I am rusty on my SQL server CLustering.    I thought for sure you can't run 2008 server.  You need the cluster O/S from MS?      Is this just for failover?    Or are you clustering for performance?

The PERC H800 cannot be used to connect to an MD3200. You have to replace them with SAS6E adapters.

You cable the first server with SAS6E-port0 to MD3200-top-controller-in-port-0 and MD3200-bottom-controller-in-port-0. The second server gets cabled to the "In-1" ports.

I wouldn't waste 2 whole drives for the Quorum; I'd use the DB raid 10 and first make a 1GB quorum virtual disk and then use the rest as a 2nd virtual disk for the DB.

With 12 drives I would recommend at least 1 hotspare (the MD-series use global hotspares, so a hotspare will fail over for any drive in any raidset (as long as it's the same type (SAS vs SATA) and the same size or larger than the faulted disk. You can have more than 1 hotspare.

Thanks Dev Mgr for the advice. Much appreciated.  So 4 cables are required to get this connected properly?

Think I will probably go with your suggested configuration. A 1Gb VD for the Quorum, (and possibly the MSdTC if deemed required) and RAID 10 the rest of it. Is a MSDTC drive really needed with 2008? I've heard in 2003 it was, but improvements have made it not so required in 2008. Is this true?

What do you suggest using in actually RAID-ing up the disks? Openmanage, or via the PERC utility in BIOS? I'd imagine Openmanage is much easier and intuitive, but PERC probably quicker.

Do you know of any good documents, or white papers with a guide in installing a failover 2008 SQL cluster with this equipment?

Again, thank you for your insight.

I'm not a SQL expert, but every time I set up storage for a SQL cluster (on a modern Windows version (2008 or 2008 R2)), the DBA wants an MSDTC disk (of 1GB).

Raid 10 is better in a highly write intensive IO pattern. Raid 5 is better for setups that are relatively high in reads.

The turning point is around 30%. So if 30% or more of your IO is writes, go raid 10 for that data. If it's less than 30% writes (i.e. more than 70% reads), then raid 5 is typically going to give better performance.

This is excellent advice, many thanks.

One other thing-I'm not familiar with setting up md3200's. Is this a basic 'plug and play' arrangement, eg it just works after connected to the servers? Or do I require to configure it? (obviously will have to set up virtual disks etc, but are these just available to configure after connecting the cables up and running dell open manage?) is it that simple?

You'll need to download the latest MDSM DVD unless you received the October 2011 disk with the system. The fun part is that Dell's new driver download site doesn't list it.

The direct link is ftp.us.dell.com/.../DELL_MDSS_Consolidated_RDVD_3_0_0_18_A00_R314542.iso.

You will need to install at least the host software on both hosts. To manage and configure the array you'll need to install the management software somewhere as well. Easiest is to install this on both hosts, but if you connect the SAN's management ports to your LAN, you can manage the SAN from anywhere (e.g. your desktop or laptop).

In the management UI you'll have to at least:

- put the hosts in a hostgroup (the hosts should auto register, but if they don't (e.g. due to Windows' firewall), you'll have to manually register them)

- carve out the raid configuration

- assign the virtual disks to the hostgroup

Again, thanks a lot, particuarly for the link- which I may well need if the DVD with the system does not contain the MDSS utillity.

When you say "host software on both hosts"  what exactly are you refering to?  Is this the SAS6E drivers in conjunction to also installing the management software - or something else? Apologies for any confusion, i'm not quite sure what you mean. I think I will go with putting the management software on both hosts as you suggested.

THe MD3200 - will it require ANY software installation at all, or are we just talking about installing the management software to the hosts?

Many thanks for the good advice.

You HAVE to install the host software (from the MDSM DVD) on both hosts at least. This gives you the multipathing software needed to support 2 connections (for failover).

The management software is used to manage (configure and monitor) the MD3200. This is also part of the DVD.

You just autorun the DVD and it should be fairly self explanatory.

Note: Dell does offer a US$500 remote install on that system I think, if you want to be sure it's done right.

Great stuff. I have 1 last question, that might be silly, but here goes.

I installed the DELL MDSM, and can connect to the MD3200 from both servers using x-over cat 5's from one of each severs nic's to the Management ports on the MD3200 controllers.  Cabled SAS server 1 port 0 to EMM 1 port 0, and server 1 port 1 to EMM 2 port 0, and server 2 port 0 to EMM 1 port 1, and server 2 port 1 to EMM 2 port 1, as stated. Carved out RAID, assigned LUN's to host groups.  Initialized in Windows, no problems. However, I'm not sure I assigned the 'host port identifiers' (4 in total, representing the host SAS ports), correctly - do you know a way to identify which host port identifier belongs to which server? (Been through BIOS - nothing there)

E.G - should I have host identifiers corresponding to the ports on the MD3200 they are attached?  Does this matter? E.g 11:22:33:44:55:66:77 (if it was port 0 on server 1) to EMM 1 port 0, and 11:22:33:aa:bb:cc:dd (if it was port 1 on server 1) to EMM 2 port 0?

The other thing (which i might be being silly) is that after initializing and formatting all disks, both servers could see them. I created some folders from 1 server (e.g to S:\ Shared storage on the MD3200), but when i tried to view the (S:\ drive) from server 2, the folder was not there???? Pulling the SAS cables until disk manager on windows lost the MD3200's drives, then reconnecting them, the folder was now viewable on server 2????

I don't have any network connectivity between the servers, so would this be the reason? Its only server Nic's to management ports on the MD3200 controllers, and the SAS connections that are currently connected.  Should'nt any folder that i created from  the first server on the shared storage array, be seen from the second server almost immeadiately ?  

Any ideas, very much appreciated.

SAN basics; 2 servers can only share a disk if there is a locking mechanism in place to do this safely. With Windows this typically would be done with clustering (requires Enterprise or Datacenter version of Windows Server).

If you share the disk and aren't clustering the servers, it's just a matter of time before you corrupt the data on the disk.

Spending that $500 may not be a bad idea for you as it sounds like you're setting yourself up for problems.