There are some big differences between clustering and database mirroring. Clustering requires running Microsoft approved storage hardware and must be iSCSI or fiber channel. That imposes a physical distance limitation between the two servers.
With mirroring, you only need an IP connection between them. You could actually have one on the East Coast and the other on the West Coast or somewhere in between so geographic diversity / location redundancy is possible whereas clustering implies both servers are in the same data center let alone the same city, state, locale. Mirroring is actually much easier to setup than clustering. Just a few quick clicks on setup/configuration and it's done. The witness server is optional. The concept is similar to clustering with MNV (majority node voting). The witness or 3rd server is needed to avoid deadlock if there is a comm. link failure between two servers each could declare itself the primary and the other dead so the witness is needed to resolve the deadlock. That's why auto-failure requires a witness server. Without a witness server, you have manual failover because a human is required to determine which server has failed and whether to force a fail over to the second server. ---- Robert E. Spivack VP Sales & Marketing Voicegateway.com Web Services / SPIV Technologies Group (408) 834-8560 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sanford Whiteman Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 8:43 PM To: Robert E. Spivack Subject: Re[8]: [Declude.JunkMail] OT: Clustering solution > Not correct. Database mirroring is supported in Std Edition, but you > need two licenses. Hmm, the Hor$e's Mouth disagrees: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/passive-server-failover-support.ms px > The third server, the "witness" server can be an XP OS and SQL > Server 2005 Express (Free version) can be used on the witness server > since it does a crucial function but doesn't do any heavy > processing. A regrettably complex architecture, compared to the simplicity of clustering. Kind of crazy, actually. Seems perhaps you can run the witness server as a different instance, or at least in a VM, instead of ponying up for a 3rd piece of hardware... ? Yuck, no matter what. > And of course, you need to be using the new SQL server 2005 native > client libraries on the client stations for transparent/automatic > failover. Sounds like another reason this is not necessarily implementable in full, depending on your client layout, fixed commercial applications, and so on. BUT overall, we're comparing apples and oranges. OP (Serge) is talking about clustering Hyper File (the proprietary WINDEV back end), which means he needs an application-agnostic solution: Double-Take, eCluster, Microsoft clusters, etc. --Sandy ------------------------------------ Sanford Whiteman, Chief Technologist Broadleaf Systems, a division of Cypress Integrated Systems, Inc. e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SpamAssassin plugs into Declude! http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/SPAMC32/download/rel ease/ Defuse Dictionary Attacks: Turn Exchange or IMail mailboxes into IMail Aliases! http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/exchange2aliases/dow nload/release/ http://www.imprimia.com/products/software/freeutils/ldap2aliases/downloa d/release/ --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com. --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list. To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail". The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com.
