Scalable Share Databases are supported by SQL Server 2005 RTM

If you’re interested in scale-out improvements for reporting and read-only scenarios…check this out: KB 910378. This KB is actually a feature release KB and describes a new feature of SQL Server 2005 which allows multiple servers to simultaneously share the same database files on a SAN. This is NOT possible for read/write databases, only read-only databases; however, it does allow you to leverage multiple server’s hardware to perform complex reporting locally – using that node’s memory, tempdb, etc.


If you implement this – report back (no pun intended) as I’d love to hear your good/bad experiences!


Have fun,
kt

3 thoughts on “Scalable Share Databases are supported by SQL Server 2005 RTM

  1. After reading this article, I think solution for scale out in SQL 2005 is still not convenient for customers to implement yet. Maybe we should wait until next release of sql in order to suggests scale out solution for customers. I wish the engine is enhanced a lot in the next release of SQL Server
    ;)

  2. I think P2P replication offers a better scale out solution for readonly reporting databases and those dbs can have more current data using that the method.

  3. Hey there Sri – I think I’d have to agree that certain scenarios are best with P2P (Peer to Peer) – especially if what you’re looking for is close-to-current/almost real-time reporting. However, if what you’re looking for is a periodically built database (say weekly/monthly) which has a massive number of large reports running, aggregating and analyzing a month/quarter’s worth of data AND all reports need to reconcile to the same values – but with very different aggregates, then I think this is a great solution.

    So – I guess the point is that you have options! As far as it not being "convenient," I think it’s hard to get something for nothing. The engine offers a myriad of solutions to help manage mixed workloads – each has trade-offs. The good part though is that you can make your decisions – based on whatever trade-offs you’re willing (or not willing) to do.

    I just love all of the choices,
    kt

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