Types of Clusters
Windows
2000 Advanced Server and Datacenter Server both provide Cluster Services
including Network Load Balancing and Fault Tolerance. SQL Server 2000 is a fully
"cluster aware" application that takes full advantage of the Fault Tolerant
services that are provided by Windows. However, SQL Server 2000 can't take
advantage of Network Load Balancing (or NLB). Network Load Balancing is designed
for services such as ISS, HTTP, FTP, etc.
Each server in a Fault Tolerant Cluster is referred to as a node. Each node in
the cluster must have access to a shared SCSI bus. Although each node's
operating system is located on the individual servers, the shared applications
(SQL Server in this case) are located on the SCSI bus that is accessible by all
the nodes in the cluster.
To determine when a node has failed, nodes
frequently send out what are called "heartbeat messages" to each other over the
network. In the event that heartbeat messages are no longer detected from a
specific node, the other servers in the cluster treat the node as failed and
transfer the services from the failed node to another node. The actual process
of detecting a failed node and transferring the services is a little more
complicated, but I could write a whole other article on just that topic (and I
may do just that, especially if anyone is interested).
There are two types of nodes in a Fault Tolerant Cluster:
- Primary Node: One per cluster
- Backup Node: One per cluster using Advanced Server or up to three if using
Datacenter Server
The Primary Node is the system that does all the "work" in the cluster. The
primary also controls the drives on the SCSI bus that contain the shared
application. Unlike the Primary Node, Backup Nodes are only standbys who check
to see if the Primary Node is still active. Backup Nodes have physical access to
the SCSI bus, but do not access the drives unless they become the Primary Node.
The configuration of one primary doing all the work with one or more standbys is
known as an Active/Passive configuration. If you are running large mission
critical applications that can't afford any downtime or loss of performance,
this is the configuration for you. However, to use an Active/Passive
configuration on a large system is very expensive.
If you don't like the idea of having one server doing nothing most of the time
or you can't afford all the servers you would need, you can use an Active/Active
configuration. An Active/Active configuration is more like an Active/Passive and
Passive/Active put together. In this configuration each server in the cluster
acts like a Primary Node controlling part of the shared SCSI bus and also acts
like a Backup Node. Using multiple instances of SQL Server you can then create a
load-balancing effect (but not true load balancing). The downside to an
Active/Active configuration is that in the event that one node fails, the backup
node must perform the work of both nodes. This can result in degradation of
performance especially if you don't have the hardware needed to support both
applications on one server.
I have just scratched the surface on clustering.
Clustering is a neat topic and if you would like to learn more have a look at
the following links:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/planning/server/clustersteps.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/howitworks/cluster/clusterarch.asp
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