...your options for ‘High Availability’ with SQL
About JT..
I’m a SharePoint Admin. Working a
contract with FaHCSIA
 I am a SharePoint Technical engineer with
Extelligent Design
 With SharePoint since 2006.
 10+ years in Infrastructure, DR,
Networking
 I blog about SharePoint (IT Pro stuff).
www.jeremytaylor.net

Take-away for today..
Learn some DR concepts
 Learn to set up SQL database mirroring
 Know more about Log Shipping and
SQL Clustering
 Have something to take back to your
manager / team leader

What is HA?
A redundant system that provides a
service when the primary system fails.
 When this happens automatically, its
called Failover

What is DR?

Disaster Recovery – process, policies
and procedures related to preparing and
undergoing a recovery from a disaster
Some DR concepts
RTO – Recovery time objective. The
time you have to get the system up and
running after a disaster.
 RPO – Recovery point objective. The
maximum amount of data loss that’s
deemed acceptable in a disaster.

Data Centres DR solutions…

Hot standby - A second data center that
can provide availability within seconds or
minutes.

Warm standby - A second data center that
can provide availability within minutes or
hours.

Cold standby - A second data center that
can provide availability within hours or
days.
SharePoint DR ‘Pointers’
Know your environment
 Selecting the right tools for your
environment
 Know what to backup in
SharePoint/SQL
 Communicate with Management
 Highlight the risks
 Budget for your DR

SharePoint DR -Key areas for
Disaster Recovery
Physical architecture
 Logical architecture
 Configuration data
 Business data

Physical architecture
Storage: SAN, NAS
 Networking and Comms equipment
 Load balancers / Reverse Proxies
 Physical servers – SharePoint & SQL
 Essential AD and DNS services

Logical Architecture
IIS Application pools
 Web Applications
 Zones and AAMs
 Web application policies
 Site Collections & security
 Mysites
 Third party tools

Configuration Data
Service Application databases
 Web.config files for SharePoint Web
Applications
 IIS configuration files (IIS metabase)

Business Data
Content in SQL databases
 BLOB storage
 RBS provider

But what about HA?









Multiple data centres..
Load balancing..
SAN replication..
Virtual Storage..
Stretched farm..
Separate Standby farm..
Mirroring..
Log shipping..
Clustering..



All of the above?
It depends on your environment, budget, policies
There is no ‘One size fits all’ solution to this..
Recommended: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff628971.aspx
Lets explore some more..
Stretched Farm
Link between Data centres!
Database ‘layer’ could be:
Mirrored
Clustered
Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc748824.aspx
Separate Standby Farm
Link between Data centres!
Database ‘layer’ could be:
Async Mirrored
Log Shipped
HA Options with SQL
Database Mirroring
 Log Shipping
 SQL clustering

SQL Mirroring
SQL ‘pushing’ instantaneous updates to
its mirrored server.
 Databases are duplicated and can be
automatically failed over to the mirror.
 Unlike MOSS 2007, SharePoint 2010 is
‘mirroring-aware’

How to set up mirroring?

2 servers
 Principal
 Mirror







1 server for witness (optional)
Backup and restore in Full mode to mirror server with NO
RECOVERY option.
Backup and restore Transaction logs to mirror server.
Go to the ‘Configure Database Mirroring Security’ wizard
to create endpoints.
Choose your options
Start mirroring
Enable SharePoint databases to be ‘mirroring-aware’.
 PowerShell for Service applications and Content databases.
 Central Admin for Content databases.
Some considerations
Latency less than 1 millisecond
 Database recovery model: Full
 Database permissions: same rights
 Network bandwidth
 More mirrored databases consume
more threads = more logical processors

What SharePoint Databases can
be mirrored?



















Config Db – Yes
Admin Db – Yes.
Usage Db – not recommended. Can be recreated.
Business Connectivity Service (BCS) – yes
Subscriptions setting db – yes
Search Admin – yes
Search Crawl – yes
Search Property – yes
User Profile Application (UPA) Profile – no, not supported
User Profile Application (UPA) Sync – no, not supported
User Profile Application (UPA) Social – no, not supported
Web Analytics (WAN ) Staging – not supported
Web Analytics (WAN ) Reporting – yes
Word Automation Service (WAS) – yes
State – no
Managed Metadata Services (MMS) – yes
Secure Store Service (SSS) – yes
PerformancePoint Service (PPS) – yes
Application Registry Service – not recommended
What’s on Technet…
The supported topologies include:
 All content databases
 Configuration database
 Central Administration content database
 Service application databases
 Except for
 the Web Analytics Staging database and
 the User Profile Synchronization database.

Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd207314.aspx
Configuring Failover..
New Web Applications..
Existing Content databases..
Configuring Failover with PowerShell..
Get-Help New-SP……ServiceApplication -full
$db = get-spdatabase | where {$_.Name -eq "DEMOSP2010_Config"}
$db.AddFailoverServiceInstance("MIRROR")
$db.Update()
Demo: How to configure mirroring
SQL Mirroring Pros
Automatic failover option
 Independent
 Highly configurable
 Immediate replication
 Responsive
 Redundancy

SQL Mirroring Cons
One mirror per database
 No easy read-only option
 Performance impact (push)
 Dependence on latency
 Geographical limitation
 Inability to configure failover criteria

Log Shipping





Utilises backup and restore jobs of SQL
It’s a ‘Pull’ approach.
Transaction logs are replicated as per your
desired schedule
Primary, Secondary & Monitor (optional)
4 SQL server agent jobs –




Backup on primary server
Copy on secondary server
Restore on secondary server
Alert on secondary/monitor server
How to configure SQL Log
Shipping
2+1 Servers
 File Share
 Recovery Model – FULL or Bulk Logged
 SQL Server Agent – must be started!

How to configure Log Shipping:
Log Shipping - Job scheduling
Log Shipping - Monitor settings
Log Shipping – Secondary server
Secondary Db settings
Secondary Db settings
Set up monitor and grab your script..
What SharePoint Databases can
be logged shipped?
Config db – no
 Search – no
 Service Applications – yes, except some
 Content databases - yes

Read more: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff628971.aspx
Log Shipping Pros







Uses a pull strategy – little impact to
performance
Independent jobs – not tied to SharePoint.
Cost effective HA solution when compared to
using clustering in HA.
Read-only availability – no load on primary
farm
Multiple destinations (pull approach)
Geographic redundancy – not like database
mirroring or failover clustering
FILESTREAM compatibility – to a standby db
Log Shipping Cons
No automatic failover
 Latency
 Monitoring – may need to use SCOM
 Not a complete solution
 Errors and data loss – are replicated.

SQL Failover Clustering
Works on Windows Server 2008
clustering capabilities (Enterprise &
Datacenter editions).
 Minimum two servers for failover
 Intended to be used as a HA solution but
not completely fault tolerant.
 Run the Cluster Validation Tool (CVT).

SQL Clustering Pros
True automatic failover
 No interruption for maintenance
 Rapid failover
 Scalable – up to 16 server nodes
 Log shipping friendly

SQL Clustering Cons
Network requirements
 Storage requirements
 High Costs
 No Fault tolerance with shared storage

Management needs to know…








SharePoint DR is an extensive topic!
HA requires planning and expertise
Capacity Planning must be done from project
start and factor in HA options
Schedule (& budget) DR and HA tests every 612 months
Document and communicate the limitations of
your DR Procedures
Consult Microsoft for licensing
Remind the Managemrnt of Murphy’s law..
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong!
Some JT advice: Be paranoid! Be prepared!
Thank you!
Email: jeremy@jeremytaylor.net
 Twitter.com/jeremytaylor

Questions? Happy to chat with you
individually after the session…