You work as a Database Administrator (DBA) at ABC.com. The infrastructure includes servers running
Microsoft SQL Server 2012. All databases are hosted on a SAN (Storage Area Network).
You need to design a database solution for a new application.
You are tasked with designing a high-availability database solution.
The solution must include a single copy of the database to save disk space and the database must
remain online in the event of a SQL Server failure. What should you include in your solution?
A.
You should include two servers configured as a failover cluster.
B.
You should include two servers and database mirroring.
C.
You should include two servers and log shipping.
D.
You should include two servers configure as a SQL Server Availability Group
Some extra info…
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/5904cd56-4dee-4cd3-b3e2-3e9dad83cdd7/difference-between-failover-clustering-and-aag?forum=sqldatabasemirroring
1) Availability Groups are on DATABASE Level, FCIs are on INSTANCE Level. Meaning: Jobs, Logins, etc. are automatically “in sync” in FCIs, but not in AGs. (As they reside in the Master and MSDB databases…)
2) FCIs (Failover Clusters) Need shared storage of some sort. This can either be a SAN or an SMB share. AGs actually Keep multiple copies of the same data on different discs, ensuring consistency on a program Level. (Meaning: SQL Server does it, rather than relying on the storage below…)
3) AGs are an Enterprise Edition Feature, while FCIs (at least in a reduced featureset) can be used with Standard Edition.