Failover Cluster vs Database mirroring vs Log Shipping vs Data Replication?

Question

Just wanted to learn more about the differences between the implementation scenarios for each of these technologies.

Looking for some simple parameters or data points for comparision between each of them, that can be used to differentiate each of these concepts in form of a chart.

Also, are all of these to be used togther, or in some combinations, or is it like using any of these can provide high availability?

Answer 1

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187016.aspx

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Best Regards, Uri Dimant SQL Server MVP http://dimantdatabasesolutions.blogspot.com/ http://sqlblog.com/blogs/uri_dimant/

Answer 2

Thanks a lot for quick response Uri.

The information available on the provided is really helpful.

But i am looking for even more concised form for all the concepts, may be a simple table as shown below:

Differentiating factor	Failover Cluster	Database mirroring	Log Shipping	Data Replication	AlwaysOn
Number of Destination Servers	-	One	More than one	-	-
Other factors

Answer 3

The closest thing that i got so far is : http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sqldatabasemirroring/thread/668034ed-a47e-4bd3-bedc-acf9cb2b11dc 

Answer 4

Just wanted to learn more about the differences between the implementation scenarios for each of these technologies.

Looking for some simple parameters or data points for comparision between each of them, that can be used to differentiate each of these concepts in form of a chart.

Also, are all of these to be used togther, or in some combinations, or is it like using any of these can provide high availability?

This one is about database mirroring: 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc917680.aspx

As you can see you'll have to extend your table as there are options how to configure it. Also you may wish to read another thread where this topic has been discussed recently:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqldisasterrecovery/thread/7fe92bca-393e-4408-b1a3-191eb9401675

Hope it will save you some time :)

-nismo

Answer 5

As the many articles posted so far might tell you: There are a lot of things to consider with those technologies, and in the end, they are very different. If you can give us specific scenarios it would be easier for us to help you point out the important differences in those cases...

Answer 6

Database Mirroring Vs Log Shipping  http://sqldbpool.com/2010/02/15/database-mirroring-vs-log-shipping/

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Answer 7

Our datacenter is built on VMWare vSphere technology and they told us machine level failover is taken care in this setup.

Ok so I dont need a redudnant sql box but what about data redundancy? Should we use Mirroring or just rely on Replicated SAN?

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Regards, Mahesh

Answer 8

Our datacenter is built on VMWare vSphere technology and they told us machine level failover is taken care in this setup.

Ok so I dont need a redudnant sql box but what about data redundancy? Should we use Mirroring or just rely on Replicated SAN?

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Regards, Mahesh

Do you mean you've configured Fault Tolerance for SQL server VMs? If it's not FT and only HA your customers are expected to have service downtime in case of unexpected hardware failure. Database mirroring is good if you have SQL database put on DAS. If you have everythig running on SAN then HA SAN is the way to go.

-nismo

Answer 9

Hello PrinceLucifer,

Actually i am trying to put a framework, using which any end customer or analyst can identify the most suitable option for his scenario.

So i need to identify and include all possible scenarios into a single table.

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Vishal Soni