Specifications

Best Practices for Virtualizing and Managing Exchange 2013
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Dual-Node File Server: In a Dual-Node File Server, file servers can be clustered storage spaces, where
shares are used for VHD storage (Figure 12). This configuration provides flexibility for shared storage,
fault-tolerant storage, and low costs for acquisition and operation. It also offers continuous availability but
with limited scalability.
Figure 12: Dual-Node File Server
Multi-Node File Server: A Multi-Node File Server uses clustered Hyper-V file servers and storage spaces,
where shares are used for VHD storage (Figure 13). This configuration provides flexibility for shared
storage, fault-tolerant storage, and low costs for acquisition and operation. It also provides continuous
availability, and Hyper-V virtual machines are highly available.
Figure 13: Multi-Node File Server
Table 2 compares the cost and availability/scalability of the three configurations for Hyper-V over SMB.
Table 2: Comparison of Hyper-V over SMB configurations
Single-Node File Server
Dual-Node File Server
Multi-Node File Server
Cost
Lowest cost for shared
storage
Low cost for continuously
available shared storage
Higher cost, but still lower
than connecting all Hyper-V
hosts with Fibre Channel (FC)
Availability/
Scalability
Shares not continuously
available
Limited scalability (up to a
few hundred disks)
Highest scalability (up to
thousands of disks)