How To Become A SQL Server Cloud Architect on AWS

Name: How To Become A SQL Server Cloud Architect on AWS
Rating: 3.9 (256 reviews)

Moving Your SQL Server to The Cloud

Created byMike West

Last updated 5/2015

English

What you'll learn

This Course was Designed for SQL Server DBAs moving their Databases to Amazon's Cloud
You will be Architecting SQL Server Instances Using RDS.
As an Amazon SQL Server Cloud Architect You'll be Learning the vernacular of Amazon's Cloud.

Course content

7 sections • 39 lectures • 1h 25m total length

Course Introduction. What Will We Be Doing and Is It Right For You?1:26
Services We Will Be Talking About In This Course.1:28
This course covers the basics of cloud computing and more specifically Amazon's cloud offering known as AWS. AWS stands for Amazon Web Services because everything in their cloud is presented to the customer as a service.

We will talk about two ways to move SQL Server Databases to Amazon's cloud:

EC2

RDS

The course will focus primarily on RDS which stands for Relational Database Service. This service has been tailored for SQL Server.
What Is a Cloud Computing? Let's Define it Before We Look At Amazon's Take.1:04
This course is specific to Amazon's cloud offering but cloud computing has a general definition. We take a look at how we define the cloud.
Amazon AWS Overview. AWS Stands For Amazon Web Services. Everything is a Service1:56
This lecture is specific to Amazon's cloud offering. Each cloud service provider has their own unique nuances and we talk about Amazon's here.
Amazon RDS Overview. RDS Stands For Relational Database Services.0:39
AWS stands for Amazon Web Services. It's a vast offering of services you can mix and match to suit your needs. This course will focus mostly on RDS or the "Relational Database Service."
Summary. Let's Wrap Up What We've Learned About the Cloud and AWS.0:43
Let's go over the high points on starting our cloud journey. We have lots of new terms and concepts to cover.
Errata. The User Guides For AWS Are Living Documents.0:18
I'v made every attempt to ensure the course is up to date, however, the documentation for AWS and the many service offerings are living and will change over time.
Section 1 Quiz

Download Course Material Here.0:06
Creating an Account in the AWS Free Tier. There is one Caveat You Should Know.1:22
Creating a account involves two steps:

Creating an account on the AWS platform.

Downloading two applications to your phone.

AWS uses multi-factor authentication, which is a fancy way to say you need more than one login to access your services.
Monitoring Our Cost. How Much Do We Owe?1:40
Amazon recently upgraded the ability to see our bill more granularly . We can even set up alerts and can be notified if our daily threshold has been breached.
Summary. Let's Wrap Up What We've Learned About the Cloud and AWS.1:02
Let's go over what we've learned about creating our account.

The Two Approaches To Putting SQL Sever in The Cloud.2:15
There are two ways to "spin up" a SQL Server inside AWS.

Using EC2 or virtual servers

Using RDS or Relational Database Service.
What is EC2? It's One of The Core Services Amazon's Provides. Let's have a look.2:00
Since RDS currently only supports two versions there may arise a need to "spin up" an older or newer SQL Server version. In order to do that we will need to use EC2 to create a virtual server.
Creating A SQL Server Instance Inside of EC2.4:01
In this video we create an EC2 instance and ensure SQL Server is functioning. Both approaches are much simpler and faster than creating an on-premise server.
What's a Virtual Private Cloud? Let's Get A 1000 Foot View of VPCs.2:19
VPC stands for Virtual Private Cloud. It's like a fence around your virtual network. We high level it here but this should be left in the hands of a qualified solutions architect.
Summary. Let's Wrap Up What We've Learned About Other AWS Services.1:18
There are a ton of services offered by Amazon in AWS. We spend our time in only one or two but we should have an understanding of a few others that are core to grasping AWS.
Section 3 Quiz.

Blueprint for Spinning Up Our Instance in RDS.0:24
Before we start creating RDS instances all over our cloud it's a good idea that we know what options we have available to us.
Instance Specifications - Our First Three Options1:03
Our first three options are very straightforward. We will need to decide if we want to use Amazon's licenses (and pay for them) or bring our own.
Instance Specifications - Our Fourth Option is DB Classes2:36
This is a big one. What we select here will have an immediate impact on how SQL Server performs. However, it's not as imperative as it is with an on-premise box because we can easily vertically scale an RDS instance.
Instance Specification - Our Fifth Option is About Availability Zones2:10
High Availability is a costly and often a complicated endeavor when we are taking about our on-premise servers. One of the greatest features of RDS is the ability to create a HA solution with the click of a button.
Instance Specification - Our Sixth Option is About Storage Selection1:58
There are only three options and to be honest only two are useful for real world production applications.
Instance Specification - Our Seventh Option is Database Settings1:06
We lose a lot of control as AWS Cloud DBAs. We no longer have the all powerful SA account. In AWS we have a "master account" that is a SQL Server authenticated login we use to manage our RDS instance.
What is SSL? Our Next Option Will Deal With Security So Let's Set The Backdrop1:29
There is overhead but it's nice to know that if we need SSL we have that option. In some circles, financial arenas come to mind, this isn't an option.
Our Eighth Option Will Deal With Database Parameters2:29
Some options we control and some we can't. In most on-premise boxes these setting are generally left alone but we need to know which ones we can alter in RDS and which ones we can't.
The Ninth And Final Option is Backups.1:45
A snapshot is a backup. There are two kinds kinds of snapshots. Automated and manual. We'll cover them in this video.
Limits For SQL Server Databases. There Are Some Big Ones. Pay Attention Here.2:18
These are in a constant state of flux. Amazon is doing a good job of responding to customer needs so many of these options are "upgraded" frequently.
Cloud VS Local. A Simple IO Test Before You Move Your Database to The Cloud4:41
While this is certainly not a scientific method for vetting your cloud IO subsystems it can give you insight into problems before they arise.

If your on-premise numbers aren't slower then you'll probably need dedicated IOPS.
Summary. Let's Wrap Up What We've Learned About RDS.0:54
Section 4 Quiz

Moving AdventureWorks To The Cloud. The "Recommended" Approach2:52
Amazon documents a way to move SQL Server databases to the cloud. Their approach will certainly work but it's not the easy way. I'll walk through it in this video.
Moving AdventureWorks To The Cloud. My Recommend Way.5:14
Theres'a great tool for moving on premise databases to the cloud for SQL Server Azure. The tool works even better for moving databases to AWS.

I highly recommend this approach and walk through it during this video. The tool is free.
Scripting Logins From On Premise To Our Cloud. This Will Work For All Servers.2:03
Logins aren't moved as part of the migration process so it's up to us to move them. The good news is moving logins to RDS is identical to moving them to anther instance and we've been doing that for years. This video will walk through that process.
Summary. Let's Wrap Up What Our Schema and Data Migration Tools.0:36
Section 6 Quiz

Interview Questions Specific to AWS and RDS.6:47
In this audio segment I cover some question that might come up during an interview for positions dealing with AWS and RDS. This isn't a comprehensive list but it's a solid start.
Congratulations and Thank You1:16
You did it!!! Congrats. Cloud based computing is growing faster than any other segment of IT. Amazon has 58% of the market and as long as their offerings continue to impress I believe their lead will be unchallenged by Microsoft. Azure is a distant second place with 12%. I believe, for SQL Server DBAs, having cloud experience will be mandatory in the very near future.

Requirements

You'll need a FREE tier account on AWS but don't create one now. We cover this in great detail before we start the course.
You should have SQL Server 2012 installed on your computer. The version is important because currently RDS only supports SQL Server 2008R2 and SQL Server 2012.
Fast access to the internet will be very important. The cloud is a metaphor for internet based computing.
You Will Need a Cell Phone. All AWS Accounts use multi-factor authentication. We Will Cover Why At the Start of This Course.

Description

This course focuses on moving SQL Server Databases to Amazon's Cloud. Amazon's cloud is called AWS which stands for Amazon Web Services and their database offering is called RDS or Relational Database Service.

This course is NOT for any of the current AWS certifications. Currently, there are NO database specific certifications for Amazon's RDS platform.

This course WILL give you the skills necessary to move SQL Server Database to Amazon's cloud. The course will provide YOU with REAL WORLD examples on how to MOVE your existing database to the cloud.

Amazon's control 58% of the cloud market and is spending approximately a BILLION a year on cementing that lead over it's closest competition, which is Microsoft Azure. Currently, Azure comes in second at 12%.

As a SQL Server Consultant I can tell you that many of my customers are MOVING to Amazon's various cloud offerings.

There are still many LIMITATIONS and nuances to moving SQL Server Databases to the cloud. We will discuss many of these in the course.

The code, applications, and TOOLS (like Management Studio) you already use today with your existing databases can be used with Amazon RDS. Amazon RDS AUTOMATICALLY patches the database software and backs up your database, storing the backups for a user-defined retention period and enabling point-in-time recovery.

Amazon RDS makes it easy to use replication to enhance availability and reliability for production workloads. Using the Multi-AZ deployment option you can run MISSION CRITICAL workloads with high availability and built-in automated fail-over from your primary database to a synchronously replicated secondary database in case of a failure.

Availability zone replication is very much like having a built in SQL Server Cluster with the click of a button. This course will set up SQL Server Availability Zones for our HIGH AVAILABILITY needs.

ENROLL NOW!!. Let's Get Started

Who this course is for:

You will need to have a solid understanding of SQL Server fundamentals.
This is not a course for beginners.
This course was created for SQL Server DBAs preparing to move SQL Server Databases to RDS

How To Become A SQL Server Cloud Architect on AWS

What you'll learn

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Course content

Getting Our Heads in the Cloud. It Will Soon Be The New Normal.7 lectures • 8min

Cloud Preparation. Let's Create Our AWS Account.4 lectures • 4min

Amazon AWS Services We Need to Know Before We Begin With RDS5 lectures • 12min

Stepping Through Every Database Option For An RDS Instance.12 lectures • 23min

Creating Various RDS Instances. It's Time To Get Our Hands Dirty.5 lectures • 20min

Moving AdventureWorks to the Cloud4 lectures • 11min

Conclusion2 lectures • 8min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: