This is part four of the SQL 2012 failover cluster installation series. In this installment we will create the Microsoft cluster and add the storage resources. If you are using two VM NICs then we will also tweak their configuration. While this process is fairly straight forward, it can be...
This is Part 3 of the SQL 2012 failover clustering series we will configure the required LUNs and iSCSI components, so that Windows Server 2012 can mount the shared LUNs. As I mentioned before, I'm choosing to do in-guest iSCSI for the shared LUNs vice RDMs. RDMs are acceptable as well, and...
First up in this series is deploying your two Windows Server 2012 VMs, which will be the SQL 2012 failover cluster nodes. I have a standard VM template that is built in a nearly fully automated manner with Microsoft MDT 2012 Update 1. If you are still making your VM...
This series of posts will show you how to configure SQL 2012 on VMware using a Microsoft failover cluster. Now that VMware vSphere 5.5 is out, I'm excited that VMware finally got on board with officially supporting clustering the vCenter database. However, their only official clustering option they support is what...
Twitter #VAPP5932; Presenter:Â Scott Salyer (VMware) This session was focused on the various Microsoft SQL server high availability options and how they mesh with vSphere and its HA options. Unlike Exchange 2013, SQL 2012 has several HA architectures to choose from. Some applications may only support one or two SQL HA...
Twitter: #VAPP5613, Alex Fontana (VMware) This session was skillfully presented and was jam packed with Exchange on VMware best practices for architects and Exchange administrators. Can you use Exchange VMDKs on NFS storage? Can you use vSphere HA and DRS? How can you avoid DAG failover with vMotion? What's the number one cause...
TechEd 2013 had a bunch of great sessions on Windows Server 2012 R2, which has a boatload of new features. You can now download Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview version now. Pick up your copy here. Windows 8.1 release preview will come out tomorrow, but you can get a jump start on...
Back a few TechEd conferences ago I learned about a new tool called EMET (Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit) from Microsoft that was designed to add additional layers of protection to Windows operating systems. Given my strong focus on secure solutions, I was a big fan of EMET. Over the years some...
This was Part 2 of a two part series on comparing VMware and Microsoft virtualization/Cloud offerings. Part 1 was focused on the hypervisor and how Hyper-V and ESXi compare. I had a schedule conflict with part 1, so I didn't attend it. This is part 2, focusing on the private cloud...
This was a highly technical session going into the depths of a few new Windows 8.1 security features. The session focused on passwords, and how bad they are, and establishing trusted identity with BYOD. Virtual smart cards were also on the agenda, which are really cool. The speaker was very...