Well, I spent a day or three building a SQL Server Automatic Failover Cluster with two nodes, each one hosted on a Windows 2008 VM running in Hyper-V with an iSCSI SAN shared between them. Well, today, we got a real-life test when HV-07 (which hosts SQL-03) gave up the Blue Ghost. And, within 30 seconds, HV-08 assumed services from HV-07 and SQL-04 picked right up without a missing a beat.
It was so transparent that I was working in the database the whole time and didn’t even know HV-07 had BSOD’d until one of the network admins came in and said “Hey, HV-07 is sitting there with a blue screen”.
A quick check on SQL-04, and….. Yep, both instances are now running on SQL04. We fixed the BSOD problem on HV-07/SQL-03, and migrated the one instance back to SQL-03, and everything resumed as normal.
Now, I’m back to working on the Java program that imports flight crews and photos from our last remaining Pervasive SQL server into our latest SQL 2008R2 server. This program is used by the TSA, Homeland Security, and many airlines (of which we are one) to vet flight crews who are jumpseating (hitching rides on other carriers aircraft). It will also replace a Rube Goldberg solution that consists of a half dozen or so DTS packages, scripts, stored procedures and chron/task scheduler jobs.
And when I look outside, there’s still always one or two of our Learjets parked on the tarmac, twenty feet from my window.
I guess you could say I like the work. 😉
Kirby L. Wallace 