SQL Server migration via DMA

Requirement:

The customer reached out to ProArch for assistance in migrating their on-premise SQL Server to Azure

The solution should meet the customer’s HA requirement, easy to manage, and cost-effective without compromising the security.

Key metrics considered during the assessment:

• Studied available SQL offerings in Azure that matches the customer’s requirement in terms of HA, backup, security, and cost-effectiveness
• Compared Azure SQL PaaS service and SQL Managed instance service in Azure
• SQL MI has 2 instances by default, has its own network infrastructure & robust as compared to other services.

How we did it:

The migration was planned in 4 stage approach

1. Planning
2. Premigration checks
3. Migration
4. Post-migration functionality checks.

• Planning:

In the planning stage, we reviewed the existing infrastructure sizing to match the right fit in Azure. One of the advantages of hosting it on the cloud is its elasticity. This can be leveraged to expand the SKU size if the demand spikes during the usage.

• Premigration Checks:

Premigration checks involve version compatibility, how much downtime can the application afford during the cutover after sync & documentation for the entire process is ready.

This process also involves conducting the inventor of DB’s that we planned to migrate and asses for potential migration issues.

• Migration:

After the planning and premigration checks were complete, we started schema migration using DMA tool

Started deploying the Azure resources for a destination to be in place before initiating the data replication/sync.

Post-deployment created a migration project & specified source and target details.

Selected the Databases that needs to be copied.

Once the data sync was 100%, we can initiate the cutover from source to the Azure SQL MI

• Post-migration functionality checks:

After the data is migrated, all applications that were connected to source DB needs to be mapped to the Azure SQL MI.

Run some DB queries to validate the data integrity

Run performance tests between source and destination DB’s to ensure it can withstand the load

Optionally, we can optimize the SQL MI by automated tuning to enable faster execution of the queries.

For any consulting requirements, please email us on cloud@proarch.com