Sign in
Microsoft.com
 
Microsoft
 
 
 

locked
What will be the most affordable way to practice SQL Server HA topics? RRS feed

 > 

  • Question

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    Hi all,

    based on http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam.aspx?ID=70-432

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506(v=sql.100).aspx

    as the exam involves HA topics,

    what is the minimum setup required to get hands on topics relating to mirroring, log shipping, replication and clustering. 

    please correct me if I'm wrong, mirroring, and log shipping, replication are on db level, so in that case we can use 2 VM for this.

    but for clustering it is on server level, so we need to use another 2VM, right

    how should we set up the VM? how much disk space is required?

    what should be the virtualization technology that we should use?

    based on http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506(v=sql.100).aspx


    Hard Disk Space Requirements (32-Bit and 64-Bit)

    would require a max of 240 MB

    but how about the overall disk requirements? how should we partitioned the virtual disk?

    What must be the minimum number of VMs that I need to purchase for practicising HA topics for 70-432?

    Would appreciate if you could share your thoughts on the most affordable way to learn SQL Server 2008 Administration

    thanks a lot!
    Friday, July 26, 2013 4:05 PM

Answers

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    please correct me if I'm wrong, mirroring, and log shipping, replication are on db level, so in that case we can use 2 VM for this

    In fact, for this purpose it is enough to use _one_ VM. You can install two or three instances of sql server (the third one is a Witness for Mirroring) and perform the operations between the instances.

    However, clustering is quite more complex. You can cluster two VMs under Hyper-V (or VMWare), but it is going to take significant effort. If you were interested in SQL Server 2012 instead of 2008, I would suggest the Technet Virtual Labs, which run on VMs provisioned by Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/learning-center/virtual-labs.aspx. In particular, the labs titled "Introduction to SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups" and "implementing and Managing AlwaysOn Availability Groups." demonstrate HA on SQL Server 2012. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, their equivalents for SQL Server 2008 are no longer available.

    If your only goal is to prepare for 70-432, then you don't actually need to install a cluster. You can pass the exam by just reading the main topics in the manual. In fact, Microsoft Official Course 6231B only provides labs for mirroring, log shipping and replication. Clustering is covered in the lessons, but the VMs from the course do not provide for clustering.

    Friday, July 26, 2013 7:15 PM