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Sasha
Asked: 2011-06-18 01:30:25 +0800 CST

Distributed File System (DFS) and MS SQL 2008

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There are two physical servers on which we want to install MS SQL 2008 and our application. Our application is using DB in separate *.mdf file. Our application works only on one server at the point of time.

Can we create this file (*.mdf) on the DFS? Will this file be the same if we start our application on second server?

sql-server dfs distributed-filesystems

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer
    • Two servers can't access the same file simulaneously
    • SQL Server doesn't allow databases on network shares

    If the DFS is a "local disk" to the server than you may be able to use DFS. However, you can't have a 2nd SQL Server using it.

    Typically, you'd have one SQL Server with several clients (weg a web farm) connecting to it.

    If you ask because unless you have some serious reporting requirements on a busy server, just have one SQL box.

    If you want this for DR purposes, then look at database mirroring

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  2. There is a lengthy discussion on using file servers as the storage for SQL databases in KB304261. The bottom line is: don't do it unless you know exactly what you are doing.

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