Building the Perfect StarWind iSCSI Server

[ctcline]

Hi,
I am in the process of building a new iSCSI server utilizing the paid version of StarWind. Our current iSCSI server is out of space and I'm looking to upgrade storage and performance. What are the best specs to achieve the best performance with StarWind? I will be using a Chenbro server case with (24) 3.5" bays. I know will utilize SAS drives, but haven't decided on a size or RPM. The primary use for this iSCSI server is for Hyper-V virtual servers running non-data-intensive operations. Once migration to this new server is completed it will data store for about 25 virtual servers non of which are databases.

What areas should I place the most attention ($$$) to get the best performance from this server?

Thanks in advance,
Chris

[anton (staff)]

CPU does not matter so don't hunt for an expensive one, RAM is a HUGE benefit as you'll be spooding (putting write back cache in front of a storage).
Definitely go clustered, 2 or better 3 nodes, definitely go 10 GbE at least for a sync, do not use RAID5 stick with RAID10 or RAID0 (with LSFS you'll be able to use parity RAIDs fine).

[ctcline]

Anton,

Thanks for your response.

So processors/cores have little influence on performance?

More RAM the better?

What about SSD's for caching? Can the software utilize this?

What about drive speeds? Can you provide any feedback?

Thanks again,
Chris

[ctcline]

Also, what is the best solution to connect my server to the iSCSI server, Gigabit?

[anton (staff)]

CPU horsepower is irrelevant these days for specific tasks

V8 will have flash caching and tiering between spindle and flash, current V6 cannot benefit from flash (unless you run all-flash-around scenario)

Network is always on the slow side so going very high could be an overkill

Anton,

Thanks for your response.

So processors/cores have little influence on performance?

More RAM the better?

What about SSD's for caching? Can the software utilize this?

What about drive speeds? Can you provide any feedback?

Thanks again,
Chris

[anton (staff)]

10 GbE for a backbone (better doubled)

10 GbE or 1 GbE in MPIO for client uplinks

Also, what is the best solution to connect my server to the iSCSI server, Gigabit?

[epalombizio]

I recently went through the same build.. ending up going SATA instead of SAS.. with 10k Velociraptors and SATA units being less expensive than SAS, unless you need 15k drives, why bother.... At those prices, you can go SSD.

[ctcline]

Anton,

What would you recommend for the amount of RAM to use? My servers max out at 256G but I'm wondering how much I should actually install?

Thanks,
Chris

[ctcline]

I recently went through the same build.. ending up going SATA instead of SAS.. with 10k Velociraptors and SATA units being less expensive than SAS, unless you need 15k drives, why bother.... At those prices, you can go SSD.

I am going SAS this time around. The iSCSI server I am replacing had all SATA drives and we had a lot of drive failures. Everyone keeps telling me to stick with the SAS drives in a server environment. I hope we have better success this time.

[anton (staff)]

NL-SAS or RAID-ready SATA drives (like f.e. WD RE4) are fine.

I recently went through the same build.. ending up going SATA instead of SAS.. with 10k Velociraptors and SATA units being less expensive than SAS, unless you need 15k drives, why bother.... At those prices, you can go SSD.

I am going SAS this time around. The iSCSI server I am replacing had all SATA drives and we had a lot of drive failures. Everyone keeps telling me to stick with the SAS drives in a server environment. I hope we have better success this time.

[anton (staff)]

More you'll have - faster you'll go. 2GB of cache per 1TB of served capacity seems to be a good starting point.

Anton,

What would you recommend for the amount of RAM to use? My servers max out at 256G but I'm wondering how much I should actually install?

Thanks,
Chris