Slide of the session delivered during SQL Start! 2020, where I illustrate different approaches to determine the best landing zone for you SQL Server workloads. Video (ITA): https://youtu.be/1hqT_xHs0Qs

1. Marco Obinu

2. Sponsors

3. Marco Obinu
Advisory Engineer
SoftJam S.p.A.
@OmegaMadLab
marco.obinu@omegamadlab.com
http://www.omegamadlab.com
https://github.com/OmegaMadLab
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-obinu-omegamadlab/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpkBeQSscC1iBvpNP4VNTKQ
• Geek to the bone 
• Microsoft Azure MVP
Speaker Bio

4. Once upon a time, a nerdy
team was very good at
administrating their old-
fashioned on-premises
databases…

5. … suddenly, the Business came
and said: We need to
move to to
the Cloud!

6. After a little
while of discouragement…

7. … dbas started studying…

8. … and quickly discovered that
Azure is the
right choice
for SQL Server
workloads!

9. Why Azure?
Everything built-in!
Business continuity
High availability
Automated backups
Long term backup
retention
Geo-replication
Scale
Advanced security
Automatic tuning
Built-in monitoring
Built-in intelligence
https://www.aka.ms/gigaom_benchmark

10. Ok, Azure is the
right choice.
But how can we move our
workloads?

11. Ok, Azure is the
right choice.
But how can we move our
workloads?

12. Ok, Azure is the
right choice.
But how can we move our
workloads?

13. Ok, Azure is the
right choice.
But how can we move our
workloads?

14. Define your strategy
Choose the right pattern

15. What’s Lift & Shift?
Rehost– L&S
No changes
Quick & dirty
TCO reduction 😐
Replatform
Few changes
Minimal effort
TCO reduction 🙂
Refactor
Rethink your app
Requires time
TCO reduction 🙂

16. Define your migration path

17. Migration path
Pre-migration Migration Post-Migration
https://aka.ms/datamigration

18. Migration path
Pre-migration Migration Post-Migration
https://aka.ms/datamigration

19. Pre-migration phase
Where everything begins

20. • Architectural design
• Schema remediation
plan
• Hardware
• CPU, RAM, DISK
• Software
• SQL Version, other components
Define
requirements
• Compliance requirements
• Network
• Dependencies
Environment
integration
• Feauture compatibility
• Deprecated syntax
Assess
schema
Pre-migration phase

21. Know your enemy
…or at least your Azure landing zone!

22. What kind of service model?
IaaS
MANAGEDBYVENDOR
APPLICATION
HYPERVISOR
OS
RUNTIME
DATA
STORAGE
NETWORK
YOUMANAGE
SERVERS
MANAGEDBYVENDOR
APPLICATION
HYPERVISOR
OS
RUNTIME
DATA
STORAGE
NETWORK
PaaS
YOUMANAGE
SERVERS
IaaS
PaaS

23. Azure SQL offering
Databases
• Fully managed service • Resource sharing
between multiple
databases to price
optimize
• Simplified performance
management for
multiple databases
• Fully managed service
PaaS
SQL virtual machines
• SQL Server and OS
server access
• Expansive SQL And OS
version support
• Automated
manageability features
for SQL Server
IaaS

24. Azure SQL Virtual MachinesBest for
• The contract on my hardware is
expiring
• I have instances of SQL Server
2008 and 2008 R2
• I want to migrate to the cloud as
fast as possible
• I use third party software that
needs OS-level access
• I want to extend our on-
premises apps to Azure
• I need an unlimited number of
DBs
• I need ultra performance

25. • I want to build a modern multi-
tenant SaaS app
• I want to use a database with
dedicated resources and
predictable performance
• I want to independently scale
compute and storage in my
database
• I want to have unlimited
databases storage when I need
it
• I want to build a mission critical
application with highest uptime
• I want to integrate Azure
services into my applications
Azure SQL DatabaseBest for

26. Azure SQL offering
Databases
• Fully managed service • Resource sharing
between multiple
databases to price
optimize
• Simplified performance
management for
multiple databases
• Fully managed service
PaaS
SQL virtual machines
• SQL Server and OS
server access
• Expansive SQL And OS
version support
• Automated
manageability features
for SQL Server
IaaS

27. Azure SQL offering
Databases
• Fully managed service
• Hyperscale storage (up
to 100TB)
• Serverless compute
• Resource sharing
between multiple
databases to price
optimize
• Simplified performance
management for
multiple databases
• Fully managed service
PaaS
SQL virtual machines
• SQL Server and OS
server access
• Expansive SQL And OS
version support
• Automated
manageability features
for SQL Server
IaaS
Managed instances
• SQL Server surface area
(vast majority)
• Native virtual network
support
• Fully managed service
• Pre-provision compute
resources for migration
• Enables cost-efficient
migration.
• Ability to host smaller
instances (2Vcore)
• Currently in public
preview

28. Do you need any of these?
…then, choose a
Managed Instance!

29. • I want to migrate to Azure but
don’t need OS access
• I want to reduce overhead and
stress of maintain high
availability.
• I need instance-scoped features
like SQL Server Agent,
Transactional Replication, and
Database Mail
Azure SQL managed instanceBest for

30. Myth-busting Azure SQL VMs
I want a VM because it’s easy to size

31. Choosing a VM can be a challenging task
Family, series and size of the VM also affects:
• Access to Premium Storage
• Computing power
• Disk throughput & number of data disks
• Cache and Temporary disk size & throughput
• Network bandwidth & Accelerated Network
DS12v2 – 4 core 28 GB
ACU 210-250
Cached tp. 16000/128 (144)
Uncached tp. 12800/192
NIC/Mbps 4/3000
DS13v2 – 8 core 56 GB
ACU 210-250
Cached tp. 32000/256 (288)
Uncached tp. 25600/384
NIC/Mbps 8/6000
Esv3 – 8 core 64 GB
ACU 160-180
Cached tp. 16000/128 (200)
Uncached tp. 12800/192
NIC/Mbps 4/4000
Azure Storage
(remote storage)
Virtualization host
OsDisk DataDisk DataDisk
VM
VM NIC vSwitch Host NIC
BlobCache (local storage)
TempDisk
RAM cache
SSD cache
More info on this topic:
https://youtu.be/7o80CJUtnh4

32. Pre-packaged, bundled unit that represents the
database power
Designed for predictable performance, but somewhat inflexible and
limited in options
DTU sizing offers simplicity of choice
Storage
Compute
Storage
Compute
vCore model
Independent scalability
DTU model
Simple, preconfigured
This model allows you to independently choose compute and storage
resources. It also allows you to use Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server to
gain cost savings.
Best for customers who value flexibility, control and transparency
PaaS: choosing the right purchasing model

33. PaaS: vCore model
• Simplicity
• We remain committed to the DTU-
based model and the simplicity it
offers customers who want a pre-
configured solution
• Flexibility:
• The vCore-based model reflects our
commitment to customer choice
and to simplify the hybrid benefit
for customers migrating from on-
premises
• Customers pay for:
• Service tier + number of vCores
• Type and amount of data storage
• Number of IO
• Backup storage (RA-GRS)
Service tier General purpose Business critical Hyperscale
Best for
Most budget-oriented
workloads
Critical business applications
with high IO requirements.
VLDB OLTP and HTAP workloads
with highly scalable storage and
read-scale requirements
Deployment
option
Single /
Elastic Pools
Managed
Instance
Single /
Elastic Pools
Managed
Instance
Single
Compute tiers
Gen4: 1 to 24 vCore
Gen5: 2 to 80 vCore
Gen4: 4 to 24 vCore
Gen5: 4 to 80 vCore
Gen4: 1 to 24 vCore
Gen5: 2 to 80 vCore
Gen4: 4 to 24 vCore
Gen5: 4 to 80 vCore
Gen4: 1 to 24 vCore
Gen5: 2 to 80 vCore
Storage
Premium remote Local SSD Local SSD Cache
5GB – 4TB per
instance
32GB – 8TB per
instance
5GB – 4TB per
instance
32GB – 8TB per
instance
Scale from 5GB to 100TB of storage
in 1GB increments
In-Memory Not supported Supported Not supported
Read-write IO <5-10ms for all data access <3ms for all data access
<0.5ms for hot data access
~2ms otherwise
Availability 2 replicas
3 replicas, 1 read-scale replica,
zone-redundant HA
Primary read/write replica + up to 4
read replicas
Backups
RA-GRS, 7-35 days (7 days by
default)
RA-GRS, 7-35 days (7 days by
default)
LRS, ZRS, RA-GRS, 7-35 days (7 days
by default)

34. • Scalable new tiered storage architecture
• Architected for cloud
• Fully compatible with Azure SQL
Database
• Scale compute and storage separately
• Scale up in constant time.
• Support for 100TB+ Infinite Log
• Supports 4 Read replicas
• Restore in constant time
• No impact of backups on compute
• No impact of checkpoints on compute
• Accelerated database recovery
Hyperscale Architecture
Compute
Page
Servers
Remote
Data
Storage
P S S S
Log
Service
128GB128GB
1
32
128GB128GB
1
32
128GB128GB
1
32
128GB128GB
1
32

35. SQL Database Serverless
On-demand flexible scale
Operate at the true rhythm of
your business
Fully managed & intelligent
Focus on your applications, not
your infrastructure
Cost-effective
Pay for performance. Period.
Adapts compute resources to the
workload without sacrificing
performance
Automatically pauses and resumes
Fully-managed and intelligent
database service
Built-in 99.99% availability
Pay only for compute resources
you consume, on a per-second
basis
Further optimize costs with
configurable compute thresholds
Best for unpredictable and intermittent workloads
on single databases, such as:
Dev/test E-commerceLine of Business
Min vcores
CPU usage
Inactive Paused
Max vcores Vcores used Vcores billed

36. Myth-busting Azure SQL VMs
A single VM is enough!
HA is provided by the Hypervisor

37. SQL VM BCDR: roles and responsibilities
• Microsoft
• High availability at data center lever 
• Customer
• Everything 
Microsoft
Customer

38. VM and SLAs
STANDARD PREMIUM

39. SQL Server HADR solutions for Azure IaaS

40. SQL Server HA solutions for Azure IaaS
Load
balancer
Clustered IP
Local
storage
AG Replica
Local
storage
Load
balancer
Clustered IP
Storage
replica
Local
storage
Local
storage
S2D
Load
balancer
Clustered IP
Azure Premium File Share
Load
balancer
Clustered IP
Shared disk
Availability
Groups
SQL FCI
S2D
SQL FCI
PFS
SQL FCI
Shared Disk
Preview

41. PaaS BCDR: roles and responsibilities
• Microsoft
• Geo-distrubuted service
• Customer metadata protection and recovery
• Transparent high availability and data protection from local platform failures
• Automatic geo-distributed backups
• Automatic data sync of geo-replicated databases
• Platform compliance testing and certification
• Alert to impacted customers during regional failures
• Customer
• Implementing retry login in your application
• Detecting user errors and initiating point-in-time restore
• Planning, database prioritization, and region selection for disaster recovery
• Initiating geo-restore to selected region
• Application disaster recovery drills
Microsoft
Customer

42. PaaS: General Purpose Architecture
Redundant node
Active compute node
Azure storage account
Scaled node
Separation of compute and storage
• Stateless compute VM
• TempDB on local SSD
• Data and log on remote Premium Storage
Property Value
vCores 1-80
Memory 5.1 GB/core
IO latency 5-10ms
IOPS Up to 40K
Load Up to22MB/s

43. • All databases on local SSD (NVMe)
• Failed node is replaced with the spare
PaaS: Business Critical Architecture
Secondary endpoint
(read-only)
Primary endpoint
(read-write)
Always On AG
Super-fast SSD
Secondary replicaPrimary replica
Secondary replicaSecondary replicaSpare node
Secondary replica
Property Value
vCores 1-80
Memory 5.1/7 GB/core
IO latency < 3 ms
IOPS Up to 110K
Load 48 MB/s
In-memory OLTP 3GB-130GB

44. Myth-busting Azure SQL VMs
PaaS is accessed via a public endpoint.
A VM is more secure!

45. Azure SQL Networking
On-prem datacenter
Vnet 10.0.0.0/16
Subnet 10.0.2.0/24
Vnet 192.168.0.0/16
Subnet 10.0.1.0/24
Subnet 10.0.2.0/24
Peering
Vnet integration
Service
Endpoint
Subnet 10.0.4.0/24
Private Link
Private IP
Subnet 10.0.5.0/24
Subnet 10.0.3.0/24

46. PaaS: Enterprise-class Security Controls

47. Advanced Threat Detection
Azure SQL DatabaseApps
Audit
Log
Threat Detection
(1) Turn on Threat Detection
(3) Real-time actionable alerts
(2) Possible threat to
access / breach data

48. Myth-busting Azure SQL VMs
I want a VM to reuse my own licenses!
And PaaS is so expensive…

49. Licensing models and cost-saving options
– pay attention to passive nodes!
 AHB works also for Windows license
 SQL 2019 licensing benefits
 Require Software Assurance
 License for DR node is «included»
 Developer Edition

50. Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server (PaaS)
License trade-in values
General purpose or
Hyperscale vCore
4x General purpose or
Hyperscale vCores
Business critical
vCore
SQL Server cores
with SA license
vCores on Azure
SQL Database
SQL Server
Enterprise Edition
SQL Server
Standard Edition
 Take an inventory of on-premises licenses
to determine potential for conversion
 Convert on-premises cores to vCores to
maximize value of investments

51. A simple comparison with the public calculator
Service type Region Description Estimated monthly cost
Virtual Machines West Europe
2 D8s v3 (8 vCPU(s), 32 GB RAM) x 730 Hours; Windows – (OS Only);
Pay as you go; 2 managed OS disks – P10
€1.080,64
Storage Accounts West Europe Managed Disks, Premium SSD, P20 Disk Type 4 Disks, Pay as you go €271.68
Azure SQL Database West Europe
Managed Instance, vCore Purchase Model, General Purpose Tier,
Single Instance, Provisioned, Gen 5, 1 8 vCore instance(s) x 730
Hours, 1,024 GB Storage, 0 GB Backup Storage
€939,10
VM vs Managed Instance
Service type Region Description Estimated monthly cost
Virtual Machines West Europe
2 D8s v3 (8 vCPU(s), 32 GB RAM) x 730 Hours; Windows – SQL
Server; Pay as you go; 2 managed OS disks – P10
€2.065,61
Storage Accounts West Europe Managed Disks, Premium SSD, P20 Disk Type 4 Disks, Pay as you go €271.68
Azure SQL Database West Europe
Managed Instance, vCore Purchase Model, General Purpose Tier,
Single Instance, Provisioned, Gen 5, 1 8 vCore instance(s) x 730 Hours,
1,024 GB Storage, 0 GB Backup Storage
€1.431,42
With
Azure Hybrid Benefit
Pay-as-you-go
https://azure.microsoft.com/it-it/pricing/calculator/

52. Did we miss something??

53. Myth-busting Azure SQL VMs
I really need a VM, sob 😥
I’ll miss all that managed features…

54. Azure SQL Database
Everything built-in!
Business continuity
High availability
Automated backups
Long term backup retention
Geo-replication
Scale
Advanced security
Automatic tuning
Built-in monitoring
Built-in intelligence

55. Azure SQL Database
Everything built-in!
Business continuity
High availability
Automated backups
Long term backup retention
Geo-replication
Scale
Advanced security
Automatic tuning
Built-in monitoring
Built-in intelligence
configurable
VMs

56. SQL IaaS VM Resource Provider
Azure VMs are now discoverable
on the new Azure SQL blade
in Azure Marketplace
Self-installed VMs registered with
RP now can access automation
features in
Azure Marketplace images
Self-installed VMs with RP
can be easily converted
to PAYG images
Self-installed VMs with RP
automatically indicate usage
of Azure Hybrid Benefit
Learn more aka.ms/sqlvm_rp and aka.ms/sqlvm_rp_documentation

57. Pre-migration phase
The tools

58. Pre-migration tools
• Database Migration Assistant
• PAL and performance counter
• Diagnostic queries
• MAP Toolkit
• Azure Monitor – Service Map solution

59. Database Migration Assistant
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/dma/dma-overview?view=sql-server-ver15

60. Pre-migration tools
• Database Migration Assistant
• PAL and performance counter
• Diagnostic queries
• MAP Toolkit
• Azure Monitor – Service Map solution

61. Azure Monitor - Service Map solution
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/insights/service-map

62. Azure Monitor - Service Map solution
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/insights/service-map

63. Migration phase

64. Migration
BACPAC
Backup/Restore Export to BACPAC Azure DMS
https://dbatools.io
For everything else, there’s 😍

65. More info on this topic:
https://vimeo.com/321092681
Azure Database Migration Service
• Azure deployment
• Standard tier  offline migrations
• Premium tier  online migrations
• Hybrid deployment (preview)

66. Post-migration phase

67. Post-Migration
Assess
RemediateTest

68. Post-Migration – Tools
• A/B Testing
• Database Experimentation Assistant (DEA)
• Workload Tools by @SpaghettiDBA
Record
workload
Replay on
source and
establish a
baseline
Replay on
destination
Compare
results
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/dea/database-experimentation-assistant-overview?view=sql-server-ver15
https://github.com/spaghettidba/WorkloadTools

69. Post-Migration – Tools
• QueryStore
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/performance/monitoring-performance-by-using-the-query-store?view=sql-server-ver15
https://docs.microsoft.com/it-it/sql/relational-databases/performance/query-store-usage-scenarios?view=sql-server-ver15

70. Post-Migration – Tools
• Monitoring
• Azure Monitor (Azure SQL Analytics and VM Insights)
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/insights/azure-sql
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/insights/vminsights-overview

71. Useful links
• Azure SQL IaaS playground
• https://github.com/OmegaMadLab/SqlIaasVmPlayground
• SQL-optimized-VM ARM template
• https://github.com/OmegaMadLab/OptimizedSqlVm-v2
• Database migration guide
• https://aka.ms/datamigration
• DBATools PowerShell module
• https://dbatools.io
• SQL Server free workshops
• https://microsoft.github.io/sqlworkshops/

72. Let’s keep
in touch!
@OmegaMadLab
marco.obinu@omegamadlab.com
http://www.omegamadlab.com
https://github.com/OmegaMadLab
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-obinu-omegamadlab/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpkBeQSscC1iBvpNP4VNTKQ