Mirror, Mirror...

5:00 PM -- It's nice to see Microsoft's SQL Server 2005 team hasn't been dawdling since the database application's release last November. (See Microsoft Services SQL Server .)

Five months after shipping, Microsoft today released a service pack that includes the feature enterprise users have been waiting for: database mirroring. (See Vendors Line Up Behind SQL Sequel.) Database mirroring logs new data on two databases and recovers instantly from the secondary database if the primary one crashes.

It is an essential feature for enterprises looking for high availability, and critical for Microsoft's ability to compete with the likes of Oracle and IBM DB2 as an enterprise database.

Database mirroring was considered a major selling point of SQL Server 2005, but didn't make the cut when Microsoft released it last November.

In its press release today, Microsoft tells us the first service patch "delivers production-ready database mirroring" for continuous availability. Microsoft assures us this is true because database mirroring has been "extensively" tested by Microsoft and about 20 beta customers.By Microsoft standards, five months to wait for a key feature isn't that long. But it sure could seem like it for customers waiting for business continuity.

Some users find the new version an improvement without database mirroring. William Hiatt, technology director of Irvine, California-based Advantage Sales and Marketing, says SQL Server 2005 is "easier to administer, and it's reliability has been rock solid -- although I thought [SQL Server} 2000 was rock solid, too. We've been happy with the scalabilyt and performance."

One thing that's clear is that by making database mirroring a service pack priority, Microsoft is showing it's serious about improving SQL Server as an enterprise play. And it's another sign that it sees storage as a huge growth area. In an SQL Server 2005 update posted on Microsoft's Website, Paul Flessner, SVP of the data and storage platform division, emphasizes data management will be a key piece of the Redmond giant's strategy over the next decade.

Flessner also predicts the cost of a terabyte will shrink from $1,000 today to $100 in 2007. Even if that forecast is late coming to pass, it will be great news for people paying for storage -- if not for those managing the burgeoning resource.

Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and SwitchOrganizations mentioned in this article: