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Another key decision for cluster performance in an environment is the type and quantity of nodes deployed. Heterogeneous clusters can be architected with a wide variety of node styles and capacities, in order to meet the needs of a varied dataset and wide spectrum of workloads. These node styles encompass several hardware generations and fall loosely into four main categories or tiers.
The following figure illustrates these tiers, and the associated Gen 6 hardware models:
Before OneFS 8.0, the recommendation was for a maximum cluster size of around 64 nodes based on numerous factors. These factors include balancing customer experience with the manageability of extra-large clusters, the risk profile associated with the size of the fault domain that represents for their business, and the ease and simplicity of a single cluster. However, OneFS 8 and later releases have seen considerable back-end network infrastructure enhancements. Those enhancements provide cluster stability up to the current supported maximum of 252 nodes per cluster in OneFS 8.2 and later.