New SQL Cluster

At work, we added a new voice mail system that relies on an MS SQL database to hold information about the users (name, extension, etc.). The current SQL 2000 server runs on a single server (Windows 2000) and is also the server on which my data warehouse resides. That’s just not acceptable. I need higher availability because if the server is down the voicemail won’t work.

I spoke with my boss about setting up a cluster. I gave him all the reasons why (like availability and future growth) and he approved the purchase of two new Dell PowerEdge 6850 servers! The servers will connect to an existing Dell SAN. The SAN storage will have three LUN’s designated for the cluster: data files, transaction log files and the quorum file (one LUN for each; F, G and H drives).

What is the configuration of the servers? Each one will have:

Two (2) 3.0GHz dual-core Xeon processors
8 GB of DDR2 400MHZ RAM
Two 73 GB drives (15K RPM), setup as RAID 1. This is where the OS (Windows 2003 Enterprise) will reside.
Three (3) 36 GB (15K RPM) drives setup as a RAID 5. This is where the program files for SQL 2000 will be stored.

Oh yes, there will be power.

We are planning on consolidating all the databases we have onto the clustered SQL instance once it is up. We have about 10 different databases but only 2 or 3 are constantly being accessed every day. This will also ease management because we won’t have to connect to different servers in order to admin different databases.

The more humanity advances, the more it is degraded. - Gustave Flaubert

05.Apr.06 General, Technology