MSteynberg (11/28/2014)
Hi Guys,I hope you can clarify something for me.
I have a 3 node SQL Server Failover cluster in my production environment. Each Node has 24 cores.
I will run 2 instances of SQL one on Node1 and one on Node2. Node 3 will serve only as failover.
For this scenario I have purchased licenses for 48 cores (that is 24 2 packs) WITH SA.
Now enter the DR site.
So for my DR site, I want the exact same configuration a 3 node cluster with sql running on 2 nodes, and syncing the data from production using AlwaysOn availability groups.
The DR will serve only as DR. Other than the data syncing from production , there will be no active connections to it. Nothing. It will just sit there, in case we have to failover to it, hopefully never.
So the question is, in this scenario, do I have to purchase additional licenses for the DR?
Why on earth do you want a 3 node cluster on your DR site?
DR should be light weight and consist of just the required to temporarily support your critical systems.
Remember that with FCIs as replicas in your AlwaysOn group, you'll be limited to manual failover anyway so will always require DBA intervention.
The SQL server 2012 licensing guide states that truly passive instances are not required to be fully licensed as long as they're not used for client data access or workload offload scenarios.
I'd urge you to think more about your requirements, feasability and the costs involved. Deploying AlwaysOn groups to remove the shared storage single point of failure and then immediately reintroducing this via FCIs could end you up with egg on your face.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉