High availability for SQL Server

To provide high availability for SQL Server services in an HA Granta MI cluster, you will need to implement a SQL HA solution.

Supported SQL HA solutions

Ansys doesn't make any recommendations about SQL HA solutions. You should choose the solution that best matches your business requirements.

SQL HA solutions supported in a clustered Granta MI deployment:

  • Microsoft SQL Server running on on-premises servers or in Azure virtual machines. High availability can be provided using traditional SQL Server features (Always On, Failover Clustering, etc.), but you must manage this yourself. Blob storage is provided by FILESTREAM, see Configuring FILESTREAM storage in SQL Server.
  • Azure SQL Database (PaaS) provides built-in high availability, automatic failover, and redundancy at the platform level. You do not manage the underlying infrastructure. With this solution, Blob storage for Granta MI must be provided by Amazon S3; Azure Blob Storage is not supported.
  • Azure SQL Managed Instance also provides high availability features, including automatic failover and zone redundancy. With this solution, Blob storage for Granta MI must be provided by Amazon S3; Azure Blob Storage is not supported.
  • Amazon RDS for Microsoft SQL Server is a managed database service with built-in analytics, data compression, and high availability options. Blob storage for Granta MI is provided by Amazon S3.

Latency considerations

Your choice of storage setup for the Granta MI cluster should take into account SQL Server request latency. To reduce latency, you should always deploy the Granta MI application services and database platform in the same region. In addition, a hybrid configuration is not recommended, as this can also increase latency and impact performance. So:

  • Where Granta MI is hosted in your own datacenter or on-premises servers, use an on-premises Microsoft SQL Server HA solution for the cluster.
  • Where Granta MI is hosted in Azure virtual machines, use an Azure SQL solution for the cluster. (Note that Blob storage for Granta MI in this case must be provided by Amazon S3; Azure Blob Storage is not supported.)
  • Where Granta MI is hosted in Amazon Web Services (AWS) virtual machines, use Amazon RDS for Microsoft SQL Server as the cluster SQL solution.