Hyper-V cluster using SMB

[mdrabble]

Feel free to move if not in the right section :-)

 

Ok, quick couple of questions -

1. Anyone running a Hyper-V cluster using SMB shares?
   
2. If so what are you using as your storage and what NICs are installed?
   
3. Have you had many issues?
   

 

 

Cheers

Mark

[ChrisH]

I asked a question along those lines but more regarding hardware but didn't get any responses. Have you had any ideas for hardware yet? I am basically looking to move away from a single SAN point of failure to more affordable storage like some fully loaded servers or some direct attached storage. I can afford another SAN just about but I would like to stretch that money to get a more redundant solution.

 

I am maybe looking at utilising some of the new Server storage features such as storage spaces etc. All I want really is hardware that comes within my budget and some sort of replication and redundancy. At the moment I have a cluster of Hyper-V servers accessing storage over ISCSI and an EMC SAN with redundant controllers disks etc but it's still one box that could go wrong with no backup.

[Blue_Cookeh]

I'd put off any Hyper-V projects for now, Server 2016 introduces a whole bunch of really great features around Hyper-V clustering and storage using local disks to provide redundancy. This could well be a game changer IMO.

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-GB/library/dn765471.aspx

What’s new in Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V | Thomas Maurer

 

especially https://technet.microsoft.com/en-GB/library/mt126109.aspx

[ChrisH]

Thanks for those. Hmm going to have to do something in the iterim though as the EMC warranty is up soon

[PotNoodleTech]

Direct Attached Storage into you're Hyper V hosts is by far the best value way of achieving full clustering redundancy with superior performance if you're only using 2 -4 Hyper V host servers.

 

At the minimum, each host needs to have a 2 port 12 Gig SAS card, each DAS box should have 2 x 2 port SAS cards (if you have 2 Hyper V hosts) or 2 x 4 Port SAS cards (if you have 3-4 Hyper V hosts).

You can double up on host cards to have further redundancy but IMHO it's overkill.

 

This provides super simple, super fast tiered storage to the hyper-v hosts with no nasty overexpensive-SAN ongoing licencing/support costs.

 

2016 server will be interesting as 2012R2 was already a big step forward in terms of storage spaces.

[ChrisH]

Direct Attached Storage into you're Hyper V hosts is by far the best value way of achieving full clustering redundancy with superior performance if you're only using 2 -4 Hyper V host servers.

 

At the minimum, each host needs to have a 2 port 12 Gig SAS card, each DAS box should have 2 x 2 port SAS cards (if you have 2 Hyper V hosts) or 2 x 4 Port SAS cards (if you have 3-4 Hyper V hosts).

You can double up on host cards to have further redundancy but IMHO it's overkill.

 

This provides super simple, super fast tiered storage to the hyper-v hosts with no nasty overexpensive-SAN ongoing licencing/support costs.

 

2016 server will be interesting as 2012R2 was already a big step forward in terms of storage spaces.

 

Thanks, that's the kind of thing I'm looking at.