I want to institute a high availability solution for SQL Server with no downtime. I am planning on using Microsoft clustering, but I have been told that in the event that the cluster moves the SQL Server from one physical server to another, that there is some downtime. Why is this so?  Read more...

This white paper complements the existing documentation on planning, implementation, and administration of a SQL Server 2008 failover cluster, which can be found in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Books Online. There are links to relevant existing content throughout the paper, which is intended primarily for a technical audience. This white paper covers failover cluster architecture and concepts for Windows Server (2003 and 2008) and SQL Server 2008; installation of a SQL Server 2008 failover cluster; upgrades and updates to SQL Server 2008 failover clustering; and maintenance and administration of SQL Server 2008.  Read more...

Part three of this series illustrates how to use a T-SQL script to create database mirroring between a principal and mirrored server.  Read more...

Learn the basics of the Database mirroring in SQL Server 2008. Mak provides a step-by-step on how to create database mirroring. Subsequent installments will discuss how to add data on the principal server and how data is mirrored to the mirrored server.  Read more...

Learn to take advantage of Hyper-V and Windows 2008 in order to achieve fault-tolerant and highly available SQL Server virtual machines.  Read more...

People don't plan to fail; they fail to plan. Single node clustering provides organisations with a ready made scale-up or high availability platform from the beginning of the deployment.  Read more...

Continuing with setting up a 2 node SQL cluster under MS Virtual server 2005 Ent R2 SP1, Perry Whittle looks at the SQL configuration in this article.  Read more...

This article from Perry Whittle looks at setting up a 2 node SQL Server cluster under MS Virtual server 2005 Ent R2 SP1. Something that is very handy for testing clustered servers.  Read more...

Now, Internet-hosted distributed applications with connectivity to internal applications—often referred as Software plus Services (S+S)—are gaining popularity. Organizations are leveraging datacenters hosted by third parties to alleviate concerns about hardware, software, reliability, and scalability. These are just some of the new architecture trends that help you build interoperable applications that scale, reduce capital expenditure, and improve reliability. Cloud computing offers many of these benefits.  Read more...

Clustering is often the first choice for high availability, but is it the best choice? A lot of people think so, but Steve Jones has other thoughts.  Read more...

Clustering is often the first choice for high availability, but is it the best choice? A lot of people think so, but Steve Jones has other thoughts.  Read more...

Clustering is often the first choice for high availability, but is it the best choice? A lot of people think so, but Steve Jones has other thoughts.  Read more...

Clustering is often the first choice for high availability, but is it the best choice? A lot of people think so, but Steve Jones has other thoughts.  Read more...

If you don't have a witness server and your principal server goes, how do you make your mirror server the principal and bring all your databases online?  Read more...

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Let us look at another means to increase the availability of your highly critical databases. We will extend the concept of filegroups as highlighted in a previous tip on Disaster Recovery Procedures in SQL Server 2005 Part 2 (Isolating Critical Objects) wherein we can use filegroups to isolate and store a critical object.  Read more...

One of the configuration options for Database Mirroring is the High Availability mode. With this option three servers are put in place the principal, mirror and witness servers. This is the only option that allows for automatic failover. One of the things that I have noticed is that when there are periodic network issues a failover occurs even though there are no issues with the Principal server. Are there any options to delay the failover?  Read more...

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Part 1 of this series discussed how to prepare for SQL Server cluster installation on a two-node Windows Server 2003 cluster. This installment explains how to install SQL Server Database Engine on the cluster using the Integrated Installation option.  Read more...

This article from Perry Whittle looks at setting up a 2 node SQL Server cluster under MS Virtual server 2005 Ent R2 SP1. Something that is very handy for testing clustered servers.  Read more...

Part three of this series illustrates how to use a T-SQL script to create database mirroring between a principal and mirrored server.  Read more...

People don't plan to fail; they fail to plan. Single node clustering provides organisations with a ready made scale-up or high availability platform from the beginning of the deployment.  Read more...