SQLAnywhere on Amazon Web Services appears to be broken

[former_SQLA_member1694877]

Hello,

I am trying to use the SQLAnywhere 11 AWS AMI @ https://aws.amazon.com/amis/sybase-sql-anywhere-11-0-1-developer-edition-on-windows-32-bit. Whenever I try to launch this the EC2 Instance pane shows that it comes up immediately "Terminated". I have tried the 64 bit version also with the same resukt. Do these still work? If so, can anyone suggest why this is happening? If these AMIs have been discontinued how can I run SQLAnywhere on AWS?

Thank you.

[former_SQLA_member1694877]

... additional info. The Instance pane shows the following as the reason for the termination:

Client.InvalidManifest: HTTP403 (Forbidden) for URL sybase/sybase_SQLAnywhere11_Win2003_x86_64_image.manifest.xml

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I am not sure why those images are not starting (I will investigate), but yes you can still run SQL Anywhere on AWS. To do this, you can start up any of the Amazon instances that you like, and install the SQL Anywhere software on the machine.

If you are on a Windows machine, probably the easiest way is to use the browser on the instance to fill out the SQL Anywhere Developer Edition Download form, download the installer, and run it on the instance. If you are on a Linux machine, I would suggest filling out that same form on your local machine, copy the URL of the installer, and then use wget to download the installer to the instance.

Once you have installed the software, you can take a snapshot of your machine and launch it as many times you like. While having to install the software the first time is not as convenient as being able to launch the machines with the software already installed, it does give you a lot more flexibility on choosing exactly which OS/additional software you want installed on your images.

[VolkerBarth · Accepted solution]

... and choosing exactly which SA version and EBF:)

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for your response. In some prior research I had seen several blog postings you had written and when I posted my question I actually wished there was a way to contact you directly since the blog posts gave me the impression you were Sybase's "AWS guy"!

Actually, along that line, is there a better forum/support resource for AWS related issues?

A question I had with the AMI's that aren't launching and that I still have if I just install a server myself is where can I find the costs? I don't mean the base Amazon costs but the Sybase costs.

Finally, should I be concerned that the spell check for this forum's editor is flagging "Sybase" as misspelled? ;>)

Thanks for your help.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I am happy to try to handle any AWS questions. Certainly if the questions are of general interest, feel free to post them on the forum. If they are more specific, feel free to email me directly at eric(dot)farrar(at)sap(dot)com.

This forum is currently your best approach for getting answers for Amazon questions that are specific to Sybase (and specifically SQL Anywhere) databases. If you make sure to tag them as "Amazon" (as this question is), it may help it get answered faster.

Just to clarify, the pre-built images that Sybase published back in 2009 (which were the subject of this question), were for the Developer Edition and Web Edition only. We had not yet produced any images that included a production license fee. Based on your question, it sounds like this is something you might be interested in.

Currently the only way to run a production Sybase database on Amazon is a "bring-your-own-license" model. That is, you purchase a Sybase database license normally, and then choose to run that license on Amazon (as opposed to running it on your own hardware).

That said, for SQL Anywhere, we recently introduced a product called SQL Anywhere, on-demand edition (http://www54.sap.com/solutions/tech/database/software/sybase-sql-ondemand/index.html) that allows you to run a group of SQL Anywhere servers and pay for them at an hourly rate (similar to Amazon). This payment is not integrated into Amazon, but rather is a separate utility payment that you would make quarterly to SAP/Sybase based on your usage.

The rates for SQL Anywhere, on-demand edition start at $0.15/core/hour USD, and there is a volume discount curve. So for example, if you wanted to run SQL Anywhere, on-demand edition on an EC2 M1.Large Windows (http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/) the base machine cost would be $0.364/hour. The M1.Large machine has 2 cores (http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/), so the SQL Anywhere costs on that machine would be $0.30/hour (2 cores * 0.15/core/hour).

This would bring the total cost to $0.664/hour for SQL Anywhere, on-demand edition on a M1.Large Windows machine. (For comparison, at the time of this writing, the total cost for SQL Server Standard on that same machine is $0.974/hour [http://aws.amazon.com/windows/])

[Former Member]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the prompt response and also for your email (I'll use it judiciously).

Per your suggestion I built a custom AMI by installing SQL Anywhere on a "stock" Windows 2008 server. Everything is working fine with one problem. I need to have SQL Anywhere automatically start up when Windows boots. I placed a shortcut to the server in the Windows Startup folder, but the server is not starting up when the instance starts running. However, at the moment that I connect to the instance with Remote Desktop I see the message "preparing desktop…" and then the server launches automatically. What do I need to do to get the server to launch when the instance starts running so that I don't have to manually connect with Remote Desktop to trigger the startup launch?

In the meantime I will take a look at the on-demand edition; currently we are just running a test server but when we go into production that looks like something we would want to seriously consider.

Thanks.

[reimer_pods]

The windows startup folder is for autostarting programs when an interactive user logs in. To start a SQLA engine automatically with the server, you'll want to configure a service, either using Sybase Central or by configuring the service with DBSVC.

[VolkerBarth]

Cf. this documentation "Running the database server outside the current session " (here for v12.0.1) as a starting point...

[Former Member]

Hi Reimer,

Thanks - too many late nights - I should have realized that! I have the service running now on boot up but have one last glitch here. By launching as a service I no longer have the tray icon in which I can see the start up messages. DBConsole would show the start up messages but once the service (and the server) starts I can't connect DBConsole to the database that the server loaded on start up. Any suggestions on how to get the console back?

Thanks.

[chris_keating]

Newer Windows versions do not allow for services to "interact with desktop" to protect against a "shatter attack" vulnerability.

I am not sure why your dbconsole is not connecting to the service. I assume that you can connect to the database outside of dbconsole? What error or message do you get when you attempt to connect using dbconsole?

[Former Member]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the info on shatter attacks. I don't know what was wrong with my initial attempts with DBConsole but after a reboot all is fine.

Thanks again.

[VolkerBarth]

FWIW, generally - but especially when running as a service - I'd recommend to start dbsrvX with the -o <console.log> parameter to have the console output available as a file...