Home > Storage > Unity XT > Virtualization, Cloud & Applications > Dell Unity XT: Microsoft SQL Server Best Practices > OLAP/DSS workloads
An online analytic processing (OLAP) or decision support system (DSS) workload typically consists of large, sequential reads. A storage system that services this type of workload is primarily sized based on throughput. When designing for throughput, the performance of the entire path between the server and the drives in the Dell Unity XT array needs to be considered. For best throughput, consider using 16 Gbps Fibre Channel (FC) or 10 Gbps iSCSI connectivity to the array, and 12 Gbps SAS connectivity from the controllers to the disk enclosures. To meet high throughput requirements, multiple HBAs may be required in the server, the array, or both.