CRS 4.0(4) High Availability

[robb.allred]

I'm having problems failing over with HA. When Server1 is in master mode, I can make calls to the route points and the applications are activated. If I go through the control center and restart the CRS Engine on Server1 - it then goes into Slave as expected, and Server2 goes into master mode. However, when I place calls to the route points, I get a system error and the applications don't work. I read in the admin guide that HA requires MS SQL Server 2000. These servers I'm working on use the default installed MSDE. Has anyone experienced this or can verify this symptom. Is the solution just a matter of installing MS SQL 2000 Server on both servers? If so, are there any caveats to doing this after everything has already been configured?

Thanks,

Robb

[Tom Dillon · Accepted solution]

Yep, HA does require SQL 2000. I have deployed the four server HA model (2 CRS servers + 2 SQL 2000 expansion servers).

I have tested a variety of failure scenerios and it works great. My applications continue to work when the services fail-over to the standby server. Desktop Agents reconnect within 60 seconds to the standby server.

The only caveat is follow the installation instructions exactly. Particularily when you are upgrading the HA cluster. I just upgraded my cluster from 4.0(2) to 4.0(4) and it is very important to follow the upgrade instructions.

Otherwise, I have been very pleased with HA and the Expansion server option.

Note: here's a quote from the SRND for 4.0(4):

SQL Server 2000 is required for HA as SQL Server 2000 replication services is utilized to keep the

databases synchronized.