SQL server 2016 - AlwaysOn basic availability group
Recently I was playing with the SQL Server 2016 CTP 2 and noticed that there was a new feature introduced - Basic Availability Group (BAG) for AlwaysOn. This feature is supported in SQL Server 2016 Standard or higher edition. With this feature we can create a fail-over solution for a single database, that means, if you want to add one or more database(s) it is not permitted. While you are doing a setup using the Basic Availability Group you will notice that you do not see an option that says "Readable Secondary" to "Yes"; this is because of the fact that Basic Availability Group replaces the Database Mirroring (DBM). And that means the secondary database can not be used to off-load the reporting traffic unlike you do in the SQL Server 2012 Enterprise edition.
- Supports Standard Edition and Higher.
- You can create BAG for single database.
- You can create multiple (At least two, while I am writing this post) BAG.
Limitations:
- Can have only one database.
- Limited to Primary and Secondary, meaning two replica only.
- No readable Replica, that means NO to offloading reporting to a secondary replica,
- Can not off-load backups as well.
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