Effort to configure Logshipping/Mirroring/Replication/Always on

  • Hi All,

    I was asked this question by one of my customer.

    He wanted me to give him a rough idea about the effort to configure Logshipping/Mirroring/Replication/Always on , say for a database of size of 250 GB.

  • Benki Chendu (9/22/2016)


    Hi All,

    I was asked this question by one of my customer.

    He wanted me to give him a rough idea about the effort to configure Logshipping/Mirroring/Replication/Always on , say for a database of size of 250 GB.

    Why do you list all of those? They don't play well together. The right answer here is to discuss the client's needs and then come up with a matrix of solutions that solve that and explain the various effort/cost/benefit/issues/limitations/etc of each.

    Of all of those I will say that log shipping is by far the easiest and has the lowest risk/effects.

    Best,
    Kevin G. Boles
    SQL Server Consultant
    SQL MVP 2007-2012
    TheSQLGuru on googles mail service

  • No No. The point is not to play them all together for the same database.

    They need to understand in theory, how it works and what effort it takes.

  • I don't think we can provide you with the information you are seeking here on a forum. You should recommend to your client that they hire a consultant who can help them understand their needs and then come up with solution alternatives to meet those needs. Said consultant would certainly be needed to actually implement anything too since they don't have the experience to do so.

    Best,
    Kevin G. Boles
    SQL Server Consultant
    SQL MVP 2007-2012
    TheSQLGuru on googles mail service

  • The configuration time, for any of those, is small. It's the design and planning that takes time, and that time is going to be completely dependant on what they want, what they need and what restrictions they're under.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • once your planning and design is done I would say the elapsed time and therefore effort to get up and working end to end would be, quickest to longest -

    logshipping

    mirroring

    alwayson

    the size of database affects each the same so is not releavant.

    logshipping and mirroring are close in effort, alwayson an order of magnitude bigger as you introduce clustering and all that involves.

    replication I would not include in this, it serves a different purpose.

    Clustering I would add to this set of options, and is slightly less effort then alwayson but gets more complicated if you want to avoid the SPOF of the disks.

    so as you can see already, you can answer their question, but their question is vague and leads to more questions rather than answers

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  • I have exactly told them the same but they wanted an approximate effort estimation to be provided. 😀

  • What would you say based on your own experience?

  • I would probably factor an hour each for the configuration alone.

    And the planning and design is a separate ball game all together..

  • As Kevin and Gail already said, before you go to the effort first we need to find out the why these things are considered together for same problem.

    These are few things you can consider.

    Mirroring and Always on are considered as HA strategies

    Log shipping is mostly a DR strategy

    Replication can be used as a DR strategy but many consider it as Reporting solution, since it is object level.

    You should consider the RPO and RTO for since that varies for each of these solutions, consider the prerequisites and check whether you meet all of them,

    And finally the cost of maintenance.

    As Gail said the designing is what takes more time.

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    Roshan Joe

    Jeff Moden -Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help[/url]

  • Benki Chendu (9/22/2016)


    I would probably factor an hour each for the configuration alone.

    So you're assuming that everything will go right, there will be no delays, no missing passwords, non-working connections, network errors, etc.

    How long does your 250GB database take to backup, copy and restore?

    How many times have you practised setting each up?

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

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