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If DBs in Containers is Cool, Consider me Miles Davis
Are your cool friends all running databases in containers? Well its not about being trendy, it's about consistency and velocity. Running databases as a containers allows you to: Use the same tooling as your application stack Use declarative configurations through GitOps Use the same platform to provide networking, storage, and scaling - hint: Its Kubernetes Use identical platform APIs everywhere Enjoy faster startup and shutdown procedures Provide Fine-grained control over CPU and memory, not wasted on operating systems Less patching OK, thats as much of a pitch as you'll get from me. VMs are a tried and true method for running your databases, but it might be worth testing out DBs in containers if you're a Kubernetes shop. You might find some additional efficiencies.2Views0likes0CommentsUsing FlashArray Volume Snapshots with Microsoft SQL Server
FlashArray volume snapshots are an amazing tool for any DBA/DBRE managing SQL Server. You can use them to: Instantly recover from user errors or ransomware attacks Create rapid dev/test copies without full restores Offload CHECKDB to another host to avoid production performance hits Refresh reporting environments on demand Seed Always On availability groups faster, without large full backups Enable point-in-time recovery when paired with SQL log backups And the best part? Snapshots on FlashArray are: Immutable Space-efficient Fast to create and restore Fully automatable through the REST API or SDK tools! I worked very closely with our SQL Server field super stars (Anthony Nocentino, Andrew Pruski and Andrew Yun) on a white paper going VERY deep into the architecture and how to. It includes everything from crash- vs. application-consistent snapshots, to step-by-step restore and cloning procedures, to using SQL Server 2022’s new T-SQL snapshot backup. Did we miss anything ? Let us know!New Reference Architecture: SQL Server on Azure VM's with Pure Cloud Block Store
This is a brand new, weeks-old reference architecture — and I’m really excited about this one. During development, one of the most surprising discoveries was just how much Azure VM performance is limited by the IOPS cap tied to managed disks. It caught me off guard how much planning it takes just to size storage and compute together when you go the native route. With CBS, I was able to bypass those constraints. It felt more like working with enterprise storage (which is what its meant to do!) , I could pull from a pool, scale performance independently of VM size, and provision storage volumes in a clean and easy way. This new RA covers: SQL Server architecture on Azure VMs with Pure Cloud Block Store Snapshot-based backup and restore DR patterns using ActiveDR™ and HA using ActiveCluster™ Dev/test database cloning with volume snapshots Performance benchmarking vs. Azure Premium SSD v2 It prooved: ~40% more transactional throughput (TPROC-C) ~93% better analytical query performance (TPROC-H) (using queries per minute normalization) 3–5x data reduction vs. raw data Download the full reference architecture here Would love to hear your thoughts on this architecture and how we could improve the expirience!New SQL Server with Pure Storage Reference Architecture!
We have a new SQL Server with Pure Storage Reference Architecture! It’s been out for a few months, but this is a great start to your journey to a simpler, high-performance database environment! This reference architecture shows how to: Consolidate transactional and analytical SQL Server workloads using FlashArray Use FlashBlade for rapid, parallel T-SQL backups to file or object storage Enable zero-downtime operations with ActiveCluster and near-synchronous replication via ActiveDR With this RA you will find detailed technical guidance for storage provisioning for SQL Server databases on Windows or Linux as well as best practice guidence on how to take the best advantage of the primary storage layer. Check out the full reference architecture here: Optimizing SQL Server Operations and Scale with Pure Storage (PDF) Have feedback, use cases to share, or questions about implementation? Please reach out!Big changes in the virtualization world. Are you ready?
With VMware’s future in flux—licensing changes, partner cuts, and the deprecation of vVols—many IT leaders are rethinking their virtualization strategy. 💡 Enter OpenStack: the leading open-source alternative that’s mature, flexible, and cost-effective. But migrating from VMware to OpenStack can be… complicated. 👉 Not if you're running VMware on Pure Storage FlashArrays. In my latest blog, I explore how the new OpenStack 2025.1 "Epoxy" release simplifies the migration of VMware VMs using Pure’s native storage structures—no conversions, no downtime, no headaches. 🧠 If you’re navigating Broadcom-era VMware and planning your next move, this is the insight you need. 🔗 http://theansibleguy.com/vmware-to-openstack-the-simple-way/On-Demand Webinar: Get Ready for SQL Server 2025 with Pure Storage
SQL Server 2025 is coming. Watch this on-demand webinar to get insights into how the Pure Storage platform can directly support key database priorities: accelerating AI and analytics close to the data, sustaining predictable performance under pressure, and enabling reliable backup, recovery, and HA/DR patterns that SQL Server was built to support.OpenShift Virtualization at Red Hat Summit
I had so many great discussions last week at Red Hat Summit in Boston about vSphere alternatives. There was a very noticeable change from last year where practitioners were asking strong technical questions about KubeVirt related technologies as a replacement for their current hypervisor. This trend seems to be gaining momentum. I’m interested to hear if more of our customers are testing out running VMs on Kubernetes. If you are, sound off!21Views3likes0CommentsHello Team, Need help in Pure Metro storage cluster configuration
Hello Team, Need help in Pure Metro storage cluster configuration. https://support.purestorage.com/Solutions/VMware_Platform_Guide/User_Guides_for_VMware_Solutions/ActiveCluster_with_VMware_User_Guide/vSphere_Metro_Storage_Cluster_With_ActiveCluster%3A_Overview_and_Introduction As per this document there are two ways to configure it Uniform and non-uniform. Uniform configuration indicates Local and Remote paths to be configured as AO (Active Optimized), but during storage failure scenario Local storage takes 17 to 20 seconds to time out. During that time Storage array sends a PDL to ESXi host and host removes the devices. Due to which the vSphere HA configured to react on PDL restarts the VMs and that causes a outage for the customer. Which is not expected. From ESXI host there is no way to Change PDL behavior. Now my question is there anything that we are missing in this configuration, as during my talk with Consultants they are very sure 17 to 20 seconds delay is expected in this setup and during that time though the paths are available devices returned D:0x2 0x5 0x25 which is PDL. Looking for the guidance to overcome this situation. If anybody here faced such situation during the implementation79Views1like2Comments𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗮 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗲𝘀
Many OpenStack admins are hitting limits with ephemeral storage—and asking how to move boot volumes to Cinder. Whether it’s performance issues with Ceph, limited scalability, or running out of disk on Nova hosts, external storage is becoming essential. I wrote a quick blog post showing how to migrate a Nova instance to a Cinder boot volume in 4 simple steps. Bonus: I included a fix for a common Glance quota issue. 👉 http://theansibleguy.com/ephemeral-to-cinder-a-quick-guide/ Have you started this transition? Let’s compare notes.