VRTX Config advice - Server 2012 file server

Hi All

I have a new Dell VRTX server, its my first Hyper-V Cluster so I need some advice on the best way to configure it.

I have installed Server 2012 Datacentre onto each of the 2 blades, setup a Quorum disk and created the Cluster.

I've created 2 additional virtual disks in the CMC, one for a CSV and one as an Archive drive (slower disks), both RAID 5.

I plan on using this server for a number of Hyper-V servers, as I start to virtualise a number of older physical servers.

The first one is our primary file-server, the existing one is a Windows 2008 server using individual shares for users home drives plus a handful of shares for group drives. The group drive shares are DFS shares, not because I wanted DFS replication, but because I wanted to use DFS namespaces to avoid problems with UNC links in files as servers are upgraded/replaced. This server is not heavily utilised.

I would like some advice on the best way to configure a file server in the cluster. I am unsure on the best configuration for a general file server (not high availability).

• How best to use the virtual disks created by the CMC.
• Whether I should store the user shares/files in the VHDX file for the fileserver or store them somewhere else?
• Do I need to use Cluster Shared Volumes or is that not required with the VRTX as it has built-in shared storage?

And advice, suggestions, ideas greatly appreciated!