High availability for database servers
This topic provides guidelines for implementing high availability for database servers in a TrueSight Server Automation - Data Warehouse infrastructure. The following databases are discussed:
Oracle database
The Oracle solution for enterprise-level highly available databases is the Real Application Cluster (RAC) technology. This technology allows a horizontally scalable database with all nodes in an active state. Shared disks and private cluster network interconnects ensure data consistency across all members of the cluster. The solution provides a combination of failover capability and load balancing between the nodes on the cluster.
Oracle RAC database implementation is beyond the scope of this documentation. The RAC framework offers flexibility in its architecture. As a result, the specific implementation depends on the existing IT infrastructure in your enterprise.
BMC makes the following recommendations and assumptions regarding an Oracle RAC used as the TrueSight Server Automation - Data Warehouse database at the primary site:
- BMC assumes that your implementation is a multinode Oracle RAC cluster that conforms to the Oracle Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA) best practices. For information, see the following Oracle website: Oracle Maximum Availability Architecture.
- The cluster implementation uses N database-specific virtual IP addresses (VIPs), with each VIP using a specific database node as its home. The VIPs fail over to other nodes in the cluster when their home node becomes unavailable.
- The database-specific VIPs and the associated TCP network port for accessing the database is available to all components of the TrueSight Server Automation - Data Warehouse architecture that require a database, including the report servers.
Microsoft SQL Server
The recommended technology for implementing high availability in a SQL Server database environment is the SQL Server failover cluster. For optimal and uniform hardware utilization, BMC recommends active-active cluster configuration. However, an active-passive implementation is also viable and is less costly.
SQL Server failover cluster implementation is beyond the scope of this documentation. For information about high-availability options in SQL Server, see the following web page: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190202.aspx.