Adding Secondary Replicas to Availability Groups

Select Databases

Select database. Database mush meet criteria. Database mode must be set to Full.

Select Data Synchronization

Three Options Available

1. Full
2. Join only
3. Skip initial data synchronization

Note:

• Option #1 of Data Synchronization is the easiest but require a backup to be made on the primary and a recovery on the secondary. Backup and restore are preformed right away. This is good for small database. Also need to specify a network path that can be access by both primary and secondary server.
• Option #2 of Data Synchronization is when you want to manually create secondary database. Use this option when you have a very large database where you want to backup and restore in a separate step.
• Drive location and folder setup must be the same on all servers.
• Database must not exist on the secondary server. If exist, remove first.
• Remote desktop onto the primary server in the cluster to configure this.