Author: Josh Achtemeier

Upcoming Webinar: Modernization in Minutes – Take SQL Server to K8s with DH2i and SUSE

FORT COLLINS, CO – September 18, 2023 – DH2i®, the world’s leading provider of always-secure and always-on IT infrastructure solutions, today announced an upcoming webinar titled, “Modernization in Minutes – Take SQL Server to K8s with DH2i and SUSE” taking place next week on September 28, 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM Eastern Time (ET).

Why Attend

In 2023, even the most heavy-duty SQL Server environments can’t escape the pressure of digital transformation. Organizations around the globe are being forced to adapt to remain competitive and provide the best experiences to their clients and customers. One way organizations are adapting is by moving from deploying SQL Server on virtual machines to containers.

Join SUSE and DH2i for a short demo and conversation on why containerizing SQL Server with Kubernetes is your organization’s best approach to digitally transform while keeping downtime prevention and peak security top-of-mind. Learn more about what to expect in the webinar below.

Attendees Will Learn:

  • Why so many organizations are migrating SQL Server to Kubernetes
  • The easiest way to get there with Rancher, DxEnterprise, and Availability Groups
  • Built-in SDP security technology that makes this solution stack perfect for the cloud

Featured Speakers:

  • Vince Matev Partner Alliance Manager, SUSE
  • OJ Ngo, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, DH2i

Can’t attend the live event? No problem! All registrants will receive on-demand access to the full webinar recording after the presentation has concluded.

Registration Link: https://dh2i.com/modernization-in-minutes-take-sql-server-to-k8s-with-dh2i-and-suse/

Additional Resources:

About DH2i

DH2i Company is the world’s leading provider of multi-platform smart high availability (HA) clustering and software-defined perimeter (SDP) software for Windows, Linux, and containers. DH2i enables users to securely connect and failover enterprise applications – from anywhere to anywhere. DH2i’s DxOdyssey® SDP software, the unVPN® networking solution for Zero Trust security, enables users to create highly available application-level Zero Trust Network Access tunnels across any mix of locations and platforms. DH2i’s DxEnterprise® smart high availability clustering software – now optimized for containers, delivers an all-in-one clustering solution for any application, any OS, any server configuration, and any cloud. DxEnterprise is the only SQL Server clustering solution to deliver fully automatic failover of SQL Server AG in Kubernetes. To learn more, please visit: www.dh2i.com, call: 800-380-5405 or +44 20 3318 9204, or email: [email protected].

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©DH2i Company 2023. DH2i, Smart Availability, DxEnterprise, DxOdyssey, DxConsole, DxHADR, DxTransfer, DxCollect and InstanceMobility are trademarks of DH2i Company. All other brand or product names contained in this press release may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

PR Contact:

Nicole Gorman
DH2i
Corporate Communications/PR
508-397-0131
[email protected]

Achieving Adequate Uptime for SQL Server in Kubernetes Means Thinking Outside the Pod

There is a reason why SQL Server isn’t exactly considered low-hanging fruit for Kubernetes containerization projects. The average SQL Server environment can be accurately described as nothing less than a “beast.” These environments can be massive in size and have a reputation for gobbling up much more than their fair share in budget dollars. Additionally, SQL Server environments:

  • Hold organizations’ most valuable data assets and require stringent security
  • Have critical uptime requirements, necessitating planned and unplanned downtime mitigation
  • Involve a high degree of management complexity with disparate OSes and infrastructure

Containers pose massive potential for significant gains in SQL Server agility, flexibility, cost-reduction, and more for organizations, but the uptime requirements of SQL Server workloads represent the critical bottleneck in the move to containerized deployments in Kubernetes.

Kubernetes Out-of-the-Box High Availability

As a standalone technology, Kubernetes does integrate some high availability functionality to help protect containerized SQL Server workloads. Built-in capabilities include pod replication, load balancing, service discovery, persistent volumes, and StatefulSets. These features allow Kubernetes to protect against things like:

  • Pod failure – Individual pods crashing due to resource contention issues or something else
  • Node failure – Anytime node becomes unavailable to cluster e.g. Hardware failure
  • Cluster failure ­– The loss of cluster communication capability e.g. Failure of control plane node

However, this is where an important distinction needs to be made—the distinction between high availability (HA) solutions that are ready to handle critical SQL Server workloads, and those that are not.

Kubernetes is a feature-rich container orchestration technology that has unlocked amazing possibilities for container-use in the IT industry, but when leveraged as a standalone HA solution, it cannot be considered a viable option for SQL Server workloads. This is predominantly due to the inherent latency associated with failover. By default, it takes Kubernetes five minutes to reschedule workloads from unreachable nodes. In 2023, this is not an acceptable failover baseline for SQL Server by any stretch of the mind. For the largest corporations, SQL Server downtime expense can reach well into the thousands of dollars per second, and settling for a 5-minute minimum downtime window for any failover is totally unacceptable.

So, while Kubernetes is the perfect technology for many container implementations, it does not have the chops to take on SQL Server high availability by itself. Fortunately, the surrounding technology ecosystem has evolved to bring integrated solutions to eliminate excessive downtime from SQL Server Kubernetes deployments.

High Availability Tailormade for SQL Server Containers

DxEnterprise (DxE) Smart High Availability Clustering software has been around for over a decade helping customers throughout the world ensure high availability for their mission-critical SQL Server environments. Now, what started as a solution for native SQL Server instances has been enhanced with industry-leading capabilities to unlock virtually zero downtime for SQL Server Kubernetes environments.

DxEnterprise takes Kubernetes cluster control to an even finer level of granularity—integrating health monitoring and failover automation at the database-level rather than the pod-level. In fact, DxEnterprise has been officially endorsed by Microsoft as the best approach to facilitating high availability for SQL Server in Kubernetes due to the powerful functionality it provides like:

  • Automatic failover for SQL Server Availability Groups in Kubernetes
  • Cross-site, cross-region, and cross-cloud Availability Group deployments
  • Boosted network performance through proprietary UDP tunnelling
  • Significantly reduced failover time from minutes to seconds
  • Ease of deployment using Rancher and/or Helm charts

This swath of DxEnterprise-derived enhancements helps add the secret sauce to Kubernetes to optimize high availability for even the most heavy-duty SQL Server environments. And the best part; it’s easier than ever to modernize your SQL Server with containers and unlock unparalleled cost-control, agility, and portability.

Reach out at [email protected] or get signed up for a personalized demo to learn how you can migrate your SQL Server to containers in literal minutes.

Ensuring AI Workload HA: SQL Server in K8s Made Reliable

Leveraging containerized stateful workloads such as Microsoft SQL Server to support AI applications is a practice that’s growing increasingly common. However, one of the primary conundrums in this scenario is enabling an adequate level of high availability (HA).

Container management solutions such as Kubernetes do a fantastic job letting you manage your containerized environments with increased agility and scalability, but out-of-the-box pod-level failover is grossly inadequate for the needs of enterprises and their SQL Server workloads. DH2i’s Don Boxley tells you about how software-defined perimeter technology and Smart HA software can solve this issue for good.

Spiceworks

Strengthening Healthcare’s Future: Advancing Network Security, Performance, and Business Continuity

Check out this article written by our CEO and Co-Founder, Don Boxley, to learn about the unique challenges faced by the healthcare industry that have necessitated innovation surrounding data security.

Boxley talks about the associated issues of using virtual private network (VPN) to protect healthcare environments, and makes a strong case for more secure, software-defined perimeter technology.

Continuity Central

Top 2023 Disaster Recovery Solutions: Essential Guide for Enterprises

DH2i’s DxEnterprise Smart High Availability Clustering software is featured on US Venture News’ list of the top disaster recovery (DR) solutions of 2023.

In addition to clustered instance DR, DxEnterprise can even help organizations unlock SQL Server Kubernetes stretch clusters between different clouds and cloud vendors..

US Venture News

Redefining Network Security with SDP

Hear from our CEO, Don Boxley, on the future of network security and why so many organizations are moving away from traditional virtual private network (VPN) technology. He’ll cover the unnerving vulnerabilities that VPN users are facing, as well as cost implications of maintaining this physical hardware.

Boxley also touches on software-defined perimeter technology and the unique advantages that it brings to organizations to help them secure their data assets in our cloud-based world.

Intelligent CISO