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Deploying Microsoft SQL Server 2008 based Decision Support Systems using Dell EqualLogic 10GbE iSCSI Storage ii
Table of Contents
1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Audience .......................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 The Rest of This Paper .................................................................................................................................. 1
2 Understanding DSS Storage Requirements ..................................................................................................... 2
2.1 Strategy for Supporting DSS I/O Requirements...................................................................................... 2
3 DSS Workload Test ............................................................................................................................................... 4
3.1 Test Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 7
3.1.1 Workload Simulation Tool ................................................................................................................... 7
3.1.2 Monitoring ............................................................................................................................................. 8
4 Best Practices ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
4.1 Dell EqualLogic Storage Array Configuration ........................................................................................ 8
4.1.1 Choose Appropriate Disk Drive Type and Size .............................................................................. 8
4.1.2 Setting an Appropriate RAID Policy .................................................................................................. 8
4.1.3 Storage Pool Configuration ............................................................................................................... 9
4.2 SAN Design .................................................................................................................................................... 9
4.2.1 Use Redundant Switch Paths Between Servers and Storage Arrays ......................................... 9
4.2.2 Use Flow Control and Jumbo Frames ........................................................................................... 10
4.2.3 Pay Attention to Spanning Tree ....................................................................................................... 11
4.2.4 Select Appropriate Physical Interconnects .................................................................................... 11
4.3 Server Configuration ................................................................................................................................... 11
4.3.1 Hardware Configuration to Meet Performance and Capacity Requirements is Critical. .... 11
4.3.2 Think beyond Just CPU and Memory ............................................................................................. 12
4.3.3 Properly Size Your SAN Connection Paths .................................................................................... 12
4.4 Operating System Configuration ............................................................................................................. 13
4.4.1 Disk Partitions Should be Aligned With Storage Stripe Boundaries ......................................... 13
4.4.2 NIC Driver Settings .............................................................................................................................. 13
4.4.3 Optimize MPIO Configuration With EqualLogic DSM ................................................................. 15
4.5 Microsoft SQL Server 2008 ....................................................................................................................... 17
4.5.1 Properly Size the Storage Volumes for Each Database I/O Component. .............................. 17
4.5.2 Match RAID Levels to DSS I/O Components ............................................................................... 18