Can AlwaysOn Host and Guest be on 2 different sql server instances on the same server?

Question

Can I have a database be a Primary and have a Alwayson copy of it on the same server on another sql server instance?

Thank you

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Gokhan Varol

Answer 1

I don't think this would not be supported as each host has to be part of a Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC)  Here is a link to prerequisites for using AlwaysOn http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff878487.aspx  There is a note on this link that says "A WSFC node can host only one availability replica for a given availability group. On a given WSFC node, one or more instances of SQL Server can host availability replicas for many availability groups."

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Answer 2

Thank you Chad. By the way the book you gave me (I asked too many questions) about BI (actually not the book, I did not get to read but the videos that it came with) was awesome

Thank you again :-)

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Gokhan Varol

Answer 3

Also here is a great site my Allan Hirt with a FAQ section for Availability Groups

http://www.sqlha.com/2012/04/13/allans-alwayson-availability-groups-faq/

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Answer 4

You are welcome, glad you found it beneficial. 

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Convert DTS to SSIS | Document SSIS | 30+ SSIS Tasks | Real-time SSIS Monitoring | Quick Starts | BI Blitz

Answer 5

Found some more reference for you.  From BOL

"Deploying AlwaysOn Availability Groups requires a Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) cluster. To be enabled for AlwaysOn Availability Groups, an instance of SQL Server must reside on a WSFC node, and the WSFC cluster and node must be online. Furthermore, each availability replica of a given availability group must reside on a different node of the same WSFC cluster. The quorum for AlwaysOn Availability Groups is based on all nodes in the WSFC cluster regardless of whether a given cluster node hosts any availability replicas. In contrast to database mirroring, there is no witness role in AlwaysOn Availability Groups.

AlwaysOn Availability Groups relies on the Windows Failover Clustering (WSFC) cluster to monitor and manage the current roles of the availability replicas that belong to a given availability group and to determine how a failover event affects the availability replicas. A WSFC resource group is created for every availability group that you create. The WSFC cluster monitors this resource group to evaluate the health of the primary replica.

The overall health of a WSFC cluster is determined by the votes of a quorum of nodes in the cluster. If the WSFC cluster goes offline because of an unplanned disaster, or due to a persistent hardware or communications failure, then manual administrative intervention is required to force a quorum and bring the surviving cluster nodes back online in a non-fault-tolerant configuration."

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff929171.aspx

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