Enable read-only replica alwaysON & HA platform

Question

Hi

I'm setting up high availability for my SQL 2017 STD platform.
I currently have a WSCF with 2 nodes and the data on NAS. It works perfectly.
Now I have configured the AlwaysON on an additional server and the secondary replica has been successfully established.

1.- Do you think this platform is correctly configured for HA? or do you advise it to be all AlwaysON?
2.- How can I access the AlwaysON replica so that the reports and other apps can access it? I can't change the "Readable Secondary" value to YES

Answer 1

The purpose of Availability Groups in Standard Edition is to support a single database in either HA or DR. Since it does not support multiple databases or read-only it cannot be utilized for those purposes.

Your configuration was already HA using a failover instance - such that one node fails and the other node takes over. The only benefit to a BAG in that scenario is possibly less time during that failover event. This is because the secondary instance is already running and you skip a lot of the startup processes.

If you need read-only, then you have to upgrade the primary and secondary instances to Enterprise Edition.

Answer 2

So is it advisable to always use AlwaysON for SQL in HA than SQL in WSFC?

Since I am not a DBA but more of an SQL developer I am not really the right person to answer, but Microsoft are offering both, and they are certainly valid. For instance, you may have other solutions for failing disks like VM replication.

Also, while a replica gives you better protection against disaster, synchronous replication is not really a go-faster button.

Hopefully Jeffery can fill in.