SHAREPOINT 2010 HA OPTIONS

...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..

$db = get-spdatabase | where {$_.Name -eq "DEMOSP2010_Config"}$db.AddFailoverServiceInstance("MIRROR")$db.Update()

Get-Help New-SP……ServiceApplication -full

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 serverCopy on secondary serverRestore on secondary serverAlert 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 6-12

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!

Questions? Happy to chat with you individually after the session…

Email: jeremy@jeremytaylor.net Twitter.com/jeremytaylor