Windows Server 2012 Archives

December 10, 2015

Are You Keeping Up With .NET Framework Versions? You Should Be

You may have seen one of the 1,000,001 Tweets, blog posts, and other warnings around SQL Server 2005 end of life, and prior to that, Windows Server 2003 end of life. But there is something else intrinsic to SQL Server that you also need to worry about making sure you are up to date which affects later versions of SQL Server you may be running: the .NET Framework.

If you’re using SQL Server 2012 or later, one of the required components is some version of .NET Framework 4.x. Windows Server 2008 R2 did not ship with .NET Framework 4.x, so you would need to install it on your own or have SQL Server do it. This is known as out of band. Windows Server 2012 shipped with .NET Framework 4.0 and Windows Server 2012 R2 shipped with 4.5. This is known as in band. The good news is that for installations of SQL Server 2012 or later, you would not have to install or enable .NET Framework 4.x; it’s just there.

Like any other component, the .NET Framework needs to be managed, maintained, and updated. Depending on how .NET Framework was installed/configured, either it will be managed as part of updating Windows (in band versions), or you will need to manually update if it was installed separately (out of band, such as .NET Framework 4.x on Windows Server 2008 R2 or if you installed .NET Framework 4.5 on Windows Server 2012).

Microsoft recently published an official .NET team blog post reiterating that .NET Framework versions 4, 4.5, and 4.5.1 will no longer receive security updates, support, or hotfixes as of January 12, 2016. This was first announced back in August of 2014, so it’s not like this is new news, but I can say from experience virtually no one is talking about it. MS’ new post talks more about the upgrade path. To sum it up, you need to install .NET Framework 4.5.2, 4.6, or 4.6.1 to be considered supported when it comes to your .NET Framework version. Security is a real issue for many, and those responsible may not know that your version of .NET Framework could be a possible attack vector. Is your security team aware of this impending problem? How will this affect your version matrices (you do have those, right?)?

The bigger question is this – have you even planned for this event in your environments for both servers and any clients or application servers that run or connect to SQL Server? Have you been keeping up with .NET Framework versions or did you just install SQL Server and forget about it? I would say that most people I encounter fall into the latter. Staying supported is a key component of being mission critical.

If you haven’t thought about updating/patching your .NET Framework version, now is the time to start planning the upgrade to your preferred, supported, and tested version of .NET Framework in your environments. If you do not test against your applications, you could possibly encounter problems. In other words, without testing you are rolling the dice. That is anti-mission critical and can lead to downtime.

Another question you have to get the answer to is this: who owns this upgrade? Is it the app owner? The DBAs? The sysadmins? The .NET Framework can be a bit of a grey area depending on the server and how it was installed.

Here’s a tip: if you’re considering 4.6, just go to 4.6.1 – you’ll not only have a longer shelf life of supportability, but they enhanced the behavior of MultiSubnetFailover (see this blog post for more information) which could benefit some Availability Groups implementations (I am trying to verify if it applies to FCIs; it should as well …). To help you get to green faster, here are some handy links:

This is the KB article to get information on how to download .NET Framework 4.5.2 as an offline installer (including desktop OSes and all Windows Server OSes).
This is the link article to get information on how to download .NET Framework 4.6 as an offline installer (including desktop OSes and all Windows Server OSes
The blog post linked above for 4.6.1 has links for its download.

If you need help planning or implementing your upgrade strategies, let us know.

May 21, 2015

Mission Critical SQL Server Book Update – May, 2015

UPDATE – December, 2016 – see this blog post

These days, one of the things everyone asks me is related to the book – mainly “How is it coming?” – a nice way of asking “Is it done yet?” It’s been awhile since the last update, and I figured it is time for a new one. If you are subscribed to the pre-release content, look for new chapters starting the week of May 25 (next week). Everyone who is not subscribed will need to wait for the final, completed book. There is a chance I may decide to put a few preview chapters up, but only when some more hit the pre-release folks; it is only fair.

So why the delay? Writing a book and publishing it on your own is much harder. My previous books were all done through a publisher who had editors and other bits of infrastructure I do not have at my fingertips. For the most part, I am a single threaded, one man show on the production of this book.

When I put the book up for preorder in July of 2013, I had an idea what I was signing myself for because I had written books before. Writing and publishing – especially self-publishing – is a whole different ball game if you want to do it right and not just dump raw Word files into the world and call it a book.

The good news is that I recently found an editor so the book will have a nice level of spit and polish. I’ve worked with her in the past, and am looking forward to seeing what she delivers. Having said that, primary writing and reviews must be completed before I can turn it over to her.

The only thing I can equate this to is when I scored a friend’s musical in the mid-1990s. I had played in tons of pit bands going back to when I started playing bass in 1980, so I figured, “How hard could this be?” Oh, how naïve I was. Between learning the scoring program, writing and arranging for multiple instruments, rehearsals, corrections – you name it. This was not a one day or one week process. I learned a lot, but it was very painful. Arranging got a lot easier after that, and so, too, will any future projects I do in the self-publishing arena.

Add to that my normal day job (consulting, training, as well as running SQLHA with Max), presenting, eating, sleeping, and trying to live my life somewhere in there along with the writing – oy! There just is only so much time and energy I have. However, I do believe all of these things play into one reason I believe that my books have been well received in the past. I bring real world perspective and experience to the table. If I am not doing this stuff for real, it’s just lab work.

For example, Max and I spent the better part of last year working with a large customer on a virtualized SQL Server project which also leveraged quite a few new storage and networking technologies not usually used with SQL Server. What was gained there will be filtered into the book, so you will be getting a lot better content than if I was not also actively doing consulting projects.

In more good news, I have pretty much cleared the decks for the next month or two to get all of the primary writing completed. Chapters need to be reviewed, and then reviewer feedback and corrections incorporated. Once all of the chapters are done, they will be handed off to the editor. Last but not least, all of the final formatting needs to be finished on the edited chapters. This is the entire book process in a nutshell.

Below are some specific questions that I want to address now because I have been asked from time to time. I have also updated the FAQ accordingly.

What content/chapters will the book contain?

While it may change a little, this is the near-final chapter list with my working (read: not final) titles:

Basics of Availability
Data Center Principles
Brief Intro to the SQL Server HA Features
Windows
Networking Part 1
Networking Part 2
Storage Part 1
Storage Part 2
Security
WSFC
Quorum Part 1
Quorum Part 2
Planning FCIs
FCI 2008 R2
FCI 2012
FCI 2014
Scripting Installations
Planning AGs
Implementing AGs
Cluster Admin/Troubleshooting
Backups Part 1
Backups Part 2
Admin/Monitoring
Planning Highly Available Upgrades
Solutions
Building Your Own Virtualized Test Environment

As you can tell, this is quite a bit of content. Right now the book will weigh in somewhere between 1000 and 1500 pages in Word prior to any formatting. Many of these chapters are in process, so those of you that have seen the updates may have only seen a few chapters but a lot of these are in various states of completion. If you are subscribed to the pre-release content, you’ll see all of this content soon.

When will the book truly be done?

From a timing perspective, assuming no issues or problems, primary writing should be done by July, edits by late August/early September, and then onto formatting. It really should be released on or before PASS Summit 2015. That is what I am working towards, and I see no reason that cannot be achieved.

I know people have been waiting patiently for Mission Critical SQL Server. My mistake in hindsight was putting it up so soon for preorder and not anticipating some of the roadblocks that popped up since putting it up for sale. I know that now, and will never repeat that again. For that, I apologize and I do believe the wait will be worth it.

I paid forever and a day ago – where is my money?

No one has asked, but I’m being forthcoming here – it’s sitting in a bank account earmarked for paying book costs. It’s not long gone. I made sure this happened for a very good reason. I need to pay people like editors 🙂

I subscribed to get updates to the book once it is released – will I still get them?

Yes! Needless to say, I’ll make sure you are taken care of. See the next question for a touch more detail, too.

If you preorder with updates on or before May 31, 2015, look for an e-mail from me soon. Anyone preordering with the updates option post-June 1, 2015, will get updates for the specified term – one year post-book release.

Will you do anything for people who purchased Mission Critical SQL Server a long time ago and have been waiting patiently?

Yes! I’m figuring out what that will be. This is different than the post-release updates. But the same rules will generally apply: pre-May 31, 2015 and post-May 31, 2015. I do appreciate your patience, and trust me, no one wants this done more than me because it is a big thing on my plate. There are other things I’d like to do which cannot get done until the book is complete.

When you first announced the book, you said it would cover through SQL Server 2012. What about 2014 and 2016 now that they are out or announced? How about Windows Server 2016?

Here is even better news. With the book being delayed, SQL Server 2014 is now included in this version. I will touch on a few 2016 (SQL Server and Windows things) but the first updates to the book will arguably be SQL Server 2016 and Windows Server 2016. Once those are released, I’ll examine what needs to be updated or added, and go from there. It is too soon to tell.

Any current discounts?

Yes. 20% until May 31, 2015 off of anything in the store. Code to be entered at checkout: MAY31

July 11, 2013

Allan’s Mission Critical SQL Server Book Ordering Information and FAQ

(Updated 12/31/2016 – see this blog post)

Mission Critical SQL Server is available for preorder here. Below you’ll find all of the information you need about it. And if this doesn’t answer your questions, post a comment or contact us.

1. Why am I publishing the book on my own this time?

This is not because I had a falling out with Apress; we’re on good terms. We just didn’t agree on the vision for the content. I wanted a larger no-compromises book more like my Pro SQL Server 2005 High Availability one; they did not. It’s really that simple. With all of the changes in Windows and SQL Server just through their 2012 versions (as well as SQL Server 2014), this is not going to be anything approximating a 300 page book; that’s too tiny and would be too incomplete. You guys benefit from my being unwilling to compromise here, but I get to drive myself nuts in the process being the perfectionist I am. After this book I may do another for Apress again if this book doesn’t beat me!

2. What versions of Windows and SQL Server are covered in the First Edition?

See the product description on the store for details.

3. What electronic format(s) will Mission Critical SQL Server be available in?

Initially, the eBook and all associated content will be in the ubiquitous Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) format. Most platforms have programs that can read this for free even if your preferred platform isn’t Windows. I hope to offer it in other formats like Kindle/Mobi, ePub, and maybe iBook in the future.

4. Will there be digital rights management (DRM) on the PDF file(s)?

This is a sticky wicket. DRM makes life hard and I respect people do not want it. Passwords make it difficult to put on reading devices. Non-DRMed files make it easier to consume. At the same time, I also don’t want to see my content thrown up for free on some torrent site, nor do I want people to be able to easily republish it. Each copy will essentially be watermarked for who buys it and restrictions as laid out in Mission Critical SQL Server Store and Content Terms apply.

5. Will I only be able to buy Mission Critical SQL Server at http://sqlha.contentshelf.com/shop?

For now, yes. I hope to offer the book elsewhere over time. As noted in #2, the goal is to convert the content to other popular formats such as ePub and Kindle/Mobi – maybe even iBooks. That would need to happen before I can offer the content elsewhere. With the number of graphic elements in the book, that may prove to be both challenging and expensive. If you are wanting another format, contact us. The more evidence I have, the more likely it will be to happen. Converting it to other formats will be costly, so if there is not enough interest, I may not be able to do it. I am being realistic here.

6. I live in <insert country here>. Can I buy the book?

Yes. As long as you can check out, it’s a digital download making it easy to get to you. All prices are in US Dollars.

7. I live in <insert country here> and do not read or speak English well. Will you be offering non-English versions of the book?

There are no plans for the book to be translated to other languages.

8. Will there be a physical/print version of the book?

I would love to be able to offer one. Once the book is complete and I know a page count, I may reconsider a print version if it is possible and the cost will not be astronomical. Stay tuned.

9. What is an updated content subscription and why are you offering one?

Books are like snapshots: they are a moment frozen in time. Updating them is difficult and usually there is a long time between releases. A lot can change in a few months, a year, two years.What I’ve decided to do to combat that is to offer a subscription where you will get all the updated content as it is finished. For example, once SQL Sever 2016 and Windows Server 2016 are released, those updates could be incorporated before doing a major edition of the book which would be a year or two out. This gets you newer content quicker – if you want it.

Also, since the release cadence is changing for the Microsoft server products, traditional publishing just may not be possible for specific versions. By the time you’re done writing it, it’s obsolete. I want to have a good foundation to build upon and just extend it. Hope that makes sense.

10. How long does a subscription last?

It’s a yearly subscription which you will manually have to resubscribe to.

UPDATE 5/21/2015: If you preordered the book with an update subscription prior to May 31, 2015, look for an e-mail from me soon. Post-May 31, it will be only one year from the date that this edition of the book is published. So if it is officially released, say, on 10/1/15, your subscription would end on 9/30/16 if not renewed.

11. How much is a subscription renewal?

It’s $25/year. And as pointed out in the previous question’s answer, you elect to renew or not. My goal is to provide high value content so that you want to.

12. Do I need to buy the book again when you publish a new edition and I already have an updated content subscription?

If you have an active subscription, no. The goal is to only have you buy one major edition of the book and then you get updates as they happen. Information changes over time, and I’m trying to be agile and deliver you content ASAP and not have to wait years between releases. If you only want to consume major versions, just buy the new edition of the eBook when it is published. Simple.

13. If I buy the book from anywhere else but your store, can I get a updated content subscription?

No. If I do convert the book to other formats and offer it for sale elsewhere such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc., those stores will only get the major edition (i.e. First Edition, Second Edition, etc.). I have to give myself some sort of exclusive, right? I may change my mind on this once the book is available elsewhere and offer something. Time will tell, but do not hold your breath.

14. Can I get access to pre-release content like other publishers offer?

Yes. It’s not free, but it is pretty cheap considering you’ll get to see things months in advance. Two of the bundles offer this option. There is currently pre-release content with more coming. Remember that the pre-release content has not been reviewed or edited, so it’s going to be raw and could contain errors.

15. Why are things priced the way they are?

I can tell you from authoring books in the past I make pennies on the proverbial dollar taking into account all the work and hours I put into the final product. This time, since I’m self-publishing, I make even less PLUS I’ve got very real, very tangible costs I need to deal with such as editing as well as costs for hosting and selling the book (including fees associated with subscriptions). I am not rich. I can’t operate at a substantial loss. I also know that I can’t charge $100+ for an eBook. I’ve priced the main eBook competitively with other similarly priced books even though it will be larger than most of them. I think it represents good value for the price you’ll pay.

16. Do you offer discounts or coupons?

I run specials, so check the store.

17. Can I use the PDF(s) I get from you directly on any device I own?

Absolutely! See our Mission Critical SQL Server Store and Content Terms for more detail. There’s a reason I chose this format.

18. Can I buy multiple copies of the for multiple people such as a class, seminar, DBA department, etc.?

19. Can I share the PDF(s) of the content with people I know? They’re really nice people and need some information on these subjects. I vouch for them.

NO! The copy you purchase is only licensed for the person buying the book (hence the watermark). I didn’t put DRM or passwords on it. Respect me and ensure that everyone buys their own copy. And if you upload the content to some nefarious site, I’ll see the watermark. It’s things like this that would make me never do this again. I know I can’t stop it 100%, but you hurt me more than you help me.

20. What if I am unsure if I want to buy it? Will you have some sort of a sample for me to look at?

I am planning on providing this as things get finished and posted; nothing is ready yet. If you have read any of my other books or writings, though, you have an idea of what you’re in for. 🙂

[Updated 5/21/15] 21. It’s May 2015. Is the book done?
See this blog post for more details.

July 2, 2013

WSFC’s Dynamic Witness in Windows Server 2012 R2

As I noted in a previous blog post “Windows Server 2012 R2 for the DBA: 10 Reasons It Matters”, Windows Server 2012 R2 introduces a new quorum concept: dynamic witness. In fact, the whole notion of quorum has changed a bit in Windows Server 2012 R2 (I’ll save that for another time). In this post I want to focus on dynamic witness only.

For those who don’t know, a witness in context of quorum is that additional “voter”/tie breaker in cases where you have an even number of nodes to ensure that you always have an odd number of votes. Prior to Windows Server 2012 R2, if you lost a node in a Windows Server failover cluster (WSFC), you would manually have to readjust quorum. For example, if you have a three-node WSFC and lost one node, you would still be up and running, but you would be down to two nodes and to get back to odd, you’d have to add some sort of witness in manually. Managing quorum is one of the most important administrative tasks for deploying WSFCs, and one of the most common things I see most environments not do well.

Enter Windows Server 2012 R2. By default, you create a witness when the WSFC is formed no matter how many nodes you have. However, the WSFC will not use the witness unless it needs it. I’m going to show you an example to illustrate how all of this works. In this case, I have a three node WSFC named STYX with the node names of DENNIS, TOMMY, and JY. I have a single clustered instance (FCI) of SQL Server 2014 named GRANDILLUSION that is currently running on JY. Figures 1 and 2 show this configuration.

The interesting thing as shown in Figure 1 is that there’s a new parameter for the WSFC: WitnessDynamicWeight. This will either be set to 0 or 1. If it’s 0, no witness is in play. With 1, a witness is being used. It’s really that simple.

Figure 1. All nodes up

Figure 2. GRANDILLUSION up and running

Let’s say we lose JY which is currently hosting GRANDILLUSION. JY fails over to TOMMY as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. GRANDILLUSION now running on TOMMY

Now this is where things get interesting. With Windows Server 2012 and earlier, at this point you would see warnings noting with the loss of a node, you would go down. If you look at Figure 4, note that JY is down as I stated, but WitnessDynamicWeight has a value of 1 since we have an even number of nodes, making the total number of voters 3. This means it is using the witness I configured during the initial setup of the WSFC. In other words, the WSFC is managing quorum for me.

Figure 4. WitnessDynamicWeight = 1

Now we lose TOMMY and GRANDILLUSION is running on DENNIS as shown in Figure 5. Wait, what? We’re down to one node – last man standing – and still running? You bet! This concept is not 100% new – last man standing was possible with Windows Server 2012 in many cases.

Figure 5. GRANDILLUSION now on DENNIS

Figure 6 shows that both JY and TOMMY are down, but DENNIS is left standing alone with the witness disk.

Figure 6. Down to one node, but still running

Can you override dynamic witness? Sure. Let’s assume you have the same three node WSFC and you want the old behavior. Just get rid of the witness. In the Cluster Cluster Quorum Wizard dialog shown in Figure 7, select the option Do not configure a quorum witness.

Figure 7. Removing the witness

Figure 8 shows the warning that Microsoft gives you when you have no witness in Windows Server 2012 R2.

Figure 8. Warning that there is no witness

Now let’s look at a similar scenario as above. We lost JY, and GRANDILLUSION is on TOMMY as shown in Figure 9. Note that WitnessDynamicWeight has a value of 0 and there is no quorum resource (nee witness) configured.

Figure 9. Look Ma! No witness

Finally, in Figure 10 we see that TOMMY is down for the count, and DENNIS owns GRANDILLUSION. The reason I show the value for WitnessDynamicWeight and no quorum is to show I wasn’t making this up; you’re literally down to last man standing again.

Figure 10. Down to last man standing

Like my quick glance at using CSVs with SQL Server 2014, this is a sneak peak at how Windows Server 2012 R2’s dynamic witness along with dynamic quorum introduced in Windows Server 2012 can increase the availability of your FCIs and AGs.

June 25, 2013

SQL Server 2014 FCI Using a Cluster Shared Volume for Storage

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

If you haven’t heard, Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2, and SQL Server 2014 CTP1 have hit both MSDN and TechNet for download. One of the new features of SQL Server 2014 is that you can now use a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) in addition to the other methods you already could use for database and backup storage (drive letter, mount point, SMB share, local tempdb – the last two were introduced in SQL Server 2012).

What is a CSV you may ask? Well, it’s a way to configure a single shared disk that is presented to and can be used by all nodes of a Windows Server failover cluster (WSFC) – a true shared disk. CSVs have been used with Hyper-V and virtual machines (VMs) for years. Why should you care about CSVs? It makes provisioning storage much easier. This is essentially the old PolyServe scenario where you had a shared filesystem for all of your instances. Prior to SQL Server 2014, all of the storage options (except for SMB) required that the storage was dedicated to a single instance, so each time you had to configure a FCI, you needed to get storage provisioned. Well, with SQL Server 2014 if you decide to use a CSV for all of your FCI installations on a single WSFC, you only have to allocate storage once. A CSV looks like Figure 1 in Failover Cluster Manager.

Figure 1. CSV in FCM

In Windows, a CSV is presented like it is a local disk, but it really isn’t; it’s a shared disk in the WSFC. Figure 2 shows what it looks like, which is a “pointer” to the shared disk.

Figure 2. CSV in Windows

When you are configuring the FCI to use a CSV, you will select the CSV configured in the WSFC as the disk as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Selecting the CSV in Setup

The key part comes later: the Data Directories tab as shown in Figure 4. This is where you’re going to have to think. To ensure each FCI on the WSFC is different, each one will get its own unique directory on the CSV. I recommend you come up with a naming convention that works.

Figure 4. Data Directories Tab in Setup

Figure 5 shows what things look like if you were to navigate there in Windows.

Figure 5. FCI storage on CSV

The instance will look similar to one you would have configured if you used SMB – no shared disk shows up as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6. FCI in FCM that uses CSV

This is just a quick glimpse into one of the new – and in my opinion – great options new to SQL Server 2014 that some of us have been hoping would be enabled for awhile. More on this scenario will be covered in detail in my upcoming book.

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