Microsoft 55246 - SQL 2016 AlwaysOn High Availability

Course subjects

Module 1: Introduction
This module explains the course and objectives.

Lessons

• Course introduction

Module 2: AlwaysOn and High Availability Concepts and Terminology
This module will introduce the participants to the concepts and terminology used in the course.

Lessons

• Concepts and Terminology

• Table of Availability

• High Availability

• Causes of Downtime

• Planned downtime

• Unplanned downtime

• Disaster Recovery

• Recovery Time Objective (RTO)

• Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

• Recovery Level Objective (RLO)

• Storage Area Networks (SAN)

• Edition Changes from SQL 2012

• SQL Server 2014 Changes

• SQL Server 2016 Changes

• Legacy Solutions prior to Always On

• Failover Cluster Instances

• Log Shipping

• A Typical Log Shipping Configuration

• Monitor Server

• Replication

• Database Mirroring

• Database Mirroring Terminology

• Principle

• Mirror

• Witness (red box in image above)

• Database Snapshots

• Limitations of legacy solutions:

• What do we mean by Always On?

• Table of Always On Comparison

Module 3: Windows Server 2016 Failover Clustering
Failover clustering is covered in this module and is a critical feature of AlwaysOn High Availability.

Lessons

• Understanding Failover Clustering in Server 2016

• Statefull High Availability Solution

• Supported in both Standard and Datacenter

• Servers should run similar hardware

• Should run same edition

• Hyper-V best with datacenter

• Certified for Windows server logo

• Shared Storage

• Quorums

• Node Majority

• Node and Disk Majority configuration:

• Node and File Share Majority

• No Majority

• Configuration

• Cluster Networks Best Practices

• Connection to nodes to shared storage

• Private network for internal cluster

• Public network for client connections

• Cluster Aware Updating

• Virtual Machine Failover Clustering

• Preferred Owners

• Failover Failback

• Resources

• Dependences

• Heartbeat

Labs

• Set up iSCSI Server

• Install the iSCSI VMS

• Add Servers to Server Manager for Ease of Management

• Add the Windows Cluster Feature to SQL1, SQL2 And SQL3

• Create the iSCSI Initators to add the shared storage

• Create the Windows Cluster

• Add a Clustered Service

• Test The Failover Of The Windows Service

• Delete Role

• Examine the Quorum Settings

Module 4: SQL 2016 Failover Cluster Instances
In this module we move from the generic failover clustering to the specifics involving SQL.

Lessons

• Failover Cluster Instance

• As A FCI Appears To A Client

Labs

• Create A Configuration File By Running The Advanced Cluster Preparation Wizard

• Complete The SQL Cluster Installation On SQL1

• Install The Cluster On SQL2 And SQL3

• Test the SQL Cluster

Module 5: SQL 2016 AlwaysOn and Availability Groups
Within the failover clusters of SQL are the concept of Availability groups and their enhancements with the release of SQL 2016 which is the focus of this module.

Lessons

• Availability Groups and Replicas

• Primary Replica

• Secondary Replicas

• Availability Group Listener

• Availability Mode

• Synchronous Commit Mode

• Asynchronous Commit Mode

• Failover Modes

• Automatic Failover Without Data Loss

• Automatic Failover Requirements:

• Manual

• Manual Failover Requirements

• Common Topologies

Labs

• Create a SQL Instance For The Availability Group

• Enable the SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Group Feature

• Set Up For Availability Groups

• The Availability Group Wizard

• SSMS and Availability Groups

Module 6: The Dashboard
Managing AlwaysOn High Availability groups wit SQL 2016 is accomplished with the Dashboard. This module will demonstrate the skills necessary for the accomplishment of the management tasks.

Lessons

• The Dashboard

• How to view logs

• Using replication with Logins

• Using partially contained databases

Labs

• The Dashboard

• Replicating Logins and Jobs

• Contained or Partially Contained Databases

Module 7: Active Secondary Availability Group Actions
Within Availability groups you may have Active secondary SQL which is covered and demonstrated in this module.

Lessons

• Reporting with Secondary Replicas

• Configuring a Readable secondary

• Read-Only Routing

• Load Balancing

• Configure a Read-Only Secondary

• Database Backups with Secondary

• Steps of Backup Using secondary

• Backup Preference Options

Labs

• Database Backup Using Secondary Replica

• Configure a Read-Only secondary

Module 8: Maintenance
In this module you explore maintenance procedures for AlwaysOn High Availability Groups.

Lessons

• DBCC Checks

• Database Adding and Removing

Labs

• Add a Database

• Remove a Database

• Add a Replica

• Remove a Replica

Module 9: Monitoring and Troubleshooting Availability Groups
In this the final module you will learn how to monitor the clusters and Availability groups and various common troubleshooting procedures.

Lessons

• The Dashboard in Depth

• Events

• Policy Based Managemnt for Availability Groups

Labs

• Dashboard Wizards

• Create an Extended Event Session

• Using T-SQL

• Policy based management for Availability Groups

• Observe a Policy In Action

• Create Three Conditions To Be Used In The RTO And RPO Policies

• Create Two Policies RTO and RPO

• Test The Policies

• Change Endpoint Owner