Before exploring the lab environment and performance testing results, we will first review the process of selecting and sizing an optimized cluster configuration. Dell Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI offers a broad range of validated AX node and network topologies to meet the requirements of nearly any use case and workload. Example scenarios include the following:

• For small Remote Branch Offices (ROBO), we may recommend a cluster with two AX nodes using lower core count processors, modest amounts of RAM, all-flash storage, and a switchless storage network topology.
• For applications with significant storage capacity and expansion requirements, we may suggest a two-tier, hybrid storage configuration, and scalable networking topology.
• For the most demanding workloads in the industry, we often select processors with the highest number of cores and fastest clock speeds, large memory footprints, NVMe drives, and 100 GbE RDMA networking.

The following figure illustrates our specification sheet at a glance. It depicts the component combinations in our four AX node models.