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Pivoting SQL Server tables is always awkward, even with the PIVOT and UNPIVOT operators. If you want to get the job done without GROUP BY or PIVOY, here is a way to do it using only REPLACE.

"Denzil and I were working on this issue for a customer and Denzil has been gracious enough to write-up a blog for all of us." – Bob Dorr

From Denzil:

I recently worked with a customer on a Database restore issue where the database being restored had 2TB of File stream data. The restore in this case would just not complete successfully and would fail with the error below.

10 percent processed.

20 percent processed.

30 percent processed.

40 percent processed.

Msg 3634, Level 16, State 1, Line 1

The operating system returned the error '32(The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.)' while attempting 'OpenFile' on 'F:\SQLData11\DataFiles\535cc368-de43-4f03-9a64-f5506a3f532e\547fc3ed-da9f-44e0-9044-12babdb7cde8\00013562-0006edbb-0037'.

Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 1

RESTORE DATABASE is terminating abnormally.

Subsequent restore attempts would fail with the same error though on "different" files and at a different point in the restore cycle.

Given that this was "not" the same file or the same point of the restore on various attempts my thoughts immediately went to some filter driver under the covers wreaking some havoc. I ran an a command to see what filter drivers were loaded (trimmed output below.)

C:\>fltmc instances

Filter Volume Name Altitude Instance Name

-------------------- ----------------------- ------------ ---------------------- -----

BHDrvx64             F:\SQLData11             365100           BHDrvx64                     0  

eeCtrl               F:\SQLData11              329010           eeCtrl                       0   

SRTSP                F:\SQLData11              329000           SRTSP                        0 

SymEFA                 F:\SQLData11              260600           SymEFA                        0 

RsFx0105               \Device\Mup              41001.05        RsFx0105 MiniFilter Instance  0   

 

SymEFA         = Symantec extended file attributes driver
SRTSP        = Symantec Endpoint protection                
RsFx0105     = SQL Server File Stream filter driver.

In discussing this with the customer, Anti-virus exclusions were controlled by GPO so he had put in a request to exclude the respective folders, yet the issue still continued.

In order to do my due diligence, the other question was whether we "released" the file handle after we created it, and whether someone else grabbed it? So we (Venu, Bob and I) did take a look at the code and this can be the case. On SQL Server 2008 R2 when we call the CreateFile API and we hardcode the shareAccess parameter to 0 which is exclusive access while we have it open to prevent secondary access.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa363858(v=vs.85).aspx

If this parameter is zero and CreateFile succeeds, the file or device cannot be shared and cannot be opened again until the handle to the file or device is closed. For more information, see the Remarks section.

Once the file is created, we release the EX latch and can close the file handle, on the file, but sqlservr.exe continues to hold the lock on the file itself during the restore process. Once the restore operation is completed, we no longer hold an exclusive lock to the file.

We can reopen file handles during the Recovery process so the other thought was perhaps it was a transaction affected by recovery and GC and potentially some race condition but in this case we know that the restore was failing prior to that as it didn't reach 100% so that could be ruled out as well.

Getting a dump at the failure time showed me the same Restore Stack but different dumps showed multiple different files in question so it wasn't a particular Log record sequence per say causing this.

sqlservr!ex_raise
sqlservr!HandleOSError

sqlservr!FileHandleCache::OpenFile
sqlservr!FileHandleCache::ProbeForFileHandle
sqlservr!FileHandleCache::GetFileHandle
sqlservr!RestoreCopyContext::RestoreFilesystemData
BackupIoRequest::StartDatabaseScatteredWrite

Given now that it was unlikely it was SQL Server, I concentrated more on the Filter driver theory. I tried to capture Process monitor, but given the time it took and amount of files touched, Process monitor was not all that useful. I couldn't filter on a specific folder as it failed on different folders and there were 10 + mount points involved.

However from Process monitor while the restore was going on, I looked at the stack for some I/O operations (not ones that failed by any means) and I still saw fltmgr.sys sitting there for an OpenFile Call on a file in the filestream directory

fltmgr.sys + 0x2765

0xfffffa6001009765

C:\Windows\system32\drivers\fltmgr.sys

fltmgr.sys + 0x424c

0xfffffa600100b24c

C:\Windows\system32\drivers\fltmgr.sys

fltmgr.sys + 0x1f256

0xfffffa6001026256

C:\Windows\system32\drivers\fltmgr.sys

ntoskrnl.exe + 0x2c8949

0xfffff80002918949

C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

ntoskrnl.exe + 0x2c0e42

0xfffff80002910e42

C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

ntoskrnl.exe + 0x2c19d5

0xfffff800029119d5

C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

ntoskrnl.exe + 0x2c6fb7

0xfffff80002916fb7

C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

ntoskrnl.exe + 0x2b61a8

0xfffff800029061a8

C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

ntoskrnl.exe + 0x57573

0xfffff800026a7573

C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

ntdll.dll + 0x471aa

0x77b371aa

C:\Windows\System32\ntdll.dll     ZwOpenFile

kernel32.dll + 0x10d48

0x779d0d48

C:\Windows\system32\kernel32.dll

kernel32.dll + 0x10a7c

0x779d0a7c

GetVolumeNameForRoot

_____SQL______Process______Available + 0x695c7e

0x1a080fe

GetVolumeDeviceNameAndMountPoint

_____SQL______Process______Available + 0x6d6898

0x1a48d18

• ParseContainerPath

_____SQL______Process______Available + 0x6d714a

0x1a495ca

sqlservr!CFsaShareFilter::RsFxControlContainerOwnership

  

Also looking at some other Symantec related issues, I found an article not necessarily to do with any SQL restores but the fact that this was a possibility – again this has to do with a specific issue on a specific build, but am illustrating that Filter drivers can cause some unexpected behaviors.
 

As far as Anti-virus exclusions go, we actually have guidance in the article below: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309422

And also in our File stream best practices article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd206979(v=SQL.105).aspx

When you set up FILESTREAM storage volumes, consider the following guidelines:

•Turn off short file names on FILESTREAM computer systems. Short file names take significantly longer to create. To disable short file names, use the Windows fsutil utility.

•Regularly defragment FILESTREAM computer systems.

•Use 64-KB NTFS clusters. Compressed volumes must be set to 4-KB NTFS clusters.

•Disable indexing on FILESTREAM volumes and set disablelastaccess to set disablelastaccess, use the Windows fsutil utility.

•Disable antivirus scanning of FILESTREAM volumes when it is not unnecessary. If antivirus scanning is necessary, avoid setting policies that will automatically delete offending files.

•Set up and tune the RAID level for fault tolerance and the performance that is required by an application.

Looking at another run of "fltmc instances" command output and still saw the Anti-virus components on the list for those mount points. Given we "thought" we had put an exclusion in for the whole drive, and it was showing up, it was time to look at this closer

1. Excluded the drives where the data was being stored – Restore still failed
2. Stopped the AV Services - Restore still failed
3. Uninstalled Anti-virus – Restore now succeeded
   

Voila once we uninstalled AV on this machine, the restore succeeded. The customer is broaching this this with the AV vendor to figure out more of the root cause.

 

Denzil Ribeiro – Senior PFE

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If you want to know more about Windows Azure, how it works, the components, or more about the entire platform, I’ve written about that here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2012/06/13/windows-azure-write-run-or-use-software.aspx

But….

Maybe you just want to cut to the chase. Windows Azure. What do I *do* with it? Let’s talk about that. One of the quickest, easiest ways to use Azure is in the storage feature, as a backup target.  Can Windows Azure backup data, servers, workstations or databases? Yes. Yes it can.  Windows Azure storage is replicated three times in one datacenter (on different fault-domains) and then those three are replicated to another geographically separate (but still in the same country region) location, you get six copies of the data automatically. Your data stays in the datacenter you choose, and is replicated within a geo-politically same region. So it’s actually a great target for backups.

First, you need a storage account, a container underneath that, and a Blob object to put the backups on. Here’s how you do that (for free):

1. Set up an account: https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial/
2. Create a Container: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/how-to-guides/blob-storage/#create-account (Steps 1-7 are all you need)
3. Get the Account String: Open the Portal (as above), click on Storage, select the account you want, and click Manage Keys at the bottom of the screen. Copy that string to a secure place.

OK, now that you have all that, you’re all set. In fact, you’re all set for things like Web Sites, VM’s, Code Deployment and lots of other things, but let’s focus on backups first. What are your options?

Mount a Drive, Use as Backup Target

The easiest way to send files to Windows Azure is to mount the storage as if it is a local drive.  You can use that as regular storage (I’ll talk more about this in my next post) but you can also use that as a drive letter where you can send backups. While that’s simple to implement, it isn’t always the most efficient – you’re going through a layer of storage abstraction. Still and all, it’s a good choice and quick and easy to implement.  Here are some options:

•  Gladinet: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/avkashchauhan/archive/2012/01/10/accessing-windows-azure-blob-storage-as-network-drive.aspx, and http://www.gladinet.com/
• Cloudberry: http://www.cloudberrylab.com/virtual-drive-amazon-s3-azure.aspx
• CloudDrive: http://www.clouddrive.com.au/default.html
• Open Source: http://coderead.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/mount-azure-blob-storage-as-a-windows-drive/ which uses: http://dokan-dev.net/en/

Backup Servers and Workstations using Third-Party Software

In addition to (and including) the providers mentioned above, some also skip the step of having to mount a drive to use as a backup target, and simply allow you to mount an agent or tool that just backs up straight to Azure.

• Cloudberry: http://techinch.com/blog/backup-your-files-to-windows-azure-with-cloudberry
• Veeam is an interesting product which focuses on backing up Virtual Machines: http://blogs.technet.com/b/haroldwong/archive/2013/02/14/modern-data-protection-for-virtual-environments-using-veeam-and-windows-azure.aspx
• Commvault (Simpana) Lots of options here: http://news.commvault.com/articles/011089_Microsoft_CommVault_Offer_Simpana_Data_Management_With_Windows_Azure_.asp
• Evault is a backup service that use Windows Azure: http://www.evault.com/products/cloud-storage-services/laptop-backup/endpoint-protection.html

 Backup Servers and Workstations using Hardware

•  StorSimple – a hardware appliance that can act as storage or backups, with encryption, de-duplication, compression and a Hierarchical Storage Management concept: http://www.storsimple.com/total-storage/
• Riverbed Whitewater – hardware, provides de-duplication and encryption onsite prior to backup to Windows Azure: http://filipv.net/2012/08/11/using-windows-azure-cloud-storage-with-riverbed-whitewater/
• Nasuni: http://www.nasuni.com/

Backup Servers and Workstations using Data Protection Manager

Data Protection Manager is a feature that is part of the System Center suite. We’ve updated that in the latest versions that will allow you to incrementally back up Servers and even Workstations and Laptops straight to Windows Azure. The beauty of this feature is that if the user is in a remote office or traveling the data will flow up to Windows Azure from wherever they are. 

• More on Windows Azure Backup Services here: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/online-backup/
• And more on how to use DPM with Azure here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj728752.aspx

Backup SQL Server Databases

SQL Server can use the mounted-drive approach described above, and you can back up your databases

•  Mount Drive (first option described above)
• SQL Server 2012 backup to Windows Azure: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj919148.aspx
• And, as part of HADR, this: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2013/01/08/microsoft-windows-azure-disaster-recovery-options-for-on-premises-sql-server.aspx

 

The data source provider list in PowerPivot can often be a source of confusion for users since they equate the fact that a provider appears in the list as the provider being installed and available. Unfortunately, the list of providers is actually a static list of supported data sources for PowerPivot, so the user is still required to install the desired provider to successfully import data into PowerPivot. Thus, the most common fix for a "provider is not installed" error in the import wizard is to ensure you have the proper data provider installed and that the installed provider matches the platform architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) of PowerPivot and Excel.

If you are certain that the selected provider is installed on your client machine and are able to import data directly into Excel using the desired provider via the Data tab, then you may be encountering another issue which was recently discovered.

In this new scenario data import in PowerPivot will fail for any provider selected. The exact error seen varies depending on the provider selected but examples include:

Text File:  "Details: Failed to connect to the server. Reason: Provider information is missing from the connection string"

Excel:  "Cannot connect to the data source because the Excel provider is not installed."

SQL Server: "Cannot connect to the data source because the SQLServer provider is not installed."

 

The problem is actually due to a problem with the .NET machine configuration. PowerPivot attempts to instantiate providers by using the .NET DbProviderFactory class. If an error is encountered while instantiating the DbProviderFactory class, the error for the DbProviderFactory is not returned, instead the message returned is that the selected provider is not installed. If you are encountering this scenario it is very likely that there is a problem instantiating the .NET DBProviderFactory class.

The DbProviderFactory class configuration is read from the Machine.Config.xml file, which depending on whether you are running the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Excel and PowerPivot is located at:

c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Config

or

c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Frameworkx64\v4.0.30319\Config

Checking the Machine.Config.xml file you will find the <DBProviderFactories> element under <system.data>.  The <DBProviderFactories> element should only appear once, but problematic machines may have more than one XML tag for DbProviderFactories.

Example of bad element list:
<system.data> 
     <DbProviderFactories>

        <add name="Microsoft SQL Server Compact Data Provider"invariant="System.Data.SqlServerCe.3.5"description=".NET Framework Data Provider for Microsoft SQL Server Compact" type="System.Data.SqlServerCe.SqlCeProviderFactory, System.Data.SqlServerCe, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91"/>

 </DbProviderFactories>
<DbProviderFactories/> 
</system.data>

NOTE: The begin and end tag around the add for the SQLServerCE provider, followed by the empty element tag.

Correct Example:

 <system.data> 
     <DbProviderFactories>

        <add name="Microsoft SQL Server Compact Data Provider"invariant="System.Data.SqlServerCe.3.5"description=".NET Framework Data Provider for Microsoft SQL Server Compact" type="System.Data.SqlServerCe.SqlCeProviderFactory, System.Data.SqlServerCe, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91"/>

 </DbProviderFactories>
</system.data>

NOTE: The add element(s) between the open <DbProviderFactories> and close </DbProviderFactories> tags will vary depending on what providers are installed on your machine.

If you find that you have something similar to the bad example above, please use the following steps to resolve the issue:

1. Make a backup copy of existing machine.config.xml file in the event you need to restore it for any reason.
2. Open the machine.config.xml file in notepad or another editor of your choice.
3. Delete the empty element tag <DbProviderFactories/> from the file.
4. Save the updated file.
5. Retry the import from PowerPivot 

 

Wayne Robertson - Sr. Escalation Engineer

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Microsoft test lab guides are deliberately written to be independent of how you actually put them together. For example, you can use physical components (computers and switches/hubs), virtual components (virtual machines and virtual networks/switches...(read more)

It has been well over a year when I wrote a series of blog posts about a product called System Center Advisor. You can read these posts at this link

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/psssql/archive/tags/system+center+advisor/

When Advisor was first released, this cloud service was free for a 60 day trial period but required a Software Assurance contract to use past that.

Well we have decided that this should be free for everyone. Read more about this announcement at this link:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2013/03/06/system-center-advisor.aspx

For SQL Server, we now have over 100+ rules baked into this service representing the collective knowledge of CSS SQL Engineers worldwide on common customer issues. Have you ever wanted to know what the CSS teams knows based on common issues reported by customers? That is what SCA is all about. Providing you that knowledge in the form of a cloud-based service.

Give this a try on your SQL Server and look at the advice that is presented. We specifically baked in rules (called alerts) with the intention of helping you prevent problems before they happen.

Take a look through my previous blog posts above on this topic for some examples. What is incredibly powerful about this service is:

• Once you install, it just “runs”
• You view your alerts through a web portal so can do this anywhere
• As part of the service we capture configuration change history (i.e. a problem started but what changed?)
• We keep the rules “fresh” by updating the service each month but you don’t have to do anything. The service automatically pulls in these new rules for you.

I look forward to any comments you post to this blog regarding your experiences with it.

 

Bob Ward
Microsoft

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In this blog, I will talk about a couple of things related to statistics update when rebuilding index on a partitioned table.

 

In past versions, when you rebuild an index, you will get statistics update equivalent to FULLSCAN for free.   This is true regardless if the table is partitioned table or not.

But SQL Server 2012 changed the behavior for partitioned table.   If a table is partitioned, ALTER INDEX REBUILD will only update statistics for that index with default sampling rate.  In other words, it is no longer a FULLSCAN.  This is documented in http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188388.aspx.  But lots of users do not realized that.  If you want fullscan, you will need to run UPDATE STATISTCS WITH FULLSCAN.   This change was made because we started to support large number of partitions up to 15000 by default.  Previous versions did support 15000 partitions.  But it’s not on by default.  Supporting large number of partitions will cause high memory consumption if we track the stats with old behavior (FULLSCAN).  With partitioned table, ALTER INDEX REBUILD actually first rebuilds index and then do a sample scan to update stats in order to reduce memory consumption.

 

Another behavior change is actually a bug.  In SQL 2012, ALTER INDEX REBUILD doesn’t preserve norecompute property for partitioned tables.   In other words, if you specify norecompute on an index, it will be gone after you run ALTER INDEX REBUILD for SQL 2012.   We have corrected this issue in a newly released CU 3 of SQL Server 2012 SP1.  Here is the KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2814780 

 

 

Jack Li | Senior Escalation Engineer | Microsoft SQL Server Support

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"DevOps" (Short for Developer Operations) is one of a group of new terms such as "Cloud", "Big Data" and "Data Scientist" - words that are somewhere between marketing and tasks we've actually had around in other forms for years.However, working in a Distributed Environment (Both on and off premises)  like Windows Azure does bring a new set of tasks to the operations we currently perform in Information Technology.

Before I offer some guidance here, I need to carefully define the term "DevOps" as I use it.There are other definitions that involve Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and standard operations policies, and you're free to use those as well, but this is the definition I'll use for this post:  By DevOps I mean those tasks involved with deploying, managing and monitoring a Windows Azure (or hybrid) project.

Another caveat: This is a non-authoritative, non-comprehensive post. I'll include only an outline of the major tasks, not a complete manual on the topic. There's enough knowledge needed on this topic for at least a whitepaper or two, and perhaps even a book, but for the moment I wanted to get some information out to ensure you have something to work from until those come along.This is primarily a list of resources for a DevOps team.

With all of those caveats in mind, we'll start the discussion after the project is conceived and architected. In most cases the DevOps team (whether that is a dedicated team or simply part of what the current IT Ops team does) is also involved in the design, at least from an information point of view. There's a great overview of the entire process available in poster form here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36837 And you should also read this complete manual in preparation here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh871440.aspx

Deployment

The first task after the design of the project is deployment. The deployment method depends on the type of solution; Windows Azure has the ability to run VM's, software code, or provide services that are already created (such as Active Directory). 

IaaS Deploying Virtual Machines:

Manually from the Portal: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=254427&clcid=0x409

Through Scripting: https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/downloads/?fb=en-us, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee460812.aspx

Copying your own VM's to Windows Azure: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/gg465385.aspx 

Using System Center: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/datacenter/deploy-an-on-premise-vm-to-windows-azure-with-app-controller/5919 

Virtual Networking: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/jj156075.aspx, http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Cloud+Cover/Episode-88-Tips-and-Tricks-for-Windows-Azure-Virtual-Machines-and-Virtual-Networks,

PaaS

Through Visual Studio: http://www.microsoft.com/BizSpark/Azure/HowToDeployAzureApp.aspx

Using CSPack: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/gg432988.aspx

Through Scripting: https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/downloads/?fb=en-us, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee460812.aspx

SaaS

Manually from the Portal:https://datamarket.azure.com/

Through Scripting: https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/downloads/?fb=en-us

Monitoring

Monitoring the system after deployment involves watching the availability and uptime of the system, along with security intrusions and tracking access through code.

Health

Using MetricsHub: http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Cloud+Cover/Episode-102-Using-MetricsHub-to-Monitor-Your-Windows-Azure-Applications

Uptime and Availability through the Portal: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/service-dashboard/

Uptime and Availability through Third Party Vendors: http://www.paraleap.com/AzureWatch, http://blogs.msdn.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2012/07/03/management-and-monitoring-tools-for-windows-azure.aspx

Automatic Notification: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/375892/Adding-SMS-notifications-to-your-Windows-Azure-pro

Performance

Performance Counters: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh411520.aspx 

Logging Diagnostics PaaS: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/gg433048.aspx

Internal Instrumentation for PaaS: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh674491%28v=vs.103%29.aspx 

Third Party Performance Testing: http://www.neustar.biz/enterprise/web-performance, http://blogs.msdn.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2012/07/03/management-and-monitoring-tools-for-windows-azure.aspx

Costs

Understanding Costs: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff803372.aspx, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/gg213848.aspx

Subscription Management: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/gg465713.aspx 

System Center: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh221354.aspx

Third-Party Tools: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2012/07/03/management-and-monitoring-tools-for-windows-azure.aspx

Example of listing your deployments: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg651127.aspx

Management

Managing the deployment involves Security, Upgrades, Troubleshooting, and High-Availability/Disaster Recovery.

Windows Azure Management Portal: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/ 

Management API's: https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/downloads/?fb=en-us and http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee460812.aspx, http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/2220-chapter-7-managing-hosted-services-with-the-service-management-api.pdf?utm_source=packtpub&utm_medium=free&utm_campaign=pdf

Security

Security Trust Center: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/trust-center/

Working with Windows Azure Active Directory: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2012/11/28/windows-azure-now-supports-federation-with-windows-server-active-directory.aspx

Windows Azure Authentication: http:/www.asp.net/vnext/overview/fall-2012-update/windows-azure-authentication" target="_blank">http://www.asp.net/vnext/overview/fall-2012-update/windows-azure-authentication

Deploying a secure ASP.NET MVC application with OAuth: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/webdev/archive/2013/03/12/deploy-a-secure-asp-net-mvc-application-with-oauth-membership-and-sql-database.aspx

Upgrades

ALM Process for PaaS: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/buck_woody/archive/2011/01/25/windows-azure-use-case-agility.aspx 

Troubleshooting

Windows Azure Support: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/contact/

Upgrade and Fault Domains: http://blog.toddysm.com/2010/04/upgrade-domains-and-fault-domains-in-windows-azure.html

HADR

Load-Balancing Endpoints for IaaS: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/windows/common-tasks/how-to-load-balance-virtual-machines/

Extending SQL Server HADR to Windows Azure: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2013/01/08/microsoft-windows-azure-disaster-recovery-options-for-on-premises-sql-server.aspx 

HADR for IaaS: http://www.visionsolutions.com/, http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsserver/archive/2012/03/28/microsoft-online-backup-service.aspx

Multiple Instances for PaaS: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ee871996.aspx 

Business Continuity for Windows Azure: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh873027.aspx, http://blogs.msdn.com/b/avkashchauhan/archive/2011/10/14/windows-azure-vm-downtime-due-to-host-and-guest-os-update-and-how-to-manage-it-in-multi-instance-windows-azure-application.aspx

Disposition

When the project is complete, you'll need to remove the VM's in IaaS, or data and code from PaaS and shut down the deployment. Prior to doing that, you should:

1. Copy all data from the deployment to a local repository
2. Document the process
3. Notify Microsoft of your intent to stop the project to work with your representative on billing matters

The primary tool for disposal is the Windows Azure Portal.

This is a blog post in the series “How to set up a product-centric website in SharePoint Server 2013”. In this series, I'll use data from a fictitious company called "Contoso" to show you how to use search features to set up a website based...(read more)

This is a blog post in the series “How to set up a product-centric website in SharePoint Server 2013”. In this series, I'll use data from a fictitious company called "Contoso" to show you how to use search features to set up a website based...(read more)

This is a blog post in the series “How to set up a product-centric website in SharePoint Server 2013”. In this series, I'll use data from a fictitious company called "Contoso" to show you how to use search features to set up a website based...(read more)