Hi All, In our prod environment, we are implementing SCCM 2007 R3. As a part of it, we are gonna implement SQL Clustering. We have dedicated SQL servers for each of the Site servers which are 4 in number (Central site and 3 primary child sites). They have planned on going with SQL 2008 standard edition. How is it going to work? I read that SQL Standard Edition can support only 2 nodes. So what is the best design here? Should we go for the SQL Enterprise edition? (I read enterprise supports 16 nodes. Is it true?) Is there any workaround for clustering all the 4 servers using SQL Standard edition because there's a big difference in the licensing of Standard and Enterprise edition. Thanks in Advance.

Also, kindly shed some light on the following. We need a firm stand if we are gonna go for clustering for sure. So what is going to be the implication on our production environment on the following instances if we dont go for clustering i.e 1. Central Site server's SQL Server fails. 2. One of the primary site server's SQL Server fails. Thanks in advance.

If a DB fails in any site then no site administration will be possible, including creation of new advertisements. If the client already has a policy assignment with new policies and if the management point has cached the policy body, the client can make a policy body request and receive the policy body reply. No new policy assignments requests can be serviced. Clients will be able to run programs only if they have already been detected and the associated source files are already cached locally at the client.Kent Agerlund | My blogs: http://blog.coretech.dk/author/kea/ and http://scug.dk/ | Twitter @Agerlund | Linkedin: /kentagerlund

My question is why would you cluster SQL, what does it give you? Did you know that is not following best pratices for SQL? Have you seen this? http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/library/bb735870.aspxhttp://www.enhansoft.com/

Im sorry Garth, But that is what they have decided to go for. So SQL Cluster it is....

Thanks for your help Kent. So the major implication is, realization of any new client or running a new policy or advertisement is not possible if the SQL Server is down. Can I get an answer for my first question please?

Hey, I'm just giving you a heads up. I will also tell you based on previous experience to add a minimum of 10 days to the project for remote/clustered SQL. So far my worse experance with remote SQL added ~17.5 days to the project and not all issues got worked out too. Best of luck to you. http://www.enhansoft.com/

Thanks for the fore-warning Garth.. :) I really appreciate it. But the final decision was not in my hands. I could just outlay the pros and cons. But they have set their minds on it. Can you please help me with the other part of the question regarding the SQl Version and supported nodes?

Everythign I can tell you is covered in the docs, I assume that is not what you are looking for. But remember this quote from the docs "Only active/passive SQL Server cluster configurations are supported for hosting the site database. Configuring the SQL Server cluster in an active/active cluster configuration or in a Network Load Balancing (NLB) cluster configuration is not supported."http://www.enhansoft.com/

Can you please help me with the other part of the question regarding the SQl Version and supported nodes? It's listed in the docs: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee344146.aspx, see "SQL Server Site Database Configurations"Torsten Meringer | http://www.mssccmfaq.de

I guess you posted the wrong link in the previous reply. The intended link should have been this. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb693612.aspx Thanks again Garth.

Thanks Torsten. But it does not convey the need to go for an enterprise edition when it can be managed with a standard keeping in mind the huge gap in the license. That's exactly my question. In our case, should we go for enterprise edition if we need to cluster all the 4 SQL servers in a single cluster as I read that Standard edition supports only 2 nodes? Or can we maintain 2 clusters each with 2 nodes?