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Asked: 2011-04-07 07:55:45 +0800 CST

MSSQL Failover Witness Server on a Domain Controller

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I have 3 servers 1 production 1 standby and 1 just sitting there.

I want 1 to stay production and I have been working on setting up an MSSQL automatic failover cluster between the production server and the standby server. I require a witness server and an active directory.

My question is: Can I install the MSSQL witness server on a Domain Controller? If not, WHY?

This would allow me to NOT virtualize or purchase a fourth machine. Has anyone done this in a production environment?

windows-server-2008 sql-server active-directory failovercluster

2 Answers

  1. What do you mean by a MSSQL 'monitor server'?

    A typical MSSQL MSCS cluster requires a domain controller and (usually) two nodes which can both run the MSSQL service (and a whole bunch of shared storage). The nodes between them watch each other for availability and have the capability of taking ownership of a service if the node running that service fails. This is a fairly standard configuration that's used in loads of places.

    If you're trying to do HA MSSQL without using MSCS, I'd probably suggest it's a bad idea.

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  2. This isn't clustering you are referring to, it is mirroring. Yes, you can setup the DC as a witness server, but it's not recommended.

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