While clustering certainly isn??™t in the foreground of that picture, it??™s still in the
frame. Clustering provides strong protection, specifically against hardware disasters
involving the physical server itself.
Clustering Basics
The first thing you need to understand about clustering is that it isn??™t a SQL Server??“
specific technology. The operating system carries out the actual clustering configuration,
internal workings, and workload. Clustering was a bit awkward in Windows NT 4.0,
improved tremendously in Windows 2000, and has become even more stable and robust
in Windows Server 2003. At the time of this writing, the next version of Windows Server is
still in design phases, but I expect steady improvements toward usability and stability.
Another key aspect to clustering is that it is extremely tightly bound to the hardware
on which it resides. You can??™t simply pick any two servers and set up clustering (well, you
could try, but it certainly wouldn??™t be fun or advance your career). Many vendors go so far
as to sell hardware packages designed precisely for clustering.
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