September 12, 2004 at 4:40 pm
Hello, I need help to know if there are any issues in having SQL server 2000 databases placed on a NAS in a clustering environment.
We are planning for DL560 HP servers for the cluster, running Windows 2003 and would like to look at NS701 from EMC. There is a considerable savings in using a NAS as compared to a SAN.
Any info from people that have used or evaluated this kind of environment is greatly appreciated.
Sudha Kantamneni
September 12, 2004 at 10:31 pm
Hi there
I have had no direct experience (always been SAN or DAS based), but my concern would be:
a) CPU utilisation - be very careful with CPU utilisation and the HBA/NIC/SW combo used to fulfil iSCSI. I would seriosly consider a TOE card to offload cpu work related to iscsi message packing.
b) Speed - is your NAS filer file or block storage based for example? much of the IO in DBMS environments is not file based as you can imagine, and this read/write characteristic requires higher throughout in which the NAS may struggle with (and therefore return poor IO statistics). I would consider profiling your existing servers for a period, and replaying these back against a NAS solution. That said, given the cost you may not have this opportunity.
Cheers
Ck
Chris Kempster
www.chriskempster.com
Author of "SQL Server Backup, Recovery & Troubleshooting"
Author of "SQL Server 2k for the Oracle DBA"
September 13, 2004 at 1:45 am
Please read this one KB Microsoft article:
September 15, 2004 at 1:52 pm
Thank you for the prompt response. The KB article you suggested has notes made that network-based files cannot be used for SQL 2000 Failover Clustered Installations.
Any info if you have seen a work-around is greatly appreciated..
Sudhakar
September 15, 2004 at 3:33 pm
I hope my friends at netapp.com don't come and hunt me down for this, but I'd like to chime in just to say this: stay on SAN storage for your cluster if you can. If you do go with NAS, make sure you know somebody else who has implemented on the same hardware and at the same scale that you will, because I would expect some issues to surface.
Having said that, if the entire NAS is dedicated to your SQL cluster, it might be an intriguing idea (*if* you can find somebody who has blazed the trail ahead of you, as mentioned previously). On the other hand, if your chunk of the NAS is on the same hardware being used for file sharing, etc., then I'd stay clear no matter what. Regardless, it's not an idea that has critical mass at the time, so it will be hard to get support if things get technically nasty. You'd quickly get tired of support people raising the idea that "maybe it's because you're on a NAS ... most of our customers don't do that...".
Good luck,
Chris
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