SIOS SANless clusters High-availability Machine Learning monitoring
Ensuring high availability for SQL Server deployments is crucial for maintaining business continuity in Google Cloud Platform (GCP). When choosing how to achieve this, two primary options are available: Always On Availability Groups and SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances (FCI).
Always On Availability Groups offer a comprehensive solution for high availability and disaster recovery, but they require SQL Server Enterprise Edition, which can be a significant investment, particularly for businesses that don’t need the full range of features offered by the Enterprise version.
SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances (FCI), supported by SQL Server Standard Edition, present a more cost-effective alternative. However, FCIs typically rely on shared storage solutions like a SAN, which isn’t natively available in GCP. This lack of cluster-aware shared storage poses a challenge for businesses looking to deploy FCIs in the cloud.
SIOS DataKeeper provides a solution that bridges the gap, allowing organizations to build a SANless cluster in GCP. This approach removes the need for traditional shared storage by replicating data synchronously across different zones within a region.
SIOS DataKeeper not only replicates the local disks attached to each cloud instance, but it also presents the replicated disk to the cluster as a DataKeeper Volume resource. To the cluster, this volume appears as a shared disk, seamlessly integrating with Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC). During a failover, DataKeeper controls the mirror direction, ensuring that the active node remains the source of the mirror while the other nodes become the targets. This setup maintains data consistency and high availability for your SQL Server environment, all while using SQL Server Standard Edition.
1. Cost Savings: By enabling the use of SQL Server Standard Edition for an FCI, SIOS DataKeeper helps organizations avoid the higher costs associated with SQL Server Enterprise Edition.
2. Comprehensive Protection: SIOS DataKeeper replicates the entire SQL Server instance across zones, providing robust protection against zone-level failures.
3. Simplicity and Flexibility: The solution simplifies the process of setting up and managing a SANless FCI in GCP, making it accessible for IT teams and reducing complexity.
For businesses running SQL Server in Google Cloud, finding the right balance between cost and availability is essential. While Always On Availability Groups are powerful, they come with a higher price tag. SIOS DataKeeper offers a practical alternative by enabling the creation of SANless clusters that provide the necessary high availability while keeping costs under control with SQL Server Standard Edition.
For a step-by-step guide on how to implement this solution, I recommend reading the full article, which covers everything from network setup to cluster configuration. This guide will help you deploy a highly available SQL Server environment in GCP with confidence.
Ready to enhance your SQL Server high availability in Google Cloud without breaking the bank? Explore how SIOS DataKeeper can streamline your deployment and maximize your investment. Contact our team for expert assistance in setting up a SANless cluster that meets your specific business needs.
Reproduced with permission from SIOS
ESPN is often a go-to source for information on the NFL. The network is known for providing multiple shows to cover each game, which provide extensive analysis, opinions, and random information about the team, the games, the upcoming schedule, and the coaches in the league as well as highlights of particular players.
In a segment that aired back on September 13th, 2021 Dan Orlovsky lamented the Chicago Bears’ usage of their rookie quarterback. In doing so, he incidentally provided two ways to improve your high availability with just two questions.
Two questions that will immediately improve your high availability from ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky.
The Bears offense placed rookie quarterback Justin Fields on the field for a second down play. The rookie quickly fired a pass for a seven yard completion. However, instead of continuing with the rookie, the play-callers for the Bears went back to their previous QB who promptly threw the ball to the other team. This play elicited the question from Dan Orlovsky, “What are we doing here?”
Okay, so you are not a rookie quarterback, I think. And, you are not playing for the Bears, I hope. But, if you are responsible for any part of your enterprise high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) strategies, including clustering, data protection, data replication, application orchestration, governance/adherence and SLAs, then Orlovsky’s first question is a good place to start.
What are you doing?
Answering this question with respect to your enterprise high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) strategies will help clarify a tremendous amount with regards to the solution and architecture you implement, as well as the team and processes associated with them.
After firing off a series of rapid comments about his frustration with when and how the Chicago Bears used their rookie quarterback, Orlovsky asked the second question, “Why are we doing it?” If, to paraphrase Orlovsky, the “what” is putting Fields in to check a box and appease the fans, then “why are we doing it?” Why just check the box, when you could be using more of the dynamic rookie’s abilities to gain an advantage and win games? Why not make the change that gives you the best chance of being successful.
Of course, we aren’t the coach of the Bears, though I wouldn’t mind calling a few plays. But, the question still applies to those involved with implementing enterprise availability. Let’s go back to question number one. What was your answer for “what are we doing here?” Now, answer the question of “why are we doing it?” Some possible reasons include:
Why are we doing it is a critical question to answer before, during, and after high availability systems have been deployed. As VP of Customer Experience, I worked with a customer whose IT Administrator and DB Administrator had vastly different reasons for “why are we doing it?” To make matters worse, the executive sponsor held a third view. Without a properly vetted and communicated “why” the team struggled to properly articulate requirements, and when an incident occurred, their efforts for remediation often created more conflict and questions.
There are likely a number of possible reasons why the Chicago Bears didn’t find success or properly utilize their young QB on the upcoming third down, and an equal number of opinions on what they are trying to accomplish with their franchise and veteran quarterback. But, even if Orlovsky couldn’t help Bears fans clarify what or why, he did provide the framework for how to immediately improve your HA. So, how would you answer the two questions: What are we doing for HA? Why are we doing it?
SIOS Technology Corporation provides high availability cluster software that protects & optimizes IT infrastructures with cluster management for your most important applications. Contact us today for more information about our professional services and support.
Reproduced with permission from SIOS
In part 2 of the three-part DataKeeper dashboard blog series, this blog is a follow up from DataKeeper UI vs. Car Dashboards blog. As with your car, when those indicators (traffic light colors) on your dashboard flash, you pop the hood to identify what they represent. Starting points:
“Popping the hood” on your DataKeeper Cluster Edition software has several similarities and it often means using command line interface for DataKeeper Administration. As for Using EMCMD (Extended Mirroring Command) with SIOS DataKeeper, the GET commands make up 1/3 of the most commonly used tasks/commands of the approximately 48 commands. Note that they are informational only and will not impact your nodes. Below are a few helpful Get commands and their usage to identify the reasons for warning colors in your DataKeeper User Interface/DataKeeper.msc (traffic light colors) in the areas of Storage, Networking and Other.
Note:
From an elevated/Administrator command prompt as always use:
cd %extmirrbase% (This is just a shortcut to the install path <root>\Program Files (x86)\SIOS\DataKeeper>)
A great place to start your initial triage below:
Now that you are armed with some basic knowledge about the lights on your car’s dashboard you will become a DIYer when it comes to DataKeeper Administration in blog 3 in the DataKeeper Dashboard series.
Reproduced with permission from SIOS