With the allure of cost savings, greater flexibility, and more agility, many organizations are eyeing the cloud as an alternative for deploying new applications, including those with high database performance requirements. In fact, technology research firm TechNavio predicts a 62 percent annual growth rate of cloud-based databases through 2018. We are building up the setup SQL server Cluster in Azure Platform. HADR deployment architectures SQL Server HADR technologies that are supported in Azure include:

• Always On Availability Groups
• Always On Failover Cluster Instances
• Log Shipping
• SQL Server Backup and Restore with Azure Blob Storage Service
• Database Mirroring - Deprecated in SQL Server 2016

SQL Server Cluster in Azure The solution that provides the most options and flexibility to implement a high availability SQL Server solution, we will be discussing how to build a Windows Server Failover Cluster for SQL Server using Azure virtual machines.  As stated, one of the requirements for WSFC is the ability to access shared storage which is not an option in Azure, but by integrating a solution like SIOS DataKeeper Cluster Edition into the mix we can build a SQL Server cluster using Azure virtual machines.  SIOS DataKeeper Cluster Edition is a Microsoft Azure Certified product which means this is a fully supported Microsoft solution.

• Provision the virtual machines
• Add the Failover Clustering feature to the virtual machines
• Create a file share witness
• Install DataKeeper and set up the storage

SIOS DataKeeper allows us to get around the need for shared storage, by creating disk volumes that are replicated between each node in the cluster. The data in these volumes are synchronized using real-time, block level replication. The data, therefore, exists on all nodes in the cluster, which also eliminates the possibility of losing the data with a single shared storage source. Once the volume or volumes have been created on the cluster nodes using SIOS DataKeeper, this storage becomes available within the Failover Cluster Manager as available storage. After the storage has been configured, the following steps remain:

• Install SQL Server on the first cluster node using the "New SQL Server failover cluster installation option". When you go through the setup of SQL Server you will see the available storage that has been configured using SIOS DataKeeper.
• Install SQL Server on the second cluster node using the "Add node to a SQL Server failover cluster" option.
• Configure the Azure Internal Load Balancer, so clients can connect to the active node.

If your Organization is interested in implementing High-Availability technologies In Azure Platform, SmartERP is here to help. Our SQL Server Database On-Demand Staff average over12 years of experience in managing SQL Server environments, including implementing High-Availability solutions. SmartERP Services also offers to monitor for your SQL Server environments and can provide you with a SQL Server Health Check, to review your server’s performance and configuration against best practices. We are here to help you effectively manage your SQL Server environment.