For what it's worth (and not answering your main question), automated failover can be more dangerous than manual failover depending on the circumstances. For example, we have a wonderful High Availability VMWare infrastructure here, but I still have not implemented automatic failover - rather my team waits for a recommendation from the VMWare monitors and then fires off the failover manually if required, only if the situation has been confirmed. This is because it is entirely possible for a false "server down" signal to be generated (although rare) which would instigate the failover, and you then have the added problem of failing back and syncing any new data. If the systems are fully monitored and you can stand a few minutes downtime in the case of a server failure, then manual works well. Of course, your failover process needs to be "touch of a button" :-)
Andy. Andy Crellin Technical Services Manager Leonard Cheshire Disability Telephone: 01904 479200 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Jonathan Link [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 18 September 2008 21:37 To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: MS SQL Server Failover/Replication scenarios We have a client that handles lots of data. I can't be more descriptive of that because of the environment we're in. I need a good primer on MS SQL Server failover and replication. Right now, their vendor is using log shipping to replicate data between their main site and their DR site. My understanding of log shipping and the client makes me suspect that there is a large potential for data loss. There is a lot of information I don't know and what I really need is a good place to start reading so I don't end up asking stupid questions of the client and their vendor. For example, I don't know what the interval is. I know that the client didn't want automated failover (not sure why, yet), Any tips you could provide me to get started besides the typical google search, which I am undertaking while composing this email would be extremely helpful. Internet communications are not secure and therefore Leonard Cheshire Disability does not accept any liability for the content of this message. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Leonard Cheshire Disability. If you have received this transmission in error, please contact the sender and delete it immediately. Leonard Cheshire Disability is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England no: 552847, and a registered charity no: 218186 (England & Wales) and no: SC005117 (Scotland) VAT no: 899 3223 75. Registered office: 66 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1RL. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
