PostT-SQL Tuesday #202 – That One SQL Server Outage I’ll Never Forget

It’s T-SQL Tuesday,  the blog party that SQL Server expert Adam Machanic started. This month’s episode is hosted by Marlon Ribunal (blog | Twitter). The topic: That One SQL Server Outage You’ll Never Forget. As a high availability and disaster recovery expert, I’ve had a front-row seat on the outages that my customers experienced, many of them mind-boggling. But […]

PostAlways On Availability Groups and Windows Server Failover Clustering Internals

I’ve had the opportunity to speak at the EightKB virtual conference and talk about a topic that I spent decades trying to learn.   The goal of EightKB is to provide high value, highly technical content that focuses on what makes SQL Server work.   And since my area of expertise is on high availability […]

Post3 Reasons To Register for my SQL Server Always On Failover Clustered Instance: The Senior DBA’s Ultimate Field Guide Training

  The SQL Server Always On Failover Clustered Instance: The Senior DBA’s Ultimate Field Guide course was created in an attempt to help SQL Server DBAs and server administrators responsible for SQL Server Failover Clustered Instances (FCI) become more confident in what they do.   This idea dawned on me as I was talking to customers who are unnecessarily […]

PostThe Biggest Challenge I Had in Mastering Windows Server Failover Clustering for SQL Server

  With the continuous improvement that Microsoft has invested in the WSFC technology over the years, implementing and managing it has become a lot easier. I started doing my Gone Clustering in 60 Minutes presentation back in 2010. And I’m still amazed at how much it has improved. But I still talk about the frustrating hardware compatibility […]

PostThe SQL Server DBA’s Guide to Windows Server Failover Clustering: The Engine Under the Hood – Part 2

In Part 2 of this blog post series, you’ve seen the interaction between SQL Server and the Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC). In Part 3, you’ve seen the different WSFC components that make Always On Availability Groups (AG) highly available.   If SQL Server and the WSFC need to coordinate and communicate consistently to stay […]

PostThe SQL Server DBA’s Guide to Windows Server Failover Clustering: The Engine Under the Hood – Part 1

“How can you expect to fix the engine if you don’t even know how it works?” – my friendly neighborhood car mechanic.   My 20-year old Nissan X-Trail has been misbehaving recently.   I can understand that, given how old it is, it has served it’s purpose.   But, no. It still drives great and […]

PostThe SQL Server DBA’s Guide to Windows Server Failover Clustering: The Interaction From a 10,000-ft View

I’ve always wanted to become a pilot ever since I was a kid. It’s one of the reasons I love traveling.   I finally decided to pursue my childhood dream and scheduled an introductory flight. And it was a blast.     There were preliminary lessons before we got on the plane. Not a full […]

PostThe SQL Server DBA’s Guide to Windows Server Failover Clustering: Introduction

Ever wonder what goes on under-the-hood when you deploy a SQL Server Always On Availability Groups (AGs) for high availability?   I’ve been writing about AGs since it was introduced in 2012. Back when there wasn’t a lot of documentation available about the feature, we relied on direct interaction with the product team and conversations […]