Dell Storage with Microsoft Storage Spaces Best Practices Guide

For SOFS configurations, when integrating the solution in to your switch infrastructure, ensure that redundant network connections exist between the SMB clients and the SOFS storage nodes. SMB client communication to the storage nodes should use 10 GbE-capable switches. Dell recommends deploying two top-of-rack 10 GbE-capable switches to ensure physical switch and path redundancy for this solution. You must configure the switches for jumbo frames with the maximum transmission unit (MTU) frame size set to the highest MTU that the switch supports, typically 9 KB. Also, you must enable flow control on the switch for receiving but not for data transmission.

For Converged configurations, when deploying the smaller configurations with only two server nodes, a switch may not be required for networks used only for inter-node communication, such as heartbeat, CSV redirection, and Hyper-V live migration. For inter-node communication on two node configurations, you can use a direct-attached networking cable to connect the two server nodes together. Refer to the Support Matrix to verify that the adapters support direct connections between two nodes. However, for the larger configurations where a switch is required, Dell recommends two top-of rack switches to ensure physical switch and path redundancy. You must configure the switches for jumbo frames with the MTU frame size set to the highest MTU that the switch supports, typically 9 KB. Also, you must enable flow control on the switch for receiving but not for data transmission.

For more information about a list of the latest validated Dell switches for this solution, see the Dell Storage with Microsoft Storage Spaces Support Matrix available at Dell.com/dsmsmanuals.