parissa_bakhshi (11/2/2010)
I have a problem choosing between clustering and virtualization solutions.We have an SQL server instance which have some large databases in it. Most of serer resources consumes for this database. I mean, you can suppose an SQL instance with a large database in it.
Is it better to use table partitioning and using SQL server clustering to provide avalaibility and high performance , or use server virtualization using some programs like VMWare.
As I know virtualization is used to utilize resources. Eg. you can integrate many DB servers in One or two servers.So I think for one or two databases in one SQL server Instance, clustering would be a better solution.
Virtualization and Clustering are not comparable, they are at different layers of the food chain.
Virtualized environments are nothing but a platform, a virtual rather than a real machine. On top of it you may want to do clustering or not but, the concepts are not comparable.
Hope this clarifies.
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Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.