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Ask Slashdot: Low Cost Way To Maximize SQL Server Uptime?
jdray writes "My wife and I own a mid-sized restaurant with a couple of Point of Sale (POS) terminals. The software, which runs on Windows and .NET, uses SQL Server on the back end. With an upgrade to the next major release of the software imminent, I'm considering upgrading the infrastructure it runs on to better ensure uptime (we're open seven days a week). We can't afford several thousand dollars' worth of server infrastructure (two cluster nodes and some shared storage, or some such), so I thought I'd ask Slashdot for some suggestions on enabling maximum uptime. I considered a single server node running VMWare with a limp-mode failover to a VMWare instance on a desktop, but I'm not sure how to set up a monitoring infrastructure to automate that, and manual failover isn't much of an option with non-tech staff. What suggestions do you have?"
Why don't you have good uptime to begin with? I've SQL Server 2005 on a single unimpressive physical server with months of uptime. Is your restaurant open 24 hours? Is your current server flaking out? Concerns about uptime itself might be misplaced. What isn't made clear in the OP is why you think you need better uptime.
"I thought I'd ask Slashdot for some suggestions on enabling maximum uptime" - the answer: YOU don't enable maximum uptime, you get someone to do do it for you.
It seems to me like you are ill-equiped to handle server hosting. If you're asking these kinds of questions it may honestly be wiser to just let a third party handle this task for you, so you can handle your main job: serving customers. How about you host your SQL database at one of the many hosting providers willing to tackle this for you? I bet a simple Google query would result in thousands of hits. But as seems to be the trend with Ask Slashdot lately: you probably didn't want to hear this answer.
http://bit.ly/LaHOeu (I know how Slashdot frowns upon URL shortners, but I assure you, the person asking the question definitely needs to learn that Slashdot isn't a damn search engine).
Azure had multiple 24 hour outages.
It's cloud so that seems like a great idea !
New things are always on the horizon
Sounds like an awesome idea - that way, you are TOTALLY FSCKED when your internet connection goes down. One thing if your online ordering for a business goes down - just take orders by phone. When it completed hoses your order taking system (offline and online), then your screwed.
Get a decent server, maybe an HP. Dual CPUs, Dual HDDs, Dual Power supplies. Get a UPS.
Install Windows, SQL, and UPS controlling software. Install AV, but be certain to exclude AV scanning the SQL directory and SQL DBs and logs. You don't want AV killing your SQL server by accident. You might want to consider putting a firewall on the box and blocking all non-SQL traffic.
Patch as needed.
Install nothing else. No mine-sweeper, no restaurant food ordering software, no adobe. Nothing will kill a server faster than turning it into a desktop. Don't try to do anything on it. Just let it be a server running SQL and you'll be fine. Don't plug USB drives into it.
You should be able to back up the SQL db every so often stopping SQL and then starting it. Try to do this around the monthly patch cycle. Don't patch immediately upon one becoming available, but rather wait a week. This will give Microsoft time to correct any patch issues they have. You'll be much more vulnerable to patch issues than you will from viruses if you follow the "don't turn it into a desktop" suggestion.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
Agreed.
I'm highly familiar with the POS system in US McDonald's restaurants. I'm sure they have more volume than you do.
If the server goes down, the registers can limp along on their own but it isn't pretty, and there's no high availability anything going on. Depending on what fails, the KVS might or might not work.
(For the uninitiated, KVS = Kitchen Video System. Those are the screens that tell the kitchen what food to make. Most busy restaurants - not just fast food - have them these days.)
What you need is for the staff to have some pieces of paper with the menu items and prices printed on them, so they can check stuff off and add it up. You might round prices down to the dollar to make the math easier. If you round up the customers will complain.
PS - If it ain't broke.... Getting the latest and greatest doesn't necessarily get you anything except the effort of getting stuff to work again.
Stop. Whoever makes the POS software is the expert that you want to consult. Call up their support and ask them what they recommend.
LOL
MySQL is shit compared to SQL Server
sounds like a fucking stupid idea, the entire operation is local and can run easily on computers which can be bought 200 dollars a pop. two of them, set up mirroring and go - even azures pricing sounds stupid compared to that.
the cloud is a stupid idea because a) azure can go down and b) their link to azure can go down. in both cases they're screwed.
what they could need/want would be a totally separate backup, if they're american then maybe square - if they're european wtf does a restaurant need a complex POS system for when you can get self contained payment terminals that take chip cards and connect wirelessly(or cache those which don't need instant verfication) on the pennies? (ok, those don't take care of your actual orders and such, if the restaurant system is really fancy)
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Restaurants POS systems aren't exactly cutting-edge technology. There's gotta be a kazillion commercial systems out there and lots of pros to install and manage them who have set up and maintained hundreds of these systems. There's probably even some sort of restaurant owner's organization that can recommend systems and consultants. Why are you spending time on a tech site wondering about how to roll your own POS infrastructure when it provides no competitive advantage to your business and any screwups could cost big money? Spend your time worrying and working on stuff that will actually help your business compete with all of the other restaurants out there. Not that I know much about the restaurant biz, but I'm going to guess that getting and keeping good cooking staff, waitstaff, etc, getting quality supplies at a good price, and marketing the place and other restaurant-y things belong much higher on the owner's worry list than what hardware and software the POS systems are using.
I don't reply to ACs
By this time you have realized that 98% of Slashdot posters don't know a damn thing about the issue that you need to resolve (... the cloud? .... Really ??? ) and are just flinging buzzwords (monkeys... poo ... ) or asking questions that you won;t know the answer to in hopes that this will get then off the hook in actually answering your question.
.
Short and sweet - you want database mirroring with automatic fallover. You can set up a second SQL server on a separate machine (cost less than $500 for the machine) to be the mirror and if your primary machine fails then you are still golden. Here is an article that tells gives you an idea as to how to do this in MS SQL '08 :
http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mssql/article.php/3828341/Database-Mirroring-in-SQL-Server-2008.htm
Yes, you should hire a **competent** DB consultant to do this for you. Yes it will cost you another $800 - $1000 do have a **competent** consultant do this for you (figure 8- 12 hours work at 80 bucks an hour) - you will lose far more than that the very first time your database fails and/or you attempt to do it yourself and blow away your database because you made a mistake (you do have backups , of course.... right ??? ).
You can try to do it yourself but I do not recommend it as it's risky.
I've been doing DB work for 25 years - feel free to send me a Slashdot message should you desire to use my services.
----- In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream...
there's no need to upgrade. you already have the SQL license (as long as it's at least v2005). you don't need replication, you don't need a cluster, you don't need shared storage. you just need two boxes, one license, mirroring setup, a backup strategy and a connection string tweak. everything else you can sell...