Does Windows Clustering provide true High Availability to Data Services?

[Former Member]

Hi,

I've used Server Groups before to provide HA with the understanding that it doesn't provide a fully automatic failover.  By this I mean that if a node fails when a DataFlow is mid execution then we need to engineer some sort of recovery mechanism as there is the possibility that we have a partial data load.

I'm currently looking at Windows Clustering and I am not certain that it provides true HA either and so I'm not sure if there is any advantage over server groups. Am I right in thinking that with a windows cluster if a node fails when a dataflow is mid execution then we still need a recovery mechanism for any potential partial data loads or other data corruption?

Our target landscape is DS 4.2 sp4 on Windows

Thanks

Al

[former_member198401]

The answer to your question is Yes!!

Concept of Server Group: You can group Job Servers on different computers into a logical SAP BusinessObjects Data Services component called a server group. A server group automatically measures resource availability on each Job Server in the group and distributes scheduled batch jobs to the Job Server with the lightest load at runtime.

You can refer to below link:

SAP BODS Cluster Installation

Regards

Arun Sasi

[former_member187605]

What you describe is Load Balancing. Not High Availabilty.

A Windows cluster does not provide true HA. You can make the AL_JobService highly available. But any al_engine processes running on a failing node will have to be restarted manually on another one.

[Former Member]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.  It doesn't sound like a windows cluster brings any significant benefit over a simple server group / grid deployment.

You said "only way to achieve HA with DS, is to install it on top of a fully HA-enabled OS" - would this be on a Linux HA cluster?

Al

[former_member187605]

Linux-HA might be an option, but I don't have any experience with it.

I only know of implementations on top of VMware vSphere.

[former_member187605]

No, Windows clustering does not provide true HA. And, yes your right, you will still need recovery mechanisms for any potential partial data loads.

The only way to achieve HA with DS, is to install it on top of a fully HA-enabled OS.