Drupal on IIS with a SQL Server

databaseAlessandro Pilotti

@alexpilottiMVP ASP.NET / IIS

MCSD, MCAD, MCSE, MCDBA, MCTRed Hat Certified Engineer

SQL Server and DrupalDrupal offers the option to choose the database

backend No more limited to MySQL

Drupal 7 provides great support for SQL Server 2008 All major modules nowadays use PDO and portable SQL Works as well with SQL Server 2008 R2 and 2012

MS provides a PHP PDO driver for SQL Server

There’s a free Express edition Limited to 10GB per database

SQL Azure

SQL Server for MySQL devs / admins

SQL Server is a relational database like MySQL

You can write SQL queries (SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE DELETE)Like for every other DBMS there are some tricky

differencesE.g. MySQL is more forgiving in the GROUP BY clause

Management tools:Management Studiosqlcmd.exe

Edition comparisonExpress (free)

Contains everything you need for the average Drupal site

Limited to 10GB database size, 1GB memory, 1 socket / 4 cores

Web

Standard

Enterprise

Feature comparison charts: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645993.aspx

SQL Server useful features Online backup (included also in express edition!)

Full Differential Log

Replication Min. standard edition, web and express only as subscribers

Mirroring Min. standard edition

Log shipping Min. web editition

Great profiling tools UI tools in standard edition

InstancesYou can install multiple isolated instances on the

same server

Only one can be the default unnamed instance

All the others are named

It means that you connect to the server with a name:E.g. yourserver\SQLEXPRESS

DatabasesSQL Server instances, like MySQL, contain

multiple databases

Every Drupal site has usually a separate databaseOr you can use table_prefix of course

Databases can be moved to different instancesdetached from oneAttached to the other

Databases can be put individually offline

Authentication Login

Credentials needed to connect to the instance Windows account (integrated)

No password, best security approach SQL server (mixed mode)

Classic username and password Instance wide roles can be assigned to logins

Database users Specific to each database Logins are mapped to database users Object level (table, etc) permissions are granted to users

Roles A collection of permissions Users can be assigned to roles

Main database roles db_owner

Can do everything on the database (not the instance!)

db_datareaderCan run SELECT on any table / view

db_datawriterCan run INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE

db_ddladminCan run any DDL command (CREATE, DROP, etc)

How to create a databaseVery easily with Management Studio

Via command line:sqlcmd –S .\SQLEXPRESS –E

create database drupal7

create login drupal7 with password = 'Passw0rd’

go

use drupal7

go

create user drupal7 for login drupal7

exec sp_addrolemember db_owner, drupal7

go

Drupal 7 site with SQL Server using WebPi

With just a few click using WebPiAdd also: SQL Server 2008 R2 Management Studio Express

with SP1

Drupal 7 site with SQL Server w/o WebPi

Create web site

Download and install SQL Server PDO driver:http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.

aspx?id=20098

Enable PHP extensions php_sqlsrv and php_pdo_sqlsrvDrush @drupal7 dl sqlsrvcd your_drupal_site_pathxcopy /i sites\all\modules\sqlsrv\sqlsrv includes\

database\sqlsrv

Database managementSchedule proper backup policy

With or without transaction log

Schedule maintenance tasks Update statisticsReindexShrink database

Backup policySchedule a proper backup policy, e.g.:

Full database backup every nightLog every 5’ (or more, depending on your db)This way you will not lose more than 5’ of data!

To be able to backup the transaction log, set the database recovery model toFull or Bulk-LoggedDefault is Simple

BackupUse Management Studio

or

BACKUP DATABASE [drupal7] TO DISK = N'c:\backup\drupal7_backup.bak' WITH INIT, NAME = N'drupal7-Full Database Backup’

Store backups on a remote file share!To do that run the SQL service with an ad hoc userCreate the same user on the server with the

network share

Set recovery model Management Studio (very easy)

T-SQL (e.g. sqlcmd):USE [master]

GO

ALTER DATABASE [drupal7] SET RECOVERY FULL WITH NO_WAIT

How to schedule a backup The express edition of SQL Server doesn’t have a UI to schedule

backups and other tasks

We can use the windows scheduler to schedule: Full backup every night Log backup every 5’ Delete of old backups every night

schtasks.exe /create /tn drupal7_db_backup_full /tr "sqlcmd -S .\SQLExpress -E -i c:\backup\drupal7_backup_full.sql" /sc DAILY /ru Administrator /rp /st 02:00:00

Useful task commands:

schtasks.exe /run /tn drupal7_db_backup_full

schtasks.exe /delete /tn drupal7_db_backup_full

To schedule a log backup

E.g.: every 15’:schtasks.exe /create /tn drupal7_dbbackup_log /tr

"sqlcmd -S .\SQLExpress -E -i c:\backup\drupal7_backup_log.sql" /sc MINUTE /MO 15 /ru administrator /rp

Restore a database Best done via Management Studio

Or manually (here’s a complete sample): RESTORE DATABASE [drupal7] FROM DISK = N'c:\backup\

drupal7_backup_full_2012_05_15_14_53_06_470.bak' WITH FILE = 1, NORECOVERY

GO RESTORE DATABASE [drupal7] FROM DISK = N'c:\backup\

drupal7_backup_diff_2012_05_15_14_53_09_867.bak' WITH FILE = 1, NORECOVERY

GO RESTORE LOG [drupal7] FROM DISK = N'c:\backup\

drupal7_backup_log_2012_05_15_14_53_13_913.trn' WITH FILE = 1, NORECOVERY

GO RESTORE LOG [drupal7] FROM DISK = N'c:\backup\

drupal7_backup_log_2012_05_15_14_53_15_200.trn' WITH FILE = 1 GO