SharePoint 2013 on Azure: Your Dedicated Farm in the Cloud

SharePoint 2013 on Windows AzureFrancesco SodanoMVP, MCM, MCSE SharePoint.

Francesco Sodano• Chief Executive Officer Novadia Sàrl• Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) for SharePoint

(..Jedi..)• Most Valuable Professional (MVP) on SharePoint

(4 years)• SharePoint Architect for UN• Technical Advisor for Office 365 and Azure for UN• Microsoft Azure Insider

Agenda

Windows Azure

Azure Virtual Machines

SharePoint 2013 on Windows AzureNotes from the Field

Windows Azure

Cloud Models for All!

On Premises

Storage

Servers

Networking

O/S

Middleware

Virtualization

Data

Applications

Runtime

You

man

age

Infrastructure(as a Service)

Storage

Servers

Networking

O/S

Middleware

Virtualization

Data

Applications

Runtime

Managed by M

icrosoft

You

man

age

Platform(as a Service)

Managed by M

icrosoft

You

man

age

Storage

Servers

Networking

O/S

Middleware

Virtualization

Applications

Runtime

Data

Hosting ModelsSoftware

(as a Service)

Storage

Servers

Networking

O/S

Middleware

Virtualization

Applications

Runtime

Data

Business Model

Managed by M

icrosoft

Customizations

Cloud Model for All!

Windows Azure Virtual Machines

Azure Virtual Machines

• Windows Server 2012 Datacenter• Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1• SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 (Std., Ent.)• SQL Server 2012 SP1 (Web, Std., Ent.)• SQL Server 2014 CTP2• BizTalk Server 2013 (Std., Ent., Eval)• SharePoint Server 2013 (Trial – 17/03/2015)• Visual Studio 2013 (Premium, Professional,

Ultimate)

Main VM models based on Windows OS

Azure Virtual Machines

Virtual Machine Sizes

VM Size CPU Cores Memory Bandwidth# Data Disks (up to 1TB

each)

Maximum IOPS (500

max x disk)

Extra Small (A0) Shared 768 MB 5 (Mbps) 1 1 x 500

Small (A1) 1 1.75 GB 100 (Mbps) 2 2 x 500

Medium (A2) 2 3.5 GB 200 (Mbps) 4 4 x 500

Large (A3) 4 7 GB 400 (Mbps) 8 8 x 500

Extra Large (A4) 8 14 GB 800 (Mbps) 16 16 x 500

A5 2 14 GB 800 (Mbps) 4 4 x 500

A6 4 28 GB 1.000 (Mbps) 8 8 x 500

A7 8 56 GB 2.000 (Mbps) 16 16 x 500

Azure Virtual Machines

Traditional DeploymentSetup Network Infrastructure

Setup Server Infrastructure

Install and Patch OS

Install and Configure Apps

Multiple Environments? Rinse and Repeat

LB WEB SQLAPP

80

Networking Infrastructure

Azure Virtual Machines

Cloud DeploymentConfigure Network Settings

Create VMs

Patch OS

Install and Configure Apps

Multiple Environments? Rinse and Repeat

LB WEB SQLAPP

80

Networking Infrastructure

Cloud Models For All!

• On-premises– Full hardware/software control– Roll your own HA/DR/scale rules

• Infrastructure as a Service– Managed IT infrastructure– Easy to move from on-prem– Roll your own HA/DR/scale rules

• Software as a Service– Microsoft Office 365– Externally managed– Auto and managed HA/DR/scale rules

Considerations

Business Continuity and SLA

• VMs sometime can reboot/restart– To apply patches– For hardware upgrades– For issues (sometime it happens)

• The guaranteed SLA– 99.95% of external connectivity for VMs with two or more

instances in the same Availability Set (It means downtime about 4.38hr/year)

– 99.9% of availability for Virtual Network Gateways

• For further details on SLA– http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/legal/sla/

Availability Set

Fault Domain

Rack

Fault Domain

Rack

Availability SetVirtual Machine

Virtual Machine

Virtual Machine

Virtual Machine

SharePoint 2013 on Azure Virtual Machines

SharePoint Production Farm

AD/DC/DNS

OnPrem

LB WFE SQLAppSvr

80/443

2013Cloud Svc

Cloud Svc

Virtual NetworkAzure

OnPrem Network

WFE2

WFE3

WFE1 APP

1

APP2

SQL2

SQL1

AD1

AD2

AD1

DATADATA

APPS

VPN Tunnel

SharePoint Production Farm

Replica

Front End ServicesDistibuted Cache

Workflow Manager Query Processing

XL - 8 cores / 14GB

C: (System) 127GBD: (Page File, Blob Cache) 604GBE: (Log) 40GBF: (Index) 500GB

Web Front End Tier

SharePoint Production Farm

App Server Tier

Content Processing

Admin

Crawl

Analytics Back End Services

C: (System) 127GBD: (Page File) 604GBE: (Log) 40GBF: (Analytics) 300GB

XL - 8 cores / 14GB

SharePoint Production Farm

Data Server Tier

Content

Content

Configuration

Service Applications

C: (System) 127GBD: (Page File) 604GBE:, F:, G:, H: (TempDB Files) 500GBI: (TempDB Logs) 500GBL: (Transaction Logs) 500GBJ:, K:, M:, N: (Content Data) 1024GBO: (Search Databases) 1024GB

XL - 8 cores / 14GB

Notes from the fields

• Use Affinity Groups– The Fabric Controller will keep Compute and Storage services «as close as

possible»– Within the same Container or Cluster– For aggregating services, reducing latency, and lowering costs

• Leverage Disks Caching– None, Read-Only Cache, Read/Write Cache– Working with PowerShell you can choose it during VM creation– Can be configured within the Management Portal– Cache can be enabled for up to 4 data disks per VM– Change to caching requires VM restart to take effect– Turn OFF Write Cache on SQL Server data disks– For huge I/O requirements keep in mind that you have max 500 IOPS on each

disk

For Better Performances

Notes from the fields

• IOPS Most Important Factor– SharePoint relies heavily on TempDB – Split and move TempDB to data disks

(do not use D: )– Split content database into multiple files– Put log files on separate data disk– Format data disks with Read Caching and 64kb blocks– Only SharePoint is on the C: drive

• Scale Out Not Up– Move content databases to separate SQL Servers– Move search databases to separate SQL Servers– Add more WFE for scaling SharePoint services– Add dedicated Search Servers and SQL Server

Notes from the fields

Deploy Using a Virtual NetworkVirtual Machines deployed into a virtual network have an infinite DHCP lease – This is required for Active Directory in the Cloud!

Use Multiple Data Disks Spread the IOPs around (up to 16 1TB Data Disks per VM with XLarge+ VMs)

Use HTTP Health Probes on Web Front EndsHave the load balancer help determine when your web front ends are available for additional HA.

Automate as Much as PossibleDeploying and managing SharePoint in the cloud can be scripted. Remember a Stopped VM doesn’t charge you!

Thank You!