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Architecting Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Containers on Dell EMC PowerFlex
Executive Summary Technology Overview Solution Architecture Performance Tests Best Practices
PowerFlex
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Microsoft SQL Server Containers
Conclusion References Configuration SQL Configuration and Tuned Profile

PowerFlex

Home > Storage > PowerFlex > White Papers > Architecting Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Containers on Dell EMC PowerFlex > PowerFlex

PowerFlex

  • This section divides the PowerFlex best practices into three categories for better understanding. 

    PowerFlex rack

    Ensure that the following best practices are applied before deploying the PowerFlex rack:

    • Six or more number of nodes must be deployed for production workload in a PowerFlex HCI configuration.
    • Homogenous node types must be used for a predictable performance. 
    • The maximum number of devices in a storage pool is 300.
    • The maximum number of SDS nodes in one protection domain is 128. 
    • Change the passwords for all default accounts. 
    • Use a secure communication - HTTPS (TCP port 443) to remotely access the PowerFlex nodes. 
    • The PowerFlex rack is compliant with the latest RCM built.

    PowerFlex networking

    Ensure that the following best practices are applied to the PowerFlex networking:

    • Confirm with the PowerFlex platform team to enable Jumbo frames for Windows VM, Linux VM, SVM, or an ESXi host.
    • If a node running an SDS has aggregated links to the switch and is running Linux, the hash mode on Linux must be configured to use the xmit_hash_policy=layer2+3 or xmit_hash_policy=layer3+4 bonding option.
    • Ensure that on Linux, the miimon=100 bonding option is used. This option directs Linux to verify the status of each physical link every 100 milliseconds.
    • Enable secure network protocol options only (for example, HTTPS and SSH).
    • Separate the management and control traffic from production application traffic. You can use VLANs to separate the traffic.
    • Ensure that each node has at least two separate network connections for redundancy, regardless of throughput requirements.

    For more information, see Dell EMC PowerFlex: Networking Best Practices and Design Considerations.

    PowerFlex operating system

    Ensure that the following best practices are applied to the PowerFlex operating system:

    • Configure a high-performance profile for MDM, SDS, and SDC.
    • Disable the Read Flash Cache and Read RAM cache for all the flash clusters.
    • Check with the PowerFlex platform team to increase the per device queue length value to 256 per host for improving the I/O concurrency.
    • Ensure that the customize power plan is set to high performance.
    • Ensure that you change SDS threads according to the cores available to SDS nodes. For current reference architecture SDS threads are set to 12.
    • Ensure that you use the noop I/O scheduler for all the SSD devices discovered on SDC hosts.

    For more information about general best practices to use PowerFlex system, See PowerFlex tuning guide.