In this chapter, we have looked at two main features for high availability available with SQL Server 2017. As both Always On Availability Groups and Always On Failover Cluster Instances are dependent on the Windows Server feature WSFC, we went through the initial configuration of the failover cluster. As the failover cluster topic itself is quite complex, we have deployed a simple cluster with basic options. Usually, in large-scale environments, there will be a dedicated team to fully deploy and configure the cluster for the database administrator.
The Failover Cluster Instances are an older approach, based on a shared storage; they require more complex cluster configuration. In business continuity planning, you need to consider your options for high availability at the storage and network level, too, since from an SQL Server and cluster perspective, shared storage can...