You can watch the replay for this Geek Sync webcast in the IDERA Resource Center: https://www.idera.com/resourcecentral/webcasts/geeksync/infrastructure-for-the-data-professional
It doesn’t matter if you are a DBA, application developer, database developer, or BI pro, the infrastructure your SQL Server environment runs on is important. If you didn’t “grow-up” on the system administration side of IT or, perhaps, you have been out of the operations world long enough to have fallen out of the loop with what is happening. This session is intended to provide a full stack infrastructure overview so that you can talk shop with your cohorts in operations to resolve issues and maybe even be proactive. We will discuss, in an introductory fashion, hardware, network, storage, virtualization and operating system layers. Additionally, some suggestions as to where to find more information will be provided.
Speaker: Peter Shore is a seasoned IT professional with over 25 years of experience. He took the accidentally intentional DBA plunge in 2013 and has discovered that he loves to find the stories the data has to tell. Peter is comfortable working with both physical and virtual servers, where he tries to apply best practices to attain performance improvements. He is also adept at bridging the gap between technical and business language in order to bring technology solutions to business needs.
2. About Me
• SQL Server Database
Administrator – Chipotle
Mexican Grill
• Intentionally Accidental DBA
• Over 25 years IT experience
– Server Engineer
– Desktop Engineer
– Network Infrastructure
– Desk side support
• President Columbus Microsoft
Data Platform User Group
• Co-Organizer SQL Saturday
Columbus
• How to find me
– Twitter: @pshore73
– E-mail: pshore73@outlook.com
4. A World Of Systems
• System – a series of interconnected components which produce
one or more results
• Awareness or understanding of the system increases your ability
to support that system and thus increases your value
• You need not be an expert in every component but you must be
able to converse with your peers
7. Physical Server Shapes
• Tower
– Similar to desktop tower case
– Often larger to accommodate additional boards, storage, power, and
cooling
• Rack Mount
– Designed for space saving
– Tower on the side
– Various heights measured in U
• 1U = 1 ¾ inches or 44.45mm)
• Blade
– Smaller Rack Mount
– As small as single card
– Many blades mount in a single chassis
8. Local Storage Interface
• SATA (Serial ATA or Serial AT Attachment)
– HDD or SSD
– Up to 6.0 Gbit/s
• NVMe (non-volatile memory express)
– Controller interface (PCIe)
– Developed for SSD
• NVRAM (non-volatile RAM)
– Originally like a flash drive
– NVDIMM
• Storage on RAM
• Order of magnitude faster than NVMe
9. Local Storage
• Controller in server
• Disk in server
• Configured at server level
• Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)
– RAID 0 – striping no parity
– RAID 1 – mirror
– RAID 5 – striping with parity
– RAID 10 – mirror of stripes
10. Attached Storage
• Direct Attached Storage (DAS)
– Chassis
– Physical connection
– Typically used with traditional servers (tower or rackmount)
• Network Attached Storage (NAS)
– Connection to NAS Server
– Server connects to disk array
– Used with blade or traditional servers
– Flash or Spinning Disk
11. Attached Storage
• Storage Attached Network (SAN)
– Storage divided into Logical Disk Units (LUNS)
– Used with blade or traditional servers
– Flash or Spinning Disk
• Throughput, IOPS, Latency
– Throughput = top speed
– IOPS = Input/Output Operations Per Second
• Somewhat useless alone
• Average Latency
• Request size
– Latency = time a single I/O request is handled
12. Virtualization
• Almost all SQL Server work loads can be virtualized
– Must understand your workload
– Hardware is critical
– All layers must be properly configured
• Creates abstraction layer between operating system and
hardware
– Virtualization layer controls access to physical hardware
• Viable part of High Availability solution, but not the whole
solution
• Backup approach requires awareness
13. Containers
• Light weight package
• Bundles application code and dependencies in a
standard way
• Allows for easy movement between compunting
environments
14. Virtual Machine vs. Containers
https://blog.netapp.com/blogs/containers-vs-vms/
15. Container Management
• Docker
– Open source
– Manage life cycle
– Manage resources
– Single Server
• Kubernetes
– Container Orchestration
– Multiple Server
– Applications in Kubernetes behave like a single unit
16. Cloud
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
– “Instant infrastructure provisioned and managed via
internet”
– Virtualized servers
– Can replace most or all infrastructure
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
– Backend systems
– Minimize complexity of managing infrastructure
– Does not replace all on-site infrastructure
• Software as a Service (SaaS)
– Productivity software
19. Network
• Means by which two or more devices communicate
– Data network
– Cellular
– Plain Old Telephone (POTS)
• Protocol
– Agreed upon set of rules and customs
• TCP/IP
• IPX/SPX
• SNA
20. Network Terms
• Local Area Network (LAN)
– Computer network connecting
computers in a limited area
• House
• School
• Office
• Wide Area Network (WAN)
– Communication network extended
over a wide area
• Multiple data centers
• Internet
• Virtual Private Network (VPN)
– Tunnel through WAN
• Virtual Local Area Network
(VLAN)
– Not limited to hypervisor
environments
– Partition traffic
– Partition security
– Allows for Quality of Service (QoS)
– Does not expand bandwidth
• Bandwidth vs. Latency
– Bandwidth – maximum
throughput
– Latency – delay from input to
outcome
21. Network Devices
• Switch
– “Switches build networks” – Cisco
– LAN centric
– Connect devices at a site to other devices at that site
• Endpoint (Desktop, laptop, tablet, phone)
• WiFi Access Points
• Servers
• Printers
• Storage
• Internet
22. Network Devices
• Firewall
– Device to block unauthorized access while facilitating outward
communication
– Several different types (packet filtering, stateful inspection, next-gen
firewall)
• Routers
– “Routers connect networks” – Cisco
– LAN or WAN
– Discovers neighbors
– Forwards packets
23. TCP/IP
• Born in the Department of Defense
– Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
– Late 1960’s
• IPV4
– Production in ARPANET 1983
– 32-bit, 4,294,967,296 (232) addresses
– 4 8-bit octets, usually written in dotted decimal notation
• IPV6
– 128-bit, approximately 3.4×1038 addresses
– Not interoperable with IPV4
– 8 groups of 4 hexadecimal digits
24. TCP/IP
• TCP – Transmission Control Protocol
– Reliability
– Connection based
– Overhead
• IP – Internet Protocol
– Handles logistics of communication
– Packet forwarding (routing) happens here
• Ports
– Service differentiation
– Distinct set of ports for TCP and UDP
25. Network Applications
• Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol
(DHCP)
– Delivers TCP/IP configuration
• Automatic assignment of
address to end-points
• TCP/IP Address
• Subnet Mask
• Default Gateway
– Allocated by time, known as
a lease
• Domain Name Services
(DNS)
– “Phonebook” of Names to
TCP/IP addresses
– Address Records (A Records)
• Record linking address to
name
– Canonical Name (C Name)
• Reference or redirection
– Mail Exchanger (MX Record)
• Identifies a mail server
26. Wires vs. Radios
Wired
• Pros
– Tier by tier higher speed
– More secure
– Better for data centers
• Cons
– Lacks flexibility
– Installation cost
Wireless
• Pros
– Flexible
– Enables BYOD
– Relatively lower installation
cost
• Cons
– Tier by tier speeds lower
– Security weaknesses
– Susceptible to interference
27. Windows Server
• Windows Server Desktop
– GUI and command line managed
– Windows we all know (and love?)
• Windows Server Core
– No GUI
– Command line managed
– Windows Admin Center (Project Honolulu)
28. Windows Server
Configuration Notes
• Local Policies
– Lock pages in memory
– Perform Volume Maintenance (aka Instant File Initialization or IFI)
• TCP Chimney Offload
– Transfers workload from CPU to NIC during data transmission
– Disable it
– Can cause connectivity problems
– Designed for short lived connections
29. Windows Server
• Windows Performance Monitor aka PerfMon
– Collects details of resource utilization
• CPU
• Memory
• Disk
• Network
– Counters added by installed software
https://www.heraflux.com/resources/howto/perfmon-setup-guide/
• Windows Performance Toolkit
– Windows Performance Recorder
– Windows Performance Analyzer
30. Active Directory
• Microsoft implementation of Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP)
• Objects organized by Organization Units
– SQL Servers separated out
– Service accounts separated out & grouped
• Group Policy
– “Group Policy is an infrastructure that allows you to implement specific
configurations for users and computers. Group Policy settings are
contained in Group Policy objects (GPOs), which are linked to the
following Active Directory service containers: sites, domains, or
organizational units (OUs).” (http://tinyurl.com/k368u74)
31. Active Directory
• Managed Service Accounts
– Complex passwords known only to account and Active Directory
– Maintain Kerberos Service Principal Names (registering SPN
http://tinyurl.com/zepmxpd)
– Computer specific
– Server 2008r2 with Active Directory Functional Level 2008r2 or higher
• Group Managed Service Accounts
– Used on multiple hosts
– Now supported in SQL 2016+
32. Active Directory & The Cloud
• Active Directory can be extended to the cloud
– Azure
– Amazon Web Service
– Google Cloud Platform
• Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS)
– Provides Single Sign On access across organizational boundaries
• Azure Active Directory
33. Security
• Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
– Standard security technology for encrypted connection
– Certificate based
– TLS 1.2 is the newest supported version
• Anti-Virus
– Valid arguments to both sides
– If implemented use Microsoft recommendations for exceptions
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/953.microsoft-anti-virus-exclusion-list.aspx