Name: Modern Practices for Virtualizing Microsoft SQL Server on VMware
Start: 2023-04-28T20:22:00Z
End: 2023-04-28T20:23:02.000Z
Location: BrightTALK

Pure Storage (NYSE:  PSTG) accelerates possible, transforming businesses in ways previously unimagined. The company's disruptive, software-driven storage technology combined with a customer-friendly business model drives business and IT transformation for customers through dramatic increases in performance and efficiency at lower costs. Visit www.purestorage.com to learn more.

Is your VMware environment meeting the demands of scale, agility, and efficient management?

Join our experts Nelson Elam, Senior Technical Product Specialist and Johannes Geissler, Principal Technologist for a deep-dive TechTalk exploring the latest Pure Storage VMware advancements, including practical demos.

Here’s what’s in store:
- Discover how NFS datastores deliver true VM-level granular control.
- Get hands on with SLA-based provisioning, natively in VMware, for seamless management across all your arrays.
- Learn how Pure Fusion™ integration empowers unified automation and rapid modernization.

VMware and Storage: NFS Datastores Deep Dive and Pure Fleet Integration

Manually managed infrastructure and workflows are quickly becoming part of legacy IT operations. Automation has moved to the forefront and Pure is bringing technical innovation to every product in our portfolio. These expert-led demonstrations will show you how Pure’s Enterprise Data Cloud (EDC) brings order to complex infrastructure with real automation; policy-driven, telemetry-aware, and built for compliance and resiliency. First, we’ll show you how AI Copilot assists in automating workflows across block, file, and object storage like its second nature. Then we’ll dive into Pure Fusion automation, where provisioning is based on your desired outcomes, and compliance and performance just work.

Key Takeaways:
- EDC turns storage into intelligent data management—breaking silos, automating control, and powering AI at enterprise scale.
- Pure’s workflow automation eliminates manual tasks with AI-driven, policy-based actions—boosting speed, consistency, and control across your data estate.
- Pure Fusion delivers self-service, outcome-based provisioning, so IT can move faster, scale effortlessly, and stay in control without complexity.

Accelerated Workflow Automation & the Enterprise Data Cloud

For only the second time ever, our host Andrew Miller is joined by a guest who doesn't work for Pure Storage—Hector "Sabu" Monsegur, former technical frontman of the infamous LulzSec hacking collective and now an internationally renowned, cybersecurity expert. He'll be joined by Pure Storage Technical Strategy Director Jason Walker for his deep knowledge of our recent cyber innovations, as well as his amazing 80s movie references.

We'll leverage Hector's unique perspective and Jason's expertise to discuss:
- The current cybersecurity landscape: What Hector is seeing in the wild and his perspective on making storage an active vs. passive component for both cyber recovery and cybersecurity.
- The Pure Storage cyber resilience strategy: How our platform helps you defend against threats and recover when needed with a focus on built-In security, connected detection, and dynamic response and recovery.
- New innovations and partnerships
- New Pure Storage integrations
- What’s next: A look ahead with Hector and Jason on what they see over the horizon, from the latest exfiltration tactics to the evolving impact of AI on the cyber landscape

Ransomware and Resilience Architectures: The Missing Link

Is your SQL Server environment prepared for disruption?

Join our TechTalk to discover how Chaos Engineering—alongside Pure Storage ActiveDR™—helps you uncover vulnerabilities and build a truly reliable disaster recovery strategy for database systems.

In this session, we’ll cover:
- How Chaos Engineering tests weaknesses in SQL Server and Pure Storage environments.
- How ActiveDR enables disaster recovery testing without risking downtime.
- Practical insights for boosting uptime, resilience, and peace of mind.

Chaos Engineering to Build Resilient Database Systems

In this webinar, Andy Gower, Director of Product and Solutions Marketing for Portworx by Pure Storage, discusses how to accelerate cloud migration with modern virtualization. Traditional virtualization is at a tipping point, with many customers looking to migrate or modernize their Virtual Machines (VMs) to Kubernetes due to rising costs and a desire for new application stacks.

Gower identifies three main challenges on the storage side when moving to VMs on Kubernetes:
1. Mature and scalable storage:** Portworx provides self-service access to high-performance storage for mission-critical VM workloads.
2. Data management:** Portworx offers an HCI-like experience for managing data from a single control panel, providing consistent day-zero, day-one, and day-two data services.
3. One workflow for containers and VMs:** Portworx helps customers manage applications across on-premises and public cloud environments with a single workflow.

Watch this session to get great insight and learn how Portworx by Pure Storage is delivering a single, modern, app platform for all workloads running anywhere.

Accelerate Cloud Migration with Modern Virtualization Anywhere

Infrastructure owners are constantly pushed to do more with less, but legacy storage eats time and budget like it’s a competitive sport. The Enterprise Data Cloud brings everything under one control plane, automating provisioning, protection, and scaling so operations stop feeling like a ticket factory. Policies handle the grunt work, cutting costs, reducing risk, and keeping governance in check without the clipboard brigade. The result: an agile, resilient foundation that keeps pace with business demands and data growth.

Key Takeaways:

- Kill the sprawl before it drains your budget: Unify silos, redundant copies, and vendors under one control plane that actually scales.
- Stop babysitting your infrastructure: Let policies handle provisioning, scaling, and recovery so your team can get back to work that matters.
- Make resilience part of the solution: Protection, recovery, and compliance stay on by default, no bolt-ons or panic drills required.
- Stay ready without constantly ripping and replacing your infrastructure: Add workloads, meet new demands, and roll in fresh tech without starting from scratch.

Get Ahead of Data Growth: Operational Efficiency with Enterprise Data Cloud

Have you ever heard that cloud isn’t a place but rather a strategy? Join us for this month’s Coffee Break as host Andrew Miller and JD Wallace (Principal Technologist Director and Pure Report Unplugged Co-host) explore the data center and cloud landscape, how the Pure Storage Enterprise Data Cloud (EDC) strategy is based on customer conversations and where we see the industry going.

We’ll cover:
- Challenges around data control, workload variability, and budget strain
- Transformation options for storage infrastructure, IT operations, dataset management, and more
- Why EDC isn’t something you buy but instead something we help you build
- Intelligent control plane (aka Pure Fusion™)—digging into the history behind fleet management, previous failed industry attempts, and how Pure Storage is building Pure Fusion for both today and tomorrow

We’ll also get practical, looking at capabilities around fleet and remote management, presets and workloads, compliance reporting and being compliant from Day 1, built-in cyber resilience, and workload orchestration.

Cloud - A Place or a Strategy? Unpacking the Pure Storage Enterprise Data Cloud

Scaling AI requires flexibility to get started but also completeness when deploying to production. 
Learn how to build high-performance AI pipelines with Pure Storage—integrating FlashBlade®, FlashArray™, and Portworx®. Join Field Solutions Architect Emir Biser and Principal Field Solutions Architect Ian Saunders as they share insights to guide your AI success.

 Together, they’ll cover:

● Designing and building high-performance, end-to-end AI data pipelines.
● Best practices for scaling AI workloads from experimentation to production, ensuring both flexibility during development and robustness during deployment.
● Strategies for helping organizations manage data as AI systems become production-ready, managing exponential growth while maintaining simplicity and efficiency.

From Data to Insight: Building End-to-end AI Pipelines with Pure Storage

For today’s CIOs and enterprise AI leaders, the path to meaningful AI outcomes doesn’t begin with algorithms—it begins with data. From model training to deployment at scale, the foundation of successful AI lies in how organizations manage, prepare, and govern their data.

Join executive leaders from Beyond.pl, NVIDIA, and Pure Storage for a strategic conversation on accelerating enterprise AI by addressing the most critical—and often underestimated—challenge: enterprise data readiness.

This session will explore:
● How to build a future-ready AI strategy rooted in trusted, governed, and accessible data
● The evolving role of CIOs and CDOs in enabling responsible AI across hybrid environments
● Data sovereignty, compliance, and ethical frameworks shaping AI adoption in regulated industries
● Real-world lessons from Beyond.pl on powering scalable and sustainable AI infrastructures such as their GPU-as-a-service facility in Poland. 
Whether you're piloting GenAI or scaling enterprise-wide initiatives, this webinar will provide actionable insights on aligning data, infrastructure, and governance to maximize business value from AI.

Enterprise AI Unlocked: High Performance Gains Through Innovations In Data Readiness & Ecosystem Integrations at Scale

Join us for a live demo of how Pure Storage enables enterprise AI at scale—without the complexity. See how Claude Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Pure Fusion™ come together to provision a 5TB ML training job in just 60 seconds—with a simple prompt.

Discover how to move from siloed systems to a unified data platform that’s ready for anything AI throws at you.
- Understand how data readiness, governance, and automation are critical to scaling enterprise AI.
- See how AI agents can trigger complex infrastructure tasks—fast, securely, and without storage expertise.
- Identify where you are across five stages of AI maturity and uncover the most impactful next step.
- Learn how an intelligent control plane and unified platform empower IT teams to support AI workloads at scale.

Automate AI Infrastructure with the Pure Storage Platform

Explore how Portworx® Enterprise 3.3 delivers modern virtualization capabilities at enterprise scale—seamlessly integrating VM workloads into your Red Hat OpenShift environment.

Whether you're running virtualized workloads on-premises or in the cloud, this session will show you how to harness OpenShift for modern, resilient VM deployments—delivering agility, efficiency, and enterprise-class reliability.

In this live technical demo, you’ll learn how to:
- Deploy and manage stateful VMs alongside containers on Red Hat OpenShift
- Leverage unified storage, replication, backup, and high availability using Portworx storage and data management capabilities
- Conduct a live migration of an application using a MongoDB VM
- Use real-world deployment scenarios and command-line walkthroughs to showcase the end-to-end architecture and operational flow

Modern Virtualization on OpenShift: Portworx for Enterprise-scale Workloads

AI is transforming industries, but many enterprises struggle with infrastructure that can't keep up.

Join our experts as they delve into how to prepare your storage infrastructure to meet the demands of AI workloads. Find out how to maximize performance, unify data, simplify management, and plan for unpredictable AI growth.

In this webinar, you'll learn how to:
- Keep GPUs fully utilized with a storage architecture optimized for throughput and efficiency
- Eliminate data silos to create a more connected, AI-ready pipeline
- Plan for AI’s unpredictable growth without over-provisioning or re-architecting

Is Your Data Infrastructure Ready for What’s Next in AI?

If the virtualization landscape has you feeling like you’re stuck in a meeting about TPS reports with eight different bosses, you’re not alone. With uncertainty around VMware’s future, many IT leaders are being asked what they’re doing with their virtualization strategy.

Join this satirical but serious TechTalk as we dust off the old “jump to conclusions” mat to explore the four most common “conclusions” enterprises are being asked to evaluate. We’ll cover:
- Staying on VMware - Sticking with the familiar, despite the licensing and support changes.
- Choosing a new hypervisor - Considering alternatives like Proxmox or AHV and their tradeoffs.
- Moving to the cloud - Running your VMs on hyperscale infrastructure like AWS or Azure.
- Modernizing with KubeVirt - Embracing a Kubernetes-native model that supports both VMs and containers.

What would you say your virtualization does here?

The cloud offers multiple paths for virtualization. But, which one is right for your organization? Whether you’re leveraging a managed service like Azure VMware Solution or using cloud native VMs, each approach has its trade-offs in cost, control, and complexity.

Discover how to modernize virtual environments in the cloud—in a way that works for you. Join Principal Technologist Valerie Harrison and Principal Technical Product Specialist Kyle Grossmiller as they break down the key differences between managed and DIY cloud virtualization and share how Pure Storage cloud solutions support both strategies.

Together, they’ll cover:

- Architectural trade-offs between managed services (e.g., Azure VMware Solution, AWS Elastic VMware Service) and native VMs in the cloud.
- How to optimize for costs and control with Pure Storage solutions with any cloud strategy.
- How Pure Storage enables flexible, scalable virtualization—no matter how you build in the cloud.

Virtualization in the Cloud: Managed, DIY, or Both?

Ransomware attacks are more relentless than ever—46% of organizations face attempted breaches at least once a month. The question isn’t if an attack will happen, but when. Is your data protection strategy strong enough to recover?

Discover how zero trust data resilience can safeguard your business against cyber threats. Alex Arcilla, Principal Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, now part of Omdia, will share insights from her latest technical review on building a cyber-resilient data strategy with Pure Storage and Veeam. She’ll be joined by Jason Walker, Technological Strategy Director, Cyber Resilience at Pure Storage, and Mark Polin, Senior  Solutions Architect, Product Management Alliances, at Veeam, to discuss how organizations can strengthen their defenses against ransomware and ensure rapid recovery.

Together, they’ll cover:

- The latest ransomware trends and their business impact
- Why zero trust is the foundation of modern data protection
- How Pure Storage and Veeam deliver end-to-end data immutability and rapid recovery
- Real-world case studies of organizations bouncing back after an attack
- Practical strategies to simplify backup and recovery—without adding complexity

Establishing Zero Trust Data Resilience with Pure Storage and Veeam

Ransomware attacks and large-scale IT disruptions are becoming more frequent, more complex, and more costly. Traditional backup alone can’t keep up. To maintain business continuity in the face of unpredictable threats, organizations need a layered data resilience strategy that leverages secure and resilient storage as a foundation.

Join Jason Walker, Technical Strategy Director at Pure Storage, to hear practical insights on how to prepare for and respond to today’s evolving cyber and disaster scenarios. The session will be hosted by Jason Langer, Senior Technical Evangelist at Pure Storage.

Preparing for the Next Attack: Building a Stronger Data Resilience Strategy

Cyberattacks demand resilient, automated recovery. This talk explores how layered resilience—built on immutable storage, secure replication, and intelligent automation—ensures data integrity and rapid recovery at any scale.

Discover how layered resilience eliminates recovery bottlenecks and defends against ransomware and insider threats by uniting security and data availability across your data estate.

Unbreakable Cyber Recovery: The Power of Layered Resilience

This month, host Andrew Miller invites SQL DBA and Microsoft MVP Anthony Nocentino (Senior Principal Field Solutions Architect at Pure Storage) to the virtual breakroom for the third time.
We’ll cover:
- The AI Shift into enterprise databases - Something many didn’t expect but makes sense once you dig into the reasons
- RAG architectures and relational databases - Exploring AI-ready, secure, and high-performance features
- Vector indexing in SQL Server 2025 and Oracle 23 AI - Real world reasons to use SQL Server (for instance) as a Vector Datastore
- FlashArray™ performance testing and data - So much performance for all workloads and especially databases. We’ll also share the results of recent performance testing from Pure Storage and its newest, fastest ever FlashArray - FlashArray//XL™ 170 R5

As always, we’ll keep it educational while exploring how Pure Storage offers capabilities and products that benefit you.

Database Performance Unleashed: Where AI and Enterprise Meet

In the last decade the busiest and most performance challenged workloads have been virtualized. Less and less do we need to ask the question should we virtualize our most demanding production workloads. The most common of virtualized workloads world wide are SQL Server on VMware. Even when things are common, mistakes can be made. There are always tips and tricks that can make things just that little bit faster or more efficient.

Modern Practices for Virtualizing Microsoft SQL Server on VMware

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Modern Practices for Virtualizing Microsoft SQL Server on VMware

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