Home > Workload Solutions > SQL Server > White Papers > Scaling SQL Server 2022 VMs on Dell Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI > Storage recommendations
The storage layer is an important factor for every SQL Server deployment, especially OLTP workloads. OLTP workloads must process a large amount of reads and writes to data in a short time, which results in low latency and high-IOPs requirements.
This solution focuses tuning the entire stack from the bottom-up. Storage Spaces Direct is the initial layer that provides the capability to make internal drives available for our software-defined storage solution. It is automatically configured and managed, and it creates a storage pool that includes cache, tiers, resiliency, and erasure coding. For more information about how storage spaces direct functions, see HCI Azure Stack storage and cluster information from Microsoft.
In an HCI infrastructure, the server is central for both compute and storage resources. For this reason, users should carefully evaluate the specifications of the components within a server. The processor chosen for the server could handle the storage overhead associated with HCI and the compute requirement for workloads that the customers intend to run on the servers. By having pre-designed, certified components that complement each other, customers can fully experience the benefits of HCI with the lowest possible data center footprint.
Drive selection plays a vital role in this deployment, we recommend All-NVMe configurations. Ideally, only high speed NVMe drives should be selected for workloads that demand low latency with high IOPs like SQL Server.
Volumes are data stores used to hold files for workloads running on the server. They are used to store Hyper-V files including VHD and VHDX files. All volumes are accessible to all servers within a cluster. While configuring volumes, pay attention to the following factors:
Note: Microsoft recommends limiting the size of each volume to a maximum of 64 TB.
For more information, see the following recommendations from Microsoft.
Storage Spaces Direct provides a multitude of options for deploying volumes. We recommend using either three-way mirroring or mirror-accelerated parity. Details about different S2D resiliency settings can be found in the Microsoft documentation.