The document outlines the implementation and management of SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups for SharePoint to ensure high availability and disaster recovery. It discusses the differences between AlwaysOn Failover Clustering and Availability Groups, requirements for using these technologies, and best practices for configuring SharePoint databases with synchronous and asynchronous replication. Detailed steps for setting up and managing these groups, along with considerations for database compatibility and recovery strategies, are also provided.

1. AlwaysOn Availability Groups for
SharePoint On-Premises and Azure SQL
Replicas : HA/DR
Lars Platzdasch
MCT,MCSE SQL, MCSE SharePoint

2. Sprecher:
Lars Platzdasch
Twitter
@LarsPlatzdasch
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/Lars_Platzdasch
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LarsPlatzdasch
Web
www.platzdasch.de
www.3perspektiven.de
MCT: SQL, SharePoint, .net
MCSE: SQL Server Data Platform
MCSE: SharePoint
MCITP: SharePoint 2010, Administrator
MCITP: SharePoint 2010, Developer
Microsoft Certified Application Developer: .NET
Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) - EC-Council
platzdasch netConsult GmbH & Co. KG | ISV
24/7 Support für SQL / SharePoint
3 Perspektiven GmbH | MBS
21 IT, 19 Jahre SQL Server, 14 Jahre SharePoint

3. • What is SQL Server AlwaysOn?
• AlwaysOn Failover Clustering
• AlwaysOn Availability Groups
• Why: AlwaysOn Availability Groups for SharePoint?
• Requirements and Prerequisites
• Step by Step guide to implementing AlwaysOn
Availability Groups
AGENDA SQL SERVER ALWAYSON FOR SHAREPOINT

4. SQL SERVER ALWAYSON

5. •Two distinct AlwaysOn technologies available
• AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instance (FCI)
• A ‘traditional’ cluster – uses shared storage and network
• One copy of data shared by multiple nodes
• AlwaysOn Availability Groups (AOAGs)
• Equivalent to a combination of traditional SQL Mirroring concepts together
with clustering
• Multiple replicas of databases split across different cluster nodes
• Uses ‘Shared Nothing’ cluster concepts
• Allows for up to 8 total replicas of a database
•Marketing Name: AlwaysOn -> FCI != AOAGS
SQL SERVER ALWAYSON

6. • Original concept was log shipping in SQL 2000 – making a
duplicate copy of your databases on another server
• Mirroring itself introduced in SQL 2005 SP1, improved in SQL 2008
and SQL 2008 R2
• Works by keeping a mirror copy of a database or databases on
up to 4 additional SQL instances.
• AlwaysOn Availability Groups introduced with SQL 2012, improved
in SQL 2014, and later in SQL 2016
• This is a huge change to data tier design for SharePoint
HISTORY OF ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
BACKGROUNDANDPREDECESSORTECHNOLOGIES

7. Disaster Recovery SQL Server Solution
Potential
Data Loss
(RPO)
Potential
Recovery
Time (RTO)
Automatic
Failover
Readable
Secondaries
AlwaysOn Availability Group - synchronous-commit Zero Seconds Yes 0 – 2(3)
AlwaysOn Availability Group - asynchronous-commit Seconds Minutes No 0 – 4(8)
AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instance NA Seconds
-to-minutes
Yes NA
Database Mirroring - High-safety (sync + witness) Zero Seconds Yes NA
Database Mirroring - High-performance (async) Seconds Minutes No NA
Log Shipping Minutes Minutes
-to-hours
No Not during
a restore
Backup, Copy, Restore Hours Hours
-to-days
No Not during
a restore
COMPARISON OF ALWAYSON WITH OTHER SQL SERVER HA/DR

8. • Create up to eight additional copies of each database on
different SQL nodes (Nine total replicas)
• Copies can be a mix of synchronous (exact copy, limited to
two additional replicas) or asynchronous
• Create a synchronous copy when connectivity is 1Gb or
greater and latency is no more than 1ms on average
• Create asynchronous copies across WAN links, for Disaster
Recovery or when architecting a read-only farm
ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS

9. SHAREPOINT AND
SQL SERVER BASICS ALWAYSON

10. • Virtually all SharePoint 2013/2016 (and many
SharePoint 2010) databases now support
Synchronous Replication (either via Mirroring or
AOAGs)
• Up until recently, only Content Databases and the
Secure Store Database supported Asynchronous
Replication
• Now, Microsoft supports Asynchronous replication
for all but the User Profile Sync databases
ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
SYNCHRONOUS VS. ASYNCHRONOUS DATABASE SUPPORT

11. •This is why it is considered best practice to create at
least two AOAGs for SharePoint…one for the
asynchronous-only Databases, which can be
replicated to remote locations, etc., and one for the
synchronous databases
•This is a key point, remember, you CANNOT
replicate databases synchronously unless you
have 1Gb+ bandwidth and less than 1ms of
latency!
ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
SYNCHRONOUS VS. ASYNCHRONOUS DATABASE SUPPORT

12. Database Synchronous Asynchronous
Recommended
AOAG
Content Databases Yes Yes AOAG1 – Content
App Management Yes Yes AOAG2 – SA-ASync
BCS Yes Yes AOAG2 – SA-ASync
Managed Metadata Yes Yes AOAG2 – SA-ASync
PerformancePoint Yes Yes AOAG2 – SA-ASync
PowerPivot Yes Yes AOAG2 – SA-ASync
Project Server Yes Yes AOAG2 – SA-ASync
Secure Store Yes Yes AOAG2 – SA-ASync
Subscription Settings Yes Yes AOAG2 – SA-ASync
Machine Translation Services Yes Yes AOAG2 – SA-ASync
Word Automation Yes Yes AOAG2 – SA-ASync
UPA Profile Yes Yes AOAG2 – SA-ASync
UPA Social Yes Yes AOAG2 – SA-ASync
UPA Sync Yes No AOAG3 – SA-Sync
Config Yes No AOAG3 – SA-Sync
Central Admin Yes No AOAG3 – SA-Sync
Search Analytic Reporting Yes No AOAG3 – SA-Sync
Search Admin Yes No AOAG3 – SA-Sync
Search Crawl Yes No AOAG3 – SA-Sync
Search Links Yes No AOAG3 – SA-Sync
State Service Yes No AOAG3 – SA-Sync
Usage Yes No AOAG3 – SA-Sync
• All Databases supported for
synchronous failover
• Recently, Microsoft added
asynchronous failover support for
certain non-content DB types
• Other Service Application types
are still unsupported for
asynchronous failover, though they
are either not needed in a DR
scenario or can be easily recreated
• Highly consider the creation of
multiple AOAGs, two at a minimum,
three ideal, and even four or five
may be common – allows for
greatest flexibility of failover
SHAREPOINT
DATABASE
COMPATIBILITY
WITH AOAG

13. SAMPLE AOAG DESIGN FOR SHAREPOINT
-min two Ags ( better 3 )
-Content AG with four replicas –
Synch and Asynch
-User Profile Sync DBs on separate
AG, 2 Synch copies only
-DR farm in remote DC on standby
to connect to content DB copy
-DR copy in Azure

14. High
Availabilty
ALWAYS ON AVAILABILITY & SHAREPOINT
SQL 1
FARM 1
SQL 2
Synchron (no data loss)

15. High
Availabilty
SQL 1
FARM 1
SQL 2
Synchronous
ALWAYS ON AVAILABILITY & SHAREPOINT

16. Usage
Content
User Profile
BDC
Managed Meta
Search
State
Config
SP FARM
MUC
Central admin
Usage
Content
User Profile
BDC
Managed Meta
Search
State
Config
Central admin
Sync
HA – SYNC COMMIT
AWOAG3-SA-SYNC
AWOAG1-Content
AWOAG2-SA-SYNC

17. • SharePoint 2013 with SP1 and CU April 2014 or SP2016
• 3 aliases : 1 for content DB, 1 for Services DB, 1 for farm DB (CA, Config, State).
Install the SharePoint farm in
MUC
3 SQL aliases
• Recovery mode to “full” for databases to be sync
• SharePoint databases Full Backup
• !!! In Test take log backups
Configure SharePoint DB
• Create Windows Cluster and add every SQL Node
• Create 3 Always On AG & Add SharePoint DB
• Create the 3 listeners (1/AVG)
• Copy SP logins & permissions and other server objects on every node
Configure SQL Server Cluster
& Always On
$alias1 = “AVG1 listener”
$alias2 = “AVG2 listener”
$alias3 = “AVG3 listener”
$configDB = ...
$alias1 = “SQL1”
$alias2 = “SQL2”
$alias3 = “SQL3”
New-SPConfigurationDatabase -databaseName $ConfigDB -DatabaseServer $alias1
New-SPWebApplication -DatabaseServer $alias2
New-SPMetadataServiceApplication -DatabaseServer $alias3
New-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication -DatabaseServer $alias1
Everything can
easily be scripted !
SET UP: FARM IN MUC
(MAIN FARM)

18. SQL 1
FARM 1
SQL 2
FARM 2
SQL 3
Asynchronous (potential data loss)
Disaster
Recovery
Synchronous (no data loss)
DR WITH ALWAYS ON AVAILABILITY GROUPS & SHAREPOINT
(ACTIVE/PASSIVE)

19. Usage
Content
User Profile
BDC
Managed Meta
Search
State
Config
Central admin
Usage
Content
User Profile
BDC
Managed Meta
Search
State
Config
State
Content
User Profile
BDC
Managed Meta
Search !!!
Central admin
Config
Central admin
UsageAsync
Sync
SQL01 SQL02 SQL03
SP FARM
MUC
SP FARM
AZUR / ..
(DR)
DR WITH ALWAYS ON AVAILABILITY GROUPS & SHAREPOINT
(ACTIVE/PASSIVE)

20. • SharePoint 2013 with SP1 and CU April 2014 or SP2016
• 3 aliases : 1 for content DB, 1 for Services DB, 1 for farm DB (CA, Config, State).
• Aliases can point to listeners (not mandatory)
Install the SharePoint farm in
AZURE / DR
3 SQL aliases
• Test DR failover with SharePointTest,Test,Test…
Everything can
easily be scripted !
SET UP: FARM IN AZURE / DR SITE

21. • Windows Server
• Windows Server 2008 R2 (w SP1 or greater) – Enterprise Edition
• (PREFERRED) Windows Server 2012/2012 R2/2016 Standard/Datacenter
• One per node
• Can use Virtualization licensing options
• SQL Server 2012/2014/2016 Enterprise Edition
• MS has moved away from per-socket licenses. Licenses are now
1/4th the cost, but are now per each core.
• Legacy licenses of SQL 2008/2008 R2 Enterprise are
‘grandfathered in’ if you have upgrade assurance
ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS: VERSION REQUIREMENTS

22. • If you plan to use a SQL Server failover cluster instance (FCI) to
host an availability replica, ensure that you understand the FCI
restrictions and that the FCI requirements are met (Manual config
required)
• All the server instances that host availability replicas for an
availability group must use the same SQL Server collation.
• If any databases that use FILESTREAM will be added to an
availability group, ensure that FILESTREAM is enabled on every
server instance that will host an availability replica for the
availability group.
ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
PREREQUISITES AND REQUIREMENTS – SQL SERVER

23. • Automatic failover clustering requires servers to have
the proper number of votes to ‘turn on’ a database
copy.
• There must always be a majority of votes to enable
the node.
• If a majority cannot be reached (for example, if there
are only an even number of votes) the DBs will remain
offline.
• File Servers can act as File Share Witness
(FSW) servers (additional votes.)
• NEW - Add an Azure File Share Witness!
• This avoids split-brain scenarios where
multiple copies of a DB are online.
• Be sure to give the Cluster Computer
Account Full control to the FSW Share
ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
CLUSTER WITNESS AND VOTING FUNDAMENTALS

24. • SharePoint must be 2010 SP1+/2013/2016. For full Asynch
support, 2013 SP1 April 2014 CU+ or greater.
• New databases in your farm are not added by default, they
must be manually added
• All databases must have a full backup run before adding to an
AOAG
• All databases -> FULL transaction mode ( .. is not the default
for certain SP databases)
ADDITIONAL SQL 2014/2016 AOAG CONSIDERATIONS AND
PREREQUISITES

25. • Be sure to copy SQL security accounts to all nodes in the
cluster or SharePoint will fail to reconnect
• Use the same SQL service accounts on all nodes
• Highly recommend to use the same drive paths on all nodes
• Don’t forget to flush the logs with a backup script on a regular
basis! Search and Config DBs will grow large quickly.
• Don’t forget about SPNs for Kerberos and use Aliases for
Listeners
ADDITIONAL SQL 2014/2016 AOAG CONSIDERATIONS AND
PREREQUISITES

26. • Any DB in FULL recovery mode (required for AOAGs)
will continue to grow logs indefinitely
• Be sure to run a full backup, then a transaction log
backup from SQL. This will clear out logs but not
shrink them
• To shrink, you need to also run DBCC SHRINKFILE
after the backups
• For databases that don’t need to be restored, you can backup to ‘NULL’
(effectively fooling SharePoint that it has been backed up. NOTE: This
does not backup any data, simply allows the logs to be flushed out.
FLUSH LOGS IN AN AOAG ENVIRONMENT

27. USE SPF1_ConfigDB;
BACKUP DATABASE SPF1_ConfigDB TO DISK='NUL:';
BACKUP LOG SPF1_ConfigDB TO DISK='NUL:';
DBCC SHRINKFILE(SPF1_ConfigDB_log,1000)
• NOTE: This sample backs up to NULL, which effectively
means it’s only flushing the logs. Replace ‘NUL’ with the
backup location for your environment for any databases that
you need recovery from
SCRIPT TO BACKUP TO NULL AND FLUSH LOGS

28. AOAG STEP BY STEP

29. • Install Windows Server on multiple nodes
• Patch with Critical, Security, and the specific OS
patches listed in previous slide
• Enable the Failover Cluster Feature on each
node
• Use the Failover Cluster Manager Wizard to
create a cluster.
• Name the cluster a unique name that will be
separate from the instance name that will be
used for SharePoint
CREATING ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
STEP 1: CREATE WINDOWS SERVERFAILOVER CLUSTER (WSFC)

30. • Install .NET Services 3.5 Feature on each SQL node
• Install SQL 2014/6 Enterprise Edition Database Services (Also recommend adding SQL
Management Tools – Complete)
• Ensure proper Windows Firewall ports are open ( 1433, 5022 )
• Service Account for SQL
• Use the same service account for all nodes
• Don’t use Network Service
• If using Kerberos, make sure all SQL names have SPNs associated with the service account
• Make sure databases are set to FULL recovery mode
• Ensure that the file paths and drive letters are consistent throughout all instances (ideally, or
config will have to be manual)
• Copy or Create SharePoint databases on Primary node only (use SQL Alias to change name
later)
• Perform a full backup of your SharePoint databases
• Create a file share location that is accessible by all nodes that will be used for the shared
backups (i.e. SQL1Backups)
CREATING ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
STEP 2: PREPARE NODES

31. •Enable AlwaysOn High
Availability in SQL Server
Configuration Manager
•Repeat on Each Node
•Restart SQL Services
CREATING ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
STEP 2: ENABLE ALWAYSON ON EACH SQL NODE

32. • Ideally use the New Availability Group
Wizard, it automates the process
CREATING ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
STEP 3: CREATE THE AVAILABILITY GROUP

33. • Be sure to have a shared
network location for the
backup files (Created in
earlier step)
• Depending on size of
databases, this could take
a while
• Backups can also be pre-
staged (Join Only)
CREATING ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
STEP 3: CREATE THE AVAILABILITY GROUP – CONTINUED…

34. • Validation should show
all green (some
exceptions)
• The listener (‘SQL’ in
this example) will be
created later, and is
required for SharePoint
to connect to
CREATING ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
STEP 3: CREATE THE AVAILABILITY GROUP – CONTINUED…

35. • After the wizard completes,
manually create the
Availability Group Listener
• This is the shared name that
SharePoint will connect to
and will provide failover
(Also called the ‘Client
Access Point’)
• Modify the DNS record for
this listener to have a low
TTL (60 seconds or less) for
cross-subnet failover
scenarios
CREATING ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
STEP 4: CREATE THE AVAILABILITY GROUP LISTENER

36. • Required in specific situations, such as when a DB is encrypted
• First, add the DB to the primary server (where the DB is attached to
with the following syntax:
• ALTER AVAILABILITY GROUP SPDBCONTENT
• ADD DATABASE SPF1_Content_TDE
• GO
• Then restore the DB onto the secondary server, ensuring that you
choose ‘RESTORE WITH NORECOVERY’ from the Options tab
• Finally, add the DB to the AG on the Secondary server
• ALTER DATABASE SPF1_Content_TDE SET HADR AVAILABILITY GROUP =
SPDBCONTENT;
• GO
CREATING ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS
MANUAL PROCESS: ADDING A DB TO AN AVAILABILITY GROUP

37. • SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups are the preferred design
option for High Availability and Disaster Recovery at the data tier
• Best Practice is to create at least two(..3) AGs for SharePoint – One
for Synchronous DBs and the other for asynchronous DBs
• Follow closely the guidelines, ensure data paths are the same,
double-check security requirements
• Plan to shrink your log files on a daily basis for non-content DBs as
they will grow quickly, particularly the search databases
SESSION SUMMARY
SQL 2014/2016 ALWAYSON AVAILABILITY GROUPS FOR
SHAREPOINT ON-PREMISES

38. Lars Platzdasch | SharePoint and SQL Server
VIELEN DANK FÜR EURE ZEIT
Q & A

39. Links
• Code
https://github.com/larspl/AlwaysOnAvailabilityGroupsforShareP
oint
• Plan for high availability and disaster recovery for SharePoint
Server 2016
• https://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/cc263031(v=office.16).aspx