Specifications

SQL Server Consolidation Strategies CHAPTER 5 87
SQLInstance01
SQLInstance02
SQLInstance03
FIGURE 5-2 Consolidating many databases onto a single physical host running three instances
of SQL Server
SQLInstance01
SQLInstance02
SQLInstance03
FIGURE 5-3 Consolidating many databases onto multiple physical hosts running multiple instances
of SQL Server
Consolidating SQL Server Through Virtualization
Another SQL Server consolidation strategy attracting interest is virtualization. Virtualiza-
tion’s growing popularity is based on many factors, including its ability to signicantly reduce
total cost of ownership (TCO) and the number of physical servers within an infrastructure.
Benets include the need for fewer physical servers, as well as lower licensing costs. At the
heart of all the excitement over virtualization is Live Migration. This new, built-in feature is
a Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V enhancement. Live Migration increases high availability
and improves service by reducing planned outages. It allows DBAs to move SQL Server
virtual machines (VMs) between physical Hyper-V hosts without any perceived interruption in
service. Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2 also allows for maximum scalability because it
supports up to 64 logical processors. As a result, it is possible to virtualize and consolidate nu-
merous SQL Server instances, databases, and workloads onto a single host. Another benet is
that Live Migration allows an organization to not only completely isolate its operating system
with virtualization but also to host multiple editions of SQL Server while running both 32-bit