Basically, I need to have real active/active cluster
solution on SQL server(any MS platform).
The windows failover clustering tech is share nothing
clustering , so can not do the load balancing stuff(
distribute transaction traffic between servers).
Only product I know on the market is PolyServ's Matrix
server, any suggestions from microsoft?

Thanks

David Liu
MCSE/MCDBA
DBA
www.moneris.com

The purpose of MS Cluster Servers is to provide high availability not load balancing for SQL Server. If you require both you need multiple clusters as a federation of SQL Servers. Another option is a single 4-node cluster with 4 SQL Instances in a federation configuration. As your 4-nodes reach peak utilitisation, scale up the four servers. To explore how federated solutions work start by searching BOL for "federated database servers"

If you only need read-only access to SQL Server data you could build a solution using replication. As your load increases add more subscribers to handle the load.

As I know, The federated database is only support
partition data, do not support share database( exactly the
same database, as oracle's real application cluster).
In a word, failover and load balance at the same time;
and can quickly scale out by simply adding a new server.
From BOL, microsoft say do not support this type of
clustering.

Thanks for your reply

David Liu
require both you need multiple clusters as a federation of
SQL Servers. Another option is a single 4-node cluster
with 4 SQL Instances in a federation configuration. As
your 4-nodes reach peak utilitisation, scale up the four
servers. To explore how federated solutions work start by
searching BOL for "federated database servers".
increases add more subscribers to handle the load.

Thanks David for your interest in Polyserve !

Unfortunately, SQL server itself is a shared nothing application,
which cannot benefit from a clustered file system.
A clustered file system allows all the nodes in the cluster to see
(share) the same file with full read/write access,
but unlike IIS / CIFS applications which can use a clustered file
system to load balanced access (scale out) across all the nodes in the
cluster,
a SQL server instance data and log files is not shared with other SQL
servers instances on other nodes.

But, there are some benefits to gain from the use of a shared file
system for SQL HA

1) a clustered file system is mounted on all the nodes, this
guarantee a seamless transition of the instance in case of disruption,
rather than a typical "failover" scenario with a forced unmount, etc.

2) Large, heterogeneous, node count (16 node SQL Server clusters that
can mix 2p, 4p, and 8p servers)

3) No drive letter limitations

4) Easy storage management

5) Easy management of raw data file for ETL . I.e. you can store all
your
exports in one folder which is seen by all the nodes.

6) Off host backup. All the instances can backup into one location,
and one node can copy the backup to tape.

For more information : http://www.polyserve.com/sql

Tomer Meshorer
Database Engineer
Polyserve





"David Liu" <david.z.liu (AT) moneris (DOT) com> wrote

SQL Server does not support multiple machine access to SQL Server database
files. This is a protection mechanism which ensures that processes from
different machines can not step on each other and introduce corruption into
the data files.

--

Mike
Principal Mentor
Solid Quality Learning
"More than just Training"
SQL Server MVP
http://www.solidqualitylearning.com
http://www.mssqlserver.com