Reference Architecture

Reference Architecture for Active System 800m with Hyper-V:
Dell Inc. 17
6.5.1.2 Performance
Dell EqualLogic PS6110 Series uses a redundant controller architecture with a single active 10GbE
front-end port per controller. To allow the network port to dedicate the 10GbE bandwidth to SAN
traffic, the 1GbE out-of-band port is used for configuration and performance monitoring.
6.5.1.3 Drive Types
The Dell EqualLogic PS6110 Series arrays use a high performance 10K RPM SAS drive in the default
configuration. This provides a balance of size and performance. The EqualLogic PS6110 is available with
drives in multiple speeds and sizes, including 10K RPM and 15K RPM SAS drives, 7.2K RPM NL-SAS drives,
and solid-state disks.
6.5.1.4 RAID Array Design
The storage array RAID configuration is highly dependent on the workload in your virtual environment.
The EqualLogic PS series storage arrays support RAID types: RAID 6, RAID 10, and RAID 50. The RAID
configuration will depend on workloads and customer requirements. In general, RAID 10 provides the
best performance at the expense of storage capacity, especially in random I/O situations. RAID 50
generally provides more usable storage, but has less performance than RAID 10. RAID 6 provides better
data protection than RAID 50.
For more information on configuring RAID in EqualLogic, refer to the white paper, How to Select the
Correct RAID for an EqualLogic SAN.
6.5.1.5 Storage Tiering
Tiering storage is the practice of physically partitioning data into multiple distinct classes based on
price, performance, or other attributes. Data may be dynamically moved among classes in a tiered
storage implementation based on access activity or other considerations.
This is normally achieved through a combination of varying types of disks which are used for different
data types. (i.e. Production, non-production, backups, etc.) Dell EqualLogic PS6110 Series dynamically
moves data to the optimal storage tier based on actual use. The most active blocks reside on
high-performance SSD and SAS drives, while infrequently accessed data migrates to lower-cost,
high-capacity SAS drives. The result is network storage that remains in tune with application needs.
6.5.1.6 High Availability
In order to maintain continuous connectivity to stored data from the server, the controllers of the
EqualLogic PS6110 have vertical port failover from active to standby controller. This port failover
mechanism allows a port to failover without having to failover the controller. This results in a lower
time that a controller is unavailable.
6.5.1.7 Multi-pathing
For Windows Server 2012, the native MPIO provides functionality for Dell EqualLogic. The EqualLogic
Host Integration Tools (HIT) kit provides enhanced load balancing and additional EqualLogic tools like
the PowerShell module for group management and the Auto-Snapshot Manager. The multi-pathing
solution uses the round-robin load balancing algorithm to utilize all available paths. Dell recommends
the EqualLogic Hit kit for its enhanced functionality and performance but either can be used.