InfoScale™ 9.0 Storage Foundation and High Availability Solutions HA and DR Solutions Guide for Microsoft SQL Server - Windows
- Section I. Getting started with Storage Foundation and High Availability Solutions for SQL Server
- Introducing SFW HA and the VCS agents for SQL Server
- About the Veritas InfoScale solutions for monitoring SQL Server
- How application availability is achieved in a physical environment
- How is application availability achieved in a VMware virtual environment
- Managing storage using VMware virtual disks
- Modifying the ESXDetails attribute
- How VCS monitors storage components
- Shared storage - if you use NetApp filers
- Shared storage - if you use SFW to manage cluster dynamic disk groups
- Shared storage - if you use Windows LDM to manage shared disks
- Non-shared storage - if you use SFW to manage dynamic disk groups
- Non-shared storage - if you use Windows LDM to manage local disks
- Non-shared storage - if you use VMware storage
- What must be protected in an SQL Server environment
- About the VCS agents for SQL Server
- About the VCS agent for SQL Server Database Engine
- About the VCS agent for SQL Server FILESTREAM
- About the VCS GenericService agent for SQL Server Agent service and Analysis service
- About the agent for MSDTC service
- About the monitoring options
- Typical SQL Server configuration in a VCS cluster
- Typical SQL Server disaster recovery configuration
- SQL Server sample dependency graph
- MSDTC sample dependency graph
- Deployment scenarios for SQL Server
- Workflows in the Solutions Configuration Center
- Reviewing the active-passive HA configuration
- Reviewing the prerequisites for a standalone SQL Server
- Reviewing a standalone SQL Server configuration
- Reviewing the MSDTC configuration
- VCS campus cluster configuration
- Reviewing the campus cluster configuration
- VCS Replicated Data Cluster configuration
- Reviewing the Replicated Data Cluster configuration
- About setting up a Replicated Data Cluster configuration
- Disaster recovery configuration
- Reviewing the disaster recovery configuration
- Notes and recommendations for cluster and application configuration
- Configuring the storage hardware and network
- Configuring disk groups and volumes for SQL Server
- About disk groups and volumes
- Prerequisites for configuring disk groups and volumes
- Considerations for a fast failover configuration
- Considerations for converting existing shared storage to cluster disk groups and volumes
- Considerations when creating disks and volumes for campus clusters
- Considerations for volumes for a Volume Replicator configuration
- Considerations for disk groups and volumes for multiple instances
- Sample disk group and volume configuration
- MSDTC sample disk group and volume configuration
- Viewing the available disk storage
- Creating a dynamic disk group
- Adding disks to campus cluster sites
- Creating volumes for high availability clusters
- Creating volumes for campus clusters
- About managing disk groups and volumes
- Configuring the cluster using the Cluster Configuration Wizard
- Installing SQL Server
- About installing and configuring SQL Server
- About installing multiple SQL Server instances
- Verifying that the SQL Server databases and logs are moved to shared storage
- About installing SQL Server for high availability configuration
- About installing SQL Server on the first system
- About installing SQL Server on additional systems
- Creating a SQL Server user-defined database
- Completing configuration steps in SQL Server
- Introducing SFW HA and the VCS agents for SQL Server
- Section II. Configuring SQL Server in a physical environment
- Configuring SQL Server for failover
- Tasks for configuring a new server for high availability
- Tasks for configuring an existing server for high availability
- About configuring the SQL Server service group
- Configuring the service group in a non-shared storage environment
- Verifying the SQL Server cluster configuration
- About the modifications required for tagged VLAN or teamed network
- Tasks for configuring MSDTC for high availability
- Configuring an MSDTC Server service group
- About configuring the MSDTC client for SQL Server
- About the VCS Application Manager utility
- Viewing DTC transaction information
- Modifying a SQL Server service group to add VMDg and MountV resources
- Determining additional steps needed
- Configuring campus clusters for SQL Server
- Configuring Replicated Data Clusters for SQL Server
- Tasks for configuring Replicated Data Clusters
- Creating the primary system zone for the application service group
- Creating a parallel environment in the secondary zone
- Setting up security for Volume Replicator
- Setting up the Replicated Data Sets (RDS)
- Configuring a RVG service group for replication
- Creating the RVG service group
- Configuring the resources in the RVG service group for RDC replication
- Configuring the IP and NIC resources
- Configuring the VMDg or VMNSDg resources for the disk groups
- Modifying the DGGuid attribute for the new disk group resource in the RVG service group
- Configuring the VMDg or VMNSDg resources for the disk group for the user-defined database
- Adding the Volume Replicator RVG resources for the disk groups
- Linking the Volume Replicator RVG resources to establish dependencies
- Deleting the VMDg or VMNSDg resource from the SQL Server service group
- Configuring the RVG Primary resources
- Configuring the primary system zone for the RVG service group
- Setting a dependency between the service groups
- Adding the nodes from the secondary zone to the RDC
- Adding the nodes from the secondary zone to the RVG service group
- Configuring secondary zone nodes in the RVG service group
- Configuring the RVG service group NIC resource for fail over (VMNSDg only)
- Configuring the RVG service group IP resource for failover
- Configuring the RVG service group VMNSDg resources for fail over
- Adding nodes from the secondary zone to the SQL Server service group
- Configuring the zones in the SQL Server service group
- Configuring the application service group IP resource for fail over (VMNSDg only)
- Configuring the application service group NIC resource for fail over (VMNSDg only)
- Verifying the RDC configuration
- Additional instructions for GCO disaster recovery
- Configuring disaster recovery for SQL Server
- Tasks for configuring disaster recovery for SQL Server
- Tasks for setting up DR in a non-shared storage environment
- Guidelines for installing Arctera InfoScale Enterprise and configuring the cluster on the secondary site
- Verifying your primary site configuration
- Setting up your replication environment
- Assigning user privileges (secure clusters only)
- About configuring disaster recovery with the DR wizard
- Cloning the storage on the secondary site using the DR wizard (Volume Replicator replication option)
- Creating temporary storage on the secondary site using the DR wizard (array-based replication)
- Installing and configuring SQL Server on the secondary site
- Cloning the service group configuration from the primary site to the secondary site
- Configuring the SQL Server service group in a non-shared storage environment
- Configuring replication and global clustering
- Creating the replicated data sets (RDS) for Volume Replicator replication
- Creating the Volume Replicator RVG service group for replication
- Configuring the global cluster option for wide-area failover
- Verifying the disaster recovery configuration
- Adding multiple DR sites (optional)
- Recovery procedures for service group dependencies
- Configuring DR manually without the DR wizard
- Testing fault readiness by running a fire drill
- About disaster recovery fire drills
- About the Fire Drill Wizard
- About post-fire drill scripts
- Tasks for configuring and running fire drills
- Prerequisites for a fire drill
- Preparing the fire drill configuration
- System Selection panel details
- Service Group Selection panel details
- Secondary System Selection panel details
- Fire Drill Service Group Settings panel details
- Disk Selection panel details
- Hitachi TrueCopy Path Information panel details
- HTCSnap Resource Configuration panel details
- SRDFSnap Resource Configuration panel details
- Fire Drill Preparation panel details
- Running a fire drill
- Re-creating a fire drill configuration that has changed
- Restoring the fire drill system to a prepared state
- Deleting the fire drill configuration
- Considerations for switching over fire drill service groups
- Configuring SQL Server for failover
About Fire Drill Wizard operations in a Hitachi TrueCopy or EMC SRDF environment
The Fire Drill Wizard performs the following basic operations in all replication environments:
Prepares for the fire drill by creating a fire drill service group on the secondary site
Runs the fire drill by bringing the fire drill service group online on the secondary site
Restores the fire drill configuration by taking the fire drill service group offline
Deletes the fire drill service group and any associated registry entries
See About the Fire Drill Wizard.
In Hitachi TrueCopy or EMC SRDF replication environments, the Fire Drill Wizard performs the following additional actions during preparation, running of the fire drill, restoring the configuration, and deleting the configuration. You must configure the ShadowImage (for Hitachi) or BCV (for SRDF) pairs before running the wizard.
When preparing the fire drill configuration, the wizard does the following:
In the fire drill service group, the wizard creates HTCSnap or SRDFSnap resources for each HTC and SRDF resource in the application service group. It links the fire drill service group to the corresponding application service group.
In an HTC or SRDF environment, the wizard configures the Snap resource and sets the following attributes to the value 1, which indicates:
UseSnapshot: Take a local snapshot of the target array.
RequireSnapshot: Require a successful snapshot for the Snap resource to come online.
MountSnapshot: Use the snapshot to bring the fire drill service group online.
In an EMC SRDF environment, the wizard sets the following attribute values:
It sets CopyMode to one of the following, which indicates:
Mirror: Use the TimeFinder Mirror technology to create snapshots.
Clone: Use the TimeFinder Clone technology to create snapshots.
Snap: Use the TimeFinder Snap technology to create snapshots.
When the TimeFinder Clone technology is used, it sets UseTgt to one of the following, which indicates:
0: Use BCV devices to create snapshots.
1: Use STD devices to create snapshots.
When the TimeFinder Snap technology is used, if a custom save pool area name is specified, it sets SavePoolName accordingly. The specified save pool area is used to create snapshots.
If no value is specified on the SRDFSnap Resource Configuration panel, the default save pool area is used.
For information about the actual procedure:
See Preparing the fire drill configuration.
When running the fire drill, the wizard brings the HTCSnap or SRDFSnap agent online. The HTCSnap or SRDFSnap agent manage the replication and mirroring functionality according to the attribute settings. The Snap agents take a consistent snapshot of the replicating data using the snapshot or mirroring technology provided by the array vendor. The Snap agents also import the disk group present on the snapshot devices with a different name.
In more detail, the Snap agent does the following:
Suspends replication to get a consistent snapshot
For HTCSnap, takes a snapshot of the replicating application data on a ShadowImage device
For SRDFSnap, takes a snapshot of the replicating application data on a BCV, STD, or VDEV device
Resumes replication
Modifies the disk group name in the snapshot
For information about the actual procedure:
See Running a fire drill.
When restoring the fire drill configuration to a prepared state, the wizard takes the fire drill service group offline, thereby taking the SRDF and HTC Snap agents offline.
This action reattaches the hardware mirrors to the replicating secondary devices and resynchronizes them.
For information about the actual procedure:
See Restoring the fire drill system to a prepared state.
When deleting the fire drill configuration, the wizard does the following:
Delinks the fire drill service group from the corresponding application service group.
Deletes the fire drill service group
Deletes any associated registry entries
If you want to remove the hardware mirrors, you must do so manually.
For information about the actual procedure:
See Deleting the fire drill configuration.
For more information about the Hitachi TrueCopy Snap agent functions, see Cluster Server Hardware Replication Agent for Hitachi TrueCopy Configuration Guide.
For more information about the EMC SRDF Snap agent functions, see Cluster Server Hardware Replication Agent for EMC SRDF Configuration Guide.