Solution Overview

VersaStack Solution for Microsoft SQL Server Database Acceleration

ChallengesMicrosoft SQL Server databases form the core of many applications involving mission-critical, online transaction

processing (OLTP), data warehousing, batch processing, business intelligence, complex queries for report

generation, and online analytical processing (OLAP). The challenge for IT and database administrators is to

meet business objectives while providing greater performance to meet the needs of growing amounts of data

at a lower cost.

Microsoft stopped supporting a major database version, SQL Server 2005 in April 2016. Microsoft no longer

provides automatic fixes, updates, or online technical assistance for this version. Without Microsoft support,

customers will no longer receive security updates that protect their servers from harmful viruses, spyware, and

other malicious software. This change will affect those Microsoft customers who have deployed SQL Server

2005 in their data centers. Customers will likely need to migrate to a new platform and new version of SQL

Server or face the risk of operating without support.

VersaStack™ Solutionby Cisco and IBM

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The VersaStack™ Solution is an integrated system platform that brings

together Cisco UCS® Integrated Infrastructure (Cisco Unified Computing

System™ [Cisco UCS] servers, Cisco Nexus® switches, and Cisco UCS

Director management and orchestration software) and IBM storage

systems built with IBM Spectrum Virtualize. VersaStack forms integrated

infrastructure building blocks to host your SQL Server workloads. It

provides faster delivery of solution applications, greater reliability, easier

management, simplified installation, and lower IT infrastructure costs.

VersaStack is a pretested, validated, and optimized integrated infrastructure

solution for SQL Server database environments (See Figure 1). Backed

by industry-leading Cisco® Validated Designs and IBM Redbooks, it

accelerates the deployment of SQL Server databases, whether they are

running on a single node or on one or more replicas. VersaStack—with

Cisco UCS Director and Cisco UCS Manager automating and orchestrating

hardware deployment—is well suited for nearly all SQL Server workloads.

Whether you are running new or existing SQL Server workloads,

VersaStack for Microsoft SQL Server with VMware provides a prevalidated

end-to-end tested and documented reference architecture to meet

your needs from the data center to the edge (see Figure 2). The entire

infrastructure, including computing, networking, and storage resources, is

tested using a VMware vSphere virtualization environment. Your initial and

ongoing SQL Server deployments will proceed faster and more smoothly

because all steps are detailed in Cisco Validated Designs blueprints. In

addition, ongoing automation and deployment with Cisco UCS Manager

and Cisco Director software help ensure consistent server provisioning and

deployment, eliminating configuration drift and bringing up new nodes in

minutes, not days.

Figure 1: VersaStack Solution by

Cisco and IBM

VersaStack Solution Is Your Best Choice for Microsoft SQL Server Workloads

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Figure 2: VersaStack for Edge or Data Center SQL Server Workloads

Cisco UCS management and revolutionary service profiles

enable you to easily, quickly, and accurately scale infrastructure

to handle workload fluctuations, eliminating configuration drift

and allowing you to deploy new nodes in minutes, not days. As

an example, in a VersaStack SQL Server deployment, a duplicate

node can be brought up in minutes, not hours or days.

For instance, in a traditional data center, if a SQL Server (physical

server or virtualized server) node fails, normally a long process

is required to deploy and provision a new server and bring that

node up again. In some data centers, bringing up new server

node may take days.

Cisco UCS is innovative server architecture with record-

breaking SQL Server database performance. Cisco UCS holds

five world performance records on SQL Server applications

and workloads and more than 100 overall world-record

performance benchmarks. In addition, Cisco UCS servers,

powered by Intel® Xeon® processors, stretch your SQL Server

database budget even further because machines that have

four or more processors have full-core multipliers. Cisco UCS

offers numerous configurations above four cores, allowing you

to choose and optimize your SQL Server costs while increasing

overall performance.

VersaStack Solution Includes Cisco UCS Servers for the Entire Range of Microsoft SQL Server Workloads

With VersaStack, however, you can easily re-create an exact copy

of a failed SQL Server node in minutes. The service profile of the

failed node (rack or blade) is instantiated on a new, spare node.

In moments, an exact copy of the failed node (with the same

Universally Unique Identifier [UUID], MAC address, World Wide

Name [WWN], World Wide Port Name [WWPN], BIOS, firmware,

etc.) is deployed. SQL Server identifies that the failed node is

now back in the cluster, because all of its hardware attributes are

identical to those of the failed node.

VersaStack Solution Offers a Choice of IBM SQL Server Storage Options Because of the versatility and price flexibility of IBM storage

systems such as IBM FlashSystem V9000, IBM Storwize

V7000, and IBM Storwize V5000, VersaStack can address high-

performance, high-capacity, high-growth, and cost-sensitive

storage requirements. FlashSystem V9000 offers the highest

levels of performance with robust software-defined storage

capabilities for database acceleration, analytics, and other

business applications running on the SQL Server database.

Storwize V7000 is best suited for medium-size to large

enterprises seeking a hybrid storage technology (hard disk and

solid-state disk [SSD]). For smaller environments, the Storwize

V5000 hybrid storage system offers an attractive entry-level

solution, especially when paired with Cisco UCS Mini.

With VersaStack, you don’t need to make any trade-offs in the

way that you deploy applications. You can run mixed workloads,

enable data center consolidation, accelerate applications, and

reduce costs. VersaStack configured with IBM FlashSystem

V9000 can achieve extremely fast response times for SQL Server

database read and write operations, providing nearly real-time

access to critical data with predictable, sustained performance

for OLTP and fast batch processing. IBM Storwize V7000 and

V5000 with hybrid storage options provide compelling solutions

well suited for cost-sensitive Microsoft SQL workloads.

For More Informationwww.cisco.com/go/versastack

www.ibm.com/versastack

VersaStack SQL Server Redbook:

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg248301.html?Open

Cisco Systems, Inc.170 West Tasman DriveSan Jose, CA 95134-1706www.cisco.com/go/ibm

IBM CorporationSystems & Technology Group Route 100, Somers, NY 10589www.ibm.com/cisco

Produced in the United States of America

June 2016

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other

countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does

not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R)

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2016. IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, PureApplication, WebSphere, DB2, Storwize, Storwize V7000, and IBM Spectrum Virtualize, are trademarks of International Business Machines

Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the web at “Copyright

and trademark information” at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. VersaStack is a trademark of Cisco Systems. This document is current as of the initial date of publication and may be changed by IBM at

any time. The performance data and client examples cited are presented for illustrative purposes only. Actual performance results may vary depending on specific configurations and operating conditions

LW/BM-19679 06/2016

THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES

OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF NON-INFRINGEMENT. IBM products are warranted

according to the terms and conditions of the agreements under which they are provided.