Microsoft Workloads on AWS

Category: Windows on AWS

It’s end of support time again. Are your Microsoft Windows Servers secure?

With the upcoming end of support for Microsoft Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 on October 10, 2023, and the ongoing challenges faced by those on Windows Server 2008/2008 R2, many organizations find themselves in a delicate position. Transitioning away from these older versions isn’t always straightforward. Some organizations are running third-party software that is not yet […]

Using Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling to Manage Azure Pipelines Agent Capacity

In this blog post, we will show you how to use Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Auto Scaling with your self-hosted Amazon EC2 Azure Pipelines agents to deploy applications to Amazon Web Services (AWS) using Azure DevOps. Introduction There are many ways that you can build and deploy your applications to AWS. You can […]

Using AWS Launch Wizard to deploy SQL Server Always On Failover Cluster Instances with Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP

In this blog post, we will walk you through the steps required to deploy a SQL Server Always On Failover Cluster (FCI) using AWS Launch Wizard, with Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP providing you with a shared storage solution. Introduction In our previous blog post, we described how to set up SQL Server FCI with […]

Analyze modernization incompatibilities using AWS Migration Hub Strategy Recommendations

In this blog post, we are going to explore in depth how AWS Migration Hub Strategy Recommendations analyzes your environment, what aspects it analyzes, and how to get the most out of the resulting anti-pattern reports. Introduction Strategy Recommendations analyzes, based upon your business objectives, server inventory, runtime environments, running applications, and databases to identify viable […]

Rotate Active Directory credentials stored in AWS Secrets Manager

In this blog post, I will show you how to use AWS Systems Manager (SSM) Automation to keep a service account’s password synchronized in Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and a Secret in AWS Secrets Manager encrypted with an AWS Key Management Service (KMS) customer managed key (CMK). This blog post uses AWS Secrets Manager, but […]

Synchronize Active Directory users to AWS IAM Identity Center using SCIM and PowerShell

In this blog post, I will show you how to use PowerShell to synchronize changes to Microsoft Active Directory (AD) users and groups for federated access to Amazon Web Services (AWS). Introduction Some customers have a well-established Active Directory Federation Service (ADFS) implementation and would like to leverage it for federated access to AWS via […]

Switching Amazon RDS for SQL Server from AWS Managed Microsoft AD to self-managed AD

In this blog post, I will show how to move Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) for SQL Server deployments from AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory (AWS Managed Microsoft AD) to your self-managed Microsoft AD. This blog post is not saying you should move away from AWS Managed Microsoft AD to self-manged AD. Keep […]

Setting up high availability for Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services in Scale Out deployment on Amazon EC2

In this blog post, we’ll dive into two options to set up high availability for Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) in a Scale Out deployment model to help you figure out the best way to achieve SSIS high availability for mission-critical workloads. Introduction When you are deploying mission-critical workloads using Microsoft SQL Server databases, […]

Explore Licensing Options for Your Microsoft Workloads on AWS

Exploring licensing options for your Microsoft workloads on AWS

Migrating your Microsoft workloads to the cloud requires a well-thought-out licensing strategy. AWS offers various ways to support your licensing needs and help you understand the options. Whether you aim to lower costs, enhance security, or improve the price-performance of your applications, AWS has three options to ensure you meet your objectives. The infographic illustrates […]

Migrate SQL Server database from Azure SQL Managed Instance to AWS

Did you know you can migrate a Microsoft SQL Server database from an Azure SQL Managed Instance to SQL Server on Amazon Web Services (AWS) using a COPY_ONLY backup from Azure SQL Managed Instance? Using this method is straightforward, as it copies/moves all objects in a database and it supports all editions. However, keep in […]