SQL Server and MariaDB on the same Azure VM

Question

I am looking for advice on how best to create a new Azure VM with both SQL Server and MariaDB instances (Windows 19). I see that there is an image for either SQL Server or MariaDB, but couldn't find one that has both. So my thought is that I should spin up a SQL VM and add MariaDB to this. Is this the best approach? And if so, I was wondering whether it makes any difference if I start from an Azure SQL Database Server or a SQL Server on Azure VM. Any advice on the best approach here? (Of course, the other option is instead of taking the MySQL database and migrating it to Maria DB, I could migrate it to SQL Server instead. But at the moment, however, this does not appear to be an option for various reasons, so I am left with trying to run both DB instances side-by-side. )

Answer 1

To do that you will have to balance server memory (RAM) on the Azure VM between MariaDb, SQL Server and the operating system. To achieve that you will have to perform an assessment of what are the memory needs of each database, then limit MariaDB and SQL Server memory usage and leave the operating system with enough RAM to operate. Probably you will be adding some tools and software that have their own software requirements also and that you need to take in consideration.

Another part of the hardware sizing you need to do is the IOPs required by database, the backup storage, and how to distribute CPU cores between the 2 database instances. This hardware sizing is time consuming, and the first weeks after you install both database engines on the same server, you will need to monitor and make adjustments to the limits you established as needed.

My suggestion is to put them on PaaS (Azure SQL), take the benefit of automated backups, automatic tuning, each database has its own memory, it is an easier migration plan with less complicated hardware sizing and easier administration post-migration.