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May 19, 2009

SQL Server Failover Clustering Now Supported Under Virtualization for Production Use! (And A Final TechEd Update)

Clustering Virtual Machines in Production
Yesterday (5/19/09), the KB article which details the support policy for SQL Server failover clusters was officially updated to include support for clustering guests/Virtual Machines … including in production. So anyone who talked to me at TechEd last week, I was right until yesterday 🙂

Now a couple of points which the KB does not say currently (and I hope it will):
1. Don’t put both of your guests under the same hypervisor. It makes no sense, and creates a single point of failure for both of your cluster nodes. Nothing will stop you from doing this since both of your guests have no idea they are virtual machines.
2. Don’t mix physical and virtual/guest nodes. Choose a single strategy. There is nothing that will prevent you from mixing node types, but it really makes no sense to me.

Remember that each of the virtual/guest nodes running under the hypervisor of your choice must also meet the requirements for Windows failover clustering as if they were nodes on physical hardware. That means they must have redundant everything, which goes back to my point #1.

Other helpful links which apply:
KB943984 The Microsoft Support Policy for Windows Server 2008 Failover Clusters
KB309395 The Microsoft support policy for server clusters, the Hardware Compatibility List, and the Windows Server Catalog (pre-Windows Server 2008)
KB327518 The Microsoft SQL Server support policy for Microsoft Clustering

This is all good timing as I am finishing up my book. It does make things a bit difficult as some chapters are done, but this will make it in one way or another.

TechEd Wrapup
It was a good week. Thanks to everyone who came to the booth and to my session. I do look and incorporate feedback from the sessions I do, so anyone who posted evaluations, it’s helpful.

The Tech Talk I did (Clustering Microsoft SQL Server 2008 with Windows Server 2008) is also posted, so have a look. It has some demos and is about 20 minutes long give or take.

May 12, 2009

The TechEd 2009 Update From Los Angeles #1

It’s the end of Day Two at TechEd 2009 in Los Angeles. I’m sitting here in my hotel room eating some dinner and catching up for the first time in a few days on some work and e-mails that I haven’t had the time to do since arriving at TechEd.

So far, it’s been a good two days. I’ve already taped two TechEd Online sessions (a panel, and a tech talk – both on clustering). The panel discussion, Planning a Windows Deployment for SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering, was just posted today and it came out well. It features Steven Ekren who is on the Windows Development team for clustering, Max Verun from the SQL Server development team, and myself. You can view the panel at: http://www.msteched.com/online/view.aspx?tid=6f3925e1-4b83-4f13-bb5f-4d69741916cb. There’s a lot of good stuff in there, and I hope you find it useful.

Speaker Idol is a lot of fun to judge; today was my first time sitting in this year’s competition (I did last year and was supposed to judge yesterday, but something came up). I’ll be judging the final two heats (tomorrow and Thursday) as well as the finals on Thursday night. Being a judge is also difficult. Everyone really is good, and the difference between the winner, runner up, and anyone else is usually pretty small. One or two things are usually the difference. Come the finals, it’ll be fun to see if the finalists incorporated any of our feedback, or just do what got them there. There is no right or wrong on that one. If you’re at TechEd, come by the Yellow TLC Theater at noon to see the final two rounds.

I’m also spending a lot of time in the DAT booth – more than I’m scheduled. Honestly, I really do enjoy interacting with everyone and answering questions. For those of you who have come by already, thanks! I hope you got as much out of it as I do talking with you. I’ll be there all week (although Friday AM I’ll be in the uprgade section, not the mission critical/HA one). Feel free to drop by. I will say this – it doesn’t matter how comfortable your shoes are. If you’re on your feet all day, you do feel it when you sit down and finally relax for a few minutes.

That’s the quick update. I hope to see more of you these next few days.

May 4, 2009

Major Milestone Completed Today

All primary writing for the new Pro SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering book is now complete. I still need to finish the editing process, but that's infinitely easier than writing! So it looks like the book will come out on time in June.

Maybe now I'll get some sleep … oh wait, TechEd is next week. So much for that idea!

April 30, 2009

My Complete TechEd Schedule

Below is my complete schedule for TechEd. I hope to see you at the panel and my session. Feel free to come by also when I’m working the DAT booth.

Monday, May 11
12 – 1PM Speaker Idol Judge
1 – 2 PM Panel Discussion – Planning a Windows Deployment for SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering (with Max Verun from the SQL Server Develeopment Team and Steven Ekren from the Windows Development Clustering Team) – Room 501C
2:30 – 6PM Answering questions in the Microsoft SQL Server booth

Tuesday, May 12
9:30 – 11:45AM Answering questions in the Microsoft SQL Server booth
12 – 1PM Speaker Idol Judge

Wednesday, May 13
12 – 1PM Speaker Idol Judge
3 – 6PM Answering questions in the Microsoft SQL Server booth

Thursday, May 14
12 – 1PM Speaker Idol Judge
1:30 – 4:45PM Answering questions in the Microsoft SQL Server booth
Evening – Speaker Idol Finals

I’ll also probably pick up the bass at some point during the jam session. Had two gigs this past weekend and it’ll be odd to go without playing for a week or so. Anyone else remember when they had them nearly every night in the older years of TechEd?

Friday, May 15
10AM – 12PM Answering questions in the Microsoft SQL Server booth
1 – 2:15PM DAT322 Tips and Tricks for Successful Database Mirroring Deployments with Microsoft SQL Server – Room 502A

April 30, 2009

Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate Hits TechNet and MSDN

In all of the buzz surrounding Windows 7, the server version (also known as Windows Server 2008 R2) also hit the web today. I’m downloading it right now. Unfortunately I’m at the close-to-final editing stage for my book so I’m not sure how much, if anything, I’ll be able to get in. Don’t worry, there is some R2 content and I’ll do some web-only revisions covering R2 (as well as some blog entries) to supplement the book.

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