Hi Team ,
We are planning to de ploy 3 node Windows Server failover cluster (WSFC) with SQL failover cluster to have HA and DR resiliency.
2 Node SQL failover cluster will be deployed in primary data, 1 node SQL standalone in DR (part of same WSFC as of node 1 and node 2). We are planning to have Always on availability group for SQL Instances from primary SQL cluster (primary) to DR SQL standalone (replica). We will have multiple named instance on SQL cluster in primary nodes for. e.g. for SCCM we have instance name as <SQL Clustername>\SQL-SCCM, for WSUS <SQLClustername>\SQL-WSUS and so on...
Based on above scenario i have below query and need some inputs.
1. Since we have WSFC primary datacenter and will have SQL in DR part of same WSFC. node 1 and node 2 in primary datacenter will have heartbeat network. How VM running in DR will have heartbeat network? Do we need it for DR machines to join WSFC with node 1 and node 2?
2. Since it is going to be a availability group, how the naming would be for instances in DR SQL standalone?
Can we have same instances name as in Primary, on the standalone SQL? so i have SQL-SCCM in primary, can i have same instance name on standalone SQL in DR? Would that support availability group settings between these instances?
3. So if i have 6 named instances in SQL cluster, do i need to have same number of instances installed on standalone SQL as well in DR?
4. In primary datacenter, we have LUNs with mount points with drive letters like K:\ for SCCM DBs and Logs, do i need to have same drives letter K: at DR SQL to have availability group to work?
5. In primary datacenter SQL cluster will have shared LUNS (RAW directly presented to SQL VMs), we are planning to have local vdisk for standalone SQL server . Would it be ok ?
6. Is availability group is one directional meaning Primary to DR SQL ? i believe once availability group is configured database replicated to DR SQL ready only copy? Does DR can also write back to primary copay of database? In case primary site is down, application can only have read only access to replica copy in DR?
Regards,