Active/Active Sql Server 2005 question...

[ninhovid]

Hello... thanks for reading, i hope you can help me...

I've just configured a load balancing scenario using Virtual Server 2005... i think i could use this (in a production enviroment) when i want to publish a transactional web site, where servers behind this load balancing scenario have locally the exact web site but pointing to another server (outside the load balancing scenario) which hosts the application database... here if my database server (or all load balanced servers) fail, everything will fail...

I've also configured microsoft cluster services... and a sql 2005 2-node cluster scenario, but Active/Pasive... here my scenario will fail only if both servers fail but i have one useless server, waiting for the other one to fail so it can work... am i right??? if so, it's a very expensive solution...

my question is... if i install an Active/Active sql 2005 cluster scenario... will both servers work with the same database? i don't understand A/A very much... i've read that with A/A you take full advantage of both servers resources... but that you can't serve the same database in multiple sql instances... is this correct?
what should i do then?

sorry, i'm not an english native speaker...
thanks in advance...

 

[mrdenny]

If you have an Active/Active database you have two different instances installed. One running on each node. Each instance hosts it's own databases and knows nothing of the other instance or it's data.

Active/Active clusters are used to have two independant SQL Server instances both highly available without having the expense of the passive nodes.

Active/Active clusters do not increase the available horse power that is available. Instances run on a specific node, and only one node at any one time.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Configuration / Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Configuration)
MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005) / Database Developer (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[ninhovid]

so, if i want to have the same database in a cluster, that will not be possible?
only in Active/Pasive mode this could be approached?

i don't get the point of having for example 4 sql server instances in a cluster... (4 servers) serving each one of them a different database, if one sql instance fails, what happens if even its database will be offline!

how would this be useful? maybe i haven't understood the concept...

i think i'll have to load balance 2 servers with my IIS app... and point to a different server which hosts the database, right?

thanks for your reply...

 

[mrdenny]

If you had a cluster with four instances on it, running active/active mode, the point would be so that if one of the nodes failed all four instances would run on a single node until the failed node was repaired.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Configuration / Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Configuration)
MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005) / Database Developer (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[ninhovid]

thanks...