The IT Nerd

 DH2i recently announced the upcoming release of its flagship DxEnterprise software’s full readiness for public preview release of Microsoft SQL Server 2025. Designed with today’s and the future’s AI-driven, dynamic businesses in mind, this update gives both customers and channel partners the power to tackle next-gen workloads with unmatched flexibility, reliability, and ease.

With this release, DxEnterprise not only continues its tradition of seamless high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) across Windows, Linux, and Kubernetes, but also delivers full readiness for public preview release of SQL Server 2025 including advanced AI and scalability features. This includes maintaining high availability for databases support embeddings and function as vector stores. This ideally positions DH2i channel partners to guide customers through modernization initiatives, deploy end-to-end resilient infrastructures, and elevate their standing as strategic advisors offering the most innovative data management solutions available.

With DxEnterprise’s support for the public preview release of SQL Server 2025, enterprise end customers can now confidently build and run AI apps in development environments across any mix of infrastructure, including on-prem, cloud, hybrid, and Kubernetes environments. Once SQL Server 2025 is GA, customers will be able to take this capability straight to their mission-critical production environments. This release removes longstanding roadblocks related to deploying SQL Server Availability Groups (AGs) in containers, maintaining HA for vector databases, and scaling securely with the latest platform innovations. It enables organizations to embrace modern workloads like Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) and operational AI with the assurance of continuous uptime, simplified failover, and seamless integration with their existing HA/DR strategies. In short, enterprises can now modernize faster, innovate more freely, and meet aggressive AI and digital transformation goals, while maintaining the rock-solid reliability their businesses demand.

Key updates include:

• SQL Server 2025 Ready – Ensures compatibility with the AI-ready, mission-critical RDBMS reimagined for the cloud and fabric era
• Vector Database HA Support – Unlocks reliable deployment of AI applications with embedded semantic search, vector indexes, and RAG pipelines
• DH2i DxOperator Enhancements – One of the most efficient Kubernetes-native SQL Server Availability Group deployment methods – now fully aligned with SQL Server 2025’s peak performance ambitions
• AG HA for Kubernetes – This solution provides fully automated failover for SQL Server AGs on Kubernetes

With AI workloads becoming the new norm and the push toward containerization and hybrid infrastructure accelerating, DxEnterprise’s new capabilities will empower organizations to not only keep up, but lead.

DH2i has announced its participation in SUSECON 2025, taking place March 10-14 in Orlando, Florida. DH2i, alongside technology leaders from Microsoft and SUSE, will present two sessions focused on building secure, resilient data platforms. The first, an in-person breakout session at the conference, will showcase how to optimize SQL Server 2025 and SUSE Rancher to create a unified, scalable data platform across containers, physical, and virtual machines (VMs) with DH2i’s DxEnterprise. The second, a pre-recorded session made available at the conclusion of the conference, will provide a step-by-step guide to deploying highly available AI applications using SUSE AI & BCI, Microsoft SQL Server, and DH2i DxEnterprise.

In-Person Breakout Session:

• Date/Time: Thursday, March 13th, 11:00 am – 11:50 am ET
• Presenters:
• OJ Ngo, CTO and Co-Founder, DH2i
• Abduallah Mamun, Senior Product Manager | Azure Data, Microsoft
• Terry L. Smith Director, Global Alliances Solutions, Suse
• Session Title: “Harnessing SQL Server 2025 and SUSE Rancher for a Unified Data Platform Across Containers, Physical, and Virtual Machines with DH2i’s DxOperator”
• Abstract: Build a data environment that is cross-platform, spanning across virtual machines, physical machines, and containers in different environments. In this session, we will deploy SQL Server containers across Azure Kubernetes Service and other Kubernetes platforms using the DH2i Operator, managing the entire deployment with SUSE’s Rancher. With the release of SQL Server 2025, we will also showcase the vector search capability, enabling semantic search natively for your databases. If you are a database developer, engineer, or administrator looking to modernize your data estate, this session is for you. We will highlight new developer features in SQL Server 2025, making it easier to work with JSON, Parquet, and traditional relational data within the same environment. Additionally, we will cover how SUSE Rancher can be used to manage and administer Kubernetes clusters, ensuring efficient and streamlined operations in an all-Kubernetes environment. Join us to discover best practices, tips, and tools for optimizing your SQL Server container deployments in a hybrid cloud landscape.

Pre-Recorded Session (Viewable after SUSECON):

• Presenters:
• OJ Ngo, CTO and Co-Founder, DH2i
• Amit Khandelwal, Principal Product Manager | Data Platform – SQL Server, Microsoft
• Terry L. Smith Director, Global Alliances Solutions, Suse
• Session Title: “How to Build a Secure and Resilient Production Environment for Your AI Applications”
• Abstract: In today’s AI-driven world, swift and seamless transitions from development to enterprise deployment are essential, along with reliable high availability (HA) for databases supporting AI apps. In this demo-packed session, Ngo, Khandelwal, and Smith will guide IT teams step-by-step in building a comprehensive solution architecture for deploying enterprise AI at scale. They will use SUSE AI & Base Container Image (BCI) for a secure, feature-rich foundation, Microsoft SQL Server as a flexible and secure database backbone, and DH2i DxEnterprise for infrastructure-agnostic HA/DR. Attendees will leave with an actionable framework for building highly available, production AI apps on the SUSE platform using Microsoft SQL Server and DH2i, and an understanding of the benefits of SUSE tools like Rancher, NeuVector, and StackState.

SUSECON, taking place from March 10-14 in Orlando, promises to be a must-attend event for IT professionals, developers, and business leaders eager to explore the latest advancements in open-source solutions. With a focus on innovation, collaboration, and the future of enterprise technology, the conference will feature a dynamic lineup of keynote speakers, hands-on workshops, and engaging breakout sessions. Attendees will gain insights into topics such as cloud-native transformation, edge computing, and containerization while networking with industry leaders and peers. To learn more, please visit: https://www.suse.com/susecon/.

By Josh Achtemeier

Our collaborations with technology partners over the years have been critical in engineering the most flexible and impactful software solutions for our customers. 

DH2i has worked in different capacities with Microsoft for years. We’ve maintained a collaborative, mutually-beneficial relationship that has fostered some massive advances in SQL Server high availability technology, especially in the Linux space. E.g. DH2i’s groundbreaking SQL Server Operator for Kubernetes has become Microsoft’s officially recommended SQL Server Operator, even receiving dedicated documentation articles within their SQL Server resource library. 

Over the last couple years, we have started working closely with the fantastic team over at SUSE as well—pioneering some powerful new solutions to facilitate SQL Server modernization with unparalleled ease. E.g. Take a look at this demo video featuring DxOperator and Rancher Prime to facilitate the easiest possible approach to a SQL Server Kubernetes deployment in AKS.  

From robust, certified platforms to meticulously developed Kubernetes orchestration and security technologies, SUSE provides perfectly complementary capabilities to enhance our existing solution stories with Microsoft. The functional possibilities and applications of our combined solution portfolios are wide-ranging, but this blog will focus on the ability of our three companies to unlock easy deployment of highly available SQL Server in the cloud with Microsoft Azure, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), and DxEnterprise. 

A Full Suite of Services and Security for Cloud Databases 

Microsoft Azure: Azure is Microsoft’s public cloud platform, which provides a wide range of services, including computing, storage, networking, and database management. Azure supports various operating systems, including SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES). 

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server: SUSE is an open-source software company that offers a range of products, including the SLES operating system. SLES is a popular choice for enterprise environments due to its stability, security, and scalability. 

DxEnterprise: DxEnterprise is Smart High Availability Clustering software developed by DH2i, which provides an easy-to-mange, flexible, secure, and highly available clustering framework for managing SQL Server databases on Windows, Linux, and Kubernetes.  

When used together, Azure, SLES, and DxEnterprise can provide a robust solution for deploying and managing highly available databases in the cloud. Here’s how they work together: 

1. Azure as the cloud platform: Azure provides the underlying infrastructure for deploying and running SLES virtual machines (VMs) or containers. 
2. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server: SLES is installed on Azure VMs or used as a container runtime, providing a stable and secure operating system environment for running databases. 
3. DxEnterprise: DxEnterprise is deployed on top of SLES, providing a high availability framework that can manage multiple database instances across the Azure (and any mix of) infrastructure. 

The benefits of using Azure, SUSE, and DxEnterprise together include: 

1. Scalability: Azure provides a scalable cloud infrastructure that can be effortlessly integrated with the DxEnterprise HA management framework, regardless of region or Availability Zone. 
2. High availability: DxEnterprise ensures high availability of databases by providing real-time monitoring, load balancing, and automatic failover (for instances AND containers) to ensure that workloads are always running in their respective best execution venues. 
3. Security: SLES provides a secure operating system environment, while DxEnterprise offers the additional capability of encrypted, app-level zero trust network access connections across any mix of clouds and infrastructure. 
4. Simplified management: DxEnterprise simplifies high availability management by providing a unified platform for managing multiple database instances across Azure and any mix of infrastructure or platforms. 

Use Cases for the Azure, SLES, & DxEnterprise Solution Stack 

Some possible use cases for using Azure, SUSE, and DxEnterprise together include: 

1. Database consolidation: Consolidate multiple databases into a single DxEnterprise high availability cluster running on SLES in Azure.
2. Easy Multi-Site DR in the Cloud: If organizations need the real-time replication provided by Always-On Availability Groups (AGs), DxEnterprise can be used to easily stretch the AG across multiple Azure regions or availability zones, ensuring high availability and disaster recovery capabilities between sites.
3. Cloud migration: Migrate on-premises databases to Azure using DxEnterprise and SLES, taking advantage of proprietary tools like DxEnterprise’s SQL Server Operator for Kubernetes.

For organizations looking to deploy highly available SQL Server in the cloud, it’s impossible to outdo the benefits provided by Azure cloud infrastructure and its tight, out-of-the-box integration with SQL Server. Microsoft and SUSE’s longstanding partnership has culminated in an incredibly stable and secure operating system environment with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. And SLES provides a cost-effective platform that is inherently optimized for SQL Server workloads. Lastly, DxEnterprise delivers the perfect high availability solution to manage all your workloads across Azure—instances or containers—and easily unifies mixed infrastructure and multi-site deployments for disaster recovery. 

Together, Azure, SLES, and DxEnterprise provide the go-to solution stack for deploying and managing SQL Server databases in the cloud. Their close integration and robust management capabilities stand head and shoulders above the competition in terms of scalability, high availability, and security.

Check out other resources detailing Microsoft, SUSE, and DH2i’s continued collaborations below:

• SUSE Blog: Unlock the Easiest Path to HA SQL Server in Kubernetes
• Joint Webinar: Unlock Fast and Secure Container Deployment with the SQL Server Operator for Kubernetes

When it comes to AI and High Availability (HA) Clustering, the synergy between AI’s capabilities and HA’s needs is expected to drive more advanced, resilient, and self-managing clusters. Here are a few predictions from Don Boxley, CEO and Co-Founder, DH2i on how this convergence will shape the future.

1.)  Self-Optimizing Clusters – AI will enable HA clusters to self-optimize by analyzing workload patterns, resource usage, and performance metrics in real-time. This means that clusters can automatically adjust resource allocation, distribute workloads more evenly, and maintain optimal performance without human intervention, even under fluctuating loads.

“Managing HA clusters manually often leads to inefficiencies, with resources sitting idle during low usage and systems struggling to keep up under peak loads.”

“AI eliminates these inefficiencies by continuously analyzing workloads and resource usage, allowing clusters to self-optimize and maintain peak performance without manual oversight.”

2.)  Cross-Cloud High Availability – As organizations adopt multi-cloud strategies, AI-driven HA clustering will help maintain HA across different cloud environments by managing clusters that span multiple providers. AI-driven HA clustering will also leverage adaptive load balancing, where AI learns usage patterns, traffic surges and analyzes performance across providers to intelligently distribute workloads across nodes. This approach will minimize latency and prevent bottlenecks, keeping HA clusters performant and responsive.

“Organizations relying on multi-cloud strategies frequently encounter challenges in ensuring consistent performance and availability across providers, leading to latency and bottlenecks.”

“AI simplifies cross-cloud HA by dynamically analyzing traffic and distributing workloads intelligently across providers, ensuring seamless performance and responsiveness.”

3.)  Enhanced Security and Isolation – AI-powered monitoring will enable HA clusters to detect unusual behaviors that may signify security breaches or potential insider threats. By identifying anomalies, AI can isolate affected nodes or reroute traffic away from potential threats, enhancing the security and reliability of HA clusters.

“Traditional monitoring tools often miss subtle threats or fail to respond quickly enough, leaving HA clusters vulnerable to breaches and downtime.”

“AI-powered monitoring detects anomalies in real-time and isolates threats immediately, ensuring the security and reliability of high availability clusters without delays.”

DH2i today announced it will be showcasing its DxEnterprise Microsoft SQL Server high availability software for instances and containers at this year’s PASS Data Community Summit. PASS Summit 2024 will bring thousands of data platform professionals together for an in-person event in Seattle, WA, from November 4-8, 2024.

DH2i Booth #204:

Attendees will have the opportunity to experience DH2i’s industry-leading DxEnterprise software firsthand and learn how to drive Microsoft SQL Server downtime and data loss to near-zero across on-prem, remote, cloud, and hybrid environments – all while eliminating management complexity. DH2i will also show how to easily set up multi-site clusters for disaster recovery (DR), manage Windows and Linux SQL Server side-by-side in the same cluster, and easily and securely usher in the era of containers with DxOperator by DH2i, the industry’s preferred SQL Server Operator for Kubernetes (K8s). 

In-Booth Demos & Raffles, DH2i Booth #204:

• Wednesday, November 6: 10:50 am 
• Thursday, November 7: 3:10 pm 
• Friday, November 8: 10:00 am 

Don’t Miss:

General Session: “Harness the Power of Kubernetes to Achieve Truly Cloud-Agnostic SQL Server”

• Wednesday, November 6: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm in Room 345-346
• DH2i’s CTO and Co-Founder, OJ Ngo, to join Microsoft’s Principal Product Manager, Amit Khandelwal, to discuss how organizations can cost-effectively maintain “5-nines” SQL Server uptime while eliminating the risk of cloud vendor lock-in. While Kubernetes and containers offer infrastructure autonomy, they also introduce complexity and downtime risks. Ngo and Khandelwal will present a solution to these concerns by demonstrating a cloud-agnostic SQL Server environment using Kubernetes, allowing multi-cloud deployments and automatic failover across platforms. This approach accelerates digital transformation, enabling unified HA management for SQL Server across Windows, Linux, and Kubernetes in a single framework.

10-Minute Lightning Talk: “Deploy Highly Available SQL Server Containers in AKS in 3 Easy Steps”

• Thursday, November 7 at 11:15 am in room 343-344
• DH2i’s CTO and Co-Founder, OJ Ngo, will present a 10-minute lightning talk to demonstrate how easy SQL Server container deployment and HA can be with the industry’s preferred SQL Server Operator for Kubernetes. Whether you’re an expert or just curious about the benefits of database containers, this session will show an easy-to-execute, 3-step approach to deploy a customizable, Always-On Availability Group in an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster.

20-Minute Session at AWS Booth: “Deploy a SQL Server Availability Group on Amazon EKS with Ease using DH2i”

• Wednesday, November 6 at 1:00 pm at the AWS Booth
• DH2i’s CTO and Co-Founder, OJ Ngo, will present alongside Yogi Barot from AWS as they demonstrate an easy, operator-driven approach to deploy highly available SQL Server on Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service and the combined ability of this solution stack to ensure the industry’s lowest downtime for SQL Server containers.

By Don Boxley, CEO and Co-Founder, DH2i

In a business world that’s increasingly leaning on hybrid and multi-cloud environments for agility and competitiveness, DH2i’s recent launch of DxOperator couldn’t be more timely. For those managing SQL Server within Kubernetes — especially when dealing with the intricacies of operating across various cloud platforms — it is a true game changer. 

DxOperator is the result of a close relationship with the Microsoft SQL Server team, which led to the creation of a tool that is ideally suited to automate SQL Server container deployment in Kubernetes. What makes it truly unique and a stand-out in this space is DxOperator’s ability to take complex setups and make them simple — which ensures that HA and operational efficiency are easily achievable, even across multi-cloud environments.

Of course, another reason that DxOperator is in a league of its own is how it turns your specific requirements into optimized actions. DxOperator handles everything from custom pod naming to node selection with such finesse that managing SQL Server containers becomes a breeze. It’s all about making sure that your deployments are not just efficient but also best practice compliant.

Microsoft’s Rob Horrocks praised DxOperator (see announcement) for its ease-of-use and effectiveness, noting its potential to simplify complex deployments for those who might not be Kubernetes experts. DxOperator’s user-friendly nature, together with its robustness is reshaping how businesses approach database management.

“Previously, deploying this type of setup could require up to 30 minutes and numerous pages of code. However, with the DxOperator feature, it’s been streamlined to a mere 3-5 minutes and a handful of code lines. This makes the transition to K8s significantly smoother for those experienced with SQL Server but new to K8s,” Horrocks explained.

OJ Ngo, DH2i’s CTO and Co-Founder, also shared that DxOperator was built with a focus on practical automation and efficient management of SQL Server availability groups. OJ and his team met their goal with flying colors! DxOperator is the industry’s most versatile tool — aligning with Kubernetes’ best practices while meeting the modern demands of IT infrastructures, particularly in hybrid and multi-cloud scenarios.

Tailored for Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Strategies

For organizations embracing hybrid and multi-cloud models, DxOperator is a significant boon. DxOperator streamlines the deployment of SQL Server across various settings, aligning seamlessly with the scalable and adaptable characteristics of hybrid cloud approaches. The result is that businesses have the flexibility to allocate their resources more wisely and keep spending under control. Moreover, digital security is enhanced with our cutting-edge DxEnterprise with secure tunneling technology, ensuring safe and private data exchange across any network. And, at the same time, it ensures everything runs smoothly, no matter where their data and applications are hosted in the cloud.

Highlights:

• Efficient Deployment: DxOperator facilitates quick and intelligent setup of SQL Server instances, ideally suiting the complex requirements of hybrid and multi-cloud settings.
• High Availability: The tool ensures that your SQL Server environments are always up and running, smoothly integrating into Always On Availability Groups for continuous operation across any cloud setting.
• Simplified Management: With DxOperator, the complexity of managing SQL Server environments is significantly reduced, freeing up IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives.

For those interested in exploring DxOperator and how it can streamline your SQL Server deployments, especially within hybrid and multi-cloud frameworks, I encourage you to check out DH2i’s website. (Click here for comprehensive guides and details on how to get started with DxOperator.) 

 DH2i today announced the general availability (GA) launch of DxOperator, a major advancement for Kubernetes and SQL Server integration. DxOperator is engineered to meet the growing demands of businesses seeking efficient, scalable, and highly available (HA) database environments. It is the ideal choice for customers looking to streamline their SQL Server container deployments on Kubernetes, with unparalleled ease of use, robustness, and automation capabilities.

DxOperator was meticulously developed from the ground up by DH2i in collaboration with the Microsoft SQL Server team. It is designed to automate the deployment of DxEnterprise clusters and streamline the orchestration of Microsoft SQL Server availability group (AG) workloads within Kubernetes environments. DxOperator provides extensive control to users over their SQL instances and availability groups, encompassing a wide range of functionalities. It adeptly translates user-defined directives into precise, low-level actions, ensuring deployments are not only efficient but also adhere to the best practices embedded within its logic. With features like custom pod naming, node selection and affinity, SQL AG customization, and load balancing, DxOperator is more than just a tool; it’s a gateway to deploying highly available, resilient, and scalable SQL Server containers with an unprecedented level of ease and precision. Its ability to handle complex configurations, like custom annotations, specific container specifications, and quality of service parameters, further accentuates its role as a crucial enabler for robust, production-grade SQL Server deployments in Kubernetes.

Key Features of DxOperator:

• Efficient Deployment: Enables the rapid deployment of SQL Server instances on Kubernetes clusters with precise MSSQL-config parameters.
• High Availability (HA): Automates the configuration of DxEnterprise clusters and the seamless integration of SQL Server instances into Always On Availability Groups (AGs).
• Simplified Management: Reduces the complexity of managing SQL Server environments on Kubernetes, offering a user-friendly approach with minimal commands.

Key Benefits for Users:

• Enhanced Productivity: DxOperator’s streamlined processes allow IT teams to focus on more strategic tasks, leaving the intricacies of deployment and management to the operator.
• Scalability: Catering to the dynamic needs of businesses, DxOperator makes scaling SQL Server environments on Kubernetes a straightforward process.
• Cost-Efficiency: The automation and efficiency provided by DxOperator significantly reduce the total cost of ownership for SQL Server deployments.

Getting Started with DxOperator: For more information on DH2i’s DxOperator and to begin leveraging its capabilities, interested customers can visit https://dh2i.com/dxoperator-preview/. Here, they can access a wealth of resources, including a comprehensive quick-start guide and details on obtaining a DxEnterprise developer license.