AWS Launch Wizard adds support for SQL Server Always On Failover Cluster Instances deployed on Amazon FSx for Windows File Server
You can now use AWS Launch Wizard to deploy Microsoft SQL Server Always On Failover Cluster Instances (FCI) using fully- managed, shared storage in Amazon FSx for Windows File Server (Amazon FSx). AWS Launch Wizard provides a simple console-based provisioning experience to deploy a SQL Server FCI high-availability environment without having to manually identify and provision individual AWS resources. The complexity and cost of running your SQL Server Always On deployments are reduced when you use Amazon FSx as shared storage.
You can now use AWS Launch Wizard to deploy Microsoft SQL Server Always On Failover Cluster Instances (FCI) using fully- managed, shared storage in Amazon FSx for Windows File Server (Amazon FSx). AWS Launch Wizard provides a simple console-based provisioning experience to deploy a SQL Server FCI high-availability environment without having to manually identify and provision individual AWS resources. The complexity and cost of running your SQL Server Always On deployments are reduced when you use Amazon FSx as shared storage.
AWS Launch Wizard supports both of the SQL Server Always On deployment options for providing high availability: FCI and Availability Groups (AG). While AG is preferred in some cases (for example, when you need higher read performance scalability using read replicas), FCI is generally preferred when your priority concerns include license-cost efficiency, replication performance, and simplified administration.
With AWS Launch Wizard, you can save time by deploying, within hours and with just a few inputs, a FCI high availability solution using the guided wizard for sizing, configuring, provisioning, and monitoring the deployment, as well as for setting up Amazon FSx shared storage. Amazon FSx provides a fully-managed, shared file storage that automatically replicates the storage synchronously across two Availability Zones. It also provides high availability with automatic failure detection, failover, and failback. In addition, Amazon FSx fully supports the SMB Continuous Availability (CA) feature required to support SQL Server Always On FCI deployments.
To get started, follow the steps in this blog to launch a new deployment in the AWS Launch Wizard Console. AWS Launch Wizard SQL Server FCI support is available in all commercial AWS Regions where Amazon FSx is available, except AWS GovCloud (US) Regions, the Amazon China (Beijing) Region, operated by Sinnet, and the Amazon China (Ningxia) Region, operated by NWCD.
AWS Launch Wizard supports Microsoft SQL Server, Active Directory, and SAP-based workloads. AWS Launch Wizard is available at no additional charge. You pay for only the AWS resources that are provisioned to run your workload. To learn more about AWS Launch Wizard, see the product page and documentation. To learn more about Amazon FSx for Windows File Server, see the product page and documentation.