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Building Azure Arc-enabled Data Services for a SQL Managed Instance on Dell PowerFlex
Introduction Product overview Solution architecture
Solution architecture
PowerFlex setup
Kubernetes and CSI setup
Management and operations
Azure Arc-enabled SQL Managed Instance
Test scenarios Test case results Conclusion Appendix A: SQL MI and Hammer DB Test Harness details Appendix B: SQL MI related service management using kubectl Appendix C: Red Hat Linux configuration References

PowerFlex setup

PowerFlex setup

  • PowerFlex 3.6.0 is built in the lab with four PowerFlex HCI nodes. PowerFlex Manager is used to automatically create all required PowerFlex network components and provision the PowerFlex cluster on VMware vSphere 7.0 U2. PowerFlex SDS, MDM, and SDC components are installed on each of the HCI nodes by the PowerFlex Manager cluster creation job. The SDS aggregates and serves as raw local storage in each node and shares that storage as a part of the PowerFlex cluster. A single protection domain is created from the drives on these HCI nodes. Then two storage pools are configured, and multiple volumes are carved out to meet the SQL Managed Instance storage requirements. The volumes are mapped to compute nodes and later mapped to the virtual machines.

    Table 2.      The configuration details of the PowerFlex System in the lab

    Cluster design elements

    Description

    Cluster node model

    PowerEdge R640

    Number of cluster nodes

    4

    CPU

    2 x Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6132 CPU @ 2.60 GHz

    Memory

    384 GB (12 x 32 GB)

    Network

    rNDC - Intel(R) 10 GbE 4P X710 rNDC 

    PCIe - 2 x MLNX 25 GbE 2P ConnectX4LX Adapter BOSS card 

    Network topology

    PowerFlex Proprietary 

    Volume resiliency

    2

    Usable storage capacity

    10 x 1788.5 GB (SSD) per Node

    Note: The solution was validated in an engineering lab using PowerFlex HCI platform with a VMware vSphere environment. However, the implementation and validation that this paper describes are applicable for a PowerFlex HCI and two-layer platform with virtualized and bare metal configurations. See, Microsoft Azure Arc on Dell EMC PowerFlex for details. The protection domain, storage pool, and volumes for PowerFlex platform can be configured according to requirements. For more information, see PowerFlex Storage definitions.