I'm looking to upgrade my single server SQL Server 2008 environment to a platform with much greater redundancy. The current system was put in 5 years ago when the company started and so was built down to as low a cost as possible. However, we're now well established with a large client base and as such the replacement system needs to be much more redundant.
We have a few sites around the country (as we're part of a larger group with multiple sites), so have access to backup offices etc and remote sites to host servers.
I'd like suggestions about how best to achieve having our two or three key databases available throughout hardware failure or lack of access to site. I'm thinking of some type of cluster with a pair of local servers, then one off-site server with a copy of the DBs on. The DBs themselves are actually very small, so hardware can be pretty low spec and I can get away with a few physical boxes. However, I'm conscious that SQL Enterprise 2016 is VERY expensive as we'd have to licence by core.
I'm open to all suggestions/options etc. We're a pure MS house, so we've no other OS platforms. I'm reading conflicting reports regarding DB mirroring vs clustering etc.
Thanks