3.6.0 MxDB for SQL Server Installation and Administration Guide (5697-7088, December 2007)

Introduction

Matrix DataBase Solution Pack for SQL Server™ (MxDB for SQL Server)

provides high availability for SQL Server databases located on PolyServe

Matrix Server cluster filesystems.

MxDB for SQL Server

MxDB for SQL Server uses Virtual SQL Servers to provide failover

support and high availability. A Virtual SQL Server “virtualizes” the

network name and IP address associated with a particular SQL

Server/Instance. That is, rather than using the network name and IP

address of an actual server, a Virtual SQL Server is created and assigned a

unique name/IP-address pair. Up to 16 SQL instances can be associated

with each Virtual SQL Server.

Clients access the databases associated with an instance via the Virtual

SQL Server name or IP address; they do not need to know which node is

running the SQL instance.

When you configure a Virtual SQL Server, you will need to specify a

active, or primary, node and one or more passive, or backup, nodes. The

SQL instances associated with the Virtual SQL Server must be installed

on all of these nodes. The Virtual SQL Server is active on the primary

node, and SQL database requests are serviced from there. On failure, the

ClusterPulse process (provided with Matrix Server) will fail over, or

migrate, the Virtual SQL Server to one of the designated backup servers,

where it will continue to provide access to the same PSFS filesystem data

under the same name/IP-address pair.