Microsoft Workloads on AWS

Category: Amazon EC2

How to deploy Extended Security Updates for Windows Server 2012 on Amazon EC2 with AWS Systems Manager

In this blog post, I will guide you through the procedure necessary to prepare your Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) workloads to receive Extended Security Updates (ESU) purchased from Microsoft. This is achieved by utilizing the Patch Manager and Run Command capabilities of AWS Systems Manager. Windows Server users are familiar with Microsoft’s regular […]

Optimizing protocol selection when using Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP for Microsoft SQL Server

In this blog post, we will review advantages and disadvantages of the two storage access protocols, iSCSI and SMB, offered by Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP (FSx for ONTAP). For comparison purposes, we will use Microsoft SQL Server on Windows. We will provide recommendations for selecting the optimal storage access protocol for your specific scenario. […]

Comparing performance of new releases of Babelfish and comparing Babelfish performance with SQL Server

In this blog post, I will compare the performance of the newest releases of Babelfish for Aurora PostgreSQL and provide performance and price-performance comparisons between Babelfish and Microsoft SQL Server 2022. 1.    Introduction Babelfish for Aurora PostgreSQL is a capability of Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL-Compatible Edition that enables Aurora to understand commands from applications written for […]

Join AWS at PASS Data Community Summit 2023

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is excited to welcome our customers and partners to the PASS Data Community Summit 2023 in Seattle on November 14-17, where data professionals and experts gather to explore the latest trends, technologies, and innovations. We are delighted that AWS will continue our ongoing support of this community as a Platinum sponsor—and […]

Exporting the Windows Failover Cluster log to CloudWatch

In this deep-dive blog post, we will go through a step-by-step guide on how to capture Windows Failover Cluster Event Viewer logs using Amazon CloudWatch agent and send alerts using Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS). Introduction Windows Event Viewer logs are a crucial aspect of monitoring and troubleshooting Windows systems. However, manually reviewing these […]

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 […]

Scaling SQL Server performance beyond 1M transactions per minute with Amazon FSx

In this blog post, we introduce a strategy for scaling Microsoft SQL Server deployments on Amazon Web Services (AWS) that uses Amazon FSx, a service that provides fully managed, high-performance file systems in the cloud. This strategy increases SQL Server performance on AWS, providing 2 to 3 times as many Transactions per Minute (TPM) as […]

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 […]

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, […]

How to upgrade and modernize with Windows containers

How to upgrade and modernize Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Windows containers on AWS

This blog post is the third in a four-part series on how to upgrade Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2. The focus of this series is to provide options to handle the upcoming end-of-support event in October. Part 1 overviews the end-of-support dilemma, plus how to perform an in-place, manual upgrade along with an insight […]