Home > Storage > PowerVault > Guides > Dell PowerVault ME5 Series: Microsoft Hyper-V Best Practices > Disk groups, pools, and RAID configuration
Choosing the type of disk, disk pool, and RAID configuration is an important part of right-sizing ME5 storage. Sizing considerations include the following:
See the Dell PowerVault ME5 Administrator’s Guide at Dell Technologies Support for an in-depth review of the following topics.
From the perspective of Hyper-V, all available configuration options are supported. Choosing the best type of disk group and RAID option is a function of the workload running on Hyper-V, and the Dell PowerVault ME5 Administrator’s Guide provides sizing guidance.
For this paper, an ME5024 array is configured with 24 spinning disks in the base enclosure, with two 12-disk pools with ADAPT. Each pool is assigned to a separate controller to achieve balance. This configuration provides an excellent starting point for good overall performance, capacity, and expandability.
One option discussed in the Dell PowerVault ME5 Administrator’s Guide is the ME5 ADAPT option for RAID. ADAPT supports distributed sparing for fast rebuild times, and large-capacity disk groups. However, ADAPT requires a minimum of 12 drives to start with, and all disks must be of the same type and be in the same tier.
Total disk capacity does not always translate to disk performance. For example, installing a few large-capacity spinning disks in a storage array may provide significant storage capacity, but may not support a high-IOPS workload. A few SSDs may support a high-IOPS workload, buy may not provide adequate storage capacity.
Administrators must plan for IOPS and capacity when sizing the ME5 for Hyper-V or any other workload.