Systems Admin Trying To Understand A DR Scenario And Setup... DBAs Help!

Hi all,

I am a Windows Sysadmin (Active Directory, infrastructure, etc) with light knowledge of SQL 2005. I can set up the database cluster on a shared storage device, I know how to get the heartbeat, do simple backups, etc.

My question pertains to disaster recovery. Right now, we use a product called DoubleTake to copy our database over and 'assume' the identity of the failed SQL server. There are two problems with this -- cost of the license of DoubleTake, and additionally, is it the best method?

I have read before, that you don't need to be a DBA to set up a DR scenario for SQL. My goal really is to have two databases -- one in our production location, and one in a DR location that is pretty much cold (for licensing issues).

If our production database should go down, then it would fail over to the DR site.

What is involved in doing this, what type of steps are required, do you NEED a DBA to manage this, or can a sysadmin (such as myself) take care of it? Also, is it worth having DoubleTake to do this job, and does it do a better or worse job, are there limitations, etc.

Thank you for any replies you can give, and please keep in mind that I'm far from a DBA .