New developments in SQL Server data protection unveiled

[StorageExperts]

Learn what HPE data storage solutions bring to SQL Server data protection, including an update to Recovery Manager Central just for SQL Server environments.

Hybrid cloud—and how to keep important data protected and availabile—was one of the hot topics at the recent HPE Discover customer event. New performance statistics were released from recent testing, with one of them relating to Microsoft SQL Server.

This news came at the same time HPE released an update to Recovery Manager Central for SQL Server (RMC-S), which has been a popular means to ensure application-consistent database copies.

HPE data storage solutions for Microsoft SQL Server

HPE continues to invest in delivering outstanding levels of both performance and manageability for SQL Server.

First off, HPE data storage makes SQL Server faster. HPE has two lines of all-flash storage arrays: HPE 3PAR Storage and HPE Nimble Storage. Both let you run Microsoft SQL Server in production at the highest levels of performance and availability. With HPE flash storage, you get reliably fast performance: up to 3.8 million IOPS (I/Os per second) on 3PAR, and about 2 million IOPS on a cluster of Nimble storage all-flash arrays. And all at a consistent sub-millisecond latency.

Recently we added to this performance boost with the addition of Memory-Driven Flash. This is an all-flash array with an NVMe Storage Class Memory (SCM) cache.  Recent testing with a SQL Server database on Memory-Driven Flash has shown a 59% decrease in latency (sec/read) compared to when SCM is disabled. Decreased latency translates to faster database query responses and a better user experience.

We’ve also invested to make SQL Server administration better. HPE delivers the most consistent availability with intelligent storage and HPE InfoSight, delivering 99.9999% uptime. This means your data remains available, and in the rare event that there is an issue, the storage proactively alerts you to potential problems. 

And if that’s not enough, the recently announced HPE Primera adds a new line of tier 0 enterprise storage that comes with a 100% availability guarantee. It’s meant for mission-critical apps, and delivers extreme resiliency and performance so organizations can innovate without compromise.

HPE Storage provides valuable copy data management capabilities, and extends them across your hybrid cloud. It’s easy to create SQL-consistent snapshots or archival copies to Azure. HPE Storage arrays support data workflows and tasks that can manage live copies on and off-premises for DR, test/dev, reporting, analytics, patching, and upgrading.

HPE enhances SQL Server DevOps as we are the only vendor to offer rich data services for both Windows and Linux Containers, and we have interop with all the leading container platforms including Docker, Kubernetes, and Mesos. HPE storage was the first to provide persistent volumes for containers.

How Recovery Manager Central improves SQL Server data protection

RMC-S allows SQL Server administrators to protect SQL Server instances and databases with application-consistent recovery points. The snapshots are managed on HPE 3PAR storage, and you can use RMC-S with either HPE StoreOnce, HPE Data Protector, Symantec NetBackup, or Symantec Backup Exec to protect and restore these snapshots.

Recent testing has shown that creating a database clone with RMC-S takes just 1 minute and 22 seconds.  This is compared to the traditional and very manual process of creating a clone with SQL Server which can take 45 mins.  The automated process of RMC vastly outperforms the manual process of creating new database, copying the schema, and then inserting and verifying data within every individual table. Compared to the traditional approach, RMC-S lets you copy a database in one step and 32 times faster.

Where to get more info on HPE storage for Microsoft solutions

We have much more information available on the advantages of HPE storage for Microsoft SQL Server, as well as for all the important Microsoft business workloads such as Windows Server, Exchange, and newer solutions like Azure Stack and Azure Stack HCI.  Here are some key resources for you to check out:

• Webinar: Data Center Transformation with HPE Microsoft Storage Solutions
• Reference Architecture: Microsoft SQL Server with HPE 3PAR Memory-Driven Flash
• Blog: Cut SQL Server Latency in Half with Memory-Driven Flash Storage
• Webpage: HPE Storage Microsoft Solutions

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Meet Around the Storage Block blogger Mike Harding, Head of Product Management for Microsoft Storage solutions, HPE. Mike leads the product management of HPE Storage Solutions for Microsoft. He came to HPE via Nimble Storage, and prior to that led the marketing of the NetApp Converged Infrastructure effort, including the multi-billion dollar FlexPod solution. Mike has over 25 years of product management and marketing experience at both start-ups and larger tech companies and tweets regularly under the handle @mhardi01.

Storage Experts
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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