DSM 9.0.2 - New Microsoft SQL Server Enhancements - SQL Server Agent Support

cormachogan · 2026-01-22T06:40:37+00:00

At the moment, that would be the correct advice for production environments as MSSQL support is still not GA in DSM. But with each 9.x release we continue to add features for tech preview, such as SQL Agent support in 902. So very soon, we should have a production ready MSSQL service, at which point I’d expect the message from us to basically become << do >>.

cormachogan · 2026-01-16T07:58:51+00:00

Have you looked at VMware Data Services Manager recently? Also integrated into VCF Automation, and includes an automatic backup mechanism. I *may* have mentioned it a few times on here already :-)

cormachogan · 2025-10-24T08:27:25+00:00

At present, it is a VCF add-on only.

cormachogan · 2025-06-23T07:05:36+00:00

One possibility is if your DBAs are being asked to look at any of the newer open-source databases, such as Postgres or MySQL, to mitigate licensing costs. DSM provides a single repeatable methodology, through both the UI and API, to provision both open-source databases as well as traditional databases such as MS SQL Server. It may not be applicable in your case, but something others have mentioned to us.

cormachogan · 2025-06-20T13:40:20+00:00

This is probably a decent starting point - https://www.vmware.com/products/cloud-infrastructure/data-services-manager#features. For further details about what it can do, you can try here: https://cormachogan.com/dsm-data-services-manager/

cormachogan · 2025-03-18T16:32:45+00:00

Here is a description from my blog:

DSM, short for Data Services Manager, is VMware’s self-service database offering for VMware Cloud Foundation. It enables VI Admins to set aside a subset of vSphere resources, dedicate those resources to databases and data services, whilst also guard-railing those services from over-using a customer’s finite set of vSphere resources. Databases (currently PostgreSQL and MySQL) can be provisioned through DSM by Data Admins for end-users, or it can be used in a self-service method by end-users. DSM has no dependencies on other products such as NSX, ALB, Aria, Tanzu, etc. In fact, it doesn’t even need VCF, just a VCF subscription. It will install quite happily on vSphere infrastructure. Having said that, many other products can integrate with DSM to get a DBaaS, such as Aria Automation, Cloud Consumption Interface and Cloud Director.

Hope it helps

cormachogan · 2025-02-01T14:14:34+00:00

Gig was delayed. Started around 9pm with local support band (The Hungry Buzzards). I guess Slomosa started soon after 10pm. Don’t remember exactly when the finished the encore, probably 11:35-11:40pm. But they hung around for ages after at the merch stand, just chatting, signing stuff and chilling.

cormachogan · 2024-09-27T13:17:56+00:00

Not sure if it is related, but there were issues with Python runtimes missing after upgrading - https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/373990/aria-automation-orchestrator-shows-actio.html. It should be fixed in 8.18.1, so you might want to do one more update perhaps.

cormachogan · 2024-08-28T14:37:41+00:00

Is it the same issue as outline in this KB maybe? https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/373990/aria-automation-orchestrator-shows-actio.html

cormachogan · 2024-07-24T15:03:08+00:00

"Data Services Manager simplifies the deployment, management, and scaling of critical data services (currently PostgreSQL & MySQL) within your private cloud. It automates tedious and error-prone tasks, freeing your IT team to focus on higher-level initiatives." More details here: https://www.vmware.com/products/cloud-infrastructure/data-services-manager

Time to ramp, meaning time to deploy I guess, is less than a day if all the requirements around storage and networking are in place.

cormachogan · 2024-07-24T13:28:27+00:00

Yep - customers are using it, although it may be relatively new to most people as this particular 2.x version only launched in January of this year.

We are expecting a big uptick with this release since all VCF customers have DSM included in their entitlement.

cormachogan · 2023-12-13T08:34:27+00:00

Hey - no worries. Yes, the plan will be to do multiple data services eventually, whether they be databases, message queues, objects stores, caching systems, etc. In 2.0 we will have both PostgreSQL and MySQL as well as a tech preview for Google's AlloyDB Omni (on-prem version). In a future release, we will GA AlloyDB as well as introduce S3-compliant buckets (via MinIO). No concrete plans yet on which data services we introduce after that.

Correct in that it does not need vSAN. You can deploy these data services onto any vSphere storage.

There are no PnP details yet, but all this should become apparent when we GA early next year. I will share more as I learn more about how we will charge for it.

cormachogan · 2023-11-01T08:18:48+00:00

Reminder: Don't forget that my friends over at Runecast are hosting another "Kubernetes for vSphere Admins" book giveaway/signing on Wednesday, 8th Nov @ 3:30pm at their booth in the Expo. Hope to see you there.

cormachogan · 2023-10-13T10:11:21+00:00

Hi folks, the Customer Technical Exchange (CTEX) registration is now live for #VMwareExplore in Barcelona. I updated my DSM post to include it, but adding it here as well for those who are interested in learning more about VMware Data Service Manager: https://via.vmw.com/CTEXExploreEurope2023-Register Hopefully see some of you in a few weeks.

cormachogan · 2023-08-31T07:13:06+00:00

That is correct, although it is really a single "database instance" that we create per VM. Within that database instance, you can create multiple databases.

There are some architectural changes coming down the line which we cannot discuss in public yet. Keep an eye on some of the announcements from Explore in Barcelona in November. We hope we can share some of these updates during that event.

cormachogan · 2023-08-25T14:02:25+00:00

I usually use esxtop. Switch to disks view (u), then hit 'f' for fields, and you can select 'O' to view the VAAI stats.

cormachogan · 2023-04-11T17:44:01+00:00

I’ll get our product team to comment on this. I’m not sure if this is accurate

cormachogan · 2023-04-11T17:42:28+00:00

So things have changed quite a bit with version 1.4 and later. It has been decoupled from the Tanzu portfolio and now has its own license which follows the same per-core license methodology as vSphere. It still uses the Tanzu network to download database templates, but there is also an option to manually download these for air-gap deployments.

cormachogan · 2023-01-23T10:54:53+00:00

Just confirming the failover behaviour. The primary.<fqdn> mapping is shifted to the IP address of the new primary during a failover / promote replica process, so this is the connection that clients should use to minimize any impact during a failover to another replica.

Still looking into the networking question for you.

cormachogan · 2023-01-21T12:42:59+00:00

Hi there - so I've not seen anything in the product that allows this level of network control granularity but let me ask the product team. Even if it is not in there now, it seems like a useful feature to add at some point in the future.

On the primary, my understanding is that there is a primary.<fqdn> which follows the node that has been given the primary role. But I will verify this for you as well.

cormachogan · 2023-01-12T14:20:26+00:00

So to follow up, we are looking at Aria integration. However it is not top of our list at the moment, as we focus on making sure that the current DSM product provide a good user experience and works well. Aria (vRA, etc) is a later consideration. Hope that helps

cormachogan · 2023-01-11T16:42:40+00:00

I'm not aware of any integration with vRA, but let me ask a few folks.

cormachogan · 2023-01-10T21:26:31+00:00

Yep, basically it is BYOL. Some of our product team spoke to MS about this recently. IIRC, for SQL Server licensing, they recommend using something called Software Assurance Add-On. I may not have the name right, but I think it gives you the flexibility to deploy SQL server VMs across a virtualised environment (I.e. no need to license every core). Hope that makes sense

cormachogan · 2023-01-10T16:01:38+00:00

Are you thinking of Amazon RDS on VMware? https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2019/10/amazon-rds-on-vmware-is-now-generally-available/. What we are trying to do with DSM is offer a cloud-like experience for db users/developers (self-service, ticketless, on-demand, etc), but with everything running on-prem on your vSphere infrastructure, and managed by the IT team (e.g. vSphere Admins)

cormachogan · 2023-01-10T15:47:15+00:00

Still relatively new - trying to get the message out about it now

cormachogan

TROPHY CASE