User guide

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resiliency. It provides protection against double disk failure as compared to RAID 5, which can only protect
against one disk failure. NetApp strongly recommends using RAID-DP on all RAID groups that store Citrix
XenDesktop data. For more information on RAID-DP, refer to NetApp white paper 3298 at
http://www.netapp.com/us/library/white-papers/wp_3298.html.
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Remote LAN management (RLM) card. The RLM card improves storage system monitoring by providing
secure out-of-band access to the storage controllers, which can be used regardless of the state of the
controllers. The RLM offers a number of remote management capabilities for NetApp controllers, including
remote access, monitoring, troubleshooting, logging, and alerting features. The RLM also extends
AutoSupport™ capabilities of the NetApp controllers by sending alerts or "down storage system"
notification with an AutoSupport message when the controller goes down, regardless of whether the
controller can send AutoSupport messages. These AutoSupport messages also provide proactive alerts to
NetApp to help provide faster service. For more details on RLM, visit
http://now.netapp.com/NOW/download/tools/rlm_fw/info.shtml.
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Networking infrastructure design (FCoE, FCFibre Channel, or IP). A network infrastructure (FCoE, Fibre
Channel, or IP) should have no single point of failure. A highly available solution includes having two or
more Fibre Channel and FCoE or IP network switches; two or more CNAs, HBAs, or NICs per host; and
two or more target ports or NICs per storage controller. In addition, if using Fibre Channel, two independent
fabrics are required to have a truly redundant architecture.
3.4.17 Top Resiliency Practices
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Use RAID-DP, the NetApp high-performance implementation of RAID 6, for better data protection.
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Use multipath HA with active-active storage configurations to improve overall system availability as well as
promote higher performance consistency.
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Use the default RAID group size (16) when creating aggregates.
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Allow Data ONTAP to select disks automatically when creating aggregates or volumes.
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Use the latest Data ONTAP general availability release available on the NOW site.
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Use the latest storage controller, shelf, and disk firmware available on the NOW site.
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Disk drive differences are Fibre Channel, SAS, SATA disk drive types, disk size, and rotational speed
(RPM).
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Maintain two hot spares for each type of disk drive in the storage system to take advantage of Maintenance
Center.
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Do not put user data into the root volume unless this is a FAS 2000 series due to lack of disk spindles.
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Replicate data with SnapMirror or SnapVault for disaster recovery (DR) protection.
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Replicate to remote locations to increase data protection levels.
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Use an active-active storage controller configuration (clustered failover) to eliminate single points of failure
(SPOFs).
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Deploy SyncMirror® and RAID-DP for the highest level of storage resiliency.
For more details, refer to NetApp TR-3437: Storage Best Practices and Resiliency Guide.
3.4.18 Building a High-Performance Storage Architecture
A XenDesktop workload can be very I/O intensive, especially during the simultaneous boot up, login, and virus
scan within the virtual desktops. A boot storm, depending on how many servers and guests are attached to the
storage, can create a significant performance effect if the storage is not sized properly. A boot storm can affect