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I want to enable "AlwaysOn" feature of MS SQL Server 2012 in Windows 8.1

Is it possible to do so?

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Short answer is, No.

To enable Sql Server AlwaysOn, the server

The server instance must reside on a Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) node. Enable and Disable AlwaysOn Availability Groups, MSDN

Server Clustering is only available on Windows Server OS (i.e. Not 8.1) Windows Server Clustering

You might want to see Overview of AlwaysOn Availability Groups (SQL Server)

Anticipating further questions, you might want to have a look at other disaster recovery options that you might be able to use: Description of disaster recovery options for Microsoft SQL Server Something like log shipping might be the most feasible and easy to set up (assuming you have limited resources, and that's why you have SQL Server installed on Windows 8.1 and not a server)

Edit Without lingering on this too much, for the sake of completeness I'll point out there is a difference between AlwaysOn Availability groups and SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances, discussed here, the former only available on Enterprise edition. Still both dependant on WSFC though so it doesn't make a difference for you.

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  • Thanks for reply @Ian_H I am a application developer and in my machine we have windows 8 OS, VS 2013 and SQL Server 2012. As per my understanding, we dont use server OS while developing. Normally, unless a developer do not replicate the process on his machine, we cannot take the process to production server. Is there any way or patch work we can do to enable alwayson?
    – Anirudh Prasad
    Aug 23, 2016 at 10:50
  • @AnirudhPrasad As Vercelli commented on other answer, install some virtual machines on your development machine (if you can't have dedicated dev server environments). If you use Sql Server dev edition remember that some features (like availability groups) will only work then in live if you have Enterprise edition in your live environment.
    – Ian_H
    Aug 23, 2016 at 11:15
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You need Fail Over Clustering in order to install an AlwaysOn. AFAIK you can't install it on a windows 8.1. So my guess is no, you cannot install AlwaysOn on Windows 8.1.

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  • Thanks for comment Vercelli, can we do any kind a patch work to achieve this functionality?
    – Anirudh Prasad
    Aug 23, 2016 at 10:51
  • @AnirudhPrasad You can install HyperV on your workstation and create a couple of VMs with Windows Server 2012R2 to make the WSFC
    – vercelli
    Aug 23, 2016 at 10:55
  • @AnirudhPrasad Probably you should have a Test, QA or Preproduction servers with AlwaysOn to test your developments.
    – vercelli
    Aug 23, 2016 at 11:01

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