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Will Windows Failover Clusters Become Obsolete?

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Will Windows Failover Clusters Become Obsolete?

I was recently asked whether Windows Failover Clusters (MSCS/WSFC) will become obsolete due to 3rd party HA solutions. To me, there will always be a market for 3rd party HA solutions. But many of the enhancements delivered with Windows Server 2008 have reduced the need to explore alternate HA solutions.  I think the greater threat to MSCS/WSFC is HA solutions provided by the virtualization vendors. This includes Microsoft’s Hyper-V failover clusters (which actually uses WSFC) and VMware HA.  These solutions provided by the virtualization platform provide protection in case of host failure. Although, they currently do not have visibility into the application that is running within the VM.

The real question is what kind of failure do you want to protect against? If physical server failure is your primary concern, then in some cases where MSCS may have previously been deployed, you will see Hyper-V Clusters or VMware HA being deployed instead.  In other cases where MSCS/WSFC may have seemed like overkill or was incompatible with the OS or application, you will instead see clustered VMs being deployed because it is easy to install and it supports all applications and operating systems. The mere fact that more workloads will be running per physical server will make it imperative to have some kind of clustering solution so that the failure of a single server does not bring down your entire infrastructure. In many cases, this clustering solution will be provided by the virtualization vendor.

Hyper-V Clusters and VMware HA are easy to implement and have a broad range of support as the protected VM can be running any OS or application.  The tradeoff is that you lose the application level monitoring included with MSCS/WSFC.  There will always be a class of applications that need application awareness. So MSCS/WSFC or other HA solutions that manage application availability will always be needed to ensure that the application is available, not just the server itself. With that being said, MSCS/WSFC will not become obsolete. Instead, you will see it deployed alongside other cluster solutions provided by the hypervisor vendors.

Read more about Windows Failover Clusters

Reproduced with permission from https://clusteringformeremortals.com/2010/03/01/will-windows-failover-clusters-mscswsfc-become-obsolete/

SIOS Exhibits SANLess Clustering Software for SQL at PASS Summit

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SIOS Technology to Exhibit Its SANLess Clustering Software for SQL Server in at PASS Summit 2014 in Seattle

SAN MATEO, CA – October 30, 2014 – SIOS Technology Corp. (www.us.sios.com), maker of SAN and #SANLess clustering software products, today announced it will showcase its SAN and SANLess clustering software at PASS Summit 2014. This annual event is the world’s largest, most-focused, and most-intensive conference for Microsoft SQL Server and BI professionals. Over 2,000 companies from around the world send their staff to receive top-notch training, technical tips, and make connections to take their SQL Server skills to the next level. As an exhibitor and sponsor of a breakfast panel and PASS to Prizes, SIOS will showcase its product offerings in booth #408 in the PASS Summit Exhibit Hall at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, WA, November 4 – 7.

The SIOS Exhibit
In booth #408, SIOS will showcase its products that add real-time block level replication and configuration flexibility in Windows Server Failover Clustering environments. SIOS DataKeeper Cluster Edition software is an ingredient that integrates seamlessly with Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) to provide SANLess cluster protection where shared storage clusters are either impossible or impractical, such as cloud, virtual and high performance storage environments.

PASS the Bacon: SQL Server Experts and MVPs Breakfast Panel
SIOS and SanDisk are co-sponsoring the PASS the Bacon breakfast at PASS Summit 2014, which will be held on Thursday, November 6, at 6:45 am and will feature an interactive panel discussion with four SQL Server experts and MVPs about a variety of real-world strategies for achieving cost-efficient high performance and high availability in SQL Server. Topics include: Maintaining high performance in high availability SQL Server environments, cost-efficient techniques for protecting SQL Server from downtime, and leveraging flash storage in database scenarios for more than performance. Register here to attend.

PASS to Prizes
SIOS is also a sponsor of the ever popular PASS to Prizes game November 4-6. Attendees must stop by and collect a stamp from various booths in the Exhibit Hall to be eligible to win a prize. Look for the game card in your conference attendee bag. Drawings for PASS to Prizes will take place at 4:35pm on Thursday, November 6, to win one of the following: Microsoft Surface Pro 3, Xbox One Madden NFL 15 Bundle, Cannon Rebel DSR Camera, or Beats by Dr. Dre Wireless Headphones.

Additionally, SIOS is raffling off two $250 gift cards. Visit its booth #408 for a chance to win. The drawings will take place at 12:30 pm on Friday, November 7.

SIOS will also be awarding a $10 Starbucks gift card once per hour throughout the show to randomly selected participants who are wearing the official SIOS PASS t-shirt on the show floor.

Denny Cherry Presents SQL Karaoke
SIOS is also sponsoring “Denny Cherry presents SQL Karaoke” on Tuesday, November 4, 9:00pm – 2:00am at Cowgirls Inc., 421 1st Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104. Registration is mandatory for SQL Karaoke. Register here: http://us.sios.com/2014-11-sql-karaoke/.

About SIOS Technology Corp.
SIOS Technology Corp. makes SAN and #SANLess software solutions that make clusters easy to use and easy to own. An essential part of any cluster solution, SIOS SAN and #SANLess software provides the flexibility to build Clusters Your Way™ to protect your choice of Windows or Linux environment in any configuration (or combination) of physical, virtual and cloud (public, private, and hybrid) without sacrificing performance or availability. The unique SIOS #SANLess clustering solution allows you to configure clusters with local storage, eliminating both the cost and the single-point-of-failure risk of traditional shared (SAN) storage.

Founded in 1999, SIOS Technology Corp. (http://us.sios.com) is headquartered in San Mateo, California, and has offices throughout the United States, United Kingdom and Japan.

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SIOS, SIOS Technology, SIOS DataKeeper, SIOS Protection Suite, Clusters Your Way, and associated logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of SIOS Technology Corp. and/or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contact:
Beth Winkowski
Winkowski Public Relations, LLC for SIOS
Phone: 978-649-7189
Email: bethwinkowski@US.SIOS.com

Live Webinar: SQL Clustering 102: Highly Available SQL Deployments in Azure IaaS – What You Need to Know

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Microsoft MVP David Bermingham will lay the foundation for deploying highly available SQL Server instances in the Windows Azure IaaS Cloud in his second “SQL Clustering 101” webinar series. From basic nomenclature to the must-haves and gotcha’s for enabling SQL Server High Availability in Azure, you will have the checklist for moving your business-critical applications to the cloud. If you are considering Windows Azure for your next SQL Server deployment, you won’t want to miss this webinar.

Register Now

Date: December 9, 2014
Time: 10:00a PST — 1:00pm EST

About Dave Bermingham

David Bermingham is recognized within the technology community as a high availability expert and has been honored by his peers by being elected to be a Microsoft MVP in clustering since 2010. David’s work as director, technical evangelist at SIOS Technology Corp., has him focused on Microsoft high availability and disaster recovery solutions as well as providing hands on support, training and professional services for cluster implementations. David holds numerous technical certifications and draws from more than twenty years of experience in IT, including work in the finance, healthcare and education fields, to help organizations design solutions to meet their high availability and disaster recovery needs. Learn more at www.us.sios.com