"Isaac" <isaac.morton@onegreatfamily.com> wrote in message
news:1187717295.515354.289040@q4g2000prc.googlegroups.com...
> Hi there and thanks in advance,
>
> My ultimate goal is to get always-on redundancy for our ASP 2.0
> session state service for our web farm. I'm exploring off-the-shelf
> products like ScaleOut and Ncache, but I wanted to try the recommeded
> Microsoft method of just putting the session state data into an MSSQL
> cluster as well.
>
> Some Questions -
> Is there such an animal as an always on MSSQL cluster? Do all MSSQL
> clusters require some form of time for a fail-over event? Is it even
> possible to have a MSSQL MSCS cluster in which two servers actively
> provide SQL services redundantly with 0 down time should the active
> node fail or reboot?
>
> Setup -
> I've used information from the following URLs to help with my lab
> setup.
>
> Win2k3 clustering
> http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/clustering/cluster_server_2003_p1.aspx
>
> MSSQL 2005 clustering
> http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/clustering/cluster_sql_server_2005_p1.aspx
>
> MS ASP.net 2.0 Session State in SQLServer mode:
> http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178586.aspx
> http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t82157-how-to-configure-sql-server-session-state.html
>
> Hardware/Software in my lab
> Shared Storage Area:
> HP SAN - iSCSI target for the shared drives Q: (Quorum for MSCS)
> and S: (SQL Server area) Cluster Nodes:
> Clustered Nodes:
> 2 x Dell PE1950s, identical procs, RAM, HDDs, etc
> Win2k3 R2 Enterprise SP2
> MS iSCSI Initiator 2.04 (to connect to SAN)
> IIS 6.0
> ASP.net 2.0
> MSCS in active/passive mode
> MSSQL 2005 Standard installed onto the cluster
> MSSQL 2005 SP2 installed onto the cluster
> Hosts the ASPState DB for ASP 2.0x Client Server:
> Webserver (Client to the Cluster):
> Dell PE2650
> Win2k3 R2 Enterprise SP2
> IIS 6.0
> ASP.net 2.0
> Points to the clustered MSSQL Virtual Server's ASPState DB
>
> Testing/Observations -
> My setup functions perfectly with both nodes up and running. That is
> to say that my ASP.net 2.0 SQLServer session state works well. When I
> shut down the active node, the passive node becomes active and takes
> over all of the cluster resources (starts up SQL services). During the
> time that the resources are transferred over to the passive node, my
> website is totally down (which makes sense).
>
> Is there another MSSQL cluster method that literally provides 0
> downtime? Would it be an active/active setup? Would I have to use db
> mirroring and custom code? All servers will be in the same data
> center, so the majority node clustering didn't seem to be what I
> wanted, but I'm open to creative ideas.
>
> Thanks,
> -Isaac Morton
>

On Aug 21, 11:56 am, "gigel" <gi...@chidu.net> wrote:
> Isaac,
>
> MS cluster works beautifully, with close to 99.99% availability (that's
> about 1 hour downtime a year).
> All it's great until you have to apply os or sql service packs. At that
> momemt feels like you need a whole second cluster
> for fail-over.
>
> Gigel
>
> "Isaac" <isaac.mor...@onegreatfamily.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1187717295.515354.289040@q4g2000prc.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > Hi there and thanks in advance,
>
> > My ultimate goal is to get always-on redundancy for our ASP 2.0
> > session state service for our web farm. I'm exploring off-the-shelf
> > products like ScaleOut and Ncache, but I wanted to try the recommeded
> > Microsoft method of just putting the session state data into an MSSQL
> > cluster as well.
>
> > Some Questions -
> > Is there such an animal as an always on MSSQL cluster? Do all MSSQL
> > clusters require some form of time for a fail-over event? Is it even
> > possible to have a MSSQL MSCS cluster in which two servers actively
> > provide SQL services redundantly with 0 down time should the active
> > node fail or reboot?
>
> > Setup -
> > I've used information from the following URLs to help with my lab
> > setup.
>
> > Win2k3 clustering
> >http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/clustering/cluster_ser...
>
> > MSSQL 2005 clustering
> >http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/clustering/cluster_sql...
>
> > MS ASP.net 2.0 Session State in SQLServer mode:
> >http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178586.aspx
> >http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t82157-how-to-configure-sql-ser...
>
> > Hardware/Software in my lab
> > Shared Storage Area:
> > HP SAN - iSCSI target for the shared drives Q: (Quorum for MSCS)
> > and S: (SQL Server area) Cluster Nodes:
> > Clustered Nodes:
> > 2 x Dell PE1950s, identical procs, RAM, HDDs, etc
> > Win2k3 R2 Enterprise SP2
> > MS iSCSI Initiator 2.04 (to connect to SAN)
> > IIS 6.0
> > ASP.net 2.0
> > MSCS in active/passive mode
> > MSSQL 2005 Standard installed onto the cluster
> > MSSQL 2005 SP2 installed onto the cluster
> > Hosts the ASPState DB for ASP 2.0x Client Server:
> > Webserver (Client to the Cluster):
> > Dell PE2650
> > Win2k3 R2 Enterprise SP2
> > IIS 6.0
> > ASP.net 2.0
> > Points to the clustered MSSQL Virtual Server's ASPState DB
>
> > Testing/Observations -
> > My setup functions perfectly with both nodes up and running. That is
> > to say that my ASP.net 2.0 SQLServer session state works well. When I
> > shut down the active node, the passive node becomes active and takes
> > over all of the cluster resources (starts up SQL services). During the
> > time that the resources are transferred over to the passive node, my
> > website is totally down (which makes sense).
>
> > Is there another MSSQL cluster method that literally provides 0
> > downtime? Would it be an active/active setup? Would I have to use db
> > mirroring and custom code? All servers will be in the same data
> > center, so the majority node clustering didn't seem to be what I
> > wanted, but I'm open to creative ideas.
>
> > Thanks,
> > -Isaac Morton- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

"Isaac" wrote:

> Hi there and thanks in advance,
>
> My ultimate goal is to get always-on redundancy for our ASP 2.0
> session state service for our web farm. I'm exploring off-the-shelf
> products like ScaleOut and Ncache, but I wanted to try the recommeded
> Microsoft method of just putting the session state data into an MSSQL
> cluster as well.
>
> Some Questions -
> Is there such an animal as an always on MSSQL cluster? Do all MSSQL
> clusters require some form of time for a fail-over event? Is it even
> possible to have a MSSQL MSCS cluster in which two servers actively
> provide SQL services redundantly with 0 down time should the active
> node fail or reboot?
>
> Setup -
> I've used information from the following URLs to help with my lab
> setup.
>
> Win2k3 clustering
> http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/clustering/cluster_server_2003_p1.aspx
>
> MSSQL 2005 clustering
> http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/clustering/cluster_sql_server_2005_p1.aspx
>
> MS ASP.net 2.0 Session State in SQLServer mode:
> http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178586.aspx
> http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t82157-how-to-configure-sql-server-session-state.html
>
> Hardware/Software in my lab
> Shared Storage Area:
> HP SAN - iSCSI target for the shared drives Q: (Quorum for MSCS)
> and S: (SQL Server area) Cluster Nodes:
> Clustered Nodes:
> 2 x Dell PE1950s, identical procs, RAM, HDDs, etc
> Win2k3 R2 Enterprise SP2
> MS iSCSI Initiator 2.04 (to connect to SAN)
> IIS 6.0
> ASP.net 2.0
> MSCS in active/passive mode
> MSSQL 2005 Standard installed onto the cluster
> MSSQL 2005 SP2 installed onto the cluster
> Hosts the ASPState DB for ASP 2.0x Client Server:
> Webserver (Client to the Cluster):
> Dell PE2650
> Win2k3 R2 Enterprise SP2
> IIS 6.0
> ASP.net 2.0
> Points to the clustered MSSQL Virtual Server's ASPState DB
>
> Testing/Observations -
> My setup functions perfectly with both nodes up and running. That is
> to say that my ASP.net 2.0 SQLServer session state works well. When I
> shut down the active node, the passive node becomes active and takes
> over all of the cluster resources (starts up SQL services). During the
> time that the resources are transferred over to the passive node, my
> website is totally down (which makes sense).
>
> Is there another MSSQL cluster method that literally provides 0
> downtime? Would it be an active/active setup? Would I have to use db
> mirroring and custom code? All servers will be in the same data
> center, so the majority node clustering didn't seem to be what I
> wanted, but I'm open to creative ideas.
>
> Thanks,
> -Isaac Morton
>