This document discusses the do's and don'ts of running SharePoint 2016 in Azure. It recommends only running SharePoint in Azure if it cannot be done in Office 365. If using Azure, it provides guidance on resource groups, connectivity, virtual machines, storage, security, and supportability. It emphasizes using premium storage for search servers and SQL TempDB, and discusses options for high availability like SQL AlwaysOn.

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1st September 2018
Running SP 2016 in Azure – The Do’s and the Don’ts
Jasjit Chopra | Microsoft Azure MVP
Cloud Solutions Architect
(Azure/SharePoint/Office 365)
PENTHARA TECHNOLOGIES

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Jasjit Chopra
PENTHARA TECHNOLOGIES
MS Cloud Solution Architect and Azure MVP with strong background in
Azure, SharePoint and Office 365. As a SharePoint expert he has worked
with many multinational clients including HP, Avanade, Accenture,
Unistar Nuclear Energy, Warner Music Group, Inventiv Health and
iHeartMedia. Jasjit holds a Masters of Business Administration in
Technology and Management from CERAM, Sophia Antipolis, France.
Having worked for different clients across the United States Jasjit has
gained insight knowledge on Business Processes for the State
Government and Manufacturing, Nuclear, Pharmaceutical and Music
industries.
Email : Jasjit@penthara.com
Twitter : @jasjitchopra
Facebook : jasjitchopra
LinkedIn : jasjitchopra

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WHY?
Don’t Do It
If you can do it in Office 365 do it there first

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Why do it ?
•Retire existing datacenter / hardware
•Fresh start
•Evaluation
•Elasticity *

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Scenarios
• Dev/test
• Pilot / Proof of Concept
• Production
• Disaster Recovery
• Hybrid

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Design Process
• Identity
• Resource groups
• Connectivity
• Virtual Machines
• Storage
• Security

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Resource Groups
• By Function / Role
• Life Cycle
• Project Based
• Department Based

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Connectivity
• Express Route recommended
• Be vary of Data costs
• Latency based on location
• IP address spacing
• Static IPs
• Azure Load Balancer
• Not at par with F5
• Third party appliances for load balancing

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Virtual Machines
• Design limited by VM sizes in Azure
• Use large memory sizes for un-precited usage patterns
• Undersize issue
• Disk Size limitation
• Disk count limitation
• IOPS limitations
• Availability Sets
• Sys prep supported
• Pre-loaded Azure VM images – minimum supported version
There is no PERFECT size for SharePoint

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VM Costs
Number of Server
Cores
Server SKU RAM in GB
Approx Cost
Per Month
4 Cores
D12 Standard 28 $ 485
D3 v2 Standard 14 $ 417
D12 v2 Standard 28 $ 485
D3 v2 Promo 14 $ 286
D12 v2 Promo 28 $ 335
8 Cores
D13 Standard 56 $ 870
D4 v2 Standard 28 $ 830
D13 v2 Standard 56 $ 870
D4 v2 Promo 28 $ 570
D13 v2 Promo 56 $ 670

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Storage
• Premium Storage (SQL and SP running Search Role)
• 200 MBPS min IOPS requirement for Index
• Not just IOPS but bandwidth limitations as well play a role
• Separate storage accounts per VM recommended (2 VMs OK)
• Diagnostics
• Use the same RG as VM
• Managed Disks
• Disk as an ARM resource

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Storage (Continued…)
•Run SQL TempDB on Non-Persistent SSD drive
•Extend Content DBs directly to blob storage (SQL
2014 onwards)
• VM NICs have direct access – better performance
• Easy disk management (less drive letters)
•LRS Only supported

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How?
• PowerShell
• ARM (ASM – No No)
• DSC
• Other Third Party Orchestration systems
To get Started:
SharePoint Server 2016 High Availability Farm in Azure Deployment Kit
https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/sharepoint-server-2016-3d3d9071
https://technet.microsoft.com/library/mt793552(v=office.16).aspx
https://github.com/Azure/azure-quickstart-templates

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Supportability
• Non-production farms, such as those used for dev/test environments or
for proof-of-concept
• As a disaster recovery target using log shipping, SQL Server AlwaysOn
Availability Groups, or Azure Site Recovery
• Production farms, using Azure premium storage for servers running the
search role
Production farms running SharePoint 2013 are also
supported. SharePoint 2010 is no longer in mainstream
support, however it can be installed on Azure VMs for
testing and validation of migration scenarios.

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Supportability
• Office Web Apps !!

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SP 2016 with SQL Always On

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Thank You !
Next Session:
Use PowerShell and Node.js to work with
SharePoint data – Chendrayan Venkatesan