InformationWeek

December 8, 1997

Enterprise Database

Microsoft adds "active-active" failover support for clusters

icrosoft announced last week that it has begun shipping the Enterprise edition of its SQL Server 6.5 database and SNA Server 4.0, rounding out the Windows NT-based BackOffice enterprise applications suite it announced in May.

SQL Server 6.5 Enterprise Edition features four areas of improvement over the standard edition of SQL Server 6.5: scalability beyond four processors, an extra gigabyte of memory for applications processing, support for two-node failover, and more-intuitive database queries. SNA Server 4.0 makes it possible to treat CICS and IMS transactions as components in Microsoft's component architecture, known as DNA, and to access data stored in VSAM files or on an AS/400 computer. Both products will be generally available in January, according to Microsoft.

Key To Scalability
SQL Server 6.5/Enterprise, originally due in the third quarter, is a key product in Microsoft's plan to deliver more-scalable W indows NT-based system software. The database can run on servers with up to eight Intel processors out of the box, and up to 32 processors as computer manufacturers deliver larger systems.

Microsoft last week announced the first TPC-C benchmark to measure the Enterprise versions of Windows NT 4.0 and SQL Server 6.5 on an eight-processor system. An Axil Computer server handled 14,501 transactions per minute.

The database release works with NT 4.0/Enterprise's Cluster Server to provide failover between two servers, each of which can actively be used to support applications while providing backup to the other, according to Jim Ewel, SQL Server group product manager. Microsoft had previously said that SQL Server 6.5/Enterprise would initially require an "active-passive" configuration, in which one of the database servers functions in passive standby mode. But it was able to deliver "active-active" failover with this release, says Ewel.

MCI's Enterprise Systems Management group in Colorado Springs, Colo., b eta-tested SQL Server 6.5/ Enterprise and intends to use its two-node failover capability to provide high availability to MCI's Production Operations Service Request System, an intranet application used to provide IT support to the company's mainframe users.

What SQL Server 6.5/Enterprise Offers

Scalability beyond four processors

An extra gigabyte of memory for applications processing

Support for two-node failover

More-intuitive database queries
DATA: Microsoft

Rob Hardisty, senior staff specialist with the MCI unit, says the database's failover worked "beautifully" in the active-passive mode, but that he was unable to get the system to work properly in the active-active mode. Hardisty says he is working with Microsoft to identify the cause of the problem. "It could have been something I did wron g," he says.

SQL Server/Enterprise is priced at $7,999 for a 25-user license, $10,999 for 50 users, and $28,999 for 250 users. SNA Server starts at $1,339 for a five-user system.

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