Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Phase 4: Validation and Testing
It is always important you take the time to test the infrastructure and validate that it will
be able to meet the demands of the database once it is placed onto that infrastructure.
One of the scenarios you need to take the time to test is what happens when the physical
host that houses your production database fails. You want to make sure that the
infrastructure, as configured, will still be able to meet the business requirements for
availability with adequate performance during this scenario.
Phase 5: Migration and Deployment
As you prepare for the migration of the database over to the virtualized environment,
you have a number of ways to accomplish this. During the requirements-gathering phase,
you will have determined the acceptable amount of downtime for each of the database
instances you are about to virtualize. For those production databases where you have an
adequate downtime window, it is common to see a backup/restore used.
For those database instances where downtime needs to be minimized, experience has
taught us that the go-to method with low impact is log shipping. You pre-create the
database instance on the virtualized infrastructure, move over the instance-level objects
(such as database mail settings and profiles, instance-level logins, agent jobs,
maintenance plans, SSIS packages, and server-level triggers), and then use log shipping
to move over the data to the new database instance.
The plans for how the virtualized database will be backed up should also be reviewed.
The most important step is to perform an actual restoration from this backup to ensure it
works and that the DBA team is confident in the database-restoration process.
Phase 6: Monitoring and Management
You will read over and over in this topic how a virtualized infrastructure is a shared
infrastructure. This means changes in how you monitor and manage the environment
once the production databases go live on it. It's important that the DBA communicates
what they need from the team responsible for the shared environment and recognizes
moving forward that they need to work with the team for the common good of all.
Summary
Right
.” That fact that you are virtualizing already means you are well on the path to
doing information technology right. It's important to start off right by reading the
documentation. I know this sounds old school, but sometimes old school is the right way
to do things. Make it a point to read all the vendor documentation, including VMware,
Microsoft, the network vendor, and the storage array vendor. We strongly encouraged
you to pay special attention to the storage array vendor documentation. Our experience