Microsoft Workloads on AWS

Category: Storage

How to deploy a SQL Server failover cluster with Amazon EBS Multi-Attach on Windows Server

In this blog post, we’ll walk you through creating a Microsoft SQL Server failover cluster on Amazon Web Services (AWS) with Amazon Elastic Block Storage (Amazon EBS) Multi-Attach, using the recently introduced Amazon EBS Multi-Attach on IO2 volumes with persistent reservations feature. We will also highlight the potential for cost savings this approach offers. Introduction […]

How to manually downgrade SQL Server Enterprise edition to Developer edition on AWS and save on licensing costs

In this blog post, we will show you how to downgrade Microsoft SQL Server instances from Enterprise edition to Developer edition on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances. This post is especially useful if there are a single digit number of SQL Server instances to be downgraded. In our next blog post, we will […]

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. […]

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 […]

How to view Azure costs using Amazon QuickSight

Introducing the Cloud Intelligence Dashboard for Azure. Enhance cloud cost monitoring with Amazon QuickSight by integrating Microsoft Azure usage data.

How to copy data from Azure Blob Storage to Amazon S3 using code

Our customers tell us they want a reliable way to copy data from Azure Blob Storage to Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). Sometimes data needs to be moved just once, like during a migration. While other times, it needs to be copied continuously, like in a data pipeline. What’s common amongst these requests is […]

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 […]

Automate disaster recovery for your self-managed Active Directory on AWS

In this blog post, I will show how you can leverage Amazon Web Services (AWS) for disaster recovery (DR) for your self-managed Microsoft Active Directory (AD). I will also provide an automated solution to help you run on-demand, periodic DR tests of your AD infrastructure as part of your larger business continuity strategy. Introduction Most […]

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 […]