Home > Storage > PowerFlex > White Papers > Dell APEX Block Storage for Azure: Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Deployment and Performance Best Practices > System architecture
The following figure shows the system architecture of Microsoft SQL Server 2022 deployed on Dell APEX Block Storage using Azure cloud infrastructure.
The Dell APEX Block Storage for Azure SO (storage only) nodes are built from six Standard_L32as_v3 Azure instances. These Azure instances that are deployed by Dell APEX Block Storage cluster in Azure are backed by NVMe drives and are locally attached at the instance level. Each storage node (SDS) is populated with four NVMe drives. These 24 disks from the six SDSs are used to create a logical storage pool from which the usable storage volumes are created. For more information about hardware and software configuration of the storage nodes, see Dell APEX Block Storage for Azure cluster node configuration.
These usable volumes are mapped to the SQL Server Azure instances by software defined client (SDC) component of the Dell APEX Block Storage for Azure cluster. SDCs act as a device driver and are responsible for provisioning and managing the volumes on the compute nodes. The SDC maintains peer-to-peer connections to every SDS managing a storage pool. It translates between the proprietary Dell APEX Block Storage for Azure data transport protocol and block SCSI commands. These mapped volumes are used by Microsoft SQL Server to store data and log files of the database.
This solution deploys Dell APEX Block Storage for Azure with one virtual network across three availability zones within the same Azure resource group for resiliency. For each availability zone, a separate private subnet is created to provide connectivity among multiple storage nodes. Routing between multiple AZs is possible over virtual network. The public subnet contains resources (proxy server) that needs Internet access, and the private subnet contains the compute and storage resources of the cluster mitigating any data security risk.
A network address translation (NAT) gateway is configured in the public route to enable the Internet access to the Azure VM instances provisioned in the public subnet. Security groups are created for Azure VM instances to provide an additional layer of security and control over inbound and outbound traffic at the subnet level.
Three Standard DV5 series Azure VMs are created to host SQL Server database. DV5 series provides a better value proposition for the workloads that do not require local disks. This solution leverages Dell APEX Block Storage for Azure for all the database volume requirements of SQL Server that includes data, logs, and temp files. For more information about hardware and software configuration of the instance, see SQL Server Azure VM configuration.
Microsoft SQL Server 2022 is deployed on Windows Server 2022 and acting as a standalone database instances. SQL Server binaries and its metadata files are installed on the default OS partition of the Windows server, but all the data, log and temp files are stored on Dell APEX Block Storage for Azure storage volumes mapped to these database instances. The storage layout for these instances is designed according to the database best practices and are explained in the Windows and SQL Server 2022 section.