Achieving SQL Server HA/DR With a Mix of Always On AGs and SANless SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances

The topic of mixing SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances (FCI) with Always On Availability Groups (AG) is pretty well documented. However, most of the available documentation documents configurations that assume the SQL Server FCI portion of the solution utilizes shared storage. What if I want to build a SANless SQL Server FCI using Storage Spaces Direct (S2D), can I still add a SQL Server AG to the mix? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is no. As of today, this combination of S2D based SQL Server FCI and Always On AG is not supported. I previously blogged about this S2D limitation here.

However, the good news is you CAN build a SANless SQL Server FCI with SIOS DataKeeper and still leverage Always On AG for things like readable secondaries. You still have to abide by the same rules that apply when mixing traditional SAN-based SQL Server FCI and Always On AGs, but other than that, it is exactly the same...mostly.Image title