6/13/2015 Visit the Sponsor tables to enter their end of day raffles. Turn in your completed Event Evaluation form at the end of the day in the Registration area to be entered in additional drawings. Want more free training? Check out the Houston Area SQL Server User Group which meets on the 2 nd Tuesday of each month. Details at Thank You Sponsors!

So what does it really take to get to four nines? Thinking beyond the instance SQL Server and Enterprise Architecture

6/13/2015 The Norm

6/13/2015 Entry Level Mid level Senior Lead Architect While the role of a DBA in every organization holds a great many responsibilities. The truth is that database support goes beyond the instance. By being a leader in best practices in your organization you will increase your value to your company and make your job easier. Your Role As a DBA

6/13/2015 While monitoring and diagnostic tools can prove your SQL instance was up and running, user perception of availability can be impacted by any of the following: Poor communication Poor query performance including Locking & Blocking Failure of identifying dependencies i.e. ETL jobs, Linked Server & Web services Failure to align key dependencies within the same SLA is a major cause of business interruption Case 1: An SQL Server for business and technical requirements was removed from the domain and business network. Initial communication on accessing the SQL Server subject line was “Problem with SQL Server” SQL HA Solutions are Just One Part of the Solution The Realities and Perception of High Availability

6/13/2015  Define common language and terms  Determine actual business requirements  Assess technical capabilities  Establish Governance  Avoid the rush to architecture  Enterprise monitoring vs SQL diagnostic tools  Implement Enterprise standards  Create repeatable processes  Change management  Manage communications  Product lifecycle management Key Points to Success

6/13/2015  TOGAF  Six Sigma  Scrum*  Business and Industry Terms  Regulatory terms Make sure that you and your team understand all other common terms, abbreviations and nicknames for business and technical processes. This is a common problem in very large Enterprise. Defining Common Language and Terms

6/13/2015 Determine Actual Business Requirements  Identify key drivers and elements in the organizational From To

6/13/2015 Assessing Technical Capabilities  Define your team  Define the Enterprise  Define the architecture principles that will inform any architectural work Always maintain support contact information in a secure location. Including your customer account number and Vendor support contact information. Make sure you are approved to open a support case! Case 2: to all teams “Database Down” After requesting further detail on problem Msg 208, Level 16, State 1, Line 2 Invalid object name 'usertabel'. Public reply on the importance of proper spelling

6/13/2015Footer Goes Here Get Out of Your Cube! Get to know key support teams that support your SQL environment:  Infrastructure team  Storage  Backup  Network  Security  Business Owners Learn the key elements and relationships to the business both internal and external Case 3: A storage engineer performs a minor firmware upgrade on a SAN resulting in the corruption of data storage for 26 SQL cluster servers Building relationships will encourage communications between team even if its not required by policy

6/13/2015Footer Goes Here Commonly missed key points to SQL Architecture  Focus on Business Requirements  Identifying Key Dependencies  Technical  Data  SQL Architecture Understand Enterprise standards and governance before implementing any solutions Avoid the Rush to Architecture

6/13/2015 Governance is simply the establishment of policy and continuous monitoring of proper implementation. Who is responsible? Who is involved? Who is accountable? Who are the people that can help you? What is Governance?

6/13/2015  Who are the people that can help you?  Business stakeholder, IT management including IT Auditors  Common tools that can help Central Management Server Automated auditing using PowerShell Good architecture and HA cannot be established without Governance. Governance

6/13/2015  Advantages of Enterprise Monitoring  Disadvantages of SQL only Monitoring  SQL Diagnostic Tools Enterprise Monitoring vs SQL Diagnostic Tools

6/13/2015  Advantages of Enterprise Monitoring In most cases more team members are using the tool Holistic monitoring can provide more accurate initial communications Rapid root cause determination for troubleshooting  Disadvantages of SQL Only Monitoring Team centric monitoring requires greater resources to monitor and no visibility into the Enterprise Duplication of monitoring can add overhead to the SQL server  SQL Diagnostic Tools SQL diagnostic tools perform a better job for isolating specific issues and cost less than multiple monitoring solution Enterprise Monitoring vs SQL Diagnostic Tools

6/13/2015 Creating Repeatable Processes  Good architecture provides for repeatable success  Avoid exceptions whenever possible  Use automated processes whenever possible  Create VM templates preconfigured for SQL  Create unattended installation scripts for SQL Server  Script based database maintenance plans

6/13/2015 Enterprise Avoid the use of environment limiting names Server Level Avoid cryptic server names example: mycosvr01 Database Level Avoid the use of landscape names in database names ie: applicationDB_Dev, applicationDB_Test, applicationDB_New Common problem for SharePoint databases SharePoint_AdminContent_7428c156-cf3a c Access level AD groups should be named to identify role and supported application ie: SG-MFG-HR-Application Support Team SG-MFG-HR-Management Team Use CMS and Reporting Services to create a CMDB if your Enterprise doesn’t have one! Architectural Practices that Lead to Common Mistakes

6/13/2015 Managing Communications

6/13/2015  Always request that distribution list and AD groups are created as new projects are implemented  If you are assigned to a new project ask to have a new distribution list and Active Directory security groups be created as soon as possible  This will minimize security auditing issues in the future and optimize communications during planned maintenance and unscheduled maintenance  Tie this information into your CMDB with all server and database names Establishing a Communication & Security Framework

6/13/2015 Establishing a Plan Use your Configuration Management Database (CMDB) To determine which business units, applications & services are impacted by server, instance or databases failure Communications Use established distribution list to contact support teams not individual s especially important in large Enterprise Preapproved Task Predefine what immediate actions you can take and escalation points Vendor support Rules of Engagement Confirm who can open a support case with a vendor Confirm method of payment if required

6/13/2015 Contact Information George Govantes