which is Best database mirroring,Always on high availability or log shipping

Question

I have two sql servers hosted in two diffrent ec2. one is sql server 2019 and another one is sql server 2022 both are standard edition. i am planning to do HA and DR setup for this . which approach i need to follow database mirroring,Always on high availability or log shipping?

Mrityunjay Singh · Accepted Answer

Hello Naziya,

The answer to your question depends on the application and business requirements such as - what kind of RTO/RPO is desired, whether you need manual or automated failover, read requirements along with the cost factor.
Also, you will need to be aware that Microsoft has deprecated the database mirroring feature and is not a recommended option from Microsoft when considering newer versions of SQL servers.

There are some key differences between log shipping and Always on availability groups which you will need to consider for making the right choice as per the requirements.

For guidance, refer the below documentations - 
1. [Best Practices for MS SQL server on Amazon EC2 - HA and DR](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/best-practices-for-deploying-microsoft-sql-server/high-availability-and-disaster-recovery.html)
2. [Choosing between different options with cost consideration](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/optimize-costs-microsoft-workloads/sql-server-hadr.html)
3. [High Availability options](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/migration-sql-server/ec2-sql-ha.html)

I hope you find this useful and chose the appropriate option.

Mrityunjay Singh · Answer

Hi Naziya,
Microsoft SQL server mirroring has a certain pre-requisites to be met, please refer the relevant Microsoft [documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/database-mirroring/prerequisites-restrictions-and-recommendations-for-database-mirroring?view=sql-server-ver16) to be aware of these. Hope that is helpful.

which is Best database mirroring,Always on high availability or log shipping

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