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Archives for April 2015

Storage Switzerland – Briefing Note: SIOS Provides High Availability for Azure based MS-SQL

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Data centers of all sizes are looking to the cloud to perform computational workloads like databases and other applications. They are expecting a cloud provider to either run the entire workload in the cloud or make capacity available for bursting to the cloud, or they want to leverage the cloud for business continuity of an on-premises copy of an application. There are two key challenges to the transition from private on premises data center to cloud; support of more traditional applications and providing enterprise class high availability of cloud based applications.

Recently SIOS Technology, providers of SAN and SANless clustering technology, announced they have received full certification for Microsoft Azure, making their SIOS DataKeeper software the only solution certified to enable the use of Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clustering in Azure. Azure provides support for MS-SQL in the cloud and SIOS DataKeeper allows you to use traditional Windows Server Failover Clustering in Azure to makes it highly available Microsoft is offering the SIOS DataKeeper software in its Azure Marketplace.

No NoSQL, MS-SQL Server Please

While NoSQL is a rapidly growing database standard, more traditional data centers count on databases like Microsoft SQL Server. They don’t have the time, desire and in some cases the capability to convert. The good news is that some cloud providers can deliver SQL as an application in the cloud, most notably, Microsoft’s own Azure. Azure is an open, flexible, enterprise-grade cloud computing platform and obviously it runs SQL quite well.

Cloud Applications High Availability

Another challenge is creating an HA environment for each of the above scenarios in a way that does not require changes to well-proven processes, such as HA clusters with Windows Server Failover Clustering. This is a problem because the cloud doesn’t have the shared storage infrastructure that traditional clustering solutions need.

SIOS DataKeeper fills that gap. SIOS DataKeeper is a SANless cluster solution that leverages replication and application awareness to enable WSFC to provide high availability in a cloud (or a physical or virtual environment where SAN-based clustering is impractical or impossible). The solution can be deployed directly into Azure so that replication and HA can be done within or across cloud regions. It can also be deployed to provide a DR instance of an on-premises SQL application by enabling you to put a cluster node(s) in the cloud. The result is that no matter where the organization is on its cloud journey the SIOS solution can make sure the application is as well protected as it is in a traditional physical environment.

You can learn more about how to put SQL in the cloud by watching our on-demand webinar “HA and DR must haves for Cloud Based SQL”.

StorageSwiss Take

The journey to the cloud will be different for each organization that embarks on it. But most organizations will face the challenges of supporting legacy applications and providing high availability. SIOS, in conjunction with Microsoft’s Azure, is an example of a solution that solves both problems and should speed an organization’s journey, while keeping it reliable.

View this article on StorageSwiss.com

May 30, 2015: SIOS Sponsoring SQLSaturday New York City

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Register Now for SQLSaturday New York City
When: May 30, 2015
Where: Microsoft New York Metro District Office at 11 Times Square, New York, NY 10036
Cost: $10 to cover the cost of lunch, the event itself is free

SIOS is proud to be a Gold sponsor at SQLSaturday New York City. Be sure to visit the SIOS table for your chance to learn more about our SAN and #SANLess solutions, enjoy some candy, and drop off your raffle ticket for your chance to enter our end of day $100 Amex raffle. There are a number of great tracks so be sure to plan your schedule well in advance (schedule).

Storage Newsletter: SIOS DataKeeper SANLess Clustering Software Now Microsoft Azure Certified

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SIOS Technology Corp., maker of SAN and SANLess clustering software products, announced that its SIOS DataKeeper Cluster Edition software is Microsoft Azure certified and available in the Azure marketplace.

The SIOS offering is the only Azure certified software that enables customers to create a SANLess HA cluster in Azure using Windows Server Failover Clustering.

By adding SIOS DataKeeper software to Windows Server Failover Clustering, customers can help protect business-critical Windows environments from downtime and data loss in a cloud or a combination of physical, virtual, or hybrid cloud environment. Now, applications depending on SAN-based Windows server failover clusters for protection can be moved to Azure and achieve the more comprehensive HA protection.

“We are pleased that Microsoft has chosen to certify and include SIOS DataKeeper in the Azure Marketplace. By providing fast, convenient access to SIOS DataKeeper software, our Azure Marketplace offering enables customers to deploy their important applications such as SQL, SAP, and Oracle in Azure with the same HA protection they have in traditional physical server environments,” said Jerry Melnick, COO, SIOS.

“Products like SIOS DataKeeper are pivotal in the cloud transformation,” said Vibhor Kapoor, director of product marketing, Microsoft Azure. “By providing the essential HA protection for critical applications that enterprise, need, SIOS and Azure are enabling customers to take their journey to the cloud with confidence.”

Along with its Azure Marketplace offering, SIOS provides an informative, step-by-step guide to creating a HA failover cluster to protect SQL Server in Azure IaaS written by Microsoft MVP, David Bermingham.

Pricing

Read this article at StorageNewsletter.com

Virtual Strategy Magazine: Interview with Sohamn Chatterjee, Senior Business Systems Architect, Spirent Communications

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Virtual Strategy Magazine (VSM): Can you provide some background on Spirent and the nature of your business?
Sohamn Chatterjee (SC): Spirent is a global leader in communications test and measurement with 20 locations in 15 countries worldwide. We enable our customers’ success in development and deployment of communications networks, services and applications. Our broad solutions portfolio addresses data centers, cloud computing, virtualized environments, security, high speed Ethernet networks and services, and infrastructure test optimization.

VSM: How would you categorize Spirent’s IT philosophy as it relates to customer service and your use of innovative technologies as a competitive advantage?
SC: The Spirent IT department is continuously looking for ways to improve efficiency and maintain the highest quality of service to customers. For example, we recognized that moving our operations to the Amazon cloud would provide a variety of benefits. We saw an opportunity to gain significant flexibility, scalability, and efficiency by moving to the Amazon EC2 cloud. This move would let us grow quickly and to apply additional IT resources as our needs change.

VSM: Once you decided to move the cloud, what were your top priorities? What kept you awake at night?
SC: For the move to Amazon EC2 to be successful, our IT staff needed to provide high availability for our Siebel Gateway Server and File Server application environments. We could not move important applications to the cloud until we were sure that we would not be putting them at risk for downtime or data loss. The traditional shared storage clusters that we would have used in a physical environment require shared storage – which is not available in EC2. We needed an affordable, easy-to-deploy solution that would support native Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC).

VSM: With these objectives in mind, what choices did you make?
SC: We chose SIOS DataKeeper Cluster Edition to protect our business critical applications in the cloud. The SIOS software enabled us to create a traditional Windows Server Failover Cluster in AWS without the need for shared storage. We built two-node clusters in the Amazon EC2 cloud using standard WSFC and added SIOS DataKeeper Cluster Edition software as an ingredient. The SIOS software uses efficient, real-time replication to synchronize storage between instances in different AWS Availability Zones, making them appear to WSFC as a SAN. The SIOS software provided intuitive configuration wizards, enabling us to deploy applications in our SANLess clusters quickly and easily. Complete integrations with WSFC, meant our IT staff did not have to change system administration or add complexity. Because the SANLess clusters use local storage, there was minimal performance overhead and fast application response times.

VSM: Can you provide an example of how you were able to provide High Availability assurance in the cloud with SIOS’ SANLess clustering software?
SC: We were able to configure the clusters just as we would in a WSFC environment so we did not need specialized skills or a SAN administrator. The SIOS software enabled us to implement our move to the AWS cloud efficiently. The SIOS software provided the protection we needed to move our important applications to the Amazon EC2 cloud. Since our cluster deployment, we have not experienced any downtime or data loss in the Siebel or File Server environments. We have also found the SIOS SANLess clusters make failover/failback testing fast and easy. We are very pleased with the SIOS software and the protection our SIOS SANLess clusters provide for both our Siebel Gateway Server and File Server application environments in the Amazon EC2 cloud.

VSM: Who is SIOS Technology and do their solutions work just in virtualized environments? What if I have a hybrid infrastructure?
SC: SIOS delivers software solutions that provide application availability and disaster. SIOS SAN and SANLess clustering software provides the flexibility to build clusters your way to protect your choice of Windows or Linux environment – and any configuration (or combination) of physical, virtual and cloud (public, private, and hybrid) storage – without sacrificing performance or availability. SIOS’ SANLess clustering solution eliminates both the cost and the single-point-of-failure risk of traditional shared-SAN storage.

Read this interview on Virtual-Strategy.com

May 16, 2015: SIOS Sponsoring and Presenting at SQLSaturday Atlanta

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Image -- SQLSaturday Atlanta #392Register Now for SQLSaturday Atlanta
When: Saturday, May 16, 2015
Where: Georgia State University, 3775 Brookside Parkway, Alpharetta, GA, 30022
Cost: $10 to cover the cost of lunch, the event itself is free

SIOS is proud to sponsor SQLSaturday Atlanta. Be sure to visit the SIOS table for your chance to learn more about our SAN and #SANLess solutions, enjoy some candy and drop off your raffle ticket for your chance to enter our end of day $100 Amex raffle. There are a number of great tracks so be sure to plan your schedule well in advance (schedule). Also be sure to join our “Clusters Your Way™” lunch session presented by Microsoft SQL Server MVP Geoff Hiten.