Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Virtualized Reference Architecture with Dell PowerEdge FX2 A Dell Reference Architecture for Microsoft SQl Server 2014 using Dell’s latest server–PowerEdge FX2 and Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Megha Jayaraman Dell Global Solutions Engineering December 2014
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Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Virtualized Reference Architecture with Dell PowerEdge FX2 A Dell Reference Architecture for Microsoft SQl Server 2014 using Dell’s latest server–PowerEdge FX2 and Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V
Megha Jayaraman Dell Global Solutions Engineering December 2014
2 Reference Architecture| Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Virtualized Reference Architecture with Dell PowerEdge FX2 |
Revisions
Date Description
December 2014 Initial release
THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND
TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
8 Reference Architecture| Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Virtualized Reference Architecture with Dell PowerEdge FX2 |
3 Reference Architecture In this reference architecture, the underlying infrastructure is virtualized using Microsoft Windows Server
2012 R2 Hyper-V to optimize the hardware resource utilization and provide a simple solution
management strategy. The virtualized design is then leveraged to deploy the SQL Server database.
FC Switch 1 FC Switch 2
Microsoft Hyper-V Cluster
Dell Storage SC4020
Dell PowerEdge FX2 Chassis
10GBE Switch 1
10GBE Switch 2
Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Standalone VM Other Application VMs
SAN
LAN
LAG
ISL
Figure 1 Reference architecture
A single Hyper-V cluster is created from the four PowerEdge FC630 servers of the FX2 chassis. Windows
Server 2012 R2 is installed on the 2 X 2.5 inch(RAID1 configuration) internal drives available with servers,
and Hyper-V role configured. A failover cluster is created using these four nodes to serve as a compute
platform for not only SQL Server database virtual machine (VM) but also other workload VMs.
The Storage Area Network (SAN) and Local Area Network (LAN) fabric are kept separate using different
switches to keep the application data segregated from the networking traffic.
9 Reference Architecture| Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Virtualized Reference Architecture with Dell PowerEdge FX2 |
3.1 Network Design Consideration The PowerEdge FC630 servers connect to the network using a dual-port 10 GBE NDC card through the 10
GB pass-through I/O modules. The server to pass-through I/O module mapping for a dual-port NDC is
shown below.
FC630 servers with dual port NDC
FX2 Chassis IO Module 1 IO Module 2
FC630 Server 1 Port 1 - NIC 1 Port 2 - NA Port 1 - NIC 2 Port 2 - NA
FC630 Server 2 Port 3 - NIC 1 Port 4 - NA Port 3 - NIC 2 Port 4 - NA
FC630 Server 3 Port 5 - NIC 1 Port 6 - NA Port 5 - NIC 2 Port 6 - NA
FC630 Server 4 Port 7 - NIC 1 Port 8 - NA Port 7 - NIC 2 Port 8 - NA
Table 1 Server to pass-through I/O module port mapping
The network layer is designed to be redundant with two Dell Networking 10GBE switches to eliminate a single point of failure, in the solution. These switches are tagged together using an inter switch link (ISL). Similarly the virtual and the physical network connections are made resilient at the server level using the NIC teaming feature of Windows Server 2012. This applies to both the Hyper-V host and the SQL Server database VM. For the SAN fabric, the PowerEdge FC630 server connects to the redundant FC Switches using the 8 GBps dual-port Qlogic QLE2562 add-on PCIe cards, at the rear-end of the chassis.
3.1.1 Hyper-V Networking Configuration The onboard Broadcom 10GBE NDC and an optional 10 GB PCIe add-on network card can be combined
to create a Windows Server 2012 R2 NIC team. The team settings in the table below are used to create the
NIC team.
Windows Server 2012 R2 team Configuration
NIC Team Mode SwitchIndependent
Load Balancing Algorithm HyperVPort
Standby Adapter None
Team Members
Four Network ports(2 LOMs and 2 optional PCIe Adapter Ports or from Quad-port NDC card)
Table 2 Team settings for the Hyper-V networking
A Hyper-V converged virtual switch is created using the NIC team. Separate network adapters are created
10 Reference Architecture| Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Virtualized Reference Architecture with Dell PowerEdge FX2 |
for management, live migration, application, and cluster heartbeat with specific VLAN ID and bandwidth
weights.
The deployed SQL Server database VM can talk to infrastructure VMs like active directory/DNS, Data
Protection Manager (DPM), System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) etc using the management
network, and to other applications like SharePoint, using the application network.
3.2 Storage Design Consideration The reference architecture uses 24 X 300 GB 15K drives of the Dell Storage SC4020 to host the Hyper-V
failover cluster, workload VM store, and data files. The two dual port Qlogic QLE2562 card provides four
connections per server to the SC4020 array.
The SC4020 storage is used for the following two purposes:
• Storing VM files like the virtual hard disk (VHDX)
• Storing the SQL Server data and log files
3.2.1 Hyper-V Storage Configuration In order to create a Windows Server 2012 R2 failover cluster, a 1 GB quorum is carved out of the SC4020
storage and provided to the cluster nodes. A quorum configuration helps the cluster to determine the
number of failures the cluster can withstand.
A Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) is created on the SC4020 to store workload VM files like the virtual
machine hard disk (VHDX). CSVs enable faster failover of clustered roles like SQL Server virtual machine to
another node without the need for dismounting the drive, changing ownership, or remounting the
volume.
3.2.2 Enabling SQL Server direct access to FC Storage targets Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V allows the virtual machine to connect to an existing FC based storage
array using FC ports from within the guest operating system. The SQL Server VM is configured to make use
of this feature and talk directly to the SC4020 array, using the virtual FC adapter.
A virtual SAN is created by grouping the physical ports of the Qlogic QLE2562 adapter, on the PowerEdge
FC630 server. Virtual FC adapter is added for the VM to access the SC4020 storage. The VM World Wide
Names (WWN) address is zoned for the SQL Server VM to access the data LUNs. A number of volumes are
created for the SQL Server database data and log files.
11 Reference Architecture| Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Virtualized Reference Architecture with Dell PowerEdge FX2 |
WWN1
FC Port 1 FC Port 2
WWN2Virtual Fibre Channel
Adapter
Dual-port Qlogic QLE2562 card
FC630 Hyper-V host
SQl Server VM
Figure 2 SQL Server direct access to FC storage targets
3.3 High availability consideration The reference architecture is designed to have high availability at several levels like hardware, hypervisor,