AWS Launch Wizard for SQL Server - AWS Prescriptive Guidance

AWS Launch Wizard for SQL Server

AWS Launch Wizard is a service that guides you through the sizing, configuration, and deployment of Microsoft SQL Server on Amazon EC2. It supports both SQL Server single instance and high availability (HA) deployments on Amazon EC2.

Launch Wizard is a free service. You pay only for the AWS resources provisioned to run your application, such as Amazon EC2, Amazon EBS, and Amazon VPC resources.

You input your application requirements, including performance, number of nodes, and connectivity, on the Launch Wizard console. Launch Wizard identifies the right AWS resources to deploy and run your SQL Server application. It also provides an estimated cost of deployment, and you can modify your resources and instantly view the updated cost assessment. When you confirm your selections and initiate deployment, Launch Wizard provisions and configures the selected resources in a few hours to create a fully functioning, production-ready SQL Server application. You can access your deployed SQL Server application from the Amazon EC2 console.

Here are some of benefits of using Launch Wizard for SQL Server:

  • Simple deployment – You can simplify the provisioning of your SQL Server resources on AWS by answering questions based on your requirements. A Launch Wizard deployment is faster than a manual deployment, so it eliminates the time to provision and configure your application on AWS.

  • Automated sizing and cost estimation – Launch Wizard provides built-in instance selection based on your requirements. It selects the instance type, EBS volumes, and other resources that best suit your SQL Server requirements. Launch Wizard also provides you with a cost estimate before it provisions the AWS resources.

  • Time savings with repeatable automation templates – You can redeploy SQL Server with reusable AWS CloudFormation templates that are created by Launch Wizard. These templates serve as a baseline and save you time.

Launch Wizard supports the following operating systems, SQL Server versions, and features. For the latest information, see the AWS Launch Wizard documentation.

Category Use case or feature Launch Wizard support Quick Start support Amazon EC2 console support
Deployment on Windows Single SQL node deployment

Yes

No

Yes

HA deployment: Always On availability groups

Yes

Yes

No

HA deployment: Always On Failover Cluster Instances (FCIs) with FSx for Windows File Server

Yes

Yes

No

HA deployment: Dedicated Hosts

Yes

Yes

No

Reusable code templates

Yes

Yes

No

Deployment on Linux Single SQL node deployment

Yes

No

Yes

HA deployment on Ubuntu

Yes

No

No

Reusable code templates

Yes

No

No

Sizing Instance type recommendation

Yes

No

No

Cost estimation

Yes

No

No

Configuration Automatically created AWS Systems Manager resource group

Yes

No

No

One-click Amazon SNS notification

Yes

No

No

One-click Amazon CloudWatch monitoring

Yes

No

No

Connecting to existing Active Directory (both on-premises and managed)

Yes

No

No

Early input validation

Yes

No

No

Managed IAM policy

Yes

No

No

For more information about Launch Wizard for SQL Server, see the following: