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Database Mirroring

Database mirroring is a primarily software solution for increasing database availability. Mirroring is implemented on a per-database basis and works only with databases that use the full recovery model. The simple and bulk-logged recovery models do not support database mirroring. Database mirroring is supported in SQL Server Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition.

Database mirroring offers a substantial improvement in availability over the level previously possible using Microsoft SQL Server and provides an easy-to-manage alternative or supplement to failover clustering or log shipping. When a database mirroring session is synchronized, database mirroring provides a hot standby server that supports rapid failover with no loss of data from committed transactions. During a typical mirroring session, after a production server fails, client applications can recover quickly by reconnecting to the standby server.

Note

You cannot mirror the master, msdb, temp, or model databases.

In This Section

Topic Description

Overview of Database Mirroring

Introduces the components of database mirroring.

Database Mirroring Sessions

Discusses the intricacies of database mirroring sessions, covering a wide range of topics. This section is essential to understanding database mirroring features and how database mirroring works.

Connecting Clients to a Mirrored Database

Describes client connection-string attributes and the algorithms for connecting and reconnecting a client to a mirrored database.

Database Mirroring and Other Features and Components

Summarizes the major features and components of SQL Server that work with database mirroring, and contains discussions of using database mirroring between failover clusters, on a database with a full-text catalog, and using database snapshots on the mirror database for reporting purposes.

Setting Up Database Mirroring

Describes how to prepare for database mirroring and set up a session.

Pausing and Resuming Database Mirroring

Explains how to pause and resume a session using Transact-SQL.

Removing Database Mirroring

Explains how to end a session using Transact-SQL.

Managing Database Mirroring (SQL Server Management Studio)

Introduces database mirroring administration using SQL Server Management Studio, which provides a properties page for database mirroring and a wizard for configuring database mirroring security.

Monitoring Database Mirroring

Contains information about using Database Mirroring Monitor or the dbmmonitor stored procedures to monitor database mirroring or sessions.

See Also

Concepts

Overview of the Recovery Models

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance