Home > Storage > PowerStore > Databases and Data Analytics > Dell PowerStore: Microsoft SQL Server Best Practices > Volume mapping and clustering
After creating a volume, host mapping presents storage from the PowerStore array to a host or a cluster of hosts that are defined in a host group. Follow general best practices as outlined in the PowerStore Host Configuration Guide when mapping storage volumes.
Clustered SQL Server instances require special consideration because correct host mapping is critical to cluster failover. SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances (FCI) rely on Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC). Dell Technologies recommends using host groups to uniformly present storage to all the initiators for reduced management complexity. This allows a volume or set of volumes to be mapped to multiple hosts at a time and maintain the same Logical Unit Number (LUN) across all hosts. If volumes in the failover cluster do not have the same LUN number across Windows hosts in the cluster, failover does not work properly. Once the cluster configuration is complete, test the cluster failover to ensure that all failover components, including storage, are functioning as intended. PowerStore Metro Volume is the enabling feature for WSFC configurations.