Using Secondary Servers for Query Processing

You can reduce the load on your primary server by using a secondary server for read-only query processing. To do this, the secondary database must be in STANDBY mode. You will not be able to run queries if the database is in NORECOVERY mode. For more information about database modes, see RESTORE (Transact-SQL).

There are two options for configuration when you place the secondary database in standby mode:

  • You can choose to have database users disconnected when transaction log backups are being restored. If you choose this option, users will be disconnected from the database each time the log shipping restore job attempts to restore a transaction log to the secondary database. Disconnection will happen on the schedule you set for the restore job.

  • You can choose not to disconnect users. In this case, the restore job cannot restore transaction log backups to the secondary database if there are users connected to that database. Transaction log backups will accumulate until there are no user connections to the database.

To specify the desired option, on the Restore Transaction Log tab of the Secondary Database Settings dialog box, select or clear the Disconnect users in the database when restoring backups check box.

Important

If you change the recovery mode of an existing secondary database, for example, from norecovery mode to standby mode, the change takes effect only after the next log backup is restored to the database.