In an independent architecture, or two-layer architecture, some nodes provide storage capacity and host datasets while other, separate, and independent nodes, host applications, and workloads. PowerFlex manager provides LCM and IOTM for the entire infrastructure, including nodes that provide storage and nodes that host applications. Compute and storage resources can be scaled independently by adding nodes to the cluster. This separation of compute and storage resources can also help minimize software licensing costs in certain situations. And this architecture can be ideal for hosting high-performance high-value databases and application workloads.