Proxmox HA + MSSQL Failover Cluster

[blucas]

Hi all,

I am in the process of configuring a Proxmox High Availability (HA) cluster and I plan to run Microsoft SQL Server with a failover cluster setup, but without using an external NAS for storage. This setup is somewhat complex and I find myself in need of guidance from someone with expertise in this area, or from someone who has successfully implemented a similar configuration.

Here are the specifics :
I am considering the direct configuration of ZFS on Proxmox servers to manage our storage needs without an external NAS.
Is this approach viable for an HA setup that aims to achieve high data availability and integrity? I wanto avoid Ceph, I think is slow for MSSQL.
With ZFS, considering the critical nature of data integrity and performance for SQL Server, would you recommend setting up RAID 1 (mirroring) for each SQL disk individually, or is RAID 10 a better option for combining several disks? What are the performance and reliability trade-offs between these RAID configurations in a Proxmox environment?

I am going to use SQL Server 2022 Standard Edition. How can I best integrate this with Proxmox to ensure that the SQL Server is part of a robust failover cluster?
Are there particular settings or configurations that are recommended for SQL Server in this type of environment?

Is it feasible to set up Proxmox HA with SQL Failover clustering without an external NAS?
If so, what are the best practices, or what considerations should I be aware of to ensure the system is stable and reliable?

I would deeply appreciate any advice, insights, or experiences you could share that would help me navigate these complexities.
Recommendations on do's and don'ts, or pointing out any potential pitfalls would be extremely beneficial.

Hardware:
3x HPE ProLiant DL360 G9 SFF 8xBays/2x14C 2680 V4/128GB Memory/560flr(dual 10Gbps) /P440ar (configured HBA because ZFS)/2x1400W (it also haves 4x 1Gbps on board) for the Proxmox HA.

I'll connect the nodes (LAG 20Gbp's), each node for internal data/management, and the giga ports for the users.

Thanks,

 

[bbgeek17]

I am considering the direct configuration of ZFS on Proxmox servers to manage our storage needs without an external NAS.
Is this approach viable for an HA setup that aims to achieve high data availability and integrity?

Its not viable. ZFS is not cluster aware filesystem and is not suitable for Microsoft Failover Service.

I am going to use SQL Server 2022 Standard Edition. How can I best integrate this with Proxmox to ensure that the SQL Server is part of a robust failover cluster?

The only way is to implement Microsoft Failover Cluster on top of PVE, or use SQL built-in replication/HA if there is such a thing.
If you plan to run this MSSQL in PVE cluster, then you need external shared storage.

Is it feasible to set up Proxmox HA with SQL Failover clustering without an external NAS?

If you find a way to use SQL replication, ie Application level HA, then yes you can avoid using external NAS/SAN.

Keep in mind that for MS Cluster you need storage that can pass MS Cluster validation, and only a few can do so reliably.

This may be useful to read: https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/support-for-windows-failover-clustering.141016/

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