The SQL Server 2000 High Availability Planning Guide helps database designers and systems engineers design data centers that can achieve the level of availability needed for particular business environments. This guide discusses each barrier to achieving a highly available data center and analyzes the solutions to each of these barriers. The importance of using a combination of best practices, database backups, redundant components, and redundant servers is emphasized as the key to ensuring high availability.What this guide covers: Best practices to prevent downtimeUsing backup to recover from disasterUsing hardware redundancy to prevent downtimeUsing redundancy to minimize downtimePatterns & practices contains specific recommendations illustrating how to design, build, deploy, and operate architecturally sound solutions to challenging business and technical scenarios. The technical guidance is reviewed and approved by Microsoft engineering teams, consultants, and Product Support Services, and by partners and customers.Patterns & Practices are: Proven: Based on field experienceAuthoritative: Offers the best advice availableAccurate: Technically validated and testedActionable: Provides the steps to successRelevant: Addresses real world problemsContents: Introduction to High AvailabilityOvercoming Barriers to High AvailabilityRecovering a Data Center by Using Database BackupsPreventing Downtime by Using Redundant ComponentsMinimizing Downtime by Using Redundant Servers