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Windows Azure Pack VMRole Gallery Items for Database Workloads : SQL Server 2012 and Oracle Database 12c

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A couple weeks ago, my colleague Michael Greene posted a terrific set of VMRole Gallery Items for Collaboration Workloads, including Lync Server 2013, Exchange Server 2013 and SharePoint Server Server 2013.

Today, I’m happy to post two VMRole Gallery Items for Database Workloads : SQL Server 2012 (Advanced) and Oracle Database 12c.

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This post covers the capabilities of these two gallery items, and includes requirements and configuration steps for each of these samples.

These gallery items were actually built using the VMRole Example Kit as a foundation. The Example Kit was also published by Michael when releasing the Collaboration Workloads at the time, and it’s a great way to start building Gallery Items using the VM Role Authoring Tool.

 

IMPORTANT : The SQL Server (Advanced) VMRole Gallery Item has since been updated, and details and download link for the latest version can be found here .

Download location:

SQL Server 2012 (Advanced) VMRole Gallery Item Oracle Database 12c VMRole Gallery Item
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Instructions:

For both gallery items, the Resource Extension (RESEXTPKG file) should be imported into System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager, and the Resource Definition (RESDEFPKG file) should be imported from the Windows Azure Pack (WAP) administration portal and added to a plan. A summary of each gallery item’s specific requirements for the OS and data disks is provided below, with full details displayed on the download page for each gallery item and also in the README file in each download package.

The actual way to prepare these requirements – including tagging the OS disks and assigning the right properties to data disks - are explained in this overall document (and also as an example in Michael’s posts, like this one for Exchange Server 2013)

 

SQL Server 2012 (Advanced) VMRole Gallery Item

 

Capabilities

When deploying a virtual machine using this VMRole Gallery Item, some SQL Server specific options are provided, after entering classic configuration like the VM name and domain to join:

  • Deploying a SQL Server instance, using the default name (MSSQLSERVER), or a named instance

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  • Choosing additional SQL Server sysadmins to add during the provisioning process (the local administrator is also added by default, see the note below)

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  • Deploying a database

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  • Running a T-SQL statement

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  • Running a SQL script located on a local drive or on a network share

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For the last four options, it is possible to enter ‘ * ’ (without the quotes) so that they will be skipped during provisioning. You can choose to skip none, some or all of them. Note that the wizard requires you to enter some data into each field, this is why ‘*’ is being used as a way to skip that option.

NOTE : Two sets of Windows credentials are being requested when deploying this gallery item : local administrator credentials, and domain join credentials. The local administrator credentials is also used to install SQL Server, and is added to the sysadmins role during setup (also used to run the optional T-SQL statement and SQL scripts, limiting the number of credentials requested). If needed, this behavior could be changed by editing the Gallery Item. Details about each parameter of the gallery item are also provided on the download page here.

Requirements

  • SQL Server version tested : This Gallery Item has been tested and designed with SQL Server 2012 SP1
  • OS Disk : The OS disk must be running Windows Server 2012 (with .NET Framework 3.5 installed) and have Operating System, Family Name and Tags configured appropriately. More specifically, Operating System can be one of these : 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Datacenter, 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Standard or 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Essentials. For Family Name, you can consider the following values : Windows Server 2012 Datacenter, Windows Server 2012 Standard, Windows Server 2012 Essentials. Tags needed are “WindowsServer2012” and “R1”. As an example, this is how the OS disk is configured on my environment:

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  • Data Disk Media : The Data Disk should include the SQL Server 2012 SP1 media. By default, the media is expected in a “\SQL2012SP1” folder in the root of the data disk. This folder should be where SETUP.EXE can be found. If needed, the option to select another folder is also provided when running the Gallery Item wizard.
  • Data Disk Family and Release : The Data Disk should have the family set to “SQLServerDataDisk” and the release set to “1.0.0.0”

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Sample log files being generated

These are the log files being generated in the C:\Install\Logs directory, on a new virtual machine:

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Oracle Database 12c VMRole Gallery Item

 

Capabilities

When deploying a virtual machine using this VMRole Gallery Item, some Oracle Database 12c server specific options are provided, after entering classic configuration like the VM name and domain to join:

  • Deploying Database Software, and specifying the Oracle Home User

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  • Deploying a database. You then need to specify the SYS and SYSMAN accounts and password. The SYSTEM account password is automatically computed and provided in the output logs on the virtual machine

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  • Creating a schema, with a specific name and the associated user. The password is automatically computed and provided in the output logs on the virtual machine.

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For the last two options, it is possible to enter ‘ * ’ (without the quotes) so that they will be skipped during provisioning. You can choose to skip none, one or all of them. Note that the wizard requires you to enter some data into each field, this is why ‘*’ is being used as a way to skip that option.

NOTE : Three sets of Windows credentials are being requested when deploying this gallery item : local administrator credentials, domain join credentials,  and Oracle Home User credentials. The local administrator credentials is also used to install Oracle Database 12c, assigning the Oracle Home User credentials during install. Details about each parameter of the gallery item are also provided on the download page here.

Requirements

  • Oracle Database version tested : This Gallery Item has been tested and designed with Oracle Database 12c R1 standalone servers
  • OS Disk : The OS disk must be running Windows Server 2012 and have Operating System, Family Name and Tags configured appropriately. More specifically, Operating System can be one of these : 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Datacenter, 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Standard or 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Essentials. For Family Name, you can consider the following values : Windows Server 2012 Datacenter, Windows Server 2012 Standard, Windows Server 2012 Essentials. Tags needed are “WindowsServer2012” and “R1”. As an example, this is how the OS disk is configured on my environment:image
  • Data Disk Media : The Data Disk should include the Oracle Database 12c R1 media. By default, the media is expected in a “\12cR1” folder in the root of the data disk. This folder should be where the “database” subfolder can be found. If needed, the option to select another folder is also provided when running the Gallery Item wizard.
  • Data Disk Family and Release : The Data Disk should have the family set to “OracleDataDisk” and the release set to “1.0.0.0”

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Sample log files being generated

These are the log files being generated in the C:\Install\Logs directory, on a new virtual machine:

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Closing words, and looking forward

If you’ve been following some of my posts, you may remember I posted ways to deliver “Database as a Service” scenarios with the “SQL Server Self-Service Kit” and the “Oracle Self-Service Kit”, leveraging Orchestrator, Virtual Machine Manager, and also Service Manager, in System Center 2012 SP1 or R2. I have been asked a few times how similar scenarios could be achieved with the Windows Azure Pack (WAP), and the release of these two VMRole Gallery Items is a first step in that direction.

The scripts used to provision database components (instance and database in SQL Server 2012; database software, database, schema in Oracle Database 12c) mostly come from the templates and scripts being used in the Self-Service Kits Runbooks. So these gallery items aim to cover the “dedicated” deployments from the SQL Server and Oracle Self-Service Kits. The SQL Server “shared” deployments (deploying components on existing “shared” servers) are also already covered out of the box with WAP. Stay tuned for more news on this topic!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    March 06, 2014
    Earlier this week , I wrote about how standalone VMs delivered through Windows Azure Pack enable application
  • Anonymous
    March 06, 2014
    Earlier this week , I wrote about how standalone VMs delivered through Windows Azure Pack enable application
  • Anonymous
    May 20, 2014
    Pingback from Success with Hybrid Cloud: Getting Deep – VMRoles & PaaS as an App Platform | Dot Net RSS
  • Anonymous
    May 20, 2014
    Pingback from Success with Hybrid Cloud: Getting Deep – VMRoles & PaaS as an App Platform | Dot Net RSS
  • Anonymous
    May 20, 2014
    Pingback from Success with Hybrid Cloud: Getting Deep – VMRoles & PaaS as an App Platform | Dot Net RSS
  • Anonymous
    April 21, 2016
    Hi AllDoes anyone know how to remove Product Key requirement from VM role? We're service providers and we're using SPLA agreement where SQL product key requirement is not needed. So we need to remove this field in order to be able to install SQL roles.Thanks in Advance!Kind RegardsAndres
    • Anonymous
      May 03, 2016
      Hi AndresIf the product key is going to be the same for all, I believe you can have it in the INI file for SQL Server, instead of querying it from the tenants. This has been a while since we published these samples, but if I recall correctly some of them are actually doing that already (the SQL Server Advanced template, if memory serves)Thanks