Hi Gail,

Thank you very much for your response. I have been thinking about doing that but I'm wondering:

- Once I've done that how does it work? Will I see new jobs setup? Is a new database created? Will I be able to get an email if shipping fails?

- Can shipping work effectively at 5 minute intervals? Both servers are local, in the same building.

- Will all the databases on the standby server be marked with a "read-only" or other status?

- If the primary server fails:

- What steps do I take to make the standby server active?

- If the standby becomes active and inserts/updates/deletes occur, what steps do I take to propagate the activity over to the primary server once it is active again?

Is there a book you can recommend?

Are there any other things I should keep in mind? The servers will soon be migrated to SQL 2012.

Thanks very much,

Richard