Exasol on Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure provides a suite of infrastructure services that enable you to deploy Exasol in a highly available, scalable, and affordable way. This section provides you with step-by-step instructions for deploying Exasol on Azure.
Before you begin
Read the following sections before you start setting up Exasol on Azure.
Exasol on Azure is available through the Azure Marketplace in two variants, depending on how you want to license it.
- Exasol Analytics Database (Enterprise Support, PAYG): Pay as you go (PAYG) license model is a flexible and scalable license model for Exasol's deployment on a cloud platform. In this mode, you pay for your cloud resources and Exasol software through the cloud platform's billing cycle. You can always change your setup later to scale up or down your system and the billing changes accordingly.
To get an idea about the pricing for this offering, see Pricing.The PAYG option is the default option in the deployment templates. If you are not sure which version to choose from, then it is recommended to go with the PAYG option.
- Exasol Analytics Database (BYOL): Bring your own license (BYOL) license model lets you choose a static license for Exasol software and a dynamic billing for the cloud resources. In this model, you need to purchase a license from Exasol and add it to your cloud instance. This way, you pay only for the cloud resources through the cloud platform's billing cycle and there is no billing for the software. You can always change your setup later to scale up or down your system and the billing changes accordingly. However, there is a limit for the maximum scaling based on your license type (DB RAM or raw data size).
To get an idea about the pricing for this offering, see Pricing.You can check the limits from EXAoperation. To view the license limit, select Configuration > Software and then License tab.
Exasol recommends the following cloud-specific configurations:
- Instance families: Dsv3, Esv3, and Fsv2
- Storage: Exasol recommends Premium SSD for data storage and Azure Blob Storage for data backup.
- Minimum main memory size: 16GiB
We recommend setting up Exasol as a cluster. This offers the following advantages:
- Scalability: easily scale out a cluster by adding additional nodes to process more data and to serve more concurrent users.
- High availability: When a node fails the system automatically tries to repair this node or includes a standby node into the system (if a standby node was configured).
However, for small data sizes or evaluation purposes, a single-node system would be sufficient and more appropriate. Setting up a cluster using our templates is as easy as setting up a single node system.
Before you begin with deploying Exasol on Azure, we recommend you to familiarize yourself with the Azure concepts from the official documentation.
Step 1: Deploy Exasol
Option 1: Using the Cloud Deployment Wizard
Exasol recommends using the Cloud Deployment Wizard to install Exasol on Azure. To know how to install Exasol on Azure using the wizard, see Installation Using Exasol Cloud Deployment Wizard.
To learn more about the Cloud Deployment Wizard, watch the following video.
Option 2: Using the ARM templates
If you don't want to use the configuration recommendations of the wizard, you can use the Azure Resource Manager templates to install Exasol. For detailed instructions, refer to Installation Using Azure Resource Manager Template.
Step 3: Connect tools and install drivers
After installing Exasol on Azure, you can do the following:
- Install drivers required to connect to other tools.
- Connect SQL clients to Exasol.
- Connect Business Intelligence tools (BI tools) to Exasol.
- Connect Data Integration - ETL tool to Exasol.
- Connect Data Warehouse Automation tools to Exasol.
Step 4: Load data
After you have connected your choice of tool to Exasol, you can load your data into Exasol and process further. To learn more about loading data into Exasol, see Loading Data.
Step 5: Administration
Once you have all the configurations in place and started using Exasol, you may have to perform some administration task on your setup. To learn more about the administrative activities that you can perform on your Exasol instance, see Administration on Microsoft Azure.
Support, troubleshooting, software updates
Exasol Analytics Database (Enterprise Support, PAYG) comes with comprehensive software support. You need to register to enable the support for your account. After registering you will be able to register support cases with our support team.
Click the following button to register for support.
Terms and conditions:
- This support offering is only valid for Exasol Analytics Database (Enterprise Support, PAYG).
- The SLA starts only after the registration process is complete.
- The registration process may take some time to complete.
To get help from our Support team, create a case. In order to create a case, you must be registered for support.