Can anyone help me with the SQL Server consolidation

Question

I have a list of 123 servers and I need to consolidate few of this SQL servers on a cluster. Can anyone help me in detail the best way of going with it.

 

 

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Thanks & Regards, Madhuri

Answer 1

Are they all production servers? If some are Dev/Test etc is virtualisation an option? How many clusters do you want to consolidate to? How large are the databases? You will need to sit down and list all of the databases and their sizes and decide how to approach it. Are they all being used at the moment? If not the first step might be to decommission databases/instances that are no longer in use. There are many cluster configurations with single or multiple instances, also of course performance implications when you move databases from say 5 servers onto just one. Do you have SAN infrastructure already suitable for clustering?This is not an easy job since you have to consider the new hardware requirements once you have consolidated the servers. You need to start by analysing what you have, number of servers/instances/databases and their characteristics. What are the dependencies between them etc. I would start by documenting what you have including server details, instances, disk space requirements, growth, number of users per instance etc. Then take that and talk to the owners/users to decide how to proceed documenting as you go before putting together some plans.

 

Thanks

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/Neil Moorthy - Senior SQL Server DBA/Developer (MCITP (2005), MCAD, OCA 11g) Please click the Mark as Answer button if a post solves your problem

Answer 2

Thanks so much Neil for the reply. Here are the details you are looking for:

1. They are all production servers

2. The number of clusters it need to come down is not defined but should be reduced for sure probably between 100-110 servers.

3. Few servers are having around 8-9 databases and few around 30-40. The max size among them is around 228 Gigs (i guess)

4. The SAN infrastructure is not yet ready, will be decided on the number of DB's that would be hosted.

Do you have any plan or steps in place about how to move on with the mentioned details.

 

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Thanks & Regards, Madhuri

Answer 3

When you say should be reduced to 100-110 servers do you mean clusters? Or are you intending on setting up clusters with say 7 or 8 nodes and multiple instances? Your requirement here is to both reduce the number of servers and provide fail-over capabilities? Basically what is the reason for moving to clustered servers? You say you have 123 servers, how many applications are using these databases?

 

Thanks

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/Neil Moorthy - Senior SQL Server DBA/Developer (MCITP (2005), MCAD, OCA 11g) Please click the Mark as Answer button if a post solves your problem

Answer 4

Yes I mean 100-110 clustered physical servers and yes we need to reduce the servers and also provide the failover capabilities. I am not very sure of the number but can try to get that for you but what is it to do with how many applications?

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Thanks & Regards, Madhuri