DELL EMC Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL Server 2016 · 2020-03-22 · DELL EMC Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL Server 2016 5 Enabled by Hyper-V on Windows Server 2016, PowerEdge R740

DESIGN GUIDE

DELL EMC READY BUNDLE FOR MICROSOFT SQL SERVER 2016

Enabled by Hyper-V on Windows Server 2016, PowerEdge R740 Servers, and Unity 400 Hybrid Flash Storage

January 2018

Abstract

This design guide describes the architecture, design principles, configuration best

practices, and sizing guidelines for a SQL Server 2016 solution with Hyper-V on

Windows Server 2016, PowerEdge R740 servers, and Unity 400 Hybrid Flash

storage.

H16852R

This document is not intended for audiences in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and

Macao.

Copyright

2 DELL EMC Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Enabled by Hyper-V on Windows Server 2016, PowerEdge R740 Servers, and Unity 400 Hybrid Flash Storage Design Guide

The information in this publication is provided as is. Dell Inc. makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Use, copying, and distribution of any software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.

Copyright © 2018 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell, EMC, Dell EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Intel, the Intel logo, the Intel Inside logo, and Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks may be the property of their respective owners. Published in the USA 01/18 Design Guide H16852R.

Dell Inc. believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.

Contents

3 DELL EMC Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Enabled by Hyper-V on Windows Server 2016, PowerEdge R740 Servers, and Unity 400 Hybrid Flash Storage

Design Guide

Contents

Chapter 1 Overview 4

Introduction ............................................................................................................. 5

About this guide ...................................................................................................... 5

We value your feedback ......................................................................................... 5

Chapter 2 Solution Components 6

Introduction ............................................................................................................. 7

Dell EMC hardware products .................................................................................. 7

Brocade 6505 switch .............................................................................................. 9

Microsoft software components .............................................................................. 9

Chapter 3 Solution Architecture and Design 11

Solution architecture ............................................................................................. 12

Solution design ..................................................................................................... 14

Chapter 4 Solution Configuration Best Practices and Sizing 15

Server configuration ............................................................................................. 16

Network configuration ........................................................................................... 16

Storage configuration ........................................................................................... 17

Windows Server, Hyper-V, and SQL Server configuration ................................... 20

Solution sizing ...................................................................................................... 22

Chapter 5 Sample lmplementation 23

Sample implementation: OLTP workload ............................................................. 24

Chapter 6 References 27

Dell EMC documentation ...................................................................................... 28

Microsoft documentation ...................................................................................... 28

Brocade documentation ........................................................................................ 28

Chapter 1: Overview

4

DELL EMC Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Enabled by Hyper-V on Windows Server 2016, PowerEdge R740 Servers, and Unity 400 Hybrid Flash Storage Design Guide

Chapter 1 Overview

This chapter presents the following topics:

Introduction ........................................................................................................... 5

About this guide ................................................................................................... 5

We value your feedback ....................................................................................... 5

Chapter 1: Overview


Design Guide

Introduction

Microsoft SQL Server 2016 is a relational database platform that brings a new set of

technologies, features, and services to SQL Server. SQL Server 2016 supports mission-

critical applications such as analytics, in-memory databases, business intelligence (BI),

and online transaction processing (OLTP).

SQL Server 2016 includes database innovations that deliver new levels of efficiency,

performance, security, and availability. It includes new features such as Always

Encrypted, In-Memory OLTP, distributed query processing, and advanced data mining

capabilities. SQL Server provides a robust solution for critical enterprise workloads at any

scale. Scale-up solutions that provide partitioning enable IT to isolate disparate workloads

and production, development, and testing environments on a single server platform.

Reducing the number of databases and server platforms simplifies IT operations and

reduces operating and licensing costs as well.

Dell EMC’s enterprise products provide high performance, energy efficiency, and high

availability. The 14th generation of Dell EMC™ PowerEdge™ servers, along with Dell

EMC storage and networking products, help customers virtualize, consolidate, and

migrate their distributed legacy environments.

Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL Server 2016 is a pre-architected, validated,

end-to-end solution for implementing a virtualized infrastructure for SQL Server 2016. The

solution is enabled by Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization on Microsoft Windows Server 2016,

PowerEdge R740 servers, and Dell EMC Unity™ 400 storage.

Based on Microsoft and Dell EMC best practices, this Ready Bundle solution provides

exceptional performance and scalability, delivers faster time to value, and increases return

on investment.

About this guide

This guide is for database administrators, system engineers, IT managers, system

administrators, storage administrators, and architects who design and maintain database

infrastructures. Readers should have some knowledge of Microsoft Windows Server,

Microsoft SQL Server, Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, Dell EMC storage, and Dell EMC

networking products.

This guide describes the architecture, design principles, configuration best practices, and

sizing considerations for the Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL Server 2016

solution.

We value your feedback

Dell EMC and the authors of this document welcome your feedback on the solution and

the solution documentation. Contact [email protected] with your

comments.

Authors: Sanjeev Ranjan, Karen Johnson

Audience and

purpose

Scope

mailto:[email protected]?subject=Feedback:%20Design%20Guide:%20Dell%20EMC%20Ready%20Bundle%20for%20Microsoft%20SQL%20Server%202016%20(H16852R)

Chapter 2: Solution Components

6


Chapter 2 Solution Components


Introduction ........................................................................................................... 7

Dell EMC hardware products ............................................................................... 7

Brocade 6505 switch ............................................................................................ 9

Microsoft software components ......................................................................... 9



Design Guide

Introduction

Components in this Ready Bundle solution include:

Dell EMC hardware products

Brocade Fibre Channel (FC) storage area network (SAN) switch

Microsoft software products

Dell EMC hardware products

Dell EMC offers a wide range of enterprise products and solutions, including servers,

storage, networking, software, and services. These enterprise products and solutions are

designed for reliability and scalability. They are engineered to handle the most demanding

business applications and workloads, such as enterprise resource planning, database, BI,

high-performance computing, and collaboration.

The PowerEdge R740 server is designed to run complex workloads in mid-sized and large

enterprises, all in a 2U footprint. The R740 2-socket server:

Features the Intel Xeon Scalable processor family with up to 28 cores

Uses highly scalable memory, I/O, and network options

Provides up to 80 TB of internal storage with sixteen 2.5 in drives or eight 3.5 in

drives—ideal for database and BI applications

Table 1 lists the technical specifications of the PowerEdge R740.

PowerEdge R740 technical specifications

Component Specifications

Form factor 2U

Processor Intel Xeon Scalable processor family with up to 28 cores per processor

Processor sockets 2

Chipset Intel C620 series

Memory Up to 3 TB (24 DIMM slots): 8/16/32/64/128 GB DDR4 with up to 2,666 MT/s

I/O slots Riser options with up to 8 PCIe Gen 3 slots; maximum of 4 x 16 slots

Storage controllers Internal controllers: PERC H330, H730p, H740p, HBA330, Software RAID (SWRAID) S140

Boot Optimized Storage Solution (BOSS) subsystem: Hardware RAID 2 x M.2 solid-state drives (SSDs) 120 GB, 240 GB

External PERC (RAID): H840

External HBA (non-RAID): 12 Gb/s SAS

Network interface 4 x 1 GB, 4 x 10 GB, 2 x 10 GB + 2 x 1 GB, or 2 x 25 GB Network Daughter Card

Dell EMC

PowerEdge R740


8


Dell EMC storage is designed to meet the storage needs of organizations of all sizes, from

large global data centers to local small businesses. Designed and optimized for Flash

storage, it is ideal for large-scale systems, high-end workload performance, and

distributed enterprise environments. It supports multiple SSD tiers to optimize write-

intensive and read-intensive SSDs as well as hard disk drives (HDDs).

Dell EMC storage supports the following features:

Automated intelligent data tiering that dynamically places hot data on high-

performance drives and cold data on high-capacity drives

Data progression that enables performance-optimized Flash storage at the price of

a hard-disk solution

Intelligent deduplication and compression

Enhanced virtualization and encryption

Space-efficient snapshots and remote synchronous/asynchronous replication

This Ready Bundle solution features Dell EMC Unity 400 Hybrid Flash as the storage

option. Table 2 lists the technical specifications of Unity 400 Hybrid Flash storage.

Unity 400 Hybrid Flash technical specifications


Controllers per array 2 (active/active)

Operating system Unity OE v4.2.1.9535982

Maximum drives supported 250 per array

Maximum raw capacity 3.9 PB per array

Storage media SAS and NL-SAS drives; different drive types, transfer rates, and rotational speeds can be mixed in the same system

SSDs: Write-intensive, read-intensive

HDDs: 15k, 10k, 7.2 k rpm

Array enclosures 2 versions:

2U disk processor enclosure (DPE) with 25 x 2.5-in drives

2U DPE with 12 x 3.5-in drives

Drive enclosures Support for:

2U 25-drive trays for 2.5-in drives



RAID options 1/0, 5, 6

Embedded SAS I/O ports per array

4 x 4 lane 12 Gb/s SAS ports for back-end connectivity

Embedded CNA ports per array

4 ports: 8/16 Gb FC, 10 Gb IP/iSCSI, or 1 Gb RJ45

Embedded 10GBASE-T ports per array

4

Maximum FC ports per array 20

Dell EMC storage



Design Guide


Maximum SAN hosts 1,024

Maximum LUN size 256 TB

Dell EMC Networking S4048-ON 10/40 GbE is a top-of-rack, high-density 1U switch with

48 10 GbE uplinks. It offers ultra-low latency and line-rate performance that is optimized

for data centers.

Brocade 6505 switch

The Brocade 6505 is a Gen 5 (16 Gb/s) FC switch, sold and supported by Dell EMC. It

combines flexibility, simplicity, and enterprise-class functionality in an entry-level switch

that provides exceptional price/performance value. Designed to enable maximum flexibility

and reliability, the Brocade 6505 is configurable in 12 or 24 ports and supports 2, 4, 8, or

16 Gb/s FC speeds in an efficiently designed 1U package. With a simplified deployment

process and a point-and-click user interface, the Brocade 6505 is both powerful and easy

to use. Moreover, the Brocade 6505 offers low-cost access to industry-leading Gen 5 FC

technology while providing “pay-as-you-grow” scalability to meet the needs of an evolving

storage environment.

The Brocade 6505 provides access to Brocade Fabric Vision technology, an optional

software feature that simplifies monitoring, maximizes network availability, and dramatically

reduces operational costs. Featuring innovative monitoring, management, and diagnostic

capabilities, Fabric Vision technology enables administrators to avoid problems before they

affect operations, helping them meet service-level agreements (SLAs).

Microsoft software components

This Ready Bundle solution uses Windows Server 2016 and SQL Server 2016.

Windows Server 2016 is a cloud-ready operating system that provides enhanced security,

built-in containers, and support for new software-defined capabilities for modern data

centers. Key features include:

Resilient File System (ReFS)—Enables faster placement of virtual machines

(VMs) on the file system

Software-defined networking—Includes enhanced policies to control both

physical and virtual networks

Hyper-V—Supports nested virtualization

For a complete list of new features in Windows Server 2016, see the Microsoft article

What's new in Windows Server 2016.

Dell EMC

Networking

S4048-ON

Windows Server

2016

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server-docs/get-started/what-s-new-in-windows-server-2016


10


Microsoft Hyper-V

The Hyper-V server role in Windows Server enables the creation of a virtualized server-

computing environment. Within this environment, users can create and manage VMs.

These VMs, which are isolated from one another, can run different operating systems on

the same physical computer. Key features in the Hyper-V server role in Windows Server

2016 include:

Discrete device assignment—Provides VMs with direct and exclusive access to

some PCIe hardware devices

Host resource protection—Prevents a VM from using more than its share of

resources

Hot addition/removal of resources—Allows addition/removal of network adapters

and adjustments to the amount of memory while the VM is running

Increased amount of resources per VM—Support for up to 12 TB of memory and

240 virtual CPUs (vCPUs) for generation 2 VMs

SQL Server 2016 includes new encryption features, greater support for in-memory OLTP

and column store indexes, and a new end-to-end BI solution. Key features of SQL Server

2016 include:

Memory optimized tables—Provides enhanced compute resource utilization,

optimized query plans, and extended functionality for in-memory OLTP

Mobile BI platform—Captures insights from online or offline data

MAXDOP, Parameter Sniffing, and Hotfixes settings—Can now be configured at

a database level

R Services feature—Can now be integrated directly into the SQL Server database

Temporal tables—Provides historical view of tables and their values

Query Store—Provides comparison of different queries over time

For more information about SQL Server 2016 and a complete list of its features, see the

Microsoft article What's new in SQL Server 2016.

SQL Server 2016

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb500435.aspx

Chapter 3: Solution Architecture and Design


Design Guide

Chapter 3 Solution Architecture and Design


Solution architecture .......................................................................................... 12

Solution design ................................................................................................... 14


12


Solution architecture

Reducing cost while achieving high performance is important in a database environment.

Infrastructure equipment is inarguably the biggest cost component of a data center. This

solution uses server virtualization to consolidate different SQL Server roles and reduce

equipment cost and footprint. The solution also balances performance and resource

utilization by optimally assigning the processor, memory, and network bandwidth.

Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL Server 2016 provides end-to-end I/O

connectivity by using multiple port channels and Virtual Link Trunking (VLT) configurations

for local area networks (LANs). Dell EMC Networking S4048-ON switches provide 10 GbE

network connectivity between the compute cluster and the rest of the data center.

In accordance with SQL Server 2016 best practices and Dell EMC infrastructure design

principles, each application network is deployed as a separate workload virtual LAN

(VLAN) that is defined in the data center core network. All the workload VLANs are

created as virtual network adapters on the converged virtual switch across four network

connections. To provide high availability for network connections, multiple network cards

in the server connect to redundant network switches.

The Emulex LightPulse LPE31002 FC adapters provide FC connectivity in the host

operating system, and the VMs that require in-guest FC connectivity use the virtual FC

adapters. The Emulex LightPulse HBAs are connected to the Brocade 6505 FC switches

and then to the Unity 400 Hybrid Flash array, forming a high-availability, dual-fabric SAN

architecture.

Figure 1 illustrates the network architecture.

Server

architecture

Network

architecture



Design Guide

Figure 1. Network architecture

Unity 400 Hybrid Flash storage offers modular expansion to approximately 4 PB of raw

SAN capacity with read and write Flash SSD drives. Dell EMC Unisphere™ storage

management allocates independent volumes for SQL Server database and transaction

logs. Unity 400 Hybrid Flash storage has built-in intelligence to perform auto-tiering of

data and assigning RAID for both read and write drives. The drives provide appropriate

placement of data.

Storage

architecture


14


Unity 400 Hybrid Flash storage has all-Flash and hybrid storage-pool options. This

solution uses hybrid pool storage.

Solution design

Because databases are mission-critical for organizations, high availability and service-

level agreements are essential elements of OLTP database design. Customers today also

demand faster response time and better optimization of hardware resource utilization.

Dell EMC Ready Bundle for SQL Server 2016 provides high availability through failover

clustering. The design uses the cluster failover concept, stacking solution components as

primary and secondary. RAID for storage drives, dual controllers, and multiple I/O paths

provides storage high availability. Multiple FC HBAs and FC switches between the SQL

Server infrastructure and the storage network build resiliency in network connectivity.

Figure 2 illustrates the design of this Ready Bundle solution.

Figure 2. Solution design

Chapter 4: Solution Configuration Best Practices and Sizing


Design Guide

Chapter 4 Solution Configuration Best Practices and Sizing


Server configuration .......................................................................................... 16

Network configuration ....................................................................................... 16

Storage configuration ........................................................................................ 17

Windows Server, Hyper-V, and SQL Server configuration ............................. 20

Solution sizing .................................................................................................... 22


16


Server configuration

The following outlines the Dell EMC recommended practices for configuring the servers:

Use the latest BIOS and firmware for Dell EMC PowerEdge servers.

Use the latest vendor-subscribed HBA drivers.

Enable Intel Hyper-Threading, which doubles the number of available cores and

enables SQL Server to make best use of compute resources and deliver better

performance.

Configure the power plan as follows:

In the system firmware:

i Go to System Setup > System BIOS > System Profile Settings, and

select Performance Per Watt Optimized (DAPC) from the drop-down

list.

ii Go to System Setup > System BIOS > Processor Settings > Dell

Controlled Turbo, and select Enabled.

In the operating system: Go to Control Panel > Power Plans Scheme, and

select High Performance Plan.

Network configuration

This section outlines the best practices for configuring the network for this Ready Bundle

solution.

Configure high availability for all of the following:

Network interface card (NIC)

NIC port

Network switch

FC port

FC card

FC switch

Best practices for configuring the LAN include:

Use two 10 GbE S4048-ON network switches for end-to-end client traffic to prevent

a single point of failure.

Use VLAN tagging to sustain switch failure, and use NIC teaming to provide

multitier network high availability.

Use NIC teaming to provide high availability at the NIC port level.

Use NIC teaming for virtual and physical network connections.

Use a minimum of two network cards to provide high availability and prevent a

single point of failure. Use two Emulex LightPulse LPE31002 cards to enable

connectivity between the SQL Server host and external network.

Local area

network



Design Guide

Best practices for designing the SAN include:

Use redundant Brocade 6505 switches to prevent a single point of failure.

Use two Emulex LightPulse LPE31002 cards for high availability.

Make crisscross cable connections between redundant FC HBA cards and

redundant FC switches to enable high availability.

Use name zoning of end devices (FC HBAs) and Storage Center virtual ports

while creating zones. Name zoning provides better flexibility because it does not

tie the devices and virtual ports to specific physical ports on either the switch or

the storage array.

Storage configuration

Unisphere storage management is a web-based solution that provides an interface for

storage management and configuration tasks. The configuration depends on performance

and capacity needs, preferred type of server connectivity, performance in terms of IOPS

and MB/s, as well as future growth needs for both performance and capacity. This section

provides guidance and best practices for storage management and configuration.

General recommendations

Dell EMC generally recommends that you use fewer storage pools within Unity storage to

reduce complexity and increase flexibility. However, you might want to configure multiple

storage pools to do the following:

Separate workloads with different I/O profiles.

Separate pools where Dell EMC FAST™ Cache is and is not active.

Dedicate resources to meet specific performance goals.

Separate resources for multitenancy.

Create smaller failure domains.

Storage pools must maintain free capacity to operate properly. By default, Unity storage

raises an alert if a storage pool has less than 30 percent free capacity. It also automatically

begins to invalidate snapshots and replication sessions if the storage pool has less than 5

percent free capacity. Dell EMC recommends that storage pools always have at least 10

percent free capacity.

Hybrid pools

Hybrid pools contain HDDs (SAS or NL-SAS drives) and can contain more than one type

of drive technology. Hybrid pools typically provide greater capacity at a lower cost than all-

Flash pools. They also typically have lower overall performance and higher response

times. Use hybrid pools for applications that do not require consistently low response

times or that have large amounts of mostly inactive data.

Dell EMC recommends provisioning a Flash tier in hybrid pools. The minimum

recommended Flash capacity is at least 5 percent of the pool capacity. The Flash tier

Storage area

network

Storage pools


18


helps enable pool performance efficiencies and improves response times when using

snapshots or replication, or both.

You can improve hybrid pool performance by increasing the amount of capacity in the

Flash tier, so that more of the active dataset resides on and is serviced by the Flash

drives.

Hybrid pools can have up to three tiers—Extreme Performance, Performance, and

Capacity. Dell EMC recommends using a single drive speed, size, and RAID width within

the tier of a hybrid pool, as follows:

Extreme Performance tier—Use 800 GB SAS Flash 2 drives, and configure them

all with RAID 5 (8+1).

Performance tier—Use 1.2 TB SAS 10 k rpm drives, and configure them with

RAID 5 (4+1).

Capacity tier—Use 6 TB NL-SAS drives, and configure them all with RAID 6 (6+2).

FAST VP accelerates performance of a specific storage pool by automatically moving

data within that pool to the appropriate drive technology, based on data access patterns.

FAST VP is only applicable to hybrid pools within a Unity hybrid system.

The default and recommended FAST VP policy for all storage objects is “Start High then

Auto-tier.” This policy places initial allocations for the storage object in the highest tier

available and monitors activity to this storage object to determine the correct placement of

data as it ages.

FAST VP is most effective if data relocations occur during or immediately after normal

daily processing. Dell EMC recommends scheduling FAST VP relocations to occur before

backups or nightly batch processing. For applications that are continuously active,

consider configuring FAST VP relocations to run constantly.

Dell EMC recommends maintaining at least 10 percent free capacity in storage pools, so

that FAST VP relocations can occur efficiently. FAST VP relocations cannot occur if the

storage pool has no free space.

FAST Cache is a single global resource that can improve performance of one or more

hybrid pools within a Unity hybrid system. You can create FAST Cache with SAS Flash 2

drives only, and it is only applicable to hybrid pools. Dell EMC recommends that you place

a Flash tier in the hybrid pool before you configure FAST Cache on the pool.

Enable FAST Cache on the hybrid pool if the workload in that pool is highly transactional

and has a high degree of locality that changes rapidly.

For applications that use larger I/O sizes, have lower skew, or do not change locality as

quickly, increasing the size of the Flash tier rather than enabling FAST Cache might be

more beneficial.

FAST Cache can increase the IOPS achievable from the Unity system, and it will most

likely result in higher CPU utilization to service the additional I/O. Before enabling FAST

Cache on additional pools or expanding the size of an existing FAST Cache, monitor the

FAST VP

FAST Cache



Design Guide

average system CPU utilization to determine if the system can accommodate the

additional load.

Dell EMC storage offerings use multiple drive types, with varying capacities and

performance levels, and attempt to match data with the optimal drive type based on

storage pools. Typically, mission-critical data is stored on high-performance drives, while

less-critical data is moved to high-capacity drives.

While every environment is unique, an OLTP workload generally consists of small,

random reads and writes. The required number of IOPS primarily determines the sizing of

a storage system that services an OLTP workload. Different drive types have different

performance capabilities. Faster-spinning drives can provide more IOPS with lower

latency than slower-spinning drives. For best performance, Dell EMC recommends SSD

drives for OLTP workloads.

The following factors affect drive selections:

Type of the workload

Expected IOPS, latency, and throughput

Database size

Calculate the number of disks for capacity by using the following formula:

Number of disks = (Required Capacity / Capacity per disk)

Calculate the number of disks for performance by using the following formula:

Number of disks = (Read IOPS + [Write IOPS x RAID performance overhead]) / IOPS

per disk

FC zoning enables the partitioning of the FC fabric into multiple subsets called zones. A

zone includes FC initiators and targets, and enables communication between the initiators

and targets.

Best practices for setting the I/O paths include:

Single-initiator, multiple-target zoning—Creates each FC zone with a single

initiator (HBA port) and multiple targets (front-end ports). Therefore, each HBA port

requires a separate FC zone with front-end ports. Create independent zones for

each HBA installed in the host.

World Wide Name (WWN) zoning—Contains only the host HBA port and the

front-end primary ports. In most cases, including the front-end reserve ports is

unnecessary because they are not used for volume mapping. Dell EMC

recommends creating zones by using a single initiator host port and multiple

Storage Center ports.

Multipathing—Designates how many of the Dell EMC storage front-end ports that

the system allows the volume to be mapped through. Dell EMC recommends the

use of the Dell EMC PowerPath™ Multipathing utility for designating the ports.

Drive selection

Setting I/O paths


20


Create a server cluster for high availability and map the volumes to the server cluster.

Map the volumes by using Storage Center Console or Enterprise Manager Console.

For optimal performance, Dell EMC recommends the following:

Place tempdb, database, and log files on separate LUNs.

Allow for data growth and avoid exceeding 80 percent capacity of the LUNs for

database files.

Configure end-to-end multipathing by using PowerPath software for

availability/redundancy and throughput optimization.

Use multiples of 64K size as allocation unit for SQL Server volumes.

Ensure that I/O is distributed across both controllers. For best results, use the same

number of volumes on each controller.

For Hyper-V storage design, Dell EMC recommends the following:

Provision a Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) store and a cluster quorum disk on Dell

EMC storage. Map the quorum disk and CSV volumes to the cluster nodes to

enable faster failover of the SQL Server VM without the need for dismounting the

drive, changing ownership, or remounting the volume.

Create a virtual SAN by grouping WWNs of virtual FC adapters hosted in

PowerEdge servers and Dell EMC storage. Configure the VMs that are hosting SQL

Server with direct access to the storage LUNs.

Windows Server, Hyper-V, and SQL Server configuration

This section outlines the best practices for configuring Windows Server 2016, Hyper-V

2016, and SQL Server 2016.

Best practices for configuring the Windows OS include:

Use an allocation unit size of 64 KB to format the volume that stores the database

files.

Enable the Windows Lock Pages in Memory (LPIM) policy by adding an account

with privileges to run sqlservr.exe. The LPIM policy determines which accounts

can use a process to keep data in physical memory. The policy prevents the

Windows OS from paging out a significant amount of data from physical memory to

virtual memory on disk.

Best practices for configuring the Hyper-V host and deploying VMs include:

Do not overcommit resources. Hyper-V allows overcommitting resources such as

CPU and network. However, overcommitting leads to performance degradation

when the resource usage exceeds the available resources.

Provision static or dynamic memory. For information, see SQL Server 2016 Memory

settings.

Volume

provisioning

and mapping

Hyper-V storage

design

Windows OS

configuration

Hyper-V 2016



Design Guide

Provision compute resources. A vCPU is a representation of the physical core of a

processor or threads/logical processors in the core. In Hyper-V, you can adjust the

relative weights and reserves for a VM by going to Settings > Processor. If CPU

resources are overcommitted, setting the weights and reserves optimizes the way

these resources are used. You can prioritize or deprioritize specific VMs based on

your needs.

Use fixed-size virtual hard disks for the OS. Dell EMC recommends using fixed

virtual hard disks (VHD/VHDX) for production workloads. Using dynamic virtual hard

disks can result in occasional pauses during disk resizing. Use dynamic disks for

noncritical test environments or nonproduction environments.

Use separate storage LUNs for data and log files. To rule out disk contention, Dell

EMC recommends using separate LUNs. For best performance, create distinct

LUNs for SQL Server data files and SQL Server log files.

This section provides guidelines and best practices to optimize a virtualized SQL Server

environment.

Memory settings

For SQL Server 2016, you can assign memory for a VM either dynamically or statically.

To choose between dynamic and static memory, consider the following factors:

How frequently you monitor your database

The VM size (size of the processors, memory, and other resources) as compared to

the size of a single non-uniform memory access (NUMA) node on the host’s

physical architecture

Preference between performance and levels of scalability

In general, choose dynamic memory when VMs are unmonitored and are relatively small,

and when scalability is preferred over performance. For larger production VMs that are

reasonably monitored, choose static memory for better and more consistent performance.

For dynamically assigned memory, see Running SQL Server with Hyper-V Dynamic

Memory in the Microsoft Development Network Library.

Best practices for dynamic memory include:

Determine startup RAM and minimum memory values based on your needs. Microsoft

recommends leaving the max server memory value at its default setting, which allows

SQL Server to manage memory dynamically. However, Dell EMC recommends that

you change this value, as needed, if one or both of the following apply:

You are running multiple applications on the VM.

You can reasonably ascertain the maximum amount of memory that you want

to assign to SQL Server.

Set the min server memory value (default value is zero) based on usage and

performance considerations because dynamic memory is enabled for the VM.

When using dynamic memory, set the reserves for the VM by using the Memory

Buffer option. Base the amount of memory reserved on the min server memory

SQL Server 2016

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh372970.aspx

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh372970.aspx


22


value that is set for SQL Server, and the memory that is required for any other

applications and the OS.

Recommendations for static memory allocation include:

To maximize performance, assign a particular amount of memory to a VM based on

its virtual and physical NUMA architecture.

To ensure optimal performance, disable the NUMA Spanning option for the Hyper-V

host, so that a single physical NUMA node supports a single virtual NUMA node.

Note: Use this option with caution because Hyper-V does not start, restore, or accept a live

migration for a VM if the hypervisor is unable to map each virtual NUMA node to a physical

NUMA node.

Set max server memory and min server memory values based on the amount of

memory you want to reserve for the operating system, typical requirements of your SQL

Server, and other performance considerations. For more information about memory

settings, see Blitz Result: Memory Dangerously Low or Max Memory Too High.

Parallelism settings

For SQL Server parallelism settings, consider the following:

The SQL Server configuration option max degree of parallelism controls the

number of processors that are used for the parallel execution of a query. If the SQL

Server VM in question migrates from hosts with different core configurations, leave

this setting at 0. However, if that is not the case, use another value.

The SQL Server configuration option cost threshold for parallelism specifies a

threshold at which query plans run in parallel. Dell EMC recommends that you

change the value of this setting from its default value of 5 to 50. You can adjust this

number further.

For more information about parallelism settings, see MAXDOP of Confusion.

Solution sizing

Each SQL Server environment has distinct system requirements and must be sized

according to the instance-specific demands and the workload deployed. Workload

characteristics in a SQL Server deployment include the nature of transactions, the

expected user load, the required number of transactions per second, and the permissible

levels of latency per transaction. SQL Server is a storage-intensive workload and requires

high availability. The significant sizing considerations are server and storage.

For server sizing:

Determine the type of processor that is best suited for handling the SQL Server

workload requirements.

Determine the size of memory required and allocate the DIMMs to the processor

memory channels to take advantage of full memory bandwidth.

Select the appropriate host network adapters.

For storage sizing and disk selection requirements, see Storage configuration.

https://www.brentozar.com/blitz/max-memory/

https://www.littlekendra.com/2016/07/14/max-degree-of-parallelism-cost-threshold-for-parallelism/

Chapter 5: Sample lmplementation


Design Guide

Chapter 5 Sample lmplementation

This chapter presents the following topic:

Sample implementation: OLTP workload ......................................................... 24


24


Sample implementation: OLTP workload

This chapter provides a sample implementation of this solution, including architectural

design, sizing, and configurations.

This sample implementation is for an OLTP workload supporting up to 10,700 transactions

on a database size of up to 2.4 TB. Figure 3 shows the architecture for this sample

implementation.

Figure 3. Workload solution architecture



Design Guide

Table 3 lists the components for this implementation.

Workload solution components


Servers 2 x Dell EMC PowerEdge R740

Network switches 2 x Dell EMC Networking S4048-ON

FC switches 2 x Brocade 6505

External storage 1 x Dell EMC Unity 400 Hybrid Flash

4 x Dell EMC Unity storage expansion enclosure

Unity 400 Hybrid Flash storage details Storage pools: 1

Mirrored Fast Cache: 5 x 200 GB SAS Flash 2 (includes hot spare)

Extreme Performance tier: 26 x 200 GB SAS Flash 2 (includes hot spare)

Performance tier: 24 x 600 GB SAS 15 k rpm (includes hot spare)

Capacity tier: 18 x 6 TB NL-SAS 7.2 k rpm (includes hot spare)

Per server

Processor 2 x Intel Xeon 8180 Scalable family; 2.5 GHz, 28 cores

Memory (RAM) 768 GB (24 x 32 GB, 2,666 MT/s DIMM)

Network interface Broadcom 10 GbE BCM5720

FC HBA 2 x 16 Gb FC (GFC) Emulex LightPulse LPE31002


26


Table 4 lists the workload implementation details.

Workload implementation details

Component Value

Number of VMs 4

Number of database LUNs 4

Number of log LUNs 4

Number of tempdb LUNs 4

Maximum database transactions/s 10,700

Per VM configuration

vCPUs 24

Memory 160 GB

Memory for database 128 GB

Size of database LUN 600 GB

Size of log LUN 100 GB

Size of tempdb LUN 100 GB

Chapter 6: References


Design Guide

Chapter 6 References


Dell EMC documentation ................................................................................... 28

Microsoft documentation ................................................................................... 28

Brocade documentation .................................................................................... 28

Chapter 6: References

28


Dell EMC documentation

The following documentation on DellEMC.com or Dell EMC Online Support provides

additional and relevant information. Access to these documents depends on your login

credentials. If you do not have access to a document, contact your Dell EMC

representative.

Dell EMC Unity: Best Practices Guide

Dell EMC PowerEdge R740 Spec Sheet

Microsoft documentation

The following Microsoft documentation provides additional and relevant information:

What’s new in SQL Server 2016

What’s New in Windows Server 2016

Brocade documentation

The following Brocade documentation provides additional and relevant information:

Brocade 6505 Switch Data Sheet

http://www.emc.com/

https://support.emc.com/

https://www.emc.com/collateral/white-papers/h15093-dell-emc-unity-best-practices-guide.pdf

http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/shared-content/data-sheets/en/Documents/poweredge-r740-spec-sheet.pdf

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb500435.aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server-docs/get-started/what-s-new-in-windows-server-2016

http://www.brocade.com/en/backend-content/pdf-page.html?/content/dam/common/documents/content-types/datasheet/brocade-6505-switch-ds.pdf