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Deploying Microsoft SQL Server 2008 based Decision Support Systems using Dell EqualLogic 10GbE iSCSI Storage 12
It is a best practice to use the Dell SQL Server Advisor Tool
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as a starting point for sizing server
configurations to support SQL Server DSS workloads.
4.3.2 ThinkbeyondJustCPUandMemory
In our test configurations we installed two Broadcom mezzanine NICs on the PowerEdge M710
database server for connecting to the external iSCSI storage via Fabric B. Each NIC is connected to the
two blade CPU sockets internally through an eight-lane (x8) PCIe interface as shown in Figure 5. This 8
lane interconnect path provides up to 16 Gbps of PCIe 1.1 compliant bandwidth per mezzanine NIC.
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In our testing we found that this mezzanine NIC and PCIe lane configuration provided the required
bandwidth for the workload under test.
It is a best practice to choose servers with appropriate PCIe technology, sufficient PCIe slots and the
required number of PCIe lanes necessary to provide the data transfer bandwidth required by the DSS
workload.
4.3.3 ProperlySizeYourSANConnectionPaths
In Test Configuration #1 we used two 10 GbE ports to connect to the SAN and in Test Configuration
#2 we used four 10 GbE ports (see Figure 2 on page 5 and Figure 3 on page 6). We used two physical
NICs per server to create redundant paths for high availability. In our testing we found that this
configuration of SAN NIC ports provided the required bandwidth for the workload under test. We also
installed separate NICs for the server LAN connections. We connected the workload simulation client
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The Dell SQL Server Advisor Tool is available at: http://www.dell.com/sql
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The Dell PowerEdge R710 supports PCIe 2.0. Use of PCIe 2.0 compliant NICs would increase this
bandwidth further.
Figure5:PCIePaths