocol support for file, block, and object with object access through
Atmos™ Virtual Edition (Atmos VE)

Simplified management with EMC Unisphere® for a single management
interface for all network-attached storage (NAS), storage area network (SAN),
and replication needs

Up to three times improvement in performance with the latest Intel Xeon
multicore processor technology, optimized for Flash
VNXe features
VNXe supports the following features:

Next-generation unified storage, optimized for virtualized applications

Capacity optimization features including compression, deduplication, thin
provisioning, and application-centric copies

High availability, designed to deliver five 9s availability

Multiprotocol support for file and block
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
29
Chapter 3: Solution Overview

Simplified management with EMC Unisphere® for a single management
interface for all NAS, SAN, and replication needs
VNX software suites
The following VNX software suites are available with VNX:

FAST Suite: Automatically optimizes for the highest system performance and
the lowest storage cost simultaneously.

Local Protection Suite: Practices safe data protection and repurposing.

Remote Protection Suite: Protects data against localized failures, outages,
and disasters.

Application Protection Suite: Automates application copies and proves
compliance.

Security and Compliance Suite: Keeps data safe from changes, deletions, and
malicious activity.
VNXe software suites
The following VNXe software suites are available with VNXe:

Local Protection Suite: Increases productivity with snapshots of production
data.

Remote Protection Suite: Protects data against localized failures, outages,
and disasters.

Application Protection Suite: Automates application copies and proves
compliance.

Security and Compliance Suite: Keeps data safe from changes, deletions, and
malicious activity.
VNXe software packs
The following software packs are available with VNXe:
EMC Unisphere

VNXe3300 Total Protection Pack: Includes the Local, Remote, and Application
Protection Suites

VNXe3150 Total Value Pack: Includes the Remote and Application Protection
Suites, and the Security and Compliance Suite
EMC Unisphere is the next-generation unified storage management platform that
provides intuitive user interfaces for the newest range of unified platforms including
the EMC VNX and EMC VNXe series. Unisphere’s approach to storage management
fosters simplicity, flexibility, self-help, and automation—all key requirements for the
journey to the cloud.
Unisphere can be customized to the needs of a mid-size company, a department
within large enterprises, or a smaller remote office/branch office type environment.
With Unisphere’s pluggable architecture, it is easily extensible and continues its
seamless support for additional EMC offerings, including integration with data
protection and security.
30
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 3: Solution Overview
VMware vSphere
5.1
VMware vSphere 5.1 transforms a computer’s physical resources, by virtualizing the
CPU, RAM, hard disk, and network controller. This transformation creates fully
functional virtual machines that run isolated and encapsulated operating systems
and applications just like physical computers.
The high-availability features of vSphere 5.1, such as vMotion and Storage vMotion,
enable seamless migration of virtual machines and stored files from one vSphere
server to another with minimal or no performance impact. Coupled with vSphere
Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and Storage DRS, virtual machines have access
to the appropriate resources at any point in time through load balancing of compute
and storage resources.
EMC Virtual
Storage Integrator
for VMware
EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) for VMware vSphere is a plug-in to the vSphere
client that provides a single management interface that is used for managing EMC
storage within the vSphere environment. Features can be added and removed from
VSI independently, which provides flexibility for customizing VSI user environments.
Features are managed using the VSI Feature Manager. VSI provides a unified user
experience, which enables new features to be introduced rapidly in response to
changing customer requirements.
VNX VMware
vStorage APIs for
Array Integration
support
Hardware acceleration with VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) is a
storage enhancement in vSphere that enables vSphere to offload specific storage
operations to compatible storage hardware such as the VNX series platforms. With
storage hardware assistance, vSphere performs these operations faster and
consumes less CPU, memory, and storage fabric bandwidth.
EMC Avamar
If you decide to implement a backup solution, EMC recommends EMC Avamar.
Avamar deduplication backup software and system performs variable-length
deduplication at the client, so that backup data is reduced before it moves across
networks (LAN or WAN). Avamar identifies duplicate data segments and sends only
unique segments across the network to the backup appliance. This means shorter
backup windows, less backup storage consumed, and maximum use of available
bandwidth.
Avamar provides:

Flexible deployment options. Avamar offers flexibility in solution deployments,
depending on the specific use case and recovery requirements. Avamar is a
turnkey backup and recovery solution that integrates with EMC-certified
hardware for streamlined deployment.

Scalability, high availability, and reliability. Avamar uses a scalable grid
architecture, which enables linear performance and storage scaling by simply
adding storage nodes.

Manageability and support. You can securely access Avamar systems through
existing network links and integrate them with management frameworks to use
SNMP for remote access.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
31
Chapter 3: Solution Overview
EMC Data Domain
If you use Avamar to implement a backup and recovery solution, you can choose to
direct backups to an EMC Data Domain system instead of to the Avamar server.
Data Domain deduplication storage system deduplicates data inline so that the data
lands on disk already deduplicated, which requires less disk space than the original
dataset. With Data Domain, you can retain backup and archive data on site longer to
quickly and reliably restore data from disk.
The Data Domain software suite includes the following options:

Data Domain Replication

Virtual Tape Library (VTL)

Data Domain Boost

Retention Lock

Encryption

Extended Retention
EMC PowerPath/VE EMC recommends installing PowerPath/VE on VMware ESXi hosts for advanced
multipathing functionality such as intelligent path testing and performance
optimization.
EMC PowerPath/VE provides intelligent, high-performance path management with
path failover and load balancing optimized for EMC and selected third-party storage
systems. PowerPath/VE supports multiple paths between a vSphere host and an
external storage device. Having multiple paths enables the vSphere host to access a
storage device, even if a specific path is unavailable. Multiple paths can also share
the I/O traffic to a storage device. PowerPath/VE is particularly beneficial in highly
available environments because it can prevent operational interruptions and
downtime. The PowerPath/VE path failover capability avoids host failure by
maintaining uninterrupted application support on the host in the event of a path
failure (if another path is available).
PowerPath/VE works with VMware ESXi as a Multipath Plug-in (MPP) that provides
path management to hosts. It is installed as a kernel module on the vSphere host. It
plugs in to the vSphere I/O stack framework to bring the advanced multipathing
capabilities of PowerPath/VE including dynamic load balancing and automatic
failover, to the vSphere hosts.
32
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4
Solution
Implementation
This chapter presents the following topics:
Overview ................................................................................................... 34
Physical setup ........................................................................................... 34
Network implementation ............................................................................ 34
Storage implementation ............................................................................ 35
ESXi and vCenter implementation .............................................................. 45
SQL Server virtualization implementation ................................................... 48
Application implementation ....................................................................... 51
Backup and recovery implementation......................................................... 61
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
33
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Overview
This guide describes how to implement the solution. If you already have a VSPEX
Proven Infrastructure environment, you can skip the sections for the implementation
steps already completed.
Physical setup
Overview of
physical setup
This section includes information about the preparation of the solution physical
components. After you complete the steps listed in Table 9, the new hardware
components will be racked, cabled, powered, and ready for network connection.
Note
If you already have a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure environment, you can skip
this section.
Table 9.
Tasks for physical setup
Task
Description
Reference
Prepare network
switches
Install switches in the rack
and connect them to power.
Vendor installation guide
Prepare servers
Install the servers in the rack
and connect them to power.
Vendor installation guide
Prepare VNX/VNXe
Install the VNX in the rack and
connect it to power.
EMC VNX/VNXe System
Installation Guide
For details of the physical setup, refer to the appropriate document in Support
resources.
Network implementation
Overview of
network
implementation
This section provides the requirements for network infrastructure needed to support
the solution architecture. Table 10 provides a summary of the tasks for switch and
network configuration and references for further information.
Table 10.
Tasks for switch and network configuration
Task
Description
Reference
Configure
infrastructure
network
Configure storage array and
Windows host infrastructure
networking as specified in the
solution VSPEX Proven
Infrastructure.
Refer to the appropriate
document in Support
resources.
Complete
network cabling
Connect:
 Switch interconnect ports
 VNX/VNXe ports
 ESXi server ports
34
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Task
Description
Reference
Configure VLANs
Configure private and public VLANs
as required.
Vendor switch configuration
guide
For details of network implementation, refer to the appropriate document in VSPEX
Proven Infrastructure.
Storage implementation
Overview of
storage
implementation
This section describes how to configure the VNX/VNXe storage array. In this solution,
the VNX provides NFS or Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) data storage for the
VMware host. Table 11 provides a summary of the tasks for switch and network
configuration and references for further information.
Table 11.
Tasks for storage configuration
Task
Description
Set up initial
VNX/VNXe
configuration
Configure the IP address
information and other key
parameters on the VNX/VNXe.
Provision storage
for NFS datastores
Create NFS file systems that
will be presented to the ESXi
servers as NFS datastores that
host the virtual server
operating system.
Provision storage
for databases from
iSCSI storage
Reference
 VNX/VNXe System
Installation Guide
 VNX File and Unified
Worksheet
Create and provision iSCSI
LUNs for database and log
from VNX/VNXe.
Figure 3 demonstrates the high-level architecture with SQL Server components and
storage elements validated in the EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for SQL Server
2012 on a vSphere virtualization platform.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
35
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Figure 3.
Set up initial
VNX/VNXe
configuration
SQL Server storage elements on VMware vSphere 5.1 platform
Ensure that network interfaces, IP address information, and other key parameters
such as DNS and Network Time Protocol (NTP) are configured on the VNX/VNXe before
storage provisioning.
For more information on how to configure the VNX platform, refer to the appropriate
document listed in Support resources.
Provision storage
for NFS datastore
Before you provision the storage for the NFS datastore, follow the recommendations
and VSPEX Sizing Tool proposals introduced in the Design Guide.
Before you start, refer to VSPEX Proven Infrastructure to configure NFS file system and
provision storage for virtual machine operating system on VNX or VNXe.
Table 12 shows an example of additional storage layout for SQL Server data in VNX,
additional to the VSPEX private cloud pool. For more information about the storage
layout recommendations and design, refer to the Design Guide.
36
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Table 12.
Example of additional storage layout for virtual machine operating
system on VNX
Storage pool name
RAID type
Disk type
Disk capacity
Number of
disks
VSPEX private cloud
pool
RAID 5
SAS disks
15,000 rpm
600 GB
5
RAID 1
Flash drive
100 GB
2
Refer to the following VSPEX Proven Infrastructure documents:
Provision storage
for application
pool disks

EMC VSPEX Private Cloud VMware vSphere 5.1 for up to 100 Virtual Machines
Enabled by Microsoft Windows Server 2012, EMC VNXe, and EMC NextGeneration Backup

EMC VSPEX Private Cloud VMware vSphere 5.1 for up to 500 Virtual Machines
Enabled by Microsoft Windows Server 2012, EMC VNX, and EMC NextGeneration Backup
Before you provision the storage for the NFS datastore, follow the recommendations
and VSPEX Sizing Tool proposals introduced in the Design Guide.
Before you start, refer to VSPEX Proven Infrastructure to configure NFS file system and
provision storage for virtual machine operating system on VNX or VNXe.
Provision iSCSI storage on VNXe
Table 13 shows an example of a storage layout according to the user profile VNX in
addition to the VSPEX private cloud pool. See the layout for this example in the
Example storage layouts section.
For more information about the storage layout recommendations and design, refer to
the Design Guide.
Table 13.
Storage layout example on VNXe
Storage pool name
RAID type
Disk type
Disk capacity
Number of
disks
SQL Server user
database data pool
RAID 5
SAS 15,000 rpm
600 GB
10
SQL Server user
database log and
tempdb pool
RAID 10
SAS 15,000 rpm
600 GB
6
Infrastructure pool
RAID 5
SAS disks 15,000
rpm
300 GB
5
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
37
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Configure iSCSI servers on VNXe
To configure iSCSI servers that are used to store the SQL Server user database, use
these steps in Unisphere:
1.
Create a pool with the appropriate number of disks.
1.
Create an iSCSI server.
2.
Create a VMware storage resource.
3.
Create storage groups to unmask LUNs to the ESXi hosts. For more detailed
steps on iSCSI storage provisioning, refer to EMC VNXe3150 System
Installation Guide or EMC VNXe3300 System Installation Guide.
For detailed configuration information and steps to configure iSCSI servers on VNXe,
refer to EMC VNXe Series Using a VNXe System with VMware NFS or VMware VMFS.
Provision iSCSI storage on VNX
Table 14 shows an example of storage pools for SQL Server on VNX. This example
also contains the FAST Cache configuration for OLTP performance acceleration and its
configuration steps are introduced in the FAST Cache configuration section. See the
layout for this example in the Example storage layouts section. For more information
about the storage layout recommendations and design, refer to the Design Guide.
Table 14.
Storage layout example on VNX
Storage pool name
RAID type
Disk type
Disk capacity
Number of
disks
SQL Server user
database data pool
RAID 5
SAS 15,000 rpm
600 GB
5
SQL Server user
database LOG and
tempdb pool
RAID 10
SAS 10,000 rpm
600 GB
4
FAST Cache
RAID 1
Flash drive
100 GB
2
To configure iSCSI network settings, storage pools, iSCSI LUNs, and storage groups
on the VNX array, use these steps in Unisphere:
1.
Select the VNX array that is to be used in this solution.
2.
Select Settings Network > Settings for Block.
3.
Configure the IP address for network ports used for iSCSI.
4.
Select Storage > Storage Configuration > Storage Pools.
5.
Click Pools, then create the additional storage pools in VNX for SQL Server
user databases, transaction logs and tempdb.
6.
Right-click on a storage pool and click Create LUN to provision the LUNs in
this pool.
7.
Select Host > Storage Groups.
8.
Create storage groups to unmask LUNs to the ESXi hosts:
a.
38
Click Create and type a name for the storage group.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Example storage
layouts
b.
Click Yes to finish the creation.
c.
In the prompt dialog box, click Yes to select LUNs or connect hosts.
d.
Click LUNs. In Available LUNs, select all the LUNs created in the previous
steps and click Add.
e.
Click Hosts. In Available Hosts, select the ESXi servers to be used and
add them into The Hosts to be Connected.
Example 1: Storage layout on VNX
Figure 4 shows the example storage layout for VNX with FAST Cache enabled. This is
an example only; the number of disks used in the VSPEX private cloud pool and SQL
Server pools may vary according to the customer’s requirements.
For more information about the storage layout recommendations and design, refer to
the Design Guide and VSPEX Proven Infrastructure.
Figure 4.
Example storage layout for VNX
At this stage in the deployment process, the storage configuration required for the
solution is complete. For details about storage implementation, refer to the
appropriate documents in the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure section.
Example 2: Storage layout on VNXe
Figure 5 shows an example storage layout for VNXe.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
39
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Note this is only an example for both infrastructure pool and SQL Server pools, and
the disk number used in the example for virtual infrastructure can be variable.
For more information about the storage layout recommendations and design, refer to
the Design Guide and VSPEX Proven Infrastructure.
Figure 5.
Example storage layout for VNXe
At this stage in the deployment process, the storage configuration required for the
solution is complete. For details about storage implementation, refer to the
appropriate documents in VSPEX Proven Infrastructure.
FAST Cache
configuration
Enabling FAST Cache is a transparent operation to SQL Server and no reconfiguration
or downtime is necessary. To make the best use of either of the FAST technologies,
EMC recommends that you first enable FAST Cache on the SQL Server data pool. For
more details, refer to the Design Guide.
To create and configure FAST Cache, use these steps:
40
1.
For detailed steps about how to enable FAST Cache, refer to VSPEX Proven
Infrastructure.
2.
In Unisphere, after FAST Cache is created, click Storage and select Storage
Pool. Select SQL Server Data Pool, then click Properties.
3.
In Storage Pool Properties, select Advanced. To enable FAST Cache, click
Enabled, as shown in Figure 6.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Figure 6.
4.
Note
FAST VP
configuration
Storage Pool Properties—FAST Cache enabled
To complete the configuration, click OK.
The FAST Cache feature on the VNX series array does not cause an instant
performance improvement. The system must collect data about access
patterns and promote frequently used information into the cache. This
process can take a few hours, during which the performance of the array
steadily improves.
FAST VP can increase efficiency of all disk drive resources and get better performance
for a lower cost. By adding additional Flash disks as extreme performance tier into the
SQL Server data pool, FAST VP can automatically adapt to changes with business
cycles. You can add Flash disks when you create the SQL Server data pool. For
detailed steps, refer to VSPEX Proven Infrastructure.
To add Flash disks to an existing SQL Server data pool, using these steps:
1.
In Unisphere, click Storage and select Storage Pool.
2.
Select Pool and click Properties.
3.
Select Disks Type and click Expand to show the Expand Storage Pool dialog
box.
4.
In Extreme Performance, select the number of Flash disks and RAID
configuration to add into the SQL Server data pool for tiering. EMC
recommends using RAID 5 for the extreme performance tier in the SQL
Server data pool.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
41
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
The bottom section of the window shows the Flash drives that will be used
for the extreme performance tier. You can choose the drives manually by
selecting the Manual option, as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Expand Storage Pool dialog box
EMC recommends that all the LUNs in the pool have the same tiering policy and use
the Auto-Tier for the SQL Server data pool. For detailed steps about how to configure
FAST VP at the LUN level, refer to VSPEX Proven Infrastructure.
EMC XtremSW
Cache
configuration
42
With EMC XtremSF (formerly known as EMC VFStore - the server based PCIe flash card
and EMC XtremSW Cache™ (formerly known as VFCache) - intelligent server Flash
caching software, both read and write database operations are performed directly in
the server. While accelerating reads, XtremSW Cache can achieve dramatic decreases
in the latency and increase in the database throughput. Combined with networked
storage array, EMC XtremSW Cache can ensure persistent high availability, integrity,
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
reliability, and disaster recovery. XtremSW Cache provides a new option for users to
balance the cost of the additional hardware with the expected performance benefits.
In a VMware environment, the XtremSW Cache card resides on the ESXi server, while
XtremSW Cache software is installed on each of the virtual machines that are
accelerated by XtremSW Cache. The XtremSW Cache VSI plug-in, which resides on the
vCenter client, is used to manage XtremSW Cache. XtremSW Cache can accelerate
performance for either RDM or VMFS LUNs in a VMware environment.
The XtremSW Cache installation is distributed over various components of the
vSphere system. The XtremSW Cache components in a VMware environment are:

XtremSW Cache driver for PCIe card

XtremSW Cache and agent software in the virtual machines hosted by ESXi
servers

XtremSW Cache VSI plug-in in the VMware vSphere client
To configure the XtremSW Cache in a VMware environment, use these steps:
1.
Install the XtremSW Cache PCIe Flash device.
2.
Install and configure the XtremSW Cache software in the Windows virtual
machine.
3.
Use the vfcmt command to enable or disable the XtremSW Cache cache
device.
4.
Use the vfcmt command to add or remove the source device.
Use VSI to create and configure XtremSW Cache
XtremSW Cache is integrated with VSI plug-ins to simplify XtremSW Cache
management and monitoring. To create and configure XtremSW Cache device through
VMware VSI plug-in, use these steps, as shown in Figure 8:
1.
Create an XtremSW Cache device by carving the space from the XtremSW
Cache data store.
2.
Add XtremSW Cache to a virtual machine.
3.
Add source devices from the virtual machine.
4.
Monitor XtremSW Cache usage and statistics through the VSI plug-in GUI.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
43
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Figure 8.
EMC Virtual Storage Integrator XtremSW Cache management
For more information, refer to EMC VFCache Installation Guide for VMware 1.5.
We monitored and observed how many IOPS were offloaded by the XtremSW Cache
card, as shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9.
EMC Virtual Storage Integrator XtremSW Cache monitor
For more information, refer to EMC VFCache Installation and Administration Guide
1.5.1.
44
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
ESXi and vCenter implementation
Overview of ESXi
and vCenter
implementation
This section provides the requirements for the installation and configuration of the
ESXi hosts, vCenter configuration, and infrastructure servers required to support the
architecture. Table 15 describes the tasks that must be completed.
Table 15.
Steps for ESXi and vCenter installation and configuration
Task
Description
Reference
Install ESXi
Install the ESXi 5.1 hypervisor on the
physical servers that are being deployed
for the solution.
vSphere Installation and Setup
Configure ESXi
networking
Configure ESXi networking including
network interface card (NIC) trunking,
vmkernel port, virtual machine port
groups, and Jumbo Frames.
vSphere Networking
Install
PowerPath/VE
Installing multipathing software
PowerPath/VE on ESXi hosts
Multipathing implementation
Configure ESXi iSCSI
adapters
Configure ESXi iSCSI adapters to
connect iSCSI disks to ESXi hosts
vSphere Storage
Connect VMware
datastores
Connect the VMware datastore to the
ESXi hosts deployed for the solution.
vSphere Storage
Create a virtual
machine for
Microsoft SQL
Server
Create a virtual machine to host SQL
Server that will be used for the vCenter
Server database. Verify that the virtual
server meets the hardware and software
requirements.
Microsoft TechNet
Install Microsoft
Windows on the
virtual machine
Install Microsoft Windows Server 2008
R2 Standard Edition on the virtual
machine that is created to host SQL
Server.
Microsoft TechNet
Install SQL Server
Install SQL Server on the virtual machine
designated for that purpose.
Microsoft TechNet
Create the vCenter
host virtual machine
Create a virtual machine to be used for
the VMware vCenter Server.
vSphere Virtual Machine
Administration
Install vCenter guest
OS
Install Windows Server 2008 R2
Standard Edition on the vCenter host
virtual machine.
N/A
Update the virtual
machine
Install VMware Tools, enable hardware
acceleration, and enable remote
console access.
vSphere Virtual Machine
Administration
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
45
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
46
Task
Description
Create vCenter
ODBC connections
Create the 64-bit vCenter and 32-bit
vCenter Update Manager ODBC
connections.
Reference

vSphere Installation and
Setup

Installing and
Administering VMware
vSphere Update
Manager
Install vCenter
Server
Install vCenter Server software.
vSphere Installation and Setup
Install vCenter
Update Manager
Install vCenter Update Manager
software.
Installing and Administering
VMware vSphere Update
Manager
Create a virtual data
center
Create a virtual data center.
vCenter Server and Host
Management
Apply vSphere
license keys
Type the vSphere license keys in the
vCenter licensing menu.
vSphere Installation and Setup
Add ESXi hosts
Connect vCenter to ESXi hosts.
vCenter Server and Host
Management
Configure vSphere
clustering
Create a vSphere cluster and move the
ESXi hosts into it.
vSphere Resource Management
Perform array ESXi
host discovery
Perform ESXi host discovery within the
Unisphere console.
Using EMC VNX Storage with
VMware vSphere–TechBook
Enable VMware High
Availability (HA),
DRS, and vMotion
functionality
Once you enable DRS, EMC recommends
you use VMware vSphere DRS Affinity
and Anti-Affinity rules for specific groups
of virtual machines, for example, groups
of web servers, which should never
reside on the same host.
vSphere Availability
Install the vCenter
Update Manager
plug-in
Install the vCenter Update Manager
plug-in on the administration console.
Installing and Administering
VMware vSphere Update
Manager
Deploy the VNX VAAI
for NFS plug-in
Using VMware Update Manager, deploy
the VNX VAAI for NFS plug-in to all ESXi
hosts.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide

EMC VNX VAAI NFS

vSphere Storage APIs for
Array Integration (VAAI)
plug-in

Installing and
Administering VMware
vSphere Update
Manager
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Task
Description
Reference
Install the EMC VNX
UEM CLI
Install the VNX UEM command line
interface (CLI) on the administration
console.
EMC VSI for VMware vSphere:
Unified Storage Management—
Install the EMC VSI
plug-in
Install the EMC VSI plug-in on the
administration console.
EMC VSI for VMware vSphere:
Unified Storage Management—
Product Guide
Product Guide
For details of ESXi and vCenter, refer to the appropriate documents in VSPEX Proven
Infrastructure.
Multipathing implementation
Overview of
multipathing
implementation
EMC PowerPath/VE software optimized multipathing through load-balancing
algorithms. Port load balancing equalizes the I/O workload across all available
channels.
EMC recommends installing PowerPath/VE on VMware ESXi hosts for load balancing,
path management, and I/O path failure detection.
PowerPath
configuration for
iSCSI storage
To configure multiple paths in a VMware environment for iSCSI storage on VNX/VNXe,
use these steps:
1.
Configure the vmkernel for iSCSI. You can configure iSCSI multipathing for
storage by enabling multiple NICs.
2.
Enable multiple storage processor ports on VNX/VNXe and configure the IP
address to communicate with the ESXi hosts. Ensure vmkernel is enabled
for iSCSI.
3.
Install PowerPath/VE on the ESXi servers and configure the license.
PowerPath/VE installation
You can install PowerPath/VE by using remote vCLI, VMware Update Manager or Auto
Deploy. Complete the following steps to install PowerPath/VE by using remote vCLI:
1.
Download the PowerPath/VE software distribution from Powerlink.
2.
Make the offline package available for use on the local vSphere host.
3.
Use the scp (secure copy) command to copy the PowerPath/VE ZIP offline
package to the vSphere host. Alternatively, copy the PowerPath/VE ZIP
offline package to the local vCenter data store using vSphere client.
4.
On the remote host running vCLI, type the following commands to install the
PowerPath/VE package:
# esxcli -s <vSphere server IP address or hostname>
software vib install -d <absolute path to PowerPath
package>
5.
Bring the vSphere host into Maintenance mode.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
47
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
6.
Reboot the vSphere host onto which you are installing.
7.
Bring vSphere host out of Maintenance mode.
For PowerPath/VE installation and configuration for vSphere, refer to EMC
PowerPath/VE installation and Administration Guide. For iSCSI multipathing
configuration, refer to vSphere Storage ESXi 5.0, vCenter Server 5.0.
SQL Server virtualization implementation
This section provides the requirements for the installation and configuration of the
virtual machines. Table 16 describes the tasks that must be completed.
Overview of SQL
Server
virtualization
implementation
Table 16.
SQL Server host virtual machine installation and configuration
Task
Description
Create the SQL
Server virtual
machines
Create virtual machines to be used for the
SQL Server 2012 OLTP instance.
Install SQL Server
guest OS
Install Windows Server 2012 Data Center
Edition on the SQL Server host virtual
machines.
Install or upgrade
integration
services
Install a software package for supported
guest operating systems that improves
integration between the physical computer
and the virtual machine.
Assign IP address
Assign the IP address for all the networks
in all virtual machines.
Reference
Install the guest OS
Join all the SQL Server virtual machines to
the domain.
Create user
account
Create a SQL Server administrative
account in the domain.
Create virtual disk
for SQL servers
Create a virtual disk to hold SQL Server
user databases.
Create SQL Server
virtual machines
48
Configure Windows Service
Accounts and Permissions.
You must create a virtual machine on the ESXi server with the customer’s guest OS
configuration. You can calculate the memory and processor requirements for the SQL
Server virtual machine by using the VSPEX Sizing Tool and following the
recommendations in the Design Guide. Table 17 lists an example of the memory and
processor equivalent reference virtual machine requirement for different SQL Server
in this VSPEX solution.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Table 17.
SQL Server reference virtual machine
SQL Server virtual machine
vCPU
Memory
SQL Server
4 (4
reference
virtual
machines)
16 GB (8
reference
virtual
machines)
OS volume
capacity
OS volume
IOPS
Less than
100 GB (1
reference
virtual
machine)
Less than
25 (1
reference
virtual
machine)
Number of
virtual
machines
Total
reference
virtual
machine
1
8
Refer to Table 7 for how the reference virtual machine requirement is calculated.
Install guest OS
Install Windows Server 2012 on the SQL Server virtual machine by selecting the
appropriate network and time, and applying the latest update.
Assign an IP
address
Assign an IP address for each network adapter in all the SQL Server virtual machines,
according to what you have planned for the IP reservation for each server. Then join
every Windows Server virtual machine to the existing domain.
For more information, refer to Configuration worksheet for SQL Server .
Create SQL Server
service accounts
To install the SQL Server 2012 database engine, EMC recommends that you provide
dedicated accounts that can be configured to start SQL Server services. You can
create the accounts in your domain.
For more detailed information about how to configure Windows service accounts and
permissions for SQL Server 2012, refer to the Microsoft TechNet topic Configure
Windows Service Accounts and Permissions.
Create virtual
disks for SQL
Server
You can calculate the virtual disk layouts along with back-end VMDX topologies by
using the VSPEX Sizing Tool and following the recommendations in the Design Guide.
In this VSPEX solution, Table 18 details an example of the storage layout for VMware
Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) and virtual disks.
Table 18.
SQL Server
components
SQL Server
user
database
Example of VMDK and virtual disk storage layout
iSCSI or
Fibre
Channel
(FC)
Volume
size
VMDK folder name
In virtual machine mount point
User database
data
400 GB
\SQLServer\data
C:\mountpoint\250DB_DATA250
DB_DATA
SQL Server
user
database
data pool
User database log
100 GB
\SQLServer\log
C:\mountpoint\250DB_LOG
Log and
tempdb
pool
Volume name
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
49
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
SQL Server
components
Tempdb
Volume name
SQL Server
tempdb
Volume
size
VMDK folder name
In virtual machine mount point
20 GB
\SQLServer\tempdb
C:\mountpoint\tempdb
iSCSI or
Fibre
Channel
(FC)
Log and
tempdb
pool
Add a virtual disk
To add a virtual disk, use these steps:
1.
In vSphere vCenter, right-click the SQL Server virtual machine and select
Edit Settings.
2.
Click Add, select Add Hardware, then select Hard Disk.
3.
Select Create a new virtual disk and specify Disk Size and Location. Do not
change the remaining default settings, as shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10.
4.
50
Creating a new virtual disk
In the virtual machine, these disks appear as normal block SCSI devices.
Format it with a 64 KB allocation unit size, as shown in Figure 11.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Figure 11.
5.
Formatting disk
Click OK.
Application implementation
Overview of
application
implementation
This section includes information about how to implement SQL Server in the VSPEX
Proven Infrastructure. After you complete the tasks in Table 19, the new SQL Server
instance is ready to be verified and tested.
Before you implement SQL Server 2012, you must plan the SQL Server database,
based on business needs. Refer to the Design Guide for guidance.
Table 19.
Tasks to implement a SQL Server deployment
Task
Description
Reference
Install SQL Server 2012
instances
Install SQL Server 2012 instances
on the SQL Server virtual
machines and verify the
installation.
Planning a SQL Server
Installation
Install SQL Server 2012
from the Installation
Wizard (Setup)
Validate a SQL Server
Installation
Design and deploy SQL
Server 2012 OLTP system
Design and deploy SQL Server
OLTP applications and databases
based on the business needs.
Online Transaction
Processing (OLTP)---a
Technical Reference
Guide for Designing
Mission-Critical OLTP
Solutions
Configure SQL Server 2012
Configure SQL Server 2012
database engine based on the
best practices.
Enable the Lock Pages in
Memory Option
(Windows)
Add Data or Log Files to
a Database
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
51
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Install SQL Server
2012 instances
This section outlines the steps for installing Server 2012 instances. After you
complete these steps, the new SQL Server instance should be installed successfully
on the virtual machine.
Install .Net Framework and the latest update
.NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and .Net Framework 4.0 are requirements for SQL Server
2012 installation. When you run the SQL Server installation wizard on a computer
with the Windows Server 2012 OS, NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and 4.0 are automatically
downloaded and installed. This process requires Internet access.
1.
Download and install .Net Framework 3.5 SP1, 4.0, and its latest update, on
the SQL Server 2012 virtual machine.
2.
Review installation requirements.
3.
Install SQL Server 2012 from the installation wizard.
4.
Verify the SQL Server 2012 Installation.
If there is no Internet access, EMC recommends that you download and install .NET
Framework 3.5 SP1 and 4.0 before you run Setup.exe to install the SQL Server 2012
components.
For more detailed information, refer to the MSDN Library topic Microsoft .NET
Framework 3.5 Deployment Considerations.
Review installation requirements
Before you start to install SQL Server 2012, EMC recommends that you review all the
installation requirements, system and network configuration, and security checks. For
more information, refer to the MSDN Library topic Planning a SQL Server Installation.
Install SQL Server 2012 from the installation wizard
The SQL Server installation wizard provides a single feature tree for installation of all
SQL Server components, so you do not need to install them individually. You can use
the SQL Server installation wizard to install SQL Server 2012 instances on the virtual
machine.
To install SQL Server 2012, use these steps:
52
1.
For local installation, log in as a local administrator and launch the
installation wizard. If you install the SQL Server instance from a remote
share, use a domain account that has read and execute permissions on the
remote share.
2.
To launch the SQL Server 2012 installation wizard, insert the SQL Server
installation media. From the root folder, double-click Setup.exe and follow
the wizard to install SQL Server 2012.
3.
In this solution, we installed a new instance in the SQL Server virtual
machine. To create a new instance of SQL Server, click Installation in the
left-hand navigation pane, and then click New SQL Server stand-alone
installation or add features to an existing installation, as shown in Figure 12.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Figure 12.
SQL Server 2012 Installation Center
4.
Follow the wizard to run the System Configuration Checker, input the
product keys for SQL Server 2012, and check the latest update.
5.
In the Setup Role dialog box, select SQL Server Feature Installation (see
Figure 13), and then click Next to go to the Feature Selection dialog box.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
53
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Figure 13.
6.
SQL Server 2012 Setup Role in the installation wizard
In the Feature Selection dialog box, select the components for your
installation. In this solution, we selected the Database Engine Services
component for the OLTP workload. You can select the components based on
your business requirements. Specify the location to install all the features
and components.
The prerequisites for the selected features are displayed, as shown in Figure
14. During the installation process, SQL Server 2012 Setup installs the
prerequisites that are not already installed.
54
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Figure 14.
7.
SQL Server 2012 Feature Selection in the installation wizard
In the Instance Configuration dialog box, specify whether to install a default
instance or a named instance. In this solution, we used the default instance
for the SQL Server 2012 OLTP workload, as shown in Figure 15.
Figure 15.
SQL Server 2012 Instance Configuration in the installation wizard
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
55
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
8.
In the Server Configuration dialog box, depending on the features that you
choose to install, use the service accounts created in the Create SQL Server
service accounts section to specify login accounts for the actual SQL Server
services that are configured.
9.
In the Database Engine Configuration dialog box, specify the authentication
mode and administrators for the database engine. In this solution, we used
Windows authentication mode for the OLTP workload, as shown in Figure 16.
You can select your own authentication mode based on the application
requirements and business needs.
Figure 16.
SQL Server 2012 Database Engine Configuration
10. Follow the wizard to run the System Configuration Checker again based on
installation configuration rules.
11. In the Ready to Install dialog box, click Install to start SQL Server 2012
installation.
When the installation is complete, you can view summary information and
the SQL Server 2012 installation status, as shown in Figure 17.
56
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Figure 17.
SQL Server 2012 installation completed
12. Click Close to close the wizard. You may need to restart the SQL Server 2012
virtual machine.
For more detailed information on installing other SQL Server 2012 components, refer
to the MSDN Library topic Install SQL Server 2012 from the Installation Wizard (Setup).
Verify a SQL Server 2012 installation
After the installation is complete, EMC recommends you use Installed SQL Server
features discovery report to verify the SQL Server 2012 installation. This displays a
report of SQL Server 2012 products and features that are installed on the local server.
For more detailed steps, refer to the MSDN Library topic Validate a SQL Server
Installation.
Deploy SQL Server
OLTP system
After installing the SQL Server 2012 instances, you can design and deploy your own
SQL Server OLTP applications and databases on the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure.
For more information about how to design SQL Server OLTP solutions with the best
performance, refer to the Microsoft TechNet Library topic Online Transaction
Processing (OLTP)–a Technical Reference Guide for Designing Mission-Critical OLTP
Solutions.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
57
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Configure SQL
Server 2012
In this VSPEX solution, we followed the best practices in the Design Guide to
configure SQL Server 2012 for better performance. The following are some best
practices for configuring SQL Server 2012.
Grant the “Lock Pages in Memory” privilege to the SQL Server startup account
To grant the “Lock Pages in Memory” privilege to the SQL Server startup account, use
these steps:
1.
Run secpol.msc on the server.
2.
Expand Security Settings in the left navigation pane, and select Local
Policies > User Rights Assignment.
3.
Under Policy in the right-hand list view, double-click Lock Pages in Memory,
as shown in Figure 18.
Figure 18.
Grant “Lock Pages in Memory”
4.
On the Local Security Setting tab, select Add User or Group.
5.
From Select Users, Computers, or Group:
6.
a.
Select Locations and choose either your local computer name (for local
groups/standalone) or your domain (for domain groups/clusters).
b.
Select Object Types and select Groups.
c.
From Enter the object names to select, enter your SQL Server group name
created by the SQL Server Setup program (standalone) or your cluster
domain group (for clusters).
d.
Click OK.
Restart the SQL Server instance.
For more detailed steps, refer to the MSDN Library topic Enable the Lock Pages in
Memory Option (Windows).
58
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Grant the “Perform volume maintenance tasks” privilege to SQL Server startup
account
To grant the “Perform volume maintenance tasks” privilege to the SQL Server startup
account, use these steps:
1.
Run secpol.msc on the server.
2.
Under Security Settings, select Local Policies > User Rights Assignment.
3.
Under Policy, navigate to and double-click Perform volume maintenance
tasks, as shown in Figure 19.
Figure 19.
Grant “Perform volume maintenance tasks”
4.
Click Local Security Setting, then click Add User or Group.
5.
From Select Users, Computers, or Group:
6.
a.
Select Locations and choose either the local computer name (for local
groups/standalone) or the domain (for domain groups/clusters).
b.
Select Object Types and select Groups.
c.
In Enter the object names to select, enter the SQL Server group name that
you created in the SQL Server Setup program (standalone) or your cluster
domain group (for clusters).
d.
Click OK.
Restart the SQL Server instance.
Set the maximum server memory
To set the maximum server memory, use these steps:
1.
Open the SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the SQL Server
instance.
2.
Right-clickthe SQL Server instance and select Server Properties. Then select
Memory in the left pane.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
59
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
3.
Set the maximum server memory (in MB), as shown in Figure 20.
Figure 20.
4.
Set the maximum server memory
Restart the SQL Server instance.
Create multiple data files for SQL Server databases
EMC recommends that you create multiple data files for large SQL Server databases.
For more detailed steps, refer to the MSDN Library topic Add Data or Log Files to a
Database.
60
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Backup and recovery implementation
Overview of
backup and
recovery
implementation
Avamar solves the challenges associated with traditional backup, enabling fast and
reliable backup and recovery for remote offices, and data center local area networks
(LANs). Avamar is backup and recovery software that uses patented global data
deduplication technology to identify redundant sub-file data segments at the source.
Avamar reduces daily backup data up to 500 times before it is transferred across the
network and stored to disk. This enables companies to perform daily full backups
even across congested networks and limited WAN links.
This guide is not intended to replace the core documentation for planning,
implementation, or installation steps. It is to be referenced as a best practice for
those activities.
Considerations
The use of Avamar plug-ins supports backup of SQL Server ranging from the entire
instance or database. It also supports various in-place and out-of-place recoveries.
Additional flexibility includes support for file group recoveries in SQL Server 2012.
The remaining components in the SQL Server environment should be backed up with
the Avamar client for Windows. Using both clients’ respective coverage enables
recovery for the SQL Server instances/databases, the objects on the related SQL
Server instances, and their host operating systems.
vSphere is protected by the Avamar virtual machine image, which enables users to
restore those virtual machines without installing an Avamar client on the hosts. The
hosts should be restored from SQL Server backups if they have instances or
databases.
For disaster-level recovery, virtual machine image recovery enables operating systemlevel recovery. The SQL Server-level recovery is applied after those resources are
restored.
Notes
 The implementation of vSphere image-level protection is beyond the scope
of this guide, but is a viable option to restore base operating systems.
 Using Data Domain as the backup target for Avamar is also a support
option. The Avamar client and plug-ins are installed in the same way as
using Avamar as the backup target. If Data Domain is used, the only
difference is a checkbox in the dataset definition. Additionally, both
Avamar and Data Domain support multiple streams.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
61
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Minimum backup
software and
hardware
requirements
Table 20 lists the hardware requirements.
Table 20.
Hardware requirements
Requirement
Minimum
Memory (RAM)
512 MB (2 GB is recommended)
File system
NTFS
2 GB permanent hard drive space for Avamar Windows client and SQL
Server agent software installation.
The Avamar plug-in for SQL Server also requires an additional 12 MB of
permanent hard drive space for each 64 MB of physical RAM. This
space is used for local cache files.
Note
Network
You must convert FAT 16 and 32 systems to NTFS.
10 BaseT at minimum.
100 BaseT or higher is recommended, configured with the latest
drivers for the platform.
Avamar plug-in for
SQL Server –
software
requirements
The Avamar plug-in for SQL Server places additional demands on computer hardware
and resources beyond the base requirements for the Avamar plug-in for Windows. The
following topics describe the requirements for the Avamar plug-in for SQL Server.
Database size
Although SQL Server supports databases ranging up to 524,272 TB, this translates to
a practical limit of the maximum Avamar Grid size. Even with a considerable
deduplication factor, this Avamar Grid capacity ceiling is well below SQL Server’s
maximum. In turn, Avamar’s maximum Grid size is dependent on the number and
type of storage nodes, as well as the commonality factor of all the data types on that
Gird and their respective retention periods.
The maximum database sizes recommended by Microsoft for rapid backup and
recovery range from 200 GB for SQL Server 2008 to 300 GB for SQL Server 2012.
Multistreaming Avamar configuration requirements
When you specify multistreaming options for a backup, specify one backup stream for
each disk at maximum in the backup set.
For example:

62
If you back up two databases with each database on its own disk, you can
specify a maximum of two streams.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation

If you back up two databases, each on its own disk and with the logs residing
on two additional disks (for a total of four disks), you can specify a maximum of
four streams.

Matching the number of disks to the maximum number of supported streams
(six) is a general best practice.
Database requirements
The Avamar plug-in for SQL Server supports the last two versions of SQL Server,
namely SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2012. This is inclusive of Service Packs.
Notes
 SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn/Availability Group (AO/AG): Native support for
this mode debuted in Avamar 6.1. Although Avamar has a policy of
supporting the last two versions of an application for functionality, there is
a discrete functionality gap worth noting here. In this instance, you need to
deploy the Avamar 6.1 Server first and then use the Avamar 6.1 client to
use the SQL Server 2012 AO/AG functionality.
 Avamar -2 exception: This functionality is an exception to the +/-2 client
version interoperability. The gaps are called out in the SQL Server Release
Notes and the EMC Avamar Compatibility and Interoperability Matrix.
 Specific +/-2 recovery scenarios: These are covered in these documents,
including the co-existence of the Avamar 6.0 and 6.1 SQL Server plug-in
catalogs and various upgrade scenarios. These permutations are beyond
the scope of this implementation guide.
For more information about using the Avamar plug-in for SQL Server for
SQL Server 2012 Always-On Availability Group (AO/AG) database backups,
refer to the EMC Avamar 6.1 for SQL Server User Guide.
 .NET 4.0 dependency: Avamar 6.1 requires .NET 4.0 to use the Avamar 6.1
client plug-ins. For the v6.1 SQL Server plug-in, .NET 4.0 supports the
underlying APIs that are required for browsing the SQL Server environment,
for example, enumerating the instances and databases. Additionally, for
the SQL Server plug-in, the new .NET 4.0 version was driven by the need to
support SQL Server 2012 in Avamar 6.1. Because of Microsoft constraints,
Avamar cannot support running the v6.1 SQL Server plug-in on a SQL
Server client that does not have the .NET 4.0 Framework.
 .NET 4.0 reboot requirement: The requirement to reboot when installing
.NET 4.0 or upgrading to .NET 4.0 is highly dependent on which packages
are already installed, including the operating system itself and a number
of other variables that can force a reboot. These other variables include
files in use. All the combinations to determine a reboot operation can be
very difficult to qualify and verify.
 .NET 4.0 additional background: For further information, Microsoft details
.NET 4.0 upgrade procedures very well. The flag, “/norestart”, is also
available for use. It signals the installer not to force a reboot after the
installation. This allows the customer to reboot when it is convenient for
them (such as late at night or during a scheduled maintenance).
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
63
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
 .NET 4.0 best practices: It is recommended running the .NET 4.0 installer
before attempting to upgrade the Avamar client or SQL Server packages
because this will allow the customer to handle the reboot case
asynchronously with worst case where a reboot is required. After .NET 4.0
is installed and the system is rebooted (if required), the SQL Server plug-in
and the Avamar client can be upgraded because this mandated
prerequisite is addressed.
 User/system databases: You can use the Avamar plug-in for SQL Server to
back up all user databases in the environment, including system
databases. Compared with user databases, the recovery of system
databases has a number of scenarios to recover from failure. Which
system database requires recovery first depends on how corrupt that
system database is. These restore considerations are beyond the scope of
this document, but are thoroughly documented for each SQL Server
version. Do not use a SQL Server 2008 procedure for SQL Server 2012 or
vice versa. Each procedure is version-specific with a different dependency
order for system database restore among model, master, and msdb.
 Recovery models: The Avamar plug-in for SQL Server supports a range of
recovery models including a Simple Recovery Model for system databases
and user databases where no log truncation is necessary. For balancing
very large databases, a Full Recovery Model is supported. It uses
Microsoft’s Virtual Device Interface (VDI) streams to truncate logs to their
actual Log sequence number (LSN). Additional temporal truncations
required for point-in-time recoveries are also supported.
Required account
privileges
You must have domain-level administrator access for account privileges. Typically,
this is the administrator account used when installing and configuring SQL Server. It
is also a member of the administrators group on each server.
If you use a different administrator account other than the one you used to install the
SQL Server, you must do both of the following:

Add the SQL Server administrator account to the domain administrators group.

Assign the Log on as a service right to the SQL Server administrator account on
each server that runs any of the SQL Server services. This setting is specified in
Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security
Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Assignment > Log on as a service.
Avamar backup agent service running as LocalSystem
The Avamar Backup Agent service must be running as LocalSystem on all machines.
Services and writers
The list of services and writers shown in Table 21 is required for the Avamar plug-in
for SQL Server operations. Each of these is located on the same server. This list may
be useful for troubleshooting backup or recovery failures.
64
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Table 21.
Services and writers used by Avamar plug-in for SQL Server VSS
Microsoft application
Service or writer name
SQL Server
SQLServer(MSSQLSERVER)
SQLServerVSSWriter(SQLWriter)
Deploy backup
software
Install the Avamar client for Windows
For installation instructions, the EMC Avamar 6.1 for SQL Server User Guide provides
step-by-step considerations for initial deployment. Also, the following factors are
covered:

Enabling user access controls

Assigning user rights

Where to obtain the client installer packages
The purpose of the information in this Implementation Guide is to point out best
practices where applicable. It cannot replace a step-by-step installation document.
Create a dataset
The Avamar dataset is the core part of a policy definition. The dataset controls what is
backed up and where the backups are to be stored (Avamar or Data Domain). In this
backup storage context, you need to select either Avamar or Data Domain to store the
SQL Server instance or database data. Currently, there is no mixed support for
Avamar and Data Domain.
To capture operating system state and mission-critical file system data and metadata,
use the Avamar Windows client (file system) plug-in for system state-level protection.
These dataset elements of plug-in can be included in the same dataset as SQL Server
plug-in defined, or can be defined and managed by using a separate dataset.
Note
For the Windows file system dataset, you should add an exclude wildcard for
database and log file types. For details regarding the use of wildcards, refer to
the EMC Avamar 6.1 Administration Guide.
To create a dataset for scheduled backups, in Avamar Administrator, select Tools >
Manage Datasets. The Manage All Datasets window is displayed, as shown in Figure
21.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
65
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Figure 21.
Manage All Datasets window
For step-by-step instructions, refer to the EMC Avamar 6.1 for SQL Server User Guide.
To store the backups for this dataset on a Data Domain system instead of the Avamar
server (the default), select Store backup on Data Domain system and then select the
Data Domain system from the list box, as shown in Figure 22. For this guide, the Data
Domain target is assumed to have already been added to the Avamar system as part
of the core installation.
66
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Figure 22.
Edit Dataset window—Options
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
67
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Create a group
Figure 23 shows the New Group window. For step-by-step instructions, refer to the
EMC Avamar 6.1 SQL Server User Guide.
Figure 23.
New Group window
This group policy encompasses all elements of a backup: the dataset, schedule,
retention policy, and which clients are included in this policy. All of these are
elements that this group/policy owns and controls. For the SQL Server context, add
the SQL Server instances or databases that require data protection.
Enable scheduled backups
To ensure that the group is enabled for scheduled backups, these steps describe the
procedure at a high level:
68
1.
In Avamar Administrator, click the Policy launcher button. The Policy window
opens.
2.
Under Policy Management, select Groups.
3.
Select the group that you created in the Create a group section.
4.
Select Actions > Group > Disable Group. A confirmation message appears.
5.
Click Yes to enable this group.
6.
To launch the backup immediately, right-click the policy name and select
Back Up Group Now, as shown in Figure 24.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
Figure 24.
Avamar Administrator Group backup
To restore data in a SQL Server environment using the Avamar plug-in for SQL Server,
refer to the EMC Avamar 6.1 for SQL Server User Guide.
The user guide covers all the supported recovery models, including:



Simple recovery model

A transaction log management is not required.

Avamar supports the mixing of simple and full recovery models with the
ability to skip or promote simple recoveries, which avoids errors or
warnings that typically occur when mixing both recovery models.
Full recovery model

Transaction log truncation, including point-in-time recoveries, is used.

Avamar’s support for Virtual Device Interface (VDI) uses SQL Server’s LSN
where every record is uniquely identified to provide a temporal order for
each transaction.
File group recoveries

Avamar 6.1 automatically backs up all secondary databases, that is, file
groups.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
69
Chapter 4: Solution Implementation
70
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 5
Solution Verification
This chapter presents the following topics:
Baseline hardware .................................................................................... 72
SQL Server OLTP performance ................................................................... 73
Backup and recovery verification ................................................................ 79
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
71
Chapter 5: Solution Verification
Baseline hardware verification
Overview of
baseline hardware
verification
This section provides a list of items that you need to review after you configure the
VSPEX solution. The goal of this section is to verify the configuration and functionality
of specific aspects of the solution, and to ensure that the configuration supports core
availability requirements. Table 22 describes the required verification tasks that you
must complete.
Table 22.
Tasks for verifying the VSPEX installation
Task
Description
Reference
Verify ESXi
functionality
Verify the basic ESXi functionality of
the solution with a post-installation
checklist.
Using EMC VNX storage with
VMware vSphere
Verify solution
components
redundancy
Verify the redundancy of the solution
components:
Vendor documentation
 Storage
 ESXi host
 Network switch
Monitor the health of
solution
Verify ESXi
functionality
Use tools to monitor the health of
solution, as shown in Table 23.
EMC recommends that you verify the ESXi configurations before deployment to
production on each ESXi server.
For more detailed information, refer to appropriate documents in VSPEX Proven
Infrastructure.
Verify solution
components
redundancy
To ensure that the various components of the solution maintain availability
requirements, it is important that you test specific scenarios related to maintenance
or hardware failure. EMC recommends that you verify redundancy of the solution
components including storage, ESXi hosts, and network switches.
For details, refer to the appropriate documents in VSPEX Proven Infrastructure.
72
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 5: Solution Verification
Monitor the
solution’s health
Health monitoring is a simplified measurement that reflects the reliability, stability,
and performance of the entire VSPEX solution. Table 23 lists some tools for you to
monitor and troubleshoot your VSPEX solution.
Table 23.
Tools to monitor the VSPEX for virtualized SQL Server solution
Tools
Description
esxtop
The esxtop tool provides a real-time view (updated every five
seconds, by default) of ESXi Hypervisor performance metrics, such
as CPU. It is important that you understand the performance for
hypervisor in order to measure or troubleshoot the SQL Server
performance-related issues.
Unisphere Analyzer
Unisphere Analyzer software is preloaded on all VNX storage
systems with the FLARE/block bundles (or later). It is an easy to
monitor, collect, and analyze the all aspects of storage related data
from it.
perfmon
Performance Monitor tool in the Windows operating system,
commonly referred to as perfmon. It is beneficial to collect this
data from deployed applications at regular intervals to analyze
trends and to have baseline measurements, which can be useful in
investigating problems that are related to I/O performance.
Event Viewer
Event Viewer is a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. It
lets you browse and manage event logs. It is a handy tool for
troubleshooting problems. You can filter for specific events across
multiple logs, and reuse useful event filters as custom views.
EMC recommends that you use the test tools to verify the performance for the entire
SQL Server environment. For details about performance verification and test
methodology, refer to the Design Guide.
SQL Server OLTP performance verification
Overview of SQL
Server
performance
verification
This section provides an example of a SQL Server environment in this solution. The
purpose is to measure the performance of SQL Server to ensure the VSPEX solution
meets your business requirements.
Before you verify your own solution, to understand test methodology better, refer to
the Design Guide.
Test scenario and configuration
The test objectives are:

Baseline performance: To verify that the current SQL Server environment can
satisfy the business requirement, both in the baseline test or without FAST
Cache engagement.

FAST Cache performance acceleration: To verify that the VSPEX solution can
satisfy the business requirement, both in the performance promotion test or
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
73
Chapter 5: Solution Verification
with FAST Cache engagement. The FAST Cache test also included the FAST
Cache warming-up monitoring and verification.
Baseline
performance
verification
The baseline performance verification built a SQL Server data pool, log pool, and
tempdb pool on the SAS 15k rpm disk, without FAST Cache enabled on the data pool.
Key metrics
After you identify whether or not to use FAST Cache, and the business requirements
can be satisfied, you need to know which SQL Server testing key metrics to capture
and what thresholds must be met for each metric when running the SQL Server
verification tests.
To identify the SQL Server key performance metrics, as shown in Table 24, refer to the
VSPEX Sizing Tool.
Table 24.
Example of key metrics in a SQL Server deployment
Metrics
Thresholds
Average CPU utilization (%)
Less than 70%
The average disk latency
Less than 15 ms
Disk transfers/second (IOPS)
More than 700
The SQL Server virtual machine profile shown in Table 25 was used to verify the
compute and storage infrastructure that can satisfy the performance requirement.
Table 25.
74
SQL Server virtual machine profile
Profile
Value
Total SQL Server database capacity
250 GB
Number of SQL Server instances
1
Number of user database per instance
1
Number of virtual machines
1
Type of datastore
VMDK
SQL Server virtual machine configuration
Four virtual processors (vCPUs) with 16 GB
memory (no over-commitment), reserved
14 GB to SQL buffer pool
Concurrent users
Mixed workloads
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 5: Solution Verification
Table 26 shows the SQL Server LUN design for profile—T1. The design follows these
best practices:

Distribute the data and logs to different LUNs on the shared thin pools.

Use separate file groups for large databases.
Table 26.
SQL Server LUN design
Item
Component
LUN capacity
(GB)
RAID type
Quantity
Total capacity
(GB)
SQL
Server
Tempdb
20
RAID 10
1
20
Data File
400
RAID 5
1
400
Log File
100
RAID 10
1
100
Test results
After obtaining the test results, you need to interpret your results based on the key
metrics. In the example shown in Table 27, all the key metrics have been achieved,
which means the current SQL Server environment could meet the business
requirements.
Table 27.
Key metrics for SQL Server—250 GB
Performance metric
Baseline
performance results
Thresholds
Host CPU
7.00%
Less than 70%
ESXi CPU
4.50%
Less than 70%
Host IOPS
773
More than 700
Data LUN Latency (ms)
(read/write/transfer)
9/1/9
Less than 10 ms
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
75
Chapter 5: Solution Verification
FAST Cache
performance
acceleration
The FAST Cache performance acceleration verification used the same data, log, and
tempdb pool as shown in the baseline performance verification, with FAST Cache
enabled on the data pool only.
Table 28 shows the FAST Cache configuration for the verification test. In this test, four
Flash disks with 183 GB of usable space in total were configured.
Table 28.
FAST Cache configuration
Component
Disk number
RAW disk size (GB)
RAID
Usable size (GB)
FAST Cache
4
100
RAID 1
183
When you consider using FAST Cache to accelerate the SQL Server performance, the
preferred application workloads is:

Small-block random I/O application and high frequency of access to the same
data

Avoid enabling FAST Cache when the primary workload is sequential
Note
For more FAST Cache best practices, refer to the Design Guide.
The primary I/O of the log LUN is sequential, and the OLTP-like application has
minimal requirements of the tempdb, so we excluded the log and tempdb LUN from
the FAST Cache verification.
Key metrics
After enabling FAST Cache on the existing database, the following performance
improvement is expected:

Reduction of the I/O access latency in milliseconds

IOPS and TPS increments
To identify the SQL Server key performance metrics, as shown in Table 29, refer to the
EMC VSPEX Sizing Tool.
Table 29.
Example of key metrics in a SQL Server deployment
Metrics
Thresholds
Average CPU Utilization (%)
Less than 70%
The average disk latency
Less than 5 milliseconds
Disk transfers/second (IOPS)
More than 3700
Test results
After you get the test results, you need to interpret the results based on the key
metrics. In the example shown in Table 30, all the key metrics have been achieved,
which means the current SQL Server environment could meet the business
requirements.
76
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 5: Solution Verification
Table 30.
Key metrics for SQL Server – 250 GB
Performance
FAST Cache
performance
Thresholds
Host CPU
38.50%
Less than 70%
ESXi CPU
13.50%
Less than 70%
Host IOPS
3,788
More than 3700
Data LUN Latency (ms)
(read/write/transfer)
4/2/4
Less than 5 ms
Performance comparison before and after using FAST Cache for SQL Server
This section compared the performance before and after FAST Cache was enabled to
verify the performance acceleration by FAST Cache. Compared to the baseline
performance results as shown in Table 31, adding four 100 GB Flash disks to the VNX
array, the SQL Server data LUN IOPS increased from 773 to 3,788, while disk latency
reduced from 9 ms to 4 ms.
Table 31.
Comparison between the baseline performance and the FAST cache
accelerated performance
Performance
Baseline performance
FAST Cache
performance
SQL Server data LUN IOPS
773
3,788
Average Data LUN Latency (ms)
9
4
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
77
Chapter 5: Solution Verification
Figure 25 shows the comparison between the baseline performance and the FAST
Cache accelerated performance.
Figure 25.
Comparison between the baseline performance and the FAST Cache
accelerated performance
FAST Cache warmup
Figure 26 shows the FAST Cache warmup process. The duration can be less than three
hours to have a stable performance on the data LUNs for the business requirement.
The sampling time was every 30 minutes and the IOPS and latency was the average
value during the time interval.
Figure 26.
78
Fast Cache warmup
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 5: Solution Verification
Backup and recovery verification
Verification of SQL Server backup and recovery implementation requires a number of
recovery options. The highest level is to recover an entire instance or database. The
primary options are to recover either in-place or as part of a redirected recovery to
another correctly configured server. Currently, there is no table-level restore, but the
recovery of file groups requires no special backup procedures.
Avamar 6.1 also includes the ability to browse, backup, and restore using the
avsql.exe command line. This programmatic call’s restore context supports the
recovery models listed in the Verify backup and recovery section. The use case for
avsql.exe is to provide Internet and application Service Providers (xSPs) with the
ability to browse, backup, or restore using an xSP’s portal or other command linedriven facility. The ability to pass parameters, such as which database to restore and
where to use the recovery models, means that SQL Server administrators and portal
users are no longer constrained to a GUI.
The recovery combinations for standalone, cluster, mirrored, and AlwaysOn
Availability Groups are too numerous to cover in this document. The most effective
audit control and application consistency mechanism is SQL Server’s database
consistency check (DBCC). DBCC uses LSN to ensure that transactions from a userdefined full, incremental, or differential backup type restore in their correct
chronological and logical order as found when they were backed up. If either the
database or its companion transaction logs are either physically corrupted or in the
wrong chronological order, the combination of DBCC and LSN determines the
absolute application consistency for all recoveries.
Verify backup and
recovery
The specific steps for various recoveries are mapped out in detail in the EMC Avamar
6.1 for SQL Server User Guide. Additionally, Avamar supports a mix of recovery
options:

Recovery: Full recovery immediately followed by the database going online after
the restore

No recovery: The database remains in a restore state after applying additional
transaction log files

Standby: Maintains the database in a standby (read-only) mode for warm
standby server transaction log inspections
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
79
Chapter 5: Solution Verification
80
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 6
Reference
Documentation
This chapter presents the following topics:
EMC documentation................................................................................... 82
Product documentation ............................................................................. 82
Other documentation ................................................................................. 82
Links ......................................................................................................... 83
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
81
Chapter 6: Reference Documentation
EMC documentation
The following documents, available from the EMC Online Support or EMC.com
websites, provide additional and relevant information. If you do not have access to a
document, contact your EMC representative.

VNX Installation Guide

VNX3150 System Installation Guide

VNXe Series Installation Worksheet

EMC VNXe Series Using a VNXe System with NFS Shared Folders

VNX File and Unified Worksheet

TechBook: Using EMC VNX Storage with VMware vSphere

EMC Avamar 6.1 Administration Guide

EMC Avamar 6.1 for SQL Server User Guide

EMC Avamar 6.1 for VMware User Guide

EMC FAST VP for Unified Storage Systems

Top Reasons Customers Virtualize with VSPEX

Top Reasons Why Customers Virtualize Their Servers with EMC VSPEX

EMC VNXe Series Using a VNXe System with VMware NFS or VMware VMFS
Product documentation
For additional information, see the product documentation listed below.

EMC VSI for VMware vSphere: Storage Viewer — Product Guide

EMC VSI for VMware vSphere: Unified Storage Management— Product Guide

EMC VNX Host Connectivity Guide for VMware ESX Server

VNX Operating Environment for File Release Notes Version

EMC VSPEX Private Cloud VMware vSphere 5.1 for up to 100 Virtual Machines

EMC VSPEX Private Cloud VMware vSphere 5.1 for up to 500 Virtual Machines
Other documentation
For documentation on Microsoft SQL Server, refer to the Microsoft website at
http://www.microsoft.com.
82
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Chapter 6: Reference Documentation
Links
MSDN Library
Refer to the following topics in the MSDN Library:

Add Data or Log Files to a Database

Administering Servers by Using Policy-Based Management

Basic Navigation in Database Engine Tuning Advisor

Basic Navigation in SQL Server Management Studio

Books Online for SQL Server 2012

Change Server Authentication Mode

Client Network Configuration

Configure Database Engine Instances

Configure Windows Service Accounts and Permissions

Connecting to the Database Engine

Database Engine Service Startup Options

Database Properties (Files Page)

Diagnostic Connection for Database Administrators

Enable the Lock Pages in Memory Option (Windows)

Install SQL Server 2012

Install SQL Server 2012 from the Installation Wizard (Setup)

Log File Viewer

Manage the Database Engine Services

Managing Services How-to Topics (SQL Server Configuration Manager)

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Deployment Considerations

Online Transaction Processing (OLTP)—a Technical Reference Guide for
Designing Mission-Critical OLTP Solutions

Optimizing tempdb Performance

Planning a SQL Server Installation

Resource Governor Enhancements (Database Engine)

Scalability and Performance Enhancements (Database Engine)

Security Requirements for Managing Services

Server Configuration Options (SQL Server)

Server Network Configuration

SQL Server Monitor Overview
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
83
Chapter 6: Reference Documentation

Troubleshooting Performance Problems in SQL Server 2008

Using Database Engine Tuning Advisor

Validate a SQL Server Installation

View or Change Server Properties
Microsoft TechNet
Refer to the following topic on the Microsoft TechNet website:

Note
84
Install the guest Operating system
The links provided were working correctly at the time of publication.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Appendix A
Configuration
Worksheet
This appendix presents the following topic:
Configuration worksheet for SQL Server ...................................................... 86
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
85
Appendix A: Configuration Worksheet
Configuration worksheet for SQL Server
Before configuring SQL Server for this solution, you need to gather some customerspecific configuration information such as IP addresses, hostnames, and so on.
The following tables provide a worksheet that you can use to record the information.
You can also print and use the worksheet as a customer “leave behind” document for
future reference.
To confirm the customer information, cross-reference with the relevant array
configuration worksheet: EMC VNXe Series Configuration Worksheet or VNX File and
Unified Worksheets.
Table 32.
Common server information
Server name
Purpose
Primary IP address
Domain Controller
DNS Primary
DNS Secondary
DHCP
NTP
SMTP
SNMP
SQL Server
Table 33.
Server name
ESXi server information
Purpose
Primary IP address
Private net (storage) addresses
ESXi Host 1
ESXi Host 2
ESXi Host 3
ESXi Host 4
…
86
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Appendix A: Configuration Worksheet
Table 34.
Array information
Object
Description
Array name
Array type
Admin account
Management IP
iSCSI Server IP
SPA IP address
SPB IP address
VSPEX private cloud pool
name
Infrastructure datastore
name
SQL Server user databases
storage pool name
SQL Server user databases
datastore name
SQL Server user databases
log and tempdb storage
pool name
SQL Server user databases
log and tempdb datastore
name
Table 35.
Name
Network infrastructure information
Purpose
IP address
Subnet mask
Default gateway
Ethernet Switch 1
Ethernet Switch 2
…
Table 36.
Name
VLAN information
Network purpose
VLAN ID
Allowed subnets
Virtual machine networking
management
iSCSI storage network
vMotion
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
87
Appendix A: Configuration Worksheet
Table 37.
Account
Service accounts
Purpose
Windows Server
administrator
Array administrator
SQL Server administrator
88
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware vSphere
Implementation Guide
Password (optional,
secure appropriately)