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Disabling unused integrated devices is a security measure that can safeguard the physical server. No performance improvements are expected if you disable USB ports and serial communication ports on the servers. However, it is a good security practice. The following ports are disabled in BIOS:
The Dell Technologies Info Hub has a broad range of information for SQL Server customers. For a detailed explanation of each BIOS profile, see the CPU Best Practices Guide.
The PowerStore is a data-centric, intelligent, and adaptable storage array designed for demanding workloads like SQL Server databases. It is an active/active configuration in which both nodes (controllers) can serve data to the volumes. Only one node can own a volume at a time. For this validation, we manually configured the volumes with node affinity to provide the best possible performance for running SQL Server database workloads. PowerStore node affinity provides the load balancing of the volumes that are created on the array to maximize performance. In later versions of the PowerStore operating system, the node affinity is automated during the volume creation process.
Component | Description |
Processors | 2 x Intel Xeon Silver 4108 CPUs @ 1.8 GHz per node |
Nodes | 2 nodes (1 appliance with 2 nodes) |
Cache size | 192 GB per node |
Drives | 21 x 1.9 TB NVMe |
Total usable capacity | 28.35 TB |
The following list describes PowerStore features that are commonly used with SQL Server databases:
Configuring the PowerStore storage array is a critical step that impacts database performance. We recommend working with Dell storage experts to analyze current workloads and design a PowerStore configuration that can accelerate and protect business data. To learn more about the PowerStore flash appliance, see the Dell PowerStore page.