In partnership with Brent Ozar (Twitter | blog).

The idea behind this partnership started last year when Brent was kind enough to spend one Saturday morning with me over breakfast at the Bar Siena Restaurant in Chicago. I have been thinking about launching my online course – Windows Server Failover Clustering for the Smart SQL Server DBA – but haven’t fully decided yet. I needed to add the SQL Server 2016-related features since they have just been released and still waiting to add the Windows Server 2016-related failover clustering features (I don’t want to add lessons for pre-release versions of the products lest I mention something that would jeopardize my non-disclosure agreement with Microsoft).

Brent didn’t take that long to respond. He simply said, “just do it.”  That was the best advise I got last year. Those who have subscribed to my online course have reaped the benefits because someone challenged me to “just do it.”

The virtual training class Always On Availability Groups: The Senior DBA’s Field Guide is yet another result of that advise. Brent and I found ourselves again chatting over lunch at the Congress Centre Centennial Hall in Wroclaw, Poland last May during the SQLDays event. We talked about the possibilities of doing a partnership thru this virtual training class, the logistics and some of the business aspects. In fact, Brent had already done some of the legwork even before I made it back home. It was a bit hard to respond to his emails due to our timezone differences – him being back in the US and me still in Europe. Plus, I don’t have an international data plan for my phone.

I’ve been doing presentations and workshops on SQL Server Availability Groups since 2011 (yes, even before it was publicly released), sharing the lessons I’ve learned from my previous customers and my own testing and research. This initially was intended to be a part of the Windows Server Failover Clustering for the Smart SQL Server DBA course. But as I started working on the content last year, I felt like it needed it’s own dedicated course.

There will be some overlaps on the content between the two courses, particularly the concepts and fundamentals behind Windows Server Failover Clustering. That’s because both SQL Server failover clustered instances and Availability Groups up until SQL Server 2016 run on top of Windows Server Failover Clustering (in case you’re wondering, I am NOT going to cover SQL Server Availability Groups on Linux – yet). You need to understand the underlying platform that makes SQL Server Availability Groups work.

The virtual training class will be delivered online – on 5 – 7 September 2017 0900H Eastern (1300 UTC) to 1700H Eastern (2100 UTC) –  in the comforts of your own desk, hosted via GoToWebinar. You will see me on webcam and my fancy lab environment via screen sharing. 

BONUS:

If you missed out on registering for my online course Windows Server Failover Clustering for the Smart SQL Server DBA, you know you will have to wait until October 2017 before you can sign up. If you register for this virtual training class, you’ll get one (1) year FREE access to the following:

• Windows Server Failover Clustering for the Smart SQL Server DBA (value: US$ 545). This course covers the basics and fundamentals of Windows Server Failover Clustering to successfully design, implement and manage SQL Server failover clustered instances.
• SQL Server High Availability and Disaster Recovery on Udemy (value: US$ 200, was US$ 315). This course covers all of the high availability and disaster recovery features in SQL Server and how to leverage them.
• How To Build A Personal Lab for Deploying SQL Server on a Windows Server Failover Cluster (value: US$ 95). This course walks you thru building an affordable lab environment for emulating a multi-data center deployment of a stretched, multi-site failover cluster in preparation for installing and configuring either a SQL Server failover clustered instance or Availability Group

Below is the abstract for the virtual training class. I think the cartoon sketch is amazing.

Always On Availability Groups: The Senior DBA’s Field Guide

A skilled database administrator is the key to successfully implementing and maintaining a highly available SQL Server database. This instructor-led training class is specifically designed for senior database administrators responsible for designing, implementing and managing a SQL Server Always On Availability Group.

In this live month-long program, attendees will learn:

• Fundamentals of Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) – the underlying platform that makes SQL Server Always On Availability Group possible – from the external dependencies like Active Directory and DNS to quorum and cluster configuration
• Designing and implementing a Windows Server Failover Cluster to meet both high availability and disaster recovery requirements
• Designing and implementing common topologies of SQL Server Always On Availability Group solutions for a single- or multi-data center deployments
• Leveraging additional SQL Server Always On Availability Group capabilities such as readable secondary replicas, backup preferences, distributed availability groups and basic availability groups
• Managing and monitoring SQL Server Always On Availability Group implementations
• Effective troubleshooting of availability issues for both the Windows Server Failover Cluster and the SQL Server Always On Availability Group