November 21, 2006 at 4:18 pm
I have been tasked with doing research and planning on clustering and possibly implementation. It would be with SQL Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003. I am just starting my information gathering. I am pretty proficient in SQL Server 2000, but I feel that I'm somewhat lacking on networking and operating system experience. We do have a Network Administrator who can assist me with implementation and I can discuss my plan with him, but I would like to research and develop a plan on my own as much as possible.
Does anyone have any good suggestions for books or links? I have found a couple articles, but I'm looking for a couple sources that are pretty comprehensive and don't assume you have a lot of prior knowledge/experience.
Also, we are a pretty small shop. This would be for one production database server at this point, but we do have a SAN.
Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions,
Carrie
November 21, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Most books and resources, including Microsoft.com are Windows 2000 realted. There are differences between 2000 and 2003. Microsoft does have some very good tutorials or guides if you search thier site. Not really 2003 but you can apply 95% to 2003. I bought a book, (forget which, not at my desk, but it has a green cover) it was a waste of mmoney. Best stuff came from Microsoft. Start there. A big item is the Heart beat configuration. Most problems come from that. There is a KB on it, it is good.
Also google for CheckQueryProcessorAlive: sqlexecdirect failed. That is an error that some get and there is no real reason. I got i9t and abandond clustering after many months with SQL. I use SQL Server stand alone and use clustering with file shares and what not. As near as I can tell SQL Server stops responding to isalive requests from the clustyer. The clustyer then shuts down the virtual server adn restarts it. No errors show up anywhere except for the windows event log. The is no actual failure as the cluster does not fail ocver either9which is fine).
Basicly, if anyone thinks that the MSCS is anywhere as stable as SQL Server is, they are quite wong. Mind you, some cluster with no problems and others have proble4ms that won't go away and MS instructs you the then reinstall it. out here everybody simple offers that the cluster config was wrong.
I would seriously ask if you really really need it. We can afford to be down an hour while I attatch databases ti another server incase of hardwre failure. 15 years in and I have yet to have anything other than a disk go bad and that is on a RAID array or the occational dimm.
Clustering has real benifits. I am just not convinced it works with SQL Server reliably as a core product does. I cluster all the time and it always seems the sql installs have issues. Some develop after a while and some do not casue shutdowns and all of a sudden one day the same error causes shutdowns. Very frustrating. Almost seems like a marketing thing to say they offer it to be able to play with the big boys. ehh, it is Mickey Mousey in my opinion, but that is just me.
Some may have it running great. That is great. Google for the error above. You'll see it has existed in the product since the mid 90's.
Good luck!
November 21, 2006 at 7:04 pm
Thank you very much for the information. I greatly appreciate the feedback.
There have been two times in the past year that we have had a hard drive fail. During both times the Network Administrator was able to replace the hard drive but the down time was approximately two hours. The CEO would like to see that reduced. My thought was that clustering would be the best solution, but I'm open to other suggestions.
Thanks again,
Carrie
November 22, 2006 at 7:05 am
Here are a couple of links that may help you navigate your way through the clustering side - I have been working on a similar scenario and there are certainly many benefits that can be gained, but at what cost with maintenance, configurability and support. If you have only been having problems on the disk failures then using a raid solution could be a far cheaper and more simple solution (if you can get raid10 - Mirrored stripes)
Here is a great link for getting the basics and explanations of the differing components you may need to address.
Have a look for Active/Active verses Active/Passive solutions as depending on the application side you can possible gain some scaleability if needed - Have fun :
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2000/plan/ssmsam.mspx
Performing a google search will also find many good sites
** What you see, Depends on what you Thought, Before, You looked! **
November 22, 2006 at 8:41 am
Thank you very much for the information and the link. I will definitely take a look at that. I was trying to find a couple very comprehensive sources for information that someone else found useful. I have done a google search, but I was hoping that someone who had experience with this might be able to help me narrow down resources.
I have also read the articles on sqlservercentral.com regarding clustering SQL Server 2000 and Windows 2000 Server, but they are pretty old.
Thanks,
Carrie
November 22, 2006 at 9:53 am
While I don't really agree with the clustering review above - we have 5 W2003/SQL2K clusters that run without issues- I will say it seems you might be better served with a warm standby (log shipping/replication and the like) instead of a cluster which can be costly.
November 22, 2006 at 11:18 am
I would be vey interested to know how you implemented your cluster solution form an architectural point of view, and what configuration it is in (ie a/a or a/p). I know the originator of the post is requiring resources and information to help them understand the pros and cons of the clustering solution in order to make an informed decision , I know I would be very interested on the type of implementation that you have successfully completed, some reference of gotcha's, and hints of what to bare in mind during an implementation/ decission process.
I have not had the priveledge of talking to someone who has had a successful implementation with SQL2000 in a clustered environment who is willing to share their experiences, so if possible it would be great to elaborate more on your implementation especially as you have a few under your belt. Thanks and looking forward to more info coming in .
** What you see, Depends on what you Thought, Before, You looked! **
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