WANSyncHA SQL

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WANSyncHA SQL

ram4tech

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January 14, 2007 at 8:05 am

#122723

Hello,
I am reviewing CA XOsoft's WANSyncHA product for both HA and DR solutions. Can you let me know your comments on this product? Are there any products that provide similar functionality?
Thank you.

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lmerino SSC Rookie Points: 31 More actions · Answer 1

Hi,

We are using WanSync HA with SQL 2005 for about 10 months. The setup was very easy, and it's memory and cpu use are very low.

Last thursday, we have a power failure in the primary server. WanSync moved the ip of the primary server to the secondary server and started the sql server service in 5 minutes and everything works fine.

It's not cheap, but I have found it very useful.

Regards,

Luis

Linda Johanning SSCertifiable Points: 6727 More actions · Answer 2

We will be implementing WanSync HA later on this year, but have been pleased with the testing results. Our temporary license expired before I was able to do testing with Log Shipping though (we need it for a reporting database). Does anyone have any experience with XOSoft plus a Log Shipped database?

ram4tech Hall of Fame Points: 3140 More actions · Answer 3

Thank you guys.

What is your approach in setting up SQL environment for HA and disaster recovery scenarios?

Would DB mirroring provide HA solution, why do you have to go with WANSyncHA product?

VD Ten Centuries Points: 1149 More actions · Answer 4

We are bundling XOSoft up with our software for the customers that want HA or DR solutions. I am pretty impressed with the software. It syncs not only user databases but also master, msdb and model. Which removes a headache of moving logins, jobs etc.

I added a proc to run on SQL Server service startup to start SQL Server Agent. Also, if the account your sql server is running under is not a local admin make sure that your scenario also syncs ACLs or your SQL server will not have permissions to read/write your database files.

We haven’t tested Wansync with encrypted columns but I would imagine it might be somewhat of a challenge.

Otherwise it certainly is a less of a headache then log shipping and it does IIS and file syncing which is why we looked into it in the first place.

Linda Johanning SSCertifiable Points: 6727 More actions · Answer 5

Right now we have a SQL clustered environment and feel that having only one database is a single point of failure. Also since the database is pretty large (250 GB) and the system is critical to our business we cannot afford much downtime. Even if I take the Reporting database (which is Log shipped nightly) and restore all of the logs--that is considered too much downtime.

You cannot use a database mirror for HA because the mirror needs the original database. (Only changes are kept in the mirror.) Mirrors should probably only be used for reporting, but that's just my opinion 🙂

Steve Goodwin-362749 SSC Veteran Points: 252 More actions · Answer 6

Products like WanSynch are excellent solution for DR for many environement b/c they are very effective means of replicating databases but also provide addition functionality that help automate site-to-site failover. There are many things to consider when implementing DR, these are a few of the top items:

1) Volume of data that changes. Only changed data is replicated. The pipe between sites has to be able to handle the load, and has to have the appropriate level of latency as well as availability

2) How much data can you afford to lose? If you can't you need a synchronous solution that writes to tbe mirror before the local write is commited: The solutions can live in the SAN fabric, on the host, or in the SAN controllers. The solution you chose has to be driven by business requirements and will have major cost impact. This particular product uses a "filter driver" to capture data writes (much like virus detection software), so if you have a very high write ratio, make sure it will not be a problem. I dont believe this product is synchronous.

3) How much down time can your business withstand? This is a great product to reduce the amount of downtime

ram4tech Hall of Fame Points: 3140 More actions · Answer 7

If I want to use this product, will the following topology work?

In our environment we have four DB servers running SQL Server 2005. Two out of four are production servers.

SQL ProdSRV 1 SQL SRV 3 SQL ProdSRV 2

&

SQL ProdSRV 1 SQL SRV 4 SQL ProdSRV 2

john chantha Newbie Points: 8 More actions · Answer 8

The CA XoSoft WanSyncHA requires OS, SQL Server version, and disk drives to be the same on the primary and the replica (secondary).

On the replica,SQL Server is down (cold standby) while WanSyncHA is replicating, therefore it can't be used for reporting.

However, CA XoSoft allows you to buy an add-on products for Assure Recovery to turn on the replica server for testing/reporting.

According to the CA XOSoft's engineer, it adds about 3-5% cpu resources.

<st1ersonName w:st="on">John Chantha</st1ersonName>

Linda Johanning SSCertifiable Points: 6727 More actions · Answer 9

I should have mentioned in my first post that we cannot use database mirroring because the database is still SQL 2000 and we can't upgrade it yet.

An XOSoft support person suggested that I use WANSynchHA (high availability) to replicate the database to a second server, and then to use WAYSynchAR (assured recovery) to a third server to for a reporting database. This is the scenario that I had wanted at the beginning, but was unaware of the capabilities and differences of the two products.

Another BIG plus for XOSoft is that when we get the new servers, I can set up the large database to replicate weeks in advance so that downtime is very minimal. This is a huge plus. I am currently setting up this scenario and so far am pleased with the results.