Event Review: Clustering Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2000 / 2005 (Session TNT1-150)

Welcome to the material supporting page for this session. The materials on this page have been selected as the best matches to the content covered in the live event session.

Session Outline

Clustering is an important technique for building resilient systems and maintaining throughput. Microsoft provides two key, complementary technologies for implementing low-cost, highly available clusters: Network Load Balancing and Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS). Network Load Balancing is used for distributing incoming IP traffic across a cluster of servers. It is ideal for enabling incremental scalability and outstanding availability for e-commerce Web sites. Microsoft Cluster Service provides failover capability by exploiting redundancy across multiple connected machines. If a server running an application fails, MSCS can arrange for another computer in the cluster to take over its work and resources. SQL Server can take advantage of MSCS to implement a highly available database server. SQL Server can also indirectly make use of NLB in a Web farm environment to spread client requests to different servers. This session describes the purposes and roles of NLB and MSCS, highlighting the way in which they operate, and showing how they can be managed and used to implement a clustered SQL Server database server.

Microsoft Press Books

Third-Party Books

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Unleashed, 2nd Edition

    Summary: Get a fresh perspective on planning, designing, implementing, and migrating to a Windows Server 2003 environment. The authors rely on their experience from several large client implementations to compile best practices, installation and migration tips and tricks, performance optimization techniques, configuration tuning, and server management techniques.

  • The Ultimate Windows Server 2003 System Administrator's Guide

    Summary: Windows Server 2003, the successor to Windows 2000 and Windows NT, accommodates the seamless exchange of information through Web services. It delivers the increased flexibility and power needed to administer networks as global entities, but its enhanced management tools and security features present as many challenges as opportunities. This book helps readers negotiate these challenges while taking advantage of the opportunities.

  • Inside Windows Server 2003

    Summary: This book contains comprehensive information on deploying, managing, and troubleshooting systems using both Windows Server 2003 and its predecessor. Each chapter contains a lively feature description followed by extensively illustrated procedures for setting up and managing each service.

  • Inside Active Directory: A System Administrator's Guide

    Summary: This book helps provide a solid understanding of Active Directory fundamentals. It demonstrates how Active Directory can store and access data and how it uses industry standards such as LDAP. Numerous diagrams and tables explain the sometimes complex technologies involved in migrating to Windows 2000 from Windows NT or other platforms.

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Insider Solutions

    Summary: Rather than being a traditional planning, design, and implementation guide, this book is a serious resource for Windows experts who seek tips, tricks, and best practices for implementing and supporting key Windows Server 2003 technologies. Sections include security, management, design, migration, business continuity, performance, and business productivity.

Training and Certification

  • Administering a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Database:

    Summary: This course provides students with the knowledge and skills required to install, configure, administer, and troubleshoot the client-server database management system of Microsoft SQL Server 2000. Course 2072 is a revision of Course 832, System Administration for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0. The course content is being revised to reflect changes in the product.