SQL Server in the Cloud

The Problem: Why you might be considering the cloud for your data platform?

There has been a significant shift in how IT departments think about their IT investments. There has been a paradigm shift in how companies invest in their IT infrastructure. For years IT infrastructure has been funded using a capital expenditure model. This involved upfront investment to procure the infrastructure that companies could then use to run their IT services. As cloud providers have become established and their ability to offer large economies of scale and pass these savings onto their customers the business drives for Cloud computing has begun to take hold, and many more businesses and organisations now have a cloud-first strategy. SQL Server and databases are not excluded from this so you might find yourself in a situation where you have to get your SQL Server into the cloud… if this is you and you don’t know where to start, don’t fret we can help you.

Migrating your SQL Server databases to the Cloud

When you migrate your SQL Server databases to the cloud, there are a few questions you need to answer to make an informed decision. If you have an on-premise infrastructure currently running SQL Server on virtual or physical servers may be the easiest and least imposing migration path would be to run a Virtual machine in the cloud that hosts your SQL Server. Running a VM in the cloud is known as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) or you could embrace the cloud fully and move to Platform as a Service PaaS. I won’t go into the differences here I’d point you to our free webinar on the cloud to get the details, but whichever service you look to consume we can help you get to the cloud with as little disruption as possible. We have a tried and tested method where we can get you SQL Server into an IaaS VM or your databases into an Azure SQL Database offering with minimal disruption to you. We can even help you decide which service would be best for your setup.

A. Analyse and Design

We have a well-defined process for moving your SQL Servers and databases to the cloud; it all starts with an analysis and design. 

We will produce a design that will 

• Analyse your servers and databases that are candidates to move the cloud
• Identify which solution either an IaaS or PaaS solutions would best suit each database
• Provide advice on how you can migrate your database to either the IaaS or PaaS solution

We will have a meeting to present the designs,  answer your questions, decide upon the final design and to agree on the next steps, such as the migration phase.

B. Build and Execute

Following the design phase, many of our clients engage gethynellis.com  to carry out the work of moving their SQL Servers or SQL Databases to the cloud. During the execution phase, we will help you implement the design to transfer your data platform to the cloud. 

C. Control and Monitor 

When a customer has invested in a cloud platform, they will likely want to keep it up and running smoothly. If your organisation has a full-time DBA, this may fall to them. In which case we are happy to hand over all the work we have done. If you have DBA in another technology or staff member who will be responsible for the data platform afterwards, we can help with any training needs they may have.  If you don’t have a full-time DBA or dedicated to resource to help manage the data platform in the cloud, then you can engage and utilise our cloud-based managed service offering, where we handle your data platform for you. Alternatively, you can engage with us with a “pay as you go” support service, whereby you call off support time, as and when you need help.