2019 S2D HCI File Server on VM

Rahul Sukumar 141 Reputation points
2020-08-14T00:12:11.063+00:00

About 7 years ago we had Dell (and their consultants) setup a new environment to virtualize our entire previously all-physical infrastructure. This consisted of 2 Server 2012 Hyper-v hosts connected to a iSCSI SAN in a failover cluster. All servers were P2Vd and ran as VMs on the cluster, including the file servers. The file servers were assigned large VHDs on the same CSV the VMs run on. This worked just fine for all these years.

Now we are setting up a 2019 S2D cluster with 3 nodes all local storage. My question is, is it best to keep the same setup for file servers? IE, create a large CSV and create a file server VM on it. Then create a large VHDX on the same CSV that is "local" to the VM for file storage. Users will access files, obviously, using \fileserver\share.

Any thoughts or comments on this approach?

Azure Stack HCI
Azure Stack HCI
A hyperconverged infrastructure operating system delivered as an Azure service that provides security, performance, and feature updates.
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Windows Server Storage
Windows Server Storage
Windows Server: A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.Storage: The hardware and software system used to retain data for subsequent retrieval.
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  1. Ian Xue (Shanghai Wicresoft Co., Ltd.) 29,891 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2020-08-14T09:04:03.513+00:00

    Hi，
    You don't need to create a VM for file server and attach a VHDX file. You could create a role of file server type. Select "Configure Role" on the right of Failover Clulster Manager and choose "File Server".
    17629-2020-08-14-163533.png

    Then you could choose File Server for general use or Scale-Out File Server. It depends on your needs and you could find the differences here
    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/hh831349(v=ws.11)#when-to-use-scale-out-file-server

    You could also refer to this guide
    https://www.starwindsoftware.com/blog/microsoft-storage-spaces-direct-4-node-setup-2
    Hope this could be helpful.

    Best Regards,
    Ian

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  1. Alex Bykovskyi 1,831 Reputation points
    2020-08-16T10:09:13.39+00:00

    Hey,

    As mentioned, it would be easier to create a File Server role on your cluster, which will still require you to use the same CSV. VMs and HA File Server will use the same shared storage (S2D in your case). You can create a separate CSV for a file server, to separate things. In any case, the setup will work the same way as if you have 1 or 2 CSVs. Worth mentioning, that you can use StarWind VSAN free to deploy a 3 node cluster for your VMs and File server. The following guide will walk you through the configuration process: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/resource-library/starwind-virtual-san-3-node-hyperconverged-scenario-with-windows-server-2016/

    Cheers,

    Alex Bykvoskyi

    StarWind Software

    Note: Posts are provided “AS IS” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

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  2. Rahul Sukumar 141 Reputation points
    2020-08-16T18:56:10.367+00:00

    When I try to setup the File Server role, it will not allow me to select any storage. I assume it needs it's own virtual disk. Right now I have one disk that occupies most of the storage in the pool to store VMs.

    Can you have the file server role use the existing disk for storage or does it need its own disk?