What can mirroring do that SQL Server replication cannot

  • Hi,

    We have mirroring set up as part of DR solution. Since the database is highly used OLTP database, we dont really get a maintenance window to rebuild indexes. The fragmentation is at its high peak.

    We thought of replacing mirroring with replication (peer - peer), so that, we can do maintenance in one publisher while the other publisher takes active transactions.

    Now, I am aware replication is the right strategy for DR. However, if i go for this option, what will i miss? Mirroring mirrors what ever happens in the source. Is that the same for replication as well?

    Any comments on this is highly appreciated.. Thanks

  • Mirroring is HA, replication is data distribution.

    In P2P replication you have no primary/secondary or principal/mirror relationship between nodes.

    I highly discourage that approach.

    I would focus on the main problem: rebuilding indexes.

    Why do you need to rebuild indexes in the first place? Reorganize will do most of the time.

    Ola Hallengren has a very nice maintenance script that you could use to skip/reorganize/rebuild indexes based on their fragmentation level. You can find it here[/url].

    The script detects which edition you're running and tries to rebuild/reorganize indexes online, which could save you lots of blocking.

    Also, if you get highj fragmentation levels, your indexes are probably not optimal in terms of fillfactor or pad_index. Look into that first.

    -- Gianluca Sartori

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