February 9, 2010 at 8:40 am
Hi,
I currently have a 2 node cluster, sql 2005 standard edition. There are 4 installed sql server instances on this cluster, which have the one primary node, and one fail over node. Is it possible to add 2 more nodes to this cluster, and make the new 3 and 4 nodes a primary and failover nodes for 2 of the 4 sql instances installed here? The question was posed if this was a way to reduce the activity on the 1 and 2 nodes and not disrupt the configuration of the databases that reside in these instances.
So to better explain:
prod1 : sql1, sql2, sql3, sql4 instances
prod2 : failover for the 4 above.
create prod3 and prod4
add them to the cluster (not sure how install is achieved after the fact)
make prod3 the failover for sql3, and fail it over. Make 4 a failover for this as well. Change prod3 to be the primary for sql3. Repeat/
I'm not sure I have the terminology correct, but am looking to see if this thinking is sound based on the requests. This is MS clustering and not a 3rd party.
Bob
Not a downstroke, fistpicker
February 10, 2010 at 9:26 am
SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition only supports two nodes in a cluster - and I am not sure if that means it won't work.
However, I don't think you need to add any nodes in your configuration. As you are now, you have a single node hosting all instances. Why don't you move two of the instances over to the other node and set that node as primary?
Then, you have prod1 being used as primary for sql1 and sql2 and acting as failover for sql3 and sql4, and prod2 being used as primary for sql3 and sql4 and acting as failover for sql1 and sql2.
You also have to be aware of the licensing requirements. In your current configuration, if you failover a single instance you may in fact be in violation of your license agreement. Depends on how you have each instance licensed, or if you have purchased processor licenses for the cluster. If you have processor licenses, then all instances must failover to the other node unless that other node is independently licensed also.
You really need to take a look at that and talk to your licensing representative to make sure you are covered.
Jeffrey Williams
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
― Charles R. Swindoll
How to post questions to get better answers faster
Managing Transaction Logs
February 10, 2010 at 11:21 am
I'm not at all sure what the license model is, but I'll inquire with the MS rep. We do need the additional nodes, because of incoming systems, the current database system couldn't handle the load(it's often near 100% CPU and memory now). So breaking down the load onto 2 boxes would only help if we never failed over.
Is it possible to upgrade an existing standard edition install to enterprise? The Windows servers are Enterprise edition, just not the SQL install. What's a typical consideration in doing this, as we only have SE for the SQL Server installs.
The point was raised that it it was beneficial to have a 4 node cluster this way, rather than 2-2node clusters, when it came to moving database instances around and having to balance load, without having to reconfigure the applications that connect. I'm not sure it's worth the effort in complexity and the cost.
Bob
Not a downstroke, fistpicker
February 10, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Yes, you can upgrade to Enterprise Edition but you have to purchase new licenses. Enterprise Edition processor licenses are ~$20,000 per socket. A system with 4 quad core processors (16 CPU's) would cost around $80,000 per node.
If you are looking to scale-out this way, each node is going to have to be licensed. Per processor licensing allows for any number of instances on that node. So, moving from a system that is running all of your instances to a separate systems running single instances is going to require each node to be licensed. The only time you don't need to license a passive node - is if that passive node takes on the license of the active node in a failover scenario. In other words, if you leave an instance on node1 - failover an instance to node2, node2 is no longer considered a passive node and must be fully licensed.
Jeffrey Williams
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
― Charles R. Swindoll
How to post questions to get better answers faster
Managing Transaction Logs
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