December 15, 2013 at 6:56 pm
Hi,
I am hoping someone might be able to help me: Under a SQL 2012 Standard edition:
1) Can you configure Always On in a non-clustered configuration and just have a concept of manually failing over (in other words a DR solution rather than high availability, and would that be superior to log shipping)?
1a) In the above scenario, can the secondary be passive and therefore not need to be individually licensed?
2) If you have a two-node clustered configuration for automatic failover, is the secondary replica considered active and therefore required to be licenced?
If you could please avoid replying with a link to the MS licensing guide that would be appreciated because I've studied these at length and am still hazy 😀
Many Thanks,
December 16, 2013 at 1:03 am
SQL 2012 standard edition does not support Always On, you need enterprise edition.
You also need to have a cluster.http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff878487.aspx
As I understand it (which may be incorrect), passive nodes do not require a licence (however if you offload any processing / backups / etc then a licence is required). That's the same it's always been with failover clustering.
December 16, 2013 at 7:07 am
signal runner (12/15/2013)
Hi,I am hoping someone might be able to help me: Under a SQL 2012 Standard edition:
Standard edition itself does have AO support constraints as follows;
Alwayson Availability groups
Standard Edition Yes (Node support: 2)
signal runner (12/15/2013)
1) Can you configure Always On in a non-clustered configuration and just have a concept of manually failing over (in other words a DR solution rather than high availability, and would that be superior to log shipping)?
No, Always On utilises the Windows Server Failover Cluster APIs, all nodes must be a part of the same Windows cluster. Cross cluster AO groups are currently supported for migration purposes only.
signal runner (12/15/2013)
1a) In the above scenario, can the secondary be passive and therefore not need to be individually licensed?
The guide states a secondary node does not require licensing if it is truly passive. However, utilising your secondary replica for reporting or backup offload renders it active and it will require a valid SQL Server licence. This is detailed below
Microsoft Licensing Reference Guide
AlwaysOn Availability GroupsNew for the SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition, AlwaysOn Availability Groups enable customers to configure
multiple databases that will failover as a unit, with support for up to four active secondary servers and two
synchronous secondary servers. The ability to use secondary servers for more than just passive failover support
can improve the performance of primary, reporting and backup workloads due to better balancing of workloads
across instances, helping to provide better return on hardware investment.
Note: When secondary servers are actively used to support these additional workload scenarios—that is, when
the servers used for failover purposes are no longer truly passive—they must be fully licensed accordingly.
signal runner (12/15/2013)
2) If you have a two-node clustered configuration for automatic failover, is the secondary replica considered active and therefore required to be licenced?
The guide states it will only require licensing if it becomes active or is used for reporting\backup offload. Check with your Microsoft rep to be certain though.
Be aware, If you use a failover clustered instance of SQL Server as a replica in an AlwaysOn group it will not support automatic failover.
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
December 16, 2013 at 12:11 pm
Excellent thanks Perry!
December 16, 2013 at 9:18 pm
As I understand it, Always On Availability groups required SQL2012 enterprise edition, 'Always On' Failover Clustering is supported in SQL2012 standard edition.
December 17, 2013 at 12:09 am
Andrew G (12/16/2013)
As I understand it, Always On Availability groups required SQL2012 enterprise edition, 'Always On' Failover Clustering is supported in SQL2012 standard edition.
Sorry, yes my bad.
Failover cluster instances support two nodes on std edition, alwayson groups are ent feature only
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"Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉
December 17, 2013 at 12:09 pm
Yes understood. It seems MS have managed to cause fairly widespread confusion over that :rolleyes:
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