SQL Server® Virtualization and Consolidation: Hands-On

What is this course about?

As virtualization and cloud technologies become mainstream there is a drive to run SQL Servers in a virtual environment. Virtualizing and consolidating servers allows organizations to access and manage data more efficiently. In this course, you gain the skills needed to leverage the benefits of running SQL Server in a virtual environment. Through hands-on exercises you gain practical experience migrating, configuring and troubleshooting virtualized SQL Server databases.

Who will benefit from this course?

This course is designed for database professionals who are tasked with running SQL Server in a virtual environment or system administrators who have responsibility for administering SQL Server in a virtual environment. Typical participants include database administrators and system or network administrators.

What background do I need?

It is assumed that participants will have experience administering a SQL Server environment and a working knowledge of the Windows operating system. Specifically, you should have basic SQL Server administrative experience, including:

• Familiarity with backups and restores
• Performed daily maintenance on SQL Server databases
• Database installation
• Proficiency on the Windows Server OS

Why should I migrate SQL Server to a Virtual Machine (VM)?

There are several advantages to running SQL Server in a virtual environment such as inexpensive high availability. Moreover, virtualization offers flexibility to correct capacity planning issues easier than in a purely physical environment and allows you to “do more with less."

Does SQL Server performance suffer when moved to a VM?

Not necessarily. When planned and implemented correctly, performance can be similar and in some cases improved by migrating servers that are well-suited for virtualization.

My organization is not currently running SQL Server 2012 and is planning to virtualize. Is this course valuable to me?

Yes! Although this course uses servers that are running SQL Server 2012 on Windows Server 2008 R2 many of the techniques used and demonstrated can also be used on older versions of the software.

Does this course cover the components in Microsoft's Business Intelligence platform?

The focus of this course is on migrating a SQL Server platform to a virtual environment. While considerations for virtualizing BI are discussed, the configuration, management and use of the components are not covered. For more information on BI components, please refer to Course 146, SharePoint^® 2010 Business Intelligence: Hands-On. For more information on Analysis Services, see Course 139, SQL Server^® Analysis Services for Business Intelligence: Hands-On. For Integration Services, see Course 134, SQL Server^® Integration Services for Business Intelligence: Hands-On, and for additional information on Reporting Services, see Course 140, SQL Server^® Reporting Services: Hands-On.

What platform is used for the hands-on exercises?

SQL Server 2012 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be used on classroom servers. VMware (Workstation), Microsoft's Hyper-V will be the hypervisor used.

How much time is spent on each topic?

Times, including the workshops, are estimates; exact times may vary according to the needs of each class.

How much time is devoted to the hands-on exercises?

Hands-on exercises provide practical experience managing SQL Server in a virtual environment. Approximately 40 percent of the course is spent on hands-on exercises, which include:

• Migrating from a physical to a virtual environment
• Designing a consolidation plan for various scenarios
• Clustering physical servers for fault tolerance
• Relocating virtual machines with VMotion and live migration
• Configuring virtual hardware allocations
• Performing a recovery using virtualization tools
• Monitoring VM performance internally and externally

How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses?

Learning Tree offers a complete SQL Server curriculum. The courses you consider depend on your specific job responsibilities. Please refer to the Learning Tree SQL Server Curriculum Q&As for more details. You may be interested in these related courses:

• 2107, SQL Server® 2012: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction
• 2108, SQL Server® 2012 Database Administration: Hands-On
• 138, SQL Server® 2008 Database Administration: Hands-On
• 141, SQL Server® High Availability: Hands-On
• 535, Developing High-Performance SQL Server® Databases: Hands-On

If you are interested in courses on virtualization the following courses may be of benefit to you:

• 170, Virtualization Technologies: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction
• 171, Deploying VMware® vSphere: Hands-On
• 2701, Troubleshooting VMware® vSphere (5.x): Hands-On

Many Learning Tree courses provide college credit and industry continuing education credits. You can also earn a Learning Tree Professional Certification in your area of expertise and prepare for popular industry certifications. See below for continuing professional development credits associated with this course.

This course qualifies for 1 semester hour of college credit as certified by the American Council on Education's College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT). Read More...