Rumors about Azure, SQL Server & Data in the Cloud....

Azure Availability Zones Quick Tour and Guide

Three years ago, I started working with a big Microsoft partner on moving infrastructure and...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 05/03/2018

Why Azure Availability Zones

Working with several Microsoft ISVs around the world, I heard loud and clear about an important...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 10/08/2017

Azure SQL Data Sync Test Drive and First Impressions

Azure SQL Data Sync is a service of Azure SQL Database that enables you to synchronize relational...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 07/06/2017

Using PowerShell as an Azure ARM REST API Client

Yes, this is probably another post explaining how to use Azure ARM REST API using PowerShell, I am...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 06/28/2017

My personal Azure FAQ on Azure Networking (v3)

Last updated: April 6th, 2017. IMPORTANT: The information I reported in this post is time sensitive...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 04/06/2017

Azure Managed Disks Deep Dive, Lessons Learned and Benefits

[bing_translator] Introduction Managed Disks have been recently released for production (February...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 03/14/2017

My Personal FAQ on Azure Networking and ARM

Last updated: July 24, 2016. IMPORTANT: The information I reported in this post is time sensitive...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 07/24/2016

Azure Network Security Groups (NSG) - Best Practices and Lessons Learned

While Virtual Network (VNET) is the cornerstone of Azure networking model and provides isolation and...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 05/14/2016

How to change Subnet and Virtual Network for Azure Virtual Machines (ASM & ARM)

During the lifecycle of an Azure Virtual Machines (VM), you may encounter situations where you need...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 03/13/2016

Hub&Spoke, Daisy-Chain and Full-Mesh VNET topologies in Azure ARM (V2)

IMPORTANT: This is an updated version, using Azure PowerShell ARM module later than 1.0.0 release,...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 02/11/2016

Azure ARM: SQL Server High-Availability and Multi-Datacenter Disaster Recovery with Internal Load Balancers (ILB)

Introduction I already posted in my blog several articles related to high-availability (HA) and...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 01/26/2016

Configure an ILB listener for SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups in Azure ARM

This blog post is essentially a porting to Azure Resource Manager (ARM) of the article below,...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 01/25/2016

Azure ARM: VM Domain Join to Active Directory Domain with "JoinDomain" Extension

It is a pretty common scenario to provision a Virtual Machine (VM) in Azure and join it to an...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 01/25/2016

How to Set a Static Internal Private IP (DIP) for Azure VM in ARM

With the recent introduction of new Azure PowerShell modules generation, starting with version...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 01/20/2016

SQL Server in Azure: Compare PaaS (SQLDB) and IaaS (Virtual Machine)

During the last year, Azure SQLDB team made a great job in porting an amazing number of new features...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 12/05/2015

Azure VM Resizing and SKU Change in ASM and ARM

One of the major benefit of the Cloud is the possibility to dynamically change the type and size of...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 11/04/2015

Hub&Spoke, Daisy-Chain and Full-Mesh VNET topologies in Azure ARM using VPN (V1)

IMPORTANT: This is an old version using Azure PowerShell ARM module earlier than 1.0.0 release. If...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 10/01/2015

Multi-Terabyte SQL Server Database Backup Strategies for Azure Virtual Machines

With the advent of DS-SERIES and GS-SERIES with Premium Storage, now running big databases in Azure...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 07/28/2015

Efficient SQL Server in Azure VM Backup Strategies using DS-SERIES and Premium Storage

With the advent of DS-SERIES and GS-SERIES with Premium Storage, now running big databases in Azure...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 06/28/2015

Azure SQLDB and SQL Server VM - How to make an equal cost comparison

Azure SQLDB is one of my favorite technologies and I often have to talk and work with my partners...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 03/20/2015

Register an Azure VM Image from VHDs

During my recent activities for one of my partners, an interesting request raised: how we can export...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 02/19/2015

SQL Server 2014 High-Availability and Multi-Datacenter Disaster Recovery with Multiple Azure ILBs

I already posted in my blog several articles related to high-availability (HA) and disaster recovery...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 12/22/2014

Azure A-SERIES, D-SERIES and G-SERIES: Consistent Performances and Size Change Considerations

LAST UPDATED: November 11th, 2015. Thank you for visiting this page, before going forward, let me...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 11/11/2014

Azure Storage secrets and Linux I/O optimizations

Last Updated: December 9th 2015. I decided to write this blog post to talk to two different...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 10/23/2014

My personal Azure FAQ on Azure Networking SLAs, bandwidth, latency, performance, SLB, DNS, DMZ, VNET, IPv6 and much more

Last updated: May 17, 2015 (including BUILD and IGNITE announcements). IMPORTANT: The information I...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 09/28/2014

Deep Dive: SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups and Cross-Region Virtual Networks in Azure

SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Group (AG) is a great technology for high-availability and...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 07/03/2014

UPDATED: New White-Paper on SQL Server 2014 and Azure Blob storage integration

Last April I published, with my colleague Francesco Cogno, a big white paper on SQL Server 2014 and...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 06/22/2014

Best Practices & Disaster Recovery for Storage Spaces and Pools in Azure

With Windows Server 2012, Microsoft introduced a very nice feature called “Storage...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 06/10/2014

Microsoft Azure Universal Storage for SQL Server 2014

I finally decided to write this blog post after the recent announcement, at last US TechEd in May,...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 05/28/2014

Azure SQLDB Basic, Standard and Premium Tiers - Quick glimpse and first impressions

After the recent BUILD conference, Microsoft team responsible for SQL Database development clearly...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 04/28/2014

New White-Paper on SQL Server 2014 and Azure Blob storage integration

This required a long work with my good friend and colleague Francesco Cogno (Twitter: @MindFlavor),...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 04/16/2014

SQL Server 2014: Inside Hekaton Natively Compiled Stored Procedures

During the last period, I spent some time with several Microsoft ISVs around the world, talking and...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 01/15/2014

Synchronous vs Asynchronous Transaction Commit Trading for Performances with Delayed Transaction Durability

Let me start this new blog post asking you a question: Which is your general approach when a new...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 01/07/2014

Azure Network Latency & SQL Server Optimization

During some of my recent partner engagements, I had the opportunity to test deeply the Azure network...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 12/15/2013

Azure Architectural Pattern - Implementing Master-Slave Model in IaaS

During the last two years, I had the privilege to work with some important Microsoft Global...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 12/09/2013

How to create a SQL Server Linked Server to HDInsight HIVE using Microsoft Hive ODBC Driver

Last October 28th Microsoft finally released a new Azure service called “Windows Azure...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 11/12/2013

Create a SQL Server 2014 Database directly on Azure Blob storage with SQLXI

Last week, at SQL PASS summit, Microsoft announced availability of SQL Server 2014 CTP2,...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 10/23/2013

New Azure FastTrack VM image for SQL Server 2014 CTP2 (FTDW)

Hi all, I already covered in details, only five days ago, what is inside “Fast Track” VM...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 10/16/2013

Deep-dive on New Azure FastTrack VM image (FTDW)

If you are a regular Azure VM Image Gallery visitor like me, probably you noticed that we recently...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 10/11/2013

SQL Server VM Disaster Recovery between AZURE and AMAZON

Some days ago, a recent article from former Microsoft employee Michael Washam...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 09/25/2013

SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Group and Listener in Azure VMs: Notes, Details and Recommendations

If you are running, or going to run in the future, SQL Server inside Azure Virtual Machines, your...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 09/02/2013

Manually adding a VPN Gateway to Azure Virtual Network

In this blog post, I’m going to show you how is possible to add a VPN Gateway, to an existing...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 08/27/2013

SQL Server Database Backup in Azure IaaS: performance tests….

In this blog post, I want to show you some performance test results obtained tweaking many different...

Author: Igor Pagliai (MSFT) Date: 07/30/2013