--- title: "Create & configure availability groups (content index)" description: "Learn about references you can use to create and configure Always On availability groups for SQL Server." author: MashaMSFT ms.author: mathoma ms.date: "05/17/2016" ms.service: sql ms.subservice: availability-groups ms.topic: reference helpviewer_keywords: - "Availability Groups [SQL Server], deploying" - "Availability Groups [SQL Server], configuring" - "Availability Groups [SQL Server], creating" --- # Reference for the creation and configuration of Always On availability groups [!INCLUDE [SQL Server](../../../includes/applies-to-version/sqlserver.md)] The topics in this section explain how to deploy a [!INCLUDE[ssHADR](../../../includes/sshadr-md.md)] implementation on instances of [!INCLUDE[ssSQL11](../../../includes/sssql11-md.md)] that reside on different Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) nodes within a single WSFC failover cluster. Before you create your first availability group, we strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself with the information in the following topics: [Prerequisites, Restrictions, and Recommendations for Always On Availability Groups (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/prereqs-restrictions-recommendations-always-on-availability.md) This topic describes the prerequisites, restrictions, and recommendations for computers; WSFC nodes; instances of [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)]; availability groups, replicas, and databases. This topic also contains information about security considerations. [Getting Started with Always On Availability Groups (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/getting-started-with-always-on-availability-groups-sql-server.md) Contains information about the steps for configuring a server instance, creating an availability group, configuring the availability group for client connections, managing availability groups, and monitoring availability groups. ## Related Tasks **To configure a server instance for [!INCLUDE[ssHADR](../../../includes/sshadr-md.md)]** - [Enable and Disable Always On Availability Groups (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/enable-and-disable-always-on-availability-groups-sql-server.md) - [Create a Database Mirroring Endpoint for Always On Availability Groups (SQL Server PowerShell)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/database-mirroring-always-on-availability-groups-powershell.md) - [Create a Database Mirroring Endpoint for Windows Authentication (Transact-SQL)](../../../database-engine/database-mirroring/create-a-database-mirroring-endpoint-for-windows-authentication-transact-sql.md) - [Allow a Database Mirroring Endpoint to Use Certificates for Outbound Connections (Transact-SQL)](../../../database-engine/database-mirroring/database-mirroring-use-certificates-for-outbound-connections.md) **To get started with configuring Always On Availability Groups** - [Getting Started with Always On Availability Groups (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/getting-started-with-always-on-availability-groups-sql-server.md) **To create and configure a new availability group** - [Use the Availability Group Wizard (SQL Server Management Studio)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/use-the-availability-group-wizard-sql-server-management-studio.md) - [Create an Availability Group (Transact-SQL)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/create-an-availability-group-transact-sql.md) - [Create an Availability Group (SQL Server PowerShell)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/create-an-availability-group-sql-server-powershell.md) - [Use the New Availability Group Dialog Box (SQL Server Management Studio)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/use-the-new-availability-group-dialog-box-sql-server-management-studio.md) - [Specify the Endpoint URL When Adding or Modifying an Availability Replica (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/specify-endpoint-url-adding-or-modifying-availability-replica.md) - [Create or Configure an Availability Group Listener (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/create-or-configure-an-availability-group-listener-sql-server.md) - [Configure the Flexible Failover Policy to Control Conditions for Automatic Failover (Always On Availability Groups)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/configure-flexible-automatic-failover-policy.md) - [Configure Backup on Availability Replicas (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/configure-backup-on-availability-replicas-sql-server.md) - [Configure Read-Only Access on an Availability Replica (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/configure-read-only-access-on-an-availability-replica-sql-server.md) - [Configure Read-Only Routing for an Availability Group (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/configure-read-only-routing-for-an-availability-group-sql-server.md) - [Join a Secondary Replica to an Availability Group (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/join-a-secondary-replica-to-an-availability-group-sql-server.md) - [Start Data Movement on an Always On Secondary Database (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/start-data-movement-on-an-always-on-secondary-database-sql-server.md) - [Manually Prepare a Secondary Database for an Availability Group (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/manually-prepare-a-secondary-database-for-an-availability-group-sql-server.md) - [Join a Secondary Database to an Availability Group (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/join-a-secondary-database-to-an-availability-group-sql-server.md) - [Management of Logins and Jobs for the Databases of an Availability Group (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/logins-and-jobs-for-availability-group-databases.md) **To troubleshoot** - [Troubleshoot Always On Availability Groups Configuration (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/troubleshoot-always-on-availability-groups-configuration-sql-server.md) - [Troubleshoot a Failed Add-File Operation (Always On Availability Groups)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/troubleshoot-a-failed-add-file-operation-always-on-availability-groups.md) ## Related Content - **Blogs:** [Always On - HADRON Learning Series: Worker Pool Usage for HADRON Enabled Databases](/archive/blogs/psssql/alwayson-hadron-learning-series-worker-pool-usage-for-hadron-enabled-databases) [SQL Server Always On Team Blogs: The official SQL Server Always On Team Blog](/archive/blogs/sqlalwayson/) [CSS SQL Server Engineers Blogs](/archive/blogs/psssql/) - **Whitepapers:** [Microsoft SQL Server Always On Solutions Guide for High Availability and Disaster Recovery](/previous-versions/sql/sql-server-2012/hh781257(v=msdn.10)) [Microsoft White Papers for SQL Server 2012](https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/13146.white-paper-gallery-for-sql-server.aspx#[Category]SQLServer2012) [SQL Server Customer Advisory Team Whitepapers](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/DataCAT/bg-p/DataCAT/) ## See Also [Overview of Always On Availability Groups (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/overview-of-always-on-availability-groups-sql-server.md) [Administration of an Availability Group (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/administration-of-an-availability-group-sql-server.md) [Always On Policies for Operational Issues with Always On Availability Groups (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/always-on-policies-for-operational-issues-always-on-availability.md) [Monitoring of Availability Groups (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/monitoring-of-availability-groups-sql-server.md) [Always On Availability Groups: Interoperability (SQL Server)](../../../database-engine/availability-groups/windows/always-on-availability-groups-interoperability-sql-server.md)