The Agenda

Server down situations are stressful for everyone. Tempers flare and every second counts as you struggle to get things get things running again. Highly available SQL Server architectures are not infallible; they can experience and sometimes even cause outages – especially if they are not implemented properly. Troubleshooting clustered instances (FCIs) and availability groups (AGs) is not only something anyone who deploys these features should have, but a difficult skillset to acquire since these features are tightly coupled solutions utilizing a Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC), networking, Active Directory, DNS, and more. DBAs are not always aware of these dependencies, nor do they usually have access to them or know when they are altered. Unfortunately, most availability issues with FCIs and AGs can rarely be fixed by only concentrating on SQL Server itself.

This full day preconference taught by Microsoft High Availability MVP Allan Hirt will teach you how to approach and deal with problems related to the different clustered configurations of SQL Server whether they are FCIs or AGs. Topics include:
 

• Learning about the tools and utilities you have at your fingertips (including logs such as the WSFC log) for diagnosing, and tips on how, when, and where to use them
• Common real world problems you may encounter
• How to avoid problems by planning and implementing clustered SQL Server configurations properly
• Ensuring your quorum configuration is optimal to guarantee uptime and not cause downtime
• Determining go/no go points and when you should force quorum or do something more radical

If you are supporting FCIs or AGs, this session is one you should attend so you can always be the hero … or at least sleep better at night.