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For a single cluster of APEX File Storage for AWS, all nodes in the cluster must use the same configuration, including EC2 instance type and size, EBS volume type, and EBS volume size.
When a new cluster is deployed, the default protection level is set to +2n. All the files on the cluster inherit this level of protection. If the cluster only has the minimum number of nodes (that is, 4), +2n protection means that the data on the cluster will remain protected even when two nodes of the cluster fail simultaneously. In a hyperscaler's environment, each of the OneFS virtual nodes within a cluster resides on different underlying physical hardware. Therefore, the chances of two nodes failing simultaneously are slim.
In the highly unlikely event that two of the four nodes fail simultaneously, the cluster will only have two functional nodes and it loses quorum. Regardless of the cluster protection level, a cluster loses quorum when at least half the number of nodes in the cluster are unavailable. To protect the data, the cluster becomes unresponsive to client I/O. When at least one of the two failed nodes is back in the cluster, the cluster automatically becomes writable. The data will be unavailable until at least one node is back online (to bring back the quorum) but there will be no data loss. If needed, some data will be rebuilt automatically. If the cluster must remain available and writable even when two nodes fail with +2n protection, the cluster size should be increased to five nodes.
APEX File Storage for AWS supports the following cluster configuration.
Table 2 shows the supported configuration for an SSD cluster.
Supported options | |
Cluster size | 4 to 6 nodes |
EC2 instance type | All nodes in a cluster must be the same instance size. The supported instance sizes are:
Note: It is required to run PoC if you intend to use m5d.24xlarge or i3en.12xlarge EC2 instance types. Contact your Dell account team for the details. |
EBS volume type | gp3 |
EBS volume counts per node | 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 18, or 20 |
Single EBS volume sizes | 1TiB - 16TiB |
Cluster raw capacity | 20TiB - 1.6PiB |
Cluster protection level | +2n |
See the section Appendix B: supported cluster configuration details for all supported combinations.
Table 3 shows the supported configuration for an HDD cluster.
Configuration items | Supported options |
Cluster size | 4 to 6 nodes |
EC2 instance type | All nodes in a cluster must be the same instance size. The supported instance sizes are:
Note: It is required to run PoC if you intend to use m5d.24xlarge or i3en.12xlarge EC2 instance types. Contact your Dell account team for the details. |
EBS volume type | st1 |
EBS volume counts per node | 5 or 6 |
Single EBS volume sizes | 4TiB or 10TiB |
Cluster raw capacity | 80TiB - 360TiB |
Cluster protection level | +2n |