Last Day to Register for SQL Server – Microsoft Management Console
Stephen Wynkoop’s Webinar begins tomorrow morning. Today is your last chance to register to attend this presentation on more fully utilizing Microsoft Management Console to maintain and document your databases. Learn how to learn from the tools shipping with SQL Server.
$$SWYNK$$
Featured Article(s)
Top Ten Database Blunders (Part 2 of 4)
As a PTO (Performance, Tuning, and Optimization) consultant, I’ve seen some pretty crazy problems. Although the names have been changed, these stories are true. You’ll hear me rank the 10 worst real-life blunders, why they’re so expensive, and how to avoid them in your career.
Featured White Paper(s)
Essential Performance Tools for SQL Server DBAS
Optimizing SQL Server performance can be a daunting task. Especially so for an increasing number of reluctant DBAs faced with… (read more)
Featured Script
CheckErrorLog
The script shows the error log without entries in the log about log backup. It is useful if you have a big log that most o… (read more)
Hardware Based Failover
I recently read an article by Michael Otey on “The High Price of Availability.” In that article he referenced two specialized services he is reviewing having failover built into the hardware itself, one built by NEC and the other by Stratus.
The thing that sets these servers apart is the fact that the servers themselves are fault tolerant. Inside a single server are all the components of two complete servers. Both internal servers perform all requests in case one should fail. In the event of a failover, nothing is lost.
The principle is the same as hard disk RAID. The difference is that the complete computer is covered by failover, not just the disk subsystem. Failover coverage is rapid, internal, and doesn’t necessarily require external resources.
Michael stated that these servers, due to the high price tag ($30,000 – $40,000) are not the right fit for many businesses. Many small to medium businesses find acceptable performance on servers costing less than $4,000 and run SQL Server Standard. Even with a 4 Core system their cash outlay for a database server may be less than $7,000.
However, if they want fault tolerance they may be looking at a much larger cash outlay. They can use traditional failover technologies requiring additional hardware, possibly software, and configuration and management skills. The total cost of ownership of a fault tolerant system may be comparable to one of these fault tolerant servers.
A good option at that point is to go to hosting services or the cloud. Now you have another option that doesn’t require a lot of skill to configure and maintain. It’s all in one box.
Send me your thoughts and feedback to btaylor@sswug.org.
Cheers,
Ben