"Geoff N. Hiten" wrote:

> For clustering the machines need to be purchased and configured as a
> cluster. Identical machines are not enough. And there is no way around the
> multi-access storage system (SAN).
>
> --
> Geoff N. Hiten
> Senior Database Administrator
> Microsoft SQL Server MVP
>
>
>
>
> "Marty Shifflett" <MartyShifflett@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> message news:F6323540-9459-4676-8BF8-D5341B9EB82E@microsoft.com...
> > The two servers are totally identical, but I do not have any common SAN
> > for
> > them to share. Is there a way around that? If not, it sounds like
> > database
> > mirroring is the best best.
> >
> > Thanks Geoff!
> >
> > "Geoff N. Hiten" wrote:
> >
> >> Clusters must have multiple-access locally connected storage. You can't
> >> use
> >> a file server or a NAS box as storage for a cluster.
> >>
> >> Clusters must also be purchased as a cluster, not piecemeal, or they are
> >> unsupported and likely to cause a LOT of trouble.
> >>
> >> Clusters failover and entire SQL Server, mirroring fails over a single
> >> database.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> "Marty Shifflett" <MartyShifflett@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> >> message news:3F2411E6-6FA7-4142-A002-1F8CC27847EE@microsoft.com...
> >> >I have posted this once before but I cannot find the thread for some
> >> >reason.
> >> > I have a client that I am going to be doing some colo hosting for. He
> >> > has
> >> > two brand new servers. He has not bought any operating systems as of
> >> > yet
> >> > and
> >> > will also need SQL Server. The only thing these will be used for is
> >> > housing
> >> > SQL databases for scheduled web data collection and reporting. I have
> >> > read
> >> > until I am almost cross-eyed but still cannot figure out if I should go
> >> > with
> >> > clustering or just do database mirroring within SQL. I have another
> >> > server
> >> > which could be used as the witness for mirroring, as well as the file
> >> > server
> >> > for external storage for a cluster. Can anyone lead me in the best
> >> > direction? Let me know if you have more questions.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks,
> >> > Marty
> >>
> >>
>